Durga Rising // A Navaratri workshop with Amisha Tala Oak

During this beautiful Hindu festival of Navaratri, you are invited to join a beautiful practice of courage and devotion.

Durga is the invincible fortress, the radiant warrior riding her lion into chaos. She is the power that rises through us when we face our own demons, and the courage that moves through the collective when rise in love and grace.

This year, Navaratri holds a rare gift, an extra night before the day of victory. A tenth solar night, stretched between the nine lunar nights of battle and the dawn of Dussehra. It is a threshold, a pause before Durga strikes the final blow against Mahishasura, the shape-shifting demon of arrogance, greed, and fear.

This is the night we gather.

Whether you are meeting Durga for the first time, or ready to enter another layer of her mystery, this night offers a portal. We will step into the myth, contemplate the demons of our time, and awaken Durga’s qualities of resolve, clarity, and fierce devotion. We will close with thirty minutes of mantra chanting, amplifying her power within us and offering it into the world.

The Durga myth is the map for our times - facing systemic demons, sustaining courage, collaborating in truth, embodying both tenderness and ferocity and remembering that even in darkness, victory belongs to love.

You will experience:

Mythic storytelling: the battle of Durga and Mahishasura, and why it matters now

Guided contemplations to meet your “inner demons” with courage

Simple practices to embody Durga’s fortress of strength and clarity

30 minutes of collective chanting to invoke her presence and power

Transmission of mantras you can bring into your own practice

Date: Wednesday October 1st, 7pm (UK time), 2pm (Eastern), 11am (Pacific), 11.30pm (India)
Duration: 1.5 hours (1 hour workshop + 30 minutes chanting)
Location: Online - recording available for all registrants (however LIVE participation is required)

*Open to all - whether you are new to Durga or walking with her already. All genders welcome.

*Navaratri is always nine nights by the lunar calendar, crowned by the day of victory. But because the lunar days don’t perfectly match our solar calendar, this year it stretches across ten solar nights - giving us a rare threshold before Durga’s triumph. So it feels like we have a whole extra night of dreaming into these energies that must be celebrated.

*If you were interested in doing the whole practice with me over these “nine nights” but couldn't make all the times or are new to the festival and want to know why everyone is talking about Durga, this is a great way to come and be part of it.

*All bookings close ten mins before we start. 6.50pm UK time on October 1st.

ABOUT YOUR HOST:

Amisha Tala Oak has celebrated Navaratri since she was a child. In her cultural tradition, the women gather for nine nights of dance called Garba, where they dance with special sticks and celebrate. This is celebrated in this way by Gujaratri women and the name is derived from the Sanskrit term Garbha (“womb”) and Deep (“a small earthenware lamp”). A lamp and statues of the goddess are placed in the centre as the dancers circle around. It’s always been a special time of celebration, being with women of all generations and wearing her favourite saris. As a yoga and meditation teacher, Navaratri took on new meaning as she felt the power in the subtle fields of this time of year, as a time of renewal, courage and empowerment. Amisha loves sharing the myth of Durga and this battle as the awakening of the inner activist in all of us, that is powered by love. Autumn Navaratri (Shardiya) is a time for the slaying of our inner demons, and for rising up in our personal lives and the way we contribute to the collective. For spring Navarati (Chaitra) 2020 which was just after lockdown was announced in the UK, Amisha went offline and into silence for the whole of the festival and wrote the nine principles for her book, Intuition. It is always a potent time for creativity and wisdom practices. Amisha is an intuitive therapist who works with energy and subconscious patterns with her clients which she supports with sessions and beautiful leadership mentoring. She is also the author of the collaborative book The Future Is Beautiful and host of the globally acclaimed podcast, All That We Are. She has been on a deep path of Tantra (Kashmir Shivaism) and studied with teachers, swamis, and through ancient texts. In addition to this she has received many transmissions direct from the goddesses in the temples of India, as well as through her ancestral lineage and understands this path in a deeply energetic and embodied way.

www.amisha.co.uk // www.allthatweare.org

@amishatalaoak // @allthatweare_