Blending Mainstream & Medicine Music To Access Healing & Higher Vibrations w/ Shylah Ray

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Make One Day Happen podcast. I'm your host, Shenna Jean. This podcast is designed to inspire, educate and empower people to elevate their consciousness and activate their full potential. We share stories, ideas and resources that support our listeners and their personal and

[00:00:17] professional growth by hosting meaningful conversations that spark a-ha moments. Laughing, learning, leveling up all guaranteed. We'll be hearing from innovative thought leaders, CEOs, professional athletes, best-selling authors, musicians and more. As they share lessons,

[00:00:32] they've learned along the way and ideas that can change the world. So pull up a seat and let's get to it. Welcome back y'all to the Make One Day Happen podcast. It's your girl, Shenna Jean. And I am

[00:00:49] really excited to introduce y'all to our guest today. Her name is Shylah Ray Sunshine and she is an award-winning singer. She's a songwriter, musician, mother and professional vocal coach. Originally from Canada, Shylah Ray stands proudly as a First Nations Algonquin living in California

[00:01:04] and has been revered as an incredibly skilled vocalist and her music has been shared all over the world. She is a natural born entertainer and wildly authentic performer. The neo-soul R&B artist is based in Los Angeles with a multitude of projects and upcoming tour dates

[00:01:19] and collaborations on the way. Shylah Ray inspires and moves audiences through the delivery of her powerfully soulful voice and ultra-moving lyrics. She brings a spirit of positivity, power and fierce love to both studio and stage. Her beloved album and hit single Into the Wild y'all please run,

[00:01:37] don't walk to download it has gained her recognition worldwide as the release of her new album Lessons in Love which is also just banger after banger taking her music in a new

[00:01:47] direction completely. Y'all I gotta tell you that I am so obsessed with her last album, the one that just dropped Lessons in Love please please please check it out. I was introduced to Shylah

[00:01:59] last fall when she opened up for a perangie at the All Souls Festival in Tucson and when I say a jaw dropping performance I mean my jaw was dragging all over the dance floor and back

[00:02:10] so I am so excited to share some of her energy and her spirit, her voice with y'all today. Please welcome to the show Shylah Ray. I love that that was your experience of me in Tucson

[00:02:25] because you know I was like not feeling well so if you had a great experience from that just wait until I'm 100% battery-powered because yo I mean that was tough. I like that I just got goosebumps hearing that because I remember you mentioning that you weren't feeling

[00:02:44] as vibrant as you have right and I still I was so blown away by that performance and I I mean I've got a few questions for you one of them does relate to that performance but before

[00:02:55] we dive into that I would love for you to just give a little bit of who you be in the world, how you got to this point in your journey with our listeners so they can get to know

[00:03:03] a little bit about who you are and bonus points if you're familiar with human design and can share your human design type with the world. Oh I do it's not something I study but I know that I'm

[00:03:16] the human design wait the manifesting generator and what the emotional five something or three? Oh okay whoa if that's what you are then no wonder we're like kindred spirits because I'm a manifesting generator emotional three five you got them. Yeah thank you so much I

[00:03:37] love telling my story because it's a pretty long one it's a pretty wild one but what I can say is that what's led me to hear you know it's been an incredible journey of you know of course soul

[00:03:51] searching like really searching for this deeper meaning in life and music and singing being the things that really led me this entire way you know my love for singing me falling in

[00:04:04] love with music at a young age has really been the driving force and that's kind of what got me in California I'd say without me knowing it so how it started is that I was raised yeah in about

[00:04:16] central Ontario and with parents that I didn't feel a strong connection with emotionally you know and you know I kind of disassociated a lot when I was younger and kind of separated myself

[00:04:31] and I think again music was that way for me to comfort myself it became kind of a therapeutic way for me to feel a sense of belonging and just feel connected you know to myself or to

[00:04:43] to a higher power and there was no talk of God in our house growing up but I remember kind of yearning for that when I was younger like all right like what's the deeper meaning here

[00:04:52] who's got my back right now because shit is hard and I feel alone and like music again was the only thing I feel like I had where I could sing and feel like you know my feelings

[00:05:06] mattered and and you know there was a song for every feeling and every emotion and every struggle when I was young so that's where that relationship was established what happened after

[00:05:17] that was um I you know had I got on my spiritual path pretty young about 17 you know I went vegetarian grew up the hair got the dreadlocks was all rasta farai for a bit and then took off

[00:05:30] traveling I pretty much ran away from home around 18 and moved out of my parents house 17 yeah so there was all these decisions that were made whether they were intentional or not it was

[00:05:42] just how it happened and I was just trying to get out I was just trying to get away you know like this is not for me you know my dream of being a pop star when I was young kind of revealed

[00:05:53] to me later like all right that's not real because fuck mainstream and fuck the system and the pop culture you know and I kind of rebelled when I you know turned into a straight edge hippie so when

[00:06:05] I was in my hippie years I was just traveling back and forth I'd go you know I was hitchhiking from across Canada down through the states all down through Mexico and sub-america and then

[00:06:16] back up and when I landed back down in California it was completely unintentional and I just ended up at a band rehearsal pretty much during the band that night fell in love with the guitarist and I

[00:06:29] was pregnant three weeks later so my journey as a mother started here when I thought the ball was just about to get rolling with music and I was like oh you know like I'm here I am I'm in

[00:06:41] LA like there's a reason for this you know because yeah my dream was to was to be a pop star was to be a singer was to be an entertainer I knew that was something I was naturally good at at least I thought

[00:06:52] I was you know anyway wait I think we're out I didn't care what other people are like this is all I want to do and I would have to be good at it because it's the only fucking thing that

