Navaratri Mantra Circle with Amisha

Join Amisha for this practice during the auspicious festival of Navaratri, 22nd September to 2nd October, from the power of your own home.

You are invited into a brave and sacred space, with a global community to harness the transformational energy of this time. We will journey to awaken and deepen our relationship with the Divine Feminine and to integrate both our personal experiences and the collective challenges alive in the world right now.

The practice (sādhanā) is designed to create a powerful container with the offering to draw into a deeper personal retreat space with guidelines and suggestions around diet and daily rhythms and commitments. The main practice is chanting mantras daily along with an opening and closing circle.

Navaratri is the festival of nine victorious nights, in devotion of the many faces of Durga. It is a time where spiritual practices are known to be more intense and productive than at any other times of the year. 

Durga means The invincible, The inaccessible or The fortress and She is the great Warrior Goddess and the power or aspect of consciousness and of the Divine Feminine that protects.  She represents the fearless heart and awakens the courage we need to meet our fears and challenges, whether they be living external challenges or inner fears and limiting beliefs. She empowers us to listen to our Truth, to trust the process and to rise up in Love and Service for the Greater good.

This is an invitation to direct energy towards the areas within your life that you seek support, transformation or a radical shift in thought or structure – in service to our personal growth and the collective healing of our planet.

Through our practices and journey together we will awaken and celebrate the spirit of Durga, as warrior Goddess. We will tend to the flame of the heart and focus our energy and commitment towards amplifying our power and wisdom and remembering our worth.

We will be in devotion to the form of Ma Kali who sharpens our intuition with her sword of discernment allowing us to cut through any distortion. 

This festival begins in the New Moon and as the moon waxes with the energy of the Goddess, the power of Shakti within is illuminated and magnified throughout our lives. It is a potent time for inner work and we hope that you will join us.

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

• Be part of a global community of sisters
• 90 minute live welcome circle including mantra, mudrā, storytelling & sharing & group energy work)
• Live led daily sādhanā sessions, including meditation, chanting mantras & prayer
• Suggestions on how to deepen your sādhanā through diet, daily rhythms and commitments for these days
• Emails with teachings, reflections and contemplations
• 90 min closing circle including group energy work with seeds planted to water in the weeks after
• Group to connect with your sādhanā sisters going through this journey
• Recording of practice so you can do it at a different time of the day if you need to
• Transmissions of mantras that you can then use in your personal practice
• Personal transformation as we ground and honour the energy from this eclipse portal
• Power of collective prayer and cultivating Shakti together that we can offer up to those who need it at this time

THE DETAILS:

Monday 22nd September, 7.30-9.30pm BST – Opening circle, mantra, mudra & storytelling

(On zoom – recording will be send out straight afterwards)

Tuesday September 23rd  - Wednesday October 1st, 8-8.30pm BST – Daily sādhanā - mantra and meditation. 

(you can still join even if you can't make all of these live. there is a recording of the practice from the first day which you can use as a guide to chant with)

Thursday 2nd October, 8-9.30pm BST – Closing Circle.

Please note times are UK BST, however participation from all over the world is welcome and recordings will be available.

These daily sessions and opening circle start at 3pm New York, 12pm California. The opening circle is half and hour earlier. 

There will also be an optional sharing circle after the practice on Friday 26th. 

ABOUT YOUR HOST:

Amisha Tala Oak has celebrated Navartri since she was a child. In her cultural tradition, the women gather for nine nights of dance called Garba, where they dance with special sticks and celebrate. This is celebrated in this way by Gujaratri women and the name is derived from the Sanskrit term Garbha (“womb”) and Deep (“a small earthenware lamp”). A lamp and statues of the goddess are placed in the centre as the dancers circle around. It’s always been a special time of celebration, being with women of all generations and wearing her favourite saris. As a yoga and meditation teacher, Navaratri took on new meaning as she felt the power in the subtle fields of this time of year, as a time of renewal, courage and empowerment. Amisha loves sharing the myth of Durga and this battle as the awakening of the inner activist in all of us, that is powered by love. Autumn Navaratri (Shardiya) is a time for the slaying of our inner demons, and for rising up in our personal lives and the way we contribute to the collective. For spring Navarati (Chaitra) 2020 which was just after lockdown was announced in the UK, Amisha went offline and into silence for the whole of the festival and wrote the nine principles for her book, Intuition. It is always a potent time for creativity and wisdom practices. Amisha is an intuitive therapist who works with energy and subconscious patterns with her clients which she supports with sessions and beautiful leadership mentoring.  She is also the author of the collaborative book The Future Is Beautiful and host of the globally acclaimed podcast, All That We Are. She has been on a deep path of Tantra (Kashmir Shivaism) and studied with teachers, swamis, and through ancient texts. In addition to this she has received many transmissions direct from the goddesses in the temples of India and understands this path in a deeply energetic and embodied way.

www.amisha.co.uk // www.allthatweare.org

THE COST:

We are offering this on a sliding scale, please pay what you can. And share with your sisters.

