Sacred Sanskrit Sounds

Forever Elevate Your Experience of Mantra!


A 7-module deep-dive online course with Anandra George, internationally respected teacher, musician and Heart of Sound founder.

Do you LOVE mantra, but feel unsure if you're pronouncing the Sanskrit correctly?

Have you been waiting for a course that's juicy, embodied, fun, and easy? THIS IS IT!

 

This 7-module online course takes you on an in-depth exploration of the 50 Sanskrit vibrations in an embodied, sensual approach developed by Anandra George, internationally respected teacher, musician, and founder of the Heart of Sound teacher training.

DISMISS MESSAGE

"I’ve been chanting mantras for 25 years and I can’t believe that no one ever taught me this! After only the first lesson on the 5 positions my experience changed RADICALLY. Becoming a Sanskrit scholar never attracted me but chanting is my deepest love, my life’s anchor… Anandra’s teaching is brilliant and is exactly what I’ve been waiting for all these years!"

Julie, Australia
Sanskrit Online Course Student

About Anandra

Anandra has studied in India extensively since 1997 and shares Sanskrit sounds, mantra meditation, and Indian music with global audiences at the behest of her beloved gurus.

After chanting Sanskrit mantra with devotion but *no precise tuning* for 13 years, finally someone told her! After the initial sting of shock and embarrassment, she focused her passion and dove into re-learning Sanskrit sound vibrations from a Tantrik perspective...as perhaps only a chant lover could. Part intimately devotional singer, part nerdy perfectionist, and part compassionate teacher, Anandra is in a unique position to help you embody the full potential of your mantra practice.

She created the Heart of Sound, the world’s first yoga teacher training based entirely on the transformative power of sound. She also founded the Sacred Sound Stage at the prestigious International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh (India), as well as the global Mantras for Peace subtle activism project. She has taught and sung at the world’s largest yoga festivals, and has been featured in Hindi, Russian, Japanese, German, and English press for her pioneering work with sound and mantra.

Anandra is based in both India and Hawai'i and has helped tens of thousands of students from more than 100 countries connect to the transformational power of sound and mantra since 2009.

"Anandra's mantra chanting goes straight to the heart. She is one of those rare souls who has the "Divine Touch" when she shares the essence of the great Indian yogic tradition. She is a bridge to share the blessings of the holy Ganges and Himālayas with the whole world."

Pujya Swamiji Cidanand Saraswati
Global Spiritual Leader and Head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh

This One of a Kind Course Includes:

  • 20+ hours of video teaching with Anandra, a mix of live classroom teacher training footage and recordings made just for you
  • A 55-page PDF handbook of Alphabet charts, diagrams, pronunciation notes, transliteration tips, mantra reference guide, and much more
  • Guided chanting practice Mp3s  you can listen to anywhere and practice on your phone, on your commute
  • 20+ Mantra Mp3s with slow, exaggerated pronunciation designed for absolute beginners (and inaccurately trained mantra chanters!) to help you train/retrain your ear and your tongue
  • Step-by-step, call-and-response practice checklists that instill good habits and prepare you to chant with confidence
  • LIVE 1-on-1, troubleshooting, and refinement from Anandra during regular online feedback sessions
  • Empathy strategies for processing your newfound knowledge in a global community wherein cultural appropriation is mainstream, and most chant leaders don't know what they don't know! ;)
  • Every answer to every question Anandra has received in 10 years of teaching Sanskrit pronunciation to chant lovers around the globe, woven into the curriculum
  • Mobile app or computer course access for your convenience
  • Paying it forward investment of course proceeds into perpetuating Indian culture for future generations
 

Created by a chant lover FOR chant lovers!

SANSKRIT SOUNDS 7-MODULE COURSE START SANSKRIT 101 NOW! SANSKRIT SOUNDS FOR TRAINERS

"Having studied Sanskrit at the tertiary level, I was craving the connection and vitality I knew was possible from mantra but which is missing in the more intellectual, academic approach that a university framework requires. Anandra's careful practice instruction allowed me to access and become intimate with the vibration of the sounds within myself and to embody the sonic foundation of this magical language. It is nourishment for my soul! I was also really impressed with her knowledge, her commitment to authenticity in sharing that knowledge, and her transparency about its limitations."

Yolanda French
Graduate, Sydney University, E-RYT 200, YACEP

You've Never Felt Sanskrit Like This Before!

Why is this course special? Anandra speaks about the sensual experience of chanting and how it helps us commune with the elements of creation.

