June 22, 2024 • 34 mins
Keeping Cool in SoCal! Long Beach opens free water playgrounds for the summer season. Some SoCal beaches take extra steps to be handicapped accessible. Public advised to stay out of these Los Angeles County beaches. Read A Book. Escape The Heat. LA Launching Cooling Center Pilot Program At Libraries. Education in SoCal. AUSD Will Ban Cellphones From School Day Beginning In 2025. LA Voters Will Decide On Creating An Independent Redistricting Commission for LAUSD. Apple Valley High School seniors graduate with medical training, licenses. GUEST INTERVIEW: Dana Mason (Holistic Practitioner, Sound Healer & Wellness Coach) & Dr. James P. Norris /AKA ‘Dr. J.’ (Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor). Introducing the “Rhythms of Healing”/“The Community C.A.R.E. Program”
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(00:00):
Los Angeles, Orange County. IE in the Valley. Listen is to
Wallace Sharp and you're listening to kfI AM six forty Soul Cal Saturday on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. SaturdaySaturday is the Saturday. It's a Saturday,
is the Saturday. Saturday is theSaturday. Saturday is the Saturday Holiday
(00:29):
Saturday. Say kf I AM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
(01:07):
In Alhambra at Water Village, SamClemente and Daggett, this is soul Cal
Saturday. I'm your host, TwallaSharp. We've got a full, full
show for you today. At thebottom of the hour, I will be
joined by Dana Mason, who isa holistic practitioner, sound healer and wellness
(01:27):
coach, alongside doctor James P.Norris aka Doctor j who is a licensed
professional mental health counselor, and theyare going to be joining us today to
talk about the rhythm of healings andcommunity care programs here in the Southland.
We've also got our soul Cal SaturdaySmall Business Saturday Spotlight. Today we will
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be joined by none other than DJpat d the owner and DJ of Kids
Party. DJ going to be takeus inside that. But let us start
just where Jackie Ray in the newsroomleft off with heat. And there's lots
of it. It's super super hotoutside and for some reason or another,
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that's got people heading to the water. Yes, they are heading to the
water, and why not. LongBeach has opened up a free water playground.
A free water playground. Yes,it looks like a water amusement park
out there on the waves. It'slike a bunch of slides and bump and
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go thinga the Jiggots. It's abunch of things out on the water.
The with It playground is available attwo locations in the LBC, the Alamito's
Beach and Bay Shore Avenue. They'regonna be opened now through September second.
The park offers family friendly water activities, including inflatable water structures, springboards,
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bouncers, monkey bars, and more, all that in the actual water.
Long Beach officials have said that theplayground elements are meant to encourage water plays
such as swimming, balancing, climbingand all that kind of fun stuff.
Any child nine years or old mustbe accompanied by an adult. So I'm
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sorry, any child under nine mustbe accompanied by an adult. But really
and truly, if you're out therewith your kids, stay with them.
If they are under eighteen, Idon't care seventeen yearlds who may want to
torture some younger kids splashing water intheir eyes. Stay with your kid.
Do not leave your kid alone.Both locations, you know, even though
I'm saying, don't leave you kidalone. Both locations are supervised by lifeguards
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daily from ten am to seven pm. Life Jackets and personal flirtation devices are
not allowed while using the water playand you will be quizzed. There is
a test that you have to takein order to play on the water play
ground. You have to be ableto swim. And I do applaud some
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so Cal beaches that are taking extrasteps to be handicapped accessible, yes or
differently abled accessible. With summer hereand everyone heading towards the water, it
is difficult for many to get tothe water. Nearly impossible for those to
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get to water or near water whomay have walking devices or wheelchairs. But
there are several beaches that are goingto be laying down matted areas areas where
they are laying down mats and planksalong the sand to allow access to the
beach, and I think this isabsolutely necessary. If everyone is going to
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get access to the beach, thenthat means every single one. And so
this is something that I'm glad weare doing here in the Southland by making
the beaches accessible to all. Butreally, and truly, why are you
going towards the beach period? Becauseif I've told you once, I've told
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you twice stay your behind out ofthe water. Why because just this week
the public has been advised once againto stay out of the waters. Why
you already know it. Bacteria akapoop. It's in the water flowing freely,
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high levels of bacteria and runoff thatis coming from the sewer systems.
What comes from the sewer systems.Yeah, poo bitch, that's what's coming
from the sore systems. And that'swhat's flowing into the water. And right
now it's mainly hitting La County beaches. But as I've said time and time
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again, there is no borders,no walls, no doors, no nets
keeping water in one air. Ifit's along the coast, it's along the
coast, all right. Santa MonicaCanyon Creek at will at will Rogers State
Beach near Will Rogers Tower eighteen,one hundred yards up and down the creek
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all right to Penga Canyon Beach inMalibu. The same one hundred yards up
and down the coast, Sweetwater Canyon. Storm drained at Carbon Canyon Beach.
