April 28, 2015 • 62 mins
America's Most Haunted Radio welcomes founder Sridhar Steven Silberfein, kirtan music star Donna De Lory, and renowed yoga instructor Sara Ivanhoe to preview this year's Shakti Fest.
Shakti Fest celebrates its fifth year May 15-17, at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. One of three annual festivals put on by the Bhakti Fest organization, Shakti Fest is a springtime celebration of the "divine feminine spirit" featuring world-class yoga teachers, kirtan music stars, and wisdom workshops.
Fest producer Sridhar Steven Silberfein has been on a personal spiritual quest for over 40 years while blending a life as a pioneering businessman. In 1969, Sridhar brought Swami Satchidananda to Woodstock, the spiritual equivalent of which is now embodied in the three Bhakti Fests. He established the first health food store in Southern California, brought skin care products with jojoba and tea tree oil to America for the first time, and co-founded the Triloka recording label.
Donna De Lory has become one of the superstars of world devotional music. Before dedicating her life to sacred music, De Lory traveled the globe for 20 years as a backup singer and dancer for Madonna. Blending styles as diverse as Celtic, Middle Eastern, Indian classical, and contemporary electronica, De Lory's musical perspective is as wide as the world itself.
Sara Ivanhoe is Yoga Spokesperson for Weight Watchers, most recently releasing the "Weight Watchers Yoga Starter Kit." She began teaching in 1995 after graduating with honors from NYU. Sara is the instructor for the "Yoga for Dummies" series, the "Crunch Yoga" series, as well as the collaboration with Russell Simmons, "Yoga Live."
Shakti Fest celebrates its fifth year May 15-17, at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. One of three annual festivals put on by the Bhakti Fest organization, Shakti Fest is a springtime celebration of the "divine feminine spirit" featuring world-class yoga teachers, kirtan music stars, and wisdom workshops.
Fest producer Sridhar Steven Silberfein has been on a personal spiritual quest for over 40 years while blending a life as a pioneering businessman. In 1969, Sridhar brought Swami Satchidananda to Woodstock, the spiritual equivalent of which is now embodied in the three Bhakti Fests. He established the first health food store in Southern California, brought skin care products with jojoba and tea tree oil to America for the first time, and co-founded the Triloka recording label.
Donna De Lory has become one of the superstars of world devotional music. Before dedicating her life to sacred music, De Lory traveled the globe for 20 years as a backup singer and dancer for Madonna. Blending styles as diverse as Celtic, Middle Eastern, Indian classical, and contemporary electronica, De Lory's musical perspective is as wide as the world itself.
Sara Ivanhoe is Yoga Spokesperson for Weight Watchers, most recently releasing the "Weight Watchers Yoga Starter Kit." She began teaching in 1995 after graduating with honors from NYU. Sara is the instructor for the "Yoga for Dummies" series, the "Crunch Yoga" series, as well as the collaboration with Russell Simmons, "Yoga Live."
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(00:04):
Good evening, my friends, mymiracles. And it's time once again for
America's most Haunted radio, bringing togetherthe finest minds of personalities from across the
paranormal spectrum. Tonight, America's mostHaunted radio welcomes Shock Defest founder Shridhar,
(00:29):
Stephen Silberfine Caretan music star Donna Dolori, and renowned yoga instructor Sarah Ivanhoe.
And we're going to preview this year'sShock Defest and we're live on the IDBN
Radio Network. Shock Defest celebrates itsfifth year May fifteenth through seventeenth at the
(00:52):
Joshua Tree Retreat Center. Like onceagain, we keep going back to Joshua
Tree. What the heck is goingon over there out there in the heights?
One of three annual festivals put onby the Box Defest organization. Shock
Defest It's a springtime celebration of thedivine feminine spirit. Welcome to you all.
(01:21):
Great to be here. I loveyour enthusiasm. My enthusiasm is so
enthused it hurts. It's infections.Hello, Hello, Sarah Brow. Now
I heard as we were beginning,a feminine voice said, I can only
(01:42):
be here for a half hour.So who was that. Okay, there
you go. Exactly that is ourfearless leader street Art Well, street Heart,
it was not a feminine voice,then exactly that my voice. I
am going to be a yoga classand so but I wanted to catch you
guys and play along for as longas I could. Okay, all right,
(02:07):
so let us begin at the beginning. Why don't we just do a
little bit of quick background rather thankind of isolate each of you. Hey,
you guys are obviously all friends,you all know each other. You're
all doing your thing, pursuing spiritualenlightenment together. So why don't we just
talk about just give a little backgroundon Shock Defest, and maybe each of
(02:30):
you can just tell a little bitof what you're doing. Although I know
Street Haartor is more like running thething rather than doing anything in particular.
He is the global encompassing mind behindit. But let's talk about it.
Shock Defest. Well, we firststarted out with Box Defest, which is
a big festival in September in twothousand and nine, and then a few
(02:53):
years later we wanted to do somethingthat accompassed more of the divine feminine,
get more of the goddesses involved,and so we said, all right,
let's structure a springtime event that willbe more geared to bringing in more women
and more goddesses and to the Foldand really enhance what they're doing and bring
(03:14):
to the Fold all the beautiful workthat they're they're doing out there in the
world through yoga, through Kioton,through Sacred Music. And so we came
up with that idea and we startedoff around five years ago and it's been
a big, rousing success. Andtwo of your guests tonight are two of
our main stars, Donna Zlori,world world famous Kioton and Sacred music singer,
(03:37):
and Sarah Ivanhoe, one of thetop yoga teachers in America. So
it's great that we're all together hereand this is a rarity that we all
get a chance to talk on thesame program, so I'm very excited about
it. We have I'm currently arain storm in the middle of a mountain
on Maui. That's where I'm wowwow, negative ions going there. I
(04:02):
was just I'm in the studio singinga song about the rain, which you
know, we don't get much ofout here, but that sounds wonderful where
you are. So we have afull on a schedule a full on program
in May. We have three daysof all day and night at chanting the
(04:23):
Sacred Words and the Divine Words,and we have three yoga classes for heavy
two hours from seven in the moonto seven at night in three different studios.
And then we have two workshop hallsgoing all the time from nine o'clock
in the morning to seven o'clock.And I just finished the seventh interview that
(04:45):
I've done with Ramdas the Great Philosopher, and we start showing that in May
as well. So it's going tobe a very packed weekend. People can
come and they can enjoy vegetarian foodthe whole weekend, great accommo dais and
a beautiful energy, beautiful vibe.People never want to be After finished,
they say, oh, can wehave it continuously? Can we live here?
(05:12):
Can we move in? Yes?Exactly, that's what they That's what
they want and what we why wedo this. We want people to take
this and bring it to their livesoutside the festival and incorporate what we're trying
to accomplish doing the festival and say, Okay, I'd like to lead a
better way of life and do moreyoga and meditation and chanting and singing and
(05:33):
just loving, just loving, getmore luck to the world. Yeah,
that's what it's all about. Fantastic. Hey, I have a what is
now, all of a sudden apersonal question. My wife, about a
month ago, maybe it's already sixweeks ago, just kind of threw herself
in. One of her friends hadbeen going and dragged her along and she
(05:57):
just it took off. She's beenmaking a hot yoga class and this is
kind of, I think, asfar as I know, the first time
in her life that she has reallybeen practicing yoga. And you know,
obviously it's from the emphasis is onon the exercise standpoint. But for someone
like her, someone who's new tothis, someone who's new to yoga maybe
(06:20):
has only really experienced it from orprimarily from the exercise standpoint, would this
be something that they, someone likemy wife, could attend and enjoy and
gain from absolutely you know, yeah, so good. Yeah, I can
jump in on that. Um.The big jug between shoot Are and myself
(06:44):
is that I feel like every festivalthere is a hot yoga because if they
don't charge with a tree yeah,CODs and degree. No, it's not
that bad, but it's you know, every day. It's like every class
is every class is hot yoga atthe Stract evest. So that's always kind
of a joke that I make,and the you know, everybody comes the
(07:11):
thing. What's really magical about yoga. The reason why I think it has
become so explosively popular is that itreally suits the needs of just about anybody.
I've get a lot of people thatcome to my class with a lot
of people that come to the festivalsthat wander in who have just really enjoyed
their physical practice and sort of youknow, when they just kind of start
(07:38):
that and get a taste of it, usually it then triggers an interest in
other parts of the practice. Butfor those of us who are interested in
the more contemplative spiritual side, there'snever any judgment about what anybody else's practice
is. Everybody comes to the practicefor their own reasons, and everyone puts
(07:58):
in what they need to put in. Everybody gets out what they need to
get out, and our job aspresenters at the festival is to facilitate a
safe space for everyone to have theirown unity experience. Fantastic, and I
should say that was it is SarahIvan host Sarah Why don't you just give
us a really quick little background onyourself and what you're going to be doing
(08:20):
at the Shock Keypad. Yeah.Well, this is a really exciting time
in my life actually because I've beennow teaching yoga for this is actually my
twenty year anniversary teaching Josness and Iam well, the weekend before Shock Defest,
I will be completing a master's degreeof Yoga Philosophy, the very first
(08:45):
academic degree ever offered in yoga fromLoyal and Armant University. So basically,
I've taken twenty years of making yogavideos which have been really geared towards the
fitness population, and now two anda half years of really intense study of
all the history and philosophies and languageof yoga, and I'm putting them all
(09:09):
together in a way to make itfrom an exciting for everyone. Wow,
that really is something. Yeah,I was looking at your bio and it's
very impressive with all the especially themedia that you've done, but it does
seem to sort of be geared moretoward the exercise side of it. So
it's very interesting to hear that you'redeeply pursuing the philosophical and spiritual side of
(09:33):
it as well. What would yousay is the essence of what you get
out of that part of it?Well, you know, I'd say that
that ass There's like an old sayingthat everyone everyone knows what great opportunity becomes
great responsibility. And I feel likeI've been given great opportunity through working with
(09:56):
White Watchers, Yoga for Dummies andthe French series. Even being on the
reality show and doing all the stuffhas been you know, it's been a
lot of fun, and I've beenable to reach a lot of people,
a lot of people who are juststart yoga for the physical practice. And
I feel then that it because I'mgiven that opportunity. I feel it is
then my responsibility to once I havethe audience, to then teach them a
(10:22):
little bit more about how yoga started, the origins of it, and what
other things they can get out ofit other than just you know, like
a rocking body, which is nota bad thing. It would seem to
me the spiritual side is almost inextricablybound to the physical. In other words,
(10:46):
isn't that a part of the actualpractice, even just purely if you
could divorce the physical from the spiritual, I mean aren't they pretty well ingrained?
Isn't it more? Is is itpossible? I guess is my question
to engage fully in yoga without aspiritual element? Well yeah, yeah,
(11:13):
for a second, what we'd liketo do is in any yoga class,
people come in, they start doingthe physical aspect of yoga, and then
when they start seeing their body changeand their health change and all the conditions
that they've been going through, everything'sgoing through a big change and they're going
to see great results, they'll turnaround and say what else is there?