 

"My God! This course is incredible! If I was not already interested in Sanskrit I’d be signing up in 3 seconds. Very practical. Beautiful. As a teacher of Sanskrit for 20 years, I feel deeply gratified that my student [Anandra] has fulfilled a wish I've had for a long time: to create a great online course."

Dharma Widmann
Sanskrit Teacher, American Sanskrit Institute

Course Outline

This 7-module online course takes you on an in-depth exploration of the 50 Sanskrit vibrations in an embodied, sensual approach. Then we learn how to chant with the prescribed "Vedic" melody, using a curriculum that even total music beginners can enjoy!

Module 1
Vowels: Coming Alive with Resonance

Experiencing the 5 primary vowel sounds in your own body is the first step towards revealing any mantra’s full potency, understanding the brilliant sonic architecture of creation, and is the crucial prerequisite to accurate pronunciation.

  • Explore the fundamental anatomy of mantra through precise sound production in 5 mouth positions.
  • Feel each sound come alive through Anandra’s animated storytelling embedded with the liberating gems of Kashmiri Shaivism Tantrik non-dual philosophy. 
  • Embed the structure of the Sanskrit transliteration system into your mind and body through novel visual-auditory-kinesthetic learning techniques.
  • This Module will make accurate pronunciation of the rest of the alphabet (and indeed any Sanskrit word) easy to implement in the future.

Module 2
Consonants: Grounding Consciousness into Form

Train your tongue and breath into a coordinated enunciation of Sanskrit’s refined beauty as you learn the formula for making the precise sounds of Sanskrit’s 25 consonants.

  • Practice with special techniques proven to quickly make a demonstrable difference in your chanting quality.
  • Explore the connection between each sound and its function as an elemental form.
  • Learn how to easily spot accurate Sanskrit resources from the proliferation of inaccurate material available today.
  • Using the precisely controlled breath of Sanskrit letters, stoke the fire of your mantra chanting love to transform dullness, stagnation, and vague yearning into brilliant, overflowing, resonant fullness.

Module 3
Semi-vowels & Sibilants: Tantrik Playgrounds

Learn the remaining alphabet sounds and their special transliteration marks in the most widely-used system.

  • Weave your direct experience of these titillating subtle sounds into a joy-based approach to your chanting practice.
  • Explore the radically liberating concept of “Concealing and Revealing Grace” from Kashmiri Shaivism, and the surprising invitation to discard notions of shame, guilt, and sin that these sounds provide (if used consciously).
  • Learn the simple explanation to the most common pronunciation confusions inside and outside of India (based on Anandra’s two decades of living and teaching in India).

Module 4
Four Way Alphabet Embodiment

A Step-by-Step, Call-and-Response Review
  • Practice your alphabet chanting with Anandra in a slow, sweet, and steady savoring of each sound.
  • Apply your new knowledge of mantra fundamentals with each sound’s precise effect on your physical and metaphysical bodies.
  • Learn and experience 4 different approaches to meditating with the 50 Sanskrit sounds: 50 petals on the cakras, 50 points mapped onto your physical body, and as both “revealing” and “concealing” grace.
  • Get crucial reflection on your sound production early on, with our scheduled live calls and buddy practice sessions following our specific checklist of listening/feedback points.

"I was never good at languages, but my brain seems to resonate with Sanskrit. I can almost feel the new neural pathways growing! I certainly feel the effects of correctly pronouncing the mantras in my body, soul and mind."

James, Canada
Sanskrit Online Course Student

Module 5 
#Empowerment: Your Mantra Repertoire, Revealed!

If you were excited before, this module is where the full potential transformation of your sound-based practice comes alive! 

  • Learn how to read the Sanskrit transliteration marks so you can sound closer to a native on EVERY Sanskrit word in the future.
  • Delight as we connect the dots between your new reading skills and your new chanting precision!
  • Apply your knowledge to (rare-to find!) properly transliterated Sanskrit mantras in the manual.
  • Use step-by-step proven practice techniques that make learning (or re-learning) fun and accessible for people from any language background. (Anandra has taught this to people from 100+ countries and the method works consistently!)
  • Learn to listen for and avoid the top 3 most ubiquitous mantra chanting blunders (which most non-Indian kīrtan recording artists and international yoga teacher trainers don’t know)
  • Learn how to spot accurate Sanskrit resources in books and online (they’re rarer than you’d think!)
  • Engage the course community for buddy practice sessions and attend 1-on-1 sessions with Anandra who is passionate about help people enliven their mantra repertoire!
  • After completing the written and audio homework, quizzes, and group + buddy practice assignments, schedule your 15-minute 1-on-1 feedback session. (Yes, we’re VERY thorough and serious about your end results in this program!).

