About Jonathan

First of all, I would like to give pranams and endless gratitude to my teachers and their generosity, without whom this site would not exist:

  • Shobha Raghavan (Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry)
  • Bruno Leduc-Corbet (Auroville), disciple of M. Nageswara Rao
  • Krishna Kumar (Auroville), disciple of M.D. Ramanathan
  • Sivasakthi Sivanesan (Bhavan Centre, London)

I also give my humble gratitude to the following great artists, whose masterclasses I have had the great privilege of attending:

  • Smt Sudha Raghunathan (Bhavan Centre, London)
  • Prince Rama Varma (Chennai)
  • Charulathi Mani (Auroville)
Adishakti Theatre, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu

TL;DR

A former professional touring musician, composer and producer, I now work full-time in between music, medicine and therapy. I discovered Nadopasana as part of Carnatic music training in South India, and after four years' intensive study, I use it as a framework to inform all my work.


Having spent twenty years as a professional musician and songwriter, working as a trumpet player, singer, composer and producer in both art and commercial music, I had become increasingly disillusioned, and quit. I jumped at a chance for a reset by moving to South India with my young family in 2014. Now living and working with actors in Adishakti Theatre, Pondicherry, I came across Carnatic music in the form of the vocalist M D Ramanathan.

The great vocalist and teacher, MD Ramanathan

I did not know it at the time, but he was a singer who epitomised bhava, the synthesis of artistic intention and spiritual focus. I have written quite a few pieces about the effect of discovering Carnatic music and how I fell in love with it almost immediately.

After months of enquiries, I was finally accepted by a wonderfully generous teacher in Pondicherry, Shobha Raghavan (Aurobindo Ashram), whose diligent teaching and endless patience with my inane questions instilled in me the initial discipline and love for the basic practice.

I was introduced to Yoga Nadopasana in Auroville through Bruno Leduc-Corbet, a disciple of the Nadopasana practitioner and acclaimed veena artist M. Nageswara Rao, and later had the great fortune to continue my studies with Krishna Kumar, a disciple of MD Ramanathan, the singer who made me fall in love with Carnatic music in the first place.

In 2017, I began teaching Yoga Nadopasana at the Integral Sound Healing Training courses run by Aurelio and team at Svaram, and the enthusiasm of the students led to the idea to create an online resource such as this.

The effect I noticed on my own wellbeing led me to research the role of sound and music in physical and psychological health. I now work in the fast-growing field of music medicine and health alongside Prof. Nigel Osborne, the music and trauma pioneer, and am training in Orff Music Therapy with Dr. Ksenija Buric.