A native of Chennai (Madras City) in south India, Russill Paul took to playing stringed instruments at the early age of four and began playing professionally in his teens. In 1984, he underwent a powerful transition that motivated him to live as a monk under the late Dom Bede Griffiths, a pioneering Benedictine spiritual teacher and modernday sage, who directed Shantivanam, a Hindu-Christian Ashram in south India. Here, Russill was able to bring together his ancestral Hindu heritage with his Christian upbringing.
During the five years he spent as a monk, Russill studied Sanskrit chanting and south Indian classical music, in addition to yoga, meditation, and philosophy. The most powerful component to his transformation was a series of profound spiritual experiences that affected his music and his education.
For almost twenty years, Russill has toured extensively in North America and internationally, presenting concerts, workshops, and seminars at conferences, spiritual centers, and retreat facilities. For more than fifteen years, he has taught in graduate (Masters in Liberal Arts) and postgraduate (Doctorate in Ministry) academic programs of Creation Spirituality nationwide. He began at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland, California, and then proceeded to Naropa University Oakland and the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, and finally, Wisdom University of San Francisco, California.
Russill presently directs his students through his own spiritualitytraining program: a Yogic Mystery School that puts the power of technology to work to create the semblance of traditional training in the sacred knowledge of mantra, the spirituality of Indian music, and the power of yogic meditation. This is a distance-learning program that combines specialized resources with active student support through the internet, and this book is an invaluable resource to the training.
Russill has also been involved with the music industry for over two decades, recording professionally for movie soundtracks under well-known music directors in India and recording and producing a wide selection of his own world class, yoga-related recordings in the United States through The Relaxation Company, a leading publisher of healing music.
He lives with his wife in Austin, Texas. Together they conduct a special chanting pilgrimage and retreat in south India each year.
To learn more, contact Russill Paul through his website:
www.russillpaul.com
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