Allison taught me how to listen, feel, and express music from a new and holistic perspective. I've been able to relax my uptight perfectionism around music and singing in order to listen and truly learn about sound and the way it vibrates through and interacts with my body. I have learned so much.
Amanda S.
Vedic Astrology & Indian Music
Nāda Nakṣatra Upāsana: Learn your birth star song
2027 Live Class Schedule TBA:
Weekly Saturday class February - March around 12pm EST
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 will work with the song or scale that is best suited for you based on your natal birth chart.
Nāda Nakṣatra Upāsana is a practice that links Vedic Astrology and Indian Music. It arises from the Temples of Tamil Nadu in South India. It's a meditation and breath practice where we focus on listening and singing tones placed at specific points in the body, and is individualized based on your birth chart. The practice helps to organize and calm the emotional mind so that we experience more ongoing contentment despite the ups and downs of life.
K. Sridhar has been sharing this technique with Allison since 2010 as an oral tradition. He has helped her fully excavate the practice, and Allison's book on the topic (to be released in 2027) will be the first. The Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan used this upāya, as did Senior Sharada Teacher from Kalakshetra School in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was lost in the 1960's and K. Sridhar has blessed us all dedicating time to resurging the methods offered in this program. The practices are simple and exceedingly effective. You do not need to be a musician or a singer, though Allison has many students who are musicians.
K. Sridhar descends from 14 generations of temple musicians and 20 generations of Jyotiși's . His mother was a famous Brahmin singer in the temples singing for saints like Swami Sivānanda and Ānandamayi Ma. 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.
Aligning emotions with sound
February - April 2027: Finalized dates and times TBA
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.