[00:07:02] makes me this happy right so it's like there's nothing else I want to do I would be settling and I would not be happy if I did anything other than this because I feel this magic power that comes

[00:07:15] through when I sing and when I perform and you know and when I make people want to sing and dance and feel good and open their voices so you know I got my start basically putting my family out

[00:07:26] and being like all right I got a new dance got a new song you know watch me you know and I needed them to like be like good you know every time yeah and then eventually started performing

[00:07:37] in karaoke you know in bars when I was underage then I did my first open mic and that was like terrifying but so good and gave me a lot of confidence to just keep coming back and sharing

[00:07:47] and then the band thing happened right and just as I thought like things were opening you know I become pregnant and my journey to motherhood begins and music kind of takes the back burner for a few years um I had an incredible birth experience and became a doula

[00:08:05] and my focus really went to um you know helping support pregnant women and mothers and children and postpartum work and doula work and all this I really dove deep into it because I don't

[00:08:19] feel there was really space for me to be a songwriter musician you know being married to one at the time he was playing with multiple bands and traveling and it was kind of like

[00:08:30] you know there I just don't feel like that space was open for me it's like I didn't need permission but you know what I mean it was it was just like only one of us can really do this right now

[00:08:40] because my job is to be a good mom you know and I was it was a terrible wife I was a great mom and yeah I was like 20 you know I know nothing it's like a baby with a baby right

[00:08:52] but it was so precious and I wouldn't ever take it back you know and what happened was after you know a couple years of being a doula I could feel it I could just feel the call and I was like all right

[00:09:06] separated moved out moved somewhere where there was a piano sat every fucking day in plate and then now these songs started coming through all these melodies started coming through and I was like Dan this is easy you know just like putting chords together I didn't even know

[00:09:20] what I was playing I still don't know what what key my songs are and you know because I wasn't formally taught but all I know is that there was something powerful moving and these songs started coming

[00:09:30] through and I believe that me playing this instrument and writing songs was absolutely the key for me in order to you know evolve musically in that way I've just been singing

[00:09:43] other people's songs my whole life so it was time you know it was time that I had my own song so now I'm a songwriter it was like okay things are picking up and um yeah I met some musicians

[00:09:55] they liked my songs and then I've got my first gig before I know it and then I just never stopped you know and moved I fell in love again I had another kid I never stopped I got right back

[00:10:06] after that it was like you could not stop me at that point and there were small gigs and I did so many gigs just for free just for love you know because again it's my joy but I wasn't

[00:10:17] making a living from music until I really started teaching singing which was about seven years ago and I was like busting ass cleaning houses up until then yeah it was like cleaning houses and then

[00:10:30] gigging on the weekends that was my life raising two kids on my own too so I am I am amazed I love hearing people's I call them one-day goals right it's like that thing that we want that's like

[00:10:47] deep inside of us and we know that one day we're going to be able to do that or we can see that vision for what it looks like one day when I'm just like fully in my musical self or I've learned

[00:10:59] that language or I've had that baby or got that degree whatever it is right everybody's got different one-day goals and I think let me jump in here real quick to let y'all know I have a

[00:11:10] lot to tell you about very soon I am bursting at the seams and also still pulling together the final pieces for a retreat a book a brand new way to be in community and work together November will be

[00:11:21] a month to remember friends so stay tuned in the meantime I've got a little present for you as a thank you for listening and being on this journey with me to celebrate this latest kick

[00:11:30] ass episode I'd love to gift you a free 10 minute sound journey a little something something I'm calling a take 10 in this 10 minute experience that blends breathwork and guided visualization with the vibes of the crystal singing bowls you're going to regulate your nervous system

[00:11:44] you'll practice dropping into lower brain wave states for deeper connection to your intuition and subconscious and you'll experience productive rest and recovery at a cellular level in your mind your body in your spirit my favorite way to use this is in

[00:11:56] the middle of my work day to break things up and just give myself a little bit of a recharge so grab a pair of headphones and take 10 to plug back in and find your elevated self

[00:12:04] click on the link in the show notes and go ahead and get you some now let's get back to this kick ass episode there's such a like what a different world we would live in the more people that step

[00:12:17] into that one day energy and start really claiming those gifts that are just literally pouring through them and available to share with the world I love what you said like

[00:12:27] it's my joy to be up there on that stage like that's the source of that energy for you too and to have that like spread just over so many people to be able to share that energy and watch it move

[00:12:41] through others is just it's a sacred experience it is and I didn't realize that until further on you know again you know I didn't have a relationship with you know any kind of God or

[00:12:54] higher power creator anything even though my mother you know has native blood and that's in my lineage it was like there was no talk of this you know there was no spirituality and then watching

[00:13:06] myself yearn for this or want to cling to something again in placing music as that you know it was either like music or relationships you know men like I definitely had my time with that

[00:13:18] but eventually realizing like yes I do this for myself but I'm also doing this no longer to get attention in that way but instead to help really guide people to back to their voices and back

[00:13:32] to their truth and to find that deeper meaning and help them establish that relationship to a higher power because I definitely found it right like I didn't have it before it was like what

[00:13:41] was missing and I'm going looking for it you know and then it was like oh wow nothing makes me feel the way that singing does and the way that people receive my voice so the way that people feel when

[00:13:53] I sing or express myself and they have that similar experience where they feel like that God presence I'm like okay I'm listening like I you know don't take that lightly so I've just

[00:14:06] listened to that over over years and realized it is a gift I want people to be aware of their own gifts whether that's the voice music other artistic you know skills and yeah and it's been

