ReConnect: Get Unstuck and Find Your Magic: Online Course Announcement!

Today I’m shouting from online rooftops with news of an amazing course offered by my wonderful friends Willo O’Brien and Mati Rose. They are offering Re-Connect,  a 5-week  e-course that’s of the ‘this will change your life for the better’ kind. I signed up and am so excited, I want all my friends to join me. Life is a journey, and more beautiful with good company!

Click here to view more details

And for those of you who want to read more, right here right now, for you:

Feeling lost at sea, stuck or disconnected? This ecourse is your ticket home! RE:CONNECT is all about just that… reconnecting with your voice, your body, your creativity and your magic!

In this 5-week online e-course, we’ll take you on a journey to get unstuck, and cultivate:

•  more clarity around what you want
• more peace in your body
• more spaciousness in how you hold time
• more connection to your creativity
• more passion in all areas of your life

Mati Rose and Willo!

Dates and Details: Starts Monday, September 17th, and runs for 5-weeks, completing on Friday, October 19th. It’s online, so all material is available online when it’s most convenient for you.

Offerings:

• New content every day, 5 days/week
• Weekly videos with Mati & Willo
• Guest Contributions, including audio recordings, video and written interviews, lessons and guidance
• Inspiration & community support
• Live phone calls with Mati & Willo (triple yeah!)
• End of week wrap-up with takeaway for weekend

Find out more, View the List of Guest Speakers + Sign up: Re-Connect Me Please!

Emergence

As evening approaches
the scent of the tangerine
from breakfast
starts to make its way into the sky
she grabbed it at breakfast two days ago
thinking she’d want it later
she kept it
in the spirit of we’ll see what happens

Looking at the three giant trees
huddled close by yet standing
each emerging on their own
the wind whispers, that isn’t just one tree
underneath the roots flow together
and what you see as three is really one

In the sky she sees the bright one
north star
it knows its place
she wants to feel confident in her place
she wants to be curious

The feeling deepens
it lingers exactly
like the scent of a stargazer
in the moment of the opening

The butterfly opens her right wing, then her left
for the first time
but in her imagination, she has done this movement always

Socially Responsible Travel and New Media Expedition to Costa Rica: Join Me (July 2012)

Want to travel to Costa Rica and do so in a way that contributes to cultural and environmental sustainability? AND learn new media skills? Join me this summer for the MONTEVERDE NEW MEDIA EXPEDITION. Together, we will work to create a multimedia project that digitally documents the Monteverde Cloud forest region in Costa Rica!

Who is this trip for? Is this for me?
Well that is for you to decide, but if your interest is perked, read below…many FAQ answered!  This trip is suited for both those with media skills who’d like to refine or put their craft into practice of social good, or for those who’d like to learn media skills. It is for everyone who wants to travel to Costa Rica!

FAQ answered…

Is this a vacation or work or what is this?
You know how some people travel to help build houses for communities they visit? And others travel to take yoga workshops and refine their practice? Same concept…you get to travel, explore a new place in the world, learn and refine skills and also contribute to a project that helps the community you visit. And make new friends in the process. Yeah for Socially Responsible travel!

Who is leading this? 
The core team organizing this is a group of media educators and artists who are committed to using our skills for social benefit, and sharing this process with others also interested in this way of life.

What is New Media and How/Why will this contribute to cultural and environmental sustainability? 
New Media is defined broadly as digital documentation in video, animation, oral audio storytelling reports, photography, blogs and also how this translates into the impact and action in the social media space

Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud forest is one of the most biologically diverse places on our planet. But like wild places around the world, its fragile ecosystem are under enormous stress. Being part of this NEW MEDIA EXPEDITION team, you will contribute to a multimedia project for local conservation and community groups working on the “Bellbird Biological Corridor – a project to reforest and re-connect a patchwork of forest, farms and communities from the MoneteVerde cloud forest down to the Pacific Ocean.

Great, but how would our new media documentation efforts help do this?
The goal of the expedition is to digitally illustrate the ecosystems and communities in the corridor — through short documentary filmmaking, digital animation & mapping, photos, audio and educational resources –  and make these tools accessible locally and to homes and classrooms worldwide.  By creating networks of learning and support, we will join forces with local communities to protect ecosystems and endangered species, and ultimately, the health of our planet.

Do I need to know media skills or be an expert of some sort to come on the trip?
Come as you are! You will work with trained filmmakers, journalists, multimedia producers and artists, and they will teach you skills from the ground up or work with you where you are. It’s like having a mentor who adapts to where you are at, and helps you source from your passions and strengths while equipping you with the how-to technical skills of how to express all of this as new media.

Do I need equipment?
We will have professional cameras on hand for the trip. But, if you have your own camera, we suggest you bring it. Why? So you can learn and get more experience on your own cameras and continue to use it when you get back home. Our trained media mentors will work with you using your own equipment, or if you don’t have a camera, no worries, we will have some on hand.