Yeah, the entire swim area,Mother's Beach of Marina del Ray, the
entire swim area, Malibu Lagoon atSurf Rider Beach, Santa Monica Peer in
Santa Monica, the entirety of thedam Pier. I've never been to this
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one, Trances or Trancas look,Zuoma Beach. Basically, stay out of
the water. Malibu Pier in Malibu, stay out of the water, stay
yo behind out of the water.I don't care if there are flotation devices
or if they have made it handicappedaccessible. Just maybe enjoy the breeze,
but don't go in the water.Instead, Why don't you do something that
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is safe, like going into alibrary. Why because here in the Southland,
several libraries have launched a cooling centerpilot program where you can go and
escape the heat on the hottest days. Pretty Much any building that's open to
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the public and offers a free spotto rest and sit down and cool offer
minute is essentially a cooling center,but official cooling centers include more than two
hundred city and county libraries, seniorcitizens and recreation centers, in addition to
more than fifty public pools stanted inpools. Okay, pools are no better
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than this filthy, bacteria laden oceanwater, probably more concentrated. I don't
care how much chlorine they put intothat water. Chlorine does not counsel out
the urine, all right, Sothere is that. But if you're trying
to stay cool and you want togo and head into one of these augmented
cooling centers at one of our SoCallibraries, well, the West Valley Regional
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Library in Reseda, the Exposition ParkDoctor Mary McLeod, Bethune Regional Library,
San Pedro Regional Library, Pacoima BranchLibrary, Chinatown Branch Library. Yeah,
they are official cooling centers. Nowwhy these locations though it could have been
anyone, but the city's Climate EmergencyMobilization Office used the UCLA's most recent data
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to map out heat risk zones.Yeah, zones in different communities that bring
together various communities and also pose thehighest risk of overheating in various socio economic
area as well. These are areaswhere cooling centers are most needed. Now,
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to be clear, while you mayhave the issue of the poopage and
all the runoff in bacteria in theocean waters and all the urine mixed with
the chlorine in the public pools.In libraries, god admit, last time
I went to one and I thoughtthe library had turned into a homeless shelter
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because literally all of the unhoused peoplein the area were cooling off in the
library. So there's that. SoI don't know. In order to beat
the heat, maybe just find yourselfa cool spot in the shade, or
stay at home, draw the windowsclosed, turn on the AC and chill.
No matter what, keep some waterwith you, check on some old
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folks, mind your pets because theheat it is a coming. You're listening
to soul col Saturday with Tawalla Sharpon demand from KFI AM six forty live
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everywhere on the iHeartRadio app in aZuza Gorman mission, Viejo and Yermo.
This is soul cal Saturday. I'myour host, Twila Sharp, and Yes,
even though summertime is here and schoolis out, hooray for us parent,
folks. There is still some schoolbusiness that is making the news,
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some of which I am really reallyhappy about. Okay, look, I'll
just start off with this one.This past week, the Los Angeles Unified
School District has approved a district wideband on the usage of cell phone on
school campuses. A men, thankyou Jesus. I am so so happy
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with this ruling because I truly believethat these cell phones are riding children's minds.
Look, I get it. Thisis how kids are entertaining themselves.
And I'm not trying to say thatevery single kid, including mine, doesn't
have a cell phone and doesn't modelwhat we their parents are, what we
adults do. Many times we arestuck on our cell phones as well.
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It is the usage, however,of cell phones on campus while in school,
that is a problem. Kids areusing cell phones and it is distracting
them from schoolwork. It is allowingfor what I call mischief to be perpetuated
because you can text and tweet andTikTok or do whatever it is that you
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need to be doing instead of whatyou need to be doing in class.
So that's a lot of different Flashbobthings are happening when you see kids who
are meeting up and grouping up ata different school than the one they go
to. They're communicating by way ofcell phones. They're not mailing each other
letters in the mail and saying let'smeet up at such and such as high
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school and jump this kid, orwe're going to ditch and go to this
mall. No, they're able tohave this communication while they are on their
phones in class doing anything except forstudying. Many kids are sitting in the
back of the classroom the text andthe tweetings and doing whatever. And yes,
I know, as a parent,with today's climate of violence that is
happening at schools, I feel comfortableknowing that my daughter and my son before
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he graduated, had their phones withthem. But yeah, I realized,
I said, you know, look, I have to admit. Before my
co parent put restrictions on our daughter'sphone, her screen time was insane dwarfs
both of ours combined, and mostof the screen time were like, this
has to be happening in this schoolbecause you're not on the phone all the
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time when you're around us. Okay, So I am happy that LAUSD is
banning cell phones on college campuses.This is kicking off in January of twenty
twenty five. How they're going todo it, how they're collecting phones,
how they're monitoring, how they're stoppingthis, how they're going to enforce the
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band by way of punishments, andthings like that. These are some of
the details that they are working out. But I am all for this.
Hooray LAUSD, and I think thatwhile this to me is a move in
the right direction, of all thecriticism we may laud on LAUSD's shoulders,
this is one that we need tobe celebrating them. Another thing that happened
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recently this past week is it wasdecided that LA voters will decide on creating
an independent redistricting commission for LAUSD.These Los Angeles votes will decide if the
independent redistricting Commission should be created forLAUSD's Board of Education in the upcoming election.
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The independent commission would redraw LAUSD districtboundaries at least every ten years without
the involvement or the approval of theLA City Council and Board of Education,
according to a report from the LACity Attorney's Office, which is very very
interesting. So this is like LAUSD, which is the largest school district in
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the nation will be deciding on theirown what lines that they're going to draw.
I think that's very very interesting.I think that that puts a lot
of power, a lot of powerin the hands of LAUSD, which,
okay, let's be honest. LAUSDhas been known to be abusive when it
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comes to power that they hold.And how is this readistion tricking and going
to work? Is? How isit going to change the allotments of moneys
for very school district? Will theybleed into other existing school districts. No,
no, no, we shall see, but quickly before we go to
break, I do want to highlightsome very very special students the Apple Valley
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High School senior class. They havegraduated a group of seniors with medical training
licenses. Yes, a group ofApple Valley High School graduates receive their medical
assistant license and or completed the emergencyMedical technician classes. These graduates attended training
provided in partnership with Victor Valley Collegeduring their final year in high school,
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according to the Apple Value Unified SchoolDistrict. And this is an amazing,
amazing advancement in schooling. I thinkthat more and more schools, high schools
especially need to start working with theirsenior classes and actually getting them hands on
training in in a field of choice. I know for my son, he
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had an internship for his senior yearand it really got him some real world
working experience. So even if thatisn't where he wants to go, the
place that he interned, he atleast has an idea of what it is
to actually be in the working world. And more and more programs like this
should be implemented within southern California highschools in addition to more training on financial
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literacy that should be be absolute paramountwithin the senior And actually it started ninth
grade really but yeah, no,definitely within the senior class. But this
program right here, I thought thatthis was amazing that you have these seniors
that graduated, and they graduated withthese medical certificates and are actually able to
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get jobs within the medical field becausethis is where they all wanted to start.