[00:14:19] just such a joy teaching also teaching whatever I know because I wasn't trained musically this wasn't something that I was taught when I was young I never had a singing lesson I've never had a vocal

[00:14:31] teacher you know I didn't study music in school it was like it's been intuitive and it's been fun and it's been healing and now I get to share it and I'm having an exchange when I'm performing

[00:14:42] whereas you know when I was younger it was like I just want validation just tell me I'm good and we're good and now I'm like I know I'm good now I want to make you feel good

[00:14:53] ah let's go because that's what happens that's what happened that your performance is and it's it's I you know I've loved music for a very very long time it's one of the things that

[00:15:05] keeps coming into my mind and I'm curious if this could feel like your experience as well I started reading at a very young age and like obsessively compulsively reading and learning and just consuming

[00:15:18] information like it was one of my um there's one of my go-to things and someone somewhere on the internet recently said uh reading can be a trauma response for children that are having a hard time

[00:15:30] regulating and all the different things right and so as my sister and I are kind of both in our healing journey she's like wow basketball really was a trauma response for me like I was like that

[00:15:41] was I was going to it from a place of processing my pain and the emotions in a way I couldn't find to do it anywhere else whereas I was doing that with reading music was something that was

[00:15:54] very present for me and I was classically trained and I fucking hated it they were like watch why are you looking at your hands you have to look at the music I'm like I'm looking at the music in my head

[00:16:04] and I want to look at my hands and so there is I love that you're doing it intuitively and teaching people how to harness their own intuitive gifts with music because it's there and it's we don't

[00:16:17] need another right way to do something that's innately within us right and I um yeah I'm curious if that idea of music potentially is a trauma response or coping mechanism that also births this beautiful gift is that feels aligned because it seems like there's so many people

[00:16:37] that are waking up to just massive energy in the world right now and as we look at these different kind of points in our lives when we start to pick up the things that protect us and also

[00:16:49] give us our purpose it's really interesting to see what was happening in our lives and how we're able to use some of those hobbies gifts activity yeah well I was uh I don't know I don't know that I

[00:17:01] was hyperactive but I was told that I was hyperactive so I'm like well any way that children behave is a response right so if I'm out there and I was also like the troublemaker and I was a

[00:17:12] kid you know but then I had this beautiful gift you know or it's like when I sang I could just shine right but then I had terrible behavior otherwise right so there's just this balance of like oh

[00:17:21] I'm so good when I do this but I'm so bad you know like it's been it's been this lifelong thing where I've just been trying to you know reclaim that that wholeness or just reaffirming that yes

[00:17:33] I'm a child of God we all are you know and I'm here to right my wrongs I'm here to look at the shit I've done in my life and try to you know make amends with the people I've heard and do all

[00:17:42] these things I mean I've been you know in and out of 12 step programs too that was a huge foundation for me um with finding my higher power and really establishing that relationship it was like I knew

[00:17:54] well you know my first god was was ja right and I realized this recently too it's so funny that I'm still just putting pieces together as I get older is you know the reason I think I

[00:18:05] clung to the rastafarianism so much was because of the way bob was about truth right and about oneness one love and just peace love unity in the world you know fuck this system you know

[00:18:19] and uh the way he spoke about ja his devotion I was like I want that and that's why I grew out my hair and was like a little you know like a little dready dready hippie it's so funny

[00:18:33] when I look back but that's I think why I did that you know because I was like why was I so and I was obsessed with black culture and reggae and hip hop and rap and r&b and all those things because there

[00:18:44] was just something about it that felt like there's there's so much realness to this to this music oh whatever they're talking about I might not be able to relate to it but I fucking feel it

[00:18:55] you know any of that music it's like it carries a harder vibration to it and it's and it's on a different frequency that than some people can handle you know especially people who are really into

[00:19:07] devotional music or like you know are attached to being ultra spiritual you know they don't like the frequency of this music because of I think the anger and the pain and the grief and whereas

[00:19:20] like that's where music comes from like that's all of it you know there's truth in all of it so I just know for myself I really needed music at that age that was very uplifting where you know there's some

[00:19:34] devotion of like Jai's guiding and protecting and I was like oh yeah I need that I want that so I was just super into reggae everywhere I went and then and then over time it's often you know because

[00:19:45] I was like oh this isn't actually like my religion like I'm not actually a rastafari I'm not black I'm not from Africa like I had to tell myself like you that's not you you know honor where you come from

[00:19:59] and for me it's it's native blood right and again something I wasn't taught about something I was never encouraged to learn about it was something that my mother and all of her sisters had deep shame about you know you don't tell anybody that you're that you're native because

[00:20:15] they're gonna know we're poor they're gonna know you know that we're less than we're we're disadvantaged we don't you know and so they never really talked about it but my generation however like my brother

[00:20:27] and my cousins we're all very proud now you know the tables have turned a little bit where now it's like you know why we're proud is because we're fucking doing the healing work in looking at

[00:20:36] some of these generational patterns and addictions and trauma that's been passed down and we actually have the tools in the community you know and the emotional intelligence to process it and we can

[00:20:48] speak about it and we can have these conversations where you know where it's very relatable you know no matter what lineage race background you have we've all experienced trauma and we've

[00:20:58] all had a different response to that so that's that for me again music was that was the only thing I think got me through and yes there was like sports you know I just had so much energy

[00:21:08] they were like put her in gymnastics you know I just loved it I was just like flipping around I did come on in Brooklyn oh my god I did all the sport I was just like I had so much energy you know

[00:21:19] so it was just this little ball of energy and then I was like okay if I could just take this to the stage you know and I'll be this pop star and this is just gonna be my ticket out of here

