Spoken Yoga
Melvin Boyce II, B.K.A. Spoken Yoga, is an Emotional Literacy Youth Yoga Wellness educator working with children of all ages in Los Angeles County, and a spoken word artist.
S01E10_Spoken Yoga_Yoga Wit the Ohmies Podcast
Introduction [00:00:00] My next Ohmie goes by many names, but my fav is Mr. Melvin. He is an Emotional Literacy Youth Yoga Wellness educator working with children of all ages in Los Angeles County, and a spoken word artist. In this mat chat, we discuss the importance of emotional intelligence and the tools we use to help children cope through their full range of feelings. I hope you enjoy!
Jewell Singletary [00:01:06] Thank you. So thank you so much for participating in this. I'm so glad that we are finally able to schedule this and get a chance to talk and catch up.
Melvin Boyce II [00:01:21] Yes.
Jewell Singletary [00:02:16] So get things started with our first question, what started you on your journey to yoga?
Melvin Boyce II [00:02:24] Well, it was about 1996, I had just moved to Los Angeles and I was taking a boxing class at a place called Hollywood Boxing Gym, and I had learned about yoga like probably about 1990 from this book called Autobiography of a Yogi. And I was like, oh, what's that energy about? But I never really thought about it again. So I was taking my boxing class and I met this small little Australian woman named Debra and she was like, you should come take yoga after boxing. And I was like, nah, that's not for me. So I hurt my shoulder. I hurt my shoulder and went to the doctor and he's like, you try yoga to heal it up. I was like, well, not that white fufu stuff. Why would I do that? And he's like, well, first of all, is it's not white. Second of all, it can help with the physical and the mental. And I was like, well, I ain't got no emotional issues. Of course, we all do. So I took Debra up on her invite and I went to her class and it was cool. But then she put us in pigeon pose, you know, the physical pose, pigeon pose in there. And she was like, you know, focus on your breathing. And next thing I do, I'm crying like a baby.
Jewell Singletary [00:03:40] [Laughing] Right! Pigeon will take you there, man!
Melvin Boyce II [00:03:42] Right! and I was like, wait a minute! OK this kind of reminds me of my poetry because I started writing poetry when I was 14. I was in this therapy program for called "In the Middle" for children that were going through, their parents were divorcing, right?
Jewell Singletary [00:03:56] OK.
Melvin Boyce II [00:03:57] That's why I learned to become a poet and learn to write. And the same feeling that I got in pigeon pose was the same feeling when I wrote a poem. I got the energy out of my system. So I was like, man, let me start practicing this. So I was just doing it for my own, my own well-being. But but at the same time, I had I worked for this place called L.A. Bridges. It was a gang prevention and intervention in Los Angeles.
Melvin Boyce II [00:04:24] And it was after school program. It was a mentoring program called "See A Man Be A Man". So a lot of my children, you know, they lived in kind of real intense environments. And so I was working there. And I will give the students some of the yoga, and they're like "aww that's fufu," just like I thought. And then one day I was working at this place called Operation Read, and it was for young adults that had been incarcerated. The students were between 17 and 18, but they read a second or third-grade reading level. So one day they were really kind of all over the place behavior-wise. So I was like, man, let me give them some of this yoga, some of this breathing. And they weren't really doing it. And then this one student came in and they had respect for him, obviously, because when he walked in, their whole posture changed. He was like "Aww, man, you need to listen to this corny dude because I got out of juvie six months early because they had a yoga program.".
Jewell Singletary [00:05:46] WOW!
Melvin Boyce II [00:05:47] So that's when I had my aha moment. Like, wait a minute, if they're giving this to our babies when they're incarcerated, why don't we get it to them to try to avoid them being incarcerated?
Jewell Singletary [00:05:58] Yeah!
Melvin Boyce II [00:05:59] Well, that was when I was like, OK, let me just start learning about youth yoga. And I had trained I already always work with youth for about 20 years. So I already had that connection of how to get them to write. Now, OK, how can I get this connection to get them to breathe and get them to move? I had a really great Kundalini training with a woman, Krishna Core. I had practiced Kundalini with her for a while, but I did a teacher training with her just to kind of really find out how different it was from teaching adults. And yeah. So that's kind of how I got into yoga personally and I got in [inaudible].
Jewell Singletary [00:06:40] [00:06:40]There's a couple of things that I want to pull out of there. First, I really love that your first experience on the mat, and how you equated that to your creative writing experience. That was really powerful. I've never, that's the first time I've heard someone describe their first. I mean, yoga is such a personal practice, but that's really beautiful, that link between your art and the physical movement of your body and what that healing practice felt like for you. [31.8s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:07:13] [00:07:13]Yeah, yeah, you know, just that connection of really our body tells the story, you know, and not only tells the story, but it holds a story. And then that story can be held in such a way that it starts to contort the physical body, start to contort the way we think, and even learning when the word posture like that, even if that were really just meant attitudes. But back in the day, we call people posers. Like, "Aw man, you a poser!" Because they were poser and they had a fake attitude, you know. [32.5s]
Jewell Singletary [00:07:46] Yup!
