Autumn cycle begins October 26th
Mondays, 6:00-8:00pm PST
St. Johns Creative Collective
7528 N Charleston Avenue, Portland, OR
+ online via Zoom
(See below for a note on accessibility*)
Curious about Songha and want to try it out?
Join us for an Open Songha on October 19th, no strings attached. You can meet the guides, be in practice, and learn more about the community. $20/person
Who We Are
We are a collective of singers who gather as an act of radical care for self and community.
The singing keeps us strong.
We channel our resources–time, money, energy, presence, love, and voice–to care for the most vulnerable in our community. This includes–and is not limited to–those who are: children, elders, disabled, single parents, immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, or houseless.
Every one of these people are ours.
We belong to them, and they belong to us.–From “We Belong to Each Other,” by Annie Schleafer, with words by Nikita Gill
We are not a choir.
We do not perform.
We sing as an antidote to fear.
We sing to grieve, to heal, to play, to be in joy.
We sing for pleasure.
We sing when things don’t make sense.
We sing to regulate our nervous systems.
We sing at life’s thresholds, those liminal places of transition bound to our health, career, relationships, becoming, birth, death, and even in the ordinary everyday times.
We sing for it all.
We sing because we can.
Because we must.
Because we were born for this.
Join our beloved community!
Click below to become a member of Songha.
Membership is charged via Patreon at $60/month. You can join or cancel at any time.
What to Expect
A Rhythm that Honors Nature
In Songha, we take our cue from the natural world when planning our annual calendar. We offer four cycles aligned with the transitions between the primary seasons, each roughly 13 weeks in length. Within our seasonal flow, we weave 8 weeks of synchronous gatherings, one community sing, and time for sacred rest and integration. This includes weeks when we don’t gather and can have space to integrate these practices in our own lives and be nourished by the resources and materials shared in our Patreon community.
Upcoming Cycles
🪷 = Weekly synchronous gatherings (hybrid in-person and virtual)
🌀 = Integration weeks (no gatherings)
Autumn > Winter
Oct 26 – Jan 18
🪷 Oct 26 – Dec 14
✨ Dec 21 – Winter Solstice Song Ceremony
🌀 Dec 28 – Jan 18
Winter > Spring
Jan 25 – Apr 19
🪷 Jan 25 – Mar 15
✨ Mar 22 – Spring Equinox Community Sing
🌀 Mar 29 – Apr 19
Spring > Summer
Apr 26 – Jul 12
🪷 Apr 26 – Jun 14
✨ Jun 21 – Summer Solstice Song Ceremony
🌀 Jun 28 – Jul 12
Summer > Autumn
(to be announced)
The Heart of Our Practice
We gather to tend to our spiritual well-being through singing, meditation, movement, and writing in beloved community. These modalities are at the heart of our practice, and, while they are rooted in ancient Buddhist lineages, Chinese medicine, and other earth honoring wisdom traditions, our community is not a religious or faith-based community. We tend to our spiritual selves free from religious dogma, and with the agreement that we sing in defense of life, liberation, and sovereignty for all beings and the earth.
movement
qigong, yoga, and gentle stretching
meditation
guided mindfulness meditation
song
simple songs taught by ear that speak to our spiritual nature and our human experience
writing
written reflection, poetry, prose, or song
What’s included?
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Weekly gatherings are Monday evenings from 6-8pm for 8 weeks of every seasonal cycle.*
Our gatherings include:
Time before our circle to land softly with refreshments, quietude, and connection with each other.
Circle time to tend to our body, mind, and spirit through gentle movement, mindfulness meditation, writing, and song.
There is time for silent individual reflection and group sharing woven throughout.
All is an invitation, nothing required or expected. All is sacred.
*Each seasonal cycle is treated like a container within the broader annual rhythm. While you are welcome to join us at any time, we encourage you to commit to a three-month cycle so you can benefit from the full experience of what Songha and our Patreon community have to offer.
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2 song ceremonies, one each for the winter and summer solstices on December 21st and June 21st. These gatherings will be free for Songha members and open to the public at a minimal suggested donation.
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Community Sings mark the Spring and Summer seasonal transitions: one on March 22nd for Spring Equinox, and the other in celebration of the Fall Equinox (date tbd). These are ticketed events that will be open to the public and are a time for us to share our songs with the broader community.
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Our Patreon community is currently housed under audrey’s Patreon. The offerings there are shared as gifts of love from her heart to yours. One thing that makes this digital space on Patreon so special is the intimate sharings that you won’t find on social media or in audrey’s newsletters–a conversation between kindred spirits.
Membership in Songha includes access to all of audrey’s Patreon content, such as:
New songs in the works
Behind-the-scenes footage
Guided meditations
Love letters
Live session recordings of our weekly gatherings.
And more!
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For folks who don’t live in Portland, or for anyone who wants to join virtually at any time, there is the option to join virtually. A link will be shared with the group, and you can join that way any time. Video recordings of our gatherings will also be shared with members via our Patreon community.
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Membership per 8-week seasonal cycle is $180.
Membership is charged on a monthly basis at $60 via Patreon.
To register, subscribe to the “Songha” tier on audrey’s Patreon page here.
The rhythm of our gatherings is designed to support seasonal and annual participation. While you are welcome to join us at any time, we encourage you to commit to a three-month payment cycle so you can benefit from the full experience of what Songha and the Patreon community have to offer.
We do not provide refunds or prorated membership fees; however, if money is a hardship, please reach out, and we’ll get creative.🫶
Our guides
audrey voon • Songha Founder + Steward
singing, songweaving, and mindfulness meditation
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audrey voon (she/her) is a Portland-based singer, community songweaver, and activist with over 20 years of experience singing professionally, and a lifetime of singing joyfully. Her music and community leadership beckon us to reclaim what’s ours through the pleasure, joy, grief, and catharsis of song.