[00:21:29] and one day I'm gonna see my parents while I'm on tv being like look I made it you know like you're proud of me now because look you know I got to come all this way to hitchhike across the

[00:21:42] country and down into the states now I'm living in Los Angeles like what a trip so my whole journey was definitely non intentional I believe it was guided whether we call it spirit led or

[00:21:56] you know um yeah you know it's just that's just the wind took me here and then becoming a mother was the only you know was the factor in me committing to live here otherwise I would have

[00:22:08] been gone I was like I don't want to live in the city you know but I just committed to it and then things got easier and then over time I realized man I would have never had the advantages

[00:22:17] you know for my music to get out in the way it has had I stayed where I was or had I stayed in Canada or just kept being nomadic and traveling around everywhere because I loved it I loved traveling

[00:22:27] but I had to stop root become a mountain is important to life write these songs right and actually have decent musicians around me and then a lot of opportunity so I see it as all

[00:22:42] being perfect it makes me really excited for the future because I'm like wow if that is what's happened over the last 20 years I can't wait to see what happens in the next 20 years

[00:22:53] I got full truth bumps over here for you I love one day idea because I have a lot of those I hold those visions very dear to my heart and I see myself doing all these things and I know right

[00:23:07] now it's not the time but I know there will be and whatever work I have to do on myself until then I'm willing to do it it's going to come naturally it's not anything I have to force

[00:23:16] to sign anything I have to go sign up for it's like it's going to come to me that it's that allowing it to come through you versus chasing it forcing it and it's beautiful you've teed up so many

[00:23:30] of the questions that I already had and everything that you've just shared which is so dope and just gives me confirmation that we're we're vibing on the same wavelength here I love like you made mention of something that I deeply believe in I believe that this generation

[00:23:48] is here to heal so much of what's happened in humanity I think that there is an opportunity that's like completely unprecedented even though I kind of hate using that word I really truly believe

[00:24:01] that the generation I I'll come I'm 39 about to turn 40 in a couple weeks and I'm gonna wrap we're pretty much same we're okay we're in the same same lane over here so we grew up straddling an

[00:24:15] analog childhood with technology coming into the world the way it did and our future generations are never going to know a world without technology and the generations behind us can really struggle with understanding the technology and all the information that comes

[00:24:34] along with it and to your to your exact point that we have so much more information and we know how to heal we have frameworks for what we need to be doing to be able to process the trauma that our

[00:24:47] parents and grandparents haven't been able to give their voice to that it has been so overwhelming that has been so shameful but like there's just been a lot in the world again to your point

[00:24:59] no matter what side no matter where you're from no matter what you look like any of the things like we all are carrying a tremendous amount and this generation has such an incredible opportunity to

[00:25:10] put in a lot of much needed work to mend and heal a lot of the energy and the vibration that exists in humanity and I think that sound is one of the ways the best ways that we do that and I

[00:25:24] specifically think that and with music and I love what you said about fuck mainstream because as much as I love mainstream I'm seriously questioning a lot of my music choices as I've grown up I

[00:25:36] I mean I too I grew up in a Christian household so I was not allowed to listen to secular music for a very long time and then as soon as I possibly could I was very hard into hip hop rap I also had

[00:25:49] like some moments with no doubt and uh brush in Gavin Rossdale that whole crew yeah and so it was once my eyes opened to secular music I was full on in and there has been this

[00:26:04] in the last couple years really feeling into like man I love it when some of these hard edgy beats and things come on but then I start listening to the lyrics it's like no wonder

[00:26:18] I had a hoe face I'm just gonna go put it out there like all I've been listening to you in a very developmental time of my brain is like girl you look good why don't you back that ass up and

[00:26:27] I'm like okay so it's like yeah the music that we listen to the vibrations the sound the lyrics that we are singing and expressing that allowed emotional state like do have impact on us and so

[00:26:42] now as I get much more conscious about music it's one of the reasons why I just like instantly fell in love with you when I saw you I was like who is this woman I came here for Perangae but

[00:26:53] like who is she and like wow because and I'm not sure if this is indicative of all of your performances but at that particular performance there was a cacao ceremony beforehand and so for

[00:27:07] our listeners who may not be familiar with what a cacao ceremony is cacao in a ceremonial setting is used very intentionally in community it's drank it's looks like hot chocolate but doesn't necessarily taste like it's a heart opening plant medicine and Shaila was nestle I think you

[00:27:25] called it the nest did you call it your nest my little nest yet yeah a couple photos of that you were posted them but they're there so she was in this little cocoon of a nest sitting cross-legged

[00:27:36] like at the bottom of the stage and to be honest I was so wrapped up in everything else that was happening around me until you started singing I didn't notice that you were there and you started singing the most beautiful medicine songs they were native songs and

[00:27:55] it was just an incredible experience to be able to pair that with the cacao ceremony and just feel into a bit of what you're speaking about like right like there's like a prayer to it but

[00:28:06] there's also pain in it there's there's a lot that can happen with medicine songs and so to be sitting there and witness to that was in and of itself incredible and then for 15 minutes later

[00:28:17] you just show up on stage as a completely different version of yourself that was like yeah I got cold so I put on like a sweatsuit yeah so you went from like in your little nest to like up on stage

[00:28:30] in a sweatsuit rapping and singing and wailing on a microphone like I was like what just happened and in a way it was in a it was in a tone where the lyrics like spoke to me on a level

[00:28:43] that very few other artists have but I also felt like at home in the tone and the beats the rhythms the the melodies like it was this beautiful blend of feeling familiarity from

