This is sólo cantar space!!!

LeLaina Romero: 00:00:02

Ah. Hello. Hello. Hello, beloveds.

LeLaina Romero: 00:00:10

Hello, beloved singers and beautiful beings. My name is LeLaina Romero. This is Sólo Cantar, a podcast that will bring you healing harmonies and practices for peace.

Before I tell you a bit about myself, I want to tell you why I'm so thrilled to bring this to you in this particular moment. I'll be sharing songs, chants, exercises, on a weekly basis, at least mostly, there will be some kind of sound or breath practice, something to do with what we do with our voices, the vibration of the voice, how we express ourselves. How we connect with other people, how we communicate, how we release. We use our voices for so many things.

And sometimes there will be other kinds of practices. The reason I'm particularly excited is that it's my intention to sing every day in any capacity.

Could be humming, could be a whole song, could be a line. Not for a particular amount of time, but I know that this is something that I need to do.

This is a daily practice that supports me, that sustains me, that helps me feel grounded, that helps me feel like myself. And sometimes I forget to do this very basic thing. And I'm excited that I get to share this with you. And it'll be my reminder to sing every day.

We could just sing one note, play around. It's going to reinforce this practice, because what we practice grows stronger, which is something many, many wise people have said.

Right now, I'm thinking particularly of Tara Brach. I think Tara is maybe how she pronounces it, Buddhist meditation teacher and clinical psychologist who has her own podcast.

And I know she has many, many teachers who have taught her this. What we practice grows stronger. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here with me in this asynchronous space.

The gift I want to give you here is if there is a practice that you've been wanting to do or needing to do or longing to do every day and you haven't been, just pause right now. Just pause and take a gentle breath.

And if this feels comforting, put one hand on your heart in the middle of your chest, and one hand on your belly, right above the belly button where your diaphragm is, and say it's okay. And then maybe ask, ask yourself in this moment, could I do that practice right now? Is this something I have capacity for?

Is this something that feels right? Do I have the energy? If the answer is yes, beautiful. Pause this podcast, pause this episode, and go do it or do it with me.

Whatever it is, whether it's singing, walking, prayer, drawing, or some kind of creative practice, do it do it while we hang out together.

And if it's not the time, and if you don't have the energy and if you're drained and today is not that day or it's not the moment, I invite you to be gentle with yourself.

We're all here in this complex mystery that is sometimes, often hard, sometimes often confusing, sometimes often beautiful, sometimes often frightening and. And certainly overwhelming. So I invite you to forgive yourself and just be here with me. Let's hang out. I intend to sing every day.

It seems like a pretty easy ask, especially with who I am. I am a singer. I'm a song leader, I'm a vocal coach, among other things. But it doesn't always happen. And that's okay.

And that's what this space is all about. It is about engaging in practices that help us to feel grounded, help us to feel connected to one another and help us to get free.

Not just free in our spirits, but free in our very being so that we can engender / create liberation for us all.

So now that I've said that, now that I've invited you to be here with me, playing with practice, growing your practice, whatever that may be, I'm going to take another deep breath and I'm going to sigh it out and see what comes out. And then I'm going to tell you a little bit more about myself and what this podcast is all about. Okay. Well, my name is LeLaina Romero.

As I said, I am a singer, probably one of my primary identities. I am a late blooming songwriter. I have been imagining songs or writing the beginning of songs for a long time. Many, many decades.

But only in the past five to 10 years have I really kind of seen those songs through. And it's really exciting. And some of that journey came with parenthood.nIt came with losing a parent and becoming a parent within a very short period of time. So it's definitely a creative process. I am a vocal coach. I am also a spiritual director or spiritual companion.

Now that is some something that not many people are familiar with unless you are kind of steeped in traditions of contemplative practice in not just Christianity, but other spaces. I do not identify with any particular religious affiliation.

I am more than anything a wandering mystic, a radically free believer in justice, believer in the possibility of transformation. Wandering mystic. I became a spiritual director through Still Harbor, a program that is currently undergoing some revision.