Melvin Boyce II [00:07:46] So yeah. So that's what. And that was my concept of when I created the thing I do, Spoken Yoga, was like we're speaking a language when we breathe, speaking a language when we walk or speak, the language when we move and yeah, yeah, yeah. It's poetry, you know, corny to say, but it's poetry in motion. Right.
Jewell Singletary [00:08:09] Not corny at all! It's accurate. It's accurate, man.
Melvin Boyce II [00:08:11] Yeah.
Jewell Singletary [00:08:12] I love that. And then you started touching on it a little bit. But I know you have an extensive background with working with young people in the Los Angeles area. Is it 20 years now, more than 20?
[00:08:26] Yeah, well, my first taste was real crazy because right now the word cultural responsive education is a really, really big word in education, elementary education. But when I was working on my master's in sociology, there was this course called Career Choice, and I had my grant through a program called Collegiate Opportunity Admission Program. And it was for black and brown children who were first-generation college, and then they didn't score that well on their ACT/SAT exam. So my advisor, her name was Jewel, [laughter].
Jewell Singletary [00:09:04] Aww I love it!
Melvin Boyce II [00:09:04] [laughing] I know right! Jewel Grey. She's like, "Listened," and she called me in her office. She's like, "listen, I got this class and you're really not supposed to be teaching teaching, but they need to see you." And I was like, what do you mean? She was like, "well, I could teach it, but, you know, I'm a white woman. They're first-generation college. They need to see themselves.".
Jewell Singletary [00:09:28] Yeah.
Melvin Boyce II [00:09:28] She was talking that culturally responsive education back before it became a word, you know, so I got this great opportunity to work with these youth that and I realized right away it was just about giving them little nuggets. Most of them didn't make it back second semester because that first-generation, that first semester of college is tough anyway.
Jewell Singletary [00:09:47] It's so hard! It's so hard!
Melvin Boyce II [00:09:50] Yea, if you don't have anybody to tell you what it's like.
Jewell Singletary [00:09:52] Right! Especially and not to cut you off, but like if you have that full on-campus experience like you're leaving your home for the first time, likely moving someplace completely different, living with a roommate likely, and then having to have the full responsibility of you managing your class schedule and navigating all of that. It can be a lot! And if you're grateful enough that you're one of the students that don't have to work while you're in school, that's one thing. But I know for me, I had to work full time while I was in college. So it's a lot for these young people to handle. And I think we don't give them enough credit and sometimes don't really prepare them well enough for what the experience of college and university can really be like.
Melvin Boyce II [00:10:36] No, you're right. And, you know, and as for that, that program was amazing on one hand in theory, but it was nothing that I could give them. What could I give them? And a pass fail class that was only a semester versus everything they had had from birth to 18, right. And I realized what that thing was, was was awareness of self.
Jewell Singletary [00:11:04] Yes.
Melvin Boyce II [00:11:05] It was awareness of self, because, you know, it was almost like they were NBA athletes, you know, first generation. It was so much celebration with them being there that it became a fairy tale. And now it's time to get to real work. And so that was my first taste at yoga education and I was like, I love this. And then I came out here in '96 and I met a woman, named Wendy Raquel Robinson.
Jewell Singletary [00:11:32] Yes! Tasha Mac! [laughing] For those that want to be disrespectful and not call her by her, full name. Her REAL name! [laughing].
Melvin Boyce II [00:11:40] Right. I think she she celebrates Tasha Mac though, and I mean, they're coming back. So, you know that Tasha Mac is back.
Jewell Singletary [00:11:48] I love it! It's an iconic role for her. I mean, she's been in so many amazing roles.
[00:11:51] But in and everybody has their own purpose and mission. But if there were, and I always tell her that she's like, "whatever, and stop it, stop it," but if there were just five Wendys out of all of the people that have been blessed to have success of color in the entertainment business, and many of them do great things. They do amazing things. But Wendy just, you know, she told me her mission in '96 and I was like, I'm down, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just tell me where to be. You tell me what to do. And for the next twenty five years, this summer was the first summer in twenty five years that I didn't work with her.
Jewell Singletary [00:12:41] Oh wow.
Melvin Boyce II [00:12:42] Only because my my business had had grew to a situation where I couldn't be there because I had to be somewhere else and do the program. So you're talking about me being dedicated to her vision for twenty five years straight at Amazing Grace Conservatory, right on Washington and Wilton. And what she does in the community, it's just incredible. And it doesn't take the stardom or anything, but the fact that she's able to just provide this opportunity for our Black youth.
Jewell Singletary [00:13:15] Yes.