[00:29:01] mainstream music but having it be at a completely different resonance and that's where I say like my jaw was on the floor because I was like what like this exists and I could die and and not to

[00:29:14] mention you're in altos I'm guessing and so I like our ranges are very similar so I get to belt right along with you and like stay on key at my house when I do my solo dance parties so

[00:29:26] I'm curious to know like hey do you do most of your performances that way where you are intertwining any sort of native or medicine songs along with your your things on stage was that a special

[00:29:36] performance and talked us a little bit about that idea of blending mainstream with a different vibration because you do it so well thank you I'm really glad you had that experience because this is something that I think about often first of all that was a special performance because

[00:29:56] I honor ceremony and performance is not ceremony I've had to really work to separate these especially in the medicine space because the ego is so strong around you know my identity as a singer

[00:30:11] as a musician as a performer as an entertainer you know all of the ways in which I get recognized I really have to make an effort not to bring that into ceremony and make it what I'm about

[00:30:23] because you know it's learning the art of just making it an offering and we have a name that we call it and it's prayer performance right where it's kind of like it's infused right so I'm

[00:30:34] praying and I'm letting God's spirit creator work through me at the same time as I'm still making sure that I have practiced my words and I know my lines and I know my melodies and I understand

[00:30:47] the translation of these songs and I'm showing up as a professional at the same time I want to deliver beautiful music while people are in ceremony and I'm not talking kick how I'm talking psilocybin you know ayahuasca whatchuma san Pedro peyote like you know these stronger medicines

[00:31:04] that are a big commitment when you're there in the ceremony schools and the people who are delivering the music we have um you know we're carrying a particular energy that's there so

[00:31:16] the ceremonial music is fairly new to me I would say about three years and my first introduction I guess to ceremony music was in my early 20s you know where I'm listening just to you know

[00:31:31] I'm discovering mantra music and devotional stuff it's like even reggae music is spiritual you know again the way Bob translated it so we're I'm going I'm moving through the genres

[00:31:40] going okay like what is my sound here like what what do I sing best what do I feel feel in me strongest and the truth is I feel all of it because I can sing to all of it right my voice has the ability

[00:31:53] to you know be versatile enough to fit a lot of these different genres I can sing r&b I can do jazz I could do the reggae for the time being I don't do that anymore but but I could at

[00:32:05] the time because I was like yeah I couldn't just I can follow with this but it's you know so it's changed over time and my music was also very categorized in the new age genre when it was

[00:32:17] first out right because I just don't think it was very well developed I was limited on the piano when I started first started playing keys and again I wasn't moving around as much I wasn't a

[00:32:28] super skilled player so therefore my my chords you know are limited and and I'm kind of just staying over here real comfortable and so my the emphasis on my songs was really in my lyrical

[00:32:41] content the lyrical content has been very important because you know that's my message that's my truth that's who I am through my songs and that continues to change as well so you know my music when

[00:32:55] it first came out it was like extremely uplifting very positive it's always been god oriented but I think back then I just felt so it was like a combination where I was quite naive still being

[00:33:08] pretty young but I was extremely empowered by you know becoming a mother and having my baby at home and you know just feeling so amazing after that like wow I could do anything you know I just

[00:33:20] fell on top of the world after that and then helping women and just like doing music and getting like good loving attention it was just like I really was even though I was like sabotaging

[00:33:29] my relationship and I was really fucking up over here and the generational trauma was taking years for I was in a really good place you know mentally emotionally because I was like

[00:33:40] I'm doing what I meant to do you know like I'm raising a kid and I'm doing music this is amazing I didn't think I could do this so my songs were just incredibly uplifting and there was

[00:33:50] always a message behind them it's just how the music's always come through me but over time and especially I was given the name Shaila rays of sunshine when I first moved to LA

[00:33:59] like literally like the first week I was there somebody called me that I was like oh that's cute I'm gonna use that we're gonna run in with it and then over time I was like oh well the

[00:34:09] sunshine is pretty hippie so I'm probably gonna just drop that you know at some point you know because I started playing like bars and bigger venues I started getting an R&B and it's like

[00:34:20] you know so I've been really witnessing and I'm witnessing myself but I'm also like I'm very intent on being as progressive as possible moving from maybe a smaller niche or genre that would be

[00:34:34] considered new age soul or something and really moving toward neo soul an R&B right like that's where I feel like my voice has a certain elegance and a certain flow and just like a deeply

[00:34:47] rooted strength to it that's there so that R&B soul genre is I feel I'm landing in that more and it is more mainstream so for me in my heart and mind I'm committed to still

[00:35:04] maintaining the same message that I've always had but meanwhile building music creating higher quality music you know better you know yeah working with better producers and and getting bigger hit singles out and just like all those things that would naturally happen as an artist

[00:35:22] like that's what's next for me because I don't know what else there would be you know other than to continue moving in the direction that I already see so clearly is where my voice needs to go

[00:35:32] I need to work with people you know who are going to help bring that out in me more even though you know the hippie in me is still always there you know that new ageer is always

[00:35:42] there that holistic woman is always there the medicine woman is there you know it's like my native pride is there you know that so I bring that with me so again like even though my the

[00:35:54] quality of my music might change and it might get sounding a little more mainstream I think it's extremely important to keep my lyrical content the way it is in that way because

[00:36:05] that's what people need people need to be reminded of the truth people need to remember who they are why they're here brought back to their purpose being given songs that just make them feel good

[00:36:17] and uplift them I'm not I don't want to write about the general r&b stuff that you normally hear you know I mean I can get into the sexy stuff a little bit but that's just I'm not quite there

