This month we’re featuring May Globus, who was a contributor back when VITA was Vitamin Daily! Find out what she’s up to now (hint, it’s a switch from the written word to the spoken word, and sound).
Hi May! You used to write for Vita(min) Daily, way back in the day! What are you up to now?
I did! Feels like lifetimes ago—things in my world have changed in a major way since then. In August 2020, I left a corporate job to pursue what I deeply felt a calling to. It was five or six months into the pandemic, so not an objectively ideal time, but it felt like the right time in my soul. The organization I worked for was extremely supportive of what was going to make me happy, even becoming my first corporate sound therapy client! After a few months of sabbatical, at the end of January 2021, I officially launched my sound therapy practice otō healing (when I received my certification) and my podcast The Craft, which is now going into its third season this month. Interestingly enough, both of them are very audio, voice, and sound-focused, though they seem very different on the outset. I’ve also recently partnered with my dear friend Courtney Chew of OCIN on a venture called Arcanum, where we hold immersive, experiential events around wellbeing and connection to others, our own selves, and nature/the planet. We just did our first set of weekend events this mid-August in partnership with the Polygon Gallery. On the Saturday, it was a slow, intentional shinrin-yoku forest bathing walk in Pacific Spirit Park on the Spanish Banks side, with breathwork and a few seaside stops. On the Sunday, it was a showcase & retail pop-up of amazing brands on the lower level during the day, followed by a sound bath orchestrated by me and then a musical performance by the talented Bella Roces on the second floor—just in time for sunset.
Who and what does your podcast, The Craft, focus on? Does any particular episode stand out in your mind as a favourite? Who are you gearing up to interview next?
My podcast was born from me missing aspects of my journalism days, especially interviewing/connecting with subjects, hearing their stories, and having the honour of sharing those with others through my work. I’m lucky to have such incredibly talented creative and entrepreneurial friends and a community, with whom I have the deepest, truly engaging conversations about life, what they do, how they got there, what makes them who they are, spirituality, the creative process. The Craft is a collection of intimate conversations with passionately curious and talented creatives and entrepreneurs on all these things and so much more. Some are friends, some acquaintances, some suggested to me by previous guests. It’s been wonderful getting DMs from strangers in Canada and as far as Germany about the show—makes my heart warm that listeners from all corners are connecting to guest stories. From the start, I was intentional about the visual storytelling of the show. Each season, I co-create with incredibly talented photographer friends to shoot a collection of editorial images of a guest in spaces where they feel most like themselves. Shout out to Luis Valdizon of When They Find Us, Eric Veloso of Street Dreams Magazine, Sincerely Hana, and Juno Kim! These spaces could be a guest’s home, work studio, the skatepark. This intimate storytelling through imagery of the things they do and curate in their lives says just as much as the conversation itself. Plus, the guest gets to keep the photo collection as a gift and to use anyway they like moving forward. It’s hard to pick a favourite episode—as they say, it’s like asking you to pick your favourite child. I see each episode as a living organism, breathing and evolving in its own way. Guests have opened up about things they’ve never shared before, and that vulnerability is what makes each episode so special and moving. I’m excited about season three! Last season, I was approached by Herschel Supply to do a live podcasting recording in their Robson Store with a live audience—it was a packed house to listen to my friend Garret Louie, an incredible pioneer here in Canada for street culture, fashion, art, music, I could go on. It turned out great with wonderful audience feedback, so I’m doing another live with Herschel this month. I’ll be having a conversation with the brand’s founders Lyndon and Jamie Cormack, who came to the first event and said yes to being a part of the second live conversation. So honoured! Will be looking into incorporating video this season and also interviewing talented friends and guests in other cities—like my friend Reno De Paoli, who is such a good human and is from B.C. but also happens to be the global marketing director for Ferrari in Italy. He has such an amazing tale. My vision for The Craft is to, yes, highlight those in Vancouver but there are fascinating personal stories to uncover all around the world and I’m here for it!
You’re also a certified sound therapy practitioner with your own practice, otō healing. What is sound therapy, who is it for, what does it do?
Sound has been used as a healing modality for centuries, through many different cultures. My approach is balanced between the art and science of sound—understanding the intuitiveness of the modality while rooting it in quantum physics, biology, brainwave states, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. When someone comes to see me for a private session, I send an intake form prior to understand where a client is at emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Then I begin to prepare a framework for supporting their specific healing journey through sound. I play a collection of instruments as the client is lying down with their eyes closed, ideally in a deep theta brainwave state: crystal bowls, Tibetan bowls, drums, chimes, and rattles. I also integrate voicing at the beginning of the session, using qigong sounds to help a person balance their organs and emotions. Sound therapy is beneficial in a myriad of ways, and the tones certainly help lower stress hormones and aid in bringing your nervous system back into homeostasis. My clients range anywhere from BIPOC, corporate teams/organizations, brands, universities, professional athletes, creatives and musicians, Gen Z collectives, expectant mothers, cancer patients and more.
Online, on your podcast and in your practice as a therapist, how do you use your platforms to impact those who follow/access you?
A few people have asked me if my sound therapy practice and podcast are related somehow. I thought it was such an interesting question. It made me stop and think. My answer is this: I hope that, when a person comes into my sound therapy studio or into the podcast studio, they feel it’s a safe space. A safe space to heal, a safe space to share their stories, a safe space to be seen and heard. I know this answer is less about the online platforms, which I do share my work on, and more about my philosophy. But it’s certainly a foundational part of the impact and connection to our humanity that I hope to foster for others through oto, The Craft, Arcanum, and any other project I’m a part of.
Fashion and beauty wise, what’s your personal style mantra or philosophy?
For me personally, clothing is an outward expression of who I am. I’ve always marched to my own drum, so buying clothing that everyone else has doesn’t have much appeal to me. That’s why I love secondhand, because it has so much character and is of higher quality—the vintage in Tokyo and Seoul is incredible. It’s why I love shopping at obscure stores that not many people know about, or why I’ve long been drawn to less heard of Korean brands. Sometimes my style evolves with the seasons of my life, but there’s always a feeling of whatever I put on is truly me, really understanding what unique shapes and silhouettes make me feel most comfortable, and also deeply appreciating the artistry and history of fashion.
It’s September, and the seasons will soon change; what does a shift like this signify to you, and how do you ease from one season to the next, physically, mentally, spiritually … and stylishly?!
Fall truly feels like a new beginning to me, more so than the New Year in January does. It gives me a feeling of expansiveness when summer transitions into fall, as if I can’t wait to see what the season unfolds. The excitement and go-go-go energy of summer turns down a little, to a level that feels a little more balanced—as you know, Vancouverites live for those few months of summer and pack everything in. So fall gives me more space and room to breathe, to return to myself again. An allowance to go inward a little more. Also, I love that window of fall—usually in October—when it’s still sunny outside but crisp enough to bring out the layers. And I’m a layerer in my personal style by nature: Kimonos under jean jackets, fisherman vests, furry vests, denim vests, you name it. It all feels so cozy in fall. It feels like coming home.
On Instagram, follow May, otō healing, The Craft and Arcanum.
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