Module 6
The Musical Dimension of Mantra

Catapult your personal chant experience into heightened bliss as we layer on the musical skills. Our approach, developed and tested over 5 years of Heart of Sound teacher trainings, is easy enough for total non-musicians to painlessly implement!

  • Learn how to set a drone for your chanting using your choice of instruments or technology
  • Learn to read, sing, and play the traditional “Vedic” style pitch marks in your favorite mantras from the handbook on a harmonium or keyboard. (No physical instruments required if you have a smartphone or tablet.)
  • Listen for the most common musical mistakes that chant artists make in rendering Sanskrit mantras. (This is an absolute must for singers, songwriters, recording artists, and touring musicians who use mantra lyrics!)
  • Apply these basic chant leadership techniques in a variety of environments (informal chant circles, yoga studios, festivals, etc.)
  • Whether you're learning solely for your own enjoyment, or you have a deep wish to serve others through mantra, this module will give you the foundational skills for a well-rounded chant practice!

Module 7
The Global Chant Renaissance

Join us in promoting the profound benefits of chanting while maintaining authenticity and respect for the source culture.

  • Explore effective strategies for continuing to refine your profound new skills amidst chant communities that mostly don’t know what they don’t know
  • Empathize with yourself and others in a proactive, non-judgmental way that encourages you to be a cheerleader for the transformational benefits of sonic refinement rather than the “Sanskrit Police”
  • Consider ethics, humility, and integrity with sharing your newfound foundational skills in clear context of the wondrous infinity that is true mastery of mantra and sacred sound
  • Brainstorm strategies to uplift those who may consciously or unconsciously be using spiritual bypassing and gaslighting techniques to defend their ignorance about cultural appropriation in the global chant community.
  • Take your implementation to the next level with resources on how to type in transliterated Sanskrit, and other practical skills.

ADD-ON BONUS
Optional Teaching Training Certification 

  • If you’d like a certificate of completion for this course and/or the option to claim continuing education credits towards your professional credentials via Yoga Alliance and/or the International Association of Yoga Therapists, you may purchase a one-on-one practicum testing option. 

I wish someone would have told me earlier!

I have an unfortunate-for-me 13 year mantra practice history before I learned Sanskrit, which is now totally fortunate-for-you. #yourewelcome

 

Had your own "Mantra Oh S*#T Moment" yet!?
Ready to be 🤯 and set your chanting on 🔥?

SANSKRIT SOUNDS 7-MODULE COURSE START SANSKRIT 101 NOW! SANSKRIT SOUNDS FOR TRAINERS

"Wow...just listened to a (former) favorite kīrtan artist...first time since starting this course and...MIND BLOWN. In the past I did have a pretty good ear from being Indian-American, but now being able to pick out the exact letters being mispronounced is a GIFT!"

Marla Mangla Pelletier
Owner at InwardOffice.com

Want a peek at the Training Manual?

Our 55 page course handbook is eager to be your new chant practice BFF! See below:

Take a look inside the actual course!

4 Course Options

Most people choose the long-awaited, much-requested full online course for their own development... but if you want to be able to teach these skills in your own professional sphere, you'll want the certification!

ONE TIME PAYMENT

$497

Course Includes:

  • 20+ hours of video teaching with Anandra, 
  • A 55-page PDF handbook 
  • Guided chanting practice Mp3s  
  • Step-by-step, call-and-response practice checklists 
  • LIVE 1-on-1 skills check with Anandra  
  • And so much more
BUY FULL COURSE

ONE TIME PAYMENT

$697

Course Includes:

  • All of the same information as the full course 
  • A 55-page PDF handbook 
  • LIVE 1-on-1 skills check with Anandra  
  • LIVE 1-on-1 test for certification with Anandra
  • 40 Hours YACEP credits
GET CERTIFIED

ONE TIME PAYMENT

$199

Not ready for the full course?

The Sanskrit Mantra 101 Mini-Course Includes:

  • 5 hours of video teaching with Anandra (hybrid LIVE + self-study)
  • 10 page PDF handbook 
  • Guided chanting call-and-response practice Mp3s  
  • Step-by-step practice checklist

When you fall in love with our approach, you can upgrade later to the full course to develop your mantra chanting, harmonium, and leadership skills!