[00:36:29] yet I have to work with the right person but I'm just like message is the same I'm changing I'm evolving the music's only going to get better and as far as the medicine space that's been three

[00:36:41] years of just being deeply humbled deeply honored to even participate and be in that space you know and keeping such an open mind and open heart because I'm learning songs from different indigenous cultures and and learning songs in different languages and learning the translation of them

[00:37:02] and once I put that together I'm like wow these are these are incredible like I thought I made beautiful music and I was like okay this is so beautiful just like the the images you know

[00:37:15] that you see in your mind and it's very colorful it's very earthy it's very devotional it's all in devotion to the plants of course so it's a it's unusual also for people if people don't

[00:37:27] know this that music is a is truly a huge foundation to ceremonial work you know it's like your journey would not be the same you know without it and so it's really a guide so again I just feel deeply

[00:37:41] honored to even participate and be sharing in these spaces and it's bringing out something beautiful in me it's really um you know you could even say from me like you said sitting

[00:37:52] in that little nest and singing these songs my voice even changes right the quality of my voice sounds completely different when I'm singing high falsetto you know just like an indigenous grandmother

[00:38:03] would too when I go and start doing my hip hop thing on stage yep it is like night and day but that's the gift and the beauty of the of the voice and how it works right I've got a huge

[00:38:14] range and I'm gonna fucking use it like I'm I want to sound different I don't want to sound the same all the time I want to show what my voice can do and let you be aware that yours

[00:38:24] probably can do that too if you practice enough oh yeah so I love that you had that experience because I don't really think about it I'm just like oh wear the ceremonial thing you know like do

[00:38:35] the thing sing to the cacao like do the prayer thing and then like get my shit together and for me at that point I just needed to feel comfortable and I needed to feel warm because

[00:38:45] I was feeling cold my throat was really sore yeah I heard like not feeling good I was yeah I was at like 60% but I came out of it feeling 90% you know because that's what the power of

[00:38:59] singing does your 60% ma'am went a long fucking way that night you didn't know but that's good that's a good thing yeah it was yeah like I said it was truly truly um jaw dropping I've tried

[00:39:14] preparing for this I was like okay what's another word Sheena besides jaw dropping that you can use but like the whole night I was just like I think what's happening here and it was yeah I I think

[00:39:26] some of the best artists in the world at least from my opinion where I place a high value on artists and people this is a very controversial opinion that I'm about to say um I love

[00:39:39] Taylor Swift in Kanye West equally because of their willingness to reinvent themselves musically in the face of anything and everyone like fuck you I'm not going to be contained for this box let me

[00:39:52] try this genre let me push the edges here let me let what's coming through me let my message stay the same and stay true in that but like I can do country I can do pop I can do indie alternative

[00:40:06] like let me explore these different genres and always bringing my whole self to that and being open to it sounding different and expressing different and being like two completely different people on a stage because we have that's innately within us and to be able to watch that

[00:40:24] to to give expression to that it truly does you shining your light up there like that just gives so much permission for people and so much activation it's like I I've gone to many

[00:40:40] a concerts including Taylor and Kanye's and I felt just as activated if not more by yours because of like that energy expression that was transmitted there and that that permission that was given that that true light that was showing you can tell when people are performing for performance

[00:40:55] sake and when they're performing because they're really clicked in and they're really operating from a space that is beyond them that is a higher source that is more making moves in a different way

[00:41:08] versus someone getting up there for the validation and for the the claps or the likes or whatever it might be yeah yeah no I've gotten enough of that now I know you know like little child needed

[00:41:22] that for a long while sure but I got to the point where like you know what I've heard it enough times now to know how my voice makes people feel I'm never gonna stop so don't worry great you know I'm

[00:41:33] I'm gonna sing till the day I die I'm gonna my music's just gonna get better hopefully it branches out and becomes more accessible to those who really need it because that's what I want you

[00:41:43] know new ageers and people who live a life already kind of tapped into the higher frequencies don't need my music as much as other people who are searching for meaning searching for purpose

[00:41:54] who are lost who are sick who are mentally unstable those are the people that I want to help you know through the way I sing through my delivery through my lyrics you know that's

[00:42:06] and it wasn't that before you know now it's just turned into that because I realize wow there's a lot of people struggling in on this planet right now and music was always a way for me to

[00:42:16] remember who I am so I just always pray that that's you know the same experience that somebody will will receive you know from me in that way and I and I really do want to infuse more

[00:42:27] more of the medicine music you know you're asking like is that something normal that I do yes only over the last few years right really embracing like my native roots really like learning a couple songs from my lineage and bringing those in um yeah I'm writing a

[00:42:43] new song right now where we have like there is like an Algonquin prayer that's being infused into it you know about the water and I was just like wow this is perfect timing because I really

[00:42:54] it feels really good to express that part of myself because again it just it keeps it keeps me remembering and it keeps my roots strong you know and I need that especially being in

[00:43:04] somewhere like Los Angeles where it's easy to get ungrounded it's easy to get um swept up into you know the fame stuff and the vanity and the fakeness and the everybody struggling to make

[00:43:17] it and be someone you know it's it's it's not challenging for me to be around be just because I have a pretty strong sense of who I am and what I'm doing here and what my mission is

[00:43:27] but I see it around me and I just again you find your people you find you know whoever's on your frequency like you there's a there's a pole you know there's a magnetism so I always

[00:43:38] find my people even in this giant city you know I always find the ones that are like doing the work creating epic music and the you know and I just hope that there can be more collaborations where

[00:43:49] I come together with these people and because that just makes us makes us stronger you know and brings out different gifts that would be like Taylor and Connie actually doing like one day

