I Will Read for You: The Voice and Writings of Jaiya John Jaiya John

I genuinely enjoyed my Sacred Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Mullan, PsyD., creator of Decolonizing Therapy: a psychological evolution that weaves together political, ancestral, therapeutic, and global well-being (@decolonizingtherapy on IG). Dr. Jenn is a major disruptor in the mental health industrial complex. Her work is an urgent call to dive to the root of global and generational trauma to unlock the wisdom of our sacred rage. She is also the author of the recently released book Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice, a Love letter and call to action for helpers, healers, therapists, and space-holders struggling inside the mental health industrial complex. As I move through her book, I am awash in the absolutely beautiful and Loving poetry of her language, heart, and calling.

Dr. Jenn and I had ourselves just a down-home, mighty good time. This is all I will say about our conversation. I am excited for you to listen and enjoy yourself just as much.

Sacred Conversations are periodic episodes of my podcast in which I reach out to people whose work and life inspire me, and we simply have an old fashioned phone conversation. No video. No scripted, transactional, extractive, one-sided interview dynamic. Just two people with a care and curiosity for each other’s journey, asking each other soulful questions, and enjoying the ancient, mutually healing art of listening deeply. Again, not an interview. A spiritual communion. The idea is for us to relax and enjoy an organic conversation, like over tea or breaking bread, and get to know each other along the way.

My books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, and piano music are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies of my books on Instagram, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, posting readings of your favorite passages, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com...     
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*LIVE RECORDING. I wrote and delivered this poem, The Beautiful Ones Have Changed to Light, in honor of the martyred poets and writers of Gaza and Falesteen as part of the first ever Los Angeles reading of The Gaza Monologues, on January 19, 2024. Our gathering was organized by the precious Sonali Fiske @sonalifiske (IG) with the blessing of Ashtar Theatre @ashtartheatre (IG) in Ramallah and in response to their global artistic solidarity call. We gathered to pay our respects, bear witness, send collective Love and prayer, and recite the heart-piercing monologues written by young souls in Gaza.

To birth this prayer-poem posted here, I soul-studied each of the named martyrs (among so many unnamed here) and, for each of them, wrote passages specifically in their honor. My prayer is that these personalized passages intuitively reflect aspects of their singular lives, work, passions, personalities, prayers, and dreams, including phrases here that are inspired by and evocative of their own written work.

On Jan. 28, I posted on IG an unofficial phone recording of me reciting this poem. You may find it on my page. The official video of our overall monologue reading will be shared by Sonali and others in the days to come.

For a written copy of this poem, please email jaiya@soulwater.org.

Please feel free to share and post this poem with proper crediting far and wide, especially within the diaspora Fal*steeni and Levantine communities. May our Love reach them and be solace, salve, and balm in the human breeze.
All of my books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, piano music, and details for The Gathering, my poetry reading wold tour, are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies and readings of my books, and your creative images and videos with my overlayed verses, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com...  
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*LIVE RECORDING. Reciting a poem on Indigenous healing ways for the Presidential Opening Session of the American Psychological Association National Convention, Washington, D.C., August 3, 2023. 10,000 souls rolled deep at this gathering in the spirit of 2023 APA President Dr. Thema Bryant's @dr.thema chosen convention theme: You Belong Here.

*My poetry reading world tour, The Gathering, kicks off tomorrow, Friday evening, February 2, 2024 in Echo Park, Los Angeles. Tickets are at jaiyajohn.com and thelunavortex.com. I hope to see you there for a healing moment together.

All of my books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, piano music, and Birthing Words creative writing support are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies and readings of my books, and your creative images and videos with my overlayed verses, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com... 

My freedom work is at jaiyajohn.com (bio link).


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Reading (and playing piano accompaniment) Harvest, a ceremony piece that will be newly included in the upcoming revised edition of my book, Father to Son: Ode to Our Black Young. All of my books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, piano music, and Birthing Words creative writing support are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies and readings of my books, and your creative images and videos with my overlayed verses, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com...
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My heart was deeply moved by this quiet, heartful conversation with Cole Arthur Riley, creator and curator of Black Liturgies (a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation), and author of the books This Here Flesh and the upcoming Black Liturgies:  Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human. Cole shares her soulful work daily on Instagram.

In our conversation we share about our kindred childhood experiences with silence, solitude, and finding our written and spoken voices. Together, we find commonality in the spiritual nature of our work and the use of language in soul service, and in how self-examination becomes more critical for us as we address systemic violence, oppression, and atrocities in the world. We also discuss the medicinal utility of addressing the root of human suffering, violence, and supremacy, rather than emphasizing surface-level social group categorizations.  Our conversation is at once very personal and very timely as we face and address the continuing reality of human crisis and faith as our way home.

Sacred Conversations are periodic episodes of my podcast in which I reach out to people whose work and life inspire me, and we simply have an old fashioned phone conversation. No video. No scripted, transactional, extractive, one-sided interview dynamic. Just two people with a care and curiosity for each other’s journey, asking each other soulful questions, and enjoying the ancient, mutually healing art of listening deeply. Again, not an interview. A spiritual communion. The idea is for us to relax and enjoy an organic conversation, like over tea or breaking bread, and get to know each other along the way.

My books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, and piano music are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies of my books on Instagram, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, posting readings of your favorite passages, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com...    
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I am thrilled to share with you my Sacred Conversation with Dr. Thema Bryant. As many of you know from our past conversations, Dr. Thema embodies so many graces. She is a sacred dancer, poet, author, minister, doctor of psychology, therapist, professor, and currently the President of the American Psychological Association. This conversation is full of joy and laughter. We explore the gift of emotional honesty, the importance of physical embodiment, and the power of being true to yourself in a world that may often relate to you in oppressive ways. Dr. Thema and I both share naked stories of our journeying from trauma to truth, and we discuss how creative expression can help us to heal and return home to ourselves, particularly when the world is suffering in particularly intense ways. Our conversation is more than anything a prayer, that we each remain rooted in our divine and holy nature. I hope this one feeds you in the ways you need. @dr.thema on IG. drthema.com.

Sacred Conversations are periodic episodes of my podcast in which I reach out to people whose work and life inspire me, and we simply have an old fashioned phone conversation. No video. No scripted, transactional, extractive, one-sided interview dynamic. Just two people with a care and curiosity for each other’s journey, asking each other soulful questions, and enjoying the ancient, mutually healing art of listening deeply. Again, not an interview. A spiritual communion. The idea is for us to relax and enjoy an organic conversation, like over tea or breaking bread, and get to know each other along the way.

My new book Dear Artist, and all my books are available at jaiyajohn.com (thank you for purchasing directly from the author) and at booksellers worldwide. Audiobooks, eBooks, book specials, sleep stories, audio talks, apparel, and piano music are exclusively at my website. Thank you for posting your copies of my books on Instagram, tagging #jaiyajohn, encouraging others to purchase, posting readings of your favorite passages, and sharing online book reviews. My whole heart cries Grateful. jaiyajohn.com...   
Support the show