May 1, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography, Post
I love that I quite literally stumbled upon Robin E. Sandomirsky. I hadn’t a clue in the world whom she was until Facebook suggested her as a friend. We had a load of the same super cool artsy friends so I looked into her courses/website. Not long after I took her and Alisha Sommers course liberated lines which I highly recommend! I have been discovering her ever since…
I am Robin E. Sandomirsky. I am A writer. I am a healer. I am home. I live in small town New England with my children and my four leggeds. I have been a story teller, worshipping at the altars of the word for as long as I can remember. Scribbled truths and half poems tracking me and guiding me down my lifelines. I have been a healer and teacher since I came of age. I will hold your hand and burn you through the spaces from here to there. If you are ready to come home, to fill whole, to rise up to your next elevation, then you are my people. We use the gentle pathways of deepest love and inherent velocity to achieve the simple impossible. We change your life. In this lifetime I have danced the darkness many times, but I am a holder and bringer of light. I don’t seek to present any perfection only what I know to be true. If you want to come home to your own sacred body, if you want to gift yourself the freedom of your being, if you want to touch that stuff you can feel under your skin and at the core of your core then you are ready to do this work.
I am a regular green smoothie drinking, lunch packing suburban mom. I am also a luminary explorer, a freedom igniter and a warrior blooded game changer. I live Truth. Velocity. Embodiment. I want to guide you home.
I offer luminary healing sessions – in person and long distance, small group in.body intensives – using physical practice, writing/creative exploration, and meditations to cultivate embodiment, and I am the co-creator of liberated lines – an Instagram based, quick & dirty, poetry and prose course. I also teach early childhood programs and yoga/movement classes.
I read you say: “Worshipping at the altars of the word for as long as I can remember.”
Oh how language is so so much more than words, tell me what language is to you? What it feels like? How it moves? How do you live in/through language?
Words and language have always, always been like the pathway from the edges to the centers and back again. Like ever moving ink stains ingrained on the underside of my skin. Like the particular structure of the fluids that course through my body. Like the map of my energy field and my emotional body. Words have led me astray and brought me back home, have cultivated and added to my depths and my evolution. Words swirl in my brain and bring me, like breath, into the full embodiment of this life right here in this exact moment. For me words are like magic. Even in the incarnations of imperfection and unable to get it quite right. Still they string together like a raft. Partly because they are all mine and partly because they spiral outwards from me like connection. Language is this thing that is never able to tell you the exact beating of my heart but still is the way I holler out across the vast expanse from here to there, “Hello, I love you.” Language becoming like a dance and dancing becoming like a song and each song being just exactly who we are in that one instant – before we glide into our next self in the next instant. You want to peek inside my soul – language will float you there and I will open my eyes and gaze through your heart riding on the wave of the language you gift back to me. Spoken, written, imagined, felt.
As a healer language is a part of what flows out of me like an offering. My work is multifaceted but there is always language involved – talking and sharing and expressing and learning through spoken word – through story and telling the truth of the lifted veils. For me this works like incantation and what is spoken in the name of healing weaves into the arrangements of the energetic, physical, and spiritual bodies as well. In this way, language becomes like the laying on of hands. A portal through which energy flows in mystical ways.
Language like the translator of the hollow bone, language like the dance of the shaman.
You said::“The deepest truest you that hums in the marrow of your bones, the cellular contractions of your heart, the flow of your cerebrospinal fluid. This is the body that can contain stillness within movement and silence within sound.”
How do you most like to honor your body?
I honor my body by being here with a beating heart and lungs that fill and empty with breath. Most days it is that simple. I live, here, in this body, so I honor her. We are the most intimate of lovers. I honor my body by wanting to know her. By coming to terms with the ways I have abandoned and disgraced her at times (she is never mad at me about this but always welcomes exactly what is). I honor my body by walking a path that strives towards embodiment. I honor my body by believing in her power, in her strength, in her functionality. I honor my body by coming home to her.
I honor my body through my physical practice when I am rocking it, through the food I lovingly prepare when I am lovingly preparing food, through dancing wildly in the kitchen with my littles when I am dancing wildly in the kitchen with my littles. I honor my body with massage, and touch, and love, and adornment. I honor my body by making egregious mistakes. Eating total crap. Drinking too much. Not getting enough sleep. Losing track of my meditation practice. Pushing myself too hard. Not being disciplined enough.
