WORKSHOPS
MORNING PRACTISE
ADDITIONAL EVENTS
About the Facilitator
One of the most outstanding authors of New Age music in the USA of the last 20 years. Shastro passionately offers his own understanding of what meditation can be and how to apply it to our daily lives.
Based on his 40 years of meditation practice, his teachings are not situated in any particular technique, but in the constantly unfolding moment and how it is experienced in the inner space.
Shastro has released over 18 albums under his name so far, many of which have won various awards:
- Zen Notes – Best Meditation Album nominated for the New Age Voice Awards in 2000.
- Tantric Heart – Best New Age Album nominated for AFIM Awards 2001
- Reiki Offering – Winner for Best Reiki Music at the COVR Awards 2001
- Shamans' Healing – Winner for Best Healing Album at the 2003 Visionary Awards
For several years he lived in India with his master – Osho – where he had the opportunity to deepen his approach to meditation and music. He later moved to Hawaii, where he created the music label Malimba Records, which is a global distributor of music for meditation, yoga, tantra, reiki and healing arts.
His life path was also influenced by other practices: the martial art of Aikido, which he practiced for 15 years and also taught at Osho Ashram in India, Kyudo, also known as Zen archery, Sufi Whirling and Argentine tango, which he taught for several years in his own school in Maui, Hawaii. He considers them all to be important forms of moving meditation that helped him get a taste of what in Taoism is called Wu Wei – the so-called “action without action” or “action without effort.”
Read more...
Excerpt from https://shastro.com/my-blog/blog/5389607/me-osho-or-existence
Me, Osho or Existence?
The birth of the music for the No Dimensions Meditation
“Well, this is how photography brought me to music via Osho: When the second photo session came, a month later, I had learned my lesson and, in order to avoid having to tell Osho to ‘do something’, we prepared a different set. He would sit on a big pillow on a carpet, surrounded by musical instruments like bells, gongs, Tibetan bowls, and even a guitar, so that he would have something to play with while we were taking pictures. In this way we wouldn’t risk to take the same picture 60 times because he was not moving, as it was happening in the first session.”
“The shooting went very smoothly, and he seemed to really enjoy not only playing with all those toys but also scaring Avirbhava, as he used to love doing in those days. As a matter of fact I took the above shot while he was intensely looking at her, shaking the Angklung (the Indonesian bamboo instrument) and she was flat against the opposite wall screaming like hell! It was indeed a very fun and quite dynamic session.”
“When at the end everyone left the room, I was left alone. I needed to take a little time to unwind from the intense energy of the session, so I sat down on the pillow where he had been sitting a few moments earlier, picked up the guitar he had just played, and started picking on its strings. A very simple and hypnotic tune came out immediately. I loved it. It sounded so familiar, and it drew me into itself making me soon lose the sense of time. When I finally got up, I was surprised to notice that almost an hour had passed! I left the room, but that tune followed me and stayed in my head for several months to come. When I later went back to Europe, it was still playing in my head, and I kept hearing it in all kind of different rhythms and variations. I finally thought that if I could put it down on a tape, maybe it would leave my head and I could eventually be free from its tyranny!”
Music video:
Spotify:
- https://open.spotify.com/album/2weMxY5RFlezlkAXvllSNQ?si=3KjhkcH5SbWMNF7qsrWC4A&nd=1&dlsi=650f6a31f73f4d47
WORKSHOPS
1. Doorway to Silence (Live Music Meditation):
In this meditation we use the sense of hearing as our entry doorway. When we listen attentively the traffic in our heads naturally stops because consciousness, engaged in the sensorial perception, is removed from the thinking process.
Meditation means to enquire into ourselves, to bring the light of awareness into our inner space, eventually helping us understand - or better say experience - who we really are.
Even though this process can be quite simple, it is often made difficult by the constant traffic of thoughts that clouds our perceptions. To help us facilitate that inner perception we can use different methods. One of them is through the awareness of the senses. The senses - a natural gift we all received with this physical form - are like a doorway that in one direction leads to the perception of the outer world but once we invert the direction it takes us to the inner space and to the one who perceives. From object to subject. Or we can say from the content to the container.
When we listen attentively the traffic in our heads naturally stops because consciousness, engaged in the sensorial perception, is removed from the thinking process.
Sounds travel through the hearing organ, the ears. The ears are naturally always open, receptive and available; but they are only an open channel. It is the inner space, it is consciousness that perceives the sounds.
Without consciousness we do not perceive sounds and that is why for example one can fall asleep in front of a blaring TV without hearing anything.
During this meditation we will take advantage of this natural quality of hearing that does not need any efforts on our end but only a relaxed attention: through it we can perceive the vitality of the inner space - which is an intrinsic part of the joy of being. Through the body we can move beyond it and discover that in us exists something vaster.
Through music - and all the surrounding sounds - alternating with periods of meditative silence, we will be able to be more present to the Now and perceive the inner space - that is alive and beyond time - in which everything happens.
2. Hara Dancing
The Hara or Dan-Tien is the center in the belly where the energy the body needs to move is stored and generated. When people live in touch with this
center they live a healthy life. The format is a little similar in the very beginning to the meditation Lathian if you know what it is.
We tune into the Hara in total stillness while the music starts and we do not move until the Hara is generating the movements in us. Starting very slow but also building up to very vigorous movement. We could also calling it the Dance of the Energy. It's a fine tuning work within oneself where at times the dancer is no longer there but only the moving energy is. When we dance from this center our dance is relaxed, fluid, sensual and alive! A typical example is the dancing of some of the people from Africa, a culture very connected with the Hara center.
MORNING PRACTIS
1. Morning Mindfulness sessions:
Shastroʼs meditation sessions are usually divided into two parts:
In the first one, he shares his understanding of what meditation is and he often invites people to ask questions or share their experiences, making it a lively and ʼtailoredʼ session for the participants.
The second part is mostly in silence interspersed with gentle suggestions, guiding the practitioners into maintaining their attention in the present moment and encouraging them to witness all that arises within consciousness.
At times he also uses walking as a way to bring practitioners to experience a sense of meditation in movement.
ADDITIONAL EVENTS
1. Kirtan - Singing Circle with Shastro (mantras and songs):
Kirtan is an ancient format of singing in a group, typical of India, where we often sing with a call and response format (but not only). A beautiful way to generate and rise the energy while at the same time falling into a space of union with all the participants, unifying all hearts while riding high energy waves and softer moments. A true Bhakti path!
Singing together is one of the most ancient but also forgotten ways to feel the One Heart that connects us all.
When we unite our voices, we start vibrating on the same frequency, bringing us to feel all connected to each other. This helps our joy for life to come to the surface to be expressed and experienced.