[00:43:58] they will I'm calling it I'm being called on it one day it's gonna f**king happen I'm not the big fan of her that's so funny he's been coming up so much in conversations you and I

[00:44:08] can talk about it later but okay great but literally had a long conversation about this like two nights ago and I've been listening to him non-stop so I'm just like oh there he is again

[00:44:18] you know he's literally one of the greatest artists of our time I don't call everybody that but there's there's definitely a lot of them out there where I'm like yeah they have something figured out that other people don't and therefore they are misunderstood and they'll get labeled

[00:44:32] and they'll get hated and that's okay I feel that even a little bit myself sometimes when I get that negative energy or I get that jealousy stuff or the competitiveness or the this I can feel that

[00:44:43] you know especially if like women feel that with each other and I'm like look I know singing looks like a competition on TV well and it felt like that when we were young too like who is the best

[00:44:55] singer like I had to be young when I was young but I I made other girls around me probably not feel so good about themselves and now I'm like okay now I'm teaching singing and I'm encouraging people

[00:45:08] for a living to use their voice and to be the best version of themselves so I'm kind of like that's another example where I'm like trying to you know right my wrongs I think that's so beautiful

[00:45:18] because I had another conversation on the podcast with a dear friend of mine she's my sound teacher I do singing bowls and she has an incredible voice she has a vocal alchemy course and does some vocal coaching as well and we talked about this idea that

[00:45:33] what up Taryn we love you uh we talked about this idea of how society is also really set us up to make competition and dance like those two things that the performing arts right are so harshly judged

[00:45:48] and singing and dancing are actually like birthrights and we have such a heavy focus in our society on how they sound and how they look instead of like fuck that how does it feel

[00:46:00] what does it feel like in your body to just let it out what does it feel like to move in a way that is not afraid of what the person next to you is thinking about it and how can we continue to

[00:46:13] kind of break down those stigmas and that energy that comes along with you know being a singer as a kid or a dancer as a kid and the there's just there's a lot of shit that we put on it

[00:46:27] that I think keeps people from being able to access those innate gifts that are so important for our healing and as adults we find so many of us that even if even if becoming a singer is

[00:46:40] not my thing like how can I still just like become more comfortable using my voice and recognizing that it's it's a tool that I have in my little toolkit here for my own

[00:46:53] experience in this lifetime to find more expression to find more freedom to find more release to find more safety to find everything there's so much locked into that voice and so I'm really

[00:47:03] excited to hear more about what you do on that side of things with with people as far as vocal coaching and that expression well a lot of what you're saying is it's very similar to my approach

[00:47:17] you know I have to I have to sometimes constantly remind people you know like this is something fun it'll get fun you know we just got to get over this hump where I first of all want

[00:47:28] people to understand how the voice works I want them to understand how the instrument of voice works because it makes it a little less intimidating right so I have them literally visualize that

[00:47:41] their voice is separate from them you know and this is this is medicine for me because for me to say I'm not my voice it's such a huge part of my identity who would I be without it

[00:47:51] right you know people wouldn't say anymore oh there's the singer you know so I you know that's that's something I've kind of clung to or I'm just been used to or that's part of my identity so

[00:48:01] if we can separate ourselves from it see it as an instrument as though you're picking up the guitar or trumpet or violin for the first time learning a new relationship with it learning how to develop

[00:48:13] a friendship with it and and not criticize it you know because we wouldn't do that we wouldn't we wouldn't meet a new person and and just find fault in them you know but we have such a harsh

[00:48:25] criticism toward ourselves and the quality of our voice and our ability to maybe follow instructions or follow melodies and notes and some people go out of key a lot and some people

[00:48:38] you know um I have a hard time finding their way and to really get stabilized in their voice so I find it incredibly important to first of all yeah separate ourselves from it don't internalize

[00:48:48] it just observe it don't judge it just observe it and learn from it the voice your voice it will show us everything we need to know it will show me where its strengths and its weaknesses are it will show

[00:48:59] me where you're used to avoiding you know it's very clear usually and so I like breaking down you know vocal ranges and and places in which we sing from and they're kind of like compartments

[00:49:13] I love breaking down music basics with people teaching them about octaves and notes and chords and the music scale and and just basic intro to vocal exercises are sometimes helpful and fun

[00:49:26] but most of all you know I just I want it to I want it to be pleasure and fun and passion and playfulness you know that's the most important thing I don't do vocal activation I don't do

[00:49:38] sound healing stuff I'm very technical with it because I love breaking it down if people can just have a visual of what it looks like it's going to be a hell of a lot easier for people

[00:49:49] to guide themselves when I'm not around because you know you have to be your own vocal coach I can't be there all the time giving you feedback and being your sound board like you have to get

[00:49:58] better at hearing yourself knowing oh yeah that's good or hey maybe I should repeat that a couple times you know you don't need me to tell you you went out of key somebody always

[00:50:08] intuitively knows even if they don't know how to articulate it so I'm just there as that sound board to go okay let's you know try you open your mouth a little bit more articulate what

[00:50:18] you're saying or you know do a slide down here let's go back to those like little three note step down you know like I really like I really like dissecting it and analyzing it and breaking

[00:50:30] it down because this break it down method even though I didn't invent it it's what I use to teach myself how to sing that's all I did was listening to songs copying Whitney Christina Celine Shania

[00:50:43] Alanis Gwen Edda James Erica but do Lauren Hill like that's all I did is I would listen to the shit over and over and over again and I would practice those lines until I got them