After years of classical training and singing opera, choral, and musical theatre, audrey found her way back to her voice and her innate creativity through mindfulness meditation in 2020. From the spacious awareness cultivated through her daily practice, she began to receive melodies and messages, then full songs that were medicine for her. The more she sang and embodied them, the more these songs yearned to be shared in community. Now, audrey has the great honor of weaving these and other songs with kindreds in retreats and song circles, and with this new beloved community of singers, Songha.
audrey holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Arts in Music, as well as a level II practitioner certification in Usui Reiki (Holy Fire®). She is currently completing songleader training in the 2026 Reseeding Song Culture cohort with Portland-based songleader Ary Solomon and is a regional organizer with Singing Resistance in Portland, Oregon.
Josephine Woolington
writing, yoga, and meditation
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Josephine Woolington is a musician and writer born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She grew up in a house filled with music and curiosity. For as long as she can remember, songs and stories have guided her, and they continue to support her career. She writes and records her own music, under the name Josephine Antoinette, and has toured nationally and internationally with different local artists.
Aside from music, Josephine writes longform narrative nonfiction. Her stories explore ecology, memory, justice and repair, striving to show how communities—both human and non-human—persist after decades of colonialism, habitat degradation, exploitation and broken treaties with tribal nations. Her first book, "Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest," won a 2024 Oregon Book Award in nonfiction.
All of her creative endeavors are inspired by her decades-long yoga and mindfulness practice. She tries to get outside as much as possible to develop a deeper sense of place and connection with her Pacific Northwest home. When she’s not writing or playing music, she’s likely looking at birds, trees, rocks and clouds and wondering.
Learn more and connect with Josephine: josephinewoolington.com.
Kathy Prewitt
qigong
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Kathy Prewitt is a Licensed Massage Therapist (owner of Sweetgrass Massage) and a long-time qigong practitioner. She strives to cultivate presence through qigong, meditation, and healing touch. She also has a Masters in Education, has worked in education, social services, and healthcare. She is trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Nonviolent Communication (NVC), Vipassana meditation, Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), as well as other practices in connecting and nurturing mind, body, emotion, and spirit.
Learn more and book healing massage with Kathy: sweetgrassmassage.org.
MJ Molyneux
mindfulness meditation and yoga
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MJ Molyneux is a life coach and mindfulness meditation teacher. Through the transformational practices of meditation and embodiment, MJ coaches women to unleash their most vital, powerful selves. MJ knows that women who are deeply connected to their bodies and awareness feel better, and when they lock into that strength, their potential is limitless.
“Practicing mindfulness and embodiment radically changed my life, taught me to love myself unconditionally, and created space for me to step into my wildest, fullest, most liberated self. The more I woke up, the better I felt. And the better I felt, the better I did for my life.”
Learn and heal with MJ: feelbetterwithmj.com.
our origins
The seeds for Songha were born in the heart of our founder and steward, audrey voon, and have been cultivated over the past few years as humanity has continued to move from crisis to crisis–from a global pandemic and racial upheaval to genocide, climate destruction, and war after unfounded and reckless war. We are in the midst of what the late environmental activist Joanna Macy called a Great Turning, a shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization. We are waking up to our place in this world, to our spiritual nature, and to our sacred stewardship of this life. And it is painful.
As humanity finds our way, growing numbers of us find ourselves seeking community rooted in social and ecological consciousness, anchored in mutual care, and honoring of our spiritual nature. We have been harmed by the version of faith we were steeped in as children, a subscription to faith that has been handed down generation after generation, accumulating with it all the trauma of our ancestors. We yearn for a community of wisdom and care to fill the space that the church once occupied, without the dogma of religion. A community of practice, of care, of song where leadership is not hierarchical, but multidimensional. Where the needs of the most vulnerable are centered, and where all are taken care of.
Following the birth of her second child, audrey found herself in this yearning once more–wishing to be in conversation about her experiences as a spiritual being, wanting deeply to have the familiarity and consistency of a group of soul friends to be in practice with. She found herself dreaming of a single community with whom she could not only meditate, but sing and move and nourish her body. A group devoted to radical care for self, our close circles, and our broader local and global family.
She wanted church without The Church.
So, she decided to plant the seeds that had been germinating in her heart. She started to speak her truth out into the world in conversations with friends and family. She found her sentiments were resonant with what others in her community were also wanting: a beloved, singing-centric community.
“I want a sangha** of singers!” she heard herself saying one day.
And, just like that, Songha was born.
Join our beloved community!
Click below to become a member of Songha.
Membership is charged via Patreon at $60/month. You can join or cancel at any time.
Questions?
Send us an email–we’d love to hear from you!
* An important note about accessibility at our new home: The building we will call home was just purchased by the new St. Johns Creative Collective as-is. Unfortunately, the ancient elevator that brings folks up to our room is broken and will cost upwards of $200,000 to replace. Fortunately, this is a priority for the new owners! And they are hosting a house-warming fundraiser on September 26th to raise money for the elevator. Songha founder, audrey voon, will be performing and offering a mini Songha sing. Admission is FREE and for all ages. Please consider joining us and donating to help us make this new home accessible to ALL! TICKETS + INFO
**The word sangha in Sanskrit and Pali means “community.” In buddhism, one’s sangha is our beloved community of practice, the people with whom we choose to gather and learn and grow spiritually. As we are a beloved community of kindred spirits who love to sing, the song, naturally, found its home in our Songha.