I honor my body through the art of practicing self-forgiveness – which she has taught me a thousand fold. She has never left my side even when my honoring her looks like a trail of bad decisions laced with whiskey and cookies.
So I place my hands on my heart again and feel the way it beat beats. Oh yes, and I breathe. I am alive still. I honor my body with this life and with the ways I release self loathing and dive back into what feels good. Movement feels good. Water feels good. Pleasure feels good. Seeking feels good. Breathing in and out and relaxing my face feels good. I honor my body with headstands and flying pigeons and walking the dog in the woods and steaming bowls of bone broth and gently wilted greens.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was a clear answer to this? If I could prescribe a track of body honoring that each person could follow and thus have the altar to body all sorted out? But I honor my body through relationship, through learning, through loving her as best I possibly can in any given moment. It is a constant state of wonder how she loves me back. Body blessing. I honor my body through my life.
We are together in the light and the darkness. All the way.
Tell me how you rise up in fullness?
I rise up in fullness through my work and my love. I find fullness as a mother. This has been true for me from the first moment and I accept it as a gift. That my children have healed my heart and soul in ways I could never ever have imagined just by the fact that they came here. That they have eyes I can gaze into and smiles that are filled with light. That I get to spend time with them and have the pleasure of being known by them and knowing them back. I accept this gift.
I rise up in fullness when I part the curtains and let myself soak in the rays of sunlight. Accepting warmth and being fed by the heat of the sun.
I rise up in fullness when I step out of the way and allow my body to explore being in space. In deliciousness. In being no shape anyone told me to be but instead listening in to what the cells know and trusting their guidance.
The kitchen has always been a place of magical realignment for me. I complete my own circles when I alchemize in my kitchen. When I let ingredients come together as they want to and as my mouth waters for them. When dough rises, when vinegar splashes and oil drizzles and herbs are diced or torn. When something is just beginning to soften in my favorite pot. When an egg is just right with crisp edges. When almost anything is roasting in bacon drippings.
And I rise up in fullness when I offer myself. As a teacher, healer and guide. This is when my cells burst with light. When I stop trying to hide what is and I trust in my own path, my voice, my heart, my getting out of the way to be something more than what my ego has offer. My fullness comes out boldly in these roles. In unexpected and cleansing and settling ways. Each time I am of service in some form of healing I am vastly healed. My work is my pathway to evolution and expansion. What is more full than that?
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
My people. My friends, my family, my four leggeds – the people who listen to, hold, touch and love me. My connection to the divine universe. Ever present even when completely forgotten. The universe supports me. The great mother in all her glory. Birds in flight, a soft breeze, deer cutting across the trail right in front of me, thunder and rain, crocuses…the great mother reminds me of my own resonance and being.
What is your mantra, your words to live by?
“I am free to…”
I had this life changing realization some time ago that I was boxing myself in even in moments when I was trying to help myself. “I need to…” being a mantra of “I am not already doing enough.” So even the revelations I had about things that might have felt really good were already being twisted energetically into failure. “I need to be kinder to myself,” felt to me like it carried, “I am not kind enough to myself.” See, failure.
But, “I am free to be kind to myself.” Ahh, this felt like something I could relax into. Like a release of tension not an accumulation of tension. “I am free to experience daily practice.” Now my daily practice is a gift I am free to receive not something I have to check off my list. So, whenever possible I try to remember to language my hopes, dreams, and desires in combination with freedom.
Freedom is my mantra in life.
Currently I am working a 43 day practice that includes chanting mantra and there I am working with Aham Amritam. As I was taught, this mantra translates to, “I am the essence of the heart nectar.”
What does mystery taste like to you?
I have always had a rebel side lurking beneath my polished exterior. Mystery tastes like that. The late night wanderings. Conversations no one else knows about. Damp skin in the dark of night.
And mystery feels like the expanse of the void. The ways I have come to know the edge of it and how someday I will also know the centers. Mystery is the way the wind howls there and sometimes it is dark and starry and other times its like the sun soaked desert.