It's them a running start in programsas well as being licensed EMTs before
they even graduated. Man, look, Bravo, Apple Valley, bra Voe.
Coming up after the break. Iwill be joined as I told you,
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by Dana Mason and doctor j.They are going to be introducing us
to the Rhythms of Healing and theCommunity Care Program. Want you to know
all about it. So don't yougo nowhere, keep it right here.
You're listening to soul Cal Saturday withTawala Sharp on demand from KFI AM six
forty KFI AM six forty live everywhereon the iHeartRadio app in Low Media,
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Mana Bello, Sun City and Hinkley. This is soul Cal Saturday. I'm
your host, Twala Sharp. Andif you know anything about me, you
know that I grew up hip hop. What does that mean? It means
I grew up within a culture thatwas developed in the mid to late seventies
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and has become the dominant culture amongyoung people today. Hip hop just celebrated
some fifty years of glorious creativity inthe fields of music, dance, art
and beyond. So for me,when I hear about a program like Rhythms
of Healing that feeds into the CommunityCare Program, it touched me. Why
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Because these are two programs that wereborn from hip hop culture but are designed
to do something that you also knowI am in tuned with, and that
is mental health and wellness, especiallywhere it is connected to young people.
I want to introduce you to twovery special people, Miss Dana Mason,
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who is a holistic press titioner,sound healer and wellness coach, and doctor
James P. Norris aka Doctor jwho is a licensed professional mental health counselor.
They have founded these two programs forthe benefit of us here in the
Southland. Rhythms of Healing is aninnovative program designed to harmonize the elements of
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hip hop culture, meditation and wellnesspractices into a transformative healing experience. This
unique program looks at mental health andwellness through the universal language of music and
the introspective art of meditation, fosteringa holistic approach to well being and of
course personal growth. And that forthis conversation is where I want to start.
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First, let me welcome my guests. Dana, how are you doing
today? Hi, It's so greatto see you again. It is great
to see you always in that sunshinysmile. Doctor j How you doing brother
well? The family is nice tosee you again. Yes, sir,
take us into the Rhythms of healing, beginning with the why where did you
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see? Not only the need toestablish rhythms of healing, but a way
forward to do it. Let mestart with you, Doctor Jay I made.
I think the idea and the pushto do it was birthed out of
my own experience growing up listening tohip hop because it was the soundtrack of
my life, right, anything thatI went through, hip hop was a
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part of that or music in someform of fashion to work through it.
And then also as a licensed clinicalmental health provider a professor, hip hop
was part of my research and integratinghip hop as a form of healing,
particularly for communities of color, sincethat is prominent in our community, and
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so in doing that, it wasjust important and necessary right to bring the
music that we love, the culturethat we love and use it as a
pathway of healing right destruction as itis always characterized as, and we want
to bring a different element and howit can transform our community. As we
just saw with Kendrick, Yes indeedand Dana as a sound healer and wellness
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coach, what was your entry wayinto utilizing rhythms of healing and tying that
into what you do well. Itwas at the gracious request of doctor j
that I joined him on this journey. He created the program and it was
something that he had worked on inother communities and when we met it was
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I guess he thought it was anatural fit for the things that I do
now. My original background was ofcourse in the music business to those pop
cultures where we met, and itreally, as doctor J said, it
was the soundtrack of my life aswell. And it's also the bridge that
allows us to communicate with each otherand outside of our own culture. So
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when I moved into the healing practice, I felt it was important to be
able to share these tools with thepeople in the community, and we were
able to merge both of our disciplinestogether in order to provide this service.
Doctor J. You just mentioned KendrickLamar and how Kendrick Lamar at his recent
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concert did something that we have notseen since i'd say the early eighties with
the We All in the Same Gangproject, where he was able to bring
members of various gangs on stage ina unifying moment using music time music into
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not just his messaging and what heis doing, but also as a way
to ring a bell here in theSouthland to say it is time for us
to move forward with peace and withlove. Does a moment like that does
that just solidify your reasoning and yourdesire to take rhythms of healing and what
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you were doing with your program tothe next level. Absolutely, And also
what Kendrick did and others that wereinvolved was really a testament to their work
on their own wellness. Right.I don't think that we get to this
point with Kendrick doing that and otherswilling to step into that space if they
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haven't been doing that work already.And that speaks to the relevance of why
what we're doing is so important becausewe can allow other folks within the community
to tap into what we have alreadyas a pathway to our own wellness and
community wellness because that was community wellness, yeah, just individual wellness, and
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we need to continue what started rightand the people on the ground floor that
are not at the concert, butthat are in the community, they need
to have access to this too aswell. And Dana, I know there
is a recent article that just cameout talking about one plan here in the
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south Land looking at medicating a lotof the mentally challenged here in the south
Land and being that that may bea way to kind of help alleviate some
of the strife and struggle of gettingindividuals stay off the street. And it's
not directly connected. But as aholistic practitioner, someone who finds ways outside
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of traditional medicines, how does rhythmsof healing tie into your practice and what
you do in helping to bring peopleabout change without medication. Well, I'm
going to start by saying I firmlybelieve in western and medication because it's it's
not what it What it does isit helps create and get you stabilized.
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The the holistic approach is not justtreating the illness, it's treating the whole
person. So when I use differentmodalities when it comes to and in particular
with doctor j In, our programis teaching the practice of meditation, and
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those tools only are only helpful anduseful once you're in a safe and stabilized
place, because if you one thingyou can't do is start the healing process
when you're one not feeling safe andtwo mentally not even able to digest what
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what the help is being offered.So getting getting people safe in their safe
environment, getting them physically safe andmen safe and stable is at the absolute
foundation of what's needed. The toolsthat come are nothing but supplemental things that
will help when in the process ofdoing the healing work. Because you know
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each individual is different, there's differentdegrees of what's happening with different people.