Amazing Grace Conservatory, Los Angeles, California
Melvin Boyce II [00:13:17] [inaudible] I was with her for the first 15 years with spoken word poetry. [00:13:21]And they want to be trained in the yoga. I was like, listen, this is major. You know, our babies need to learn how to just not manage anger, because that's the only thing we celebrate when we talk about management of emotion. [12.3s]
Jewell Singletary [00:13:34] [00:13:34]Right! [0.0s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:13:35] [00:13:35]We never talk about managing joy and we never talk about managing fear. We never talk about managing sadness. So it's like giving someone a job. I've worked at McDonald's. That's like teaching me how to manage the fries and the quarter pounders. But when my manager leaves, nobody told me how to manage the steak, the shake station. [17.5s]
Jewell Singletary [00:13:53] [00:13:53]You got to cross-train! [0.1s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:13:55] [00:13:55]Right. Right now [when the manager] comes back, and is like "well, I managed those two good, but I spilled all this stuff over because I couldn't manage that." You know, so I just that's that's really my mission now. [9.8s] And it's just... And especially working at Amazing Grace, because I always joke, you know, at least 12 percent of my class makes more money than me, you know, because a lot of the young kids are on TV.
Jewell Singletary [00:14:21] Awww okay gotcha [laughing].
Melvin Boyce II [00:14:22] Right, right. You wouldn't have that in any other discipline.
Jewell Singletary [00:14:26] Right! Or in any other city.
Melvin Boyce II [00:14:28] Right. Right, right. You getting out of an Uber or getting off the bus, and your student pulling up in a whip, "Mr. Melvin! Mr. Melvin!" [laughing] You know, but I love it because, you know, it's about the emotion. It's about how to manage my emotions and how do you how do you manage emotion without knowing who you are? Most of the time people are telling you who you are, and it's like, I need to find out who I am to become comfortable with who I am.
Jewell Singletary [00:14:56] Right.
Melvin Boyce II [00:14:57] So that was really my mission when I left grad school, met Wendy when I moved out to L.A. And so I wasn't fully in education yet because I had moved out. My cousin is Cedric the Entertainer; his mom, who passed, and my dad are brother and sister.
Jewell Singletary [00:15:17] Ooo ok!
Melvin Boyce II [00:15:18] Yeah. So it was like my mom. We just were in Vegas. We joked about it, but I left finishing my masters. I had like my thesis left in statistics. And he was like, Hey, man, I got to show you should just come out to L.A. and I had been in school from preschool to [age] 24 straight. No break from preschool to twenty four. I was like, you know what, if my cousin was in Utah, I wouldn't go out, but since he's out in L.A. shoot I'll go for it. So I left and like I said, but I couldn't get away from education. So I played in the Hollywood world with my family for a while while I was still working with Wendy.
Melvin Boyce II [00:15:54] And I was like, you know what, my mission is this education. So I left that world and just been doing this, you know. Yeah, just working with our babies for a while.
Jewell Singletary [00:16:03] I love it! I love it. And you are definitely in.... I don't know, from my experience of you, I feel like that is your purpose work. I know I've said this to you before, but umm....When I moved to L.A. and finding your classes like they were such a place of solace and a place of peace. And it was so amazing to find a Black male yoga instructor that was so grounded and connected, because when you're in L.A. and Hollywood, like, it's a lot of fluff, it's a lot of posing and posturing. And so to find a space that felt safe and grounded, like you are truly one of the teachers that inspired me. I had another amazing teacher in Chicago, Monica Bright. Between you and Monica Bright, you both really inspired me to transition from well, I'm still a yoga student, but to train to become a yoga teacher as well.
Melvin Boyce II [00:17:04] I know when I found out, I was so excited.
Jewell Singletary [00:17:07] Yeeaaaa.
Melvin Boyce II [00:17:09] It's important, but it is important for our babies, you know what I mean? And and I know I talk old school because now you get social media and you can see anybody that looks like you doing anything that you want to do. But in the micro world of the day to day world, you know, it's like they need to see us, you know, and know that this wellness is you know, it's a 24/7 thing.
Jewell Singletary [00:17:34] Yes.
Melvin Boyce II [00:17:35] [00:17:35]You know what I admire about you and I think I may have shared it with you, but, you know, my mom's been on her Lupus journey for 45 years, and, you know, I always admired her. Just, you know, how she just is this just badass gangster woman. You know, doing her love, doing her purpose work, was still moving through this challenge daily, and still serving others, [28.0s] you know, and. Yeah, just and that's where I get it from. I don't know if you got a chance to listen to my album, but my spoken word album, Oxytocin, and I got...She, my mom opens the album up with a poem.
Jewell Singletary [00:18:17] Oh!!! I have not heard! I have to listen. I will have to listen
Melvin Boyce II [00:18:23] Yeah, just...the second, and the second piece is called Mama Frankenstein because she made a...can you curse on here? I don't know if...?
