New release
A CD by Heidi Wyder
INDIA DREAMING can be ordered in our online shop.It features the voice of "Guruji" (Yogacharya Prakash Shankar Vyas) and the songs at the end of each chapter in Heidi Wyder's book Footsteps to Freedom: Four Spiritual Masters and a Beginner
The story of India Dreaming
Most of the songs on this album were written in India. It all started when I arrived in Varanasi with a round-the-world ticket in 1994 and decided to take a few yoga lessons.
I was introduced to "Guruji" (Yogacharya Prakash Shankar Vyas), and although he looked perfectly ordinary, the peace and love which I felt in his presence were indescribable and beautiful. As I have written in my book, it was only later that I learned Guruji was a householder Yogi who had been authorised to pass on the holy science of Kriya Yoga by Sri Satya Charan Lahiri (the grandson of Mahayogi Lahiri Mahasaya).
At that time, I knew almost nothing about yoga, let alone about Kriya. However, with hardly a word exchanged, by the end of one week of Hatha Yoga lessons with Guruji, it felt as if an elusive search was finally over for me.
Although I went on to Thailand, the desire to travel the world had lost its gloss whilst the path of yoga began to beckon. Guruji clearly already held the key to true peace and I wanted nothing more than to continue learning yoga and meditation under his guidance. As a result, I returned to India and ended up spending the best part of three winters in India.
My inner world, not to mention my focus in song writing, completely changed as a result of Kriya Yoga. Even the beginning of the journey provided endless amounts of fresh inspiration.
After I returned home, my energies in the direction of musical creativity were redirected for almost a decade whilst I worked on Footsteps to Freedom. The book took six years to write, and these were also the years of my early motherhood.
As creative expressions and markers on my own spiritual journey, I published the lyrics of twelve of the "India" songs now recorded on this album at the end of each chapter of Footsteps to Freedom. But the book felt incomplete, since lyrics are meant to be listened to, not just read.
Soon after writing "You are the One" (a bonus track on the album) at home in Switzerland in 2006, a catalytic year of moving countries began for our family - and it culminated with the long-cherished desire of an album to go with the book finally becoming reality in the summer of 2007.
It happened with incredible synchronicity, at a time when Guruji could be a part of the album.
It has been an extraordinary blessing, and the happy event of its release marks the start of a new life for our family in Australia.
Lyrics and music by Heidi Wyder ©
2007
Recorded & Produced in the UK by Earthdance Productions
www.earthdance.co.uk
The album can be ordered in our online shop