Brenda MacIntyre, Medicine Song Woman
On June 21st, I had the honour of interviewing Brenda MacIntyre, Medicine Song Woman, a Juno- winning indigenous artist and keynote speaker. June 21st is Indigenous People’s Day in Canada and it also happened to be the summer solstice. I first met Brenda in 2010, when I first launched my web and TV show, Extraordinary Women TV. It was a delight to have her on my show then, and a pleasure to re-connect on Twitter Spaces, Twitter’s live audio feature, where I interviewed her a second time
Brenda’s music is healing. Through her signature medicine, song, healing work and picking up the pieces, 13 moon resilience and re awakening program, Brenda helps women manage grief, trauma and chronic pain. She’s based in Canada.
Show Notes
You will learn:
- The meaning of Indigenous People’s Day and Brenda’s perspective as an indigenous woman.
- The healing power of music.
- How a mother of a son who was murdered turned her pain into purpose and healing.
Audio Clip of Brenda’s Top Tip (sound on, 13 secs.)
Transcript (edited for length and readability)
Interview date: June 21, 2022 / Twitter Spaces / hosted by Shannon Skinner
Shannon: This space is powered by Extraordinary Women TV.
So it is Indigenous People’s Day here in Canada. What does it mean to you?
Brenda: It’s a day for our people to come together and celebrate, and to show our culture and take pride in who we are. and on the flip side of that, it’s kind of awful to know that our government is behind the scenes basically doing all kinds of, well, the genocide continues. And so this is kind of a performative day in a way for a lot of people. And then they will forget about us and go about their business, meanwhile we have missing and murdered women and girls. I mean, my son was murdered.
Shannon: That’s right. A few years ago, your son was murdered here in Toronto.
Brenda: Six years ago, still feels like yesterday. There’s still so much that’s going on that needs to be healed and the media loves to ignore it. And so does the government. So it’s a day where at least we can claim space. And have pride in our culture.
Shannon: It’s also a great day for others to learn about the culture, music, dance and art. So it’s good to raise awareness from that standpoint.
Brenda: It is. And it’s also really good to raise awareness about truth and reconciliation because that’s what really needs to happen so that our culture can be celebrated. And in an even bigger ways.
Shannon: You are an artist, a singer and you make beautiful music. What inspired you to become a singer? I’ve known you for a number of years, I’ve interviewed you in the past, so I’m familiar with your music. What inspired you to become a singer, in the first place?
Brenda: I always have been one. I couldn’t not be one. I was born to be a singer. That’s who I am. It’s in my name. It’s literally in my name – Medicine Song Woman. That’s who I am. And I didn’t know anything about my indigenous heritage at all until my thirties.
And I’m still discovering, because I was adopted in the sixties. But, I knew from the age of 11 that I was to be a singer.
Shannon: Maybe you can describe your music and what makes it unique.
Brenda: All of my songs are healing songs these days. When I started out, I was actually a rap artist in Miami.
So picture that. Right. that’s how I got my start. And I loved hip hop because it was very easy for me to just make rhyme. It was so easy and I was asked by this label to do a 12 inch single. And it was the start of my career, really. After that I went to reggae and I fell in love with reggae, and I am still in love with reggae. Roots reggae, mostly, but even a little dance hall, but I play in a way that nobody was really doing back then, which was conscious music. After just sort of doing empty rap and I don’t know, pop songs and whatever, even some house music and stuff like that, it was empty to me. But when I fell in love with reggae and started playing with the reggae band, back in the nineties, that just lit my soul on fire because now people were not just dancing and enjoying themselves, but they were listening to the lyrics and singing them.
They were singing those conscious lyrics. For me, it was about oneness and peace and coming together as people. And so that’s continued as a theme in all of my work, really. So reggae was a gift to me and became kind of part of the way that I sang too. Marcia Griffith, like I fan girl over her, she’s like one of the greats.
Because it’s conscious music and that’s kind of where I started springing into more of that. And now that’s all I do is conscious music. It’s no more of the fluff anymore. When I was 11 and when I was a teenager and even in my twenties thought that I was gonna be a pop star. That was my whole thing. And no, that’s like, not at all. I’m not even part of the music industry. My music now, kind of like my last album, there’s a little reggae. There’s a little rap. There’s a little kind of R and B styles. The thread though is that it’s indigenous reggae. So there is hand drumming and certain kind of shaker.
So it’s more like a roots reggae style, but with an indigenous flavour and foundation. And when I do my albums, everything’s done in ceremony. I’m infusing healing energy into what I’m doing.