Jewell Singletary [00:18:31] Yeeaaa! You can say whatever you want!
Melvin Boyce II [00:18:33] Alright well she made a bad motherfucker in me, man, you know, because I'm able to. Just really be in any situation, you know, in any race, any background, any economic situation and people, they feel my light, you know, they let me be part of, you know, let me be part of their story [inaudible]. And [00:18:56]I work at a school called ICEF: Inner City Education Foundation. And they have first brought me in because there was a fight between the girls ICEF, which is on Crenshaw and Slauson. So I worked with the young girls because they had got taken out of school for a week. And then when that contract ended, Nipsy had just got killed like that next week. And so they were like, you know, we got this amazing, amazing mindfulness program that we were about to start called Embrace the Minds and this cold sister named, Dr. Wooldridge, now, she developed the mindfulness program for the school, and it was just wild timing how the universe... I've always been in Leimert Park. I always been in South L.A., but that it put me right there at that time and and just to work with our babies. And it was so eye-opening because when the high school kids, you know, they changed classes during break, they see every day, like with their eyesight where Nipsey got killed. [48.6s]
Jewell Singletary [00:20:02] [00:20:02]Right. ooooo! [0.1s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:20:04] [00:20:04]I trip off of that, like not only are you in the killing field, but you see it every day. Usually the only way to deal with it is to numb out, you know, and that's what we all do to a certain extent. Or sometimes it's in our face every day. It's like, OK, I'mma keep it in my face every day. I'm still going to try to find a way to go around it. And it's no way to go around it. You've got to go through it. [21.0s]
Jewell Singletary [00:20:25] [00:20:25]Absolutely. [0.0s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:20:26] You know, so that that was incredible experience. And and with Wendy's school, it was crazy because when Nipsey had gotten killed, we dedicated our summer to him because a lot of the children live in his community. Knew him, you know, six degrees of separation. And I told them, I said, listen, I need you all to write these poems as if Nipsey's mother was going to be at the show. You know, I want you to do that. And we put on an amazing show. And Nipsey's mother was at the show.
Jewell Singletary [00:20:58] Oh, my goodness!
Melvin Boyce II [00:21:00] Yea! Yea. She whispered in my ear, she's like, keep doing this. You know, they're going to try to kill you, but keep doing this. She's so intense. You know, the real you know, almost like I never met Tupac's mom, but almost in that same energy, you know, like we're doing the work knowing that they don't want us to do the work.
Jewell Singletary [00:21:19] Right. Right. Oh, that's tough. Nip was such a loss for the world, truly, he was. And it's it's wild that those the students that you mention that they are right outside of where The Marathon [Store] Continues is. So they had a daily vision also of what Nips ultimate goal was, which was to buy the block and to pour back into that community. And so that just the 180 of that, the complete tragedy to now see that the site that was his ultimate demise. I know. I know that is crushing and so, so difficult to to deal with and process. And we don't really give our children the tools to process the full range of emotions that we experience is these wonderful human beings that we are.
Jewell Singletary [00:22:22] I have the amazing, wonderful opportunity this summer to teach at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and similar to the program that you mentioned before, they have a program for first time college students. And it's it's actually like a prep program for the high school students before they get to college. And they gave me free range to create whatever curriculum I wanted. And so knowing what we've all been through these past 18 months and what these children have been through these past 18 months, transitioning to online learning and losing connection with their social networks. I decided to do an emotional intelligence program rooted in yoga and conversation, and so every single day that we meet, I choose a different emotion and we talk about the full range of emotions. What makes you unhappy? What makes you feel powerful? Today, we talked about balance and just to really get them to think like our emotions are constantly changing and shifting and...Where is that center and groundedness within you so that you are not swayed by everything that happens in life? And so that you have that awareness of: if something is off within me, what's a tool that I can use to to come back to that state of being present? And so it's been it's been an amazing, amazing experience. And honestly, I was inspired by seeing the work that you do, all the images that you share on Instagram and the ways that you work with your students. So I took some little nuggets from you and was able to to apply that with my class. And it's like I'm so I'm so amazed at the response that I'm getting from the students. They're actively engage. They're talking. And it's like, YES! this is what I wanted. If you all never practice yoga again, that's totally fine, but just keep this awareness of yourself and your emotions and your feelings.
Melvin Boyce II [00:25:05] [00:25:05]Yeah, but I am. You know, and [4.2s] I appreciate you telling me you take nuggets and stuff, but all this stuff is just like for me, I don't know how I do it, you know, like it's really just vesseled through me, you know, and I even try to get back, [people will be like] hey when you going to start teaching adults again? But I became so jaded with teaching adults, teaching with children because it's almost like a farmer. And it could be my own ego. But if I'm a farmer and I go to this farm and I'm like, man, this field has been tilled. It's been worked on, I don't really know if I can really add to it. And that's how I start to feel working with adults because it became more of trying to manage the energy I was taken in versus what I was giving out.
