Nina Rao
Experience the transformational, heart-opening benefits of an intentional chanting practice, and receive guidance on how to create your own — to find a sanctuary of divine love within your own heart, again and again.
Chanting is the vehicle, the path, and the destination.— Nina Rao
If it’s true that your energy flows in the direction of your intention, how do you ensure that your focus is where you want it to be?
Our lives are full of distractions that pull us away from what truly matters to us, and thrust us into stress, anxiety, and yearning for an unattainable fantasy life that lures us through television, movies, and social media.
What if the best of all possible worlds dwells within the sanctuary of your own heart...
... and you could continually find your way there through a dedicated chanting practice?
For seeker and chantress Nina Rao, it’s the disciplined and magical practice of prayer through chanting that provides an always-available place of refuge, and a vehicle to express your deepest longing for universal love.
Chanting can help you refocus and connect to yourself — to meaning — and with devotional attention, it can help you navigate the world with a sense of ease.
Embark on Nina's calming, heart-opening, and musical 5-module journey, where you’ll discover how chanting can lead you back to the foundation of your being and help you recommune with what resonates authentically in your heart.
With Nina’s course and her rich, soul-stirring voice, you’ll sing and chant mantra in Satsang (a community of truth-seekers) session after session...
... and along the way, she demystifies the practice by introducing the original texts from which they were born.
Nina is in a unique position to interpret the meaning of the mantra for our modern world and help you claim and personalize the practice for yourself.
Chanting and kirtan — Bhakti yoga of devotion — are part of Nina’s roots. As a child, Nina grew up chanting with her grandfather on visits to India. In their ancient origins, chant practice was always meant to be gender neutral. However, there has been a patriarchal, male-dominated takeover of the practice, and, as a result, recent generations have rebelled against it.
When she moved to the U.S. and became immersed in Western culture, she rediscovered the practice through a new, evolved lens and started singing with Krishna Das. Westerners had absorbed the Indian tradition and filtered it through the Western mind...
... incorporating the psychological and emotional impact of what a practice can do for all people.
Nina shares her depth of knowledge about what the texts can mean to you — and how they can become an integral part of your life.
She brings a traditional and yet accessible way to recite and sing... teaching the correct pronunciation of these mantras and prayers as a way to honor the tradition and potency of the practice.
Nina explains how these prayers act as a petition to the Divine — helping you relax, enrich, and focus your inner world. They’ll guide you towards aligning with the elements of nature so you can experience the flow and grace of the Universe with a peaceful, clear, and patient mind… and an open, generous heart.
With regular practice, you can clear an energetic pathway to meet challenges in a productive and meaningful way. The divine influence of these sacred prayers have the ability to deeply permeate your being… cultivating within you the trust to say “Yes!” to life.
Nina presents the chants through a rich lens of femininity — immersing you in the textures, colors, and tones of both words and melodies.
You’ll experience a kaleidoscope of names, deities, and traditional intentions, leading to a pattern or combination that resonates for you — to cultivate and cherish as your own daily practice.
Nina shares her own relationship to practice and her journey with her guru, Sri Siddhi Ma — and how she integrates them both into her daily life.
During this experiential course, you’ll:
- Enjoy singing and call-and-response chants from Nina to experience their peaceful and joyous influence permeating your whole being
- Bathe in the mind-calming and heart-expanding benefits of a devoted chanting practice — and receive guidance to confidently create and commit to your own
- Find a sanctuary of divine love within your heart, which you can return to again and again
- Discover how to set intention by the way you present yourself to the practice, even amidst the busyness of your daily life
- Come together to pray through song — for the earth and your part in its healing
- Explore chanting as the vehicle, the path, and the destination to a more intentional life
- Learn about the origins of mantra practice to tap into the joy and wonder of this sacred tradition
- Demystify the practice of prayers and chants to make it more accessible in our modern world
- Be part of a supportive Satsang
- Learn the correct pronunciation and interpretations of the chants to honor this tradition and the potent transformation it enables
- And much more...
What You’ll Discover in These 5 Modules
In this 5-part transformational musical journey, Nina guides you through the fundamental skills you’ll need to experience and personalize the calming and heart-opening benefits of an intentional chanting practice — to find a sanctuary of divine love within your own heart.