It's I specifically when we're talking aboutthe un housed and also being diagnosed properly.
Doctor Day and I were just talkingabout that before we came in.
Is having the proper diagnosis and thelong term care of what that medication journey
looks like. And once you're onceyou're able to be fully stabilized, then
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the true healing work can begin becausenow you have a clear mind, a
clear space to actually start doing thedeeper level of work that's needed in order
to get you on a healthy trajectorymoving forward. And that is what we
are discussing here. I am joinedby Data Mason, Holistic practic Tisher,
sound healer and wellness coach, alongwith doctor James P. Norris aka Doctor
(27:04):
j who is a licensed professional healthcounselor. We are talking about both Rhythms
of Healing, which is an innovativeprogram designed to harmonize the elements of hip
hop culture, meditation, and wellnesspractices into a transformative healing experience which is
leading into the community Care program whereinthe acronym care stands for connectedness, acknowledgment,
(27:29):
resilience, and emergence. And thisis a group counseling session that helps
individuals working through trauma, depression,anxiety, and life stressors. And we
are going to get into that.On the other side, you're listening to
soul cal Saturday with Tawala Sharp ondemand from KFI AM six forty, KFI
(27:56):
AM six forty live everywhere on iHeartRadioapp and Pair Blossom Signal, Hill and
Boy and Vidal. This is soulGal Saturday. I'm your host, Twalla
Sharp and if you are just joiningin, I have been speaking with Dana
Mason, who is a holistic practitioner, sound healer and wellness coach, alongside
(28:18):
doctor James P. Norris aka Doctorj who is a licensed professional mental health
counselor, and they are joining ustoday to introduce both Rhythms of Healing,
which we are speaking about in thefirst segment. That is an innovative program
designed to harmonize the elements of hiphop culture, meditation, and wellness practices
into a transformative healing experience which isall a part of the community Care program
(28:45):
CARE. The acronym stands for correctedness, Acknowledgement, resilience and emergence and this
is a group counseling session that helpsindividuals working through trauma, depression, anxiety,
and life stressors and bringing you backinto the conversation doctor J utilizing rhythms
of healing and tying this into thecommunity care program. What goes into this
(29:11):
workshop? What goes into the programwhere you are bringing individuals in to actually
do the work well. What wewere thinking about and creating a community care
program one was to give folks alittle taste of the full program rhythms of
healing, and so the goal wasis to go through this care model that
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I developed several years ago around connectedness, acknowledgment, resilience, and emergence.
What I believe, based on mywork is the pathway to healing right and
so we wanted to use this frameworkas a foundation to help people begin the
conversation of their depression, anxiety,trauma, life stressor and then bridge that
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to the larger thirteen week program.This could give people that initial taste of
beginning the work of healing and thenthat would lead them right into the thirteen
weeks, because what we know ispeople need a bridge, yeah, to
get to the other side, andwe want to create that bridge so they
don't get too much right and thenthey don't want to engage in the deeper
(30:18):
work that they want to, youknow, engage in for healing, Dana
with when it comes to opening up, when it comes to healing and tearing
that band aid off and starting todo the work. Have you found that
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music just in its very essence inhow there is something that we can all
connect with, be it the words, be it the rhythms, be it
the feeling that it gives you.Have you found that this has been an
easier way, almost like the honeythat goes with the medicine, in getting
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people to begin doing the work.Absolutely. I think you know, there's
a coin phrase that music is theuniversal language, and so we may not
all speak the same language, butwe can connect through song and so whether
it's words, whether it's melodic,but there's also a healing aspect to music.
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Music in itself, the frequencies andhow you know, everything is math.
We're all made of frequencies and vibrations. So when you get down into
the science of music and what itdoes for healing the mind and the nervous
system. So not only are weusing you know, the music that we
love in hip hop, but oneof the things that I do is I
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introduce the idea of using frequencies ofthe Sofigio frequencies. So it creates the
environment so that your nervous system cancome back to be you said, and
also gives you with that with themeditation tools, it's giving you your mind
(32:07):
and your nervous system a break.And so once you're in a space where
you feel regulated, then we canget into the clinical aspects of the talk
therapy that doctor J leads. Soagain allowing those holistic tools, at first,
it doesn't seem to be so dynamic. It gives you an opportunity to
(32:30):
settle in, to relax, tobe in a safe environment, to make
sure your nervous system feels like it'sin a safe environment, and then the
real work can begin because that's whenpeople will feel less guarded. Then they
can go into space of allowing theirvulnerabilities to be shared. And that's where
(32:50):
doctor J comes in with the clinicalaspects of getting into the layers of the
trauma, the stressors through the talktherapy and Daniere, can we go to
learn more both about YouTube and thework that you're doing, but also this
program that you've created, Rhythms ofHealing. You can find us at Rhythms
of Healing dot u s. Andmy website is Danamason dot me and doctor
(33:20):
J and you can find me atI t h E m b A dot
u s A Thomba dot dot usis my website and Instagram at athomba dot
u s. Okay, give usthat one more time, because I know
if anyone's listened like me, they'relike, wait, what did you just
say? So you can go tomy website at athomba dot us that is
(33:44):
I t h E m b Adot us and you can find me on
Instagram at athomba dot us at It h E m b A dot u
S. Absolutely. I want tothank you too for joining us to introduce
us to this program and to knowthat there is a program that is tying
(34:07):
something as universal as music into apart of the healing. I think that
this is this is this is brilliant. This is why I wanted to bring
you on today to shine a lighton this program. So thank you for
joining us and sharing us with ushere on soul Cal Saturday. Thank you
so much. It's been our pleasureand we look forward to continuing this or
(34:29):
of the community, well we're here. Thank you. Absolutely you've been listening
to soul Cal Saturday. You canalways hear us live on KFI AM six
forty five pm to seven pm onSaturday, and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
Los Angeles, Orange County. IE in the Valley. Listen is to
Wallace Sharp and you're listening to kfI AM six forty Soul Cal Saturday on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. SaturdaySaturday is the Saturday. It's a Saturday,
is the Saturday. Saturday is theSaturday. Saturday is the Saturday Holiday
(00:29):
Saturday. Say kf I AM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
(01:07):
In Alhambra at Water Village, SamClemente and Daggett, this is soul Cal
Saturday. I'm your host, TwallaSharp. We've got a full, full
show for you today. At thebottom of the hour, I will be
joined by Dana Mason, who isa holistic practitioner, sound healer and wellness
(01:27):
coach, alongside doctor James P.Norris aka Doctor j who is a licensed
professional mental health counselor, and theyare going to be joining us today to
talk about the rhythm of healings andcommunity care programs here in the Southland.
