A dash of dance floor spirituality

A chat with DJ Pierre Ravan, one of the biggest proponents of healing through music and a widely followed name in the global music scene today

DJ Pierre Ravan is a name much familiar to those who listen to spiritual house music. The seasoned musician’s heady creations — packed with an intent to transport listeners to a trance — and his hugely stupendous offering KaRavan stand as a testament to the power of music to heal. “Yoga, meditation and open-hearted music all merged into one session, creating true dancefloor unity makes up the ethos of KaRavan,” says the spiritual house DJ.

In a candid chat with DHoS during his recent visit to Bengaluru, Ravan shared his thoughts and experiences with us. Excerpts

Take us through the KaRavan concept. What inspired you?

The KaRavan is a concept about a perpetual cycle of journeys…as we incarnate multiple times. The concept is based on my spiritual path, which is heartfulness and is the path from the heart. It’s the inner journey. It’s only if we travel inwards can we reach the other dimensions of life — it’s infinite. I combine feel-good music, Yoga and Heartfulness meditation into the KaRavan concept, creating true dancefloor unity. The KaRavan concept has been translated into 10 compilation albums that perfectly encapsulate a blend of dancefloor spirituality.

The good thing about this is that anyone can join this journey at any point in life and make that first step towards finding and following their own bliss.

As a spiritual house DJ, what has been the biggest takeaway from your journey so far?

The biggest takeaway has been witnessing how people react and realising that we should never judge or have any prejudice. When I entered one of the biggest festivals to perform for 75,000 people, in a spiritual music session, I realised that we should work on allowing people to experience things for what it is. People go with no bias to a club or a music festival. But when you go to a mosque or a temple, your thoughts or actions are already decided, you are conditioned. Not one to preach anything, but I guess the only thing that really matters is to lead life with humility, an open heart and welcome new ideas, experiences and cultures.

Myths about spirituality that you often see floating around these days?

All I want to say is, that spirituality is all about joy. There’s no spirituality without joy. Only joy attracts grace, a joyful heart attracts grace. That’s why all spiritual people are joyful. If you are joyful, you are already spiritual. A spiritual life doesn’t mean that you give up on the things you like or enjoy doing but it is more of a drive to dig deeper and find what makes you truly happy in life. I reiterate it’s an inner journey, it’s about being true to yourself. For me, spirituality is about following a path that gives us the prana or energy to reach the highest level of human consciousness and evolve to be the best versions of ourselves.

What’s your advice to those wanting to take that first step?

The first step is to open your heart and listen to your heart. The heart never lies and will always guide you to the right things in life. Only through meditation can you be sensitised to learning.

A special form of meditation called Heartfulness, which is all about living by the heart, can help us reconnect to our higher self within, so as to reveal the infinite potential of the heart. Through heartfulness, you can learn to communicate more openly and nurture fruitful, healthy relationships. And, you will learn how to create such stillness in your mind that your consciousness is able to soar into different realms and dimensions, awakening a potential you didn’t know existed — perhaps somewhere in the lost wonder of childhood.

What’s your next project about?

My new single is getting launched this September. It is dedicated to UNESCO and world peace. The best thing is that I have collaborated with this Indian artist Hamza Rahimtula, whose work I truly respect. This track will be played for UNESCO and will be released globally. I hope to come back to India more often. I have a deep connection with India and I look up to the country for its cultural diversity and how effortlessly it endorses spirituality. There’s always so much to learn from India and the people here.