Jewell Singletary [00:26:03] Oh, interesting.
Melvin Boyce II [00:26:05] And and because, like you said, well, L.A. Really everywhere, but especially with the yoga thing, even with spoken word like I start to move away from it once it became hip and popular.
Jewell Singletary [00:26:18] Yeaaa...
Melvin Boyce II [00:26:18] Back when I first started doing yoga, it was hard to first get a gig as a Black man, you know, I mean, I was able to get into situations easier, because of my background working with kids. But what I realized is that as it became popular, I just became jaded because I was [inaudible] hey man you know, it wasn't about the yoga, it was about the business of yoga. I get it. It's a business I live off of it. So I get it. But there's no such thing as perpetual growth in life. That's why I think surfing is so important. Like you said, just try once because there's always going to be a way you're going to crest and hopefully get to a high point, but you're guaranteed to crash. And all we're going to do is crest and crash, crest and crash. But we're always excited to catch that next wave.
Jewell Singletary [00:27:11] Yeah.
[00:27:12] And that's what I want the youth to realize, is that you you're gonna fall, you're going greive, you're going to be sad. You're going to have thoughts of, you know, not wanting to be here on a planet anymore. I mean, those thoughts are going to come. There's going to be things you don't control that are going to cause grief, but how do I use my breath to move through it? I don't even really enjoy teaching physical yoga anymore.
Jewell Singletary [00:27:36] Yeah.
Melvin Boyce II [00:27:37] You know, just because I work with youth that are paralyzed, I work with blind youth and everything we have was the only thing we all have in common is the breath. You can take away any you know, in a lot of times we still talk. We talk from an able body, state of mind a lot of times when we talk about yoga. Yoga is one thing where if you just focus on the breath, it's literarily one gift you can give to anybody on the planet if they're still alive. And that's where my evolution now. And, you know, that's interesting business wise. You know, I still use the term yoga because it gets me contracts, you know?
Jewell Singletary [00:28:16] Sure! [laughing]
Melvin Boyce II [00:28:18] But, you know, it's really the prana. I want people to learn how to control their breath because that's what makes us make the decisions. The body is just a vehicle. Once we make the decision, depending on how we can use our body, then we use the body to to act that decision out. So we're putting the breath into the body almost like a puppet. So if we can control... Are you still there?
Jewell Singletary [00:28:44] Absolutely, yes, I am nodding my head yes! Yes! .
Melvin Boyce II [00:28:48] So if you can control the breath and how am I going to put this breath into this puppet called "Me" today? How am I going to, you know, somebody just curse me out. If I put my breath and, I can balance my breathing, that gives me vision, that gets me to say, "oh man, I know I'm right, but if I knock him out, I'mma get arrested or I've only got one more time, you know, to get a mark (in a juvenile situation) before I get moved, you know, and then most kids, most adults just like, "damn! if I would've just made a better decision."
Jewell Singletary [00:29:22] Right.
Melvin Boyce II [00:29:22] How how do you make a better decision? Not by doing a yoga pose. It's not by doing Warrior 1 Warrior 2 or Warrior 3. You know, it's about that breath and how do we how do we use our breath in that decision? So that's really what I'm excited about with this new journey right now is really just moving away from the body, just into the breath, you know? Because I just think that's everything.
Jewell Singletary [00:29:49] I agree that power is in the breath that's where you're most present with that breath. And that's where the power is. Yeah, it's not in the poses at all. I love that. I love that.
Melvin Boyce II [00:30:02] And the poses are cool. I get it. But I just my thing is most things that are material based are created to keep our people away from it. You know, once you start talking about the body, you know, even though there are tons of beautiful black women doing yoga, you know, I love seeing the pictures. I love all that. But the average Black person still close their eyes if they see a white blond woman. You know what I mean? They don't think it's something that they can do, you know, or they don't think it's any, you know, and it's like, no, it is something it's something we always have done. We've always done this yoga.
Jewell Singletary [00:30:43] Yeah.
Melvin Boyce II [00:30:44] I have this place I work called the Urban Farmers Learning Center, and these yogis are between two and four. And I have four year olds that can identify their parasympathetic and their sympathetic nervous system.
Jewell Singletary [00:31:03] Come on with it!!! I love it! I love it.
Jewell Singletary [00:38:18] I think that's one of the most beautiful things about working with young people, particularly preschool yoga, is seeing the world through their. it's really interesting when you're not exposed to that stuff and you're just curious and they're just wide-eyed and they just want to know when they want to learn and they want to absorb. I miss my preschool yoga classes, I've not the little ones since prior to the to the Panini Express, but it's a unique experience of seeing the world through their eyes.