(11:37):
And then that's how we incorporated thenthe meditation aspect and the chanting aspect and
going deeper on many levels besides justa physical component. And a lot of
the music that is being used inthese classes is a tool to take people
WHI just happens to music is atool anyway to take a deep into hearts.
(12:00):
But for me, when I takea class, the music really is
a guide and a tool to takeme to a deeper place than myself.
And it's magical. You know.I'm a student of yoga and I've taken
Sarah I Love for a class,and I've studied all over. When I'm
on tory I studied with different peopleand music. That's what inspired me to
(12:22):
start making music for yoga because Irealized how important it is and that I
have that gift I can share.And it's been such a blessing that to
be part of this whole, youknow, yoga movement where this music can
get out there and touch in somany people. And we get to come
together at this festival, and peopleget to come and see all of these
(12:45):
artists that they've been listening to andloving and been such a become part of
their lives, of their daily practice, putting the music on during their day
in the car or in the morningor during their practice. It's a beautiful
thing to have everyone in one place. And of course I love about shock
them Bukti fests. We should identifyyou as Donna Dolori and you are a
(13:09):
pear Ton music star with a veryinteresting background twenty years touring with Madonna.
And I actually started studying yoga whenI was about eighteen in Los Angeles and
Vod Striker, who's a very wellknown teacher now, was my first teacher.
(13:33):
And I was in this little yogascene in West Hollywood, and then
I got away from it. Andstarted dancing and ended up touring with Madonna
and then actually saw her practicing againa few years later, and that kind
of brought me back into the physicalpractice because that had become really important to
her when we were on tour andkind of got back into the physical and
(13:54):
that led me back into studying,being in classes like Sarah's or Michelaneberry,
Shiva Ray and and like I hadsaid before, that music really touching me
along with these teachings and the philosophies. So what was the impetus that drove
you that that threw you that thatdrew you into dedicating your musical career to
(14:20):
sacred music, devotional music? Youknow, it was it was a natural
process. I had a really bigchange in my life. I actually was
making, you know, a singersongwriters out on tour, playing clubs and
bars and all kinds of things withmy band I had. In between tours
with Madonna, I was going outwith my band and promoting my own releases,
(14:41):
and I was in Philadelphia and Iwas just had this one night I
wasn't singing in a bar and Ijust couldn't take it anymore. M A
lot of my songs had evolved beingmore spiritual in nature and more I was.
I was writing about my own spiritualpath, and I felt like all
songs are mantras, and when youwere peat them over and over again,
(15:01):
you're doing them every night. Youwant to be saying something really positive.
You know, if you're conscious person, you know you want to uplift people,
not be saying you know what victimswe are and we had our hearts
broken and pour you know whatever,the fogs are right, So those are
the mantras. And I decided Ididn't want to write those mantras anymore.
I wanted to write from a reallydeep I wanted to write from my higher
(15:22):
self telling me if I had abreakup, that I was going to get
through this, and the sky isgoing to open and everything's in front of
me and all these positive things.So I was going were in that direction.
And as I said, I'd beenin yoga classes and I was getting
touched by a lot of the musicby Jayutal Krishnadas. And I walked into
(15:43):
a christ concert one night and everyonewas singing, and everyone who experiences kirtan
for the first time, I feellike they have this experience of everyone's singing
and they're just they're so deeply movedby this community, the beauty of it
and the oneness of these voices thatI just my heart just opened and I
went, I want to do this. I want to do music like this,
(16:04):
you know. So I started.First thing I started doing is listening
to Krishna das records and Jayyuta.I'm thinking, like, which song others
could I cover? You know,could I cover and make my own?
You know? And then I hadmet Durga das Um David Newman who's a
really dear friend of mine in Philadelphiawhen I was on tour, and he
had asked me to sing at hisyoga center and that was the first yoga
(16:26):
center I sang. And I learneda lot of mantras from him as well.
We started chanting all kinds of mantrasjay Ma, Chrishna, Hima,
Durgaum and those were the first Igot an opportunity to do a record,
a record coming It came to meand said, Okay, You're gonna do
a record of all mantras and Iwent, okay, I know three.
And that's how it all started forme, honestly. And I just got
(16:48):
into this door opened and I walkedthrough it, and here we all are,
and versions of those three I wouldimagine, oh yeah, yeah,
you know, am I in particularstyle with you know, I bring in
like the movement, the dance andthe rhythm and the world music and all
of it because that's all my um, that's my life of being a dancer
(17:10):
and a singer and a performer.I bring that into my musical sharing at
these festivals. I wanted to askyour background or your style, your your
own unique style is somewhat different andis unique, and that you're bringing together
various elements. You have your popbackground, you bring in Electronica, Celtic,
(17:32):
Middle Eastern, Indian classical. Uhdo you have you ever faced any
sort of resistance to doing that kindof a kind of personal melting pot rather
than the you know, quote unquotepure classical styles. Does that bother anyone
or have they been open to it? No? I haven't. I always
told this really funny story about shamDass who um should you can explain a
(17:57):
little bit more about sham Dusk becausehe's and um he's a beautiful scholar in
a in a teacher for a lotof us. Um he he was a
big part of blockdy Fest and shockdyFest. And he used to sit there
with his arms crossed stirring at meand and I was like, oh,
(18:18):
and I knew him as I've beento his lectures. I've been to his
keratons, and you know, hewas like he was a teacher, and
I'm like, what is he youknow, what is he doing? What
is he thinking? And he wastrying to figure out like what am I
doing with this whole thing? Andhe was it was so beautiful. He
came up to me and he said, you know, Donna, I was
questioning, like what are you doingwith all of this? But then he
said, I realized from your you'resharing and feeling what you're about in your
(18:44):
music. He said, it's allabout the bob. And he said,
and you're in the bob and that'swhat it's about. And it was a
beautiful, beautiful um. You knowthat that kind of told me that because
he was very traditional. Yes,so Dona, for the listeners who might
want to explain what the bos isgoing to ask that, now, I
(19:08):
don't have to. Example was well, shreda, would you it's this devotional,
this feeling, it's being in themoment, being in the love,
being in the heart space yea,and taking that moment and bringing it out
into our universe, into our worldlylife. That's being in the bob.
You know, so many people noware realizing that their lives are not working
(19:33):
the way it's going. You know, it's too much government interference, it's
too much politics, it's too muchcorporations running everything, and they're having to
take back. They have to becomein charge of their lives once again.
And by going into the deeper spiritualself, they're finding this answer. They're
finding it's and it's open to allstudies, all religions. Yoga is universal,
(19:56):
but it's not a dogmatic live justkind of a thing. It's open
to everybody, and just like comingin, you start taking yoga classes and
you want more and you dive intothis in itself, to meditation and to
chanting and just love. It's justa matter of just loving everyone and everything
and expressing that love and joy allthe time. It's difficult, and it's
(20:21):
very hard, but you're trying.At least you try, and you try
and you try, and you keepon going. What do you say to
people who really do throw themselves into these events. Maybe people. Sure,
there's people who go to all threeof your festivals each year and they're
(20:42):
fully committed. They get all thereis to get out of it in terms
of being in the present, interms of feeling that universal kind of vibe.
But then they have to kind ofimmediately take a hard after right I'm
not sure which it is, turnedand go back to their regular lives.
(21:03):
How do you help people through thoseperiods in between we're all right and good
interspersed with real life. I'll jumpinto that one. Um. Yeah,
one of the courses that actually thatI teach a universities now yoga studios around
(21:27):
is actually seeing the yoga in everybusiness. So in yoga we have something
that it's called the margas for thedifferent paths of yoga. When I was
first starting yoga, I thought thatmeant that you had to bend your body
around, or that you had tomeditate. And I started to as many
people too, at the beginning oftheir journey. I started to feel separate
(21:51):
from my friends, from my family. I do yoga, you don't do
yoga. I'm having this experience,You're not having less experience. And I
really we had to have an awakeningthat yoga can anything that anyone is doing
that is their creative and differ,that is their practice, is the thing
(22:12):
that gets them in the zone.Is the same thing as being in the
bob. It's about connecting to somethinggreater than ourselves. So I've actually found
that that one of the things Ido when I coach people, etcetera,
etcetera. Typical Oh, I feellike I'm not connecting to my partner anymore
because I found yoga. And I'mlike, well, you know, how
(22:33):
who's to say that? You know, he's an artist, how is that
not yoga? Even if somebody issay in finance, who am I to
judge people who are in finance.They are in the now moment of everything
going on in the world. Theyknow if there's a famine, they know
of the country is in debt.Like they are completely in touch with humanity,
(22:55):
of the planet and the now moment. So how am I to say
somebody in finance is not doing theiryoga their way? And so I think
it's it's our job to be leadersin yoga being a connection of everyone rather
than a disconnect. Very good,very interesting street Heart. I remember speaking
to you last time. One ofthe things that most impressed me and kind
(23:18):
of really stuck with me was yourability, your kind of lifelong We're talking
forty plus years, your ability tohave both a spiritual life and pursuing that
path along with a very active entrepreneurialbusiness path. What would be your what's
(23:40):
the secret to blending those and makingthem work? There is no secret.
Actually, I'm still I'm still tryingto do it. Factually. The thing
is not to give up. Youknow, you have a lot of obstacles,
a lot of things going your way. You know, just because this
is a spiritual festival, it stillhas to be run as as some sort
(24:00):
of a business. So certain componentsof businesses take takes way in that,
you know. But it's still wetry to incorporate both of them, the
spirituality and the business in order tomake it go. Otherwise it can't go,
it can't exist anymore. And it'sbeen a struggle on a lot of
different levels. Personally, I'm readyto hand a bit time to the next
(24:22):
round of people when they come andcontinue to do what I do also out
in the world and in my spiritualwork, so anybody can do it.
It's not anything that I created oranything that I received advanced knowledge of.
It's just dedication. I'm still doingmy practice every day. I still wake
up in the morning, meditate,still doing my yoga, my chanting,
(24:47):
And I think it's it's really comesdown to discipline. You got to you
got to maintain the discipline. Ifyou sway away from the discipline, you
just go right back into the drama. And the drama is what is holding
everybody back from going to the nextround. Just to let people know real
(25:07):
briefly, why don't you tell thelisteners just a little bit of the highlights
of your business career. You've donea lot of very interesting things over several
decades. Oh yeah, Well,I started the first natural food store in
southern California in the seventies. Andthen I discovered a very important essential oil
called the key tree oil from Australia, and I brought that to the marketplace
(25:30):
and created their sixty eight products fora company called Degit Essence, which I
own, which is worldwide. Andthen I started a very big hemp coffee
company out of Katmandu, Nepal,which unfortunately is having a very bad situation
right now. So many different aspectsthroughout the way. In two thousand and
(25:55):
nine, after quieting my mind anddidn't want to do anything else. Before
that, I was working with agreat philosopher called ramdask and taking care of
him on Malley. But Shandas,one of my teachers, came to me
and said, street are you arethe only one that could do this festival.