Registration closes strictly 15 mins before we begin - ticket sales will close then. 

£216 /108 

FAQs:

What is deity practice and why is it important? “The best way to explain in modern terms what a deity is, is to understand deity as a unique vortex of energy. Sometimes that energy vortex takes recognisable anthropomorphic form (for instance, in meditation visions). Sometimes that energy is felt through the sound vibrations, called mantra, or through the geometric pictures, called yantras, that map the way that energy looks in “blueprint” form.”  “Deity practice helps us embody the subtlest powers of the universe. It affects us psychologically, spiritually, and even physically. It can protect us, empower us, teach us unconditional love, and even enlighten us.” “The word shakti means “power.” Shakti, the innate power in reality, has five “faces.” It manifests as the power to be conscious, the power to feel ecstasy, the power of will or desire, the power to know, and the power to act.” (words from Sally Kempton, author of Awakening Shakti and repeat guest on All That We Are podcast)

Do I need to be Indian, Hindu or a Yogi? It helps to have a connection or relationship already to these goddesses but it's also not necessary if you feel drawn. You will receive the transmission of these energies from Amisha in the mantras that we chant together. And she will explain the energies in a way that you can understand, and have direct experience of. She will give guidance on other resources that can support the journey if it's new to you. However if you have a relationship already to these deities through yoga, travel to India or other teachers - this practice with Amisha can take you really deep. 

What is a mantra and how does it work? Amisha has personally found mantra practice to be one of the most powerful and transformative of everything. A mantra is a living breathing vibration of the deity - and as you chant it - you wake up the qualities of this deity in every cell of your being. The words are in Sanskrit which holds the frequency as an ancient language that is not spoken in daily life but only used in sacred prayer. Mantras has a clearing and purifying aspect and really supports in coming into a calm and present mind, as well as the healing aspects in the body.

Why is this an online sadhana? Sadhana means spiritual practice, it's a committed process of time we share together. Amisha loves to offer this online as it's deeply powerful to make space for this in amongst your daily life and in your home and family. It brings you into deeper and more direct contact with the sacred - and the mantras chanted into your home transform the space with their energy which brings it all closer to you and the impacts longer lasting. Amisha has held these online practices since 2020 and is very skilled at this.

What's so special about this time? Navaratri is a powerful time and one where all spiritual practices are amplified. These dates of festivals in India always align with astrological happenings. It is a time of spiritual awakening, devotion, and celebration. 

Testimonials - what does it feel like to take part?

"It is difficult to find the words to describe the powerful and transformative space held by Amisha in her Navaratri Sadhana. It is a beautiful, generous offering, and is very special to be able to journey through this potent time in community. As someone coming from a (very!) secular family, I struggled to grow my faith and connection with the divine. I had never chanted before; now it is part of my daily practise. Navratri has deepened my relationship with the goddess within me, and without, in ways I could never have imagined, which has, in all honesty, been life changing for me." Karen

"It is hard for me to put into words my experience with Navaratri, I found connecting to the goddesses through the 10 day container Amisha created deeply profound and moving. It really invited me to return into a place of stillness within my life which was deeply needed through finding my inner feminine power. There’s so much talk on the soft feminine but connecting to this fiery warrior goddess really ignited the remembrance within in. Amisha story telling and space holding was really beautiful and it truly felt like we were there as sisters together." Amy

"Beautiful enlightening experience with empowering female energy. This is the first time I have chanted with a group of women in a virtual setting. I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up. The most special part about it for me was that I didn’t know anyone, and how comfortable I felt singing and chanting with women from different parts of the world. I loved listening to the different intentions that everyone set for themselves. It was also very humanizing to listen to the challenges that everyone faced and hoped to overcome during the days of chanting.  I loved the release of chanting continually for 30 minutes. The mantras that Amisha picked were also really meaningful and empowering. The whole 10 day routine was very grounding and brought up a lot of feelings that I could contemplate and write about for my own self growth and learning." Priyanca

"I appreciated taking part in the Navaratri offering. As someone committed to ongoing decolonization practices, it was wonderful to learn from Amisha, as someone who has a deep connection to these practices, stories and practices in her lineage. Connecting with Durga, Kali and the portals of illumination was powerful. Even if by Zoom! Experiencing the energy that was invoked through the prayers was incredible, in all of the ease and resistance. Amisha's warmth, encouragement, and wisdom was an anchor in the space." Briana

"This is so powerful. I definitely received so much more than I was expecting. Amisha is a true goddess, what I mean by that is I feel the Shakti pour through and out of her. Like it's a language her heart knows intimately. I find so much opens for me in the spaces she holds." Maria