Clarity and Faith — With Bibi Lorenzetti

“If you want to recite and study Veda, just go for it.  Offer yourself heaps of kindness and compassion — it’s the best thing that you can do for your mind and your soul,” advises Bibi. For more gems of advice, read the full interview…

By Sophia Ann French

Bibi Lorenzetti studied acting for the theatre in New York with John Strasberg, and the method she studied required Bibi to understand why a character would say the words or dialogues that were written in the script. The idea was to empathise with the characters and understand why they would say and do what they did. “The more I studied theatre, I more I realised I don’t even know who I am so how can I begin to understand why someone else might feel like they need to say the words that they do. When I found yoga, I thought maybe actors have gone through lifetimes of studying yoga because they can empathise very well with another human being and embody it. So when I found yoga, I thought I could go back to theatre in another lifetime,” says Bibi recalling why she decided to pursue the spiritual path instead of becoming an actor. 

Bibi found yoga at 22 and at 24, she completed her first yoga teacher training, and eventually, she found Aṣṭāṅga Yoga which led her to Mysore, India, and her Guru, Sharath Jois — she was authorised to teach Aṣṭāṅga Yoga in 2014. Even though chanting was a part of her spiritual practice, she leaned into it a lot more after her son was born, and she may have discovered Indic Spiritual Systems in her 20s, but Bibi has always been drawn to spirituality. “My family went to church ever since I was very young and my first memory of church is how much I loved the songs that we sang in church. I loved God and I loved Saint Mary. I loved Jesus, and I enjoyed reading the Bible as well. I think Yoga was more about finding that communion inside… a feeling of coming home and when I found Veda Studies, that felt like how I would feel in church when I was three,” says Bibi. She is an Authorised Aṣṭāṅga Teacher, the owner of Newburgh Yoga Shala, a Veda Student, and she’s in conversation with Veda Studies. Excerpts from the interview:

On Finding Veda Studies…

Bibi: I found Veda Studies through my dear teacher Eddie Stern. I had done a prāṇāyāma course with him and at the opening of the course, he advised the students to go study Veda with Shantalaji, and I tend to do what my teachers say so I joined the Foundation Course. I fell in love with the sounds and the way it felt to connect with these sounds. I felt there was a big similarity between the time that you spend figuring out your relationship with an āsana in Aṣṭāṅga  Yoga and the time that you have to spend with the sounds of mantras. The way they integrated and the embodiment of the two things felt very similar to me even though they’re two separate things. I feel the process of coming to understand something intimately is very similar — like absorption of concentration and the time you have to dedicate. So I slipped right away into Veda and I was like, ‘what can I do next?’ So I did the foundations course and when Shantalaji announced the Indica Teacher Training Course, and I was accepted into the course… I just can’t seem to stop.

On Imbibing Veda into Daily Spiritual Practices

Bibi: Within Buddhist psychology, there are different categories of people and one of them is ‘greedy’ but not with a negative connotation — it just means your mind loves so many things. I love all these practices and I’m still trying to figure out how to connect all my practices. I love how Shantalaji structured it, especially with the daily prayers — a prayer for when you wake up, or do anything — and it made me realise all these practices are gearing one up for union with the divine. The āsana practice informs the chanting practice and the chanting practice informs the the āsana. Reciting Veda has brought a lot of clarity to discern what is important. It has also brought faith — faith that when we commit to something with our hearts and with our all being, then everything else reorganises itself around that faith.

On Phonetics and the Indica Veda Studies Teacher Training Programme

Bibi: Learning Veda through chanting is a lot easier for me than sitting down and learning how to read Devanāgrī or write it. I’m Italian so I think the way that the sounds are paired is not so foreign to the way my jaw moves. Getting the the Mahāprāṇas is very difficult for me because we don’t have those so that’s been a struggle for me. What really helped was how Shantalaji broke down everything during the Teacher Training. I was paired with one other student, Ellen, and that was helpful. Ellen was such an angel! We would meet, and it would be short, but it would be concise, and she would just hold my hand so kindly so that I could be ready for the next session. I didn’t do the training to teach. I decided that if I was going to be in this lineage and study these things, I wanted to start from the beginning. The Teacher Training would be the best way to see the full overview and I’m glad I did it that way. It’s important for me to be able to keep being on video with Shantalaji and keep learning so that it keeps the practice alive in me. It’s nice to spend time with your teacher regularly. I think it’s important for me now because the practice is still establishing itself. 

On Mantras that Resonate…

Bibi: After the TTC, I spent 21 days with each chant that I love and I did 21 days with Śraddhā Sūktam, 21 days with Medhā Sūktam… I also love the Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣam — my Guru Sharath Jois loved this chant. The last time I met him, I told him I was studying Veda and he had begun reciting the Atharvaśīrṣam, and I joined him. He was so happy to hear me recite. I recited the Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣam for 40 days after he passed. I also enjoyed spending time with the Goddess Sarasvatī and listening to Shantalaji talking about her made me understand how we need to purify ourselves to recite Veda — I invite these deities inside me and I’m asking these beings to come into my life, so I have to take time to prepare for that and receive them. Prayer is such a magnificent way to align yourself with the flow of life. When you align yourself in this way, your perception is more clear around specific things.

On Spirituality and Advice to Veda Beginners…

Bibi: To me, spirituality is knowing that what I do affects someone, somewhere, and spiritual practice helps me remember that and makes me mindful of my choices and my actions. If you want to recite and study Veda, just go for it. Do your best. Know that you cannot perfect everything immediately. It’s going to be messy but Shantalaji will take you by the hand and guide you through it. Offer yourself heaps of kindness and compassion — it’s the best thing that you can do for your mind and your soul.

For further information on Bibi, visit her website.