Melvin Boyce II [00:39:14] It is, and it keeps me young. I get to be silly.
Jewell Singletary [00:39:18] It's almost like playtime when you teach preschool yoga.
Melvin Boyce II [00:43:25] I'm excited to get back in person. It's been weird teaching. I taught seven weeks with a mask on that. I'm really frustrated. I have to wear a mask coming up. But we got to do it. We got to do.
Jewell Singletary [00:48:39] I want to circle back a little bit to your art. Your new album that you have out right now. I would love to know what inspires you to create your art and how does that artwork help facilitate your healing?
Melvin Boyce II [00:48:56] When you mean artwork you mean poetry, like the spoken word?
Jewell Singletary [00:48:59] Yes! Yeah, your spoken word.
Melvin Boyce II [00:49:01] You know, 14, 14, my parents my parents got divorced when I was 14. So that was that life moment that I didn't control that affected my emotions. I became a character. I became this angry young kid. And, you know, once again, my mom always had the foresight and the blessful access to be like, OK, let me give him a place to talk, you know? So that's when I learned how to write, get my emotions out. And then that was like from 14 to 18, and really, high school was a blur in a way, because I was so angry, you know, and I was so mad that I was here that I had to leave my dad. I was mad at my mom, but the writing was always there for me.
Jewell Singletary [00:49:52] Mmhmm!
Melvin Boyce II [00:49:52] And then when I went to college, I continued to write and I met some cats that did music, and we just formed like small little bands and we just start performing and it just felt so good because I always tell people, people are always like, wow, you're so courageous, you're so open when you speak. And I'm like, well, if you literally just take two hours and go on Spotify and listen to all three of my albums that are just on there, you'll know everything I've been through, like, I'm pretty transparent because I'm so selfish. I just use it for healing.
Jewell Singletary [00:50:31] Mhmm.
Melvin Boyce II [00:50:31] You know, like even moving through... you know, my daughter lives in Arizona now, and that situation hasn't been how I visualized it. So I had to use my work to get through it. And that led me start to make my own music. So the last two albums I've been making my own music and this last project that I released on Father's Day weekend. It's called oxytocin, and that's the love, that's that touch, that it's that hormone. And I just really want to talk about love, because the last two albums, I used to get emotions out, but [with this project] I was like I want to talk about love. I want to talk about all eros, agape, phileo. All forms of love. With my mom, and that was just the timing was crazy, and I was like, you know, I need you to lead this album off. And yea it's just been ummm.... And I think, too, because, for some weird reason, I have these fairy tales of how I thought my life should be. I've never lived any of them, but I can write about them. So that has been interesting, you know, so if can't live it... Like there's a song on there called Quarantine Kiss, and my friends like, oh, who's that woman? Oooo, I didn't see you doing no posted online, like you wasn't doing none of this posting during quarantine. I was like yeah because it wasn't real. It didn't happen. It didnt happen to me. You know. But it was that vision of love. It was that vision of, of what would it be like to have full connection with someone else. But that connection sometimes is your higher and lower self. It's your feminine and masculine [energy]. And I was just like I just feel like so in love with myself right now and not that like I'm feeling myself, but like learning how to be learning how to to really give more self care. Because I've been what really I've never been in a relationship where it was reciprocal. You know, I've always been a giver as such a high level, you know.
Jewell Singletary [00:52:47] Yea.
Melvin Boyce II [00:52:48] It was just like, man, I can't give any more unless it's being given at that level. I reconnect with my mom. And I was like, oh, shit. I see why motherfucker's are mama's boys. I use to make fun of mama's boys, because I left the crib around 17-18[years old], and haven't been back. I been, you know, man, self-made man, whatever you want to call it. But I get it now because it feels so good to have my momma back in my day to day life. I'm like, oh, shit, I'm become a mama's boy late in life. [laughing] Like mom if you have you got a basement, I can just move in it, just make sure my mom is close.
Jewell Singletary [00:53:27] [laughing] Aint nothing like love from a mama. I feel ya.
Melvin Boyce II [00:53:28] Nothing like it, but it made me realize it's like this is this is how I'm supposed to be loved by a mate. You know, this is how I'm supposed to be loved by another woman, you know, and and I had went into it trying to change people. And I realized that with the work we do is that, like, I never call myself a healer, like people have called me that. I've never called myself that at all. I'll try to provide tools for people to self-heal, because what would happen when I was teaching in public was I would really mess with my ego and I would have to fight to be present, because I will go to classes and they'll be packed, people waiting around the corner to get in, and I had nothing to do with what I was teaching. It was because it was, oh, this is the place to be. My girlfriend told me to come because we love you. She loved your voice, so she told me I just need to come hear you talk. I was like, what? No, no no. Let me let me figure out how to, you know, and and I left that Hollywood world because of that energy. So it's almost like working with youth. You know, that energy is not there. They're so open to learning.
