Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
In the 1970s, Xenia Holiday was fronting the girl punk band, B-Girls, opening for The Clash on tour, and singing back-up on Blondie’s hits in the studio. Following a spiritual awakening, she left it all behind, changed her name to Ananda Xenia Shakti, and began a journey that has taken her to India and beyond. A yoga developer, guide and instructor, Ananda still releases new music. In fact, her last two singles have more than 100K spotify streams in the past few months. Ananda is about to release a brand new music video, and she took time to answer some questions about her colorful years as a punk princess, as well as what she’s up to these days…
Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer some questions for our readers.
Let’s start with your history. You are a founding member of The B-Girls, a girl punk band from the 70s and 80s. Tell us how that came about? Who was in the band? What was the highlight/lowlight of your time with the B-Girls? Anything else we should know about that time…
The B Girls were one of the moments in time that could only have happened in the throws of a new paradigm of music, where raw was more desirable that perfect. We wanted to be a band so we became one. We had our first gig before we knew how to play our instruments. It was truly art in action as real life. We had a message, we were inspired by all the music that had touched our hearts and we wanted to share that life could be truly magical and fun. We worked very hard and at the same time were very lucky. In the right the place at the right time and different enough from the status quo of punk, that people noticed us and liked us. We were not hard edge, we were fun.
There were many highlights, we really had some amazing journeys… but for me opening for the Clash’s London Calling Tour was amazing. Not so much for us. We were nervous and god only knows how we played LOL but they were magic to watch every night. I never tired of it.
We had a couple of incarnations of the band, but the lineup that was the most long lived and gained all the kudos was Cynthia Ross on bass, March Saddy on drums , Renee Schilhab on guitar, and me Xenia Holiday (my name at the time) on vocals.
You left the group and moved into a more spiritual realm. How did that come about? What was the reaction of the other members? Do you still keep in touch?
I was always seeking, ever since I was a small child and I found what I was looking for in the teachings of Yoga and Spiritual philosophies. I wanted to become the music rather that just play it. To be able to share with people that there was infinite hope, transformation and meaning to be found in life. The shift took place for me when I was living in NYC as a late teen and had left behind all intoxicants and was super health conscious in the midst of the crash and burn attitude of the punk world. This made me open to other influences and when I had my Awakening I had no doubt about my life choice to leave the band. It was not easy to let everyone know. I loved them, and still do, and I didn’t want to let them down but I knew I could not continue. So in time I found the courage to follow my heart.
I don’t really know how the others felt about it, we were young and didn’t really discuss things that way. We remain very dear friends and have had lots of post B Girl spiritual adventures together travelling around the world, India, Peru and of course in Canada, Cynthia even joined my Yoga Teacher Training Course and is now a certified yoga teacher and I even gave her a spiritual name, Satya Devi, which means the Goddess of Truth. Our friendships have been rich and beautiful. We have never forgotten the love we hold for each and the value of time shared. We are truly each others greatest cheerleaders for whatever each of us has going on.
You moved to India and have done so much work with women-centric yoga and spiritual healing, etc. What was it like moving so far away from your home in Canada? Was there a culture shock/adjustment period? How did you cope with being overseas and away from family?
I had zero culture shock living in India, truly, it has always felt like home to my Soul and from having spent so much time there it has become home for my personality as well, as my likes have adjusted to the cultural norms there. India has opened so many doors for me in the arts, spiritual and classic and in love. I have made so many deep friendships and shared such rare moments with them. It has been such and inspiration and infinite joy in my life. My culture shock always happens when I return to the west LOL.
My family is the only thing missing in India, but you know it is a challenge to our will forces to have to make different choices based on the hearts guidance and it is a good exercise for all. I would never stop my children from living in another country or travelling extensively, so even though we miss each other, mothers needs this freedom too. It is just conditioning that says other wise, and conditioning is always good to overcome .
So yes we have had our moments. They have had to adjust to an unconventional mother, and I have cried missing them many times. Yet in the long run it we are inspiring each other with all of our choices and the challenges they may bring. I would rather be a bit of a problem at times because of my impulse to follow the heart, than be complacent and let life pass by as an example of how to live.
Tell us about your yoga techniques and what you have been doing, spiritually?
That is such a massive question. Let’s start with Yoga. I specialize in bringing ancient teachers into modern times, especially for women. Many people do not realize that the yoga that is popular was actually designed for men and for a man’s body . The ancient path of the Yogini the female practitioner of yoga was different and kept very secret because it is so powerful, and powerful woman have been traditionally feared. I have had the honour to be taught many of these practices and I am part of a tradition that honours the Goddess through yoga. I have 30 years of teaching experience in yoga yet it is always fresh and new every time I share it . It is a magical experience.