We've also got our soul Cal SaturdaySmall Business Saturday Spotlight. Today we will
(01:49):
be joined by none other than DJpat d the owner and DJ of Kids
Party. DJ going to be takeus inside that. But let us start
just where Jackie Ray in the newsroomleft off with heat. And there's lots
of it. It's super super hotoutside and for some reason or another,
(02:12):
that's got people heading to the water. Yes, they are heading to the
water, and why not. LongBeach has opened up a free water playground.
A free water playground. Yes,it looks like a water amusement park
out there on the waves. It'slike a bunch of slides and bump and
(02:34):
go thinga the Jiggots. It's abunch of things out on the water.
The with It playground is available attwo locations in the LBC, the Alamito's
Beach and Bay Shore Avenue. They'regonna be opened now through September second.
The park offers family friendly water activities, including inflatable water structures, springboards,
(02:58):
bouncers, monkey bars, and more, all that in the actual water.
Long Beach officials have said that theplayground elements are meant to encourage water plays
such as swimming, balancing, climbingand all that kind of fun stuff.
Any child nine years or old mustbe accompanied by an adult. So I'm
(03:19):
sorry, any child under nine mustbe accompanied by an adult. But really
and truly, if you're out therewith your kids, stay with them.
If they are under eighteen, Idon't care seventeen yearlds who may want to
torture some younger kids splashing water intheir eyes. Stay with your kid.
Do not leave your kid alone.Both locations, you know, even though
I'm saying, don't leave you kidalone. Both locations are supervised by lifeguards
(03:43):
daily from ten am to seven pm. Life Jackets and personal flirtation devices are
not allowed while using the water playand you will be quizzed. There is
a test that you have to takein order to play on the water play
ground. You have to be ableto swim. And I do applaud some
(04:05):
so Cal beaches that are taking extrasteps to be handicapped accessible, yes or
differently abled accessible. With summer hereand everyone heading towards the water, it
is difficult for many to get tothe water. Nearly impossible for those to
(04:26):
get to water or near water whomay have walking devices or wheelchairs. But
there are several beaches that are goingto be laying down matted areas areas where
they are laying down mats and planksalong the sand to allow access to the
beach, and I think this isabsolutely necessary. If everyone is going to
(04:50):
get access to the beach, thenthat means every single one. And so
this is something that I'm glad weare doing here in the Southland by making
the beaches accessible to all. Butreally, and truly, why are you
going towards the beach period? Becauseif I've told you once, I've told
(05:10):
you twice stay your behind out ofthe water. Why because just this week
the public has been advised once againto stay out of the waters. Why
you already know it. Bacteria akapoop. It's in the water flowing freely,
(05:32):
high levels of bacteria and runoff thatis coming from the sewer systems.
What comes from the sewer systems.Yeah, poo bitch, that's what's coming
from the sore systems. And that'swhat's flowing into the water. And right
now it's mainly hitting La County beaches. But as I've said time and time
(05:53):
again, there is no borders,no walls, no doors, no nets
keeping water in one air. Ifit's along the coast, it's along the
coast, all right. Santa MonicaCanyon Creek at will at will Rogers State
Beach near Will Rogers Tower eighteen,one hundred yards up and down the creek
(06:13):
all right to Penga Canyon Beach inMalibu. The same one hundred yards up
and down the coast, Sweetwater Canyon. Storm drained at Carbon Canyon Beach.
Yeah, the entire swim area,Mother's Beach of Marina del Ray, the
entire swim area, Malibu Lagoon atSurf Rider Beach, Santa Monica Peer in
Santa Monica, the entirety of thedam Pier. I've never been to this
(06:38):
one, Trances or Trancas look,Zuoma Beach. Basically, stay out of
the water. Malibu Pier in Malibu, stay out of the water, stay
yo behind out of the water.I don't care if there are flotation devices
or if they have made it handicappedaccessible. Just maybe enjoy the breeze,
but don't go in the water.Instead, Why don't you do something that
(07:02):
is safe, like going into alibrary. Why because here in the Southland,
several libraries have launched a cooling centerpilot program where you can go and
escape the heat on the hottest days. Pretty Much any building that's open to
(07:23):
the public and offers a free spotto rest and sit down and cool offer
minute is essentially a cooling center,but official cooling centers include more than two
hundred city and county libraries, seniorcitizens and recreation centers, in addition to
more than fifty public pools stanted inpools. Okay, pools are no better
(07:46):
than this filthy, bacteria laden oceanwater, probably more concentrated. I don't
care how much chlorine they put intothat water. Chlorine does not counsel out
the urine, all right, Sothere is that. But if you're trying
to stay cool and you want togo and head into one of these augmented
cooling centers at one of our SoCallibraries, well, the West Valley Regional
(08:09):
Library in Reseda, the Exposition ParkDoctor Mary McLeod, Bethune Regional Library,
San Pedro Regional Library, Pacoima BranchLibrary, Chinatown Branch Library. Yeah,
they are official cooling centers. Nowwhy these locations though it could have been
anyone, but the city's Climate EmergencyMobilization Office used the UCLA's most recent data
(08:37):
to map out heat risk zones.Yeah, zones in different communities that bring
together various communities and also pose thehighest risk of overheating in various socio economic
area as well. These are areaswhere cooling centers are most needed. Now,
(08:58):
to be clear, while you mayhave the issue of the poopage and
all the runoff in bacteria in theocean waters and all the urine mixed with
the chlorine in the public pools.In libraries, god admit, last time
I went to one and I thoughtthe library had turned into a homeless shelter
(09:20):
because literally all of the unhoused peoplein the area were cooling off in the
library. So there's that. SoI don't know. In order to beat
the heat, maybe just find yourselfa cool spot in the shade, or
stay at home, draw the windowsclosed, turn on the AC and chill.
