Music and Meditation: Yoann Freget in Indiana.

EARTH HOUSE CAFÉ, Saturday November 27^th, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS – Feedback from Rahul, a young and enthusiastic practitioner of Sahaja Yoga meditation who …. better listen to him directly 🙂 ..below is his story:

“November 27^th was the day when Yoann Freget performed in Indianapolis and it was the day when a new chapter of Sahaja Awakening was opened to the Hoosiers. The program was held in café which was build inside a church and had a very artistic and meditative ambience. We had a gathering of 10 local Yogis and 12 other people, so it was a small group but it was small and beautiful. Yoann started the program with obeisance to Shri Ganesha and Shri Adi Kundalini by humming the “MM” sound thus invoking the principle of spiritual seeking and pure desire. It was wonderful to see how Yoann would intelligently give the message of Sahaja to the audience through his music and comments. It was so appropriate for the place that he mentioned how we have polluted Mother Earth by not respecting her when natives of the past knew of this holy connection and then there was no pollution. Throughout his concert he performed many amazing songs which mesmerized the souls of those present and opened our hearts. We clapped and sang to the notes of his songs as one being and reflected upon the depth of their meanings. In those moments of music and meditation it felt how puny are the differences and how great is the being in the calyx of our self.  When he sang “Help me Mother be alright” it echoed in background and in our hearts as if dissolved in the silence of the moment deep inside we were all looking for that guidance and help telling ourselves that in times of trouble and need we can always look inside and just ask “Help me mother be alright”. As the hearts of people opened more the vibrations grew stronger and stronger and the joy deepened. It was evident that the Divine was working things out in its own dimension. When Yoann sang “Mother I feel you under my feet, Mother I feel your heart beat Heya Heya Heya Heya Heya Heya Ho…” it felt as if the Native American spirit of this country has been awakened and delighting in the harmonious tunes of Mother Earth it was calling us all back to our roots. The program ended with an obeisance to our gracious Mother in form of the song “Nirmal Ma Tu Janini”. Although it was an ending it felt something new has begun in the hearts of the new seekers who attended the program and to the future of this city.  Our hearts were left with deep peace and love and we knew it happened exactly as it was supposed to happen. The night ended with a dinner in local Greek restaurant and a wonderful peaceful meditation together. With that some of us left to drop Yoann to the next location of his continuing journey Ann Arbor Michigan. In this whole journey it feels that we all come together like pearls on a string with greater peace, joy and encouragement to do our best and dedicate our lives to spread the love of our Divine Mother and Spiritual teacher. Thank you Shri Mataji! What Amazing Grace! What Amazing times! and What Amazing Life! J

CINCINNATI CONCERTS & THANKSGIVING FAMILY EXPERIENCE FOR YOANN FREGET, VISITING USA FOR THE FIRST TIME! Stories & Photos from Betty Cooper & Jack Klette

“What a whirlwind of activities last week in Cincinnati! Two gospel concerts featuring Yoann Freget from France, plus Thanksgiving, all in one week. From the torrential rains ushering Yoann and Julia into the city on Wednesday through the bitter cold of Friday night’s final performance, we had a rare and unusual opportunity to shine Mother’s Spirit outward to the public. First we have an account from Jack Klette about the two concerts.

FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT

“It was really a joyful experience to sit in the front of the room with a view towards the back and see so many people with big smiles on their face and listen to how they sang.  We were all a Big Happy Chorus belting out some very joyful tunes that will surely stay with us for awhile.   After we warmed up with 3 or 4 songs, Yoann settled us down and led the audience of about 50 through a very sweet Self Realization exercise.  We sat in silence and were told not to applaud but just to go inside deeply during the next few songs.

In the end, it was indeed a beautiful concert with cool vibrations that even most of the new comers felt.  Afterwards, we had arranged for a local Indian restaurant to keep open their buffet extra late and many people (including some of the first ever participants to a sahaja yoga meditation program) enjoyed a hearty farewell meal.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT CONCERT

But this was the second of 2 concerts. The first was a much smaller one in a cozy cafe on Thanksgiving eve.  It was a last minute addition and unfortunately with all the college students away on break, the attendance was pretty small.  But Yoann performed with the same enthusiasm as he did for the bigger concert.  Only this concert was done acapella as we didn’t have all the equipment with us at the time.  I was amazed at how much one could enjoy an hour’s concert with no instruments, but everyone did and all the seekers present in the cafe that experienced the awakening of their Kundalini energy seemed really touched by the evening.

