Mantra Chant Intensive with Ian Boccio
Next Offering TBD
12-Hours offered for Yoga Alliance Certification and an Elective Module in the Vista Yoga 300-Hour Teacher Training
Session 1: Friday, 7-10 pm
Session 2: Saturday, 2-5 pm
Session 3: Saturday, 7-10 pm
Session 4: Sunday, 2-5 pm
This foundational intensive is intended to familiarize students with the basic theory and practice of mantra meditation as a personal, spiritual path. The full intensive requires 12 hours to complete, divided into 4 sessions of three hours each. The sessions are usually spread out across three days, allowing for plenty of down time in between for students to integrate the energies they are working with. The structure of the sessions begins with the physical elements of mantra meditation, then progressing to the intellectual, the energetic and beyond. It is necessary for the intensive to occur in a specific order to allow the students to absorb both the information and the vibrations in the most logical manner. The full intensive of four sessions will provide everything that the student needs to have a functioning mantra practice.
The following is a general outline of the topics which will be covered in each session of the Level 1 Mantra Intensive:
Session 1. What is a mantra? Daily practice, using a mālā, chanting mantras for Gaṇeśa, Sarasvatī, and Śiva.
Session 2. Sacred language. Sanskrit pronunciation, chanting mantras for Durgā, Lakṣmī, and Nārāyana.
Session 3. Lectures on the underlying theory behind mantra meditation, using information gained from texts of the yoga tradition as well as practical experience. Major topics include the nature of śakti (divine energy), prāna (life force) and nāda (sacred sound vibration), a detailed examination of the cakra system and the relationship between that system and the Sanskrit language. Discussion and practice with bīja mantras (seed sounds) that encapsulate the basic structure of reality.
Session 4. Advanced sādhana. Healing and the Mṛtyunjaya Mantra. The Gāyatrī Mantra. Discussions about the students’ personal practices with a Q & A session.
About Ian Boccio:
Based in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), Ian Boccio is fully absorbed in his mission to facilitate the consciousness expansion of humanity as a whole. He has been the chant leader, composer, and business manager for the mantra music ensembles Blue Spirit Wheel and Bhakti Messenger, and now is stepping out as a solo artist who tours around the U.S. bringing bhakti and mantra experiences into diverse communities. Ian has collaborated with many yoga teachers to create āsana classes that feature live music and mantra chanting. In 2010, Ian was one of the founders and is currently the Creative Director of ChantLanta, a charity organization that creates awareness of chanting and yoga practices through the annual ChantLanta Sacred Music Festival. ChantLanta supports both local and international nonprofit organizations, encouraging people to give their time and/or money to help others in a spirit of seva.
As a māntrika, Ian is constantly active in promoting the benefits of mantra repetition, both on a personal level and for the world as a whole. He facilitates weekly chanting circles in Atlanta and travels throughout the U.S. teaching the weekend Mantra Chant Intensives. He has also been called upon to lecture and teach on Sanskrit, mantra and chanting for Yoga Teacher Trainings. Most importantly, Ian continues to work on himself, further refining his own energy through his personal mantra practice, to become an ever more transparent vehicle for the Divine Grace that brought him here.