No matter what, keep some waterwith you, check on some old
(09:43):
folks, mind your pets because theheat it is a coming. You're listening
to soul col Saturday with Tawalla Sharpon demand from KFI AM six forty live
(10:16):
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app in aZuza Gorman mission, Viejo and Yermo.
This is soul cal Saturday. I'myour host, Twila Sharp, and Yes,
even though summertime is here and schoolis out, hooray for us parent,
folks. There is still some schoolbusiness that is making the news,
(10:41):
some of which I am really reallyhappy about. Okay, look, I'll
just start off with this one.This past week, the Los Angeles Unified
School District has approved a district wideband on the usage of cell phone on
school campuses. A men, thankyou Jesus. I am so so happy
(11:09):
with this ruling because I truly believethat these cell phones are riding children's minds.
Look, I get it. Thisis how kids are entertaining themselves.
And I'm not trying to say thatevery single kid, including mine, doesn't
have a cell phone and doesn't modelwhat we their parents are, what we
adults do. Many times we arestuck on our cell phones as well.
(11:31):
It is the usage, however,of cell phones on campus while in school,
that is a problem. Kids areusing cell phones and it is distracting
them from schoolwork. It is allowingfor what I call mischief to be perpetuated
because you can text and tweet andTikTok or do whatever it is that you
(11:52):
need to be doing instead of whatyou need to be doing in class.
So that's a lot of different Flashbobthings are happening when you see kids who
are meeting up and grouping up ata different school than the one they go
to. They're communicating by way ofcell phones. They're not mailing each other
letters in the mail and saying let'smeet up at such and such as high
(12:13):
school and jump this kid, orwe're going to ditch and go to this
mall. No, they're able tohave this communication while they are on their
phones in class doing anything except forstudying. Many kids are sitting in the
back of the classroom the text andthe tweetings and doing whatever. And yes,
I know, as a parent,with today's climate of violence that is
happening at schools, I feel comfortableknowing that my daughter and my son before
(12:39):
he graduated, had their phones withthem. But yeah, I realized,
I said, you know, look, I have to admit. Before my
co parent put restrictions on our daughter'sphone, her screen time was insane dwarfs
both of ours combined, and mostof the screen time were like, this
has to be happening in this schoolbecause you're not on the phone all the
(13:00):
time when you're around us. Okay, So I am happy that LAUSD is
banning cell phones on college campuses.This is kicking off in January of twenty
twenty five. How they're going todo it, how they're collecting phones,
how they're monitoring, how they're stoppingthis, how they're going to enforce the
(13:20):
band by way of punishments, andthings like that. These are some of
the details that they are working out. But I am all for this.
Hooray LAUSD, and I think thatwhile this to me is a move in
the right direction, of all thecriticism we may laud on LAUSD's shoulders,
this is one that we need tobe celebrating them. Another thing that happened
(13:45):
recently this past week is it wasdecided that LA voters will decide on creating
an independent redistricting commission for LAUSD.These Los Angeles votes will decide if the
independent redistricting Commission should be created forLAUSD's Board of Education in the upcoming election.
(14:11):
The independent commission would redraw LAUSD districtboundaries at least every ten years without
the involvement or the approval of theLA City Council and Board of Education,
according to a report from the LACity Attorney's Office, which is very very
interesting. So this is like LAUSD, which is the largest school district in
(14:33):
the nation will be deciding on theirown what lines that they're going to draw.
I think that's very very interesting.I think that that puts a lot
of power, a lot of powerin the hands of LAUSD, which,
okay, let's be honest. LAUSDhas been known to be abusive when it
(14:56):
comes to power that they hold.And how is this readistion tricking and going
to work? Is? How isit going to change the allotments of moneys
for very school district? Will theybleed into other existing school districts. No,
no, no, we shall see, but quickly before we go to
break, I do want to highlightsome very very special students the Apple Valley
(15:20):
High School senior class. They havegraduated a group of seniors with medical training
licenses. Yes, a group ofApple Valley High School graduates receive their medical
assistant license and or completed the emergencyMedical technician classes. These graduates attended training
provided in partnership with Victor Valley Collegeduring their final year in high school,
(15:43):
according to the Apple Value Unified SchoolDistrict. And this is an amazing,
amazing advancement in schooling. I thinkthat more and more schools, high schools
especially need to start working with theirsenior classes and actually getting them hands on
training in in a field of choice. I know for my son, he
(16:03):
had an internship for his senior yearand it really got him some real world
working experience. So even if thatisn't where he wants to go, the
place that he interned, he atleast has an idea of what it is
to actually be in the working world. And more and more programs like this
should be implemented within southern California highschools in addition to more training on financial
(16:29):
literacy that should be be absolute paramountwithin the senior And actually it started ninth
grade really but yeah, no,definitely within the senior class. But this
program right here, I thought thatthis was amazing that you have these seniors
that graduated, and they graduated withthese medical certificates and are actually able to
(16:55):
get jobs within the medical field becausethis is where they all wanted to start.
It's them a running start in programsas well as being licensed EMTs before
they even graduated. Man, look, Bravo, Apple Valley, bra Voe.
