The Sound Approach
I Was Looking For Since 1997 Didn't Exist

Honestly, I developed the Heart of Sound training because it was what I was looking for my whole life, but never found. I studied music since I was 10 and went to India seeking "enlightenment" when I was 19…

Here's me, just before I shaved my head and went to the Himālayas and lived in an āśram in India for the first time in 1997. Where I met mantra and learned there was an approach to music that led to wholeness in the Divine (not the musical performance I had been trained in).

I spent 2 decades of my life and got myself into tens of thousands of dollars of debt, passionately trying to penetrate into a direct experience of the Divine!

I found teachers who held pieces of the Sanskrit, mantra, and nāda yoga puzzle, but no one who embodied the whole-being, embodied mystic approach that made my heart sing.

Forever grateful to those teachers (my music teacher Pandit Baldev Raj Verma, my Sanskrit teachers Swami Uttamananda and Dharma Widman) and many more.

Yet I found myself often disappointed, with the disjointed bits I was digesting. I'd go to classical music concerts almost every night during the Delhi winters and listen to musicians with incredible rāga skills, coated with a thick slather of performance ego. I'd go to āśrams and hear the inspiring philosophical talk, but when I observed the walk it was screeching with hypocrisy.

In 2014, at the urging of my teachers and mentors, and with their hearty blessings and support, I created the Heart of Sound.

So I started teaching from the role my mentors appointed me to — a bridge between the East and West — helping the global chant community identify blind spots of cultural appropriation and bring in greater reverence for tradition… while simultaneously trying to avoid the dogmatic approach that has turned GenZ Indians off of "tradition."

We're unwinding trauma, not unwittingly piling on more.

It's all centered around one thing: EMPOWERMENT.

I teach the sound and mantra skills so that you can penetrate to the heart of sound yourself, and unleash the cascade of benefits that a resonant sound body brings.

What our graduates say

"I knew the course was of great quality but if I am to be honest, it has already exceeded my expectations! :-) I started with the 200-hour course but have now opted for the 500-hour instead."  - George Gilmour, Retired Opera Singer and 500HR TT student, Australia

"I've done lots of online courses and I've never seen anything like the Heart of Sound 500hr teacher training! The quality and quantity is amazing. I have a lifetime of learning at my fingertips, and the regular schedule of live classes, practices gives me a real feeling of community." - Emma Flick, Musician, Mom, Retreat Center Owner/Chef, Australia

"This online training was the answer to my prayers. As a business owner who had to pivot online with four children at home during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, I jumped at the chance to attend! The structure helped me maintain a practice that grounded & nourished me even with the chaos of a busy household. (Truthfully, I sang the alphabet while washing dishes!) It was a balm to my soul, a source of inspiration... and as an Indian American, it provided much-needed connection with a modern, global family of mantra lovers!" - Marla Mangla Pelletier, Owner at InwardOffice.com, USA

"It was such a life-changing moment when I realized this training is everything I could have wished for (and then some 🙏)! I have really found it to work surprisingly well online. The practice has already changed my life in such deep ways, and I have no doubt that it will continue unfolding in both my internal and external life. I can't wait to share the therapeutic power of sound with my clients." - Avilou Sephoura Eveliina Søby, Therapist, Denmark

"The depth of the Heart of Sound practices really blew my mind. To have such a supportive course structure and community creates a phenomenally safe space. I have the tools I need to develop a practice to exist more mindfully in the world."- Jason Stotz, Dancer, USA

"You know you are in the presence of a great teacher when you feel every cell in your body resonate with joy. Anandra taught me to connect to that deep place and meet my true self for the first time. What I appreciate most about her teaching method is the quality level of the education, which is very rare to find within her field." -Zena El Khalil, Senior TED Fellow, Artist, and Peace Activist, Lebanon

Your Sound Healing Teacher Training Questions, Answered Plainly

Which part is online and which part is in person?

The whole core curriculum is online, self-paced — Sanskrit sounds anatomy, therapeutic mantra, Āyurvedic sound principles, vocal coaching, rāga-based kīrtan leadership, Tantrik philosophy. The retreat is the in-person half: group practice, chanting for the sheer joy of it, and trying your leadership skills out on each other. No foundational lectures or basic skills classes are taught during the retreat. That's deliberate — we used to cram a decade of learning into 12-hour days and it was cruel.

Retreats + Online Training is the BEST of BOTH worlds!

• comprehensive hybrid training that fits your life, your pace
• mentorship to help you get from where you are now, to where you want to go (whether that's singing for the first time, landing a mainstage festival gig, or recording your first album)
• gloriously rich archive of group practices and mantra research and songbooks and so much more
• real-life business coaching and global networking opportunities
• embody the transformative teachings at your own pace, not comparing yourself with anyone else.
• In-person retreats to chant and practice leadership skills with each other

Do I need to be able to sing?

No. Genuinely no. This training was developed by a musician, for non-musicians — and some of the people who get the most out of it arrive convinced they're tone deaf.

Do I need musical knowledge? Do I have to read notes? Are there exams?

No notes, no theory prerequisite. There are certification requirements and you'll be asked to demonstrate what you've learned — but nobody is graded on how pretty they sound. 

Do I need a harmonium?

No. About half our students have one. You don't need to own an instrument to begin.

Do I have to share a room?

No. Every retreat has a private-room or staying offsite option, and every retreat has an offsite list of places nearby that we can send you.

What if I can't get the time off work?

Start online now and come to a later retreat. The training doesn't expire and neither does your place in it.

I'm already in the middle of another course. Should I wait?

You don't have to. Buy now, start when you're ready — there's no clock and no cohort. Several of our students bought, dealt with a house move or a diagnosis, and picked up six months later exactly where they'd left off.

I've been thinking about going to India on my own. Why come with you instead?

A lot of people who love mantra are quietly planning a trip to India they haven't booked. The flights, the visa, the navigating, trying to work out from a website which school is the real thing and which will disappoint you. And for some of you there's a further calculation on top of that one, about travelling alone, that other people don't have to make.

I spent over a decade of my life doing exactly that, mostly the hard way. I have the relationships, I know the institutions, I know which doors open. So you don't have to work it out alone. You come with us.

I'm not from this culture. Is it appropriate for me to chant Sanskrit at all?

It's a real question, and a good one! Chanting mantra with reverence, accuracy, and an honest relationship to where it came from is not appropriation. Chanting it carelessly while claiming a lineage you don't have is a different matter. At the end of the training you'll have a personal relationship to mantra, with a throughline to lineage.

Who's actually in the room on retreat?

A mix of genders, and often women. A good spread of ages and nationalities — students from 65+ countries, including South Asian and diaspora students, in every cohort. If you're worried you'll be the only one like you there, ask us before you book and we'll tell you the truth about who's coming.

How long do I have to finish?

As long as we're in business. Some folks get their 200HR within 6 months, some take 3 years. We are happy this training flexes with your real life and it's ups and downs, so you have support and community throughout.

Are there payment plans?

YES! Payment plans are available usually up to 24 months if you require an extra long one. Be sure to read the fine print on payment issues and cancellation.

What about meals and dietary needs?

See Retreats for details per retreat. Mostly vegan and gluten free is our general preference, with some meals out so you can do as you please.

What are the dates?

See Retreats for schedule with Anandra. A limited number of contact hours towards your certification may also be done with our global community of graduates at their events! See Global Grad events for details.