The Beauty of On-Demand
This course features step-by-step teachings and experiential practices from Nina. Each session builds harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to create a daily, intentional chanting practice of your own. Your purchase includes 24/7 ongoing access to your course content, allowing you time to review the materials at your own pace and integration.
Module 1 Beginning Again & Again
Your experience of spiritual practices from India can be a starting point into many interconnected ancient systems of practice.
In this opening module, Nina will warmly welcome you to the chanting path. You’ll begin to understand the vast scope and depth of this practice — to help you express your deepest longing for love.
Through stories and images, she’ll share about her journey into this practice of chanting the divine names and mantras from the Indian Hindu tradition.
Hearing Nina’s story will help you gain more confidence in finding your path or practice, and understand why it’s the right path for you.
You’ll explore how each of us has our own individual spiritual path, and the way your practice will unfold isn’t always clear from the beginning. You can learn to receive clues and guidance from your inner guru each step of the way.
An important part of Nina’s path has been her relationship with her guru, Sri Siddhi Ma, and she’ll weave the wisdom she gained from this connection throughout all the modules ahead.
As in every module, you’ll chant some mantras with music and melody.
In this session, you’ll:
- Enjoy a session of singing in call-and-response chants to calm your mind and open your heart
- Learn about mantra practice and where it came from, to tap into the joy and wonder of this sacred tradition
- Become more clear about the importance of spiritual practice in your life, and set an intention to design a daily practice so you can create an inner sanctuary of the heart
- Discover why chanting and mantras, especially in Sanskrit, can resonate deeply within you
Module 2 Hanuman
Many people know Nina for her rendition of the Hanuman Chalisa on Krishna Das’ Flow of Grace album, as well as a variety of melodies she sings on her own album Antarayaami.
The Hanuman Chalisa is a 40-verse devotional prayer to Hanuman, which invokes his (and our) qualities of wisdom, compassion, courage, surrender, and devotion.
In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to read slowly through the Indian language Avadhi with English transliteration, and review pronunciation.
Nina will share some stories from the Ramacharitmanasa — Tulsidas’ Ramayana, which is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. .. consisting of nearly 24,000 verses. It’s referred to in the Hanuman Chalisa and the Bajrang Bān.
These kinds of sacred stories have been told for thousands of years, and the enduring blessings of the teachings from these stories are encapsulated in the Hanuman Chalisa and bring us into a devotional space.
You’ll also explore your inclinations in this life, as you’re being called by your inner guru.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- The experience of chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa with slow repetition — a great opportunity to refine your pronunciation
- A sense of the meaning of the Hanuman Chalisa as it pertains to Ramayana
- Why this prayer resonates with so many people, even before we know the meaning
- What the word “surrender” means in these texts and why it’s such an important part of Bhakti yoga
Module 3 Vedic Chanting of the Gāyatrī Mantra
One of the most widely practiced mantras in India, the Gāyatrī mantra, invokes our inner sun, to illuminate the clarity needed to make the decisions that best serve ourselves and others.
While you may have been singing kirtan for a while, Nina will take you to the roots of chanting in a more traditional form. You’ll learn some of the differences between kirtan with music and Vedic chanting — the oldest sacred texts from India.
You’ll practice the recitation of a mantra in the Vedic tradition, with an emphasis on the true pronunciation and svara (notes).
If you have mala beads, please bring them to this session!
In this session, you’ll:
- Engage in a full 108 rounds of mantra repetition (or japa) to create a deep meditative space
- Practice a more traditional way of chanting that’s different from what’s most commonly sung
- Address some misconceptions about what mantra is and what we’re invoking when we chant
- Learn why the Gāyatrī mantra is one of the most widely practiced mantras in India
- Receive insights on creating an altar and making offerings in a simple way
- Discover how to set intention by the way you present yourself to the practice in the midst of your busy day
Module 4 Prayers to the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati
During the annual Hindu festival Devi Navratri, the celebration of the daily prayers are sung to the goddess in her various forms.