Coming up after the break. Iwill be joined as I told you,
(17:15):
by Dana Mason and doctor j.They are going to be introducing us
to the Rhythms of Healing and theCommunity Care Program. Want you to know
all about it. So don't yougo nowhere, keep it right here.
You're listening to soul Cal Saturday withTawala Sharp on demand from KFI AM six
forty KFI AM six forty live everywhereon the iHeartRadio app in Low Media,
(17:49):
Mana Bello, Sun City and Hinkley. This is soul Cal Saturday. I'm
your host, Twala Sharp. Andif you know anything about me, you
know that I grew up hip hop. What does that mean? It means
I grew up within a culture thatwas developed in the mid to late seventies
(18:11):
and has become the dominant culture amongyoung people today. Hip hop just celebrated
some fifty years of glorious creativity inthe fields of music, dance, art
and beyond. So for me,when I hear about a program like Rhythms
of Healing that feeds into the CommunityCare Program, it touched me. Why
(18:36):
Because these are two programs that wereborn from hip hop culture but are designed
to do something that you also knowI am in tuned with, and that
is mental health and wellness, especiallywhere it is connected to young people.
I want to introduce you to twovery special people, Miss Dana Mason,
(18:57):
who is a holistic press titioner,sound healer and wellness coach, and doctor
James P. Norris aka Doctor jwho is a licensed professional mental health counselor.
They have founded these two programs forthe benefit of us here in the
Southland. Rhythms of Healing is aninnovative program designed to harmonize the elements of
(19:21):
hip hop culture, meditation and wellnesspractices into a transformative healing experience. This
unique program looks at mental health andwellness through the universal language of music and
the introspective art of meditation, fosteringa holistic approach to well being and of
course personal growth. And that forthis conversation is where I want to start.
(19:44):
First, let me welcome my guests. Dana, how are you doing
today? Hi, It's so greatto see you again. It is great
to see you always in that sunshinysmile. Doctor j How you doing brother
well? The family is nice tosee you again. Yes, sir,
take us into the Rhythms of healing, beginning with the why where did you
(20:06):
see? Not only the need toestablish rhythms of healing, but a way
forward to do it. Let mestart with you, Doctor Jay I made.
I think the idea and the pushto do it was birthed out of
my own experience growing up listening tohip hop because it was the soundtrack of
my life, right, anything thatI went through, hip hop was a
(20:27):
part of that or music in someform of fashion to work through it.
And then also as a licensed clinicalmental health provider a professor, hip hop
was part of my research and integratinghip hop as a form of healing,
particularly for communities of color, sincethat is prominent in our community, and
(20:48):
so in doing that, it wasjust important and necessary right to bring the
music that we love, the culturethat we love and use it as a
pathway of healing right destruction as itis always characterized as, and we want
to bring a different element and howit can transform our community. As we
just saw with Kendrick, Yes indeedand Dana as a sound healer and wellness
(21:15):
coach, what was your entry wayinto utilizing rhythms of healing and tying that
into what you do well. Itwas at the gracious request of doctor j
that I joined him on this journey. He created the program and it was
something that he had worked on inother communities and when we met it was
(21:40):
I guess he thought it was anatural fit for the things that I do
now. My original background was ofcourse in the music business to those pop
cultures where we met, and itreally, as doctor J said, it
was the soundtrack of my life aswell. And it's also the bridge that
allows us to communicate with each otherand outside of our own culture. So
(22:03):
when I moved into the healing practice, I felt it was important to be
able to share these tools with thepeople in the community, and we were
able to merge both of our disciplinestogether in order to provide this service.
Doctor J. You just mentioned KendrickLamar and how Kendrick Lamar at his recent
(22:26):
concert did something that we have notseen since i'd say the early eighties with
the We All in the Same Gangproject, where he was able to bring
members of various gangs on stage ina unifying moment using music time music into
(22:48):
not just his messaging and what heis doing, but also as a way
to ring a bell here in theSouthland to say it is time for us
to move forward with peace and withlove. Does a moment like that does
that just solidify your reasoning and yourdesire to take rhythms of healing and what
(23:11):
you were doing with your program tothe next level. Absolutely, And also
what Kendrick did and others that wereinvolved was really a testament to their work
on their own wellness. Right.I don't think that we get to this
point with Kendrick doing that and otherswilling to step into that space if they
(23:33):
haven't been doing that work already.And that speaks to the relevance of why
what we're doing is so important becausewe can allow other folks within the community
to tap into what we have alreadyas a pathway to our own wellness and
community wellness because that was community wellness, yeah, just individual wellness, and
(23:55):
we need to continue what started rightand the people on the ground floor that
are not at the concert, butthat are in the community, they need
to have access to this too aswell. And Dana, I know there
is a recent article that just cameout talking about one plan here in the
(24:17):
south Land looking at medicating a lotof the mentally challenged here in the south
Land and being that that may bea way to kind of help alleviate some
of the strife and struggle of gettingindividuals stay off the street. And it's
not directly connected. But as aholistic practitioner, someone who finds ways outside
(24:44):
of traditional medicines, how does rhythmsof healing tie into your practice and what
you do in helping to bring peopleabout change without medication. Well, I'm
going to start by saying I firmlybelieve in western and medication because it's it's
not what it What it does isit helps create and get you stabilized.
(25:08):
The the holistic approach is not justtreating the illness, it's treating the whole
person. So when I use differentmodalities when it comes to and in particular
with doctor j In, our programis teaching the practice of meditation, and
(25:29):
those tools only are only helpful anduseful once you're in a safe and stabilized
place, because if you one thingyou can't do is start the healing process
when you're one not feeling safe andtwo mentally not even able to digest what
(25:51):
what the help is being offered.So getting getting people safe in their safe
environment, getting them physically safe andmen safe and stable is at the absolute
foundation of what's needed. The toolsthat come are nothing but supplemental things that
will help when in the process ofdoing the healing work. Because you know
(26:14):
each individual is different, there's differentdegrees of what's happening with different people.
