Karen#1
Well-known member
[Irving, left, spotted outside the Valley org in 2017]
For anyone who has followed my story over the years, you may remember that the hardest part of leaving Scientology was the disconnection and the loss of my father. My father, Irving Sorrentini, disconnected from me when I left the Church in 2010. My sister, Tracie Sorrentini, disconnected as well. Overnight, it felt like an entire branch of my family simply disappeared.
That year, in 2010, I spotted him outside his apartment near the Flag Land Base in Clearwater. I jumped out of the car and literally ran toward him, hoping for even the smallest moment of recognition. Instead, he turned away, ran inside, and locked the door behind him. That memory has never left me.
That was the last time I saw him.
Before Scientology came between us, my father was one of the closest people in my life. We had a way of understanding each other without needing many words. He was steady, loving, and deeply present in a way that made me feel safe and profoundly seen.
[Jamie and her father in Italy for her 2009 wedding.]
Losing that relationship felt like losing the ground beneath me, and for years I did not fully understand how much that loss shaped the way I carried myself in the world. “Regresa” was born from that place in me, the place that remembers who he was to me before everything changed.
I tried to move through it. I tried to make peace with it. But the grief stayed with me, living deep inside my heart. Over the years, slowly, something in me began to open.
In March, I released a six track mantra EP called Breath by Breath, under my artist name Shanti, which means peace. Four of the tracks are sacred Kundalini mantras created to calm the nervous system and bring the body into a state of stillness.
One of the tracks is an original Spanish language song I wrote for my father called “Regresa,” which means “come back to me.”
It is written in the structure of mantra. Repetitive, meditative, and soothing. The kind of sound that bypasses logic and goes straight to the heart. The melody came first, soft and looping and devotional.
At first, I wrote the lyrics in English. But the more I tuned into what I truly wanted to say, the more it became clear that it needed to be in Spanish, my father’s native language. I wanted nothing to be lost or misunderstood.
I feel incredibly grateful that Breath by Breath was produced by Ram Dass. His work with artists like Snatam Kaur and AWARE has helped shape the landscape of modern sacred music. His sensitivity to vibration and devotional sound brought a depth and spaciousness to the album that felt both intimate and expansive. Creating “Regresa” with him was an honor. He understood the emotional heart of the song immediately and held it with so much care.
I am also deeply grateful to have Leonardo Prakash on this track. His soulful sitar playing carries a kind of beautiful sadness, a tenderness that holds both the longing and the love inside the song. The way he plays feels like a quiet prayer, helping to paint the emotional landscape. The ache, the devotion, the subtle spirituality that lives inside every note. It is as if his sitar gives the song its breath.
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Scientology took her father away, but today Jamie Sorrentini offers him a gift from the heart
For anyone who has followed my story over the years, you may remember that the hardest part of leaving Scientology was the disconnection and the loss of my father.
tonyortega.substack.com
