The roots of Devotional/Sacred Mantra Singing in San Diego County can be traced back to the mid-1980's. Originally begun by Robert Frey (in La Jolla) and Cass Smith (in Solana Beach), it began as a regular—and often, weekly—practice of mantra-like songs sung in English. From these origins evolved a regular weekly group established by Mark Grimwood who was inspired by the music of Charley Thweatt as well as that of Michael Stillwater and John Astin. The first group began in Clairemont and was led by Mark Grimwood and Gerry Canning. Later it moved to Candy Lane in Encinitas and more songleaders became involved on a regular basis, songwriters such as Roger Hunt, Jim Chow, Malaya Rider, Marsha Jehn, Josiah Diallo and, at times, Robert Frey, Patricia Mikkelson, Scott Kalechstein and Reverend Robi.

Every Sunday evening was a special time to gather and included a line-up of 4-5 songleaders, a guided meditation led by Wendy Grimwood and a stand-up song. Later in time other locations were tried with varying degrees of success including yoga centers. Eventually the group came to meet at our current location in La Costa... either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly over the years. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we are currently meeting twice a month on Zoom (not the best platform but we're doing the best that we can) for this practice of Bhakti Yoga is special and important to many of us.