Perhaps the nicest take away for all of us was the joyful Thanksgiving dinner we had with 16 yogis sitting at the same table as One Family.  It was Yoann’s first American holiday and exposure to all the traditional foods.  We did our best to fill him up and make him feel at one with our collective.  The yogis shared touching, personal stories of why they were thankful and the whole evening ended with a pleasant collective meditation.

We hope that the future centers after us will have as much fun and joy as we had received during this tour stop and look forward to seeing the new people who told us they would come for the follow up programs.  We have about one week now to practice singing so we can do the encore act when they show up.  Who knows, maybe we’ll be touring next….but then well, maybe not. “(thanks, Jack)

Betty continues:  “And thanks to all the yogis from this collective and beyond who truly made this a successful series of events. In particular I want to thank Tracy Tischuk and Calin Costian for organizing the US tour and the lovely promo materials. To Julia Tischuk for driving Yoann to us through the rain plus staying to enjoy Thanksgiving and the concerts with us. And to Prashant and the other yogis who came from Indianapolis to collect Yoann and drive him to their concert a huge thanks. To Rutchvick and Gisella who brought us their amplifier to use and talked us through some of the tech requirements, your support moved us forward at a critical time.

Here at home we thank Jennifer Snow, Jack and Svetlana Klette and Billur Tekkok for their hard work distributing and emailing flyers and press releases. We couldn’t have done it without Tom and Emanuela Fremont who opened their home to host Yoann and Julia as well as having us all for the collective Thanksgiving dinner. Big thanks to Jack and Svetlana for bringing Yoann and the sound equipment to the concerts as well as shopping for needed power cords, etc to replace items that were left behind in Pittsburgh (but now recovered and sent on to Chicago).  Also thanks to Cindy West for loaning us her microphone for Friday night and offering it to Yoann for the rest of his tour.  Thanks to Jack for the warm and uplifting intros that struck just the right note to start off each concert and let the seekers know about our follow ups.

And finally a personal thank you to Sushrut and Shweta and Vlodiya and Hilda for helping so much with Friday’s concert maya.  They arrived very early to help set up and park cars and really made a huge difference in deciding how to manage a tricky situation.  The heat would not come on in the sanctuary of the church and we had to change our venue at the last  minute back to the smaller room where we usually meet. That sounds simple now but at the time we had been trying in vain since 5pm to unlock the heating thermostat.  We used the override procedure supplied by the church but nothing happened.  So when we took vibrations and got a better response for the smaller room Sushrut took responsibility to arrange all the chairs needed and transformed our little weekly meeting room into a cozy space that seated almost 50 people comfortably.  He did not waver but just set about the task and recruited the fellows needed to help him and then they also took it all down at the end of the night!  So instead of a drafty, uncomfortable cold hall we had a smaller intimate space.  There was a little resistance at first from some of the later arrivals but as Yoann told me himself, this worked out much better for him as he did not have to strain his voice trying to perform in a huge cold hall when the smaller place worked so well. It also had better vibrations and allowed good audience participation.

Thanks to Mother we finally figured it out even if it took a spontaneous change at the end. And perhaps most importantly of all, many seekers and friends and family members of existing yogis came to this event. Even long time yogis have a hard time finding ways to include our non Sahaj family members in our events. So this year, with Yoann’s tour, we’ve experienced a great new form of outreach touching everyone’s heart with this bouquet of upbeat and soulful Music with a Meditation component. We are happy to say this one filled the room while helping our local Sahaj Collectivity work together to prepare for it. Several of those  people came to our regular Friday night public meeting this week so we give thanks that they also felt the vibrations and the joy this music brought us all.

All the best and lots of love, Betty Cooper for the Cincinnati Sahaj Collective“

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