(26:15):
I said, Sham, I don'twant to do any more business.
I just want to be quiet andyou know, just take it easy for
the rest of my life. Ididn't really want to get involved and then
you seem more and he said,no, you gotta do this. So
he encouraged me. And death issoul because he left his body two years
ago in a very bad accident andgo India on a motorcycle. But we
(26:37):
still he's still very part of whatwe're doing. All our festially dedicated to
Sham Das and he's always shining hislife and love on this every time we
get on that stage. And heencouraged me to continue to go through to
all the drama and to bring thiskind of festival, this kind of music,
this kind of love out into theuniverse because there's so much needed by
(27:00):
everybody. So there I sit rightnow, and I just the reason I'm
in Maali right now. It's nota vacation. I'm he had just finishing
my annual interview with Ramdass. It'sgot seventy years and they go all up
on the YouTube ry the right,they ask you. We had twenty five
thousand our viewers on two thousand andfourteen interviews, so they're going quite well.
(27:21):
And I don't know how much longerRoumdust is going to be in his
voue, but I'm very fortunate tobe abling to be with him and sit
with him and discuss spiritual contemporary subjectsand bring it out to the folks so
that they can hear and listen tohis wise ruwers. Fascinating. I'm wondering,
(27:41):
just we're heading to the break herein just a couple of minutes,
what are your thoughts on, becauseI just have no sense at all of
this. What are the kind ofnumbers in the United States of I'm sure
it's kind of a tiered thing.I'm sure the lowest level, the biggest
level, the biggest group would bepeople who one way or another participate in
(28:04):
yoga, and I'm sure there's many, many music fans as well, who
may or may not be necessarily thatinvolved with the spiritual side of it.
And then of course there's people whogo to the next level and attend these
kinds of functions. What are yourthoughts on the what kind of numbers we're
talking about just broadly speaking in theUnited States for those and how do they
(28:30):
network? Well? It ties intohealth and that's why yoga is becoming like
a billion dollar industry right now.And millions of millions of people are entering
into yoga through the health aspect becausethey realize they have to change their life,
they have to change their diet,they have to change what they do
(28:51):
every day, and they reach outand they see, oh, yoga,
all right, fine, I'll trythat. As soon as they try that,
they see all the changes mentally,physically, emotionally that takes place.
So there's I always say, youknow, tens of millions of people now
maybe in thirty forty million people inAmerica probably a practicing yoga Sara, would
you have a better number on that, You know, yeah, I don't
(29:14):
really have a number, but itis incredible. Just for instance, you
know, they just did it foron Easter Sunday, Michelle Obama organizes a
big thing on the White House lawn, like it really is getting everywhere.
It's so exciting. Yeah, itis absolutely And I mean when the Dali
Lama comes into America, he's gotfive thousand people sitting in his audience there
(29:37):
just mesmerized every time every show thathe does, every time he comes out
in the state. So there area significant amount of people, and more
and more of Wall Street is alsogetting involved in this because everything they're the
ones that need it the most,because they have such a hectic and difficult
lifestyle health wise, and they're realizingmeditation and to yoga is very very conducive
(30:03):
to helping them well, certainly todestressing. And I'm not sure who's much
more stressed on an ongoing and permanentbasis than people on Wall Street, although
on the other end of the spectrumtoo, low income people. It gave
me some perspective. I just readsomething saying, hey, you know,
people talk about all the stress ofthe really high powered, high pressure jobs
(30:23):
Wall Street and otherwise, but ifyou go to the bottom of the economic
scale, that's a whole different kindof pressure. That's an existential pressure.
Well, don't don't make it soundsomewhat that yoga is beyond the reach of
people that are on borderline income,because there's many studios now that are donation
(30:45):
based, so you can actually goin there with no money. You're very
little money. You two dollars,five dollars and pay for a class like
that. It's available to everybody.Now, all right, let's head for
a break. Great show Talking ShockDefest twenty fifteen on America's Most Haunted Radio,
(31:06):
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didn't a shot, I ditty,I didn't meet on a shot on the
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(36:07):
beating of the drumstick loco screaming oninside time, the beating of the drums,
d d the budding home beat,the woman a nine to take away
(36:38):
the cool. Everybody needs a gonight kiss. It's the one brave thing
we can't be. Jessist All,I'm singing, I'm surety Donna Doloree loving
(36:58):
it. I love your hybrid style. I think it's very destful. I
love the electronic beat. I've beena DJ on and off, mostly on
for I won't even tell you howlong, So there's something about that beat
that always really really gets to me. And I could see spinning your music
and any kind of dance club.All right, that's great, thank you,
(37:23):
thanks for playing. It's it's morelike sacred music because it can be
you know, different people listen toit and hear different things, so it's
not strictly praying or chanting. Towhatever deity are. It's it's transformative,
so people don't feel that they haveto join anything by listening and singing your
(37:46):
room. Yeah, it's nice,exactly right for people to really get you
know, when people get into anartist, they get into the intention of
their music and intention of their livesand um to be on a conscious path
and wanting to really hope, youknow, to contribute to humanity. And
(38:07):
I love to align with those kindsof artists. Fantastic. Let's tell people
where they can get you a holdof your music and how they can find
you besides shock defest of course,Yes, well I can. My site
is Donna Deloy dot com. There'sa music button you can hit and see
(38:28):
all the different places you can getmy music, and it's all over iTunes
and Amazon. It's available everywhere,and you can order it the CDs for
Amazon and CD baby, and yeah, there's a lot of music out there.
I'm happy to say straight heart.I know you're in the middle of
a rainstorm on Mauie. Gosh,there are worse places to be, I
(38:52):
must say, but I know youneed to take off. What a pleasure
again speaking with you. Any additionalthoughts you'd like to leave us, let
me let me give you an ideaof how to get online. Go to
our website called bok Dfest then spelledb h a k t I f e
(39:13):
st bakdfest dot com. You getall the information on housing while the tickets
structures around their camping is on there. All the stars and besides Donner,
of course, we have the famousja Utah coming. DJ Dred's is there,
Laris is still Garish, and Govindasand slew of other people, maybe
another twenty acts are going to bethere. Yoga teachers is Shiva Ray,
(39:37):
one of the top yoga teachers inthe world, saw David Ray, and
Mark Whitwell and of course Sarah Ivanhoeyou hide on today and Kia Miller.
But we have some excellent workshops aswell, Jeffrey Armstrong, Lauren Roach,
Zap Baraka, It's Michael Baker.It's a fantastic lineup of everything, workshops,
(39:58):
yoga. You just I'm in there, leave your kids away at home
or in the car, and immerseyourself for the three four days that you're
there, and you'll come out achange person. I say that every year
and actually every year that's correct.It's true. Well, Shreetar, it
sounds like you've lost none of yourenthusiasm and you are. You are an
excellent ambassador. Thank you, Lambe. I'll lose a little bit when I'm
(40:22):
sitting on a cave and high inthe him lay as if there's any left
soon. Oh yeah, it's aterrible, terrible thing. It's awful.
It's unfolding, and the toll keepsgoing high. Or one of the things
you keep seeing in all the newsreports, though, is how calm and
focused and centered the people are andthey're not letting it get them down.
(40:45):
They're doing what needs to be donebefore they, you know, kind of
fall into the other side of it. Well, the grieving processes has to
be put on hold. I guessthis is a very interesting thing because this
is a Hinduce society and Hindu followersof the Hindu tradition deep into meditation and
(41:07):
deep into peacefulness and shanti com calm, being calm throughout all kinds of dangerous
situations. So my hats off tothem. And you know, one of
my spiritual teachers is already sending fundsand people up there to help, and
um, you know a lot ofprayers and we know we're certainly going to
(41:28):
dedicate some of our funds to themfrom the Shock Test. So anyhow,
good luck and thank you so muchfor having me and I always a pleasure,
and Donna, I look forward togiving you a big hug in a
couple of weeks you too, allright, Thank you very much. Thank
you. Dars even silver Fine callingin from Maui. He is the founder
(41:50):
of the Bakti and Shock de fests. And have a great evening, all
right, Donna. Last five,Now, I heard a rumor that you
may be in an area where youcould actually perform live. Is that something
that is a possibility here between ourYeah, I'm writing at a piano.
(42:15):
I'm in the studio recording a songtoday, and that was part of the
whole deal. I said, well, we're doing a guitar and vocal and
I said, well, I haveto break at five o'clock this you know
my time, and do this radiointerview. So I'm in the main house
and there's a piano right here,and yeah, I mean, i'd love
I always love to play and fingers, that's what I love to do the
(42:36):
most. Well, please if thatradio, we'd love to hear you,
we will be honored. So somethingthat I have to hold a phone with
my left hand, but I'll playwith my right hand. Tell me if
you can hear this. So thiswas one of the one of mantra I
had learned. I started listening toa lot of different teachers of Lossers over
(43:00):
the years, like Joseph Campbell speakingabout mythology and comparative religion. I've always
been really interested in in Sanskrit.The first moment I heard Sanskrit him talking
about that it's a great spiritual languageof the world, which a lot of
these mantras are in Sanskrit, andI was already drawn to that from those
teachings and then hearing the sounds ofthe words, and then there was something
(43:22):
about when I sang them. Sothere's this prayer Loka Samasta suki no bavantu,
and that's basically translated to be andit relates to what we're talking about
with Nepal and how we're all comingtogether to pray for this oneness and health
and for everyone on this planet allbeings. May all beings be happy and
(43:46):
free. May our lives, ourthoughts, these are our actions contribute to
this happiness for all and it's likewe feel this oneness when other people right
now are hurting. There's a partof us that feels that, so we
have this. A lot of thismusic to me is about tapping into this
compassion of this oneness to feel foreach other, whether it's these people they're
(44:07):
suffering in this other country, orit's my beloved, my husband who's suffering,
you know. So a lot ofthese prayers for me, the mantras
are it is. It's it's talkingabout the wide range of the human experience
of being a spiritual, having aspiritual experience in a in a physical body.
(44:30):
So this is luka sama stasuki novavanto. Can you hear the piano,
Yeah, Luca samasta util babanto,locaamasta sukil bavant. May all things be
(44:58):
happy and free, and may alllast speak giving to this happiness and freed
for That's where I cue the bandto stop. They stop for one bar,
(45:19):
come back in for Hi. Weare we are all God's children.
So that's a piece of a songfor you, lovely, thank you very
(45:45):
much. Yeah. So, inmy particular style of doing the kirtan and
being a songwriter and using the mantras. I always I'm seeing the mantra,
but I also have some most mostof the time, I have an English
a little bit of a not thatI'm trying to give it a translation,
but it just comes out of meof the meaning of it, what it
means to me, something that Iwant to express, and I do that.
