To many, songwriter and performer Valerie June is a source of light. But the job, even for June, is not easy. She says she tends to wake up in the morning feeling grumpy. Then there is the possibility for sadness or depression when considering the wars abroad, hate at home, and the crumbling stability of the environment. But that’s why June loves the word “practice.” In order to stay light in times of darkness or up when the heaviness wants to get her down, June keeps to her practice of mindfulness— whether it’s writing music or poetry, collaborating with others, or reminding herself that she is enough. Heck, even Bob Dylan is a fan of June. So, she must be doing something right! All of this is woven into her new book, Light Beams: A Workbook for Being Your Badass Self, a mindfulness tome that is out now on the heels of June’s latest musical releases.
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Today, when asked, the Grammy-nominated Tennessee-born June says a big source of strength is her “ancestors,” those who have come before her and helped create a path. As fall sets in, June says she is thinking about her father who passed away several years ago, as well as one of her best friends who died about three years back. Thinking about these people and others who have made an impact on her, gives June strength: “If they can make it through life, then I can, too!” she says with her signature exuberance. (For those interested, June adds that she believes people are able to, in a way, manifest whatever afterlife they wish after they die. “If you want to see some angels, you’re going to see angels,” she offers.)
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For June, it’s a choice to seek good over bad, light over dark, and positivity over negativity. She learned the idea as a child, raised in church in the Christian faith. There, she says, it’s all about keeping on the “sunny side,” as the Carter Family might say. June possesses an ability to shift energies and it’s something she hopes she can impart and build in others, too. That’s what her new book is about. She even dedicated some space in the back of the new work to highlight people who have helped her overcome, from sculptors to philosophers to painters and singers. June, after all, is inclusive in her thinking. She doesn’t isolate her modes of living from others. “I just started to see the threads that made the quilt, so to say,” June says.
The artist pays attention to how things are connected, not to how they are separate. She distills things down to their essence. For her, it’s not about a myopic, siloed sense of faith—it’s what bridges all of them. In this way, the world is not a mountain to climb. Rather, it is a space that gets pleasantly smaller. June has noticed this of late while both on tour in Europe and as a traveler to places like East Africa, where she just spent time at an artist retreat and then on safari. She got to see Ireland and learn about the country’s 30-year conflict with England known as “The Troubles.” In Africa, she got to see lions and giraffes up close and feel their unique energies. From all of this, she’s learned about herself and the world directly around her. And she’s able to apply the newfound wisdom to questions about everything from American racism to mother cheetahs. “I’m going all over to these places and seeing the world,” she says. “It’s becoming very small.”
When June’s father passed away, she began to hear poems in her mind so she started to write them down. It’s the same type of process she undertakes when she hears voices singing songs to her that she also writes down and then sings to her audience. Her first book, Maps for the Modern World, included poetry and illustrations. Now, Light Beams offers a more direct style. It includes writing prompts, encourages wishing, and offers ways to guide one’s mind toward the light. It can be hard for June to share insights into her darkest days, but it would be harder to know that she could help someone, but decided not to, she says. This is why she also recently did a TEDx Talk about breathing and joy.
June says she thinks about slaves in the fields in early America, picking cotton. How they must have found a meditative practice with songs they sang—songs that still impact the blues genre in big ways today. In the face of so much awfulness, music and communal singing were critical to coping with trauma. Today, to manifest a similar sense of strength, it’s all about breath. It happens from moment to moment. And it happens not just in one practice—whether that be music, yoga, or writing, but in all of them—if done the right way. “There are many practices in the book dealing with ways to share light in the world,” June says.
As for the future, June is “stoked” about so much of it. She’s headed out on tour with artists she adores—including Yasmin Williams and Rachel Davis—and that jaunt includes a show in Nashville on November 8. She’s regularly recording new music and will perform at a tribute event for John Prine at Austin City Limits, to be aired in January. But as the holidays approach, June says she is going to give herself a break from the work of being who she is in order for her to be able to slow down and really take a breath. “It’s nice to have moments of rest now,” she says.
Yes, June is doing the work. But none of it matters if she doesn’t appreciate herself for who she is. As they say, you can’t help others without first helping yourself—it’s the old oxygen mask rule. But when asked what she loves most about herself, June lets out a big and lovely laugh—a guffaw. Like a burst of light, it’s warm and welcoming. Then she thinks for a moment and responds. “Well, let’s see,” says June. “That I’m adventurous creatively. I want to just be creative and use creativity whatever way I can.”
Photo Credit: Renata Raksha
Courtesy Shorefire Media
