Your Voice as a Healing Instrument 

A 1-day non-residential chanting workshop
with Sheela Shankar in London
Thurs July 9 2026

A 1 day live workshop with Sheela Shankar in London. This immersive workshop, guided by the ancient wisdom of mantra-s and the structured beauty of indian music, invites you to unlock your personal vocal instrument and harness its unique therapeutic potential.

Venue: Effra Space, 21 Effra Parade, SW2 1PX
Timing: 10.30-4.30
Costs: £95

To enrol please use the button below for card payments or contact Dave if you would like to pay by bank transfer.

Veda Sādhana

A 100 Hour Vedic Chanting Course Starts July 2026
with Sheela Shankar & Dave Charlton

This course will begin with a live weekend intensive with Sheela on the 18 & 19 July in Malvern, Worcestershire

We are delighted to announce Veda Sādhana, a new format 100 hour Vedic Chanting Course with Sheela Shankar & Dave Charlton commencing in July 2026. This course has been designed to provide both a firm foundation for newer students, and ongoing development and refinement, for more experienced students.

This course will begin with a live weekend intensive with Sheela on the 18 & 19 July in Malvern, Worcestershire

• The course consists of a 100 hours contact time, and requires a minimum of 100 hours independent personal practice (which works out at approx 2hrs per week, but ideally 20-30min most days would be perfect).

The emphasis is on sādhana, chanting as a personal practice that embodies all the aspects of kriyā yoga: tapas(discipline even when it gets a bit tough or dull), svādhyaya (literally defined in the commentary to the Yoga Sutra as chanting the sacred texts as a means to discover oneself) and iśvara praṇidhāna (cultivating an attitude of patience, acceptance and reverence). Whatever your experience level, the course is designed to create a structured framework for your practice, and to develop your understanding and proficiency with vedic chanting.

• The content has been chosen to reflect different levels of challenge and to cover a range of the different categories of chant that we work with, such as suktam, sloka, stotra etc.

Thus it isn’t just going to be all the easier chants, and is therefore different to the certificate chanting courses that we have run previously, which have had a more linear approach to developing the material covered. We hope that the course we are now proposing will appeal to a greater range of students and experience levels.

• The course is principally online with a beginning and closing live weekend with Sheela in July 2026 and 2027, and an autumn live 2026 weekend with Dave (the autumn weekend could be attended online if needs be).

The online component will consist of 3hr group sessions approx once per month (mainly with Sheela), and 90 min tutorial sessions in small groups of 3-4 about once every 2-3 weeks(mainly with Dave). After the July 26 intensive there will be a single tutorial session in August, and we will start in earnest in September.

• In addition to all the chanting, we will also aim to present and clarify important principles such as the 6 rules, the varna mala (the sanskrit sounds and their structure), sandhi (how words in combination subtly change their spelling or pronunciation), and errors to be avoided.

Experience has shown that many students have had some exposure to these topics, but often only at an introductory level, or in piecemeal fashion, and so we will aim to present this systematically, clarify any doubts or confusions, and ensure that the principles are put into practice with sound understanding.

• With the course structure we are seeking to address the trade off between rigour and commitment on the one hand, and the realities of our often busy and complicated lives.

Thus there are alternatives to make up time if you have to miss sessions etc, at some nominal additional cost, but in so doing we hope to provide a pathway for students who might otherwise find it difficult to commit to the course. You will have to practice, however, and complete all the course hours, even if some of this is through recordings and individual catch up. So 100% course time, but with some flexibility as to how this is achieved!

This is not a complete beginner’s course, but if you are fairly new to chanting and yet are really keen, don’t let that put you off – enthusiasm and a willingness to practice are the main requirements!

Course Details, Dates and Costs

The course has the following components:

• 3 live weekend retreats in Malvern, 2 with Sheela and one with Dave
• 10 online “intensive” mornings with Sheela
• 16 small group tutorial sessions with Dave

Students will receive handouts for all chants, and have access to streamable reference recordings for the duration of the course.

This course has been designed to provide both a firm foundation for newer students, and ongoing development and refinement, for more experienced students. 

There are alternatives to make up time if you have to miss sessions etc, at some additional cost, but in so doing we hope to provide a pathway for students who might otherwise find it difficult to commit to the course. You will have to practice, however, and complete all the course hours, even if some of this is through recordings and individual catch up. So 90% course time, but with some flexibility as to how this is achieved!

Costs

Consequently, the cost of the course has been contained at £1295, which is very reasonable for what is on offer, and is the same as we were charging for the certificate modules 3 years ago (also 100 hours). And thus we hope this leaves the door open for some additional catch up sessions if you need them.

A £295 non-refundable deposit is required to secure a place with balance payable before the course start.

Staged payment plans are available on a individual basis (please contact Dave), but we would ask that if you take such an option you commit to making all payments for the course.

Dates

Course start and first live weekend with Sheela: 18/19 July 2026
2nd live weekend with Dave: 28/29 Nov 2026
Course completion and 2nd live weekend with Sheela: July 2027 (date to be confirmed)

Online intensives with Sheela: All Saturdays 9.00-1.00pm UK time (3 hrs chanting with 2 breaks)
12 September, 17 October, 14 November, 12 December,
16 January 2027, 20 February, 13 March 
April, May & June dates to be confirmed

Tutorials with Dave: 16 tutorials, approx 1-2 times per month
Depending on student numbers there will 3-4 optional times and dates, which you select approx 3-4 weeks in advance. You will need to be a bit flexible and make these a priority. I will ask you to select a preferred  option and indicate all those that you can make. This has always worked out in the past, amazingly, but if you just give one option all the time it is tricky.
I am thinking about Sat 9.30, Tue 9.30, Tues 5.30 and Wed 4.00pm as possibilities, just to give you an idea.

You will also be asked to keep a practice diary – very brief, but just a record of your personal practice.

Attendance Requirements

All 3 live weekends, but one could be attended online if absolutely necessary.

9 out of 10 online intensives. If you miss any more you need to catch up with recording + 1.5 hrs individual classes.

15 out of 16 tutorials. If you miss any more you need to catch up with  1 hr individual classes.

Catch up classes are with Dave or another teacher on our list.

Enrolment

Email Dave to confirm availability and arrange payment, with a short summary of your chanting experience if you are new to chanting with us.