(46:08):
And when I first this company cameto me and said make this mantra
CD, I was just very Isat down and saw it came out,
and that just came out naturally thatI wanted to say. I would say
some of the players, and thenI would say you is yeah, no,
(46:28):
then take me then high And thesethings just came out, and it
became like I always wanted to make. I feel like in my songwriting,
I was always trying to kind ofmake this devotional music in a way,
but it wasn't really. I didn'treally it wasn't coming from a Christian devotional
(46:49):
place. But I wanted to makethis music that was just in awe and
wonder of the greatness of what weare and what life is and the celebration
and showing this humility and ultimately gratitudefor just these gifts. The gift of
being that I've been given of beinga singer, and how I can share
(47:10):
that and realize that I can usemy voice to really help open hearts,
to heal, to raise people upwith my music. So that's that's why
I'm doing this kind of music andplaying these kinds of festivals because people everyone
at that festivals has that intention.And what I can say about those festivals
(47:32):
in particulars, it's you can't youcan't explain what it is, but the
minute you park your car and youwalk in, you feel like it's this
world that you want to live inand which is to me oftentimes opposite.
Like when I'm walking through an airport, a crowded airport in the way,
everybody is like they're not really hardlylooking at each other's looking at their iPhone,
They're bumping into you and and reallyjust people feel like they're disconnected from
(47:59):
one and the other. You know, you go into a boxy fest,
shocky fest. The many you getthere, people are looking into your eyes
and they're kind and you feel likeeveryone's your friend and it's real. You
know, it's not because they're trippingon drugs, you know, or they're
trying to be that way. It'sreally authentic and just for that feeling of
(48:21):
that from people. It kind ofsets a sets a standard of of how
we can live our lives and howwe can all be connected and how good
that feels. Do you see thisoverall movement as as growing? Is this
something that's that's burgeoning? What's theend game do you think? Or I
guess there's no endgame, But howdo you see things? How do you
(48:44):
see the place of this movement intwenty years in the United States? Well?
As Shreetard said, um, it'stied in with the whole with the
health movement, and it's also wherethat's going. Where we're all becoming more
aware of our bodies and our minds, our thoughts and how they influence our
(49:06):
bodies and they can manifest maybe certainthoughts we have, our beliefs and things
in our in our bodies as diseaseas well as our diets and our lifestyle.
I think more people are waking upto like, oh, I have
the power to change that. Ihave the power to think of thoughts and
to use whether it's meditation or whetheryou walk into meditation. He'd mentioned about
(49:28):
the discipline to have that discipline.My husband's integrative MD. So I'm deeply
immersed in that world of health andwe're you know, I just live in
that place, always talking about howwe can be we can be healthier in
our lifestyles. I'm in a differentplace now. I have two children,
(49:51):
and I'm trying to read them withan awareness that they can use certain tools
through their lives to calm them themselvesdown, to realize what is most important,
to care and love their bodies,and to realize that they're spiritual beings,
you know. And all this,to me, it all goes together
(50:13):
with the music and with the movementand a lot of this philosophy and everything
is identifying with something that's more thanthe body, and it's a spirit and
it's an energy that we are.And that's something that I teach to my
children all the time, because it'snatural for children to say, you know,
I don't want to die. Youknow, it's like this is it
(50:35):
like I die and then there's nothing. I'm nothing. It's like, no,
you're not nothing. You know,there's more. And this is a
feeling I've had all my life thatI wanted to express and a lot of
these mantras and the songs and thephilosophies express that, and it's it's comforting,
it's really beautiful, and it's it'swhat I choose. It's just a
(50:59):
lifestyle that I choose to be morein nature and you know, healthier lifestyle
eating. I mean that that festivalis a lot of organic food, you
know, honoring your body, thatyour body is your temple and you honor
that and you feed. It's reallyinteresting. I would actually at a temple
(51:21):
the other day and they were doingthe offering. They said, well,
we give our best food to thegods on Sunday for the offering, because
they had a cafe. And Isaid, they said on Sunday, if
you come here on Sunday, it'sthe best food because that's the day we
offered to the gods. And Iwas thinking, like, why don't we
have this food every day for us? You know? It was it was
(51:42):
interesting. So do you think ofthis? I noted you use the word
lifestyle, which really does seem tomake sense. Is this a religion for
you or is it more of alifestyle or our religion and lifestyle not countrytory.
I love what I always love whatJoseph Campbell taught and about religion,
(52:06):
how a lot of times religion canstop you from having that transcendent experience.
And I feel I've always been interestedin one truth many paths, that there's
truth in every religion, and Idon't I've never had one religion. When
I was little, I wanted Mymom was raised strict Catholic, and I
went to Catholic school and everything.So when I was little, I wanted
(52:29):
to go to church and Campbell andI wanted to go with all my friends.
And my mom didn't didn't want meto go. She didn't want she
didn't want to force me to go. She said, when you grow up,
you can choose your own path whatyou want. So I kind of
was exposed to a lot of differentthings, and I saw the goodness and
all paths and these good these good, deep down good nature of people that
(52:52):
I believed in since I was forever. I've believed in that, and I
think that that's at the root of, like, of all religion, and
I'm I'm really interested in that.So I feel like these philosophies and yoga
is so cool because it, likeShidar said, it just appeals to all
people and if people are you know, if there's certain names, like everyone
(53:15):
chants a different name for God,for Spirit, for the creator or whatever
is their their name for that,um, if we just realize that we're
all talking about the same thing,we're all it's that gratitude and that love
and that that intention that we haveto be closer to that and to be
(53:36):
to be thankful, to be partof this. The essence of that is
what my life's about. And Ijust respect, I really respect all paths
and I love that. I wentto a concert the other night and we
were there was a song that itwas Tina Malia was another artist, whose
beautiful artist and the genre. Shewas doing a Hebrew prayer and then she
(54:00):
did a Native American prayer and thenit was a it was a sandscript prayer.
And it's like, yes, Ilove that, you know it all
there's a thread through the whole thing, which was people were deeply moved and
touched and it was just a beautifulexperience to be together with that kind of
music. So as an artist,that's what I feel like I can put
(54:22):
I can put those feelings that Ihad into my music and it and it
really goes out there. I mean, I I've been amazed at how people
have been touched by this music.And people people tell me like they they
play the music for their first gradersto calm them down, you know,
and all kinds of stories. It'sso cute, you know, where somebody
(54:45):
in a really serious note come upto me and say, you know,
they lost their son in a motorcycleaccident. This is the only thing they
got them through, you know,and it's like, that's why I'm doing
this. Well, I abserlutely understandthat, and how profound that sense might
be. It sounds like you've reallyhad this underlying spirituality pretty much your whole
(55:07):
life. Has your life changed,however, since you did kind of say
publicly devote yourself to devotional music,has that made a change. Yeah,
I mean I don't think I eversaid like publically I'm going to I mean
I just did that, you know. I did that record from a real
(55:28):
honest place that when I was tellingyou aboutwards and then it was just this
thing where yoga took off, andI mean who knew and all of a
sudden that record was in every yogacenter and everyone was like, I have
this like huge yoga hit, youknow, and all these people. It
was crazy. I mean I waslike if in the next thing, I
know, and I'm playing this bigamphitheater outside and all the thing that the
(55:51):
whole spiritual community was there, andI was that door it opened and I
walked through that and I was like, well, this is what you know.
I've always wanted it to do musicof this nature. Um, And
I loved artists like really influenced byPeter Gabriel and Laurena McKennitt, you know,
Robbie Robertson. They were all verylike mystical and and philosophical. I
(56:15):
mean, there there's a there's asimilarity there sting. You know, there
are artists that I really looked upto that also sung in different languages and
had that this intention to go reallydeep with their musics on the psychological level
and spiritual level. So I waslike, all right, I'm gonna just
keep going. And I found naturally, I just find mantras, you know,
(56:36):
I'd go through just sound vibration.I'd look at in a Sanskrit dictionary,
I'd look at words that I justlove to say and sing, and
I put them together and then putmake a song out of them, and
or I'd find prayers in different places, and then I also write. I
write a lot of English songs aswell, so I blend them together.
And I don't you know, Ijust got that idea naturally. It wasn't
(56:59):
like I was trying to be likeanybody else, you know. And now
there's it's really beautiful. There's thisgenre of this chant music and it's a
it's kind of like alternative devotional musicin America because we have Christian music and
then there's there's all kinds of Hebrewmusic and all kinds of music. But
there's this new Kirton mantra. Uhit's We're underworld music on iTunes a lot
(57:22):
of these artists, which is reallycool, and it is where we like
to incorporate a lot of different instrumentsfrom around the world, a lot of
Indian Indian instruments, because we justthere's a certain tone in it. There's
a sound that brings you to atthat point more meditative state. I think
with the harmonium that I play Indiantoddlers. Um. But you know,
(57:44):
if you listen to pop music,a lot of pop music they're they're using
it too, you know, it'sjust everywhere. It's everywhere, and Katie
Perry singing about God, you know, bab agree up God, you know,
and it's it's it's just everyone.This isn't everyone's consciousness, you know,
I think, and and it's niceto getting back to like getting out
(58:08):
and playing, Like I love beingin the studio recording and writing. But
there's nothing like being there in thisexperience who was totally interactive and you're feeding
off the audience and everyone is sohappy and choiceful. I mean, how
different is that than what we experienceevery day? You know? Well,
I think your analogy or your referenceto the airport was a very good one,
(58:30):
because that really is kind of theopposite end of the spectrum. People
are so focused on where they haveto be, how inconvenience they are,
Will they meet the schedule, willthe flight beyond time? Will they get
through security? It really has becomekind of this roadblock, this nightmarish roadblock
(58:51):
to fly anywhere. And You're right, people kind of just don't want to
be bothered. They just don't wantto think of everyone else there as an
actual human being. They are sortof just obstacles in your way. And
in front of you in line.Absolutely, and everyone. It's just like
there's just so much technolog I mean, everyone's just got their their iPhones or
(59:14):
the the technology. It's just it'slike running everyone. You feel, you
know, oh, yes, there'shumanity. There's humanity, Like we look
at each other's eyes anymore. LikeI used to go to the cleaners of
the cafe and talk to the youknow, it's spend some time talking to
the person and looking to their eyesand having a relationship. You know,
(59:35):
just that human interaction is important.I could not agree more. And I
surely wish that I could attend thisshock Defest because it sounds like it'll be
really fantastic and kind of an amazingvibe. And I'm very excited that you
get to perform there, and I'msure you will be extraordinarily well received.
(59:59):
Let's let people know once again,we're talking about the Shock Defest, which
is one of the three Bakdfest puton each year, and this one is
May fifteenth through seventeenth, the ShockDefest, and it's at the Joshua Tree
Retreat Center the High Desert of California. We're speaking with Donna Deli, who
(01:00:23):
will be a music performer, aCaretan performer. She has a number of
CDs out and you can get ahold of her by going to Donna DELRII
d O n n A d El O r y dot com. Check
her out that way. What aboutsocial media, Donna, Oh yeah,
(01:00:43):
I've got my Facebook page, youknow, Facebook slash Donna Delis and you
know I'm on all over the placethat way too, and you can go
to those places on my website you'llsee it right on the on the front
page. And listen to some samplesof my music and scam through iTunes SoundCloud
you can stream a lot of mymusic and listen to it. Yeah,
(01:01:04):
you'll find it. Just google myname and you'll find more out about me.
