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'Recognizing that each person has their own unique routines for yoga, I have included both music that is invigorating for the more dynamic moments, and relaxing for the stiller ones (and for those who include pranayama and/or a form of meditation in their practice). Secondly, the seven tracks aim to evoke and stimulate the subtle energies of the seven chakras, details of which are given in the sleeve notes for each of the tracks.' - Chinmaya Dunster

"This is heartfelt music infused with the fragrance of joy: the plaintive violin, sarod, guitar and flute stir feelings of gratitude, making yoga practice an offering, a spontaneous celebration. I found myself practicing with more joyousness while listening to the bright sounds and sensuous rhythms of Yoga On Sacred Ground, and my students give it two thumbs up!" - Joseph Robertson

Artist Bio:

Chinmaya was born in Kent, England in 1954.  His father was an accomplished artist who made his living renovating old houses and Chinmaya grew up in a rambling sixteenth-century farmhouse set amid apple orchards, wheat fields, woods and streams. After attending Art College, Chinmaya traveled through Afghanistan to India.  There he heard a performance by the world-famous sarodist Amjad Ali Khan and instantly fell in love with the sarod (a nineteen-stringed, banjo-like Indian classical instrument.)  Three years later, while teaching art at a school in London, he became a student of Amjad Ali Khan's leading disciple.  Chinmaya dedicated the next thirteen years to the study of Indian classical music on the sarod, both in London and at the Osho Commune in Pune, India.

Review:

Yoga On Sacred Ground

Music To Live By

Don't let the title of this album fool you.  While the scope and sensitivity of Dunster's journey through the seven chakras will certainly appeal to yoga practitioners, Yoga On Sacred Ground travels much further than its name implies.  This is not just music for practicing yoga.  This is music you can live by in the fullest sense. Chinmaya Dunster is a magician on the sarod and as a composer.  So often, we hear music that attempts to fuse the Eastern tradition with Western sensibilities and end up with something that lessens both. Dunster knows what he's doing.  He has gone inside the music of India, extracted its essence, and invested his work with spirit and passion in a way that touches the heart of our own experience.  The music is by turns vibrant, plaintive, pulsing with energy, and contemplative. The first track, Natrani (Queen of the Dance), combines a feminine Indian raga, warmly performed on sarod, with the gypsy flair of Spanish lute.  This track leaps up and dances, whirls, shouts, makes life happen.  Sarod and guitar share a sublime and subtle musical dialogue in On Sacred Ground, a theme which is echoed in a major key in Ha-Tha.  The mysterious The Watcher shimmers with rhythmic and tonal complexities, played in a minor-keyed Indian scale, and contrasts sweetly with the light-hearted joyfulness of the final track. This is Dunster's third album on the New Earth label.  If you've not yet experienced his musical genius, Yoga On Sacred Ground is a great place to start. - New Age Voice, March 2002

Product SKU: NE-1092-YOGAONS