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The Sound of Healing
The Sound of Healing explores the stories behind a song that inspires, heals, and carries beautiful messaging. Join host Jason Amoroso as he interviews artists about the lyrics, deeper meaning behind the song, the creative process, and the musician's personal journey that shaped the work.
These songs are also featured in Revelation Breathwork classes, where music and breath combine to create transformative, somatic experiences. Discover how you can breathe to these powerful tracks in our online breathwork healing community at revelationbreathwork.com.
The Sound of Healing
'I Am Blessed' by Desirée Dawson
A song can feel like a hand on your shoulder. When Desiree Dawson hears “I Am Blessed” with us—start to finish—what unfolds is the full, honest story: sick and alone on tour, a loving text with a friend, a kitchen-table beat, and a wave of gratitude that changed the day. That unforced spark became a viral moment and, more importantly, a companion for people who needed a reminder that even in the middle of the mess, there’s still something steady and kind to lean on.
We explore what healing means without the finish line. Desiree talks about finding her way home through music, breath, and community, and why healing feels more like remembering your inherent wholeness than fixing what’s broken. We get real about the highlight reel and the pressure to perform, then shift into how breathwork helps us drop from head to heart so the lyrics land where they can actually do work. She shares the lines that hold her—“finding my way home,” “feeling scared but loving deep”—and why repetition in songs like “Mountaintops” is a conscious choice to let courage sink in.
There’s also a candid look at making art inside an industry that doesn’t always honor human pace or values. Desiree names the tension between algorithms and authenticity, and why she still chooses faith in people over gaming the system. One letter from one person who felt supported by a song is enough to keep going. Together, we invite you into something different: a Breathwork x Music experience built entirely around Desiree’s catalog, designed to help you feel the songs in your body, release what’s stuck, and remember what’s true.
Come breathe with us. Subscribe, share this with someone who could use a musical hug today, and leave a review to help this conversation reach more hope-holders. Will you save your spot for the event and let the music carry you home?
Click Here: Learn more about the healing power of Revelation Breathwork.
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Email us at hello@revelationbreathwork.com
So excited to be here, Desiree Dawson. Desiree, thank you so much for making time to be on the Sound of Healing today, where we're going to dive into your incredible song amongst many of I Am Blessed. So thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for having me. This is exciting.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're going to have some fun together, I think. Let me share a little bit a bit about you with our community here. I'm going to read your bio that you shared with me. So Desiree is a multifaceted artist, celebrated for her powerful gifts as a recording artist, songwriter, producer, sound healing facilitator, and yoga teacher. Desiree is driven by a passion for collective liberation and global indigenous sovereignty. Her music often nods to and explicitly points at the importance of liberating ourselves by tending to the spaces within us that have been silenced into isolation. She believes that finding ways to love and embrace ourselves goes hand in hand with learning how to love, care, and build with those around us. She is a two-time South by Southwest Music Video Award winner and Juno Award nominee for Best Adult Contemporary Album. She has garnered millions of views and streams for her release I Am Blessed, which we're going to dive into today. And whether performing solo with her baritone ukulele or in harmony with her band, her sentiment of care and compassion will lovingly stay with you and be a gift to pass along. How does that feel to hear your bio in that way?
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's very sweet. It feels really nice. I sometimes it's cringy to hear a bio, but I'm like, this feels really lovely and accurate.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. And it's such an interesting question that we ask everybody like, how does it hear it feel to hear your bio? And so it's a nice positive uh you can receive all of yourself, which is great.
SPEAKER_01:Totally. And some of the people who helped me write this bio and who wrote parts of the bio are people that I love who who actually that's how they see me. So I'm like, that's really sweet.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. And so here at The Sound of Healing, we feature artists and songs that we've been playing their music in our Revelation Breathwork classes in our online community, and people absolutely love their music because it's soulful and heartfelt and authentic and powerful. And your music we've been playing for years. So it's it is really cool to be able to connect with you in person and to have given you the experience of Revelation Breath Work and now to focus on this song I Am Blessed, which is just at least for me, instant, instant love at at first sight or first hearing. So we're gonna listen to it together and then we'll uh talk a little bit. How's that sound?
SPEAKER_01:Amazing.
SPEAKER_00:All right, let's do it.
SPEAKER_02:I am blessed, yes, I am blessed, even when I'm here feeling like a mess. This life has shown me all kinds of stress, and also opened up my heart like the greatest tragic test. My heart's been bruised, and my dreams fell far, and I've stayed awake, wishing on the start. But this life is strange, it can't be real. So now I look around to see how far I've come. I am blessed, yes, I am blessed, even when I'm here feeling like a mess. All kinds of stress, and also open up my heart like a great death. Step by step, day by day, I'm learning how to find my way, even in the middle of the fight. So much love's reminding me that I am less. Yes, I am less, even when I'm here feeling like a mess. All kinds of stress, and also open up my heart like the grave. Yes, I have grown, and I'm finding my way home. Yes, I have grown, and I'm finding my way. Oh, the pain that I've seen, feeling scared but loving deep, filling spaces in between. I am blessed, all the kinds of scared life, all the hard I can strive, feeling how the life I am, yes, I am even when I'm here, feeling like stress, and also I've strike grown. Yes, I have grown, and I'm finding my way home. Yes, I have grown, and I'm finding my way.