Jewell Singletary [00:54:45] Right. like sponges!
Melvin Boyce II [00:54:46] yea sponges! They want to take it in. And yeah, I'm just I can't wait to get back in person.
Jewell Singletary [00:54:55] Soon come. Soon come.
Melvin Boyce II [00:54:56] Oh, my goodness, August 18th.
Jewell Singletary [00:54:57] Oh OK! It really is around the corner for you!
Melvin Boyce II [00:55:03] Yeah. Literally start back, I have six 2 to 4 year olds starting at this little learning center and the woman is so amazing. They have a garden in the back. They have roosters. They have a lake, and it's right off of umm, right off of Obama and LaBrea.
Jewell Singletary [00:55:22] OK!
Melvin Boyce II [00:55:24] You know, right in the community, and all those children funnel in from Baldwin Hills, which is like, yeah, yeah.
Jewell Singletary [00:55:31] They need that in their life, too. That's going to be so great.
Melvin Boyce II [00:55:35] Oh, come on. It's going to be incredible because I mean, we have emotion as soon as we come out the womb. You know, so the quicker we can just start showing them how to manage those emotions, you know, they check me like I'll go in and they'll be like, "hey, Mr. Melvin are you OK? You need to check it?" And I had had a bad morning that day and I had a little four year old Edison, "hey Mr. Melvin, I think you need to check in first." I like why? "Aw you just look a little sad." I was like, what? He done read my posture, he listened to my breath and been like some wrong with him.
Jewell Singletary [00:56:15] Right and we learn how to be.....Not to cut you off, but it's like literally what you're teaching them. When we learn how to be more aware of ourselves and our emotions, we're able to see that in other people because all the relationships we have, it's just a mirror for us.
Melvin Boyce II [00:56:29] That's it!
Jewell Singletary [00:56:29] That it's so beautiful the babies was picking up on it like you need to check it first. Mr. Melvin, you sad. Talk to us. [laughing].
Melvin Boyce II [00:56:35] Come on! Come on! Right! You used to [inaudible] And what do I do? I take the time and I use it. I literally took up seven minutes, like, well, yeah, you know, this is what I've been moving through. And I was like, man, it's a.
Jewell Singletary [00:56:52] [laughing] You put yourself on mute again.
Melvin Boyce II [00:56:56] I see every time I get excited I put myself on mute, [laughing] No, I said I almost took like five to seven minutes of the class up checking in. I was like, but that's the thing. If someone is... [00:57:07]That's why I say, don't ask me unless you really want to listen. [3.2s]
Jewell Singletary [00:57:11] [00:57:11]Right. [0.0s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:57:12] [00:57:12]You know, don't don't ask me how I'm doing unless you're and that's why I guide people through that too. Know when people really don't want to listen and let them be. You don't have to share with everybody. You know, everybody is not going to be part of your healing journey, you know, or support or want you to be healed. [20.0s]
Jewell Singletary [00:57:33] [00:57:33]Mm hmm. Oh. Oh, yes! And that's when, you know, you need to set up a nice, healthy boundary for yourself. [7.1s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:57:41] [00:57:41]Oh, come on. Come on. You know, that's it. [3.5s] That's it. And that's the thing. Once again, working with youth. If I tell if I tell a whole group of kids, [00:57:50]can you hear me? [0.0s]
Jewell Singletary [00:57:51] [00:57:51]Yes, I can. [0.5s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:57:52] If I tell a whole group of second graders, don't go into that house because they're snakes and they're spiders and you'll get bit, I guarantee you none of them are going to go on or maybe one, because they're curious. Right? They don't maybe don't believe me, but I can remember, when I was doing, you know, a lot of privates or whatever while I was doing privates, you know, and a lot of my clientele would pick up in the holidays. And I start to realize is that people were preparing to go into the house that had the snake and the spider.
Jewell Singletary [00:58:27] Yup!
Melvin Boyce II [00:58:29] But they already knew that they would get bitten, because they had got bit and when they were forced to be in the house with the snake and the spider, now they're choosing to go back in to the house and they don't have to. You know, and I guess that was part of my impatience in dealing with adults. [00:58:50]Hello? [0.0s]
Jewell Singletary [00:58:51] [00:58:51]Yeah, I'm still here. [0.5s]
Melvin Boyce II [00:58:52] [00:58:52]OK, [0.0s] yeah, that was part of my impatience because I was like, listen, I've been working with you for three years and you done gone to this Thanksgiving dinner three years in a row and you have three weeks to drink and afterwards, you know. I can't really work with you, you know what I'm saying? You just think you deserve this pain.
Jewell Singletary [00:59:14] You can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results like it doesn't work like that at all.
Melvin Boyce II [00:59:20] Right! But most people aren't really trying to do the work, and they're just trying to show that they're part of the scene and I think that becomes some of the downfall with social media.