And just you know I've made Iheard a lot of songs out there.
Most recent CD is a remix CD, so it's more electronica, working
with remixers and exploring these difference whichis really cool. That is right up
my alley. I will tell youthat much. And thank you so much
(01:01:28):
for performing live. That is ina sense very brave and really appreciate it
very much. On the spot kindof thing and it was very cool and
I could really feel your vibe viathe phone, So thank you so much
for doing that for it. Ofcourse, I love just saying always a
pleasure. Anytime call me and I'llsing for you. Thank you. I'm
(01:01:51):
having a hard time sleeping, Donna, please sing a song for it.
I might have to have like athumb and beat underneath it though, for
you, right, but I getmy drum machine now, I'm saying that
would be super cool. All right. Thanks, thank you so much,
Donn. I have a great evening. Thanks for coming to you to thank
you all right, my friends,thank you so much for tuning in to
(01:02:12):
America's most haunted radio live every Mondaynight at eight Eastern on the ip b
N network and we are podcast anda number of outlets including good old blog
talk radio. I'm Eric Olson.Join us not in a full week,
but tomorrow night for after hours am Storytellers and that will be something.
(01:02:43):
Talk to you soon. Good night,
Good evening, my friends, mymiracles. And it's time once again for
America's most Haunted radio, bringing togetherthe finest minds of personalities from across the
paranormal spectrum. Tonight, America's mostHaunted radio welcomes Shock Defest founder Shridhar,
(00:29):
Stephen Silberfine Caretan music star Donna Dolori, and renowned yoga instructor Sarah Ivanhoe.
And we're going to preview this year'sShock Defest and we're live on the IDBN
Radio Network. Shock Defest celebrates itsfifth year May fifteenth through seventeenth at the
(00:52):
Joshua Tree Retreat Center. Like onceagain, we keep going back to Joshua
Tree. What the heck is goingon over there out there in the heights?
One of three annual festivals put onby the Box Defest organization. Shock
Defest It's a springtime celebration of thedivine feminine spirit. Welcome to you all.
(01:21):
Great to be here. I loveyour enthusiasm. My enthusiasm is so
enthused it hurts. It's infections.Hello, Hello, Sarah Brow. Now
I heard as we were beginning,a feminine voice said, I can only
(01:42):
be here for a half hour.So who was that. Okay, there
you go. Exactly that is ourfearless leader street Art Well, street Heart,
it was not a feminine voice,then exactly that my voice. I
am going to be a yoga classand so but I wanted to catch you
guys and play along for as longas I could. Okay, all right,
(02:07):
so let us begin at the beginning. Why don't we just do a
little bit of quick background rather thankind of isolate each of you. Hey,
you guys are obviously all friends,you all know each other. You're
all doing your thing, pursuing spiritualenlightenment together. So why don't we just
talk about just give a little backgroundon Shock Defest, and maybe each of
(02:30):
you can just tell a little bitof what you're doing. Although I know
Street Haartor is more like running thething rather than doing anything in particular.
He is the global encompassing mind behindit. But let's talk about it.
Shock Defest. Well, we firststarted out with Box Defest, which is
a big festival in September in twothousand and nine, and then a few
(02:53):
years later we wanted to do somethingthat accompassed more of the divine feminine,
get more of the goddesses involved,and so we said, all right,
let's structure a springtime event that willbe more geared to bringing in more women
and more goddesses and to the Foldand really enhance what they're doing and bring
(03:14):
to the Fold all the beautiful workthat they're they're doing out there in the
world through yoga, through Kioton,through Sacred Music. And so we came
up with that idea and we startedoff around five years ago and it's been
a big, rousing success. Andtwo of your guests tonight are two of
our main stars, Donna Zlori,world world famous Kioton and Sacred music singer,
(03:37):
and Sarah Ivanhoe, one of thetop yoga teachers in America. So
it's great that we're all together hereand this is a rarity that we all
get a chance to talk on thesame program, so I'm very excited about
it. We have I'm currently arain storm in the middle of a mountain
on Maui. That's where I'm wowwow, negative ions going there. I
(04:02):
was just I'm in the studio singinga song about the rain, which you
know, we don't get much ofout here, but that sounds wonderful where
you are. So we have afull on a schedule a full on program
in May. We have three daysof all day and night at chanting the
(04:23):
Sacred Words and the Divine Words,and we have three yoga classes for heavy
two hours from seven in the moonto seven at night in three different studios.
And then we have two workshop hallsgoing all the time from nine o'clock
in the morning to seven o'clock.And I just finished the seventh interview that
(04:45):
I've done with Ramdas the Great Philosopher, and we start showing that in May
as well. So it's going tobe a very packed weekend. People can
come and they can enjoy vegetarian foodthe whole weekend, great accommo dais and
a beautiful energy, beautiful vibe.People never want to be After finished,
they say, oh, can wehave it continuously? Can we live here?
(05:12):
Can we move in? Yes?Exactly, that's what they That's what
they want and what we why wedo this. We want people to take
this and bring it to their livesoutside the festival and incorporate what we're trying
to accomplish doing the festival and say, Okay, I'd like to lead a
better way of life and do moreyoga and meditation and chanting and singing and
(05:33):
just loving, just loving, getmore luck to the world. Yeah,
that's what it's all about. Fantastic. Hey, I have a what is
now, all of a sudden apersonal question. My wife, about a
month ago, maybe it's already sixweeks ago, just kind of threw herself
in. One of her friends hadbeen going and dragged her along and she
(05:57):
just it took off. She's beenmaking a hot yoga class and this is
kind of, I think, asfar as I know, the first time
in her life that she has reallybeen practicing yoga. And you know,
obviously it's from the emphasis is onon the exercise standpoint. But for someone
like her, someone who's new tothis, someone who's new to yoga maybe
(06:20):
has only really experienced it from orprimarily from the exercise standpoint, would this
be something that they, someone likemy wife, could attend and enjoy and
gain from absolutely you know, yeah, so good. Yeah, I can
jump in on that. Um.The big jug between shoot Are and myself
(06:44):
is that I feel like every festivalthere is a hot yoga because if they
don't charge with a tree yeah,CODs and degree. No, it's not
that bad, but it's you know, every day. It's like every class
is every class is hot yoga atthe Stract evest. So that's always kind
of a joke that I make,and the you know, everybody comes the
(07:11):
thing. What's really magical about yoga. The reason why I think it has
become so explosively popular is that itreally suits the needs of just about anybody.
I've get a lot of people thatcome to my class with a lot
of people that come to the festivalsthat wander in who have just really enjoyed
their physical practice and sort of youknow, when they just kind of start
(07:38):
that and get a taste of it, usually it then triggers an interest in
other parts of the practice. Butfor those of us who are interested in
the more contemplative spiritual side, there'snever any judgment about what anybody else's practice
is. Everybody comes to the practicefor their own reasons, and everyone puts
(07:58):
in what they need to put in. Everybody gets out what they need to
get out, and our job aspresenters at the festival is to facilitate a
safe space for everyone to have theirown unity experience. Fantastic, and I
should say that was it is SarahIvan host Sarah Why don't you just give
us a really quick little background onyourself and what you're going to be doing
(08:20):
at the Shock Keypad. Yeah.Well, this is a really exciting time
in my life actually because I've beennow teaching yoga for this is actually my
twenty year anniversary teaching Josness and Iam well, the weekend before Shock Defest,
I will be completing a master's degreeof Yoga Philosophy, the very first
(08:45):
academic degree ever offered in yoga fromLoyal and Armant University. So basically,
I've taken twenty years of making yogavideos which have been really geared towards the
fitness population, and now two anda half years of really intense study of
all the history and philosophies and languageof yoga, and I'm putting them all
(09:09):
together in a way to make itfrom an exciting for everyone. Wow,
that really is something. Yeah,I was looking at your bio and it's
very impressive with all the especially themedia that you've done, but it does
seem to sort of be geared moretoward the exercise side of it. So
it's very interesting to hear that you'redeeply pursuing the philosophical and spiritual side of
(09:33):
it as well. What would yousay is the essence of what you get
out of that part of it?Well, you know, I'd say that
that ass There's like an old sayingthat everyone everyone knows what great opportunity becomes
great responsibility. And I feel likeI've been given great opportunity through working with
(09:56):
White Watchers, Yoga for Dummies andthe French series. Even being on the
reality show and doing all the stuffhas been you know, it's been a
lot of fun, and I've beenable to reach a lot of people,
a lot of people who are juststart yoga for the physical practice. And
I feel then that it because I'mgiven that opportunity. I feel it is
then my responsibility to once I havethe audience, to then teach them a
(10:22):
little bit more about how yoga started, the origins of it, and what
other things they can get out ofit other than just you know, like
a rocking body, which is nota bad thing. It would seem to
me the spiritual side is almost inextricablybound to the physical. In other words,
(10:46):
isn't that a part of the actualpractice, even just purely if you
could divorce the physical from the spiritual, I mean aren't they pretty well ingrained?
Isn't it more? Is is itpossible? I guess is my question
to engage fully in yoga without aspiritual element? Well yeah, yeah,
(11:13):
for a second, what we'd liketo do is in any yoga class,
people come in, they start doingthe physical aspect of yoga, and then
when they start seeing their body changeand their health change and all the conditions
that they've been going through, everything'sgoing through a big change and they're going
to see great results, they'll turnaround and say what else is there?
(11:37):
And then that's how we incorporated thenthe meditation aspect and the chanting aspect and
going deeper on many levels besides justa physical component. And a lot of
the music that is being used inthese classes is a tool to take people
WHI just happens to music is atool anyway to take a deep into hearts.
(12:00):
But for me, when I takea class, the music really is
a guide and a tool to takeme to a deeper place than myself.
And it's magical. You know.I'm a student of yoga and I've taken
Sarah I Love for a class,and I've studied all over. When I'm
on tory I studied with different peopleand music. That's what inspired me to
(12:22):
start making music for yoga because Irealized how important it is and that I
have that gift I can share.And it's been such a blessing that to
be part of this whole, youknow, yoga movement where this music can
get out there and touch in somany people. And we get to come
together at this festival, and peopleget to come and see all of these
(12:45):
artists that they've been listening to andloving and been such a become part of
their lives, of their daily practice, putting the music on during their day
in the car or in the morningor during their practice. It's a beautiful
thing to have everyone in one place. And of course I love about shock
them Bukti fests. We should identifyyou as Donna Dolori and you are a
(13:09):
pear Ton music star with a veryinteresting background twenty years touring with Madonna.
And I actually started studying yoga whenI was about eighteen in Los Angeles and
Vod Striker, who's a very wellknown teacher now, was my first teacher.
