Communing with fans through music and meditation
With the way Raveena entered the room—all beaming and unhurried—no one would have guessed that she had just landed in Manila after a 14-hour flight from Paris. Straight from the airport.
It was the day before the American R&B singer’s performance in the Plus63 Festival last Feb. 23. A whirlwind of activities awaited her—but first, an hourlong session of yoga and meditation with her fans.
The way social media allows people from all over the world to connect with each other is, indeed, a wonderful thing. But sharing an intimate space with the people who listen to her music—breathing and moving with them as one—is an experience she seeks out as often as she can during her travels.
“Having one-on-one connection and communing with people in real life is so important—something that has gotten lost in the age of the internet,” she told Lifestyle, shortly before treating a roomful of lucky fans—chosen through a TikTok challenge—to an afternoon of wellness at a yoga studio in Taguig City.
The event is part of her ongoing series called, “I Meditated Under A Tree with Raveena,” which aims not only to help people get in touch with themselves and find pockets of peace, but to address the gradual disappearance of third spaces, or social environments outside home and workplace.
“One of the most powerful ways to do that is to teach people to breathe together and be intentional with their thoughts. As a result, you get super charged in the moment because you’re all in it together,” added the 31-year-old artist, who let out a low, soothing hum as she pondered our questions.
Flying from one city to another can be quite overwhelming. In the previous two weeks prior to this chat, Raveena had been on six flights, perhaps more. And with the notion of home unclear, if not nonexistent altogether, she turns to meditation to find a place within herself where she can find retreat.
“Just having an hour or two to myself in the morning and at night is really important to me, so I can feel at home in my body,” she said.
A way of life
As such, this warm meeting with fans, no matter how brief, was a welcome respite. “Ideally, I like to take my time. I like getting a massage, meditating, taking good care of my body, and simply being kind to myself before a performance. That doesn’t happen on most days, though!” she said, laughing.
Born in the United States to Indian Punjabi parents, Raveena grew up in a “very spiritual” Sikh household, surrounded by family members who meditated eight to nine hours a day.” Yoga, therefore, is a way of life, and it eventually found its way into her art. And together, these two things became her life’s “healing force.”
“I turned to music to process my emotions, to help me navigate different cultures in America while growing up in a Punjabi and Sikh household,” said Raveena, the voice behind such hits as “If Only,” “Close 2 U,” and “Sweet Time.”
Her music—a mix of R&B, pop, and experimental styles that blur genre definitions—pays homage to her heritage by incorporating traditional Indian instruments and musical styles. The sounds are sweet and sultry, at times cinematic and ethereal. And through her work, Raveena speaks about love as fluently as she does about the beauty and grief of our Earth.
In her latest single, “Sun Don’t Leave Me,” Raveena longs for a “simpler time on Earth,” a time that precedes the depletion of its resources and environmental deterioration caused by climate change. This wistfully contemplative tune is part of her latest album, “Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain” (Empire Records)—the recently released deluxe version of which was completed amid the devastating Southern California wildfires last January.
“I was feeling the intensity of this song more than ever because of the ways the fires in Los Angeles were affecting me and my loved ones, as a person in the highest level evacuation zone,” she said of the song, which also evokes the feeling of “holding onto one more beautiful sunset, one more passionate embrace” before change and hard times strike anew.
“And I think a lot of people here in the Philippines can relate to having that connection with spirituality, with the Earth,” Raveena added.
Mindfulness
While she finds clarity and comfort through meditation, it doesn’t make her impervious to depression or struggles with mental health. And so she sees to it to be mindful to not let that energy seep into her music.
“I’m intentional about the vibration I emit and put out into the world. I was depressed during my early 20s. And my early music—which no one has really heard—reflected that. But now I realize that the stuff that resonates with people are those that come from a healed place, from a meditative space,” she said.
A career in music, of course, comes with its usual trappings, good or bad—fame, success, public scrutiny. And in a world that puts you under the microscope, it’s important, Raveena said, to set clear boundaries between your public and private selves, and to create a world that only you can tap into.
“It’s about knowing that no one can really touch my perception of my personal self other than myself; about creating this little world of safety through yoga, meditation, and my routine,” she said.
Amid all glitz and distractions, Raveena turns to her music—the discipline, and the patience it entails—to keep herself centered. “I don’t have to worry about the results and the whole material world or public aspect that goes with making music. It’s about being focused in creating, and channeling my spirit to guide my life and music in a meaningful way,” she said.