It's I specifically when we're talking aboutthe un housed and also being diagnosed properly.
Doctor Day and I were just talkingabout that before we came in.
Is having the proper diagnosis and thelong term care of what that medication journey
looks like. And once you're onceyou're able to be fully stabilized, then
(26:41):
the true healing work can begin becausenow you have a clear mind, a
clear space to actually start doing thedeeper level of work that's needed in order
to get you on a healthy trajectorymoving forward. And that is what we
are discussing here. I am joinedby Data Mason, Holistic practic Tisher,
sound healer and wellness coach, alongwith doctor James P. Norris aka Doctor
(27:04):
j who is a licensed professional healthcounselor. We are talking about both Rhythms
of Healing, which is an innovativeprogram designed to harmonize the elements of hip
hop culture, meditation, and wellnesspractices into a transformative healing experience which is
leading into the community Care program whereinthe acronym care stands for connectedness, acknowledgment,
(27:29):
resilience, and emergence. And thisis a group counseling session that helps
individuals working through trauma, depression,anxiety, and life stressors. And we
are going to get into that.On the other side, you're listening to
soul cal Saturday with Tawala Sharp ondemand from KFI AM six forty, KFI
(27:56):
AM six forty live everywhere on iHeartRadioapp and Pair Blossom Signal, Hill and
Boy and Vidal. This is soulGal Saturday. I'm your host, Twalla
Sharp and if you are just joiningin, I have been speaking with Dana
Mason, who is a holistic practitioner, sound healer and wellness coach, alongside
(28:18):
doctor James P. Norris aka Doctorj who is a licensed professional mental health
counselor, and they are joining ustoday to introduce both Rhythms of Healing,
which we are speaking about in thefirst segment. That is an innovative program
designed to harmonize the elements of hiphop culture, meditation, and wellness practices
into a transformative healing experience which isall a part of the community Care program
(28:45):
CARE. The acronym stands for correctedness, Acknowledgement, resilience and emergence and this
is a group counseling session that helpsindividuals working through trauma, depression, anxiety,
and life stressors and bringing you backinto the conversation doctor J utilizing rhythms
of healing and tying this into thecommunity care program. What goes into this
(29:11):
workshop? What goes into the programwhere you are bringing individuals in to actually
do the work well. What wewere thinking about and creating a community care
program one was to give folks alittle taste of the full program rhythms of
healing, and so the goal wasis to go through this care model that
(29:33):
I developed several years ago around connectedness, acknowledgment, resilience, and emergence.
What I believe, based on mywork is the pathway to healing right and
so we wanted to use this frameworkas a foundation to help people begin the
conversation of their depression, anxiety,trauma, life stressor and then bridge that
(29:56):
to the larger thirteen week program.This could give people that initial taste of
beginning the work of healing and thenthat would lead them right into the thirteen
weeks, because what we know ispeople need a bridge, yeah, to
get to the other side, andwe want to create that bridge so they
don't get too much right and thenthey don't want to engage in the deeper
(30:18):
work that they want to, youknow, engage in for healing, Dana
with when it comes to opening up, when it comes to healing and tearing
that band aid off and starting todo the work. Have you found that
(30:38):
music just in its very essence inhow there is something that we can all
connect with, be it the words, be it the rhythms, be it
the feeling that it gives you.Have you found that this has been an
easier way, almost like the honeythat goes with the medicine, in getting
(31:00):
people to begin doing the work.Absolutely. I think you know, there's
a coin phrase that music is theuniversal language, and so we may not
all speak the same language, butwe can connect through song and so whether
it's words, whether it's melodic,but there's also a healing aspect to music.
(31:22):
Music in itself, the frequencies andhow you know, everything is math.
We're all made of frequencies and vibrations. So when you get down into
the science of music and what itdoes for healing the mind and the nervous
system. So not only are weusing you know, the music that we
love in hip hop, but oneof the things that I do is I
(31:45):
introduce the idea of using frequencies ofthe Sofigio frequencies. So it creates the
environment so that your nervous system cancome back to be you said, and
also gives you with that with themeditation tools, it's giving you your mind
(32:07):
and your nervous system a break.And so once you're in a space where
you feel regulated, then we canget into the clinical aspects of the talk
therapy that doctor J leads. Soagain allowing those holistic tools, at first,
it doesn't seem to be so dynamic. It gives you an opportunity to
(32:30):
settle in, to relax, tobe in a safe environment, to make
sure your nervous system feels like it'sin a safe environment, and then the
real work can begin because that's whenpeople will feel less guarded. Then they
can go into space of allowing theirvulnerabilities to be shared. And that's where
(32:50):
doctor J comes in with the clinicalaspects of getting into the layers of the
trauma, the stressors through the talktherapy and Daniere, can we go to
learn more both about YouTube and thework that you're doing, but also this
program that you've created, Rhythms ofHealing. You can find us at Rhythms
of Healing dot u s. Andmy website is Danamason dot me and doctor
(33:20):
J and you can find me atI t h E m b A dot
u s A Thomba dot dot usis my website and Instagram at athomba dot
u s. Okay, give usthat one more time, because I know
if anyone's listened like me, they'relike, wait, what did you just
say? So you can go tomy website at athomba dot us that is
(33:44):
I t h E m b Adot us and you can find me on
Instagram at athomba dot us at It h E m b A dot u
S. Absolutely. I want tothank you too for joining us to introduce
us to this program and to knowthat there is a program that is tying
(34:07):
something as universal as music into apart of the healing. I think that
this is this is this is brilliant. This is why I wanted to bring
you on today to shine a lighton this program. So thank you for
joining us and sharing us with ushere on soul Cal Saturday. Thank you
so much. It's been our pleasureand we look forward to continuing this or
(34:29):
of the community, well we're here. Thank you. Absolutely you've been listening
to soul Cal Saturday. You canalways hear us live on KFI AM six
forty five pm to seven pm onSaturday, and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
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