Shannon: So, as you mentioned, your son. was killed in Toronto in 2016. And you really turned to your own music to help you with your own grief and you turned that into a way of also helping other women, too, with trauma and grief. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Brenda: First of all, music is the thing that brought me back from the shock. The first couple of years were just a mess of all kinds of weird publicity media stuff and discoveries and going to court. Then the real trial didn’t start until actually 2018. And it literally started on my birthday.
After a bunch of delays, it was supposed to start much earlier. I called that year, 2018, the year of court, not realizing half of 2019 would also be spent in court. But I prepared myself for it, so I was in ceremony that whole year. And I just did, nothing but healing for myself, but I also applied for grants.
I was like, what’s gonna get me through this as always is my music. So I decided to make an album literally while I was in the murder trial. Obviously not in the, on the benches, but in between sessions. That’s what I was doing was working on that album and it got me through it, but also those are songs for grief.
They’re full of love for my son. That’s the medicine, songs of love and grief. And I did that on purpose. So that all that I was going through would go into those songs as medicine and also the healing that I was getting while I was going through that. The trial ended June 2019. And then September, 2019 is when I put the album out. Every time I do music, it’s never just about the music. It’s always something attached to it for the healing. There’s always an e-book that goes with it to help people understand how to use the music for healing, and then spirit leads everything.
Spirit leads away on everything for me. So I got a download, a spiritual download. Here’s what I need to do next. And it was to create the picking up the pieces 13 minute program for women. And that program for women is how I get to literally just spend my new and full moons in play mode. I’m just playing and I’m lit on fire.
I’m just in my element and that’s because we’re singing, dancing, moving, we’re doing resilience, embodiment practices to those songs. And then on top of it, the new moons, that’s just a splash for me. That’s so much fun because I literally am channeling music live for them during the new moons for a journey every time.
So that kind of came through and it’s been amazing just seeing how the women have shifted and how they have become like sisters. It’s incredible for me.
Shannon: Give us an example of how you’ve helped someone.
Brenda: I have my medicine song healing technique that also came through from spirit in 2008. So I’ve been doing medicine song healing work for a long time. I have healed a little girl of a – she had basically came to me with a tumour and when I say came to me, they were thousands and thousands of miles away.
I do this all by distance, the healing work and the tumour had been operated on – and was there was something going on? The family contacted me and within two weeks of the healing session for that little girl, the tumour was completely gone.
So that was like my, ‘okay, now I know it works’ kind of a sign. In fact, when I started, I also had people just come into my drumming circles and literally walk away without the back pain or the headache that they came in with. Lots of stories. And the resilience piece is really important too.
Like, just to see these women who are struggling. I struggle with chronic pain still, ever since my son died, too. And I get myself as an example actually, cuz I had panic attacks all the time and now I hardly ever have them. And when I do, they’re very short instead of what I was having before with the CCP PTSD after losing my son.
I’ve seen similar shifts in others, in the women cuz we’re doing the practices. It’s not like here, go read a book, or listen to this song and now we’re done. No, we’re working with the music but really we’re playing with it. It’s getting those things into the body memory. It’s rewiring the brain and body, basically.
Shannon: Isn’t it amazing how music can be healing, but when you have knowledge and wisdom, like you do about a way of using and channeling music to heal, that’s truly a gift.
Brenda: I’m grateful to be able to do that work. It is everything to me.
Shannon: And on your website there’s some testimonials, there’s some women who wrote about their experiences. And I know that you have a video there as well about you talk like the one as a sizzle reel of you sort of speaking and whatnot.
And it’s really captivating. You can listen to your music, and we can watch how people react in the crowd to your music in the rooms. And I thought that was really quite lovely.
Brenda: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I really miss in person everything, I’ve been doing virtual ever since 2010 anyway, so it’s still fun. I’m still enjoying, delivering my music in that way, in those formats, still doing circle, it’s just not in person.
Shannon: What are you working on now?
Brenda: the healing sessions, the medicine song, healing work that I do.
And the picking up the pieces, 13 moon program, we open for the summer season, actually tomorrow. So, tomorrow I have a solstice event that’s happening, which is on my events page at my website medicine song woman.com. And you can join us for free for a solstice, celebration. We’re gonna do some of those resilience, embodiment practices and with the live music that I’ll sing for you.
Shannon: And, and to be clear too, people don’t necessarily need to be indigenous to work with. Though you work primarily with women?
Brenda: Yeah. For the picking up the pieces program, it’s open to women and two spirit non-binary people.
Tends to be all women that show up for me. and then the medicine song, healing work, really, anyone can book a session with me. I work privately with a number of long term clients and those are all women. Every now and then I will get an other gendered person for those healing sessions.
