Gifts with Virtual Ribbons!

Did you know that our CDs can be sent worldwide?

And that digital downloads of Maha Mata can be sent as a gift – and even arrive with a ribbon on them!

If you haven’t sent a digital download as a gift before, here’s how it works 🙂

1. On http://108earth.bandcamp.com  Choose “Send as Gift” (just below Buy Digital Album)

2. Follow the instructions, enter a message for your friend (and a discount code if you have one)
3. Your recipient will receive an email telling them you have sent them a gift with your message included and a cute picture of the CD with a bow on it!

The Birth of a Great Master

If you somehow missed it, the BIG news was the birth of Leonardo six months ago today :-).

Amy discovered she was pregnant a few weeks after we decided to dedicate our album to the birthing process. Powerful stuff, mantra! We had literally been having conversations about whether to call the album “Garbha” (Sanskrit for “womb”) the week it transpired he had been conceived. We decided “Garbha” sounded too much like “garbage” but the theme remained.

Throughout the crowdfunding process, Amy had terrible morning sickness. And you would never know it from the celestial sounds she comes out with on the album, but it was even worse by the time we got into the studio. In the 15+ years of knowing her,  I had never seen her so grey and grim-faced! But in her own words, “I cannot believe how ill I felt with morning sickness at this time, and the power of mantra to help me temporarily forget! ”

And Leo’s imminent arrival inspired Track 4 – Poota Mata. It is a Sikh Shabd traditionally sung daily through pregnancy by mothers as a blessing to their unborn child. Amy was chanting this daily and then, one day, this exquisite melody came forth.

After Paolo’s journey with cancer, Leo’s birth has been even more of a celebration and joyous wish-fulfilmment.

Oh, and he’s an EARTH baby all right: his sun, moon and ascendant are all Earth signs!

— Vaishnavi

 

 

Watkins Books

What a treat to pop into Watkins Books this week and see Maha Mata on the shelves – above Krishna Das and Johnathan Goldman no less!

Growing up in London, this was the go-to treasure trove of spiritual books. I have so many memories of time spent here, drinking in their wares.

I felt significantly overawed taking a copy of our CD in some months back. To my surprise, the response from the assistant I spoke to was so deeply touching. She instantly put it on the store CD player and began playing it – and then came to find me, saying, “This is so beautiful. I feel moved to tears!”

It was only then that I realised how much I had prepared myself for rejection by armouring myself energetically and emotionally. I couldn’t really feel the beauty of her words because I had come in pre-defended.

What a powerful teaching, to be more vigilant when I am doing this in future and to be more discerning about which situations truly are “dangerous” and which are simply old overlays of ideas and stories… shadowy fears of abandonment and rejection that have nothing to do with the present moment.

And… exhale…

Simply being aware of the breath, the feet — and of course mantra — are my tools for returning to my being in these situations.

— Vaishnavi

Womb Awakening

In case you missed it, we had our first Headline gig!

It was a real honour to be invited by Seren & Azra Bertrand to sing live on their recent even to launch their new book Womb Awakening. And it was a completion of a perfect circle in many ways.

Seren and Azra were delighted to discover our track Visva Garbha centres around a mantra meaning “She who contains the entire Universe in her womb”.

The online event was watched internationally – here it was being streamed in a space which is deeply significant for me: the candlelit cob roundhouse – The Shakti Lodge, near Bath.

I began attending a monthly Red Tent in this beautiful woodland space – hosted by the incredible Debs Stanley – about a year before the album was released. It has been a powerful awakening for me: connecting more deeply with my female ancestral line; truly connecting with the changing seasons as I visited the woods each month and witnessed the different shapes and colours; being guided in deep womb meditations. This also happens to be the woodland where the harmonies for Adi Shakti spontaneously came to me last year.

Debs has trained with the Azra and Seren’s organisation, The Fountain of Life and it was she who first introduced me to their body of work. Each month I would make it my absolute priority to attend and felt profound gratitude for the nectar she was dispensing with such grace and generosity. I would often wonder how I could repay this kindness and richness – not that I needed to, I simply wished to give back.

So it was a truly beautiful circle of completion to be sent photos of 13 women gathered in this space, so dear to me, watching the webcast and delighting in out music.

Ah, the beauty of the circles and cycles of life!

— Vaishnavi

Spirit Voyage

Maha Mata is now on Spirit Voyage – the largest distributor and record label of Kundalini Yoga music.

They featured our track Adi Shakti  as their Gift of Gratitude last week – which led to lots of new listeners 🙂

When I first began teaching Kundalini Yoga in 2001, Spirit Voyage was my source of all the nourishing books and CDs which were not easily available in the UK at that time. How amazing that Maha Mata is now one of those offerings!

I also just found our first review on Spirit Voyage . Always so touching to hear from complete strangers…

“This whole album is magical, beautiful, relaxing, & peaceful. I always enjoy finding such music to balance out my days. It is rare that I ever enjoy every song on an album 

It is our sincere wish and prayer that these mantras support you on your own voyage of the spirit.

— Vaishnavi

Divinely Graced

“Oh my Goddess, it’s so beautiful!!!! Like slipping into a warm bath….of sunlight and warm breeze….”

Back in late July, Amy Bisazza & I sang together during a spontaneous group healing in the aftermath of my sister’s extremely good weekend-long birthday party. It was the first time we had sung together in over 2 years due to illness (my M.E./ Lyme Disease, her husband’s cancer), living at distance and the more sinister internal obstacles of self-doubt and perfectionism.

It was a breathtaking moment and everyone present, including us, realised we HAD to share what comes through us more widely. Our experience of reclaiming life after intense challenges had left us both realising that life is too short to stay victimised by old stories and fears.

“I have a friday evening booked at Triyoga on the 4th of November,” Amy began. “If we advertise that as our album launch then we will HAVE to do it.”

And that is how this awesomely Grace-filled album has rolled itself into existence. It’s been quite the ride! We have both experienced something far greater than us taking the wheel of a project we knew from inception would be dedicated to the Divine Mother…

We recorded during the three Lakshmi days of Navaratri…

We were able to chant the Sri Lalitha Sahasranama (1,000 Names of the Divine Mother) in the studio before we began recording…

The tracks were mixed over Guru Ram Das’ birthday

The master CD was ready just in time to be blessed by Amma (Mata Amirtanandamayi) during Devi Bhava in London…

The CDs are miraculously due to arrive one day before the launch this friday (when we submitted them much too late)!

Maha Mata draws on different traditions to support the birthing process, be it for a child, a creative project, a new venture or planting seeds for great dreams.

Maha Mata”, the Great Mother, the Divine Mother, the creative life force that we are all a part of – and that resides within each of us – is awakened through these sacred words. These mantras are prayers for profound protection, healing and strength, supporting the feminine powers of intuition and creation to blossom and flourish.

Come and be nurtured in the process of planting seeds for creative dreams of your own this Friday: https://www.facebook.com/events/1315037675204703/

“The SongBath was healing, soothing, purifying and richly evocative. I felt cleansed and cradled, held and heart-opened by the journey you took us on. So much gratitude for such an exquisite, deep, and profoundly moving experience”

PS: unless you come to the launch, the album is not released until 4th December – but you can pre-order on https://108earth.bandcamp.com