Back in the ashram, once a year, we had "Fun Day," a day dedicated to, well, fun. We slept in late, ate ice cream, did a lot of group adventures during the day and had an evening of skits and songs.
Back when rap was just coming out, it was violent and rough. I decided to try my hand at a dharmic rap song and with my friend and colleague, Mark Kelso aka Hansaraj on synthesizer, we did it for about 350 residents, complete with a dance interlude.
I did it one more time in public, at Mark's wedding with Todd Norian on keyboards and Time Brenner on drums. With professional back up, it was almost passable.
Almost.
At the retreat, I had no backup, so I slapped together a little rhythm loop on my iPad. Pretty rough, but pretty funny.
Imagine, during the chorus, Tara Brach, Hugh Byrne, Pat Coffey and Ruth King leaping out of their meditation seats to chant and pose.