Kirtan with Astrud

$25 Day of | $20 In advance, use promo code MANTRA, exp. 4/5

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

Please join us for call and response chanting and meditation. No music experience is necessary.

As a group we are inspired by the sacred sounds and love to sing in the key of “WE”. We share what is known as KIRTAN, a call and response of sacred sounds and mantras. It is the relationship to these mantras that illuminates our heart and awakens our consciousness. It is not important that you can sing or that you understand the words. KIRTAN is an experience. It is a practice to release you out of the thinking mind and drop you gently into the heart. MAN means ‘mind ‘and TRA means ‘instrument’. So it is through these sacred sounds we are able to conduct the instrument of the mind.

Together we create this sacred union with healing intentions for the whole of the world


Astrud Castillo has been teaching yoga since 2001 and sharing Kirtan internationally for the last 10 years.She trained in NYC at Laughing Lotus, currently known as Body and soul Yoga collective and is a senior teacher and teacher trainer. She has studied the basics of yoga therapeutics and Vedic chanting with T.K.V. Desikachar in India. Her teaching has been inspired by her mentor and friend Mark Whitwell over the last 20 years. Astrud’s classes are warm, welcoming and all inclusive. Her love and relationship to Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, is always illuminated in her teaching. There is always chanting in Astrud’s classes, awareness around the breath and mindful movement. Astrud leads annual pilgrimages to India, teaches Bhakti yoga with teachers in training and currently lives at the IYI in SF. Her slow flow class weaves together poses in a creative and mindful way using the breath as the bridge to deepen and explore the balance between effort and surrender and focus the mind.

2024-01-25T17:15:09-08:00January 25th, 2024|Tags: , , , , |

Full Moon Chanting

Online & in-person | $5-$20 | Enroll for free, use promo code FREE

Please register in advance; a Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour before the session. You can also join Zoom directly via your Momence dashboard.

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

We gather once a month to chant the Gayatri Mantra, the great mantra of Light and Liberation, to maximize the spiritual benefits of the full moon.

“oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt”
– Rigveda 3.62.10[11]


Snehan Born, E-RYT 500, has over four decades of experience with yoga. He resides at the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco, where he teaches yoga classes and is a lead teacher trainer. Snehan is certified in all levels of Integral Yoga Hatha and has received additional certifications in Pranayama, Meditation, Raja Yoga and Stress Management from Integral Yoga. Chanting mantras and playing the harmonium are part of his regular practice and classes. Snehan has lived and traveled extensively within India and practiced with many teachers there. He has taught yoga all over the US as well as in India, Nepal, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and Europe.

Kirtan with Mirabai

In-person | $25 Day of | $20 In advance, use promo code MIRABAI, exp. 3/22

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

Kirtan, a call-and-response style chanting, is part of the path of Bhakti Yoga — the path of opening the heart through devotion and surrender. It is the music of the heart, and is sung freely from the heart. Using these practices, breathing and chanting helps to reduce stress and anxiety. Kirtan is a spiritual gathering treasure that nourishes our soul, heart and spirit.
No experience is necessary to participate, pre-registration is recommended.


Mirabai Warkulwiz planted her yoga and meditation roots in San Francisco at the Sivananda Center in 1998. Amazed at her healing of a back injury and many other positive life changes, she became yoga certified through 200-hour teacher training programs both at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2004, and at the Greenpath Ashtanga Studio in 2005. In July 2008 she completed another 170 hour Intermediate Teacher Training program in Asana and Pranayama through the Integral Yoga Institute in Virginia. She is attuned to Reiki Level 1, studies Aryuveda, is a dancer, and enjoys being in communion with nature. She invites all of her yoga students to transcend physical, emotional, and mental blocks to experience more spaciousness, comfort, happiness, clarity, and inner peace. As a Kirtan musician (Mirabai and Friends Kirtan Band) Mirabai leads Kirtan around the Bay Area, and enjoys implementing chanting, sound, and music into class. mirabaiandfriends.com

2024-01-22T22:05:32-08:00January 22nd, 2024|Tags: , , , |

Ananda Rasa Kirtan

$20 In advance, use promo code KIRTAN, exp. 2/23
$25 Day of

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

Ananda Rasa Kirtan led by David Estes is rooted in traditional Sanskrit chants sung to original raga melody compositions and explores the mystical and ecstatic moods of Bhakti in call and response chanting with the audience.


David Estes is a lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and Ananda Rasa band leader, grew up in India and spent several years immersed in the spiritual practices of kirtan, Sanskrit text chanting, meditation and seva as a full time Ashram resident. He also runs his harmonium brand and business Ragamala and has offered drum support for Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Nina Rao and many more.

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