BUY INTRO COURSE

FOR 10+ TRAINEES

$99

An outsourcing solution for any training that includes a Sanskrit mantra component, designed to complement your existing curriculum!

  • Fully online options start at $99/student for 10+ students.
  • In-person options start at $350 (delivered by Anandra or 500HR Heart of Sound grads)
  • Hybrid online + in person options negotiable.
LEARN MORE

Sanskrit Pronunciation Challenge: Pop Quiz!

Do you need to watch this 7-min video? Take the quiz in the first few seconds, and find out! See if you can answer correctly! And watch it all the way through for some juicy (funny!) bits from my Bhaktifest mantra class in 2010. I made this video 14 years ago (wasn't I cute!?), yet sadly most mantra chanters STILL don't know what they don't know!

Current & Aspiring Teachers

Continuing Education: If you're a Yoga Alliance registered teacher, this online course is eligible for 40 hours of continuing education. Select the "Certification" option (above) if you'd like to receive credit.

200/500HR TT Included: This course is part of the core curriculum for our most popular advanced sound & mantra teacher training course!

200/300/500HR SOUND & MANTRA TEACHER TRAINING

How it Works

  • Enroll and get immediate access to the materials.
  • Go through the online course materials at your own pace.
  • Connect in the community to meet others doing the same course, share your insights, and ask your personal questions.
  • Hop on regular LIVE 1-on-1 call times with Anandra.

Your Commitment

  • To watch the primary teaching videos
  • Do the step-by-step Sanskrit alphabet chanting practices
  • Practice with a buddy on the course and/or in the LIVE 1-on-1 calls.
  • Utilize the wealth of video, audio, written, and teaching support materials however it suits you!

Guarantee

  • After you've successfully completed the full course, if you do not feel a profound shift in your chant practice, we'll happily give you a full refund.
  • In Anandra's 10 years of teaching Sanskrit pronunciation to non-Indians, only those who don't do the practices as instructed don't feel the benefits, so the guarantee only applies if you fully participate in the course.
  • Simply schedule a meeting with one of our Heart of Sound team and let us know about your experience.

Need a Payment Plan or Deferred Payment?

For the full course and certification options, we've got you covered! Remember, proceeds get cycled back into perpetuating Indian traditional practices for future generations. If you also wish to defer your first payment for a few months until the economy gets going, contact us.

Need a Scholarship?

People from countries with undervalued currency (i.e. Nigeria, Indonesia, Panama), or from historically underprivileged backgrounds, are encouraged to apply for full or partial scholarships.

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you are registered and have paid for the course and at any time during your participation in the course, there are no refunds given. 

No. Anyone and everyone is welcome to experience this practice with no prior mantra or Sanskrit knowledge necessary.

If you're just starting off with mantra, congratulations! This course gives you a solid, practical foundation for igniting the potential of your practice from the start.

If you (like Anandra) have had a long history with mantra, congratulations! This course will re-train your ear and tongue so you can access a profoundly new level of depth in your practice.

Either way, we're so excited to help you tune your chant practice to its full potential!

You'll have access to the course materials for as long as the Heart of Sound is in business = years and years to come.

We'd say "lifetime access" but that seems like too long to promise! ;) LOL!

No. This is not a 40-day mantra practice group. Please visit our course page to sign up for one of those.

However, this Sacred Sanskrit Sounds online course IS part of the online teacher training, and has been a pre-requisite to our in-person teacher training.

If interested in joining the teacher training, this will be a great preparation for you.

This is a bonus feature for those who are Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT) with Yoga Alliance. Once you've completed the course you can login to your YA account, search for the course in their registry, and add the course and your hours. Once Heart of Sound has received a confirmation request, we can confirm your CE hours. 

We offer regular online Sanskrit Skills Sessions and 1-on-1 sessions for students of this course. These sessions are usually with Anandra and are an opportunity for invaluable live feedback and skill support! Students will be invited by email to upcoming sessions.

If you're eager to help the global chant community uplevel their skills and demonstrate maximal integrity and respect for the source tradition, YIPEE!!

Join the Partner Program and help us help get this training (designed for chant lovers, by a chant lover) to more influencers.

WIN - WIN - WIN - WIN ! ! !
You earn a bit of $, your friends get a profound upgrade in their chant experience, proceeds go towards perpetuating Indian culture in India, and the mantric vibrations resound with maximum effect!

