Salut Sunday: Rianna Norbert-David
As we wind down the end of the year, we slow down to celebrate stories that soothe and inspire - like Rianna (Rai) Norbert-David’s - the founder of Salut Sunday. She’s a storyteller, artist and museum curator who’s graduated from some of the top art and design schools in the world, including University of the Arts, London, and the Royal College of Art. Rianna is continually finding ways to use her creativity to make a positive impact towards self and community care.
Rianna - thanks for continuing to slow down to share more about you and your practice with us. You’ve recently relaunched Salut Sunday - we’d love to hear more!
Yes - Salut Sunday is a self-care studio offering well-being products, education and curated spaces inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Caribbean. It was first launched in 2020, through virtual offerings and physical products, to aid our well-being as we tried to navigate living in a pandemic world. Now, in 2022, we also hold real life workshops and have recently experienced our second in real life event. It was so special!
We’d love to hear more about the inspiration behind Salut Sunday…
My work is often influenced by my London/Saint Lucian and Vincentian heritage in conjunction with my spiritual path with roots in Christianity. I’ve also been practising Yoga for a decade and, more recently, Kung Fu for nearly 3 years. My work has spanned across themes of decolonisation, reparative justice, migration and community. I have helped to tell the stories of those often underrepresented and to give voice to hidden histories.
Salut Sunday is a space where the lessons learnt from all of these things can come together to create a positive impact on the world.
The Caribbean has a complex history of colonisation and migration. Salut Sunday draws on the ancient and traditional practices of self-care from different parts of the world that have a strong history/ influences in the Caribbean. My aim is to offer a space that aids in rest, recovery, protection and encouragement in order to live as our higher selves. Thank you so much to everyone who has been on this journey with me so far. To those of you who are just learning about me and my work, welcome!
We love how your heritage, spirituality and physical practices influence your work. You had your first Salut Sunday event last month, with your second workshop just a few weeks ago. How did it go?
The event went really well. I feel very happy. With all of the positive feedback that I got - it’s made me feel like this is exactly what I should be doing. The event was a mixture of things - we went through a series of breathwork techniques and sound meditation where I played my singing bowl and rainstick with instrumental music in the background - in the most recent workshop I included chimes, it was beautiful. People were so relaxed that they fell asleep!
We also did some tapping, a type of beating of the body, which is a technique that’s often used in Qigong, which I also practise. This is where you actively get rid of stagnant energy in the body. Traditionally Qigong sticks that are made from bamboo are used to beat the body. We did this tapping to African drumming music, whilst I told the story of, supposedly - I think it’s true - that within history on the plantations, a lot of the enslaved African people who were brought to the Caribbean islands, would go off into the surrounding forests to make instruments out of anything that they could find, and play music and dance together in the pitch black of the night, deep into the forest. The slave masters - the plantation owners - would hear them playing this music and it would scare them so much that they were afraid to stop them or break them up. So, this action is one of the ways that, even though they were enslaved, they actually still had the freedom of celebrating and finding joy. So, the tapping exercise with the drumming became an uplifting ode to that.
We also used the body butters that I make, as part of Salut Sunday, to work on some self massage techniques. We brought awareness to this mundane act of moisturising your skin, something that you may do everyday, whilst intentionally being present and focusing on parts of the body where maybe we were holding tension, or needed a little bit of love. Everyone got a sample body butter that they could use in the comfort of their home.
We also did some gentle stretching - I didn’t want to do anything too rigorous. I’m not a ‘qualified’ yoga teacher - so I didn’t feel like this was something I should be doing, as I didn’t want anyone to get injured on my watch! But, one of the feedback that I received from an attendee was that they wanted more yoga - which was good. We had some refreshments at the end of the workshop, of herbal teas and Saint Lucian sweet bread from the nearby Saint Lucian ‘Rainbow bakery’ in Dalston.
This all happened in my church hall which has recently been renovated, and it really felt like a full circle moment… I had this memory of walking into that hall… I was four years old, and I walked into the hall of the youth club that they were holding then for under 5/6 year olds… I remember clutching my mum’s hand as I was really shy to go in, and then a lady who’s known me for my whole life, who’s recently passed away, was there and said: ‘It’s okay. You can come sit with me.’ And we sat and did some drawing together, and I just felt really settled as she looked after me. That was a memory that came back to me as I was sitting in there, and I felt like this is where the first event should have been. It just worked out perfectly.
Sounds like you’re very much aligned! What are some of the dreams that you have for Salut Sunday?
I have hopes of opening a physical studio space eventually but if there is one thing that I’m learning is that I need to be open to flowing. It’s taken some pivoting but I like where it’s going as I am listening and being guided.
I’ve received feedback that my offerings are too cheap! In my first workshop, I gave away too much for the price that attendees paid and people were open to paying more - which is great for me. I’m learning to continue to value myself and my work.
I’d love to also hold events once a month so that they could be regular - we’ll see.
As a young creative with competing priorities, what do you do to maintain a sense of balance?
Well this can be incredibly difficult. I feel that people often look at me as calm and collected but just like many others I can struggle to maintain balance.
I very rarely will give up my sleep. I take it pretty seriously and am not in the best mood when I haven’t slept well! Believe me haha. I try to get a decent amount each night at least between 7-8 hours. It’s something so simple but I feel like this is the foundation for balance for me.
Another thing that is important for me is having time in the morning to myself. I make a point of not using my phone first thing (other than to turn my alarm off!). Before the rush of the day and before others have a chance to reach me - I want to be the first person to check in and pour into myself. My mornings can include meditation, prayer and movement of some kind.
When my morning starts this way I feel like I have more clarity, and am more aware of how I am feeling. My nervous system doesn’t feel as overwhelmed and I am empowered. I think its also really critical to say that sometimes my mornings can’t start this way and that’s ok- I might be running late, have to leave earlier than usual or be unwell. On those days, I really try to give myself grace.
We love to share recommendations to our readers. What are you:
Listening to? I have been listening to the R&B/Soul artist Gwen Bunn and alternative musical artist Nick Hakim’s album ‘Cometa’ has also been on repeat. Both Bunn’s album ‘Safe Travels’ and Hakim’s will make you feel like you are floating. I like to drift off to another world while listening.
If you care… my favourite tracks from ‘Safe Travels’ are ‘Yours’ and ‘Think Twice’ from ‘Cometa’- ‘Slid Under’ and ‘Vertigo’. Let me know if you listen. I’d love to share more of my playlists with the growing Salut Sunday community. I’ve also been listening to Little Simz new album that just dropped this week and it’s a blessing that I think so many of us need in this season.
Reading? I’ve been doing a lot of research/reading in my work as a museum curator. I’m working on many projects including a major exhibition which hasn’t left headspace for other reading sadly! However, the last book that I read a couple of months ago - outside of work - was ‘The Alchemist’ which sparked amazing conversations and connections (sometimes with complete strangers on the tube).
Watching? I recently discovered the podcast ‘Good Moms Bad Choices’ and have been hooked! It’s my new guilty pleasure. I watch the filmed episodes on YouTube. I’m also watching/listening to Lalah Delia’s incredible classes and meditations as part of her online school Vibrate Higher Daily.
Where can our readers follow you and Salut Sunday?
My books are open for taking more 1-1 clients so if anyone is interested they can reach out. You can find me personally on Instagram @raitheninja and Salut Sunday @salutsunday. If interested in checking out some of my artwork, you can do so through my website and Instagram: @rai_london.
