INterview With Danielle Cohen

Mar 12, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography

(Right photo by: Catherine Just)

Danielle and I met in the midst of the Petaluma foothills on a sunny California day. Her camera was in tow as well as several copies of Amulet Magazine.

Our first meeting was brief, it wasn’t until a few days later when she photographed the stunning Sage Goddess Athena that I understood how profound and deeply intuitive she is. Danielle and I since then have been able to share conversations as well as work together. She is a truth teller. A rhythm maker. A story teller.

You get what you see. And I see a whole lot of love and drive.

 Danielle Cohen: I am a photographer of intimacy, moments in between and full out embodied power. I work with creative mavens, lovers and beautiful humans ready and wanting to be seen or to see themselves more fully. I love my big camera, my iphone camera and my Polaroid cameras. I am also an intuitive, strategic guide and mentor and co-founder of Amulet. I’m a lifelong learner, devoted to practice, to devotion itself and to the 4 beautiful souls that chose me as their mama.

The beauty I see in the world and people around me, soothes and inspires me, reflecting it back out for all to see, fills me with purpose and pleasure. It is my deep desire for each one of us to know our full worth and to be able to meet our own gaze with pure love and adoration. From this place of beauty, love, peace and full awareness of our worth, I believe the most profound healing and change is possible.

Let’s start with the most fundamental question: why do you create?

You know for so long I would’ve denied my creative expressions. Made them so small you’d barely see them with a magnifying glass. But the truth is I’ve always created, I think we all do. For some it’s spreadsheets or smiles or freshly mowed grass and for others it’s pictures or paintings or word stories or babies or incredible birth experiences, or social media posts or speeches that change the world, but no matter what we’re all creating all the time even if it’s just the creation of the next moment.

What inspires you to create this work?

As a photographer, person who writes stuff and mentor, woman and mama all of my work is anchored by one question:

What is it you really want?

It’s the thing I want to know most from my clients and the question that I keep alive for myself always. I truly believe our deepest desires are divine and healing and incredibly powerful. I think it’s these deep inclinations, cravings and loves that will lead us to our most fully expressed lives and will fuel our devotion.

I think that most people know, intellectually, that “going after what you want” is a good idea. We “know” this. But “knowing” isn’t always the same as “believing,” “owning” or “doing.” You might know, for example, that treating yourself to a massage or carving out sacred space and time for yourself and your pursuits or taking time to rest and replenish your spirit is a smart idea. But when it comes right down to it, those types of things — generous, self {and other} loving things — are too often the first things to get deleted from our calendars. We tell ourselves things like, “I don’t have time” or “I don’t really deserve this” or “I can’t afford this” or “I need to finish XYZ before I am allowed to have ABC.” I truly believe and really intend for my work to serve as reminders that, You really do deserve to be happy and feel satisfied. It’s OK and safe and good to take exquisite care of yourself.

You are precious. You are worth it. You are allowed to do whatever you need to do… to feel fully alive.

Your work with woman and lovers is — dare I say it? Fucking amazing! — I have watched the evolution of your work for a year and a half now and I love what you offer to this world!

You’re so so kind. My work is interesting in that I truly don’t feel like I’m doing anything other than reflecting back the incredible humans that I’m SO lucky to work with. I’d say my work is 90% my clients and 10% me {it’s an important 10% though lol}!

Do you have a sacred space? What does sacred mean to you?

I have so many sacred spaces. I have to. And more than anything I strive to treat my body/temple as a sacred space every single moment. It’s been a long and often challenging lesson but it feels so good to be grounded in a practice of that kind of self love. I do believe most anything and anywhere can become “sacred” if you choose to make it so.

My bed is a sacred space. The ocean, near my home, is a sacred space. When I pick up my camera to do a portrait session with a client, that is a sacred moment as well.

I believe you can elevate most anything, and any place, into something that feels “sacred.” All you have to do is decide to really BE there.

Full bloom. Truly present. Engaged and excited. Alive.

What’s more sacred than that?

Rituals can be a multitude of things. What are a few of your tried and true rituals?

In a word, love is my ritual. Creating love, making love, being in love, reflecting love out to the world and being surrounded by people and things I love.