SPEAKER_00:Desiree. Holy smokes! Absolutely just I feel filled up every time I listen to that song. So thank you for answering the call in expressing that and sharing that with us. It's really amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Thanks. I'm so glad you feel that way about it. And it's so interesting. I don't listen to the song very often, like just to listen to it anymore, now that I'm not working on it anymore. So to have this moment to just be like, you're your only thing right now is just to listen to the song. It's it's kind of lovely to be like, oh yeah, it's a nice song.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god. I mean, it's like permission to be human. So it just acknowledges is my experience, acknowledges like the human journey that it's messy, that it sucks sometimes, that it's hard, that and it's okay. And it and the power of gratitude and how important that is, while it's messy through the growing pains of life, through the confusion and being lost, like we're all trying to figure it out. No one knows what the hell they're doing, in my opinion. And it's like, and I can still acknowledge that there's a lot to be grateful for. And this life is fucking incredible and beautiful and messy and amazing all at the same time. Like you capture all of that, and it just is like held on this cloud of of love. So that's my experience. Um, yeah, what what was when did you write the song? Where were you in your life? What was going on? What inspired it?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, first off, that was the most beautiful way of like receiving that, like held on a cloud of love. I'm like, that's exactly what it felt like to create this song. Like, really, it's so beautiful to hear that as a reflection about it. Because the creation process sometimes takes away the like sweetness of the song when it's first kind of comes, you know. Um, but the the way that that song landed with me was I was on tour, I was in London and I was so sick. Um, and I had been trying to fight off sickness for so long, and eventually it just overtook me. And what and I was on a tour by myself. So I was alone, I was sick. There's a lot going on, just like uh in the world that was just weighing on my heart. There was just a lot going on, and I was feeling pretty like overwhelmed with it that whole week. And then one morning I woke up and I was texting with a friend, I think, or and I had some beautiful exchange with someone in my life that I love. And I was just so proud of them for something they'd created, and then it inspired me. And then I just and then I just woke up and I was like, I'm so blessed to be here. Like, and I was still sick, I was still sniffling, and I was like, but it just was this wave of gratitude. And and it felt so big because of having like a week of kind of like feeling like I was just slogging along and feeling pretty depressed, but out of nowhere. Just and it was also really sweet that it was an exchange with a friend that helped me, and then that lit up me realizing where I was and how amazing it is that I'm a touring artist, and that a friend had lent me their house to stay at, and it was beautiful with a big backyard in London somehow. Like it was flowers growing, it was spring, like it was just I just remember being overwhelmed with like, oh, I can just like yesterday I would not have been able to feel this. And all of a sudden today I didn't even try. And I think that's the that is like the message of the song is that it's not about forcing yourself to feel gratitude. It was just that sometimes it just washes over us, even in the hard times, and and that's that's what happened. So I went downstairs um and no one was home because I was sharing the house with a few other people. Um, and I was sitting down at the table, and all of a sudden I just started like hearing the I am blessed.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I am blessed, even when I'm here feeling like a mess.
SPEAKER_01:And so I just started playing a little beat on the table, and I don't know what possessed me to turn on my camera, but I'm so glad I did because I turned on the camera, I sat there, I started playing this little beat, and I was like, ooh, this feels good. Like it just felt good in my body to like I wanted to dance to it. So I recorded it, and then I I played it on a loop for myself. I was dancing around this kitchen at this friend's house. Um, and then I was like, I'm just gonna post this on TikTok. It's like, why not? Post it on TikTok, turn my phone off, come back the next day. It's completely blown up on TikTok. And I really I've been posting on TikTok for like a year or maybe more at that point. Never had I had something like that happen before. I did not think in a million years the song would have that, but the response was just like people love it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, everything you just shared is why is make like is why they love it. I mean, just the just the spark of it, and what I'm hearing is you know, you were feeling not well physically and alone, on tour, and all the things, and it was the connection with a friend, like that simple, honest connection of human to human, of soul to soul, of friend to friend that that helped shift something in you, and how that's it seems like a part of your life and your way in the world is community, is like human connection. So it's no surprise that that opens something up inside of you uh through that way. So I just want to that's want to acknowledge you for that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thanks for that reflection. It's so true. It was I didn't, and I think I haven't really always sat with the fact that it was like a spark with a friend that really like opened up the floodgates for just like love. Love for everything in that moment.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and the other thing that really stands out that you shared was like you didn't try. It wasn't like, oh, I'm gonna write a hit song, gotta get a million views on TikTok or maybe more. I don't know. But like you didn't try to do it, it came through you in my language, but it's what it sounds like. Like it just came and you honored it and expressed it. And is that what your creative process always is like for a lot of your songs where it just comes through and you're like, okay, I'm just gonna see where this goes?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. That's mostly my creative process is like I hear something, I feel something, I I hear a rhythm, or it's usually lyrics and a melody of some kind. But yeah, it comes through, and then I'm like, okay, guess that's what we're working with today.
unknown:Like Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And what kind of response have you heard from people, whether it's comments on social media or in person when you perform, what have you heard people's uh experience of the song has been like?
