Wednesday, February 3, 2016

A DAY OF WRITING AT GLENSTAL ABBEY
Murroe, Co. Limerick
With Eva O’Callaghan and Marsha Eger 
March 12, 2016
 9:30 am – 5:30 pm


FEEDBACK FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS
       “The workshop was excellent. The collective creativity was wonderful and a sense of safe and good boundaries was set in place.” 

 “I have not written for years. It was very satisfying and refreshing to have the opportunity to write again.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the spontaneity of the workshop. The prompts really worked. I couldn’t believe how the thoughts just flowed and I certainly didn’t expect to read out what I wrote, but I did!”                                                                                                                                

Please join Eva O’Callaghan, Certified Amherst writing facilitator and Marsha Eger, writer and teacher of chant and meditation, for a relaxed and fun day of writing in the beautiful and inspirational setting of Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, County Limerick.

This day will provide many opportunities to write and to explore your creative process. Any feedback or responses given to your writing will be about affirming what works; it is a day for strengthening confidence and writing voice and for exploring your writing goals. Critique is not part of the process of this workshop. No previous writing experience required.

COST: The cost for the writing day is 90 euro
This includes lunch, snacks and tea and coffee a full day of writing and other activities.

ENROLL: For information and to register for the day, please email Eva at eocalla@gmail.com or call at 087 2964356.          


GUEST HOUSE: If you would like to stay at Glenstal Abbey, call 061 621005 or email guestmaster@glenstal.com.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016


DEEPLY INTO SILENCE
A Restful and Restorative Retreat Day with 
Marsha Eger, International Teacher of Chanting Meditation

“A day of silence can be like a pilgrimage unto itself.” Hafiz

In this workshop, we will spend the day experiencing the lovely deep silence that is your true nature. It will be an opportunity for stepping out of your busy routine to deeply rest in the warmth of your own being.

WHEN: 2 April, 2016
WHERE: Glenstal Abbey
Murroe, Co. Limerick
TIME: 10:00 am to 4:30 pm
FEE: E85

BOOK YOUR SPACE TODAY: Email, Marsha Eger at chantingmeditation@yahoo.com
Additional information will be sent to registered participants.

“A day of Silence can help you listen to the Soul play it's marvelous lute and drum.” Hafiz

In the lovely and sacred setting of Glenstal Abbey we will explore the importance and power of silence from the perspective of world tradition and through the words of mystics and poets. Through the power of chant and meditation we will experience the lovely deep silence that is our true nature.

No previous experience with chanting or meditation is required nor do you need to have any special singing ability.
 
THIS IS NOT A SILENT RETREAT, but we will spend our time being more quiet than usual, being gentle with ourselves. If you are new to meditation, the chant will make it an easy entrance into the silence. If you have a previous experience with meditation, the experience will help you deepen your practice.



The day includes lunch and tea breaks. We will break at Noon for anyone wishing to attend Mass. This will be followed by lunch and at the end of the day we will have the opportunity to spend some time in the Icon Chapel. 

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Heart Wisdom Workshop, Transfiguration Monastery, Windsor, NY Saturday, February 13, 2016



HEART WISDOM
A chanting meditation workshop with
 Marsha Eger, MA Ritual Chant,
International Teacher of Chanting Meditation.

Life is demanding, in a way that often keeps us engaged in our heads and disconnected from our hearts. In this workshop we will take a break from our busy lives to reconnect with ourselves in a powerful way.

Through chant, meditation, poetry, and discussion, and informed by world traditions we will explore the qualities of our heart and see how its wisdom can guide and enrich our lives.

TIME: We will begin at 10:00 am and end at 3:00 pm with a break for Noon prayer, followed by lunch.

DATE: Saturday, February 13, 2016 

TIME: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

PLACE: Transfiguration Monastery, Windsor, New York

COST: $30 - $45 suggested donation including tea/coffee breaks and lunch

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION: If you would like to join us please respond to this post or call (607) 655-2366. Advanced sign up is necessary so we know how much food to buy and prepare. 