Sometimes this looks like self massage {I’m obsessed with this adore pomegranate breast oil, which is a delicious scented oil that you can rub on your chest. It has cancer-fighting antioxidants and it smells amazing}.

Sometimes this looks like full on ritual with sage, intentions, prayer, singing bowls, crystal infused water and dancing under the moonlight with sisters.

Most days it looks like morning meditation {oftentimes with my 5 year old girl right beside me}. And almost always it looks imperfect!

What does your inner rhythm look like? Feel like? Do you have things you do that help support this rhythm? How you find your rhythm?

Oooooh, my inner rhythm looks like liquid, luminous gold and fire and water and air and earth in total harmony. It might sound like moonlight sonata. Other days it feels like an ice storm or hurricane or walking through a wildfire and sounds more like a song by Lamb of God LOL! Lots of days it’s a mix of all of the above.

I do lots of pausing, lots of moments to recalibrate, reground and breathe.

In our home I strive to lighten our material load and lesson the visual and tactical clutter as much as possible. This is huge. I’m a highly, highly sensitive person so I also do things like play music that really helps me start the day centered and begin to unwind from the day in a calm and happy way. Sometimes this feels selfish and in those moments I have to walk my talk around self care and desires and having what I want/need. When I do these things our whole household hums along more happily. It’s funny how what can feel selfish can often be what creates the most harmony. When I feel disconnected from my rhythm and need to find it again it can look like solitude and stillness or connection and movement. I might hermit in my bed with a journal and some good meditation music or silence or I may go to nature and walk hard, feeling the earth below me. Other times I’ll connect with a girlfriend and laugh my ass off or be enveloped by good loud music and dance dance dance. And very often it involves me and my camera. My camera puts me in a state of witnessing, suddenly the mess by the front door becomes art ~ a fleeting moment in my families story. I have a million examples of how this works for me. As a mom with four kids — all different ages, some still living at home, some not. There are a lot of people who need my care and attention. In order to show up for my family — while also taking good care of myself — I have to create and maintain my boundaries.

This means saying “no” to a lot of requests and a full on “yes” to others. It also means that I periodically need to “cleanse” my schedule — going through and hunting for personal commitments or projects that are draining my energy, and either removing them or adjusting them. I have become lovingly protective of my time and energy. Fierce, mama bear protective. I don’t always succeed “perfectly” with my self-protection and preservation… but I keep striving.

 How do you nourish your wellbeing on a typical day?

Very similar to {re}finding my rhythm. In addition it’s often all about getting back to basics: sleep, good food, quiet time, fun time, creative time, a walk by the ocean or in the forest. Simple pleasures ground me and revitalize my energy. Oh, and of course… time with my camera! I love going for photo-walks, hunting for beautiful moments and treasures. Anything and everything is beautiful. Even garbage. Even grief. It’s all about how you capture it and frame it.

How do you most like to celebrate your body?

# 1 ~ kindness. This quote says it all for me

“and i said to my body. softly. ‘i want to be your friend.’ it took a long breath. and replied, ‘i have been waiting my whole life for this.’” ~ nayyirahwaheed

My road to body and self kindness has been a long one. Arriving at kindness has been one of the most freeing and energizing experiences of my life. I practice the celebration of my body through self portraiture, self massage, loving touch from others, movement that feels good, receiving compliments, feeding myself when I’m hungry, sleeping when I’m tired, holding my own gaze with love and words that lift up.

 Lastly, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I plan to… Live. Fully, long and big and to love the same.

I plan to… Capture love with my camera. Men, women, couples, families, businesses. Love stories of every kind.

I plan to… Continue to attract and connect with gorgeous sister friends like you. <3

I plan to… Create and reflect beauty out in to our world as much and as well as possible. Beauty is divine, beauty heals. {and beauty is flawed and messy and perfect}.

I also plan to… Tenderly inspire people to answer important questions.

Help men and women {young and old} to go after exactly what they want — and get it.

Be a present, energized, loving, happy and attentive mom, wife, friend, artist and business owner.

