In early 2021, I created my own week-long creative immersion to synthesize the inner work I'd been exploring over the last six months with my soul coach. 

During my retreat week week, I set the intention of quietude: powering down electronics, music, podcasts, and cell phones so that I could really give myself the full experience of the inner listening available through a vipassana retreat, but in a softer, more feminine spirit that also allowed my creativity and sensuality to emanate as the Bindu.

Combining my interests in art, meditation, expressive movement, the chakra system, sound healing, essential oils, and bilateral drawing, I began each day with breath work, aromatherapy, and journal prompts specific to the particular chakra I was exploring, followed by a walking meditation in nature to listen and connect with my inner guidance, along with preparing fresh, nourishing foods specific to each energy center.

In the afternoons, I'd sit it in stillness in the center of the blank canvas, explore gentle asana warmup, and connect with the energy of color as I prepared my paints. After my mandala meditation, I'd take myself on a second integrative walk, come home, and meditate again before bed.

Unplanned, this seven-day exploration culminated on my 36th birthday with the Crown chakra. While this experience wasn't without the challenge of self-discipline and stamina, it also felt incredibly creative and expansive.

My dreams began arising to the forefront of my consciousness in a way I had never experienced. I began receiving messages from my dreams that came as vital pieces of the puzzle in my waking life, and I received new insights and inspirations for my creativity. 

I cannot recommend taking the time to create a home retreat more highly, even if for half a day.

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​Expressed in this first video, the Muladhara, or Root chakra, orients us in the sacred temple of our bodies. It is where we claim our sense of safety and security, our right to exist, and our right to have what we need to not only survive, but ultimately to thrive.
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Learn more about the psychological benefits of bilateral drawing
Chakra Sound Healings from Sonic Yogi
Suggested reading on the psychology of the chakras: Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self by Anodea Judith

I began this painting the day my heart got broken open over the summer. I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time, but I later came to see that it was becoming a meditation on personal resiliency, strengthening of self worth, and giving thanks for abundant healing Nature offers us, right down to the symbolism of the dahlia flower and succulent plants.

Most of the flora was grown in my garden, and the turkey feathers were gifts I found on my walks in Swan Point Cemetery.

By far the most technically challenging painting I’ve attempted, it feels so good to have stuck with it through all the uncertainty and barfy moments, lol! The magic of the finishing touches with those pops of sky blue and amethyst made it all worth it.

I feel so grateful to be sharing this art and these words 💜💜💜 it feels like I just completed a marathon!

Prints available here.