SPEAKER_01:So um, very similar to some of the things you've shared about how it feels for you. I've had people a lot of people say it feels like a hug, it feels like support. One person said it feels like a companion, which I was like, that is the most beautiful way of thinking. Because I have so much music in my life that feels like a companion, like on a day where you're like, I just need you to walk with me today. Um and so yeah, but I think it's just it supported people through really hard times and and joyful times. Like people reach for it when they need to pick me up, but people also reach for it when they're already feeling good and they just want to like dance even more. Um yeah. And I think that feeling of love somehow, and it was really interesting because it's it's it started off in so many different like TikTok communities. Like it was first um, it was in like teachers, like a lot of teachers were getting it. And so then they were showing to their students and then they were giving you reflections of how the kids were receiving it, which was like so amazing and beautiful to hear children enjoying this. Um, and then it like it just started weaving into different like pockets of communities on TikTok, and it was cool to see how they were all quite different, but everyone just felt the loving message, and everyone just needed a like a pick-me-up and needed to know that, like, okay, we're gonna be all right, you know, we just gotta keep going and and we gotta do it together, and like it was just yeah, the anthem, it's the anthem of our time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it really is. What's the most meaningful lyric to you in the song?
SPEAKER_01:I guess there's a few. I think maybe it's just the idea of like finding my way home is really a beautiful concept of like and for me that means just like getting closer to myself. It reminds me of actually something I've read on your website and heard you speak about, but just the idea of breath helping guide us back to ourselves. Um, and I feel like music does that too, as I know you feel that as well. Um and just the idea that a moment like that, something washing over me like that, and it can actually help me come back home to myself. In a moment like that where I did feel I was starting to feel so disconnected from myself, it was like I needed something to bring me back to here, you know. So that one, and then also the in the bridge, there's the um the whole chunk of the bridge, like uh all the pain that I've seen, feeling scared but loving deep, filling spaces in between, I am blessed, and then like the holding hands and sharing life through the heartache and the strife, feeling held up by this life because like we spoke about the thing of talking to a friend, it felt like I was holding hands with this person even though they were so far away. Um and we were sharing the hard and the the joyful in that moment. And for me, that's when my heart really like the trust and love I have with people is like I want all of you. I want the hard stuff and the and the good stuff and the all-in-between stuff. So that bridge feels like that for me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we need as the we, the humanity needs to hear that because it in this this uh I call it I'm a little bit older than you. For me, it's like the Rocky Balboa, the Rocky movies where you know he's training for a fight for three, four months of grueling training, but you know, it's like a two-minute clip of like, oh, he's beating on the meat or he's running up the hills carrying the logs, and like yeah, it's five months of like really uncomfortable things done in two minutes with great music that makes it seem amazing. It's like we live in this highlight real world. Uh a more modern would be like TikTok or social media where you see all this curated stuff and life's messy. That's not how life is for every for anyone, really. And so this again, this message is so universal. And a beautiful line that you share about this is yeah, life life is challenging. There's stressful things, there are things that happen. And if if one allows, and you've clearly done this, like you've allowed it to open your heart, like the greatest treasure chest. And can you share more about that? Like, I guess for people that are listening, the how, like, how have you been able to stay open when it feels like so much things want us to armor up and protect? And how do you stay open to experience that treasure chest amidst all of the things that are happening in our personal and our global experience?
SPEAKER_01:That is a great question. And I've I'm not exactly sure if I know how, but I do know I think because I have um I have for many years now had tools like meditation and yoga and breath and and like just just even knowing how helpful it is, like when I'm feeling overwhelmed to just lay down on the ground and and like breathe or things like that. I think tools like that have helped, but also um I'm lucky that in this life I've found a few wonderful people who who hold me for all that I am and who allow me to like be vulnerable. And and I still have a really hard time with it, to be honest. But I think I've gotten enough times now where I've where I'm learning that it's it's a beautiful experience when you let people into your fullness and and not just the highlight reel and and the depths you get to go with people when you when your fullness is seen and not just the highlight reel. Um so that kind of answers it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's great. I mean, I'm hearing the tools, the practices, and and having good people in your world who appreciate you and hear you and see you. And you said that I feel I think I said something like I feel safe being vulnerable with, and that even that's hard. And I guess the follow-up for that is because you are so public and your music is so honest, how uh it was surprising to hear that it's hard for you to be vulnerable when your music is so vulnerable in such a public way.
SPEAKER_01:That's so true. It's very interesting because I think my music is vulnerable in some ways, but there's also a lot of things I don't sing about because it scares me. Or like one of my friends and I were talking about the other day, like I sing a lot, I feel comfortable sharing about my relationship with myself and the healing and growth that I'm doing. My songs aren't really about my relationship with other people, or like, though that's where I would be a bit more vulnerable to talk to like sometimes I hear an artist, I'm like, they said that, like, what if that person hears it? Or you know, like I there's sides that I still struggle with. Um so yeah, I think and it's it is hard sometimes, especially performing live and knowing like, okay, I'm gonna stand up here and I always tell stories with my songs, so I'm like, I'm gonna bear my soul before I bear my soul. Like um I don't know how I do it because I still have a I still struggle with vulnerability, and social media makes it really hard too because I don't always know the perfect clip to post to get everyone to see it, and it's hard to not take things personally online and things like that. So I'm it's I think I'm a work in progress constantly with the vulnerability piece, but um yeah, I guess I am vulnerable often. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We've we've we've texted about this, and so now we're gonna talk about it, which is this idea of the word healing and how ubiquitous it is in the in the wellness field and how it means actually a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So I would love to hear how you relate to and define the word healing.