Be what Mister Rogers would call “a helper.” Someone who is caring, compassionate and striving to create and see goodness in a complicated, sometimes troubled and always beautiful world.

Those are my plans.

They feel wild and precious indeed.

Want more of Danielle Cohen?

You can book one of her crafted photo sessions. In love? Have a growing  family? Want to have photo’s made that tell the story of your soul?

She has sessions for it all.

 Let’s play with what else is possible.

Danielle Cohen is the co-creator of this yummy e-course: Gold: A 21 day course on practicing and owning your worth. Five amazing woman infused their love into this.

If you are going to invest in anything this year, invest in your own personal journey.

Life reflects back to you what you believe.. Believe you are worth all the goodness in the world. Sign up for GOLD! 

For 21 days we will explore our stories around worth and create practices that remind us we are solid + liquid + auric gold.

For 21 days, 5 women whose practice is to know their worth and who carry a deep desire for you to know yours

{because when we ALL know our worth, new worlds are born}

will share their stories, navigations and personal practices around worthiness.

Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram and her Website.

INterview With Alena Hennessy

Mar 6, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography

In the fall of 2013 I flew to manage and serve at one of the most wonderful and soulful art retreats around, Call of the Wild Soul.

. Alena Hennessy was teaching and I was there to manage and serve the retreats teachers and attendants.

Over the weekend and since then I have gotten to know her and her work so much better.

She is a  kaleidoscope of talents, stories and smiles that will make you swoon. She is vibrant and tenacious.

Achieving amazing things from books, e-courses, to running her own retreats, this girl is un-stoppable!

I am delighted to feature her today!

Alena Hennessy began making art at a very young age, way before she could write.

She would spend hours upon hours drawing on the back of her Grandmother’s dittos from school, making up imaginary worlds of

falling umbrellas, rainbow puddles, ant farms underground, horses with varying personalities, and of course some very fashionable ladies.

Since then her love of creating has evolved– branching out with a deep desire to assist others in finding their true voice in painting and mixed media art.

Alena is the author of Cultivating Your Creative Life, The Painting Workbook, and beloved teacher of the art-making process, both online and at select retreats.

“Art allows you to express what is beyond words.”

Oh lovely one, what does Sacred mean to you? Do you have a Sacred space?

Sacred space to me is always about going within. To me, Sacred is about living and breathing within the cosmos.  Its all so Sacred — every last bit.

The tragedy, the ecstasy… But when our hearts are moved, when they feel what is sometimes beyond words, when we feel so much smaller or bigger than the routine of daily life, or fall deep into the sweetness within the routine of daily life, that is Sacred. To me, everything that is alive is sacred.

What does mystery taste like?

When I smell the deep wet or sunlit woods…. I mean deep in the forest and hear water falling, or birds singing, a time out from the world,

I can taste mystery simply from that unaltered atmosphere.

“I often reflect, if Nature had a voice, what would she say? She has kept me wild for as along as I can remember. Riding bikes, hunting lizards, making mud pies, climbing and jumping off her long and sensual limbs… yes, if we keep her safe, she keeps us wild.”

Do you have any rituals?

I am practicing doing 7 salutations every morning at sunrise. I light a beeswax candle, I put a glass of water out before my yoga mat, and I begin.

Sometimes I light a little Palo Santo or sage. Then I sit and do some pranayama and meditation.

I am not perfect with this… I miss plenty of days… But when I do make time, my whole world is lit up a little more.

I also have a ritual of walking with my dog, taking photos, and bathing. I love candles and natural scents. I love lavender and rose buds that stick against my bathtub.

What does your inner rhythm look like? Feel like? What do you do if you feel off your rhythm and want to make your way back? Being in my body, present.

When I become out of sync with my natural rhythm, I see if  I am in my body or in my analytical mind. When I am in my body I am most relaxed. My rhythm fluctuates between that of a buzzing hummingbird or bee and a sleepy large cat that just wants to lie around in the sun. A lioness. Must be my double Leo talking. She loves to be pet… especially her mane. (wink).

 I need a good long walk on the beach or in the woods to find my way back, if I lose my natural rhythm. Also watching the sunset or sunrise, or dancing, does wonders for me. As does keeping good and kind company. Travel also has that magical way of making you grateful for what you do have, while humbling you to new experiences.

