On December 2nd, I participated in the first annual evening of “The Enlightened Heart: A Tribal Trust Artisan Collective.” This was an event organized among several artists to both have an opportunity to support the incredible efforts of the Tribal Trust Foundation and to share our creative endeavors. The Tribal Trust Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the living arts and culture of indigenous people around the world. I have had the pleasure of cultivating a friendship with Tribal Trust founder Barbara Savage over the past year and am so grateful and inspired by her presence in my life and on this earth. She has traveled extensively throughout Africa and Asia, and other parts of the world, following her own personal and spiritual calling to connect with and help indigenous people. She is a shining example of the force for good that happens when we follow the voices and messages deep within us.

The Enlightened Heart event was a lovely evening and I was honored to share in it. For my offering, I set up a mini-studio and invited people to hold, or wear, different tribal artifacts that Barbara has been gifted on her journeys. I believe that sacred items contain the energy of the hands that created them, and my intention was to create a representation of our connection to all people and traditions. I chose to process and crop them in the style of old world tribal portraits. Some are cheeky, some serious. I love them all! I also created greeting cards from nostalgia inspired iPhone images, that are now on sale in my temporarily re-opened Etsy store. The very talented John Balkwill at Lumino Press did the layout.  Check them out. I think you will find them quite beautiful.

It felt so wonderful to create again, after such an introspective period in my life. Thank you to the beautiful people who allowed me to photograph them! Enjoy the sampling below.

Barbara Savage and her husband, Bob Ornstein.

this past week has offered repeated opportunities to be in the presence of strength, power, and humility. of grace, resilience, and commonality.

i hugged a Nobel Peace Prize winner, supported a deep and spiritually-skillful woman laboring to birth her first child, and shared a 2am meal with the radiant midwife who caught my own two children. i photographed a newly minted Birth Center that was manifested through the passion and persistence of an old friend. i sat on a large warm rock with another friend and chanted a duet to Laxmi. i felt the sky pour down rain, the sun shine golden, the autumn wind, the waxing moon, and stars bright just before dawn.

i witnessed subtle and profound exchanges. humanity and divinity meeting. energy reserves pushing through thresholds. the joy of accomplishment and the necessity of having our pain felt by another.

i no longer question why it is me who is called to these encounters. i no longer ask “how did i get here?” when i am in a moment with another that astounds me.

i know that i am here to experience, capture, and share beauty and connection.

to be in the presence of.

and that all i must do is surrender and remain in a state of awe.

photo: Lucila. A traditional midwife in her home exam room. San Luis de La Paz, Guanajuato, MX. August 2011. Her story coming soon.

i am awake this morning. the heaviness of sleep still with me, my mind quiet and calm. the energy of a new month is palpable, the transition of summer into fall closer than seems possible. i feel movement, stirring, readiness to embody the callings that i’m hearing. there is a solidness to the experience of now, that kind of foundational fortitude that i’ve longed for. i am here and i am ready to go.

it has been nearly 16 months since i have taken a journey for the doorways project. the past year (and then some) was about the personal, the archival, the intimate, and the healing. i have had the profound opportunity to come into deeper relationship with myself, with my partner, and with powerful, transparent, and heart-led friends during this time.

what i know to be ever more true is that our relationships with one another are the true doorways to our freedom. the whole experience of connection is, i believe, the most effective and powerful way to create change within ourselves and in the world. it is in relationship, true revealed meetings,  where the spiritual meets the human. and as i become more in alignment with my own heart, with yearning and passion, longing and enlivenment, it is becoming more clear that relationships are the flares that are thrown up to show me where i ought to go.

and so i continue to go toward the people and places that trigger me. the ones that wake up something inside that cannot be argued with. it is an experience of the known alongside the hunger, the being and the yearning. it is the obvious alongside the revelation.

the next stop for the doorways project is mexico, where i will document midwives and mothers alongside two outstanding organizations who are, literally, saving women’s lives. the first is CASA. the second is One Heart World-Wide. CASA has mexico’s first (and only) government recognized school for the preparation of culturally appropriate, professional midwives. One Heart World-Wide is the only organization working in the the copper canyon with the indigenous Tarahumara who are suffering the highest maternal mortality rates in north america. i was able to hear each of the founders of these organizations speak through Direct Relief International in the past year; nadine goodman for CASA and arlene samen for One Heart World-Wide. during each of their presentations, i felt something stir within me, knowing that a doorway was appearing. both CASA and One Heart are dedicated to the saving of women’s lives in childbirth through the training of skilled midwives.

for many years, i thought i would be a midwife when i “grew up.” while that was not to be, i value the training and education i received through apprenticing with midwives and attending births as both a doula and, briefly, as an OB nurse in hospital. when the work of One Heart and CASA was brought to my attention, i felt sure that this was a doorway wherein i could use my current skills and platform as well as the education and birth experience from my past. i speak the language of mothers and childbirth, as well as the language of imagery and story. when the opportunity to travel to mexico and document the work of these organizations presented itself to me, i knew that i had to go.

everything you need to know about this project is here. i have launched a kickstarter campaign to fund the project and to make it a reality. it really is quite simple. the door is open and you can help me to walk through it. together, we have the opportunity to raise awareness and to save women’s lives.

and so it goes. another door, another step toward freedom.

much love.

ps. i’ve got a fun tell-all guest post up at the adesso blog today. check it out here.

photo: betty, my guide and translator in uganda. april 2011. doorways project in collaboration with cafwa.

there are the people with whom we have relationships with that are sustained simply because of proximity, history, and habit. the ones that might leave us feeling depleted rather than filled, badgered rather than buoyed. then there are the ones that engage and rapture. the ones that base themselves in a willingness to show flaw and foundation, rawness and revelry, and serve to reassure us that we are ok. these are the real ones. the ones that offer belonging. the ones that show us ourselves. the ones that will always default to the truth that we are inherently good. the ones that see beyond our limitations and know our potential–and that want for us to get there.

i was surrounded by some real ones this past week in london. my daughter was able to meet them, too. centered around the wedding of sas and ash, our travels were filled with generosity, beauty, and raucous laughter. sas, susannah, leonie, emma, penny, jo and megg have already posted about the main event. it was all that and more. timeless, elegant, relaxed and refined. tear jerking and honest. witty and, again, real. and in the company of these women, and their men, i felt elevated. welcomed, fit, and home.

the rest of our trip was spent touring about castles, palaces and abbeys. shopping regent street and seeing war horse (amazing). we shared bbq (and then some) with the newlyweds, the wise’s, and the dynamic canadian/brit duo. we slept soundly in the chic quarters offered us by leonie and nic, and we finished our travels with a train ride to bath and a fabulous lunch with sus.

i am home now, ready to enjoy my man and my family, plant an herb garden, and prepare for my next documentary project (mexico-next month). everything with the intention to keep it real. and in the company of only the real ones.