SPEAKER_01:I think I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it means to me, and maybe it's always evolving. I think there was definitely a time like early on in my in my like entering more of like the wellness spaces where I really did think there'd be a point where I was just healed, where I just like all of a sudden was like the the better version of me or something. And then the past few years I've really let that go. Like, I'm I understand that it's it's almost like the whole thing of it's not linear, but it also just isn't a destination, I think. Like for me, it's more of like um when I think of healing, like I have a song called Hold the Hope, where I say, and we've all been healed, and even if you're not ready for treatment, and it's like I wasn't thinking like we're all just perfect, that no one has any illness, or you know, it's more just like we've all we all keep coming back to some loving places within ourselves, we all feel loved by each other. Like I'm still trying to figure it out, but I what I do know is it's not a destination that I'm trying to get to anymore. Um, maybe it's more of like a practice or um yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And even in that, it like leaves space for the human experience, which is such a beautiful part of who you are and your message and your music. Like, it leaves space for the human experience. Like you don't you what you what I'm hearing you say is you're you're if it's physical healing, your body doesn't have to be a perfect or a certain way for you to still show up open or generous or kind, or even you're allowed to have bad days, you're allowed to be negative. We're all judg like we're all a hum we're all judgmental, we're all critical, we're all the things, and yet we can be healed, we don't have to be perfect, is what I'm hearing you say. And that leaves so much room for what's real, I think, in the human experience. So I want to I'll share a personal story. I might edit this out or not. But my brother, who was four years older than me, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the two of us from our parents' first marriage. And so he, I don't know, he was about my age, maybe 45, and uh got diagnosed in the su j July or June of 2020 during the pandemic, pancreatic cancer, and ended up nine months, he passed in February of 21. But we teach he we have a Revelation Breath Work facilitator training, and it's like we help I think redefine in in a lot of ways what you're talking about, how people view what healing is and why and one of the things we share with our facilitators is yeah, even though my brother transitioned and died on a physical level, like he healed. He used that nine months to to heal through forgiveness of himself, through like opening his heart more to himself or healing his past and different things in his own personal journey. So while on a physical level he didn't heal, he absolutely at a soul and heart level healed before he made his transition. And and I think his transition was part of his heal a huge part of his healing journey. So um I think it just redefines that word for a lot of people. So I'm just sharing that because it sounds similar to what you shared as well.
SPEAKER_01:I really love that because also I feel like that that's also a thing of someone, it's not failure. I think I don't like the idea of failure being attached with anything healing, like that you can fail to heal, or that feels like that doesn't right. And also it's so personal. What looks like healing to you might not be what it feels like to me. And we all are so unique, our bodies are different, our minds are hard, like everything is so different about us, even though we're so similar. So it doesn't make sense that we would have one healing journey that we all have to like abide by. And I love thinking about it the way that you described it with your brother. Like he's he's still on his healing, he's still in his own healing somewhere, and whatever that looks like, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I think the reason, one of the reasons we name this podcast, the sound of healing, is the way that we define healing is it's really remembering your inherent wholeness as a soul, as a being. So, regardless of what's going on in your body, or regardless of what's going on in your kind of intellect and your brain and your personality and the ego identity of I'm this me, but then there's this life. It's like healing is, at least for me in those moments, it's like a return, a remembrance of wholeness that's always been there.
SPEAKER_01:I love that though, the wholeness that's always been there. Like, because that's another thing. It's like it almost feels like if you can't reach a thing, you're less. I don't know, there's this, it's just like it's there, you have it, it's in you, it looks unique to you. And but it is hard because in this, I feel like I've removed myself from like the wellness spaces quite a bit. And the reason is because I didn't like this one size fits all thing. I didn't like that there there was, there sometimes can be a lack of humanness in it. And when everyone's so obsessed with trying to like be the most spiritual, they lose that we are actually here as humans, and that's that is spiritual. We are here to be humans, we're not here to be ascended somewhere else. We're here to be here and to have a connection with with all that is around and you know, all the unseen things. But we are, I believe we are here to be humans, and so that sometimes I think can get lost in some spaces, and so it made me have to really take myself back and be like, do I even feel like I can be a human here? And now I love making connections with other people who are in these beautiful spaces, but also are like, I want to be a human and I want you to be a human and I want to hold you in your humanness.