Jewell Singletary [00:59:36] Uhhh some of it?! [laughing] It's like all of downfall of social media.
Melvin Boyce II [00:59:40] All of it. You know, and it's, you know. Yeah. And people thinking like we don't need it as much as it provides. There was a life before, you know.
Jewell Singletary [00:59:52] There was connection before it, absolutely.
Melvin Boyce II [00:59:55] Yeah!
Jewell Singletary [00:59:56] Real connection. Real connection.
Melvin Boyce II [00:59:58] Real connection. And, you know, I'm finding out when I teach this junior high, it's hard to stimulate them. It is hard to get that dopamine.
Jewell Singletary [01:00:08] It's hard to keep them engaged.
Melvin Boyce II [01:00:09] Right. You've got amazing video, people that are manipulating their minds and giving them the highest level of dopamine. And now here I come trying to give them this yoga. So I'm trying to play in their world now, like, how can I develop these apps and these things that can play in their world.
Jewell Singletary [01:00:28] Mhmm.
Melvin Boyce II [01:00:29] But at the same time be a wellness tool. And yeah, yeah.
Jewell Singletary [01:00:37] I love it. Well, I know we can go on, but I don't want to keep you for too much longer. We have one final segment of the podcast. It's called Inside the Ohmies Studio, and it's a rapid fire questionnaire. There are ten questions on here.
Melvin Boyce II [01:00:57] OK.
Jewell Singletary [01:00:58] You can answer them with one word or short phrases and don't think about it too much. Just have fun with it.
Melvin Boyce II [01:01:05] OK.
Jewell Singletary [01:01:05] So we start with the breath, which I know that's going to be your favorite part.
Melvin Boyce II [01:01:10] Oh yeah, what was the question?
Jewell Singletary [01:01:15] So we'll just make sure you're nice and comfortable.
Melvin Boyce II [01:01:20] OK.
Jewell Singletary [01:01:21] We'll take our collective breath together, so emptying all the air that's currently in your lungs. And together, we inhale. Exhale to release. And we start. Describe your personal style in one word.
Melvin Boyce II [01:01:55] OK, laid back.
Jewell Singletary [01:01:59] What's one thing you wish you can change about the world?
Melvin Boyce II [01:02:07] Remembering. I wish I could make them remember that we're all connected in some way.
Jewell Singletary [01:02:12] Hmm. What brings you Joy?
Melvin Boyce II [01:02:18] Dreaming of having a mate.
Jewell Singletary [01:02:21] What makes you cry?
Melvin Boyce II [01:02:24] The fact that I don't have to mate.
Jewell Singletary [01:02:28] What type of impact do you want to have on this earth?
Melvin Boyce II [01:02:37] Just reminding people to be silly and not take it serious.
Jewell Singletary [01:02:43] What's your favorite thing about being Black?
Melvin Boyce II [01:02:49] That I don't trip off of it anymore.
Jewell Singletary [01:02:54] What do you hope for your community?
Melvin Boyce II [01:03:01] That all we need is us.
Jewell Singletary [01:03:04] What do you love most about yourself?
Melvin Boyce II [01:03:10] I continue to let my heart expand.
Jewell Singletary [01:03:14] What's your favorite book?
Melvin Boyce II [01:03:17] Autobiography of a Yogi.
Jewell Singletary [01:03:20] Last question. Name five music artists that would be on the soundtrack of your life.
Melvin Boyce II [01:03:30] Uh. Cat Stevens. Sade. Myself, Deep Red. awww man....
Jewell Singletary [01:03:51] Two more.
Melvin Boyce II [01:03:52] Two more. Two more. Fela Kuti "Zombie," and Michael Franks.
Jewell Singletary [01:06:02] Dope! Thank you so much, Yogi Melvin. Deep Red. Spoken Yoga. I appreciate you! I so appreciate you. I enjoy connecting with you, feeling your energy, learning from you like you were such a light and joy to know. Thank you.
Melvin Boyce II [01:06:20] I appreciate you. Thank you so much.
Jewell Singletary [01:06:23] O! Before we go, let the people know where they can find you, social media, where they can find your albums, all the things.
Melvin Boyce II [01:06:28] O yea, so you can you can purchase my album at Deep Red D-E-E-P-R-E-D-dot.band B-A-N-D camp C-A-M-P dot com. You can go and find me on Spotify, Tidal, Amazon music and I go under the name Deep Red. Deep Red and the name of my latest album is called Oxytocin. Oxytocin. And you can find me on Instagram, at Spoken Yoga, Facebook Spoken Yoga, Twitter, all my handles are Spoken Yoga.
Jewell Singletary [01:07:23] Awesome! I provide all those links so people can find you and they can go directly to the music and find you directly on the socials.
Melvin Boyce II [01:07:30] O! I appreciate you so much for this.
Jewell Singletary [01:07:33] Thank you again!
