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Friday, September 21, 2007

a global mala preview

it's finally here -- the global mala project is tomorrow!

earlier this afternoon, i spent a few hours at the la convention center; there was a small group of us who showed up to help with the set up of the global mala / yoga walk event. i'll be returning bright and early tomorrow morning for last-minute duties before the doors officially open at 10am.

oh, the excitement!

here's what's planned for this saturday:

10:15 AM - Sri Chakra Puja Blessing with Sri Karunamaya Baba
10:45 AM - Gayatri Chanting with Saul David Raye & Friends
11:18 AM - Meditation and Satsang with Paramahamsa Nithyananda
12:30 PM - Inhale Kirtan with Sreemati, Suzanne Sterling, The Wild Lotus Band followed by Laughing Yoga with Yogi Ramesh
2:10 PM - Kundalini Yoga with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
3:15 PM - Kirtan Music with Joey Lugassy & Daphne Tse
4:00 PM - Yoga Mala, 108 Surya Namaskars with Core Yoga Teachers and Kirtan hosted by Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Krishna Kaur Khalsa & special guests with kirtan with Donna De Lory, Girish, Wah!, and Govindas & Radha

KCRW (89.9 FM and KCRW.com) Presents the Evening Program:
6:30 PM - Jeremy Piven intro Journey of a Lifetime with Shiva Rea and Bob Wisdom
7:00 PM - Sheila Chandra
7:40 PM - Kirtan Mala with Jai Uttal and the Global Mala Kirtan Members
8:40 PM - Agape International Choir opening for RISE! Paradigm Shifting Speaker, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Founder and Spiritual Director for Agape International Spiritual Center
9:30 PM - Yoga Trance Dance ignited by Shiva Rea with DJ Cheb I Sabbah and master drummers, hosted by Bob Wisdom and Craig Kohland
11:00 PM - Closing with 108 OM Chant, Kirtan with Wah!, Joey Lugassy and the Global Mala Project Kirtan Members

*Speakers throughout the day will include: Dave Deppner (CEO, Trees for the Future), Leila Conners Petersen (Filmmaker, 11th Hour), Seane Corn (Ambassador for Youth Aids), Andrew Beath (CEO, Earthways), Suzanne Sterling (Off the Mat, Into the World), Marc Popkin (Greenpeace) and special guests.

while the global mala event will only be happening on saturday (or so it seems, since there's only the schedule for that one day posted on the GMP website), the yoga walk expo will be held BOTH saturday and sunday. which means that for two entire days, there will be exhibitors representing natural health and conscious living industries, as well as yoga classes, lectures, and entertainment.

i took a walk through the retail area this afternoon while the vendors were setting up their booths and noticed the wide variety of items that will be for sale: food, clothing, books, CDs, services, and more. i've already started making a list of the items i want to purchase; i'm sure i'll find much more once they're all open for business! :)

as a teaser to the 108 sun salutations that i'll be participating in at the GMP tomorrow, i made my way out to sherman oaks this evening to join the students and teachers of rising lotus yoga as they observed the global mala event and the international day of peace at their home studio.

once all of the 40 or so of us had checked in and settled down, daniel stewart and claire hartley, co-owners of rising lotus, explained the reason for the global mala event. daniel then handed the floor over to cantor chuck bergman, the father of one of the students, who chanted a solemn prayer to commemorate yom kippur, the jewish day of atonement.

after claire's quick review of the surya A and surya B series, we proceeded to flow non-stop through the mini-mala of 27 sun salutes, starting with 14 A's and ending with 13 B's. finally, after a short cooldown followed by a shorter savasana, we transitioned to 108 minutes of kirtan, led by daniel, claire, terra green gold, and two musicians (whose names, i believe, were steve and larry?).

the evening ended with a rousing rendition of "happy birthday" in honor of daniel stewart's birthday, followed by -- what else -- birthday cake!

and if that wasn't exciting enough, the night ended with a much-needed rainstorm, complete with thunder, lightning, and surprisingly-flooded streets. if rain is the harbinger of good things to come, tomorrow's big event should be a definite success!