Deeply Into Gratitude - at the Sanctuary, Dublin Ireland, March 19 and 20, 2016

DEEPLY INTO GRATITUDE
A Special Two-Day Workshop at the Sanctuary, Dublin, Ireland
Registration is through the Sanctuary at www.sanctuary.ie or the link below



Key Features
  • 19th & 20th March 2016
  • 10am - 4pm
  • Cost: €130
  • 2-day mini retreat
  • Time out to explore gratitude through chanting and meditation
  • Learn the benefits of chanting and meditation
  • Discover how the intention of gratitude can help make us healthier and happier
Further details
With Marsha Eger, this 2-day workshop is a perfect break from the everyday busyness and stress of life.

Marsha will discuss the benefits of chanting and meditation and lead participants in chants from many of the world's spiritual traditions. Chanting will be followed by periods of quiet or meditation, so that participants can experience the power of a chanting meditation practice.

Throughout the day the focus of discussion, chants, poetry and prose, will be on gratitude as a way to enhance our spiritual lives and our way of being in the world. Science has proved that a practice of gratitude can make us healthier and happier, and all major religions have as a key tenet the importance of gratefulness as evident in scriptures, prayer and song. We will chant and meditate with an intention of gratitude.

Please bring a packed lunch. Tea and coffee provided.

Date: 19th & 20th March 2016
Time: 10am - 4pm
Cost: €130

Facilitator: For more information click the link below.
Why the Sanctuary
The Sanctuary, founded by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, is a meditation and mindfulness centre in the heart of Dublin City, where interior and exterior spaces have been carefully designed to promote stillness, awareness and access to nature. All Sanctuary facilitators are highly qualified teachers and experts in their field, and all materials, yoga mats, meditation cushions and stools are provided for you.

Situated near the Smithfield Luas stop.

- See more at: https://www.sanctuary.ie/product/deeply-into-gratitude-through-chanting-and-meditation-with-marsha-eger/?utm_source=Exploring+Creativity%2C+Discovering+Stillness&utm_campaign=Creativity+%26+Mindfulness+Jan+16&utm_medium=email#sthash.N8KSplkr.dpuf

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

ABOUT MARSHA EGER, INTERNATIONAL TEACHER OF CHANTING MEDITATION...UPDATE

Marsha Eger, a teacher of chanting meditation and spiritual inquiry, resides Ithaca, New York and has been practicing and teaching chanting and meditation for many years, most recently in Ireland, Australia, Poland, Ithaca and beyond. Since coming to Ithaca in 1997 she has been engaged in the spiritual community, leading chanting meditation and helping others access their own wisdom. She has studied with and attended workshops and retreats with some of the greatest spiritual teachers of our time. 

Now a teacher in her own right, Marsha's singing and writing talents, along with her own spiritual quest, have coalesced ultimately into her real passion: to help others find the love, joy, and self – nurturing that is available through the very joyous practice of chanting meditation. 

In 2010 Marsha left Ithaca to attend the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and to study for a MA in Ritual Chant. She graduated in January 2012 and remained in Ireland to reside, volunteer, to teach chant and meditation at Glenstal Abbey in Limerick County, Ireland, in Dublin at the Sanctuary and elsewhere. Her nearly three years residing in this very special monastic community, whose living tradition is Gregorian chant, gave, her a fdeepr understanding of the power of a daily chant practice to center us and keep us in a state of mindfulness and gratitude. Marsha’s own perspective is from a wider view of the chant of all world traditions. This is what she teaches and practices. 

