Nina Rao
Harness the power of kirtan as a portal into love, ecstasy, and awakened living.
Do you find it difficult to access the peace and bliss that is your birthright through meditation alone?
What if your voice could open the inner elixir that can soothe your heart and add meaning to your life — whenever you truly need it?
Beloved seeker and chantress Nina Rao believes that we’re all longing for sanctuary, a place of refuge. This place lives within each of us, and, Nina says, we can access it more rapidly with a daily discipline of a devotional chanting practice.
Having a palpable sense of inner sanctuary can soften anxiety and clear a more open path as you walk through life. And, when you foster the sense of sanctuary with devotional singing intentionally — day after day — the transformations become that much greater.
The love, confidence, and calm you find are the sanctuary, and become yours to carry through the day.
Join Nina in a complimentary online event, where she’ll share how traditional kirtan evolved in India — before it became known and practiced in the West for its psychological and emotional impacts.
Nina draws on both her background and ancient Sanskrit sacred texts to bring a unique perspective to her chanting and teaching... one that fuses East with West and expresses her femininity.
In this heart-opening hour, Nina will demystify her prayers and chants by revealing their origins, interpreting some of their meanings, and sharing how she embodies them in her day-to-day life.
She’ll share how a daily practice of kirtan and prayer can help you amplify whatever’s resonating in your heart.
She’ll then lead you in the chant Antarayaami: Knower of All Hearts. You may find that your heart — here in this place, in this sanctuary — is where it needs and wants to be.
Nina, who grew up in India, learned traditional chanting from her grandfather when she was just nine years old. As a young adult, however, she drifted away from the practice.
In New York, she met world-renowned chant master Krishna Das, and began chanting and working with him…. back when his classes had fewer than 10 students! Her own personal chant practice grew organically out of a natural resonance with music and mantra.
As a woman, Nina has a fresh perspective on chanting, a practice once only accessible to monastic men. Chanting, which later evolved into a family practice for laypeople, is now practiced all over the world by anyone who longs to immerse themselves in the ocean of divine love through prayers sung from the heart.
Discover your inner sanctuary by answering the call to chant. Nina Rao knows the way and will be your guide. Join her for this hour to experience for yourself the exhilarating truth that chanting is love made visible through song.
In this highly experiential event, you’ll:
- Be led in the chant Antarayaami: Knower of All Hearts, and experience its heart-opening qualities for yourself
- Understand the roots of kirtan, how it evolved, and what the West has contributed to this sacred practice
- Discover how traditional chanting is folded into the celebration of Indian goddesses to evoke various aspects of our divinity within
- Explore ways to apply interpretations of traditional sacred texts to modern times
- Be introduced to the mind-calming and heart-expanding benefits of a daily chanting practice — and receive guidance on creating and committing to one of your own
A devotional practice is a discipline, but one you can look forward to crafting into a meaningful ritual. Nina Rao remembers both the tentativeness and the thrill of first entering the inner sanctuary and trusting its lead. In turn, you can trust her to lead you there with skill and heart.
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Join this FREE video event with Nina Rao to learn the history and tradition of kirtan and how it’s evolved in the West, as you experience the power of devotional chanting to discover a peaceful and loving sanctuary within.
Free Video Event
What People Are Saying About Nina Rao...
— Bestselling Author Mirabai Starr: “Nina Is a Master
of the Spiritual Practice of Call-and-Response Chanting”
“[Nina Rao’s] chanting is rich with timeless longing... calling us to live in the love that is our true being.”
From deep in the heart-cave Nina calls us...Her chanting is rich with timeless longing... calling us to live in the love that is our true being.”
— Krishna Das, worldwide icon and bestselling Western chant master
“Her vocal style is so pure and clear…”
I know Nina well through my role as Krishna Das’ music producer and guitar player. On our retreats I have also sat in with Nina for her own kirtan sets and workshops. Her vocal style is so pure and clear, and when she sings I am transported to the inner chambers of the Hanuman Mandala. She is also gifted at explaining the meaning and essence of these practices. I have learned a lot from Nina about the Bhakti tradition and consider her one of my teachers and a dear friend.
— David Nichtern, author and founder of Dharma Moon
“A combination of deep soul and melodious magic.”
Nina Rao has the voice of a genuine practitioner in her tradition. A combination of deep soul and melodious magic. She also comes from India and so has experience in that tradition since birth. Personally, I love her music and always have it with me. What an opportunity to have her at The Shift Network!
— Lama Tsultrim Allione, author and founder of Tara Mandala
“Nina’s chanting is an angel’s lullaby fused with the divine energy of awakening.”
Nina’s chanting is an angel’s lullaby fused with the divine energy of awakening. I listen to it in my car, in my office, on long walks, and after I meditate. It’s the soundtrack of love.
— Mirabai Bush, author and teacher of contemplative practices
“Nina’s loving, soaring, ecstatic voice... lifts the soul...”
The first time I heard Nina chant live on her own, I thought I was in the presence of the late immortal Anandamayi Ma — transported instantly into a transcendently easy way of being right where I had always been. Now that I hear Nina’s loving, soaring, ecstatic voice so beautifully recorded, I can echo back to that moment any time. It lifts the soul, stirs the unsought but welcome inner bliss, and is a wondrous gift that sweeps me into the clear stream of gratitude and devotion to the infinite yet gentle force of the clear light of love.
— Tenzin Robert A.F. Thurman, student of life, author, and grateful upholder of the Buddha teaching found in all ways of love and in every flower and blade of grass
“Nina’s voice is great; she creates a beautiful divine mood for yoga or for just enjoying being in a sacred atmosphere.”
Very lovely album. Nina’s voice is great; she creates a beautiful divine mood for yoga or for just enjoying being in a sacred atmosphere.
— MC Yogi, musician, author, and artist
“I’m extremely grateful for this gift she delivers through her beautiful singing.”
When listening to Nina’s chanting, I’m ignited with a deep longing for the Divine. I’m extremely grateful for this gift she delivers through her beautiful singing.
— Trevor Hall (Rampriya Das), musician
About Nina Rao
Nina Rao learned traditional chants (bhajans) from her grandfather in a village in South India when she was nine years old. Her childhood was spent living in and moving between many countries around the world. Prior to rediscovering chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996, she worked in banking before switching to organizing and leading photographic wildlife safaris in Africa and India. For many years, she has been Krishna Das’ business manager and accompanist as well as a chant leader in her own right.
Nina tours with Krishna Das, playing cymbals and singing with him. In 2007, she recorded the track “Nina Chalisa” on Krishna Das’ CD Flow of Grace: Chanting the Hanuman Chalisa. In January 2013, she released her debut album, Antarayaami: Knower of All Hearts, which includes a duet with Krishna Das. Later that year, she was honored to accompany him at the Grammy Awards webcast performance. Her second album, Anubhav, released in 2018, was entirely crowdfunded.
For over 20 years she has supported conservationists in preserving the sacred wilderness and forests of India via her charity, Saving Wild Tigers. Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting in Hanuman Chalisa workshops and retreats in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, and beyond.