Costs and Dates
Travel dates are July 8-15 or July 14-21 (1 week) for $2000 or July 8-21 (2 weeks) for $3000.

This fee includes:

• lodging (double occupancy)
• all breakfasts, lunches and most dinners (Sunday off)
• instructor & workshop fees
• entrance fees to reserves, museums, waterfalls, and wild places while on assignments
• Internet service and classroom/work space
• in-country travel for all Expedition trips/activities
• experienced guides and Spanish language translation
• donation for tree planting to help offset CO2 from air travel (Air travel NOT included in the price)

Discounts – when applying note referral code: CINEMAGICAL

• Groups of 3-4 people are eligible for a 5% discount.  Groups of five or more are eligible for a 10% discount.
• Students and teachers are eligible to request an additional 5% discount.
• Those who sign up before May 18th will receive an additional 5% discount…on top of other discounts.

Ready to apply?
Apply here: http://bit.ly/CostaRicaTripAPPLY
Want to invite friends…Yeah – share this post with them: http://bit.ly/CostaRicaTrip_CM

Can’t make it this time, but want to help?
Thanks! You can help by spreading the word and sharing with friends and networks how may be interested.  You can share this post by using the social share buttons below:  email post,  share post on facebook, g+, pinterest, twitter, tumblr, email or old fashion style, printing the flier or  word of mouth! Remember use referral code CINEMAGICAL and ask for a discount if you are a student, teacher or apply before May 18!

Download FAQ_MONTEVERDE NEW MEDIA EXPEDITION

Zabeen!

Zabeen \zaa bean/  vb (adj)

1.         Starts off like a could’ve been, in the sense of wistfulness.  Maybe.  But better described by this anecdote: “Someone once described to me the Portuguese word  ‘Saudade’ – she said it meant to miss someone. Not just to miss someone, but more. Like when you are at the train station and the someone you love is on the train.”

2.         The moment before a departure when you miss someone like you may never see them again.

3.         A word best described by the above metaphorical anecdotes.

4.         A verb (that you can make into an adjective). A complex emotion in relation to someone.

vb. when I saw you I felt zabeen (towards you).

Adj. —fill in the blank—–

New ways to use Zabeen: When you are on the phone with someone you love (friend, family, lover), and you are about to hang up….”oh, zabeen already!”

“Slang”: To someone you are very fond of and use of zabeen frequently in your dialogues…. “hi, zabeen!, …..”

Stories that Awe: Practice and the Cultivation of Creativity

Video = 2 minutes. Inspiration and insight for as long as you want…

Background
Carpenter Sintayehu Tishale, 42, hammers in a nail using his feet in his workshop in Welete Suk, on the edge of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Born with a debilitating polio, Sintayehu became a carpenter and now makes furniture for people in his hometown, using only his feet to wield dangerous machinery and hammer the nails…and his mind and imagination to dream up the designs!

Practice and the cultivation of creativity
Sintayehu said: “When I was very young I used to like to work in a garden using my legs as hands. Later I began to fix small things like stools and practiced sharpening knives with my feet. I made sure to practice as much as I could because I knew I had to make me feet work like hands.”

Initially, Sintayehu was begging on the streets but when he met his wife, with her support he refocused his direction and taught himself to read and write and dedicate his life to developing his woodworking skills.

Wow!
Curious to learn more about this amazing man, check out this Huffington Post story, google him, channel Sintayehu in your dreams and see what he can teach you. Lead by example right?

For You

May you Be Embraced by Love

Mint on Green in Light: Moments of Being (+ Video)

Mint tea bag pre sunset post dinner at Spirit Rock in December.

That kind of light at that time of day
I remember meeting Selby that August day in 1993, in the Stebbins Berkeley co-op kitchen.  She was making a peanut butter sandwich, wearing a flannel shirt and rolled up jeans way before high risers were trendy and I thought: this lady is cool and sexy and has aura, I want to be her friend. There was not exactly a ray of afternoon sunshine coming through the window, but that is how it felt and feels when I think of Selby– that kind of light at that time of day embracing you with love.

Shutters that open and close 
It’s been over 11 years now, but if you go to the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, with your back to the building — walk out and take a left, go up one block, cross the street and there — there should be a food stand with the most delicious panini. Did I mention that the windows of Institut du Monde Arabe are 240 motor-controlled apertures? Like a camera they open and close in relation to the light.

Image of Institut du Monde Arabe shutters taken by batigolix, found on flickr and used via CC licence.

I was told this and went location scouting on my 1999 turning 2000 trip to Paris. It was breathtaking and I knew I wanted to share.  For those of you who’ve seen my film the to do list confessions, you will now notice this perhaps. And I did have a friend report that as of 5 years ago, the panini stand was still there, and still delicious.