SPEAKER_00:Like, yeah, leave space for the the human. I love what you just said, like the most, you know, it's so spiritual to be human. Agree, because you never it's not about being perfect, it's not about getting to a destination, which is so much of our society in the world, is like, oh, once you once you get there, once you're healed, once you have the money or the relationship or the body or whatever you're trying to get, it's out there, then you're gonna feel this this certain way, which of course we all know never happens. So it's like this it's a whole new way of relating to life, relating to healing. You're not broken, you don't need to be fixed. Like you're having a human experience and the the acceptance and the love and the kindness to yourself. I mean, you all your music speaks to that, and that's why we play it in our classes because it reminds it's a reminder. Healing is remembering, it's a reminder, hey, it's okay. When it's messy, you can still feel gratitude. When it's messy, you can still love yourself. You can still show up, you can still find the small moments that is really what life's about because life is really short. So whether it's I everyone, you know, a cup of tea is another one. Like there's so many of your songs that are just like, yeah, this is remember. And and in this getting out of your head through the breath, people hear it and feel it and experience that. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's why I love breath work and also why I'm usually hesitant for it, because I'm a very heady person and it can be hard for me to get out of that. And so breath work is so beautiful for me. And also it's like it's almost a bit of a challenge for me. Like it's like just let let go, you know, like let go, but also you're participating. That's what I love. It's like it's not a full let go. You're still involved, but you also there is a lot of letting go um related to it. And I love practices that get me out of my head because I am here a lot and I want to be here more.
SPEAKER_00:Wanna go back to your journey as an artist? What has been one of the more challenging parts of your journey as an artist?
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, there's been so many. I would say um right now, the hardest part for me is the industry of it. Like how to navigate the industry because it isn't, it's so like you gotta do this, and then you have to do this. And if you don't do that, then that won't work. Like there's just so much that always feels like it's such a heavy pressure on every single step, every post, every like everything has pressure attached to it. Um, and I've been doing this now for like over 10 years, and it's it's like it still feels like that pressure. And because everything's changing so rapidly with social media and just the way that the industry is, it's changed so much, sometimes for the better, but also not. Um, you're always, I always have to be like learning new what's on my toes, learning new things, like you know, and I am I'm essentially doing like 12 people more, 50 people's jobs every day, you know, in in one. So it's a lot, but right now I'm trying to figure out how to keep my soul and my values um and how to stay in alignment with my values, um, which is collective liberation, the inward collective liberation, but the outward systems too, in a in a system that isn't actually that's not the music industry, isn't it um doesn't want collective liberation. The the industry, the music industry wants cognitive wheel to make money and wants to exploit people and and it's just like so against what my music stands for. So I think a big, a big issue I have in this industry is how do I get my music to people but not have to play those games with the with these systems that I think are fundamentally harmful that go against my values. So that's been a thing for years, but especially lately, I just don't I am always coming up against how to be real and be myself, but also fit into boxes so that I can get further so my music can reach more people. Um yeah, that's one thing. There's like a million things that are hard about the music, the one thing that isn't hard is the music. Like writing, creating, singing with people, like being in spaces with music, that is easy. It's just all of the admin and the like strategy and that stuff, which is just like takes it takes all my energy, really.
SPEAKER_00:And how much does like faith come into it for you? How much are you like, well, I'm just gonna trust that if I put it out there, the right people will. Hear it, or it's like, nope, I gotta know the algorithm for Spotify or Instagram or you know, all the tech like how much is is there, is there both, or is it no, it's pretty much like you gotta do it according to the rules of the game now, or it doesn't get out of there.
SPEAKER_01:For me, for me, it's I would say like both, maybe faith a bit more. Like I feel like a lot of people in my life would be like, maybe you should lean into the algorithm a bit more, like you know, because I think I'm more I'm more faith than I am um like actually learning the exact things I should be doing right now. Um, or not even that I know them, but I just don't really want to do them because they don't feel aligned with the way I want my music to come out in the world. Um so yeah, I think there's a lot of faith. I'm often just like trying things and hoping for the best. Um and it always this is the thing, it might not reach like not every video goes viral. You know, I've had a few of those, but mostly I've not had those. I've had 10 people see this, a hundred people see this, like which in comparison to millions, which some of my videos have got have over four million views or more than that, it's hard to not feel like I failed because I don't have that with every video or every song, you know. But then not every single song at least has one person who says, This changed my day, or this felt like a hug, or this got me through. And I'm trying to remember that that number of whatever million is awesome. But one person, even being like slightly supported by something I'd put out in the world, that's massive. Like if I actually thought about being across the room from that person or in the same room as that person, that's massive, you know? And so that's what that keeps me going. Honestly, when people tell me how my music lands at them, that keeps me going as someone who is not really plugged into the industry in the way that most artists kind of strive to be. Um I'm plugged into people, and that feels like what keeps me going.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we are in agreement that your music can and does change the world. It changes hearts and minds. And so I'm on Team Desiree to get everyone on the planet to listen to your songs because it's real. And I do think people are hungry, they're thirsty for real in this increasingly isolate. You know, we're more connected than ever, but we feel more alone than ever. It's like, yeah, and and how to get those messages out to the world, to the people that need it, that are craving for it, but they're for whatever reason, you know, they're getting whatever they're getting on their social media feed. So, all right, that's a mission we're on together to get good stuff to good people.