Sometimes mystery is this scent I can’t quite name on a soft wind in the middle of an ordinary day. Sometimes it is a spider web, a hawk in flight, the way my children’s eyelids flutter as they dream.
Mystery tastes like sage and dirt and blood and wine.
Like swallowing the air.
Like falling on my knees when I feel beaten and crying hard and standing back up again to carry on.
Mystery is the swirling grain on my hardwood floors and my dining room table. Lingering whispers from my ancestors. The future calling out to me and daring me to arrive.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
My tools are breath, movement, direct communication, daily practice, shaking, yoga, inversions, exploration, balancing, writing, sleep and nourishment. My teachers are my kindreds – soul sisters who are willing to dive into the creases and the wide expanses with me. My children who are clearly here to set me straight on just about anything if I will take the time to listen in. My teachers are the obvious, people I study from and books I read. My teachers are also a surprise – a stranger who reminds me of my truth on exactly the day I was ready to take it in.
Recently I have been learning about using what I have. I have been learning about quiet and how I hold the quiet in the noise. I have been learning about stillness and the kind of stillness that is achieved through movement. I have been learning about the walls I build and the ways I am ready to allow them to dissipate.
My teachers have always been the invisible. My spirit guides and allies. My team. What I learn from them is simple. I am everything. I am nothing.
What are you saying YES to these days?
I am saying to sunshine, coffee, ginger, essential oils, homemade muffins, and broth. I am saying yes to a stronger physical practice and more time in meditation. I am saying yes to reading more books and allowing the idea of studying all the time. I am saying yes to short notes and writing even when I have nothing perfect to say. I am saying yes to noticing love around me and laughing more and failing at things.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
I plan to do my own work all the time knowing that my own ferocious evolution will ripple outwards. I plan to step ever more fully into holding the hands of others and guiding them to the next level. I plan to seek truth, knowing that it is always everything and nothing. I plan to live, and rest, and live some more. I want to cultivate happiness and allow for pain. I want to drink up what is offered and make space for even more. I want to embrace freedom and let it be contagious. I want to trust my lineage and my heart to guide me towards my highest evolution of resonance with self. I want to rest assured that I have no idea how beautiful it could all be but that if I show up on the dance floor the universe will see me trying and she will say, yes my love, here you go. I want to relax into resonant potential. I want to bridge the gap so we all rise to the next evolution. I want to be a rock star and the quiet grounding we all need as a base to rise up. I want it all. And I want to take you with me.
Robin E. Sandomirsky has co-created with Alisha Sommer this beauty of a course called Liberated Lines.
Liberated Lines is a daily practice because we know that this is where the magic lies. The truth is you can change your life, your breath, your very being with a daily practice. It doesn’t matter how brief, rough, or seemingly small that practice is. To tap into releasing the shades of your truth a few times is lovely but to cultivate a freedom that resounds through your very cells takes a commitment to repetition. That is all. A mini dance with creative truth that happens every day will touch you. And you deserve to be touched.
BECAUSE EVERYONE NEEDS THEIR VOICE LIBERATED.
*A liberated lines FLASH :: evolve ($20) (This is a steal my dearest friends. GO:::: check out this lovely offering!)
Luminary Healing Session: One on one Luminary Healing sessions. A chance to explore ways to radically shift your life. To listen and speak, touch permissions and reclaim freedoms. Meet and give voice to layers of your creation and lesser known parts. Extend invitations to rejoin the active living of this life. I will offer and make known all kinds of support systems, animal medicine, personal teams, stone allies, plant medicine and ways to dive deeper into your intuitive living. This includes working with all the bodies – spiritual, energetic, breath, bliss, and of course the sacred temple of your own physical body.
We travel to our rightful place at the edge of the void. Where we come to know everything and nothing all at once. This is the space. Luminary exploration. Igniting freedoms. Working with warrior bloodlines to change the game. This is the space. Truth. Velocity. Embodiment.
Healing. You deserve.
