SOUND & BODY
An Interview With Carina Cha

Sound & Body, our first recurring program, is hosted by DJ and psychedelic facilitator Carina Cha. Built for deep listening, the space offers the right conditions for this kind of work: exceptional playback, somatic framing, and interior space that helps listeners to turn inward. Director of Programming, Matt Fleeger spoke with Carina on a cold, bright Tuesday about the ideas behind the program.

 

Photo by Kevin Horstmann

 

“Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is that we are all born with musicality. There's an important distinction between music as something we know or understand, but musicality as something we feel and sense. That distinction is, to me, the entire point of Sound & Body."

 

Photo by Siddharth Pai

 

Fleeger: What attracted you to this type of listening presentation?

Cha: At the time when JD Hooge first told me of his plans to open Mono Space, I had just completed a year-long psychedelic facilitation training program. Once installation of the OJAS system was in place and I walked in for the first time, I immediately thought it was the perfect set and setting for a deep listening experience in the style of a group ceremony. My life-long passion for music combined with this particular modality of healing work instantly clicked and proposing what has become Sound & Body felt like a natural fit.

 

Photo by Siddharth Pai

 

Fleeger: How do you source your material?

Cha: My ears are always searching. What i'm listening for in my selections, and what I hope to impart somatically, is texture and dimensionality. Texture is everything: the way a piece of music is layered, the way those layers interact, and the space between each note. Dimensionality, to me, means depth — the sense that a track has weight, spaciousness, and moves through a full sonic range.

Living in Portland helps a great deal, and seems to have an above-average number of record stores with multiple music communities. Mono Space has become a significant pillar in the community, an integral part of experiencing music in a new way with its carefully designed interior and soaring ceilings. The OJAS system is the purest possible vessel for exploring my selections and creates a perfect synchronicity that invites something deep, or at a minimum, a profoundly relaxing experience.

 

Photo by Kevin Horstmann

 

Fleeger: Why do you encourage the use of eye masks in the program?

Cha: The use of eye masks during Sound & Body is borrowed directly from psychedelic facilitation practice. They serve a specific purpose, which is to delineate between recreational and therapeutic use, to block out distractions, and to help attendees turn inward. The eye masks help signal what Sound & Body is here to do: offer a space where people can turn off their minds, let their bodies settle into the music, and leave feeling peace and calm.