(13:33):
And I was in this little yogascene in West Hollywood, and then
I got away from it. Andstarted dancing and ended up touring with Madonna
and then actually saw her practicing againa few years later, and that kind
of brought me back into the physicalpractice because that had become really important to
her when we were on tour andkind of got back into the physical and
(13:54):
that led me back into studying,being in classes like Sarah's or Michelaneberry,
Shiva Ray and and like I hadsaid before, that music really touching me
along with these teachings and the philosophies. So what was the impetus that drove
you that that threw you that thatdrew you into dedicating your musical career to
(14:20):
sacred music, devotional music? Youknow, it was it was a natural
process. I had a really bigchange in my life. I actually was
making, you know, a singersongwriters out on tour, playing clubs and
bars and all kinds of things withmy band I had. In between tours
with Madonna, I was going outwith my band and promoting my own releases,
(14:41):
and I was in Philadelphia and Iwas just had this one night I
wasn't singing in a bar and Ijust couldn't take it anymore. M A
lot of my songs had evolved beingmore spiritual in nature and more I was.
I was writing about my own spiritualpath, and I felt like all
songs are mantras, and when youwere peat them over and over again,
(15:01):
you're doing them every night. Youwant to be saying something really positive.
You know, if you're conscious person, you know you want to uplift people,
not be saying you know what victimswe are and we had our hearts
broken and pour you know whatever,the fogs are right, So those are
the mantras. And I decided Ididn't want to write those mantras anymore.
I wanted to write from a reallydeep I wanted to write from my higher
(15:22):
self telling me if I had abreakup, that I was going to get
through this, and the sky isgoing to open and everything's in front of
me and all these positive things.So I was going were in that direction.
And as I said, I'd beenin yoga classes and I was getting
touched by a lot of the musicby Jayutal Krishnadas. And I walked into
(15:43):
a christ concert one night and everyonewas singing, and everyone who experiences kirtan
for the first time, I feellike they have this experience of everyone's singing
and they're just they're so deeply movedby this community, the beauty of it
and the oneness of these voices thatI just my heart just opened and I
went, I want to do this. I want to do music like this,
(16:04):
you know. So I started.First thing I started doing is listening
to Krishna das records and Jayyuta.I'm thinking, like, which song others
could I cover? You know,could I cover and make my own?
You know? And then I hadmet Durga das Um David Newman who's a
really dear friend of mine in Philadelphiawhen I was on tour, and he
had asked me to sing at hisyoga center and that was the first yoga
(16:26):
center I sang. And I learneda lot of mantras from him as well.
We started chanting all kinds of mantrasjay Ma, Chrishna, Hima,
Durgaum and those were the first Igot an opportunity to do a record,
a record coming It came to meand said, Okay, You're gonna do
a record of all mantras and Iwent, okay, I know three.
And that's how it all started forme, honestly. And I just got
(16:48):
into this door opened and I walkedthrough it, and here we all are,
and versions of those three I wouldimagine, oh yeah, yeah,
you know, am I in particularstyle with you know, I bring in
like the movement, the dance andthe rhythm and the world music and all
of it because that's all my um, that's my life of being a dancer
(17:10):
and a singer and a performer.I bring that into my musical sharing at
these festivals. I wanted to askyour background or your style, your your
own unique style is somewhat different andis unique, and that you're bringing together
various elements. You have your popbackground, you bring in Electronica, Celtic,
(17:32):
Middle Eastern, Indian classical. Uhdo you have you ever faced any
sort of resistance to doing that kindof a kind of personal melting pot rather
than the you know, quote unquotepure classical styles. Does that bother anyone
or have they been open to it? No? I haven't. I always
told this really funny story about shamDass who um should you can explain a
(17:57):
little bit more about sham Dusk becausehe's and um he's a beautiful scholar in
a in a teacher for a lotof us. Um he he was a
big part of blockdy Fest and shockdyFest. And he used to sit there
with his arms crossed stirring at meand and I was like, oh,
(18:18):
and I knew him as I've beento his lectures. I've been to his
keratons, and you know, hewas like he was a teacher, and
I'm like, what is he youknow, what is he doing? What
is he thinking? And he wastrying to figure out like what am I
doing with this whole thing? Andhe was it was so beautiful. He
came up to me and he said, you know, Donna, I was
questioning, like what are you doingwith all of this? But then he
said, I realized from your you'resharing and feeling what you're about in your
(18:44):
music. He said, it's allabout the bob. And he said,
and you're in the bob and that'swhat it's about. And it was a
beautiful, beautiful um. You knowthat that kind of told me that because
he was very traditional. Yes,so Dona, for the listeners who might
want to explain what the bos isgoing to ask that, now, I
(19:08):
don't have to. Example was well, shreda, would you it's this devotional,
this feeling, it's being in themoment, being in the love,
being in the heart space yea,and taking that moment and bringing it out
into our universe, into our worldlylife. That's being in the bob.
You know, so many people noware realizing that their lives are not working
(19:33):
the way it's going. You know, it's too much government interference, it's
too much politics, it's too muchcorporations running everything, and they're having to
take back. They have to becomein charge of their lives once again.
And by going into the deeper spiritualself, they're finding this answer. They're
finding it's and it's open to allstudies, all religions. Yoga is universal,
(19:56):
but it's not a dogmatic live justkind of a thing. It's open
to everybody, and just like comingin, you start taking yoga classes and
you want more and you dive intothis in itself, to meditation and to
chanting and just love. It's justa matter of just loving everyone and everything
and expressing that love and joy allthe time. It's difficult, and it's
(20:21):
very hard, but you're trying.At least you try, and you try
and you try, and you keepon going. What do you say to
people who really do throw themselves into these events. Maybe people. Sure,
there's people who go to all threeof your festivals each year and they're
(20:42):
fully committed. They get all thereis to get out of it in terms
of being in the present, interms of feeling that universal kind of vibe.
But then they have to kind ofimmediately take a hard after right I'm
not sure which it is, turnedand go back to their regular lives.
(21:03):
How do you help people through thoseperiods in between we're all right and good
interspersed with real life. I'll jumpinto that one. Um. Yeah,
one of the courses that actually thatI teach a universities now yoga studios around
(21:27):
is actually seeing the yoga in everybusiness. So in yoga we have something
that it's called the margas for thedifferent paths of yoga. When I was
first starting yoga, I thought thatmeant that you had to bend your body
around, or that you had tomeditate. And I started to as many
people too, at the beginning oftheir journey. I started to feel separate
(21:51):
from my friends, from my family. I do yoga, you don't do
yoga. I'm having this experience,You're not having less experience. And I
really we had to have an awakeningthat yoga can anything that anyone is doing
that is their creative and differ,that is their practice, is the thing
(22:12):
that gets them in the zone.Is the same thing as being in the
bob. It's about connecting to somethinggreater than ourselves. So I've actually found
that that one of the things Ido when I coach people, etcetera,
etcetera. Typical Oh, I feellike I'm not connecting to my partner anymore
because I found yoga. And I'mlike, well, you know, how
(22:33):
who's to say that? You know, he's an artist, how is that
not yoga? Even if somebody issay in finance, who am I to
judge people who are in finance.They are in the now moment of everything
going on in the world. Theyknow if there's a famine, they know
of the country is in debt.Like they are completely in touch with humanity,
(22:55):
of the planet and the now moment. So how am I to say
somebody in finance is not doing theiryoga their way? And so I think
it's it's our job to be leadersin yoga being a connection of everyone rather
than a disconnect. Very good,very interesting street Heart. I remember speaking
to you last time. One ofthe things that most impressed me and kind
(23:18):
of really stuck with me was yourability, your kind of lifelong We're talking
forty plus years, your ability tohave both a spiritual life and pursuing that
path along with a very active entrepreneurialbusiness path. What would be your what's
(23:40):
the secret to blending those and makingthem work? There is no secret.
Actually, I'm still I'm still tryingto do it. Factually. The thing
is not to give up. Youknow, you have a lot of obstacles,
a lot of things going your way. You know, just because this
is a spiritual festival, it stillhas to be run as as some sort
(24:00):
of a business. So certain componentsof businesses take takes way in that,
you know. But it's still wetry to incorporate both of them, the
spirituality and the business in order tomake it go. Otherwise it can't go,
it can't exist anymore. And it'sbeen a struggle on a lot of
different levels. Personally, I'm readyto hand a bit time to the next
(24:22):
round of people when they come andcontinue to do what I do also out
in the world and in my spiritualwork, so anybody can do it.
It's not anything that I created oranything that I received advanced knowledge of.
It's just dedication. I'm still doingmy practice every day. I still wake
up in the morning, meditate,still doing my yoga, my chanting,
(24:47):
And I think it's it's really comesdown to discipline. You got to you
got to maintain the discipline. Ifyou sway away from the discipline, you
just go right back into the drama. And the drama is what is holding
everybody back from going to the nextround. Just to let people know real
(25:07):
briefly, why don't you tell thelisteners just a little bit of the highlights
of your business career. You've donea lot of very interesting things over several
decades. Oh yeah, Well,I started the first natural food store in
southern California in the seventies. Andthen I discovered a very important essential oil
called the key tree oil from Australia, and I brought that to the marketplace
(25:30):
and created their sixty eight products fora company called Degit Essence, which I
own, which is worldwide. Andthen I started a very big hemp coffee
company out of Katmandu, Nepal,which unfortunately is having a very bad situation
right now. So many different aspectsthroughout the way. In two thousand and
(25:55):
nine, after quieting my mind anddidn't want to do anything else. Before
that, I was working with agreat philosopher called ramdask and taking care of
him on Malley. But Shandas,one of my teachers, came to me
and said, street are you arethe only one that could do this festival.
(26:15):
I said, Sham, I don'twant to do any more business.
I just want to be quiet andyou know, just take it easy for
the rest of my life. Ididn't really want to get involved and then
you seem more and he said,no, you gotta do this. So
he encouraged me. And death issoul because he left his body two years
ago in a very bad accident andgo India on a motorcycle. But we
(26:37):
still he's still very part of whatwe're doing. All our festially dedicated to
Sham Das and he's always shining hislife and love on this every time we
get on that stage. And heencouraged me to continue to go through to
all the drama and to bring thiskind of festival, this kind of music,
this kind of love out into theuniverse because there's so much needed by
(27:00):
everybody. So there I sit rightnow, and I just the reason I'm
in Maali right now. It's nota vacation. I'm he had just finishing
my annual interview with Ramdass. It'sgot seventy years and they go all up
on the YouTube ry the right,they ask you. We had twenty five
thousand our viewers on two thousand andfourteen interviews, so they're going quite well.
