Yasmin Boland created a Facebook Group “Moonology Challenge” and after receiving an overwhelming plea to keep the group up and running after the challenge ended, Nina Franks asked members to share their websites and Instagram links. I saw so many wonderful pages, I knew we needed a Directory.

Yasmin Boland talks about visiting an ashram in India. Where is it? Who is her guru? She has blogged about her experiences. The Wayback Machine has preserved a page with links to dozens of mantras so you can virtually visit this amazing ashram and temple complex!

Hinduism is very complex system of beliefs. Some people believe strongly that Lord Vishnu is the supreme deity and others believe it is Lord Shiva. If you have heard of Sadguru, you will see he is a devotee of Lord Shiva. If you have ever heard of the Hari Krishna movement ISKCON, you will learn that they are believe Lord Vishnu is the supreme deity. Academics love labels so you will see encyclopedia articles about Vaishnavism versus Shaivism.

And you will learn that there is a body of literature called the Puranas and the Vedas. There are entire epics that you must watch in order to absorb all the nuances. Vighnaharta Ganesh is on YouTube and is very easy to access. The producers have long story arcs where they depict the emergence of every avatar of Lord Shiva and every avatar of the Goddess. I say THE GODDESS because she has many names – Durga, Pavarti, Laxmi, Saraswati, etc.

And each of the deities can take human form when needed to right a wrong. Yasmin’s guru is considered an avatar of Narayani. He, yes, a man, is an avatar of a female deity. But, please do not get confused. If you watch Vighnaharta Ganesh you will see that inside every one of the male deities is a female shakti. One of the story arcs depicts Ganesh transforming into a girl along with his brother Kartikeya who has a terrible time transforming. They must find their shakti forms in order to enter a female only area where the Goddess has gone to meditate.

In another story arc, all of the gods have to transform into females. The producers can only do so much so you will see Surya-dev the sun god, Vayu-dev, the god of the wind, Varuna-dev, the god of water, . . .

So I hope this helps when you read about Amma who resides at the Shri Narayani Peedman temple complex. Amma is mentioned by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary as her guru as well. Dr. Chaudhary has a recording of Yasmin’s chakra mantra and she’s written a book on Sound Medicine.

I am going to quote from her page “

Mantras are sacred sounds charged with power.  The ultimate purpose of the use of mantras is to free the individual of all outer conditioning (familial, social, political, physical, mental etc.) so that you can come into contact with your true self.  But the practical side-effect of the mastery of mantras is a vibrant mind and resilient body.

Ancient Ayurvedic practitioners valued the role of mantras in reversing disease and restoring physical and mental balance.  According to Ayurvedic philosophy, the human body is composed of five elements—space, air, fire, water, and earth.  These five elements combine to form three fundamental physical-mental-emotional types, or doshas, that are present in everyone.  Mantras have the capacity to change the mind and body through the alteration of the five elements through the chakra system.

Connecting the five elements and the three doshas in the body is an energy system, called the chakras, that relays information to the different organs in the form of vibrational impulses.  In the same way that humans have a physical body they also have an energy body composed of different vibrating frequencies.  Chakras are energetic points of intersection that modify the five elements and directly allow mantras to impact physical, mental, and emotional states.”

I studied Ayurveda from a purely academic point of view while doing my doctoral research. I am now enrolled in two Shift Network courses. One taught by Dr. John Douillard and the other by David Crow. I took a break from digesting (pun intended) the volumes and volumes of information both teachers have given us to focus on Yasmin’s challenge. Thanks to Yasmin, I can now add Dr. Chaudhary’s work to my lessons. I once wanted desperately to be an ethnomusicologist so I spent time studying music therapy but this takes it all to a much higher level. Thank you YASMIN!

To call and speak to Yasmin on her Radio Show from the United States the number is 1 (816) 251-3555