Erykah Badu offers ‘soul therapy’ ahead of Soul Train Awards

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — There’s no question Erykah Badu is the soul hostess. On Sunday, she’ll host the Soul Train Awards on BET. But earlier this week, she was the soulful host who invited a small group of reporters to a West Hollywood hotel suite for an introductory lesson on chakras.

Badu transformed a room at Le Parc Suite Hotel into an intimate spiritual classroom for what she described as a “soul therapy” session. Illuminated by candlelight, Badu told her dozen guests about the Eastern concept of chakras — whirling energy centers that stretch from the base of the spine to the crown of the head — and how they respond to music, color and personal development.

Promotional events for awards shows are not usually like this. The show itself was never even mentioned.

Instead, the singer-songwriter engaged the group in a discussion about creativity, opened up about her heroes and revealed that she uses chakra-stimulating sounds in her music. “Baduizm,” her Grammy-winning 1997 debut, is built around the vibrations of tuning forks and singing bowls, she said. She layered theremin sounds under later recordings.

“I never share any of these kinds of things, that I use tuning forks and singing bowls,” Badu said. “I didn’t know how necessary that was to tell people. And it’s kind of weird to tell people something like that. But we’re entering this age of information where people are more open

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