Sean Johnson And The Wild Lotus Band: Press

CONCERT REVIEW IN LA YOGA MAGAZINE:

December 1, 2006
by Felicia M. Tomasko

FIFTY CANDLES ILLUMINATED THE LARGE PRACTICE ROOM AT THE SANTA BARBARA YOGA CENTER. SEAN JOHNSON AND THE WILD LOTUS BAND ROCKED THE HOUSE AND CROONED A FINAL LULLABY TO A GROUP OF KIRTAN (TRADITIONAL CALL-AND-RESPONSE) DEVOTEES.

Johnson and band returned to California one year after their series of benefit concerts, raising money for rebuiding their hometown New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Johnson sported a t-shirt labeled "RENEWORLEANS", a sentiment he expresses when he talks about progress.

"We breathed a collective sigh of relief come October, after this year's hurricane season had passed." This marked an opportunity to continue rebuilding. Rebuilding efforts depend on the part of town affected, Johnson said. But his yoga studio, Wild Lotus Yoga, has filled to capacity, with beginners seeking yoga practice as a way of reclaiming self.

In the yoga tradition, internal reconstruction also comes from chanting, which the Wild Lotuses provided. "In Faith I Fall," a track on their upcoming album, beautifully expressed faith through music. Other invocations, including ones to Hanuman and the Divine Mother, incorporated influences both Western and Eastern through Matt's saxophone solos and Sean's Sanskrit rhythmic scat.

While in Southern California Johnson and band (saxophonist Matt Johnson, percussionist Gwendolyn Colman, and bassist Alvin Young) provided the kirtan groove at Liberation Yoga, Exhale, Santa Barbara Yoga Center, and for one of Saul David Raye's classes at Exhale, delivering a message of hope through song.

FEATURE ARTICLE ON YOGA IN NEW ORLEANS IN YOGA JOURNAL:

October 1, 2006

YOGA TOUR NEW ORLEANS
The Big Easy rebuilds one breath at a time.

"One year after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc throughout New Orleans, the city's yoga studios are in a remarkable state of recovery, with many teachers reporting an increase in student attendance since the storm. A few practitioners have left the city for good, but those who stayed have repaired roofs and are turning up in a growing number of stress-relief asana classes.

Wild Lotus Yoga: Whether it's the chimes playing in the breeze or the kirtan chanting of studio founder Sean Johnson and his Wild Lotus Band, this studio tunes the mind and body in more ways than one. Wild Lotus offers a wide variety of classes, from flow and Power Yoga to kids' and prenatal sessions. Music, chanting, and poetry inform many of the classes. Serenity Yoga, emphasizing restorative poses for postdisaster stress relief, is extremely popular, as are the chocalates that many teachers leave behind on students' mats during savasana. "

PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH SEAN

Sean was recently interviewed by the author of "Yoga and The Path of the Urban Mystic" and San Francisco-based yoga teacher Darren Main for an I-Pod audio-cast. The interview titled "Healing New Orleans Through Yoga" consists of questions about the post-Katrina yoga scene in New Orleans, Sean's kirtan music projects, touring and more. To listen to the interview click on the link below.

FEATURE ARTICLE IN LA YOGA MAGAZINE:

January 1, 2006
by Felicia M. Tomasko

ReBirth Tour
Raising money for New Orleans relief efforts

Kirtan leader Sean Johnson and his Wild Lotus Band (named for his epynomous New Orleans studio)-- with brother Matt Johnson on saxophone and guitar along with vibrant percussionist Gwendolyn Colman-- played, sold CD's, collected donations, spread love and told the insider's view of the huuricane Katrina disaster.

When New Orleans native and yoga teacher Johnson needed to evacuate the city, and it didn't look like returning home was a viable option, he and the Wild Lotus Band took to the road. "I decided to embark on a tour rather than sit around. Through kirtan and yoga practices, I wanted to help people channel their feelings," Johnson said. The Wild Lotus Band was invited to Laughing Lotus in New York (a city all-too-familiar with tragedy), where they recorded a live benefit CD. Between September and November they've been traveling the freeways from coast to coast performing and raising funds to rebuild.