In this module, Nina will share some simple mantras and longer-form prayers to three manifestations of the goddess — sung to music and rhythm — while reading the transliteration and translation. Singing these mantras helps you tap into the qualities of the goddess that you’re invoking.
Nina will also share some stories of Devi Navaratri that were told in her guru’s temple, as well as some excerpts from the Chandi Pāth (700 verses in praise of the goddess).
In this session, you’ll:
- Invoke auspiciousness to enter to the space of the goddess through the singing of prayers
- Invite the goddess into your being
- Develop confidence to explore and practice these longer-form prayers
- Learn the meaning of the prayers and get a stronger sense of what they can mean to you as you practice
Module 5 Connecting With Great Mother Nature
Most of us are aware of the current climate crisis, and, in this closing session, you’ll spend time connecting with Mother Nature through practice.
Since the beginning of time, humankind has revered the Earth through prayer. However, in our modern world, many of us have lost sight of her sacredness.
Even when you’re not forest bathing, swimming in the ocean, or planting in soil, you can become more and more aware of your natural surroundings... and keep in your consciousness that everything we have and all that we are comes from the Earth.
Nina will share some readings about the embodied forms of the five elements.
She’ll guide you in the recitation of the Vedic Bhū Gāyatrī mantra. You’ll also sing kirtan to Bhūmi Devī l.
You’ll also have the opportunity to make a natural mandala of our own from your whatever’s around you — to place upon your altar.
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn how to set an intention in your mantra practice to transmit healing to the planet
- Chant second Vedic mantra, as Nina explains the meter and svaras (notes), as well as the meaning of the mantra and how to connect to it
- Come together to pray through song for the earth and your part in her healing
- Explore your own identification with the 5 elements of earth, wind, water, fire, and space
- See how dakinis (energetic beings in female form) and celestial sky-dancers embody these elements
SPECIAL BONUS OFFER
In addition to Nina’s transformative 5-module course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Course Materials
Ocean of Ram, Sita, & Hanuman
Video Dialogue and Chanting With Nina Rao and Krishna Das
In this personal video, Nina Rao and Krishna Das discuss how they each learned the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn in praise of Hanuman. They share about their journey on the Path with this prayer, then together sing a Hanuman Chalisa. As a participant in this course, you’ll be among the first ever to see this video. Krishna Das has been called “yoga’s rock star” and has taken call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the bestselling Western chant artist of all time.
Learning the Hanuman Chalisa
10-Module Audio Course From Nina Rao
In 10 concise modules, you’ll journey through this 40-verse hymn, the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional prayer that’s chanted widely throughout India and around the world. The modules include pronunciation guidance, spoken-word repetition, and singing the lines as call-and-response with musical accompaniment. By way of listening and repeating small groups of verses and cumulatively adding them to each other, we will build the foundation for learning the whole prayer. In the last two modules, you’ll have the full-spoken pronunciation of the prayer and also a musical rendition of the prayer to sing along with in call-and-response style..
Nina’s Written Music for Some Favorite Chants
Series of PDFs and Audio Recordings From Nina Rao
Nina has no formal musical training and has rendered her music and chants as a natural flow of mantra into melody on her two albums. Over the years, many people have asked for the sheet music for some of their favorite chants. In this guide and recording, Nina shares the chords and melodies for her chants via sheet music for those who would like to play on harmonium and sing on their own.
What People Are Saying About Nina Rao…
author and founder of Dharma Moon
author and founder of Tara Mandala
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Five 90-Minute On-Demand Modules
Experience a unique opportunity to learn from seeker and chantress Nina Rao from the comfort of your own home. Each session includes a streaming video and guides you to discover specific skills and abilities to experience the calming and heart-opening benefits of an intentional chanting practice, and personalize your own — to find a sanctuary of divine love within your own heart again and again.
Five Transcripts of Sessions
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive session transcriptions. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, Sacred Traditional Mantra & Chant Practices to Find Your Way Home to Your Heart
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
If you don’t absolutely LOVE Sacred Traditional Mantra & Chant Practices to Find Your Way Home to Your Heart — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form 14 days from your date of purchase and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Nina Rao
author and teacher of contemplative practices
musician, author, and artist
About Nina Rao