Shannon: I’m curious, to win a Juno is a huge honour. How did you feel when you got this award?
Brenda: It’s a little bit different of a story because it was our producer that received the award because it was for a compilation album. So really it’s like kind of 10 of us artists that got to share that honour. I didn’t even know we had submitted or anything was cuz there’s a whole process. You have to actually submit and pay a bunch of money to be considered for a Juno, or your label has to do it for you. If you have one and we didn’t have a label. I guess we were with a little label with that album. But it was exciting. Billy Bryans was my producer. He’s he was the drummer of the Parachute Club.
Shannon: So to wrap, if you can leave us with a tip on following your heart or something to do with music and healing, that would be lovely.
Brenda: I’ll always start with the breath. Always get into your body. Like we’re most of us are walking around in our heads. Most people are not living in their body. They’re living in their heads. And we need to get back into our bodies because that’s where the good stuff is.
So it helps you to feel grounded and to just be able to do anything if you get into your body and you can do that by breathing into your belly, that is the most simple thing that any of us can do to come out of a trigger, out of a panic attack.
Out of anger when you wanna like lash out at somebody or if you’re just feeling like you need to come back home, that’s the biggest and easiest thing that we can do.
Just brings you home. I learned that when I brought myself home. Literally, I sang my spirit home and you can’t sing without breath.
Shannon: So I’ve noticed that even for myself, when you’re feeling anxious about something, when you stop and just do some kind of breath work, it does center you.
Brenda: Immediately. There’s a reason our body’s sigh. Like all of a sudden you’re like Ah.
And yawning. Yawning is the deepest breath you can take. And there’s a reason for that, too. It just brings us back home.
Shannon: Well, thank you. And thank you for sharing some of your evening with me.
AUDIO RECORDING OF INTERVIEW (RAW, UNEDITED FILE)
Shannon Skinner is an author, international speaker, radio host, creator and host of Extraordinary Women TV.com, and travel and wine writer. You can find her on Twitter at @Shannon_Skinner.
The memory box
Bob trying out his doggy stroller while it was being assembled
Shannon’s Sunday Stories is a series of personal reflections and musings on life.
How do we best keep memories of our loved ones alive?
I have been working on a project compiling photos for albums and a photobook of my beloved sheepdog, Bob. He passed away last January at the age of nearly 15. Until now, all my images of him have been stored on my computers.
Going through the process has made me realize how much in our modern digital world we so easily, both consciously and mindlessly, capture images with our phones. I have thousands of photos of my dog and I have been pouring over them, as if I am trying to preserve every waking moment I had with him. So far, I have printed hundreds of photos for albums and then with my favourite shots am creating a photobook.
Bob
Then I will be putting them into a special memory box that will also contain other precious keepsake items to honour Bob. I’ll call it the Bob Box.
This might not seem like a big deal for some people, but many of us are storing our digital images without a serious thought about what would happen if they were lost, or computers/ drives stolen, or when they will eventually disintegrate, as they are apt to over time.
Nonetheless, it is a healing project for me.
The old adage “time heals” is not actually true. Time does not heal. Love does. Love heals with time. It is how we open our hearts and what we do with that time that is key.
Bob and me, a few years ago. I love this photo.
In my last Sunday Stories, I wrote about my daily walks to heal my grief and my new interest in refining my photography skills. In addition to my ongoing reflective writing, I’ve been slowly working on this memory box project. Looking at my dog’s photos is still painful to my heart, but the pain is lessening. He was like my kid, just in a furry suit. It has taken me a year to find the wherewithal to properly honour his life and memory. I am blessed to have so many images of him.
And it has me wondering: before the invention of photography and the moving picture, what was it like for people to keep the memory or image alive of their dead loved ones, particularly what they looked like? The first known photograph in history was taken in 1826/7. Then it would be the late 1800s when the moving picture would be invented. Of course there were paintings and drawings, and other art, for the rich and famous, but how did the ancients before that feel when a loved one died and they would not have a way to remember what they looked like? Or sound like?
I recall travelling through northern Thailand where I had spent time with the hill tribes. They did not have cameras or anything tech. The tribal people used the water of a pond to see their images reflecting back to them in the water. Otherwise, they would not have known what they themselves looked like.
Today, thankfully we have photos and video that immortalize our loved ones; and audio, too.
An urn with Bob’s ashes, for the Box Box
A few years ago, I recorded casual interviews with my grandmothers so I could remember the sound of their voices. Now that they have passed, I am so grateful that I did that. I think of my grandfathers, who passed away many years ago, and try to remember the sound of their voices, which I had not recorded, but now I wish I had.
