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Vision Cafe
Reclaim September 11 with This Year’s Bhakti Fest
For years, kirtan and yoga have magically woven together to expand their prayerful essences. You know that funny little box (harmonium) that some of your yoga teachers play and those mantras they often guide you to chant during class (Om Nama Shivaya!), that is kirtan, and it is taking flight as the hottest musical art on the scene.
Enter Bhakti Fest, a three-day weekend on 450 acres in breathtaking Joshua Tree, California, where kindred spirits unite to explore their passion for health, harmony, and mindfulness through an amazing lineup of music, yoga, meditation, wellness seminars, and spiritual instruction. Amid the tranquility and beauty of Joshua Tree, attendees can send their soul into free flight, liberated from societal distractions to express their innermost gifts.
Bhakti Fest is the 20-year vision of Executive Producer Sridhar Silberfein, who heads the Center for Spiritual Studies, where many kirtan artists got their start. Promising round-the-clock kirtan and yoga, Bhakti Fest is a unique spiritual gathering for teachers, students, kirtan performers and enthusiasts, eco-conscious businesses and curious explorers of the sacred arts. Silberfein explains the feeling that this conscious event brings: “By yoga, by meditation, by chanting, one can leave their crazy, running-around lifestyle and be in a space of total immersion into the bhav” (that blissful devotional feeling).
Bhakti Fest’s musical line up features over 40 kirtan wallahs including Jai Uttal, Wah!, Dave Stringer, Donna Delory, Shayamdas, Suzanne Sterling, MC Yogi and Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits.
Beginning at noon on Friday, September 11 and ending with a show-stopping fire ceremony and rousing Live Aid-style concert from Bhakti Fest favorites at 10 p.m. on Sunday night, the pulsation of bhav will be a constant. Yoga classes are every two hours with the masters whose DVDs line your shelf, from Shiva Rea, Sara Ivanhoe and Rainbeau Mars to Mark Whitwell, Joan White and Saul David Raye. The Wellness Sanctuary will provide a full roster of enlightening seminars based on what Silberfein calls, “timely spiritual topics.” Plus there will be spiritual workshops for life guidance and dance concerts for physical and spiritual expression.
Kids are welcome, so bring your whole family to share in the experience. Children under 15 years attend for half the adult ticket price, and little ones under five are completely free.
A 100 percent vegetarian cuisine is also included, along with an eco-friendly Vendor Village offering a diverse assortment of green products.
The amazing event truly embodies bhakti, or deep devotion, by donating 50 percent of the proceeds to four charities: Oxfam International, Amma, Ram Dass, and the Seva Foundation.
From yoga and meditation, to seminars, ceremonies, music and dancing, Bhakti Fest is the place to be this September 11-13.
For more information on Bhakti Fest, including volunteer and vendor opportunities, visit www.bhaktifest.com.
Mama’s Kitchen: Providing Meals to the Critically Ill
Mama’s Kitchen was founded in 1990 when volunteers from the AIDS Assistance Fund, a food bank for people with AIDS, discovered that many of their clients were becoming too ill to take care of themselves. They realized that a reliable home meal delivery service was needed to ensure that these individuals would continue to receive nutritious food. Today, Mama’s Kitchen, a volunteer-driven non-profit organization, prepares and delivers three meals a day, seven days a week to over 800 men, women, and children affected by AIDS or other critical illnesses in San Diego County.
On Thursday, August 20, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Mama’s Kitchen will hold its 14th Annual Wine Tasting Event at Bourbon Street, a popular bar located in San Diego’s neighborhood community of University Heights. This annual event draws a sell-out crowd of more than 300 guests and provides critical support for the home-delivered meals program that Mama’s Kitchen provides.
The evening will feature wine tastings throughout the evening with food pairings designed for each pour by California Cuisine. A silent auction will feature San Diego’s hottest spots and finest dining, as well as a Wine Vault 52-card drawing with a chance to win 25 bottles of premium wine.
Alberto Cortés, Executive Director of Mama’s Kitchen, explains the necessity for this event which makes it possible for Mama’s Kitchen to provide services to people in need: “By attending the Wine Tasting Event, you will have a great time while supporting Mama’s ever critical mission to provide nutritious food to people throughout the county who are vulnerable to malnutrition because of critical illness.”
Tickets for the event are $55 before the event and $65 at the door with all proceeds benefiting Mama’s Kitchen. Bourbon Street is located at 4612 Park Boulevard in San Diego, CA.
Mama’s Kitchen believes that every person is entitled to the basic necessity of life: nutritious food. Be a part of this amazing cause by attending the Wine Tasting Event. If you would rather donate your time and positive energy, become a volunteer and help get nutritious food to those in need. Upcoming volunteer orientations are Thursday, July 9, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, July 22, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., or Tuesday, August 11, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. All orientation sessions are held at Mama’s Kitchen’s main facility, located at 1875 Second Avenue in San Diego, CA.
Community support makes it all possible. Since their first day of operations, Mama’s Kitchen has never turned away anyone needing their help and they are determined that they never will.
For more information about Mama’s Kitchen, to purchase tickets to the Wine Tasting Event, or to get involved, visit www.mamaskitchen.org or call 619.233.MAMA.