Monday Musings for September 25, 2023

 Welp. The last couple of weeks haven't exactly gone the way I thought they would. But whatever. I just seem to find myself getting sucked into this strange ennui. Thank goodness for my little fox dog to keep me rooted in the world when I need him.

That said, I discovered something amazing in the last couple of weeks, and maybe that's why I've been feeling like I'm sort of floating through life again? 

Many moons ago, I was a yoga teacher, and I completed both a 200 hour and 300 hour advanced teacher training program. (Not to mention a bunch of additional certifications in kid's yoga and yin yoga and Ayurveda and some other stuff.) Anyway, my favorite part of every program that I did was the kirtan. Kirtan is a form of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. (One of the 8 limbs of yoga, which I won't get into here, but there's a great wealth of knowledge on the interwebs about that.) 

Anyhoo, like I said, kirtan. Was always my favorite because it usually involved call and response singing and chanting and it just made me feel like nothing else on earth. So through a friend who lives out in L.A., I found the Sacred Sound Lab and signed up for a trial of their Sargam training. 

Sargam is the Indian version of solfege - the "do ray me fa so la tee do" that we all know from that Julie Andrews movie - with the intention of devotional chanting and singing. And at first I had no idea what I was doing and no idea what I was singing, but after a couple of days, I got the hang of it. 

I've been looking for a good set of vocal exercises and warm ups because my voice lately has just felt dry and uncomfortable. The Sargam exercises I've been doing every day totally fit the bill - it's the perfect kind of vocal meditation for me right now. 

So after doing these Sargam practices for a couple of weeks, I stumbled upon another place on the internet where I can learn guitar with the intention of devotional chanting. I mean, why not, right? I have a beautiful Stella parlor guitar that reminds me of a dear friend every time I pick it up, and long story short, I'm having New Instrument Day at the end of this week. (But that's for another blog.) 

I mean, I know the blog is called Jen Plays Ukulele, but playing ukulele has directed me towards so much more...

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There's definitely some other weird shit going on right now, and I don't quite know how to write about it yet. The last week or so has just been equally filled with loss and urgency. It's as if we're all looking straight down the barrel of some cosmic gun. 

I'm just happy to be finishing this blog, even if it's almost my bedtime and the sun has long set. It was one of those days where it was a struggle to rein in my thoughts long enough to just get a sentence or two down. Usually that starts to clear up around dinnertime, but man, it's hard for me to stay up late and work like I used to these days because we have to be awake so early. I truly believe I'm sort of odd introverted night owl. 

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The other exciting things coming up this week are: as long as my body and my mind cooperate, I'm planning on attending my very first in-person ukulele group session this coming Sunday. I'm nervous AF, both about being around other humans with ukuleles, and about Covid, but I'll be wearing a mask (or maybe double masking?) and my friend reassured me that I'll be fantastic, so here goes nothing. 

And one week from today, I'm hosting my very first online song circle with a group of wonderful human beings, so I had best buckle down and finish up a song or two before then.