May 1, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
I saw Fonda’s work first in Orly Avineri Facebook group a stand for art journaling, it was the above photo of a winged creature with skeletons following close behind. I don’t know the story, although, I have made a pretty good one in my head of shadow and light chasing, but I began to look out for when she posted because her work has a very Marc Chagall feel if Marc Chagall was an art journaling feminist! Fonda’s work has a lot of archetypal energy as well as layered free form play. I enjoy seeing her evolve and allow new things to emerge.
Fonda Clark Haight is a mixed media artist living in Western NC. She and her husband Evan, an author, live in a converted apple barn on a 100 year old apple orchard. They share their home with six children, three boys and three girls, along with assorted rescues. She has a deep passion for upcycling in her art. Upcycling keeps a materials’ original composition, texture and quality intact by reshaping it for new use, extending its life cycle without the needs for additional raw materials or energy. She upcycles cardboard, newspapers, barn wood, tin, old art, and plywood into new pieces of art. Her goal as an artist is to take simple things and subjects we might see or imagine every day and present them in a different manner so we “re-see” them.
Tell me about your stunning Archetype series?
I’ve always loved oracle cards. They’re such precious pieces of tiny art with meaning. I wanted to create something like that for myself with my own artwork, using symbols that mean something to me specifically. I didn’t realize when I started how expensive it would be to turn them into cards. I love the archetypes. It’s like a whole world fit into ten or twelve prototypes. It’s a framework for understanding the people around me.
Your art for me has a very wonderful Primal/Totem feel is there a reason for this?
I went thru a stage where I did a whole series about fairytales. And then I was done. I had created the art that interested me. I think it was the story behind the fairy tales….the resonance of the person who sort of got lost in the telling, that make me light up. I’m incredibly drawn to celtic and Native American stories as well. And again, I always think…what’s happening with the people around the main characters in the story? What was going on in their lives?
I think the myths of history are such a deep well to draw from creatively.
And because they still resonate so strongly, I know that there is something there for everyone.
How does spirituality and art intertwine for you?
Well, I’m a feminist. I guess that’s pretty clear from my art. I recently heard Sister Chittister relate that she thought the world is operating from half it’s knowledge, the male half. That’s not bad in itself, but it needs the other half. She told a sufi story that sums it up for me. The students were all asking their master…”what will happen to us when you die? What will become of us? The master looked at the students and said, all these years I’ve been with you I’ve been pointing at the moon. I hope that when I die, you will finally look at the moon”.
For me, art is my way of pointing at the moon. My way of pointing to the mystery and magic of the spiritual part of my life.
Sometimes it’s just in the little details that I notice as I go about creating….and sometimes it’s something bigger. At least I hope it is.
What does Intuitive mean to you? How do you live Intuitively?
For me, intuitiveness is getting out of my brain. And into my heart. It’s my way of getting in touch with how I feel so I can convey that as an artist. I live intuitively in my art every day. I don’t plan a piece of art. I just start and let it speak to me. Sometimes I don’t get anything. Sometimes I get more than I bargained for…..and sometimes I hit a sweet spot and I know I am on purpose in my life in that moment.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
I know most artists will be able to relate to this statement. In the beginning I wanted every new tool, gadget and gizmo. I was 34 before I ever created a piece of art. So I practiced and practiced and grabbed all the new stuff and I do believe that better tools give you a better result. These days though, I’ve realized that sometimes, for me, all that stuff is a way not to begin my art. So I use old books repurposed as a journal or canvas or cardboard. I cannot live without gesso, gel matte medium and neocolors. If were going to be stranded I would want those three things. My teacher…I guess I would have to say that life is my teacher and the internet. Wow! The internet is a happy teacher for sure. All the ideas, and art, and creativity are a happy thing.
What are you saying YES to these days?
Myself and my vision. No one else’s. I’m saying yes to all the parts of myself. The grungy whiny parts and the glorious beautiful ones too. The complaints and the gratitude. The light and the dark. Every artist knows…a piece of art is no good without both.
What lights you up? Turns you on? Makes your heart quicken?
Color. Lots and lots of color. I have to say too…I teach at a local nonprofit as a volunteer. I’ve got thousands of hours invested in those kids. They light me up in the same way that my art does. I have a passion about creating a space for them to be safe enough to feel what they feel. And helping them to convey that artistically is one of the great joys in life.
What do you want everyone to know?
