I PASSED! Becoming a Vedic chant teacher…

For someone who struggled with languages at school ( I was very late to the French party…) it seems both bizarre and amazing that I’ve not only been studying and teaching Sanskrit chant for many years, but actually qualified as a Vedic chant teacher.  I pinch myself!  At times it’s been tough – balancing being self-employed, and an ongoing difficult family situation not to mention all that intense study brings you.

But I’m going to go back a few years first. To 1999 to be exact when I met my first, and main, healing chant teacher whilst living in America. Although I’ve written and shared about that beginning before, becoming a Vedic chant teacher (in the Krishnamacharya tradition) has made me pause and reflect on how Life has just nudged me along in the direction I’m meant to go.

For starters, my husband came home one January (1998) when our son was not quite one year old, and said he was thinking about applying for a job near Seattle – and what did I think? Well, having an adventurous spirit, my reply was “go for it.” Because if he was offered the job, we could decide, and if he wasn’t – well, the decision had been made for us.  Fate decided we were meant to go, so in the summer of 1998 we moved over to Seattle, in the Pacific North West (stunning!)

I met my teacher Dr. Pat Cook there in 1999, and fell in love with healing chant. It really did feel like coming home – but looking back, I also know that I wasn’t ready for Vedic chant (didn’t know it existed actually). The advantage of spending so many years studying and teaching non-Vedic chant means that I have a repertoire of chants that are easily accessible for new students (or indeed those with experience). My teacher was still quite strict about pronunciation, timing and melody – so that stood me in good stead for the eventual journey with Vedic chant.

Pat introduced me to Vedic chant around 8-9 years ago and it was a whole different ball game. Gone was the emotional response that quite often happened during non-Vedic chant – in fact, to start with it seemed “flat” and I struggled to connect with it. Gone was the opportunity to chant with confidence – but maybe sneak a little “musicality” into the mantras I knew so well (which Pat would always hear and pull me up on!). Gone were the short or shorter chants – in their place came longer and longer mantras, with ever deepening complexity.

Could I do this? Was it for me? Did I have what it takes to really study these incredible chants?

As I said at the beginning, me and languages at school didn’t mix. My primary school in Northamptonshire didn’t offer French – and when I moved to Sussex aged 10, my new school already had that firmly in the curriculum. So I was out of my depth (and very shy) right from the start. I never really picked up. This old “samskara” = pattern, belief – was to trip me up quite a few times in the early months, even years.

But then something clicked. As a teacher, Pat is incredible. Her knowledge and skill are outstanding, but more importantly her years of study and practice (nearly 50 now) means she carries the “energy” or vibration of these chants deeply within her. This get shared via transmission when she teaches – so this is what I believe held and supported me as I got to grips with the rules and complexity.

PLEASE DON’T LET ME PUT YOU OFF!!

We all start with simple chants – single words, lines, short chants, and gradually build up to the more complex chants (if that’s what we want to do).

India began calling.  To be more precise, the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandaram (KYM) that is one of the key teaching schools of Vedic Chant.  It would mean travelling over to Chennai twice a year for two years.  That’s a LOT of money, time and energy.  Of course I wanted to do this!  But practicalities were holding me back.  The money required.  Finding the right dog sitter (vital!)  plus flying over to India impacts the environment.  I’m not yet 100% flight free – but heading that way.

I found a 2 year training course in Scotland, run by a Senior Vedic chant teacher from KYM…but I’d just missed the start of it so couldn’t join.

I kept looking at KYM…should I ?  Shouldn’t I?

And then a friend had a friend…

And here the Universe stepped in.  I was at a BBQ and a friend had a friend…who like me chanted.  And this friend studied with The Society of Yoga Practitioners.  And the TSYP were putting on their first two year Vedic Chant Teacher Training course.  Here.  In the UK.  (Hampshire to be precise!)

With my background in chant, and with my growing experience of Vedic chant, I could have applied straight away.  But I decided to go right back to the beginning again and joined a Foundation Course.  The advantage was that different schools have slight variations in chants or ways of teaching, AND as a teacher, to go back to the beginning reminds you what it is like for your new students; the questions, possible anxiety, the challenges.

After my years’ Foundation course, I then continued with the two year training.  Two Senior Vedic Chant UK teachers were leading the training, plus we had the Senior Healing chant teacher from the KYM Zooming in each residential week too.  Wow!  Actually she was lovely but we all got very nervous.  She’d teach us “Call & Response” and we’d chant as a group.  Then the group would be split into two, then four…after a break, we’d be in groups of 3 and have very intense lessons with her.  A real privilege.

It’s one thing to learn to chant – and something else to learn how to teach it.  It’s been an incredible experience.  In addition to the chants, we’ve explored the meanings through the Upanisads, the four main Vedic texts, and associated writings.  We’ve been learning to read and write Sanskrit – Ha!!  Not my strength to be honest…BUT I actually still sit here and write Sanskrit to continue developing and then before chanting, read the Sanskrit and check against the transliteration (I do have a big grin on my face when I’ve “cracked it!”)  Essays are a normal part of most trainings (I quite like those actually because it’s such a good way to deepen and broaden your understanding) and we had one to one chant lessons throughout too.

It got challenging and even quite tough at times as I dipped in and out of feeling confident and then the complete opposite.  Of struggling with the Sanskrit and doubting myself.  And particularly when dealing with my difficult family situation that threatened to derail me…another BUT!  The chants held and supported me.  When I felt overwhelmed, I would choose a chant, focus, and let the chant work its magic.

Chanting is not only healing for mind, body and soul…but steadying, grounding, and gives you a sense of being held.  It becomes a meditation.  Not the “drifting” away in a beautiful, day dreamy way…quite the opposite.  True meditation is being fully present, in the moment, with what is, but not allowing yourself to be caught up in the emotion, or inner stories we all tell ourselves.

Sometimes I’d be chanting and yes, the emotion would come up.  I’d cry.  I’d blow my nose.  And I’d continue chanting.

So…here I am.  Out the other side.  At an end, but oh my goodness, WHAT a beginning!

Vedic chant is ancient, thousands of years old, and incredibly precious.  It is not to be changed (the sounds, the melody, the rhythm or pronunciation) as this keeps it in its pure form.  It is a privilege and a responsibility to be a Vedic chant teacher – and one I accept with joy.  My study and training will continue – a life time’s study actually!

I was 63 in January.  It is NEVER too late to learn something new, to change direction, to decide that your life is precious and worth investing in.
It is never too late to step onto a new path – or go deeper into a path you’re already committed to.

Someone said to me “Oh you’re lucky”.  I am.  Because despite so many challenges I’ve had to deal with and navigate, somehow “Life” the Universe, Fate…kept bringing me back on track so that I could continue to study and teach healing chant.  There’s nothing special about me – although there is something incredibly precious about chant – and you too can bring something magical into your life.  If this thought excites you, but you don’t know what that might be…I can highly recommend chanting as a way to remove blocks, open doors onto new paths, heal, and connect with “What Is” (the Source of all Life).

Chant and mantra are non-religious.  They also offer you a path that connects you to your own spiritual practice, your own spiritual path.  It will be revealed to you – and the chants will nudge you back into your own Truth (not the truth our ego beguiles us with!).

With deep gratitude to all my teachers, past, present and future.  To all the Holy Ones, Rshis, who first heard, perceived and then re-sounded these sacred sounds.

Om shanti – shanti – shanti.

With love, Sarena x