It is a program that teaches the art and practice of spiritual direction in service of our collective liberation.

I am grateful to my teachers and my colleagues and what I love about spiritual direction is that rather than being it's not me directing your spirit in any way, but as one of my teachers said said, it is about turning in the direction of spirit.

So sitting with someone who wants this kind of guidance and connection and relationship and helping them turn in the direction of spirit, whatever that means for them. So my work very much lies at the crossroads, the fronteras or borderlands of if there are the fuzzy borders of spirit, music, healing and justice.

And I'm happy to talk more about that. I think I'll share some episodes in the future, the near future, that break down each of my roles with a little bit of a practice.

I identify as a queer, multiracial, Latine, Latina, cisgender woman. And so I have worked with folks in marginalized communities throughout my career. And I started at the now, but I will now bring us to the past.

I am also a counseling psychologist and I have worked as a psychotherapist. So that informs some of what I do, although it is not what I'm practicing at this time.

I want to say that I believe diversity, equity and inclusion are beautiful words, beautiful descriptors and processes when lived out fully. And while I work with people, all different kinds of people, I really love working with healers, leaders and activists from marginalized groups.

So that's a little bit about me. And you'll see links in the show notes the ways that you can connect with me. I do this work individually.

What I love more than anything is working with groups as well. So I can consult with your organization or your place of work.

I can do workshops, all different kinds of things, and stay tuned for some really special groups in the fall that I'm really looking forward to facilitating and co facilitating with some beloveds. So that's a little bit about me. I'm really excited to share the next practice in episode one.

In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with a little practice that I shared recently in my social media accounts. And it's just the practice of breathing and singing I'm Alive. And you can sing it on any note you want. You can join me or you can diverge.

You can just participate however it makes sense for you.

LeLaina Romero: 00:11:45

I'm alive, I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive Alive I'm alive I'm alive, I'm alive.

LeLaina Romero: 00:12:15

Affirming our aliveness in times of uncertainty, destruction, war, genocide. This can be a really powerful practice.

And some of what I was doing with my voice was intentionally flipping between what is known as the chest register and the head register. The chest resonance and the head resonance. Different ways we can use our voice. Our bodies are our instrument.

Just like the shape of a guitar or a piano or a violin or a drum creates the sound, helps create the sound and the resonance. Resonance. Our bodies do the same. So when I was singing in my chest resonance, I'm alive.

If you put your hand on your chest and use what is more of your speaking voice, that register maybe a little usually lower for people, you. You feel the vibration in your chest.

But then when I flipped very intentionally with a lot, without a lot of beauty, or it was just letting it go into the head register.

LeLaina Romero: 00:13:34

I'm alive. I'm alive.

LeLaina Romero: 00:13:39

That's called the head resonance. Sometimes people call it falsetto. Sometimes that's a gendered word. But it doesn't need to be.

We all have access to this and it's kind of the sound that you would make.

Well, when you're singing a doo wop song and you're like the high voiced person "ay ay ay ay ay" or it's the sound that you make when you were talking to a young child, a baby or an animal, you might say, here, kitty, kitty, kitty, like, oh, baby, like that kind of thing. Although maybe you don't use that kind of voice and that's okay. Yeah. And where you feel that resonance is in what's called the mask.

So you feel it in like your upper cheekbones and your head. Imagine you're kind of wearing a masquerade mask. Feel the vibration there. So that's just a little exercise that I want to leave you with.

And I am so grateful that you joined me. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions and I hope to hang out with you again really soon. Bye, beloveds.

LeLaina Romero: 00:15:10

{Shine, copyright: 2018

Your light is growing my light

Your love is growing, my love

Your heart is growing my heart

Your life is growing my life

Your light is growing our light

Your love is growing our love

Your heart is growing our hearts

Your life is growing our lives...

You shine so bright. Your spirit shines...

your voice, your smile stretches to your eyes

then mine.

You are a light shining in this world.

I wonder where you came from and I know, I know...