What helps with mending?

Crying it out…. Taking a nap. Laying in the sun under the trees. Talking with my mother or kindred sisters. Holding hands. Hugging. Making love. Anything within the sphere or love (and not fear) mends my being. All of it is taken within, whether I realize it or not.

I remember one time in my life, a handful of years ago, I was in what I would call a ‘black’ period. Dark night of the soul stuff. Karmic and Heavy. A lot of unwinding and grieving was taking place– which has its own course it needs to run. You can’t judge grief and you can’t control it, at least its just so much more helpful if you allow it to exist and pass through as it needs to. I’ve found it to be a good lesson on surrender in the deepest way. Anyway, I was sitting with big life decisions, marriage ending, new relationship questions, and all that. I was feeling distracted in my own head, up in the monkey mind, and due to time spent emotionally processing I noticed life started to pass me by. I was actually having an intense conversation on the phone with an ex while I was retreating in a sacred place. I was supposed to go snorkeling to some outer islands with this yogi group (snorkeling is one of my most beloved past times) and I missed the boat by a few minutes. Oh I was so angry at that moment… at the person keeping me on the phone, at myself for feeling so split and shut down and scared. So here I was in paradise just ‘in it.’ Heated. Steamy. I turned to a new friend (a wonderful Icelandic filmmaker — also a yoga teacher) and I told him how bad I felt for missing the boat and for why. I’ll never forget the look on this face. The sweetest smile spread out on his lips and his eyes turned upwards in kindness. He softly said to me, “but look where you are– in fact– there’s a dragonfly right in front of you. Beauty is always all around you. You are never separate from it.” Indeed there was a glimmering dragonfly right there, flapping forwards and backwards and all around above the flowers. Dragonfly has been one of my totem creatures for many years — one that has always symbolized transformation of spirit and change to me. My friends actually used to call me Dragonfly in college. It was a sweet moment of redemption and feeling humble. It was a moment of kindness given by the Universe.

How do you most like to celebrate your body?

Probably dancing or bathing. I like to take juicy baths, as stated previously. Also, adorning… Playing dress up. Play dress off. ;) You know, let the body do its natural thing. We are all sensual creatures, we just need to tap into what works for us as individuals — not what media or any other social outlet says.

How do you nourish your wellbeing on a typical day?

Eating well… Eating savory. We get a CSA delivered to our side porch every week with new local veggies from a variety of farms.

I also make tea in the morning. I make room and time for connection with myself and others. I also love to swim and steam at my gym.

“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity and her flaming self respect.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald 

What lights you up? Turns you on? Makes your heart quicken and dance around?

Good music.

My sexy beast (or gifted parter Matthew).

Travel photos of India or Italy…

Dripping paint.

Rich saturation.

Purity of heart… looking into a stranger’s eyes.

Being reflected honestly.

Being blown away by the absolute brilliant and intense world this is.

A genius benevolent mind and heart. A sincere smile.

Your divine feminine soul shines when?

She is fully loved and understood. She is appreciated in all ways, through her bright light endeavors, her sometimes gloomy shadows.

She is embraced and embraces. She gives and receives effortlessly and with ease.

She feels her embodied graceful spirit express itself without inhibition. She is water, fire, earth, and space….

She is seen.

Lastly, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Keeping living this dream as true to my heart as possible… inviting all kindred souls to come deepen and play.

Capturing each day, allowing none to pass me by. This is my intent.

“Art is a practice that you can have until the end of your days.

Cultivating your creative self is an endless exploration or thirst that never runs dry, but that which only deepens with time.”

 Desire to connect with Alena Hennessy?

>>>——————–> Sign up for her Muse Letters Here.

Artists from all over the world are still joining  Alena’s vibrant A Year of Painting — with now over 800 participants!

All lessons are downloadable and up for the entire year, so you can join at anytime (and receive a PDF of the course at the end).

You can also save over $62 off with code dancewiththepaint

Check into her up coming art retreats Here.

Connect with Alena on Facebook, Instagram and her website!