[00:50:55] and the only way that really helped me do these really big skillful vocal riffs and runs was breaking that shit down like note for note sometimes and then putting it together so it's just one of those

[00:51:06] methods that I like teaching people and I hope that they you know do it on their own where I'm not there because I'm like stop rewind stop rewind I had to do that I had a cassette and I

[00:51:17] had to go stop rewind stop rewind you know that was the only way that's the only way to make mix tapes back in the day you know well imagine before that it was like what were were

[00:51:25] women doing vinyl I guess they need vinyl it was okay and before that it was like we're just around it you were just taught it's you just learned it you just heard it and then you remembered it

[00:51:36] and you repeated it you know but we got it easy because we could do well the kids kind of have it easier now down you got words and everything you know you have to make it right oh man that

[00:51:51] framework that you were just describing that breaking it down it also like felt like a mirror imposed image of a lot of what I do with teaching people meditation and metacognition right like how

[00:52:03] to like witness your own thoughts and what's happening in your mind space is a big part of what I do and making it separate from yourself right like I love what you said about making your

[00:52:14] voice like a separate entity like it is a it is a new friend you're not going to be an asshole doing new friends and can you observe and witness what it's there to teach you and oh man that's

[00:52:25] so beautiful and yeah it seems to work seems to work yeah what a gift that you offer I am I know we've got a couple minutes left here and so I'm curious to know if people want to find

[00:52:38] you if they want to engage with you like tour dates if y'all okay I'm just gonna hype you real quick like go find her on your favorite music platform please but tell us what else

[00:52:49] you've got on the horizons it's everywhere um yeah it's on spot yeah my music's everywhere it's under Shilare sunshine my IG is just Shilare and then on my website I've got yeah I've

[00:53:00] got the show dates I've got ticket links I've got the music I've got some videos there's a page on my website that's dedicated to the vocal coaching where you know the breakdown of information is there

[00:53:12] and then what I've got going on is I guess a couple single releases are happening I'm writing some new stuff right now well actually I have old songs that are sitting out that I'm going to be

[00:53:25] bringing them back from the vault but I'm gonna go with a sister named Lava that's coming out soon that's going to be exciting I've got a couple of other collaborations that are going to draw

[00:53:37] I've had a couple of remixes of Into the Wild come out recently and people have been loving those so I think maybe like one or two remixes on the way a couple singles I'm going to start working

[00:53:47] on a new EP and then I've got shows pretty much up until the new year right now and including I'm going to Austin this coming weekend playing a fundraiser for Maui amazing and doing my first

[00:54:01] retreat I'm doing my very first like music meditation yoga songwriting I saw that I'm in Oklahoma and I was like do I need to sneak down to Texas oh yeah that's cool that I'm really

[00:54:15] excited about that and then after that I've got Arcadia you know Aubrey Marcus's festival ever at area 15 in Vegas I'm made sir I've got like yeah I've just got a whole a whole bunch of dates

[00:54:26] pretty much up until uh until the new year so and I take a little break I always take a little break right around you know Christmas holidays because I'm like you know what I just need to

[00:54:37] yeah yeah like no shit been time with my kids and and maybe just write and just or record you know just get a little bit quiet not be out busy traveling so much I love it well the final

[00:54:53] question that I ask every guest I have a gratitude practice and every night as I fall asleep I think of the three most oddly specific things I am most grateful for from the last 24 hours

[00:55:04] all I would like to hear is one oddly specific thing that you are extremely grateful for over the last 24 hours oddly specific I just want to be very detailed oddly specific like something

[00:55:18] very specific and I'm very grateful for wow there's so much I do my gratitude every day too with my sponsor and my 12 step program it's part of just like and it's the little things that could

[00:55:31] be the most random thing like the light in my fridge is back on yeah like that's an oddly specific thing that you can be hella grateful for yeah nobody like looking for the cheese in the dark

[00:55:45] yeah no that's not that didn't really happen I guess I'm really oddly grateful to be back home and like checking and just like see all my animals again whenever I'm like I miss my kids

[00:56:00] but I really I miss my pets like a lot I come home and they make me so happy like and I think it's going to what kind of pets do you have cat guinea pig snake oh yes that is an incredible collection

[00:56:17] yeah a lot going on here well Shaila thank you so so so much this latest album lessons and love has been just tremendously impactful on me I'm really grateful for you listening to those one-day whispers on your heart and just relentlessly following and pursuing your dreams

[00:56:35] and sharing your light with the world it is a beautiful light to be standing in the vicinity of and so I'm just very grateful for you and really look forward to the next time

[00:56:48] I get to see you on a stage as well and I think it'll be in Oklahoma yeah yeah in Tulsa girl that's where I'm at yeah I'm coming what yeah I'll let you know

[00:57:04] oh MG okay you guys you'll obviously be hearing about this from me and in the meantime thank you so so so much I really appreciate you and that's a wrap we want to hear from you guys so tag

[00:57:18] at make one day happen on Instagram and share your biggest aha moment or one thing you can take from this episode and put into action today if you're ready to go to the next level I'm currently

[00:57:27] taking on new one-on-one coaching and team development clients head over to www.makeonedayhappen.com to learn more and book a free breakthrough session with me your word of mouth is wildly appreciated in helping us share these conversations with the world I get so many of my podcast I

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[00:58:10] a family on your own we just launched season two and I'm speaking with single moms those still considering an expert in relevant fields to give you a real sense of what the day-to-day experience of solo parenting looks and feels like plus this season I've partnered with California

[00:58:25] cryo bank the number one spurn bake in the u.s so wherever you are in the process this podcast provides some support humor and helpful information listen to you and me kid wherever you get your podcasts