Unravelling the self through breathwork and photography

Hello my darlings,

I have been having such a ball in cyber space this week. I can’t tell you just how incredibly blessed I feel to be connecting with some of the most talented, creative, artistic and spiritual entrepreneurs.

Right now I’m feeling magnetically drawn to people who are teaching self awareness in new creative ways. As I find something I love, my immediate reaction is to share, share, share, share it with you.

Sooooooo, please allow me to enthuse about my latest findings!

As you know for my FB posts, I am passionate about connecting with the earth in my bare tootsies at the start of each day.

The feeling of dewy grass, warm grass or even  freshly cut grass, rocks my being into a beautiful newly energised state. There is something deeply grounding about this ritual.

This week I was so excited to find Jason and Jackie, beautiful teachers who have written an interactive, creative and spiritual online e-course which is helping me take my sole to soul practice to a whole new  level... and it’s only £35 for 30 days!

I have enclosed a copy of their latest blog post. Let me know if you are going to do it?

Photography is only one aspect of this course. Breath and deep spiritual connection is the essence of the work...

Enjoy Jason’s beautiful, inspiring article and his amazing photography...

It was as if I was actually under the ivy leaves, crawling barefoot through the moist greens of the undergrowth, smelling the earthy aromas that surrounded me and hearing the thoughts of the plants that crowded into my mind-space. In reality I was just taking photographs, exploring a patch of woodland floor no bigger than a grasshopper leap, but the truth is much vaster than that.

After spending most of my life taking nature photographs for national magazines and book publishers it’s a welcome relief to finally give myself permission to shoot for me; for my own nurturing and growth. When I shoot for myself my thoughts aren’t governed by commerce, by page layouts and the needs of my editors. I used to say that when I looked through my viewfinder I could see the exposure meter on the right and a money meter on the left, advising me of the potential earnings the shot could manifest for me. Now though it’s all about the conversations I enjoy with nature as, together, we conjure magical imagery together.

There’s a tangible connection to be enjoyed through the lens of a camera and it doesn’t matter if it’s a top flight digital SLR or a camera phone. It really does not matter. All that matters is the intention to engage in a visual conversation with the nature around us; to find out how the land is feeling today, what it has to say to us and which part of us it wants to mirror back.

Nature photography can be introspective. By studying what nature tells us we can discern the lay of our inner landscape and therein lies the real beauty of this connection. Our personal photographs of nature tell us as much about ourselves as they do about our subject, all we need to do is establish the connection to self before we commence our image crafting.

For the past couple of months I’ve employed a new technique of linking in with the land, maybe I should say ‘ancient technique’. I take off my shoes and remain still and focused for 100 breaths. That’s it. That’s all it takes for me to deepen into a place in nature that I’ve rarely visited before. 100 barefoot breaths in nature sinks my roots deep into the earth and allows my eyes to see the truth.

That’s how I find myself submerged in this tiny landscape, side by side with moss and fern, rubbing shoulders with beetles and bugs, hearing the intent of ivy and ladybird. This new connection with Mother Earth now drives my art and is the basis of the photo assignments I’ve created for our Essence of Wild Barefoot Breathing e-course. The barefoot tribe will be exploring the relationship between the outer landscape of nature and the inner landscape of the Soul. We’re going to tune in to what nature has to say to us and about us.

Our connection to Mother Earth is in our bones. All we need do is breathe it in.

If you are going to do it, let me know and we can share our experiences! Do these types of articles interest you?

Love,
Dawn xxxx