In January 2012 she served as a key note speaker for an evening of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian chant at Western Ontario University’s Kings College, where for the first time these communities came together to share the beauty their chant tradition. Marsha’s thesis, A Study of Contemporary Chant Practice, looks at the chant of world traditions and their historic and spiritual influences of Eastern practice on Western Chant tradition practices in the postmodern era. She is currently expanding this work for publication. Marsha conducts workshops, chant sessions and does private work with individuals pursuing a deeper understanding of their journey and own intuitive abilities. She has composed many chants and conducts a number of theme-based workshops such as Deeply into Gratitude, Mindful Heart, Joyous Expression and more. All are based in the diversity of world traditions and include teaching her own chants as well. She is the author of Voice of My Soul, Wisdom from the Stillness, a book of poetry, ( found at http://www.amazon.com/Voice-My-Soul-Wisdom-Stillness/dp/1604941863/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452029705&sr=8-1&keywords=marsha+eger. She teaches in Ireland, Europe, Australia and the US. For a workshop or to request more information, contact Marsha at chantingmeditation@yahoo.com .


Marsha Eger is a writer, poet, composer, and most notably an international teacher of chanting and meditation. Her work takes her to Ireland, Poland, Spain, Australia and beyond and includes the facilitation of evening chant sessions, full and half day workshops, weekend retreats, lecturing and guiding of personal spiritual inquiry. Her focus is on helping people connect to their deeper selves, to find inner peace and their own Truth. Marsha teaches the chants of many world traditions as a way to enter meditation. Her way of teaching results in those with little or no experience with chanting and/or meditation easily experiencing the power of both. For those who have never experienced meditation, the chant helps to quickly quiet the mind. And those who have a practice find that Marsha’s way of teaching the chant and the experience itself deepens their meditation taking them more deeply into their own experience. 

“The chant helps to quickly quiet the mind, quickly replacing the chatter that in non-chanting meditation must dissipate over time. Those who have never previously sat in meditation find they can quickly enter the space, often after the first chant. “
Marsha also works in collaboration with others, including a recent Ageless Spirit workshop with Irish spiritual soprano and theologian, Noirin Ni Riain, a Breath of Life course with Niall Kelly, Alexander Technique Teacher, and she co-facilitates a yearly writer’s retreat at Glenstal Abbey with Eva O’Callaghan, certified writing teacher. 
In 2012 she was the keynote for an evening of ecumenical chant for the University of Western Ontario’s Kind College. Her remarks, grounded in her academic work, informed the audience of the chant traditions of each performing group, all from the Abrahamic faiths.

ABOUT HER APPROACH:
Marsha works with people of all ages, children, college students and adults and teaches the practice of chanting of world traditions as entrance to meditation or contemplative practice. Using easily accessible chants from all world traditions, she first teaches the chant, and after a short practice invites all in the circle to close their eyes and prepare to move inward. The chant is then sung over and over until it reaches its natural conclusion. What follows is a period of meditation or silence.

“The chants have a powerful effect to quiet our minds and still our bodies so we can rest deeply in ourselves.”

 Marsha’s approach is spiritual, rather than religious. It is cross-denominational, meaning she teaches chants from many traditions and those she has composed herself, all with universal themes or intention such as inner and world peace, love and gratitude. The chant repertoire used includes chants from artists Robert Gass and Deva Premal, and are from such traditions as Hinduism and Buddhism: Sri Ram and Om Shanti  Om. There are Native American chants as Shima and Ancient Mother; Jewish chants including a  simple Shma chant, Shma, listen, hear, be still , a Shalom chant or a Hassidic Niggum (wordless chant; a  Taize or Gregorian chants such as Dona Nobis(bring us peace); and special chants for walking meditation with words by Rumi and more.

Most important: no special singing ability of prior experience with meditation is required. Those who have never meditated before will find the chanting quickly quiets the mind and making entrance into meditation easier for beginners. And for those who have a practice, the chanting helps to deepen the meditative state.

OTHER WORK
Marsha works personally with clients teaching chant and meditation and using it as an avenue for spiritual inquiry work for such work as aligning purpose and passion with a client’s work in the world. She uses this approach to help individuals do deep discernment work on personal and life issues by guiding individuals to tap into their intuitive self.

 EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC WORK
Marsha studied at the University of Limerick, receiving and MA in Ritual Chant from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Her thesis, The Study of Contemporary Chant Practice, contextualizes the chant practice of major traditions and traces the history of the influences Eastern chant and meditation practice on Western traditions beginning from the first Columbian Exposition in 1893 through present times. Her own work draws on her academic work. She most often introduces a particular chant by sharing information about the history and importance of chant within a tradition. Her work is also greatly influenced by her personal practice of chanting meditation, which then allows her to share that experience and the resulting wisdom through the workshop content, her writing, poetry, chant compositions and more. 

HER WRITING
In 2008 Marsha’s first volume of poetry, Voice of My Soul: Wisdom from the Stillness, was published by Wheatmark in the United States. It can be found on Amazon.com. She is working on a second volume and a CD of original chant compositions. She continues to share her insights through a Weekly Wisdom post to email subscribers. She has written extensively on her blog, http://marshaeger.blogspot.com about chant and other spiritual subjects. She is also a freelance writer.

A FEW TESTIMONIALS
“I was scared to join your class as I am one of the worst singers in the entire universe!:) The introduction to different chants from many cultures was brilliant. It was an added bonus to hear you chant with us, this for me was one of the highlights of the day. I think of your workshop often, it grounds me to remember what you showed us, what it feels like to be really connected to yourself and therefore connected to a pure source of goodness. It was a really great class, thank you!” S.W. Limerick

“The chant workshop was a great experience - the meditiation, the music,
the little window it gave onto world religions through their sacred music.
It was fascinating to realise that each chant can bring you to experience a different kind of meditative state.” T.R., Co. Clare

“Great opportunity for voice work in a safe space. All levels of
ability were welcome and accepted: we all seemed to be able to tune in our own level
so everybody got different things out of it the singing.”
I would definitely recommend it. Eva C., Dublin

“The “chanting meditation” workshop is the journey through chants from different cultures, in which we can experience the power and joy of singing independently from our music background. We can discover how this simple tool, and the vibration of our voice, can change our breath and thoughts, bringing the harmony both to our body and mind.
In this work there are no “wrong tones” and specially for those who always wanted to sing but never tried this session it is the great opportunity to let the voice come out. And for those, who already sing, it is the occasion to touch chanting from a little different side – as the way of meditation and healing.
The warm, gentle presence of Marsha, her true love for chants as well as her wish to share this passion with others is bringing for this work the unique, friendly atmosphere in which everyone can express herself and find valuable elements what we can incorporate to our daily singing and meditating practice. “
   Izabela MÅ‚ynarz. Wroclaw, Poland


SANCTUARY, DUBLIN
General Rating:       5 Star
Comments:
  • This is my second workshop with Marsha.  She is an excellent teacher and I find her workshops both inspiring and healing. I love participating in  her workshops and get so much out of  them.
  • Absolutely brilliant healing and enjoyable day, wonderful really.
  • Food for the Soul
  • Wonderful course for anyone who is new to meditation and understand about gratitude in their life.
  •  Very helpful re the idea of a gratitude journal and self compassion.
  • Thank you Marsha for your kindness and understanding, for sharing your yummy lunch.
  • Wonderful, she is a beautiful person, very knowledgeable, lovely day.
  • Wonderful relaxing special day, I am grateful for this day.


Sunday, November 15, 2015

HARMONY: A PRAYER FOR FRANCE, BEIRUT AND THE WORLD, A VISUALIZATION FOR PEACE



    As our prayers go out to the people of Paris, indeed to the world, I would like to share this meditation which came to me a few days after the events of 9/11. We need to redouble our efforts and not let fear over come us. In stead may we be filled with compassion for all who suffer at the hands of terrorists, I hope the world community can find a way to come together to put a stop to these horrific acts and that all people can feel welcome and safe anywhere in the world. In the meantime we can try to create a vision of what we want and concentrate on that, remembering that we are all world citizens. We are one.