Our dream:
Everyone who is chanting, singing, or recording Sanskrit mantra, kīrtan devotional songs, or speaking Sanskrit vocabulary words at least knows how to chant the Sanskrit alphabet, produce the sounds accurately, and identify accurately transliterated resources.

That's the least we can do to help perpetuate the precise vibrations of the great mantra tradition!

Yes, most likely.

You'll want to double-check with your tax preparer, but if you are in the wellness industry this course would probably be considered continuing education for professional development and be 100% deductible.

Since Anandra started teaching mantra globally in 2009, she has been living extensively in India. When profits exceed expenses, funds have been used to directly support numerous educational and social service projects in India. The Heart of Sound teacher training was also designed as an instrument to perpetuate legacy: it supports her music Guruji and his senior students to continue their musical tradition (both financially and via new student referrals).

After factoring in annual basic business expenses and modest admin + teaching salaries, our end-of-year statement usually works out to show a very small profit. (For instance, in 2019, it was $7,329.). However, we're grateful we've been able to continue to serve due to a combination of frugal management, barter, and extensive volunteer support.

Our hope is that the new online era of teaching will enable us to share the sound-based practices with more students worldwide and increase our ability to offer more scholarships as well as grow our service projects like Mantras for Peace and the Sacred Sound Stage. (To get involved, contact [email protected] to volunteer)

In each course, there's a Pay it Forward section where you can go to find out more about the specific India service projects.

If you'd feel safer to have more detailed financial transparency, you're welcome to contact us.

Please email [email protected] for any other questions.

Siddhi Śakti, a mantra teacher from Australia, says:

"Anandra's teachings on how to make the Sanskrit sounds have revolutionized my chanting practice! I am one of those many chant lovers who didn't know what I didn't know... but after learning the alphabet sounds with her Tantrik approach, the mantras I loved dearly before have come alive in profoundly awesome new ways!"

Before you go... Do you know the Top 3 Sanskrit Blunders?

Do you know the mistakes that almost every (non-Indian) kīrtan leader, recording artist, and yogāsana teacher make with mantra?

These easily corrected mistakes dull the mantra's potential and signal an embarrassing degree of cultural ignorance. (I should know... I did it myself for 13 years, and I LIVED IN INDIA!)

First of all, let me clarify that refining our Sanskrit pronunciation is not about becoming the Sanskrit police... it's about setting your chanting practice on fire!

Avoiding the yuck factor of cultural appropriation by respecting the language is also a healing side effect, and is a worthy motivation to stop perpetuating our blunders.

The one sure way to both:
- maximize the resonant potential
of your personal practice, and
- reverently align with the lineage transmission
of the ancient mantras
is to tune up your Sanskrit sounds!

I've prepared a cheatsheet on the Top 3 Sanskrit Blunders just for you. I wish someone would have told me before I memorized hundreds of mantras incorrectly and started teaching publicly! From my heart to yours, I'd like you to at least know what you don't know!

GET TOP 3 SANSKRIT BLUNDERS PDF

Acknowledgements:

  • Dharma Widmann, for teaching me how to read and write Devanāgarī, and for exemplifying the extraordinary Yoga Sūtra-based teaching methods of his own teacher, Vyās Houston of the American Sanskrit Institute.
  • Svāmī Uttamānanda (at right), for finding me sitting by the Ganges struggling to read a chant book in Devanāgari in 2009, and offering to sit with me every afternoon in the temple to teach me patiently, carefully, and strictly until I got it.
  • Thomas Ashley Farrand, for humbly acknowledging his lack of Sanskrit knowledge and giving me his blessings to bring the refinement of Sanskrit sounds to the next generation of mantra lovers in the West.
  • Vivek Kumar, who provided invaluable help to the transliteration and word-by-word translation in the handout manual, and is always quick to answer my questions.
  • Our Heart of Sound global family for helping craft the teaching methods that work, and editing, proofreading, formatting and much more.
  • To the hundreds of students who have sent in wonderful reviews and testimonials that I couldn't include here.
  • To the innumerable priests and Himālayan bābās I've chanted with, sung with, and learned from in temples and caves over the decades!

Close

Sacred Sanskrit Sounds Scholarship Application

We invite you to apply for a full or partial scholarship If you come from a country with undervalued currency (i.e. Nigeria, Indonesia, Panama), or from historically underprivileged backgrounds.