Nāda Nakșatra Upāsana

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Vedic Astrology & Indian Music

Nāda Nakṣatra Upāsana:

Nāda Nakṣatra Upāsana,is a practice that links Vedic Astrology and Indian Music. It arises from the Temples of Tamil Nadu in South India.

Nāda = Sound

Nakṣatra = Constellation

Upāsana = Practice

Each of the 27 nakṣatras or lunar constellations are aligned with an Indian rāga, a scale or a song that creates a specific emotional response in the listener. You can work the song or scale that is best suited for you based on your natal birth chart.

The Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan used this upāya, as did Rukmini Devi from Kalakshetra School in Madras, Tamil Nadu.

Sarod maestro K. Sridhar has been sharing this technique with Allison since 2010. He descends from 14 generations of temple musicians and 20 generations of Jyotiși's . His mother was a famous Brahmin singer in the temples and Sridhar's lineage is the Brīhadīśvara Temple of Thanjur, connected to Mannargudi Raja Gopala Śastri and Tyagaraja, the Father of Carnatic Music. Sridhar learned directly from the Senior Dagar Brothers, Ali Akbar Khan, and Ravi Shankar.

Nāda Nakṣatra Upāsana

South Indian Healing Sound Practice

This Nāda Yoga (Yoga of Sound) program can help you work through unprocessed emotions and complicated feelings by way of listening and resonating with rāga music, Classical Indian music.

All music can affect the emotions, but there are particular rāgas that may be of immediate and profound benefit to your manas, your emotional and instinctual mind. We use the rāga, a scale, that is associated with the position of the moon when you were born.

Full program runs January 2 - April 1 2026:

$1500

Sign up before September 15:

$1080

Sign up before November 15:

$1200

Repeat Students:

$800

Includes:

4 one hour private sessions
7 live group classes
pre-recorded materials from previous cohorts
WhatsApp audio and video support as you integrate the practices

Repeat Students are welcome to join. We can work with a new rāga based on other astrological configurations in your birth chart, or we can go deeper with the rāga you've already been given.

Enroll here

Aligning emotions with sound

How does Nāda Nakșatra Upāsana work?

Listening to music and singing are easy and accessible ways to uplift our mood, honor our felt experience, and give voice to our emotional life. In your private sessions you will learn the rāga (a scale) connected to the star the moon was in when you were born. This is an ancient Vedic upaya (remedy) that astrologers, musicians, dancers, and shamans have used as a way to help someone feel more aligned and in tune with Reality.

Private sessions will focus on sound practices with your birth chart as a guidepost. Group classes will teach you the practices.

What singing can do for your wellbeing:

increased focus and attention
mood regulation
decreased effects of anxiety and depression
increased levels of serotonin, dopamine, and GABA in the brain
stimulates the vagus nerve and activates the parasympathetic nervous system functions of rest and digest
social cohesion and strengthening of community
aid in our ability to overcome emotional challenges

Working with the rāga as a mantra of non syllabic vibration can be a powerful tool for calming the mind and easing worry, doubt, and frustration. If you've already worked with Allison on your moon's raga for at least one year we can begin to work with other rāgas connected to other planetary positions in your birth chart.

Schedule

Dates: January 2 - April 1, 2026

We're trying something new this year and the live practice classes will be scheduled on the 15th tithi, the actual day of the new and full moon. This means we will be meeting relative to the Lunar cycle which is changeful instead of the Solar calendar which is straight-forward.

If enough people who live in Euprope, Asia, Australia, etc are interested in joining live classes, I will schedule 2 classes on each day so that you all have the opportunity to attend live. Message me here if that is the case.

Proposed practice class schedule is on the day of the Full and New Moon:

Class 1: Jan 2, 5pm ET Friday - Full Moon in Ārdrā

Class 2: Jan 18, 10am ET Sunday - New Moon in Uttarā Aṣāḍhā

Class 3: Feb 1, 10am ET Sunday - Full Moon in Āśleṣā

Class 4: Feb 16, 5pm ET Monday - New Moon Solar Eclipse in Dhaniṣṭha

Class 5: March 3, 12pm ET, Tuesday - Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pūrvā Phalgunī

Class 6: March 18, 12pm ET, Wednesday - New Moon Uttarā Bhādrapadā

Class 7: April 1, 12pm ET, Wednesday - Full Moon Hasta

In the live classes we will work with the rāgas for each of the above mentioned Nakṣatras.

Those classes are 30 minutes in length and include practice only. Usually Allison is happy to stick around after class to answer questions, so class time can be longer depending on how long Q&A takes.

Lecture classes and Q&A:

In addition to the 30 minute practice classes there are videos in the Teachable portal with an assigned schedule for viewing, depending on your interest the minimum homework will be about 5 hours of classes to watch in January - February but you'll have access to almost 30 hours of content.

We'll meet live as a group weekly in the month of March for a 30-45 minute lecture and q&a to review the pre-recorded video content and emphasize what's most important. Those classes will likely happen on Thursday evenings around 7pm ET from March 5 - 26.

Allison Dennis