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:All right. I am curious, because we actually hadn't have, we have not had the opportunity yet to connect. We did a private Revelation Breath Work session with you and some members of your team. And I'm curious what your experience was of Revelation Breath Work and also your experience of breathing to music that was meaningful for you. So, in the event we're gonna do, we're bringing your this practice of the breath with your exclusively all of your music. And so, what was your experience in the Revelation Breath Work and also breathing to music that was meaningful to you?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so the experience was so beautiful. I actually wish I listened because right after the experience, I made myself a voice note because I knew I would want I need to hear it again. Um, but it was such a beautiful experience. Like I think, like I said, something that can help me get out of my head. And like the first, you know, song or two, I'm still up here, but then I like slowly feel myself coming down. Um and the music was so helpful. It's it's interesting, like the you as a beautiful guide, like the space you hold is so it was just so supportive. And it and so make the mixture of you as this beautiful guide mixed with the music, it was just so helpful because I've been in spaces where I didn't connect with the music, and that actually doesn't allow me to like fully drop in because I'm like, I don't really like this song, you know, but to actually be like all of these songs were so curated, and the fact that you curated them, okay, the fact that you ended with one of my childhood songs, I was weeping. It was so beautiful, like it was so beautiful to be in the space with these songs that have been my companions forever. So I mean that song, my companion since I was like five or something. Um but yeah, to be in this like very intimate space with music, which feels like a friend, and then to be in that and moving energy and letting go and feeling safe to let go. I also am not a crier, like I have a really hard time crying, and I wish I could cry more. It's like a goal for myself. So to also be in a space where I could cry, like you know, it was just so beautiful, and then to know that I was doing it with also with someone who I care so deeply about for my team. Melissa, it was so nice to have her there, not see her, not know what she's up to over there, but just know that we've both chosen to enter this space of healing and love and care for ourselves, um, and to and to just allow ourselves to be held by you, by the music, and just by whatever energy kind of like holds it all together. So, anyways, it was beautiful. It was so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:And how about the experience? Because I think a lot of people probably that experience you, they see you in concert. They it's in person. And what would you say to someone who maybe they've done breath work before in person or they've seen you in person in concert? Like this, this this idea of, like you said, you were you were breathing with Melissa, but you weren't in the same room with her, you weren't doing it live. Tell us, tell me like, can you share a little bit about that experience, this being online with other people?
SPEAKER_01:It's so cool. One thing I would say is make sure that you have good headphones, or no good headphones, or at least that you're you're turned up a bit, because I realized that um when I turned up the music more, I could like really get into it. And then once the music was up more, I didn't even think I was doing an online thing. Because I think a lot of people are drained from doing things online. It didn't even feel like an online event. And I think it's because we the point isn't to look at the screen. The point isn't to like be like, oh, what's my face look like in that little box? Like the point was to just like we're there together, but we're also for ourselves. And I think something that I've been trying to call in more is more spaces where we're there together, but we're really taking care of ourselves, which therefore takes care of each other, you know. Like, but like you don't have to don't you don't have to pat me on the shoe, you don't have to see if I'm crying, you don't have to come over and care for me. Like I'm taking care of me, you're taking care of you, and I'm loving you while you're doing it. And but I'm all I'm just thinking of me. And like it's so rare. And at concerts specifically, I'm kind of going on a tangent here, but I've been forever wanting to have a concert series where everyone's lying down and no one's clapping. And you can clap if you want, but you don't have to clap. You don't have to look at me, like you don't have to worry about what you wore to the thing. It's not about you looking really cool, or it's just like come in your most comfortable clothes and let's just be in this together, but not feel like we have to show up in any particular way. So that's what I love about this, specifically being online. You get to like wherever, whatever space you want to be in, you get to be in that space. You have to wear what you want to wear. Um, and no one's looking at you. I mean, you're maybe looking at us, but you know, like other than that, no what it's not about like, oh, did you do that? Did you breathe properly? It's just like there's so much freedom. But but I think, like you were saying, we're we're connected more than ever, but we also aren't. And this kind of allows you to actually be real while also being around people and and that vulnerability piece, being vulnerable, trusting. Um, so yeah, I think it's so huge that I didn't feel like I had to take care of Melissa in those moments, but I trusted that whatever she was going through, she would be supported and she would, you know, it was just this beautiful trust.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, planting the seed for this vision you have of doing a live concert where everyone's just laying down and they're you're you're serenading them and and they're receiving the music at a deep level without needing to acknowledge or whatever and just receiving. And then let's do another one just like that, and maybe I'll facilitate, we'll do it live, and I'll facilitate Revelation Breathwork. So we'll do we'll do both. If you're down for that, I think both.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'm so down.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome.
SPEAKER_01:That would be beautiful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So what you just shared about being online, being in your own space, you were muted. So if you were making it, if you were crying, I couldn't hear, and I'm not even looking. My eyes are closed. I'm I'm in I'm in the zone during those times of facilitation. Did you go for the primal scream? Like, what was that like for you?
SPEAKER_01:So this is one thing that's very interesting that I've been learning about myself is I have a really hard time screaming. Like I can't really, I can't primal scream yet, maybe one day. Um, and that actually makes me emotional. So that was the thing, is like I can't quite reach the kind of scream I want to do right now, and also to protect my voice, because screaming is not good for a singing voice. But I did do like a like a low, like breath sound that I wouldn't normally make. I was like, let me at least try to make something guttural, even if it's not a scream, because I yeah, there's stuff wrapped up with that. But I did do something that was like a sound I wouldn't normally make that felt like I could really like express and let something out, um, which felt good. And I did it into a pillow.