(27:21):
And I don't know how much longerRoumdust is going to be in his
voue, but I'm very fortunate tobe abling to be with him and sit
with him and discuss spiritual contemporary subjectsand bring it out to the folks so
that they can hear and listen tohis wise ruwers. Fascinating. I'm wondering,
(27:41):
just we're heading to the break herein just a couple of minutes,
what are your thoughts on, becauseI just have no sense at all of
this. What are the kind ofnumbers in the United States of I'm sure
it's kind of a tiered thing.I'm sure the lowest level, the biggest
level, the biggest group would bepeople who one way or another participate in
(28:04):
yoga, and I'm sure there's many, many music fans as well, who
may or may not be necessarily thatinvolved with the spiritual side of it.
And then of course there's people whogo to the next level and attend these
kinds of functions. What are yourthoughts on the what kind of numbers we're
talking about just broadly speaking in theUnited States for those and how do they
(28:30):
network? Well? It ties intohealth and that's why yoga is becoming like
a billion dollar industry right now.And millions of millions of people are entering
into yoga through the health aspect becausethey realize they have to change their life,
they have to change their diet,they have to change what they do
(28:51):
every day, and they reach outand they see, oh, yoga,
all right, fine, I'll trythat. As soon as they try that,
they see all the changes mentally,physically, emotionally that takes place.
So there's I always say, youknow, tens of millions of people now
maybe in thirty forty million people inAmerica probably a practicing yoga Sara, would
you have a better number on that, You know, yeah, I don't
(29:14):
really have a number, but itis incredible. Just for instance, you
know, they just did it foron Easter Sunday, Michelle Obama organizes a
big thing on the White House lawn, like it really is getting everywhere.
It's so exciting. Yeah, itis absolutely And I mean when the Dali
Lama comes into America, he's gotfive thousand people sitting in his audience there
(29:37):
just mesmerized every time every show thathe does, every time he comes out
in the state. So there area significant amount of people, and more
and more of Wall Street is alsogetting involved in this because everything they're the
ones that need it the most,because they have such a hectic and difficult
lifestyle health wise, and they're realizingmeditation and to yoga is very very conducive
(30:03):
to helping them well, certainly todestressing. And I'm not sure who's much
more stressed on an ongoing and permanentbasis than people on Wall Street, although
on the other end of the spectrumtoo, low income people. It gave
me some perspective. I just readsomething saying, hey, you know,
people talk about all the stress ofthe really high powered, high pressure jobs
(30:23):
Wall Street and otherwise, but ifyou go to the bottom of the economic
scale, that's a whole different kindof pressure. That's an existential pressure.
Well, don't don't make it soundsomewhat that yoga is beyond the reach of
people that are on borderline income,because there's many studios now that are donation
(30:45):
based, so you can actually goin there with no money. You're very
little money. You two dollars,five dollars and pay for a class like
that. It's available to everybody.Now, all right, let's head for
a break. Great show Talking ShockDefest twenty fifteen on America's Most Haunted Radio,
(31:06):
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(36:07):
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d d the budding home beat,the woman a nine to take away
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the cool. Everybody needs a gonight kiss. It's the one brave thing
we can't be. Jessist All,I'm singing, I'm surety Donna Doloree loving
(36:58):
it. I love your hybrid style. I think it's very destful. I
love the electronic beat. I've beena DJ on and off, mostly on
for I won't even tell you howlong, So there's something about that beat
that always really really gets to me. And I could see spinning your music
and any kind of dance club.All right, that's great, thank you,
(37:23):
thanks for playing. It's it's morelike sacred music because it can be
you know, different people listen toit and hear different things, so it's
not strictly praying or chanting. Towhatever deity are. It's it's transformative,
so people don't feel that they haveto join anything by listening and singing your
(37:46):
room. Yeah, it's nice,exactly right for people to really get you
know, when people get into anartist, they get into the intention of
their music and intention of their livesand um to be on a conscious path
and wanting to really hope, youknow, to contribute to humanity. And
(38:07):
I love to align with those kindsof artists. Fantastic. Let's tell people
where they can get you a holdof your music and how they can find
you besides shock defest of course,Yes, well I can. My site
is Donna Deloy dot com. There'sa music button you can hit and see
(38:28):
all the different places you can getmy music, and it's all over iTunes
and Amazon. It's available everywhere,and you can order it the CDs for
Amazon and CD baby, and yeah, there's a lot of music out there.
I'm happy to say straight heart.I know you're in the middle of
a rainstorm on Mauie. Gosh,there are worse places to be, I
(38:52):
must say, but I know youneed to take off. What a pleasure
again speaking with you. Any additionalthoughts you'd like to leave us, let
me let me give you an ideaof how to get online. Go to
our website called bok Dfest then spelledb h a k t I f e
(39:13):
st bakdfest dot com. You getall the information on housing while the tickets
structures around their camping is on there. All the stars and besides Donner,
of course, we have the famousja Utah coming. DJ Dred's is there,
Laris is still Garish, and Govindasand slew of other people, maybe
another twenty acts are going to bethere. Yoga teachers is Shiva Ray,
(39:37):
one of the top yoga teachers inthe world, saw David Ray, and
Mark Whitwell and of course Sarah Ivanhoeyou hide on today and Kia Miller.
But we have some excellent workshops aswell, Jeffrey Armstrong, Lauren Roach,
Zap Baraka, It's Michael Baker.It's a fantastic lineup of everything, workshops,
(39:58):
yoga. You just I'm in there, leave your kids away at home
or in the car, and immerseyourself for the three four days that you're
there, and you'll come out achange person. I say that every year
and actually every year that's correct.It's true. Well, Shreetar, it
sounds like you've lost none of yourenthusiasm and you are. You are an
excellent ambassador. Thank you, Lambe. I'll lose a little bit when I'm
(40:22):
sitting on a cave and high inthe him lay as if there's any left
soon. Oh yeah, it's aterrible, terrible thing. It's awful.
It's unfolding, and the toll keepsgoing high. Or one of the things
you keep seeing in all the newsreports, though, is how calm and
focused and centered the people are andthey're not letting it get them down.
(40:45):
They're doing what needs to be donebefore they, you know, kind of
fall into the other side of it. Well, the grieving processes has to
be put on hold. I guessthis is a very interesting thing because this
is a Hinduce society and Hindu followersof the Hindu tradition deep into meditation and
(41:07):
deep into peacefulness and shanti com calm, being calm throughout all kinds of dangerous
situations. So my hats off tothem. And you know, one of
my spiritual teachers is already sending fundsand people up there to help, and
um, you know a lot ofprayers and we know we're certainly going to
(41:28):
dedicate some of our funds to themfrom the Shock Test. So anyhow,
good luck and thank you so muchfor having me and I always a pleasure,
and Donna, I look forward togiving you a big hug in a
couple of weeks you too, allright, Thank you very much. Thank
you. Dars even silver Fine callingin from Maui. He is the founder
(41:50):
of the Bakti and Shock de fests. And have a great evening, all
right, Donna. Last five,Now, I heard a rumor that you
may be in an area where youcould actually perform live. Is that something
that is a possibility here between ourYeah, I'm writing at a piano.
(42:15):
I'm in the studio recording a songtoday, and that was part of the
whole deal. I said, well, we're doing a guitar and vocal and
I said, well, I haveto break at five o'clock this you know
my time, and do this radiointerview. So I'm in the main house
and there's a piano right here,and yeah, I mean, i'd love
I always love to play and fingers, that's what I love to do the
(42:36):
most. Well, please if thatradio, we'd love to hear you,
we will be honored. So somethingthat I have to hold a phone with
my left hand, but I'll playwith my right hand. Tell me if
you can hear this. So thiswas one of the one of mantra I
had learned. I started listening toa lot of different teachers of Lossers over
(43:00):
the years, like Joseph Campbell speakingabout mythology and comparative religion. I've always
been really interested in in Sanskrit.The first moment I heard Sanskrit him talking
about that it's a great spiritual languageof the world, which a lot of
these mantras are in Sanskrit, andI was already drawn to that from those
teachings and then hearing the sounds ofthe words, and then there was something
(43:22):
about when I sang them. Sothere's this prayer Loka Samasta suki no bavantu,
and that's basically translated to be andit relates to what we're talking about
with Nepal and how we're all comingtogether to pray for this oneness and health
and for everyone on this planet allbeings. May all beings be happy and
(43:46):
free. May our lives, ourthoughts, these are our actions contribute to
this happiness for all and it's likewe feel this oneness when other people right
now are hurting. There's a partof us that feels that, so we
have this. A lot of thismusic to me is about tapping into this
compassion of this oneness to feel foreach other, whether it's these people they're
(44:07):
suffering in this other country, orit's my beloved, my husband who's suffering,
you know. So a lot ofthese prayers for me, the mantras
are it is. It's it's talkingabout the wide range of the human experience
of being a spiritual, having aspiritual experience in a in a physical body.
(44:30):
So this is luka sama stasuki novavanto. Can you hear the piano,
Yeah, Luca samasta util babanto,locaamasta sukil bavant. May all things be
(44:58):
happy and free, and may alllast speak giving to this happiness and freed
for That's where I cue the bandto stop. They stop for one bar,
(45:19):
come back in for Hi. Weare we are all God's children.
So that's a piece of a songfor you, lovely, thank you very
(45:45):
much. Yeah. So, inmy particular style of doing the kirtan and
being a songwriter and using the mantras. I always I'm seeing the mantra,
but I also have some most mostof the time, I have an English
a little bit of a not thatI'm trying to give it a translation,
but it just comes out of meof the meaning of it, what it
means to me, something that Iwant to express, and I do that.
(46:08):
And when I first this company cameto me and said make this mantra
CD, I was just very Isat down and saw it came out,
and that just came out naturally thatI wanted to say. I would say
some of the players, and thenI would say you is yeah, no,
(46:28):
then take me then high And thesethings just came out, and it
became like I always wanted to make. I feel like in my songwriting,
I was always trying to kind ofmake this devotional music in a way,
but it wasn't really. I didn'treally it wasn't coming from a Christian devotional
(46:49):
place. But I wanted to makethis music that was just in awe and
wonder of the greatness of what weare and what life is and the celebration
and showing this humility and ultimately gratitudefor just these gifts. The gift of
being that I've been given of beinga singer, and how I can share
(47:10):
that and realize that I can usemy voice to really help open hearts,
to heal, to raise people upwith my music. So that's that's why
I'm doing this kind of music andplaying these kinds of festivals because people everyone
at that festivals has that intention.And what I can say about those festivals
(47:32):
in particulars, it's you can't youcan't explain what it is, but the
minute you park your car and youwalk in, you feel like it's this
world that you want to live inand which is to me oftentimes opposite.
Like when I'm walking through an airport, a crowded airport in the way,
everybody is like they're not really hardlylooking at each other's looking at their iPhone,
They're bumping into you and and reallyjust people feel like they're disconnected from
(47:59):
one and the other. You know, you go into a boxy fest,
shocky fest. The many you getthere, people are looking into your eyes
and they're kind and you feel likeeveryone's your friend and it's real. You
know, it's not because they're trippingon drugs, you know, or they're
trying to be that way. It'sreally authentic and just for that feeling of
(48:21):
that from people. It kind ofsets a sets a standard of of how
we can live our lives and howwe can all be connected and how good
that feels. Do you see thisoverall movement as as growing? Is this
something that's that's burgeoning? What's theend game do you think? Or I
guess there's no endgame, But howdo you see things? How do you
(48:44):
see the place of this movement intwenty years in the United States? Well?
