North Indian classical (Hindustani) music is based on raga and tala, a highly sophisticated system of melody and rhythm whose origins can be traced to the saints and sages of India’s pre-recorded history. For centuries a vast body of musical literature has been taught from father to son, in the temples and royal courts and straight into the modern world, yet another gift from ancient India. Known as Nada Yoga, it is the yoga of sound, a meditation on pure music as a path to God. The musician literally colors and heals the mind and emotions with melodies precisely prescribed by each raga. There are primary and weak notes, heart phrases, ascending and descending patterns, exact times to be played, specific moods and more. Taken altogether and utilizing a vast body of memorized composition one begins a process of re-composing and improvising allowing each raga’s beauty to be unraveled in a devotional meditation, skillfully combining pieces of a rather large puzzle into an expression of musical perfection! A traditional recital of a raga usually begins obligato (alap) until the introduction of the tabla drum and a fixed rhythm. Lasting an hour or more the musicians start very slowly and gradually increase tempo to a final crescendo. Here we present only each raga’s slow movements in short 15 minute segments for use with yoga, meditation and massage. Ragas of the Four Seasons description:SPRING - Rag Hindol in alap & slow Ektal (12 beat cycle) In the old system of classifying North Indian music their are six main male ragas,four for the corners of the day, and two for the important seasons of spring and the rainy season (summer in India). Rag Hindol is the male raga for spring. It has powerful wide open intervals filled with devotion, joy, expectation and a hint of pathos. The centuries old traditions of North Indian classical music associate this raga with Lord Krishna, who plays it on his flute to initiate spring.AUTUMN - Rag Jogiya Kalingra alap & slow Tintal (16) Our choice for Autumn is a combination of two morning ragas, Jogiya and Kalingra. It was composed by the great master Ali Akbar Khan and taught to his students. It has moods of bhakti devotion, (vid) heroic renunciation, (hasya) joy and (karuna) pathos. A raga of the yogi’s path.SUMMER - Rag Desh alap & slow Tintal (16) The rainy season comes to India in the summer monsoon. Around the anticipation and onset of this dramatic event has grown a vast outpouring of musical creativity - the Rainy Season ragas.One of the best known, with a long history of songs and instrumental compositions is Rag Desh. It has a beautiful melodic structure showing the moods of joy, anticipation, wonder, deliverance and a haunting reflective pathos. WINTER - Rag Malkauns in alap & slow Tintal (16)In the middle ages the painters of the courts depicted scenes showing moods of the various ragas. For Malkauns they would show the full moon at midnight, shining down on the wintery city of Varanasi. Over-head Shiva hovered in meditation on a tiger skin clothed in ashes and with a trident and neckless of skulls, granting liberation to the souls rising from the funeral gats along the sacred Ganges river below. This main male raga is in the profound mood of devotion, mystery and surrender.