A Devotional Singing Meditation | Rooted in Bhakti Yoga | All Welcome
You don't need to be able to sing. You don't need to know what the words mean. You don't need to be spiritual in any particular way, or have any prior experience of yoga, mantra, or meditation.
You need only to come — and to be willing, for an hour or two, to open.
Kirtan is one of the oldest and most joyful practices in the yoga tradition. Rooted in Bhakti Yoga — the yoga of devotion, love, and compassion — it is at its heart a singing meditation: mantras offered, repeated, and received, in Sanskrit and in English, in a room full of people who have all arrived with the same simple willingness to let something in.
What happens in that space is difficult to fully describe in advance. But here is what people consistently report: somewhere in the middle of it, the busy mind — the one that plans and judges and narrates and worries — goes quiet. And in its place, something opens. A warmth. A lightness. A quality of peace and connection that feels both deeply personal and somehow larger than the self.
This is what Bhakti has always known: that the heart is the wisest part of us. And that the voice — offered without performance, without perfection, in the company of others — is one of the most direct routes there.
What kirtan actually looks and feels like
There is a lead musician who offers a line of mantra — a phrase, a name, a syllable of sacred meaning — and the room responds, repeating it back. This call and response builds gradually, the melody evolving, the energy in the room shifting in ways that are genuinely felt in the body. Some mantras are slow and meditative. Some build into something joyful and almost ecstatic before returning to stillness.
Throughout, you are free to participate in whatever way feels right to you in each moment. Sing — fully, quietly, or somewhere in between. Play percussion if it's offered. Move, if movement arises. Or simply sit, close your eyes, and let the sound wash over you like a sound bath made of voices.
There is no performance here. No one is listening to how you sound. The mantra is not about the quality of the voice — it is about the quality of the offering. And everyone's offering, in this space, is exactly right.
A note on the Sanskrit
The mantras are sung in both Sanskrit and English, and all words and their meanings are shared as you go. You do not need to know Sanskrit, to have studied yoga philosophy, or to hold any particular spiritual or religious belief. Kirtan is devotion in the broadest and most inclusive sense — a practice of opening the heart, whatever that means to you.
What you'll leave with:
A stillness and warmth in the heart that is immediately, unmistakably felt
A mind quieter than it has been all week — not through effort, but through song
A sense of connection — to yourself, to the people around you, and to something that feels larger and more nourishing than the ordinary pace of life
The particular joy that arrives when the voice is offered freely, without judgement
An experience of community that is genuinely unlike any other in the Flourish programme
This experience is for you if:
You are curious about kirtan or Bhakti yoga and want to experience it in a welcoming, accessible space
You want to move out of the mind and into the heart — and want music, mantra and community to take you there
You carry stress, disconnection, or heaviness and want something joyful and genuinely uplifting to meet it
You have never thought of yourself as someone who sings — and are ready to discover what happens when you do anyway
You simply want an evening of beauty, warmth, and the particular peace of being in a room full of open hearts
No experience of singing, Sanskrit, yoga, or meditation required. Come as you are. All are welcome.
📍 KINGDOM, Penshurst — nestled in the Kent countryside, easily reached from Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Edenbridge, Hildenborough and Tunbridge Wells. Guests travel from across Kent and South London for evenings like this.
🎟 Spaces are limited | Book at flourishwellness.co.uk
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
In the case of cancellation, refunds will be provided as credit to your Flourish Wellness account. We do not offer money refunds under any circumstances. Please read our terms and conditions before booking.