That everyone is an artist. Everyone has that ability. They just have to let themselves believe that. That the more you are in touch with who you are….the better the world is.
Tell me when the light went off and you wanted to show your art/be an artist?
When I was 34, my twin sister gave me a set of watercolors for Christmas. I was horrible with watercolors. But there was something about the way it made me feel, something about creating that I knew was for me. It was a clarity of expression that I had not really known until then. I haven’t looked back once since that day.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
I plan to keep doing what I’m doing. Distilling who I am and what I feel into my art. Teaching and passing that on to the high risk children who may not have an opportunity like that in their daily lives.
Pointing at the moon.
You can find Fonda on Facebook or over on her website. You can also find Fonda’s original mixed media paintings HERE!
Apr 27, 2015 | Global
As I was INterviewing Jen Louden she said something that helped me energetically shift.
She said: “There were many subtle ways in which I thought I needed to be somebody other than I was. Especially in my work, someone wiser or a better speller! I had such the impostor syndrome when I published my first book at 27 or 28. For so many years of teaching and speaking I would think how dare I be doing this! What is so beautiful is when young wise woman claim their life experience for where they are. There is a humbleness in this claiming of what I know right, right here!”
I have been feeling exactly like this, as I step into my role of artist/teacher/healer.
I think: “I may be too young to be able to help others heal.” Although I don’t wholeheartedly believe this, but remnants of doubt still exist in my soul.
In my photography work it isn’t unheard of to have a young sharp entrepreneur, in fact they are often sought out for their “fresh perspective.” This seems to not translate the same way in the world of healers or teachers. In both my own perspective as well in some I have encountered they share the same thought that only age brings wisdom. I am shifting these beliefs around my own thoughts surrounding the value of my story and the wisdom my stories carry.
Years do not necessarily equate to more knowledge.
I have these parts in me that squirm when I think of teaching/leading through writing healing work or when I think of writing a book (which I dream to do). What is it I could possibly have to offer, I think? People won’t take me seriously, what do I have to say at this young of an age?
Perhaps it is true my story has less chapters as of now than most teachers/healers, however does this mean it is lacking in depth? Does this mean it is void of value, wisdom, truth?
These last few months I have literally jumped off the rocky mountain into a role I have craved for as long as I can remember: “Artist” in it’s multifaceted meanings felt like slipping into a cool calm lake after a hot, tiresome summer day of work.
What I know to be true even more than that I am an artist is I am a story teller.
I translate through word, photograph or collage the events unfolding in my life and in others lives into a tangible story. This is my gift and my calling.
In many ways I have eased into this role over the course of all my years as I discovered more and more about what this path I have chosen looks like and allowing the universe to co-create with me. There is a great deal of trust happening and it has to be this way. This choice in unnerving in many ways. It isn’t convenient at times. It isn’t the safest route. However it makes me come alive, thrive!
A conscious choice opens up your mind, body and soul.
Ideas flow as my brain is activated in healthy imaginings. Which means my anxiety is nearly nonexistent.
My body desires to exercise again and has joy welling out of it, laughing all the time.
My soul feels fed- taken care of and is getting me out in nature again.
As all aspects of me are activated -Mind-Body-Soul- I realize how intrinsically valuable my story is and how it is worth telling. I realize a deep craving to hear or read your stories, to provide a safe container or platform for this to occur. I realize how big these desires are. I realize how much I believe in this truth: Both the teller and the listener can be healed.
“Writing is a full-circle experience of healing.” -Tina Welling (Pg.139, Writing Wild)
I believe in this truth.
Wether you are much younger than I or much older, your story is worth telling because you are human. Period. If I believe this -which I do- then I must believe this as my truth too.
Worth isn’t found in experience, years, trophies or incomes it is found in human existence. It is found in love.
Apr 25, 2015 | Global
“I believe the art journaling movement is a revolution for self expression.”
A few days ago Dawn DeVries newest book and follow up to the incredible 1,000 Artist Journal Pages , was released into the world, A World of Artist Journal Pages.
Expanding the original concept of peeking into the journals of a few artists to encapsulate 230 artists from all over the world.
I knew my copy was in transit, however the excitement was too great to wait. Knowing a copy sat on a local book shelf somewhere. I had to find it. So I did.