As Shreetard said, um, it'stied in with the whole with the
health movement, and it's also wherethat's going. Where we're all becoming more
aware of our bodies and our minds, our thoughts and how they influence our
(49:06):
bodies and they can manifest maybe certainthoughts we have, our beliefs and things
in our in our bodies as diseaseas well as our diets and our lifestyle.
I think more people are waking upto like, oh, I have
the power to change that. Ihave the power to think of thoughts and
to use whether it's meditation or whetheryou walk into meditation. He'd mentioned about
(49:28):
the discipline to have that discipline.My husband's integrative MD. So I'm deeply
immersed in that world of health andwe're you know, I just live in
that place, always talking about howwe can be we can be healthier in
our lifestyles. I'm in a differentplace now. I have two children,
(49:51):
and I'm trying to read them withan awareness that they can use certain tools
through their lives to calm them themselvesdown, to realize what is most important,
to care and love their bodies,and to realize that they're spiritual beings,
you know. And all this,to me, it all goes together
(50:13):
with the music and with the movementand a lot of this philosophy and everything
is identifying with something that's more thanthe body, and it's a spirit and
it's an energy that we are.And that's something that I teach to my
children all the time, because it'snatural for children to say, you know,
I don't want to die. Youknow, it's like this is it
(50:35):
like I die and then there's nothing. I'm nothing. It's like, no,
you're not nothing. You know,there's more. And this is a
feeling I've had all my life thatI wanted to express and a lot of
these mantras and the songs and thephilosophies express that, and it's it's comforting,
it's really beautiful, and it's it'swhat I choose. It's just a
(50:59):
lifestyle that I choose to be morein nature and you know, healthier lifestyle
eating. I mean that that festivalis a lot of organic food, you
know, honoring your body, thatyour body is your temple and you honor
that and you feed. It's reallyinteresting. I would actually at a temple
(51:21):
the other day and they were doingthe offering. They said, well,
we give our best food to thegods on Sunday for the offering, because
they had a cafe. And Isaid, they said on Sunday, if
you come here on Sunday, it'sthe best food because that's the day we
offered to the gods. And Iwas thinking, like, why don't we
have this food every day for us? You know? It was it was
(51:42):
interesting. So do you think ofthis? I noted you use the word
lifestyle, which really does seem tomake sense. Is this a religion for
you or is it more of alifestyle or our religion and lifestyle not countrytory.
I love what I always love whatJoseph Campbell taught and about religion,
(52:06):
how a lot of times religion canstop you from having that transcendent experience.
And I feel I've always been interestedin one truth many paths, that there's
truth in every religion, and Idon't I've never had one religion. When
I was little, I wanted Mymom was raised strict Catholic, and I
went to Catholic school and everything.So when I was little, I wanted
(52:29):
to go to church and Campbell andI wanted to go with all my friends.
And my mom didn't didn't want meto go. She didn't want she
didn't want to force me to go. She said, when you grow up,
you can choose your own path whatyou want. So I kind of
was exposed to a lot of differentthings, and I saw the goodness and
all paths and these good these good, deep down good nature of people that
(52:52):
I believed in since I was forever. I've believed in that, and I
think that that's at the root of, like, of all religion, and
I'm I'm really interested in that.So I feel like these philosophies and yoga
is so cool because it, likeShidar said, it just appeals to all
people and if people are you know, if there's certain names, like everyone
(53:15):
chants a different name for God,for Spirit, for the creator or whatever
is their their name for that,um, if we just realize that we're
all talking about the same thing,we're all it's that gratitude and that love
and that that intention that we haveto be closer to that and to be
(53:36):
to be thankful, to be partof this. The essence of that is
what my life's about. And Ijust respect, I really respect all paths
and I love that. I wentto a concert the other night and we
were there was a song that itwas Tina Malia was another artist, whose
beautiful artist and the genre. Shewas doing a Hebrew prayer and then she
(54:00):
did a Native American prayer and thenit was a it was a sandscript prayer.
And it's like, yes, Ilove that, you know it all
there's a thread through the whole thing, which was people were deeply moved and
touched and it was just a beautifulexperience to be together with that kind of
music. So as an artist,that's what I feel like I can put
(54:22):
I can put those feelings that Ihad into my music and it and it
really goes out there. I mean, I I've been amazed at how people
have been touched by this music.And people people tell me like they they
play the music for their first gradersto calm them down, you know,
and all kinds of stories. It'sso cute, you know, where somebody
(54:45):
in a really serious note come upto me and say, you know,
they lost their son in a motorcycleaccident. This is the only thing they
got them through, you know,and it's like, that's why I'm doing
this. Well, I abserlutely understandthat, and how profound that sense might
be. It sounds like you've reallyhad this underlying spirituality pretty much your whole
(55:07):
life. Has your life changed,however, since you did kind of say
publicly devote yourself to devotional music,has that made a change. Yeah,
I mean I don't think I eversaid like publically I'm going to I mean
I just did that, you know. I did that record from a real
(55:28):
honest place that when I was tellingyou aboutwards and then it was just this
thing where yoga took off, andI mean who knew and all of a
sudden that record was in every yogacenter and everyone was like, I have
this like huge yoga hit, youknow, and all these people. It
was crazy. I mean I waslike if in the next thing, I
know, and I'm playing this bigamphitheater outside and all the thing that the
(55:51):
whole spiritual community was there, andI was that door it opened and I
walked through that and I was like, well, this is what you know.
I've always wanted it to do musicof this nature. Um, And
I loved artists like really influenced byPeter Gabriel and Laurena McKennitt, you know,
Robbie Robertson. They were all verylike mystical and and philosophical. I
(56:15):
mean, there there's a there's asimilarity there sting. You know, there
are artists that I really looked upto that also sung in different languages and
had that this intention to go reallydeep with their musics on the psychological level
and spiritual level. So I waslike, all right, I'm gonna just
keep going. And I found naturally, I just find mantras, you know,
(56:36):
I'd go through just sound vibration.I'd look at in a Sanskrit dictionary,
I'd look at words that I justlove to say and sing, and
I put them together and then putmake a song out of them, and
or I'd find prayers in different places, and then I also write. I
write a lot of English songs aswell, so I blend them together.
And I don't you know, Ijust got that idea naturally. It wasn't
(56:59):
like I was trying to be likeanybody else, you know. And now
there's it's really beautiful. There's thisgenre of this chant music and it's a
it's kind of like alternative devotional musicin America because we have Christian music and
then there's there's all kinds of Hebrewmusic and all kinds of music. But
there's this new Kirton mantra. Uhit's We're underworld music on iTunes a lot
(57:22):
of these artists, which is reallycool, and it is where we like
to incorporate a lot of different instrumentsfrom around the world, a lot of
Indian Indian instruments, because we justthere's a certain tone in it. There's
a sound that brings you to atthat point more meditative state. I think
with the harmonium that I play Indiantoddlers. Um. But you know,
(57:44):
if you listen to pop music,a lot of pop music they're they're using
it too, you know, it'sjust everywhere. It's everywhere, and Katie
Perry singing about God, you know, bab agree up God, you know,
and it's it's it's just everyone.This isn't everyone's consciousness, you know,
I think, and and it's niceto getting back to like getting out
(58:08):
and playing, Like I love beingin the studio recording and writing. But
there's nothing like being there in thisexperience who was totally interactive and you're feeding
off the audience and everyone is sohappy and choiceful. I mean, how
different is that than what we experienceevery day? You know? Well,
I think your analogy or your referenceto the airport was a very good one,
(58:30):
because that really is kind of theopposite end of the spectrum. People
are so focused on where they haveto be, how inconvenience they are,
Will they meet the schedule, willthe flight beyond time? Will they get
through security? It really has becomekind of this roadblock, this nightmarish roadblock
(58:51):
to fly anywhere. And You're right, people kind of just don't want to
be bothered. They just don't wantto think of everyone else there as an
actual human being. They are sortof just obstacles in your way. And
in front of you in line.Absolutely, and everyone. It's just like
there's just so much technolog I mean, everyone's just got their their iPhones or
(59:14):
the the technology. It's just it'slike running everyone. You feel, you
know, oh, yes, there'shumanity. There's humanity, Like we look
at each other's eyes anymore. LikeI used to go to the cleaners of
the cafe and talk to the youknow, it's spend some time talking to
the person and looking to their eyesand having a relationship. You know,
(59:35):
just that human interaction is important.I could not agree more. And I
surely wish that I could attend thisshock Defest because it sounds like it'll be
really fantastic and kind of an amazingvibe. And I'm very excited that you
get to perform there, and I'msure you will be extraordinarily well received.
(59:59):
Let's let people know once again,we're talking about the Shock Defest, which
is one of the three Bakdfest puton each year, and this one is
May fifteenth through seventeenth, the ShockDefest, and it's at the Joshua Tree
Retreat Center the High Desert of California. We're speaking with Donna Deli, who
(01:00:23):
will be a music performer, aCaretan performer. She has a number of
CDs out and you can get ahold of her by going to Donna DELRII
d O n n A d El O r y dot com. Check
her out that way. What aboutsocial media, Donna, Oh yeah,
(01:00:43):
I've got my Facebook page, youknow, Facebook slash Donna Delis and you
know I'm on all over the placethat way too, and you can go
to those places on my website you'llsee it right on the on the front
page. And listen to some samplesof my music and scam through iTunes SoundCloud
you can stream a lot of mymusic and listen to it. Yeah,
(01:01:04):
you'll find it. Just google myname and you'll find more out about me.
And just you know I've made Iheard a lot of songs out there.
Most recent CD is a remix CD, so it's more electronica, working
with remixers and exploring these difference whichis really cool. That is right up
my alley. I will tell youthat much. And thank you so much
(01:01:28):
for performing live. That is ina sense very brave and really appreciate it
very much. On the spot kindof thing and it was very cool and
I could really feel your vibe viathe phone, So thank you so much
for doing that for it. Ofcourse, I love just saying always a
pleasure. Anytime call me and I'llsing for you. Thank you. I'm
(01:01:51):
having a hard time sleeping, Donna, please sing a song for it.
I might have to have like athumb and beat underneath it though, for
you, right, but I getmy drum machine now, I'm saying that
would be super cool. All right. Thanks, thank you so much,
Donn. I have a great evening. Thanks for coming to you to thank
you all right, my friends,thank you so much for tuning in to
(01:02:12):
America's most haunted radio live every Mondaynight at eight Eastern on the ip b
N network and we are podcast anda number of outlets including good old blog
talk radio. I'm Eric Olson.Join us not in a full week,
but tomorrow night for after hours am Storytellers and that will be something.
(01:02:43):
Talk to you soon. Good night,
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