My primary offerings are Core Soul Story readings. I am and Inter-Dimensional Intuitive Artist and I speak to peoples spirit guides, angels and higher self to find out the guidance that is in their highest good, and that provides the deepest healing for them at this time. I offer these readings to woman and men and there are a life changing experience.
Everyone is born with a karmic story they bring with them that causes limitation and a souls gift that is the best path for them to walk . In these readings we discover and release the old karmic story causing limitation and activate the new pathway of the Souls Gift. It is the most incredible experience, it feels like being bathed in pure unconditional love during the session for myself and the client, when the Angelic Realm speaks through me. I am in awe every time I offer a reading. The wisdom and love that comes through is mind blowing and heart expanding.
This is also the realm that I reach too when I am writing the music for Love Power the Band. The songs are charged with this Higher Realm frequency of transformation and love. It is such an honour to be a conduit of these incredible loving Beings that see us as pure love and show us how to see ourselves this way and leave the conflicts behind.
I meditate everyday, practice yoga, inspirational movement, dance and song as my spiritual disciplines.
Word has it you are moving back to Canada? How did that come about? When does the move take place? Are you looking forward to it? How do you feel it will affect/inflluence what you’ve been doing with your yoga practice, and your music?
I am coming for a visit for a few months, then not totally sure where I will land, India for a bit longer but I may explore some new countries. I am super looking forward to all of it . Seeing and hugging family and friends having a bathtub LOL. Managing a completely different way of life and meeting up with my band and creating some more music ! My practices are influenced by the environments they are in and it is always an evolution so I am excited to see what that brings.
I will be able to play some gigs and hope to create a few festival gathering while in the West that include music by conscious artists, meditation and visioning. I am calling the gatherings Vision New Earth. They will gatherings for those interested in helping the world move along this path we are on now, come out of conflict, into oneness and inspire new governing structures that are are based in humanitarianism.
“Cosmic Quiver” is your latest single release. What is that about, and how was it recorded? Who plays on the track?
Cosmic Quiver is vibrational healing music to awaken your third eye. It is all about the Indian god Shiva who is the one who destroys illusion, and the fear of death. Death as an ending rather that a transition, is the greatest illusion humanity holds, and causes so much suffering and war on our planet.
When the third eye is awake you begin to see the Divine consciousness in all things. Conflicts and triggers fall away and the eternal part of each person rises to the surface. All of the masters that have lived on earth have had the third eye open. This is where their wisdom and blessings rise from and that same potential lives in every human being ! Now is the time to start waking it up and rise out of the blindness we have been living in.
In the video for Cosmic Quiver I went to the cremation grounds and with permission danced around the ashes of a soul recently cremated to emphasize that life continues beyond death and there is nothing to fear. When you fear death, you fear life, because they cannot be separated and it is time to live in celebration, not in fear, fear is the cause of our excessive materialism. We are currently living in the unresolved heartbreak of humanity and this has created all of the upheaval. It’s time to see things as they really are, no longer through the veils of our old wounded stories.
I recorded this song in the Holy city of Pushkar in India with local musicians that added their traditional touch to the recording. It was so much fun even though we had a language barrier at times. We could struggle for some time trying to communicate about subtle points in the music, each of us with little skill in the others language to explain what we were trying to say about the recording and then we would get so excited when the communications got clear and the sound was happening the way I was hoping for. It was frustrating at times but always resolved into celebration and fun !
What do you have planned for your next release?
I have two releases coming up next , Love is Where You Are which is the title track of our CD and a new recording No More Limits. I am very very excited about releasing both of these songs at this time. Their messages are so timely.
After all of the success you had with B-Girls and personally, is there anything that you feel you have left to accomplish in music, or in life, that you haven’t done yet?
Yes !!! I really hope the Love Power the Band will be able to influence deep change in the hearts of our brothers and sisters. That people will have truly mystical openings that lead to living a life of joy and fulfilment listening to the music and attending the concerts.
I hope to travel the world with the band and be part of awakening experiences while collaborating with other like minded Artists. I plan on creating consciousness rising centres where people can visit and release their outdated karmic patterning using all of the spiritual arts that I and the other I co-create with have to offer.
As I continue to open my heart to Creation I hope to become a greater vessel of love, inspiration and healing through everything I do.
With honour respect to the past, being in the B Girls was truly a tiny part of my life that holds no comparison on any level to where my life, music is at now, or what I consider success to be. I look forward to the continued evolution of my self as an inter-dimensional artist and to cultivating a deepened confidence to express myself without any restrictions.
And I would really like to climb Mt Everest !
Thanks for your time! Wishing you all the best and much success!
Thanks for you time !