I have flipped through it’s pages already a total of three times. Soaking in the visual magic. Reading the interviews. Collecting the names of many new to me artists whom I can’t wait to look up and delve into more.
The genius of this book is already overwhelming. I hope everyone takes the time to really dig into the artists that contributed. Visit their websites and say hello!
I honor everyone whom contributed for putting their voice and soul out there to inspire the world.
*Gratitude* All over the place.
As a girl of 19 I found 1,000 Artist Journal Pages, still a fledgling in the art world, I consumed it! As well as every book I could find on the topic of art journaling or altered books.
Now as a woman whom has recently spread her wings in this Devine Creative Collective, I feel I have come full circle by being featured and included. (Pages 200-203)
It is an honor to walk along side each and every artist in this book. Or more literally to be published along side of you. It is an honor to have Dawn DeVries curate such a beautiful compilation of voices and creative expressions. With a bow down Thank You! I hope everyone goes to support the fiery souls who created A World of Artist Journal Pages.
You can buy a copy HERE. Or pick one up at your local book store.
Much love and light,
Ashley Fincham
(Or as you will find me in the book Ashley Fielden!)
A few artists to check out while you wait for your copy:
Erin Faith Allen
Orly Avineri
Galia Alena
Brian Kasstle
Katie Kendrick
Juliette Crane
Apr 24, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
This is a woman whom you are going to want to know by the end of reading this. I mean really look at those paintings?
I saw Flora’s work once on Pinterest and that once was enough for me to know and fall in love with it’s spirited, vibrant and down to earth movement of paint. She leads these sensational workshops which I was privileged to take part in a few years ago at Call of the Wild Soul where she infuses movement of body and paint, intentions and letting go in the most beautiful way. Flora is an incredible teacher and woman and I have been so looking forward to releasing this INterview so you can fall in love too! Check out her offerings at the end oh can’t wait!
Flora Bowley is an internationally celebrated painter, workshop facilitator, top-selling author, visionary and inspirationalist. Her soulful and transformational approach to painting (and living) has inspired thousands of people across the globe to “let go, be bold and unfold” as they move through fear and welcome joyful spontaneous expression back into the creative process. Combining twenty years of professional painting experience with her background as a yoga instructor, massage therapist and lifelong truth seeker, Flora infuses her teaching and painting style with a deep connection to body, mind, and spirit. This unique fusion offers up a truly transformational experience—one that honors intuition, self-discovery and the perfectly ever-changing present moment..
Lets think about yoga for a moment and allow it to guide us through the first three questions:
What does your inner wisdom want you to take in/absorb/feel with your inhale?
I believe that our souls possess a divine wisdom that is always present, but it is our constant work to remember, honor and act on this wisdom. Inhaling seems like an ideal time to tap into this kind of remembering — remembering that I belong, that I am forever connected to all things, that I am right where I am supposed to be.
What does your inner wisdom desire you to embrace/know/honor in the pause?
For me the pause is about presence. I believe cultivating full presence is one of the biggest gifts we can offer ourselves in terms of being fully connected, aware, and rooted in gratitude. So often our busy story-making minds are writing their own versions of what is actually happening at any given time. I think for me the pause is becoming present and letting go of the ‘story’ and just being in the beingness, if you will.
What does your inner wisdom say you need to release/make room for with the exhale?
I am constantly working to let go of rushing, over-doing, and my tendency to get ahead of myself which can all be boiled down to a feeling of not enough-ness. In the exhale, I am letting go of not enoughness and accepting that whatever is happening is actually just right, and accepting that I don’t need to be a super woman every day!
What are you saying YES too?
A friend recently asked me: “What feels like low hanging fruit to you right now — like what feels reeeeealy easy and doable without a lot of efforting? I LOVE these questions and have been thinking about them a lot. I’m happy to realize that what is lighting me right up right now are also the things that feel easy. For example, I am taking the year off from traveling to teach in my Portland studio. Being on my home turf feels extremely nourishing and easy, and as a result, I feel super lit up about it. So that’s a full bodies YES for me — rooting down, letting people come to me, not feeling like I have to run myself ragged traveling all over the world. I am also loving the collaboration work I am doing with various people right now. I am a natural collaborator, and I love the magic that happens when people come together to share ideas and cross-pollinate their inspiration to birth something new. That is really lighting me up these days.
