Telluride Yoga Center hosts Collective Awakening workshop this weekend

16 Aug Telluride Yoga Center hosts Collective Awakening workshop this weekend

[click “Play”, Susan speaks with Martin Klabunde]

“Music is medicine and plays an important part in cultivating a deeper awareness; it allows our spirit to move into the spirit world where this transformation occurs,” Martin Klabunde

Remember the old Beach Boys song about “good vibrations.” There’s a variation on that theme this coming weekend at the Telluride Yoga Center.

Friday, August 19 – Sunday, August 21, the Telluride Yoga Center hosts “Collective Awakening,” which begins with a night of indigenous music, followed by a day of meditation, sacred music, drumming, dance and ceremony and then one day of Adungu (Ugandan bow harp) and drum classes. As an added bonus (though not part of the workshop), Telluride Yoga Center owner/yoga instructor Kristin Taylor’s Sunday morning class will be accompanied by live music. 

The mission of Collective Awakening is to promote higher states of consciousness and greater emotional well-being through an intentional use of music.

“The intuitive and energetic nature of music allows it to connect with our inner self, ” explains Collective Awakening. “As a natural and intricate part of human life in past millennia, music served important functions across the physical, mental, and spiritual realms. To date, indigenous cultures around the world continue to use music and drumming as powerful tools that heal our physical, mental, and spiritual being. These ancient practices, however, are largely forgotten in modern societies. As a result, many in our culture are finding it difficult to maintain a natural connection with our inner self. To bridge this missing connection to our core being, Collective Awakening’s goal is to reintroduce these ancient practices of music and drumming in a form that serves our needs in today’s culture.”

Collective Awakening is Martin Klabunde, author, musician and a Nahual initiated in the Zapotec tradition. Martin has over 20 years of teaching, performance and workshop facilitation. In addition to extensive exposure to the healing ceremonies and traditional rites of passage in East and West Africa, Martin is also an advanced student of a master healer from Mexico who has taught him the ancient rites of Portal Drumming and Healing Ceremonies. In 2009, Martin founded Collective Awakening, an organization committed to providing pathways for spiritual awakening of all people.

Collective Awakening is also Wing Man Rita Law, a Hong Kong native who came to America in 2005 to pursue a doctoral degree in psychology. She earned that degree from the University of Arizona in 2011, following her dissertation on the subject of the effects of Loving Kindness Meditation in alleviating social stress. In 2008, Wing Man began playing the Adungu (bow harp from Uganda), the Akogo (thumb piano from Uganda) and the djembe (drum from Guinea and Mali, West Africa). Through the experience of learning and playing these instruments, Wing Man developed the ability to experience greater awareness, expand her perceptions and create a deep transformation within. She brings the knowledge of both the Western model of psychology and her personal journey of transformation to her workshops, presentations and performances.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to my interview with Martin Klabunde.