SHALOM!

Lisa Shalom is a truly unique spoken word artist – one, who has exemplified what it means to carve out an aligned path using determination, soul-searching and discernment.

Article by Liz Cope

The creation of Lisa Shalom

“I’m a born performer, but with a shy streak and introverted tendencies,” said Lisa Shalom in a vibrant tone coupled with perfect diction, as one might expect a spoken word poet to possess. “As a kid I was endlessly putting on shows for the neighborhood, and for friends and family,” she continued. Then after a slight pause, “later in life, the fun and games subsided as I came to learn of how this planet was in the midst of undergoing the largest ecocide since the extinction of the dinosaurs and how our species has been choosing a collision course with all the natural elements necessary for human and non-human life.” Her trademark superb vocabulary at play, Shalom detailed the early stages of her trajectory towards becoming a high caliber spoken word poet.

Combining her love affair with the arts with her care for the planet and its inhabitants, Lisa began to feature a political or environmental subtext in her creations during her college days. This served as an outlet and a clever, subtle way of disseminating important information. Still, she eventually came to believe that art on a dying planet was a selfish endeavor.

With abandon, she broke up with the arts and began a passionate relationship on the front lines of various activist protest movements and causes. This included attempts to defend marine wildlife for several campaigns onboard a ship belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

“I got to swab the decks, scrub the galley, raise the pirate flag, plot the course, navigate the ship and work alongside award winning filmmakers and brilliant conservationists while attempting to interfere with atrocities on the high seas from Seattle to Antarctica. I was named Sea Shepherd Crew-member of the Year in 2005 and also worked for all kinds of other social justice, animal rights and environmental NGOs in various countries around the world by day, while taking direct action in my affinity groups by night,” Lisa said without regret.

While this type of work may have been a noble pursuit, it was also massively stressful and she quickly landed herself in hospital, burnt out. “Arrests, undercover cops in your circle of friends, tapped phones, fines and court dates- these things take their toll and are only a side-note to the trauma of witnessing the grim realities of a bloody war on the planet. So in trying to save the world, I inadvertently came close to doing myself in, and I had to backtrack in order to learn how to first take care of the garden of my body and mind.”

Lisa set out on the treacherous journey of bringing the focus home to self. “While I was in hospital, my mom took me to get a massage, and over the course of that one hour, my state completely transformed, and so did my life.There was an ad for a massage school on the wall, so I signed up on the spot, while trying to hide the hospital bracelet on my wrist. Haha. Over time, I dug myself out of a deep, dark hole with massage, yoga, meditation and the healing arts and began to integrate,” she said, weaving together a life and character that is both fascinating and inspiring.

“I’ve been a certified massage therapist and yoga teacher with training in herbalism, meditation, reiki, and all kinds of woo for over 15 years at this point, and along the way I came to see how art and music are still very much alive in me.” The diverse threads she had been weaving together over time started to form a discernible pattern.

She began to return full circle when she began telling her story through spoken word; a medium steadily growing in popularity. “About ten years ago, a friend of mine who had heard my poetry forced me up on stage with her at a music festival in Quebec. The experience was one of augmented presence, communion and deep satisfaction. Afterwards, someone in the audience introduced himself and asked if I would perform at a festival in Joshua Tree the following month. The familiarity and beauty of the exchange with the audience sparked a trajectory to resume sharing my art and spoken word poetry on stages as a means of bridging gaps, claiming power, generating change and holding space for connection. As scary as it can feel, something about the shift in atmosphere when you offer your raw, naked truth into a room of strangers makes everybody into a kind of big family, and that sits well in my system.”

Lisa has since performed at more festivals and shows than she can remember, in Canada, the USA, Israel and Europe. She has performed on her own and in tandem with various musical projects, and has collaborated on impressively refreshing video and audio recordings alongside talented artists from around the world. “Inspiring change in the world doesn’t have to look like banging your head against a brick wall in agony and despair. It usually more effectively looks like doing the work to center, touching that core and then vulnera-bravely offering your findings into spaces where we can see and be seen while remaining uninvested in the outcome of that. I actually don’t aim to save the world anymore. I just do what I can to love it.”

As for what’s next, it looks like Lisa aims to make up for lost time in the art world. “It took me a long time to come back to what I love, to what I have always loved as a kid until now, and to recognise my impulses not as being selfish, but as the inverse; as a means or vehicle to comprehend, process, address, and offer something back. I think that’s an important piece- do what you love, AND let it be a conscious offering, however you want to interpret that.” Lisa now offers spoken word courses as a means of authentic expression to adults online. “I teach a course that I originally created for high school kids and then modified for adults called Spoken Wordicine; Words are a Powerful Medicine where folks are invited into their own interior landscapes and where they get to give rise to their own voices in outward expression.””

Lisa’s experience in the world of activism and in the world of the healing arts now serve to inform her creations, without dominating the tone. “For so long the activist world has segregated itself from the spiritual world and vice versa. One without the other is deficient. At this point, my teaching work, my writings, my performing and my life are basically different ways of bridging the divide between inner and outer work.” And it’s only up from here. “I have some truly exciting collaborations in the works and I’m so grateful to be where I’m at.”

Lisa Shalom is a poet whose words are a fiery slap in the face and a soothing balm rolled into one, with undercurrents of fierce love in everything she generates.

Check out her work on www.shalomtoyou.com
Reach her for bookings on shalom.home@yahoo.ca
or on her socials-
FB- www.facebook.com/lisababashalom
IG- @shalomlisa