Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends

Join us for an evening of uplifting and soulful chanting, community and chai!

Francesca will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting and devotional practice of bhakti yoga. Singing as a group connects us as a community and is opportunity to open the heart, still the mind and take refuge in our innermost experience of the Divine.

No musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.

Friday, August 11th | 7-8:30pm

Suggested Donation: $10 – $15 cash at the door

Francesca Nicosia: lead vocals, harmonium
Doug Chermak: drums and percussion
Leah Flaks: response vocals

About your musical leaders

Francesca Nicosia has been chanting and leading kirtan for over a decade. While living at Shoshoni Yoga Retreat in Colorado, chanting became an integral part of her daily practice. She was blessed to play with members of the ashram’s acclaimed kirtan band, Shiva’s Garden and study classical Indian singing with Megan Yalkut. Francesca regularly led kirtan at the Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram and the Denver Ashram before moving to the Bay Area in 2010. Francesca is a graduate of Adeline Yoga’s Sadhana Studies program and teaches at Adeline as she prepares for certification in Iyengar Yoga. Chanting is her musical prayer and offering on the path of devotion, or Bhakti Yoga. She is grateful to share her deep love for this devotional practice as a way to open the heart, still the mind and take refuge in our innermost experience of the Divine. Stay connected with Francesca at her website http://francescanicosia.com/ and on facebook https://www.facebook.com/shantiyogakirtan/.

Douglas Chermak has practiced Iyengar yoga since 2001 and is a graduate of the inaugural Adeline Yoga Sadhana Studies program. He has studied Middle Eastern and Indian percussion since 2006 with teachers including Aharon Wheels Bolsta and Faisal Zedan. Doug’s day job is as a plaintiff’s side environmental attorney with the Oakland-based firm Lozeau Drury LLP, where his practice emphasizes the protection of water quality.