SPEAKER_00:And that's another thing. Like if you're at home in the comfort of your own space, feeling safe, you don't have to worry about who might hear you, how much noise you're making if you need a pillow to just more permission to release. So I just really acknowledge that. The singing part, of course, with your voice being like your instrument, and also but also like, hey, but what can I do and how can I see you know express a little bit about what's inside? So many people say they they're they they're not emotional or they don't give themselves the space to. And then when you get out of your head, just like you shared, like it was there, and you were able to access that. And that's a testament to your willingness to to be open and the safety that you create for yourself. And I'm the opposite. Like I'm crying every day, like all the time. I like I I'll probably edit this out too. But like thinking of thinking of your song like mountaintops, even just like, and it's that to me is one of the best Shivasana songs because the line, like, do you know who you're becoming is so powerful because the resistance to at least maybe it's just me, but I feel like the resistance to those of us who are answering the call, like it's not you're not trying to do something of your own. It's like you're hearing some call, something is inviting you into a deeper relationship with life, but expressing that vulnerably, honestly. It's like I I can't not do the work that I'm doing. It would be too painful. So it's like, all right, I'm surrendered to that. Where do you want me? Who do you want me to be with? Like, I'm answering the call. It takes so much courage. So that line, at least for me, because there's a lot of fear in that for me. And that line, like, do you know who you're becoming? It's like, it's like, it feels like it's like God like inviting me, like, hey, you know who you're becoming. Like, yeah, it's courageous, but like, keep keep going, you can do it. And it's just in that space, post-active breath work, to hear that over and over. It is, it is, it is a spiritual experience for me. So when you heard your childhood song, which just a little bit of research is like, oh, I gotta put that in. Like, that is part of the art of facilitation, is like one knowing who you're with, but like like just you get an intuition of like, oh, I think there was a song about turtles, too. And it was like, just pop it in there and see what happens. And that's the power of music. Like, it brings you back, it's so tied to the memory and the emotions and where we are in life. So to hear you have that experience is so cool and meaningful and like important for you. So that's why it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. For me. Yeah, so beautiful. I also just can't believe like it's so special to me that you've been playing my music in these spaces for years. Like, I still can't get over that. I'm just so grateful because it's so cool that we've been like collaborating for years, you know, like without even knowing. And yeah, just everything you said about mountain. It's interesting. I I want to speak to one thing to that mountaintops part because it's really important for me that that part is repetitive. And a lot of people, you know, like in a structure of a pop song or whatever, it's like that's not really what you do. But I was like, no, like a lot of my songs have repetitive parts in them, and they're for that reason. Like, do you know who you are? Do you know who you're becoming? Do you know who you are? Do you know like the more you hear it, you're like, okay, like eventually you you let yourself just like feel it. And so it means so much that that is something you've connected with. Like, because that part for me too, it's just so it's so beautiful. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And again, it's like it is a song of the times in the world right now for people that are waking up and getting out of the matrix of the crap that we've been fed, and the systems, and the fitting into the box, and being good boy and good girl workers, and all it's like, no, there's so like open your eyes. There's so it's it's a call to open your eyes, your heart, your soul to like there's so much more than you've been shown. And it's like it's awesome. It's so beautiful because it can be so scary to try and break out of you know the known or the familiar, the the conditioning of of the world that our parents were raised in and their parents, and like this is oh, this is what the world is. And now all of a sudden there's something happening on the planet where people are waking up to. There's so much more here, just outside this veil that you know we've all been kind of shrouded under. So you know, you are at the you are the pioneer uh at the forefront, blazing that trail. Like and it's a and when you're you're the pioneer, it's lonely. You're like, holy there's uh am I alone here? But you're the one that's blazing the trail. Uh and so I just want to acknowledge you for that for answering that call. And uh it's the message is received, it's being heard, at least by me, and I know by everybody in our community and everybody that you know loves your work, and anyone who loves anything that's about consciousness and love and waking up to reality.