Harmony
A Visualization for Peace

Visualize harmony ~ visualize it everywhere.
See a softening of the earth’s atmosphere,
how it floats and gently falls to earth,
embracing all inhabitants
with a luminescent light that quivers and shimmers
like moonlight on the water.
See the entire earth and all that inhabit it,
breathing easily and gently as One.
It’s a quiet, easy, loving breath.
Just keep on breathing.
Now see the trees in the forests,
the grasses of the meadows, the mountains,
deserts, and all the creatures.
All species are singing a new song.
They are singing it together.
There is a new order.
One of gentleness, effortless ease.
You can feel it.
It is everywhere you turn.
It is harmony.

Everywhere and in everything there is a new order,
a settling of the dust.
Life has become quiet.
Life has become profoundly meaningful.
Everything is lighter.
Everything is easier than it has ever been before.
It is easier to breathe.
It is easier to smile.
It is easier to move.
It is easier to love.
There is a restored simplicity.
There is a restored gentleness.
There is a new world order.
It is harmony.
Visualize this and keep on visualizing this,
until it is so.

By Marsha Eger
Voice of My Soul: Wisdom from the Stillness (2008)

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

JOYOUS EXPRESSION, A CHANTING MEDITATION EVENING IN CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA



JOYFUL EXPRESSION

AN EVENING OF CHANTING MEDITATION
WITH MARSHA EGER, MA Ritual Chant, International Teacher of Chanting Meditation


An evening devoted to connecting to our reservoir of inner peace and to our hearts.
Our lives are busy and the world is a noisy place. We are often so distracted by the demands of our lives and so focused on doing, that we don’t know how to be still, to connect with our hearts. This is what our bodies and minds truly want. This is what our spirit demands. Through the singing of chants from many of the world’s traditions followed by meditation we will leave our frenetic lives, responsibilities and technology behind, and to learn to reconnect with our reservoir of inner peace an...d with our deepest selves.

No special singing ability or experience with meditation required.

WHEN: Saturday, November 7, 2015
TIME: 6:30 –8:30 pm
LOCATION: Hera Hub Carlsbad
5205 Avenida Encinas, Suite A Carlsbad, CA 92008
http://herahub.com/carlsbad/
COST: $15.00-$25.00 (suggested donation)
For questions: chantingmeditation@yahoo.com

Please join international teacher of chanting meditation, Marsha Eger for an experience of deep stillness in the midst of your busy week. This evening session will provide an opportunity for you to slow down as we embark on a gentle journey to a more peaceful center.
Sponsored by TransitionsEase
Counseling and Therapy

AGELESS SPIRIT ... AN IMPORTANT WORKSHOP, OCT. 24, 2015 AT TRANSFIGURATION MONASTERY, WINDSOR, NY





AGELESS SPIRIT

AN INVITATION FROM THE BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF TRANSFIGURATION MONASTERY IN WINDSOR, NEW YORK

Please join us for “Ageless Spirit". This important workshop will be held on Saturday, October 24. Marsha Eger, poet and specialist in sacred chant, will guide us in an interfaith day of recollection on the joys and challenges that come with the accumulation of a large number of birthdays. Marsha Eger, who lives near Ithaca, NY, has given many such workshops at Glenstal Abbey in Ireland, Europe, Australia, as well as in the U.S.

During the day we will explore the paradigms around aging and what it means to be an ageless spirit. Through discussion, poetry, presentation, song and silence, we will spend the day looking at what we want our older years to look like and how we might make them the be...st years of our life. The different spiritual traditions will inform discussion and the work we do during the day.

Timetable: We will begin at 10:00 am and break for Noon prayer(optional), followed by lunch,

TIME: 10 - 3:00 pm ( please arrive by 9:45 am)
PLACE: Transfiguration Monastery
SUGGESTED DONATIION: $25 - $40 to include snacks and lunch. The proceeds will in part benefit the monastery.

