Like most people, Jennifer Salima Holt has gone through changes in her life, but few people have made such radical ones.
She represented South Dakota in the 1978 Miss America pageant. Shortly after parading across the stage in high heels and a swimsuit, she traded her tiara for a NOW bumper sticker and helped launch the Minneapolis-based feminist punk rock band Tetes Noires.
When she tired of the punk rock scene, she made another 180-degree turn, this time becoming a member of buttoned-down academia. After earning a doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, she taught at the U, St. CloudState and the University of St. Thomas.
These days she's living in California, where she picked up a master's degree in ministry studies and works as a counselor in women's prisons. Her specialty is dealing with prisoners' grief and loss issues.
"The women I work with are open to spiritual concepts and want to heal," said Holt, 52. "I enjoy being able to help them heal."
She has written a book, "Sacred Gateway of Grief and Loss: Freeing the Imprisoned Soul," based on her work in prisons. But it's applicable far beyond that, she said.
"The book uses the metaphor of being in prison to deal with people who are depressed or feel useless," she said. "When we feel stuck, that's a form of imprisonment."
Using her music background, she introduced her prison groups to sacred chanting, drawing from a wide variety of theologies, including Gregorian, Tibetan Buddhist and Native American. She recorded some of the chants, intending to include a sample CD with her book. But the music took on a life of its own and was released separately as "Ecstatic Groove: Sacred World Chant Infusions."
"Both therapy and music are close to my heart, and this was a way to bring them together," she said.
They will be together again this weekend when Holt comes to town to present a concert of sacred chanting and a therapy workshop. First up is the concert, "Songs and Stories of Light, Love and Liberation," at 8 p.m. Saturday at the CedarCulturalCenter, 416 Cedar Av. S., Minneapolis. Tickets are $15 at the door. On Sunday she's leading a four-hour workshop on creative healing starting at 1 p.m. at Pathways, 3115 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis. Suggested price is $50, but there's a sliding-scale fee.
Music Review of Ecstatic Groove CD by Marty Keller, Music Critic and author of Music Legends:
"Who would have thought the long strange trip that the leader of a smart "all-girl" new wave band from Minneapolis in the '80s (Tetes Noires) embarked upon would include this immaculately realized mélange of select, sacred world music that reflects the spiritual songs and transcendent power of Muslim, Native American, Western, Eastern and other traditions? Jennifer Salima Holt, now a practicing "New Thought Muslim,” uses her grace-filled and mellifluent voice, plus simple but captivating contemporary arrangements, to create a collection of beautiful songs that lovingly expose the deep inner light of each faith journey. As a companion piece to her book, Sacred Gateway of Grief and Loss: Freeing the Imprisoned Soul (Indigo Heart Publishing, 2009) and a testament to her work with women in prison around the world (many for actions against strict and outmoded religious codes), Ecstatic Groove: Sacred World Chant Infusions, with Grammy-nominated Ben Leinbach co-producing, is a gorgeous illumination of the human spirit. But as a stand-alone album of global spiritual songs and chants, the disc will be a constant reminder of the joys and beauty that universal spirituality and innovative music making can bring to seekers and non-seekers alike."
Click here to read a music review of Ecstatic Chant from The Daily Om website.