What are you bow down, kiss the ground grateful for?
Gratitude is a practice I have incorporated into my life in many ways. I just recently made a list of 100 things I am grateful for, but I could have kept going way past 100! I truly feel that my life is blessed, and
staying connected to gratitude allows for even more goodness to flow in.
One thing I am really grateful for is having parents who loved and accepted me in all my quirkiness. They encouraged me to explore what I really loved, and instilled in me this idea that I can do anything. I’m also forever grateful that I am able to do work in this world that I am truly passionate about and that makes such a positive impact in the world. To me, this is the dream.
Tell me how you rise up in fullness?
A huge piece of rising up in fullness is about trusting myself — trusting my instincts, my intuition, my inner wisdom, my curiosity.
When I can come from a place of trust, it becomes easier and easier to make bold choices and fully own my voice and style. The second piece to rising up is about staying honest about what feels truly inspiring and interesting to me in any given moment. This means not allowing myself to get caught up in what other people want or expect, but honoring the fire of inspiration instead. When I do find myself trying to people-please, there tends to be a real staleness in my work — it’s like you can feel the inauthenticity.
What projects have come out of when you have rose up in your fullness?
My workshops are a really good example of rising up and staying true to myself because I bring in a lot of aspects of my life that are not just about the painting process. I incorporate ceremony, intention setting, movement, music and community — all things I am passionate about. In these ways, it is a really holistic body-mind-spirit approach to the creative process that comes directly from my own life experience. Its been really affirming to see so many of my interests swirling together to create a really unique offering, and I think it’s what has set me apart in a lot of ways. Its such a natural offering for me because it is simply who I am.
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
Health. Vitality. Getting my heart beat up everyday!
If I can connect with my physical body, breath and movement, the leap to connect to intuition
and something greater than myself is much easier.
If I am not moving my body and feeling kinda sluggish, it’s much harder for me to access my creative process and find my flow. I exercise a lot, I do yoga, and I often dance while I paint. It all feels really connected to me.
What kind of lover do you want to be to yourself? What love are you giving to yourself?
My word for this year is nourish and it really sums up where I am at and why I am choosing to stay home this year. I got pretty burnt out from over-doing and over-traveling, so I had to recalibrate and reevaluate my priorities. I am loving myself these days by being really gentle, nourishing my spirit and doing a lot self care. I no longer see self care as indulgent. I am learning to accept it as the foundation I need for everything else in my life to “work.” Getting massages, eating healthy food, going to yoga and connecting to nature are all important parts of of this foundation.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
This might sound ridiculous, but I got a dog in June and she has become one of my great teachers in this lifetime — teachers do come in many forms! She has added so much love, snuggles and more time outside every single day. Time with her is just such a gift. In addition to my dog guru, I have always considered the women in my life to be some of my greatest teachers. The depth and wisdom I find with my peers and friends is immeasurable — so much mirroring and reflecting, woah! Finally, I would say my personal painting practice is one of my greatest teachers. Even after twenty plus years, I learn something new every single time I step up to a blank canvas — never a dull moment.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
This circles back to the very first question about remembering, because for me, this is what life is all about. Remembering why I am here, recognizing my gifts and figuring out how to share them with others.
I also believe we are all here on a healing journey in one way or another. For me, it’s about learning to love myself and others in a much deeper and bigger way.
I’d say that’s my mission in life.
Want some monthly inspiration to nourish your creative soul? Check out Flora’s up coming series: Studio Diaries!
This May she will be releasing a beautiful monthly subscription offering videos including painting exercises, interviews, live studio painting sessions, yoga and holistic nutrition videos.
We can’t wait!
Also try her ground breaking workshop Bloom True!
‘Bloom true: the E-course’ presents a groundbreaking and transformational approach to painting (and living) that celebrates intuition, connects body, mind and spirit and allows unique and expressive paintings to emerge naturally and authentically.
The next Bloom True E-course will begin on June 1st, 2015. Registration for the course is now open.