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION:
If you would like to join us, please respond to this post or call the monastery at 607-655-2366. You must RSVP since the sisters will be preparing lunch and we will need to know numbers. THANKYOU!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

BREATHE, CHANT,LOVE: Three October Evenings at the Treman Center, Ithaca, NY

BREATHE,CHANT,LOVE

OCTOBER 7, 14, 21, 2015


Take a mid-week break to deepen the contemplative experience of your life 
through the combined practices of gentle yoga and chanting meditation.



Our lives are busy and the world is a noisy place in which to reside. We often are so distracted by the demands of our lives and so focused on doing, that we don’t know how to be still, to connect with our hearts. This is what our bodies and minds truly want. This is what our spirits demand. Through gentle yoga, chanting and meditation we will leave our frenetic lives, responsibilities and technology behind, and to reconnect with our deepest selves.  Please join international teacher of chanting meditation, Marsha Eger and gentle yoga instructor Carol Minton Morris for an experience of deep stillness in the midst of your busy week. Sessions are set mid-week to offer participants an opportunity to slow down as we embark on a gentle journey to a more peaceful center.

When: Wednesdays: Oct. 7; Oct. 14; Oct. 21 (attend one or all three)
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Where: The beautiful Treman Center, 95 Hines Road, Newfield, NY (http://tremancenter.com)
How much: $10.00-$15.00 suggested donation per session
RSVP to: Marsha Eger at chantingmeditation@yahoo.com or 607 592-2465

No previous experience with chant, meditation, yoga or special equipment is required, nor do participants need to have any special singing ability.

About your teachers:

Marsha Eger is an international teacher of chant and meditation and holds an MA in Ritual Chant from the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. She has been studying and practicing chant and meditation for over 20 years, and since 2011 she has been leading a variety of workshops and chant sessions in Ireland, Australia, Europe and here in the US. She teaches chants from many world traditions as an entry into 
stillness or meditation.

Carol Minton Morris began the practice of yoga 15 years ago, and has studied techniques and philosophy with Megha Buttenheim, Yoganand Michael Carroll, Deepak Chopra, Stephen Cope, Sudha Carolyn Lundeen, Archaya PremShakti, Steven Valloney and David Williams. She is a certified Yoga Alliance 200-hour Kripalu teacher. 

About the Treman Center
The Treman Center is a transformational gathering place where enchanting environments form interior and exterior spaces that represent the shared vision of husband-and-wife team Kevin Reilly, stonemason, artist and builder, and Leslie Reilly Carrère, artist, designer, ecologist, and curator. More information is available here: The Treman Center: Ithaca, New York

Wednesday, August 5, 2015


MINDFUL HEART

A WEEKEND CHANTING MEDITATION WORKSHOP WITH Marsha Eger, MA Ritual Chant and International Teacher of Chanting Meditation


We are taught to live mindfully, but what about “heart - fully”? What good is mindfulness if it is not deeply connected to our heart and what good is following our hearts unless we do so in a conscious way? Should not all mindfulness have as its underlying paradigm, heartfulness? 


In this weekend workshop we will explore mindfulness and heartfulness, and how we can connect the two. Through discussion, readings, chants from world traditions, meditation, poetry, prose, and more, we will explore our compassionate, kind and loving hearts as a driver and a measure of our mindful actions and decisions and our manner of being in the world. In this way we will balance our mind with our heart.


PLACE: Foundation of Light, 391 Turkey Hill Road, Ithaca, New York


DATES: Friday, September 18, 7-9 pm and Saturday, September 19. 10:00 – 4:30 p.m.   NOTE: On Saturday, please bring your own lunch. Coffee/tea/desserts will be provided.


DONATION: $65-80 for two days. (A portion will be donated to the Foundation of Light.)


REGISTRATION: For questions and to enroll, please call Marsha at 607-592-2465 or email: chantingmeditation@yahoo.com or for the Foundation of Light: (607) 273-9550 email: info@folithaca.org 

Marsha has just returned from a summer workshop tour in Australia and Ireland. She resides in Ithaca and travels domestically and internationally conducting workshops, chant sessions and concerts, as well as facilitating deep spiritual inquiry with individuals and small groups.