In Southern California, Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band played at Liberation Yoga, Shakti's Elements, John Friend's teacher training in Encinitas, the Ojai Yoga Crib, and the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. Johnson said that the mand played more than 20 kirtan events and clocked 12,000 miles on the van since evacuating. "I've met a lot of really wonderful, kind and generous yoga people who took us in."

The money Johnson raises through sales of his benefit CD, is rebuilding the lives and homes of family as well as the Wild Lotus yoga studio's roof. Johnson maintains a positive attitude also characteristic of his singing. "Compared to what other people were dealing with, it's no big deal."

Before the winds and water swept through town, Wild Lotus (open since 2002) was filling 40 classes a week. On November 1, the studio reopened with nine packed classes. "We have had returning students, total beginners, and relief and humanitarian workers," Johnson said. "When so much has been lost, spiritual practice can be an anchor, community can be a comfort. There have been a lot of tears in class and also a lot of joy...It reminds people of the light in their lives through yoga."

Johnson returned home to New Orleans, his wife and studio on Thanksgiving Day. Will he stay in the city? I asked. "I feel compelled to help the city and the people deal with the change in their lives through yoga." Adds Johnson: "Although the tragedy is undeniably horrible, there is an opportunity amidst it for each person to focus on what's important, to discover what is meaningful in their lives and make a difference."

He believes kirtan opens the heart and sets the spirit free through the voice. "Kirtan became more meaningful to me, after the storm, it was an opportunity to focus." Johnson has studied music for years, including with teachers Russill Paul and Jai Uttal.

In Santa Barbara, Wild Lotus grooved through a bossa nova- influenced gayatri mantra (traditional Vedic-Sanskrit prayer), ecstatically led the group through melodic invocations to Shiva and Hanuman and crooned a Sanskrit lullaby to end the evening with a sense of calm after the strorm.

ARTICLE IN PHILADELPHIA INQUIROR:

October 1, 2005
by Karl Stark

New Orleans Band Takes The High Road

The Wild Lotus Band will donate some proceeds of its show to rebuilding efforts.
By Karl Stark
Philadephia Inquirer Staff Writer


With his hometown of New Orleans still sodden from Hurricane Katrina, yoga teacher and musician Sean Johnson did the only sane thing he and his band could: They set out on the road.

Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band play a special brand of India-based music called kirtan, which features call-and-response chanting backed by a miniature organ known as a harmonium.

The group has been crisscrossing the Northeast for two weeks, chanting sacred mantras in yoga studios from Boston to Asheville, N.C.

Tonight, the musicians will alight at the Nectar Yoga Center in the Goshen Village Shopping Center, in East Goshen Township near West Chester.

Johnson, 35, whose yoga studio in New Orleans used to offer 40 classes a week, doesn't yet know how his workplace has fared. He and his wife, Constance, have been exiled to Austin, Texas.

The road trip is a way to channel "what's happened to us in a positive way," he said. "We can sit around and feel sorry for ourselves and grieve and mourn everything that's been lost, or we can go on the road."

A portion of the money they make will go to Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild the Crescent City, he said.

The kirtans are not so much a performance as a participatory form of meditation or prayer coupled with music. The band - Johnson on harmonium, his brother Matt on saxophone and guitar, Alan Frost on percussion, and vocalist Stacey Brass - will play a phrase that the audience sings back.

"The whole room is the orchestra," Johnson said. "We'll all be making music together."

So far the gigs have varied with the locations. In New York, many people were dancing, while at a studio in Norwalk, Conn., children played along with toy instruments. "It was unexpected, but we went with it," Johnson said.

The Wild Lotus Band will appear

at 8 tonight at the Nectar Yoga Center, 1548 Paoli Pike, East Goshen. A $15 minimum donation is requested. For information, call 610-918-2200. For directions, see http://www.nectaryoga.com/contact.html.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Karl Stark at 215-854-5363 or kstark@phillynews.com.