Audrey Hepburn, WikiMedia commons
Think of famous dead celebrities whose photos in magazines and moving pictures are frozen in time. They will forever seem alive to us in our perception. Just think of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Munroe, Humphrey Bogart and even more modern celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and comedian Robin Williams; they still seem as though they are with us.
And yet, when I look at the photos and videos, nothing seems real.
Gratitude is the heart’s memory. – French proverb.
Shannon Skinner is a TV/radio host and producer, author, speaker and write and wine writer.
A final act of love
If you are a dog owner, the story I am about to share with you about Bob’s last 24 hours might save your dog’s life.
Today, it has been one month since Bob passed away. On the morning of his passing, Bob woke me up in the middle of the night and wanted to go outside. He was panting heavily. I wasn’t alarmed by the panting because just before he went to bed I had given him some medication his vet gave him the day prior to open his bronchial passageways due to his chronic bronchitis. We would go out, come back in, and he would want to go out again. He has done this when he had diarrhea, but he didn’t show any indication of having the runs.
Over the next few hours, he began to drink a lot of water and “lick the air,” which he had not done before, and started to retch, though he did not vomit anything. Outside we went again and went for a short walk. I started to worry that he looked bloated. This is a condition I am aware of because my first sheepdog was thought to have died of bloat (the twisting of the stomach). When we came back into the condo, I don’ know why, but it popped into my mind that it could be Bob’s last day. Given his age (14.5 years) and medical issues – enlarged heart, arthritis and chronic bronchitis, and having recently overcome sepsis – I had been trying my best to prepare myself mentally for the day he would leave us.
After a few hours of this inside-outside, walking, drinking a lot, some retching but not throwing up anything, he began to cry. I immediately took him to the emergency Vet hospital (luckily we live nearby). When they saw him, they said he looked “bloated” and took him for an X-ray. Minutes later, I was informed he did indeed have “bloat” (a twisted stomach). They did an immediate medical intervention giving him painkillers (fentanyl) and releasing the gas that results from the twisted stomach with some apparatus. Bloat is a very painful condition for dogs.
The vet told me Bob needed surgery or he would not survive, but that he was a poor candidate given his medical conditions and age. It was all or nothing. I sat in the room and listened to how they would untwist his stomach and staple it to the side of his body so it would not happen again. How they might need to remove his spleen, but would not know until they got into it. And, of course, there would be the recovery period.
Many of the staff knew Bob. He was well-known in the ‘hood. Kind of a popular guy. They told me they were willing to do the surgery, but he might not make it. Or, even if he did make it, I might have to put him to sleep after.
So many thoughts raced through my mind, such as how difficult life was for him after his last surgery this summer when he had septic arthritis in his elbow and how long it took him to recover after his surgery. It was challenging.
I thought of a woman whose young dog was in the hospital with Bob during that time, who had surgery on his knee , but went into cardiac arrest, and days later had to be put to sleep. She told me she paid well over $10,000 for his care, only to not take her dog home with her. Bob’s last surgery cost also a lot of money, and his rehab and meds added up. His last surgery this summer cost about $7,000+ and this one would be about the same – and that would mean 2 surgeries for him within one year. So, of course, I thought of the cost, but that wasn’t what was most important.
What was most important was what was best for Bob.
I was under duress.
All those thoughts were fleeting. The only thought that stuck was I could not put him through such surgery at his age, because it would be too difficult for him after. He was in his final stretch of his life and to go through it in MORE pain and suffering was not something I wanted for him. But, of course, I love my dog and want more time with him.
Distraught, I called my mother, who suggested putting him to sleep because it was the kindest thing to do.
My heart screamed, I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I did not want him to suffer. I reflected on my mother’s wisdom.
And so, out of love for Bob, I decided to let him go. I put him to sleep, so he would not suffer.
He went peacefully. I gently stroked his head and kissed the inside of his warm ear, whispering that I loved him, that he was a good boy, and thanking him for being in my life. In those last moments, I said all that needed to be said, that I was grateful for him being in my life. Then his heart stopped and the vet said he was gone.
I stayed with him for about two hours. I couldn’t leave him. A lovely social worker who works at the Vet hospital came into the room and talked with me for a while, trying to help me through shock and what would be the beginning of my grief journey.
It has been one month since he left us. I still feel heart-sick in a way that I have not ever experienced before, no matter how much I work on myself to get centred again, or how much I draw from my spiritual beliefs, or how much I see the new form of love, or anything. I suppose having a furry little guy who was with me almost every day for 14 years, except for when I travelled, factors into that. He was like my kid. It was unconditional love.