SPEAKER_03:So thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're welcome, and thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Let's talk about this cool thing we're doing together where we are bringing the uh the revelation breath work. I would say the power of the breath, the simplicity of the breath. It's so easy to just connect. There's resistance, yes, but like the simplicity of the breath with the with the power of your music and the energy of your music, all of your music. If I am going to say to anyone who is a fan of Desiree's heart, energy, what she's about in the world, you love her music, obviously. Come. It will this will be an incredible experience for you. If you love her music, combining it with the breath, you'll get out of your head, you'll experience it in a whole different way. Uh, it's going to be amazing. So I'm just doing a short commercial for us, and because I know I know it is going to change people who come, it will change your world. And the theme. So we like to do a theme, and the theme for this event is holding hope. So please share with everyone what does holding hope mean for you and why is that a theme that you chose?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. So um, holding hope for me, you actually just said so many things before that I was like, oh, that reminds me of holding hope. Um, there's so many things they're wrapped in. So I have a song called Hold the Hope. And so I call myself a hope holder, and I think that every single person I meet is also a hope holder in all these different ways, but sometimes we don't even realize we're hope holders. Um, but when we can, um, you know how you were saying, like sometimes when you feel like you're a pioneer in something or you feel like you're one of the first to do something, it's kind of lonely. And the way that I get through the loneliness is know that I'm actually not alone. And people have been doing this and forging new paths and um and risking a lot and being courageous, like long before me. And I see them out there in the world, even if I'm not connected to them. You're now one of those people for me. Like people who are holding, holding the hope in this world are there, even if I sometimes feel alone with it. And so hold the hope is that kind of idea. Like also on the fact that sometimes we don't always feel hopeful. Sometimes we our hope kind of, you know, it wanes, and but that's okay, especially if we don't stay in prolonged states of hopelessness. But if, you know, if I have a day and I'm just feeling overwhelmed, I'm gonna let myself do that. I'm gonna let myself feel a little bit, you know, down because I know there's other people who are holding the hope for me. And when I come back, I might be the person that holds hope for them one day when they need it. So there's this idea that we're constantly in this, like this, I don't know, reciprocal thing with each other where we're there to just boost each other up and then receive that love and then give that love and receive that love. And that's kind of like what I think being a hope holder is. Um, it's imperfect, it's human, and but it's loving, and it's like a constant flow of that love. So that's what I feel like can happen in these breath work spaces is that flowing of loving energy that comes and goes. And sometimes you might hit a thing that might be a little bit tender, but you love, you breathe, you breathe and you love through it, and then you get to this other side, and it's just kind of yeah, it's it's very hopeful from the whole experience to me feels very hopeful.
SPEAKER_00:I think you just summed up the meaning of life. You breathe and you love through it. Honestly, like as you're talking about, it's like this dance of, you know, when you forget, I remember, I hold the hope for you. And then there's gonna be times where I forget, and like you're holding the hope for me, and the power of the community. And and as you're saying that, this what came through is like, that's it. That's like actually what life is about. It's not about building the next great thing or living to be, you know, forever. It's not about anything to do, especially in like the physical world, because all things in time are temporary. So the whole game is exactly what you just said. Like, those are the moments, those are what are really important. If we're really honest, we all know we're gonna die. If we really honest, nothing we make is gonna last forever. This whole idea of legacy, yeah, that's great. But like at the end of the day, it's what you just said. It's those moments, it's the connection, it's the heart opening, it's the being human, it's the suffering together and the celebrating together and at different times, and like that's it. At least for me, like that that's it. What you just said is the meaning of life. So I think we're done. Thanks.
SPEAKER_03:Amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh my gosh. If you love Desiree's music, come. It's gonna be real, it's gonna be a beautiful, incredible space to remember who you are, to have others hold the hope and you hold the hope. And just a heart-opening. This is really what we want. If anyone listens to your music, this is the kind of world they want to live in, we want to live in, this is the kind of experiences that we want. We don't need to be sold more crap.
SPEAKER_01:And I was thinking too, like, this is such a cool experience for me because I've never done anything like this with a group of people, like in this specific way. First off, I don't listen to my own music with people, which is going to be really cool. And I'm also being vulnerable because I'm gonna be breathing along, screaming along, who knows, crying along. I don't know. I'm not, I don't want to put anything on this experience. I'm just gonna be it's whatever experience it needs to be, but I'm also gonna be there being vulnerable, moving through the stuff as well. Like, you know, so I think that's kind of cool and unique about this process is like we're breathing, we're doing it together. Um yes, I'm kind of like uh partnering with this event, but I'm also an attendee who's soaking it up and excited to do it with other people.
SPEAKER_00:So and where else do you get to have that experience with an artist that their music moves you and that you love? I not many places. So I'm I'm super excited.
SPEAKER_01:Me too. And then for whoever ends up sticking around for the QA, I think that'll be a really kind of like illuminating thing to chat about what comes up and if people have questions about the songs and how they land in that specific time of breathing through it. That will be really, really interesting, I think.
SPEAKER_00:What are you up to now and where can people find you?
SPEAKER_01:So um I'm currently working on new music, so that's kind of where the my focus has been lately is just studio time. But I will be, I have some shows coming up that I'll be announcing. Um, and but you can find me on my website, which is desiredawsmusic.com. You can find me on Instagram at Desray Dawson Music. Um, those are, I would say those are my two things. You can find me on most streaming platforms. Um and yeah, you'll find all you need to find on those two things.
SPEAKER_00:If if you're listening to this and the event hasn't happened, uh check out the link somewhere in the description and come to the event. We have three options: a pay what you can. So I think the minimum is a dollar. If that's what you can, pay a dollar. If you want to pay more, great. There's a I think a$20 option, and then there's the VIP, which is$50. And with the VIP, I believe you get access to some unreleased tracks from Desiree. You get lifetime access to the replay, so you can listen and breathe to this as long as you want, forever. And you also get to come to the post-session QA with Desiree and myself. And we would absolutely love to have you. So, Desiree, this has been such a joy. Uh, I I feel like we're kindred spirits in so many ways. So I'm I'm just grateful to connect with you and thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for having me. Thank you for the beautiful work you do. I'm really excited for this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, same. Awesome.