I made a decision under duress and, to be honest, today I regret it. I regret it because reality sunk in: he is no longer here. I regret not giving the surgery a chance, because maybe, just maybe, he would have made it through and it would not have been as bad as I made up in my mind that it could be. In my wisdom, though, I recognize that in time, with some distance, I may find peace with it.
For those of you who have a dog, you may face a similar situation. You, too, may have to make a difficult decision under duress. If you do, make it out of love – for your dog and also for yourself.
Love and light xo
Shannon
PHOTOS:
Photo credits: top: the late Margaret MacNeil, who had Bob’s mother; middle: Tire Biter.
Tonight on Shannon Skinner Live: Dr. Joan Borysenko and Monika Burwise on ancient wisdom, healing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO, June 23, 2015 — Tonight on Shannon Skinner Live radio show, host Shannon Skinner speaks with world-renowned expert in the mind-body connection, Dr. Joan Borysenko; and Monika Burwise, author and co-founder, Global Awakening Institute, about ancient wisdom and healing. Tune-in to VoiceAmerica Women tonight at 7pm EST/ 4PM Pacific.
Shannon Skinner Live is a weekly radio show that uncovers the stories and solutions to living an extraordinary life and making this world a better place. It features interviews with experts, visionaries and activists, and more.
About Dr. Joan Borysenko:
Dr. Joan Borysenko is a pioneer in integrative medicine and world-renowned expert in the mind/body connection. Her work has been foundational in a global health-care revolution that recognizes the role of meaning, and spirituality, as a part of health and healing.
Harvard Medical School educated, Dr. Borysenko is the author of the New York Times best-seller, Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. She is also the author or co-author of 13 other books, including her latest book, The Plant Plus Diet Solution. She is the Founding Partner of Mind/Body Health Sciences, located in Boulder, Colorado. She lives in New Mexico.
About Monika Burwise:
Monika Burwise, is the co-founder of Global Awakening Institute and world-leading expert in the fields of psycho-dynamics, personal empowerment and spiritual evolution. She is the author of Knock, Knock, Who is There?: In Search of the Holy Grail. She is based in Toronto.
About Shannon Skinner:
Shannon Skinner is a Canadian television talk show host, speaker and writer. In 2010, she launched Shannon Skinner’s Extraordinary Women TV, the first-of-its-kind, as a live web TV show, and later developed it into an broadcast television show and online platform that is the ultimate online life-guidance resource for women. She is the author of the Whispering Heart: Your Inner Guide to Creativity; and she writes on a range of topics, including creativity, inspiration, feminine leadership, change and travel.
Tonight on Shannon Skinner Live: Rev. Darcelle Runciman and Reeti Mishra on VoiceAmerica Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO, June 9, 2015 — Tonight on Shannon Skinner Live radio show, host Shannon speaks with guests Rev. Darcelle Runciman, ordained minister, founder of Infinity Centre wellness retreat, and magazine publisher, about Metaphysics and healing. And Reeti Mishra, born and raised in India, who now lives in Toronto with her husband, about life as a diplomat and living in many place around the world, Hinduism, and why forgiveness is something we all need to practice. Tune-in to VoiceAmerica Women at 7pm EST/ 4PM Pacific.
Shannon Skinner Live is a weekly radio show that features interviews with experts, visionaries and activists, dedicated to helping people live their magnificent lives and making this world a better place.
About Rev. Darcelle Runciman: Rev. Darcelle Runciman is an ordained minister with a degree in Metaphysics, and founder of The Infinity Centre, a wellness and spiritual retreat centre, based in Stirling, Ontario. She is also a spiritual and business coach, and publisher of Infinity Magazine, a publication for spiritually-connected individuals, travellers and businesses.
About Reeti Mishra: Reeti Mishra is a motivational speaker, educator, writer, poet and president of the Consular Spouses Association in Toronto. She is actively involved in various community services as a member of diplomatic and consular organization in many countries. She is passionate about yoga and spirituality, speaks 5 languages, and has traveled and lived in Peru, Italy, Nepal, US, Afghanistan, Tanzania and Canada – where she is based.
Shannon Skinner is a Canadian television talk show host, speaker and writer. In 2010, she launched Shannon Skinner’s Extraordinary Women TV, the first of its kind, as a live web TV show, and later developed it into an broadcast television show and online platform that is the ultimate online life-guidance resource for women. She is the author of the Whispering Heart: Your Inner Guide to Creativity; and she writes on a range of topics, including creativity, inspiration, feminine leadership, change, lifestyle and travel.