Spirit

A few months ago I was at a school yard playing with my niece and nephew. We took a break from the playground and ran in the grass, did yoga, cartwheels that felt scary and then empowering, running, running out of breathe. While in a group downward dog my niece says, “The grass is dirty”. Her brother quickly agrees. I tell them that’s what washing up later is for. And heck, when I was a kid I probably ate grass. My niece, who is very by the rules, gets a twinkle in her eyes but asks, “Shall we eat the grass too? Hey, that’s kind of like when we put mint in our water, but not exactly”. Oops.  I tell her that I think the grass has changed a lot in the years and may not be as clean to eat (on occasion).  Now with all my stories of recalling specific places and instances, I can’t remember when and if I did eat grass, but it is highly likely. Just as there are so many memories that are not quite mine, but borrowed from conversations overhead in passion. One that was not borrowed but found. From the grass we went back to the playground and my niece confessed that she wanted to do a flip on the gymnastic bar but was scared. I showed her a secret way: cup your hand in between your eyebrows where you’ll find your third eye and focus your concentration on what you want to do.  Then take a deep breathe and extend your hand outwards in front of you, like you are pulling energy from your third eye and connecting into the world.  Repeat this movement and as you breathe in and out, let energy channel within you and find your spirit. We did this for three breathes and she said she was still scared. I confirmed that I would be holding her the whole time and that she may just feel better if she tried it, but she can do whatever she wants. She said “Ok”. “Wait”. The sun was about to set, she took the secret way and then told me she was ready.  The next day she got really frustrated with her brother. “R frustrates me sometimes. He is not exercising and he is not going to grow!” I tell her, well, he may frustrate you, but you have to understand that you can choose how you react. So, feel how you feel, but you are in charge and empowered to respond to the frustration or not, that has nothing to do with him. My niece responds, “I get it, I am empowered. I have the power. Because I’m the eldest right?”

Mint on Green in Light

 

The Search: The Seeker: The Spirit: An Evening of Films by Kirthi Nath

You are invited! Come join me on Saturday July 9, 2011 for a solo show of my personal film works. I will be showing a range of films from the last decade! Something new, something old, something magical…all mysteries revealed at the show. It would be delightful to see you there!

ATA,  3rdi and CAAM present: The Search: The Seeker: The Spirit
Saturday July 9, 2011
@ Artists’ Television Access (992 Valencia St, SF, CA 94110)
7 pm: Magical Raffles, Fun Times and Film Program

Kirthi Nath makes films that that seem spun from dreams. She has established a body of creative work that fluidly straddles genres, occupying a fertile landscape of cultural poetics, experimentalism, documentary and hybrid narrative. Tactile and dreamlike, her work explores storytelling, memory, desire, spirituality and cultural identities. “The Search: The Seeker: The Spirit”, presents a selection of Kirthi’s works that traces the impact and influence spirituality, meditation and The Artists’ Way has had on her films, both in terms of content and artistic process. The program will also include the premiere of her new film METTA, the third in her series of experimental documentaries about spirituality, a sneak preview from her new film, MOMENTS OF BEING: MAGICAL MESSAGES, as well as a magical raffle — proceeds of which will support her upcoming documentary, STORIES FROM THE PATH: STORIES ABOUT MODERN DAY MINDFULNESS. In the same way that Kirthi’s films are like poetic voyages into the landscape of emotions, tonight’s program also promises to be a journey…towards the cinemagical!

RSVP at the Facebook Event Page, leave a comment below or just show up!

Links:
Kirthi’s Film Website
Artists’ Television Access
3rdi South Asian Films (presenters of the San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival)
Center for Asian American Media (presenters of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival)

It Has Been Much Longer, Than I Wish (with new video)

As I was updating the writing section of my website, I could not help but update some of the writing as well. Not just text based edits, but multimedia style. For some, like “Are you there? I’m (For Lyn Hejinian)“,   I recreated the text as multimedia stories, for others – like this one below, I created new video companion pieces. Enjoy!

Companion text:

It Has Been Much Longer, Then I Wish

It has been way longer, then I wish.

Close your eyes and watch as the orange light shines in the surface. Next, point your chest toward the sky and open your heart. Really, open it. She is going to stop drinking so she can honor her body and not be numb. She is really going to do it this time.

Last night she got home around midnight but for strange reasons ended up staying awake till 6 am. The hour before sleep was spent preparing a meal, which unlike most, did not turn out that great. There is usually never any bread in the house and when there is, it goes bad. A lot of things go bad. There is nothing redeeming about smoking, but last night, when she stood outside on her balcony there was a parade of leaves on the street. This is the sign, it is the time for fall.

–

Find more writings “from the past”: http://kirthinath.com/write.html

Are You There? I’m Here (for Lyn Hejinian)

Writer’s Note: This fictional non-fiction story is a collage and co-creation inspired by many people and art projects. The title is a reference to a line in Lyn Hejinian’s book The Language of Inquiry (page 388).  I first heard this at a reading May, 31 200o. She was reading from her book and saw me in the audience and stopped mid sentence to say, “It’s you, Hi!” She did not know it was my birthday, and gave me the greatest gift that day, seeing me.  She did this years before when she accepted me into my first official creative writing class at UCB.  I am eternally grateful to Lyn for witnessing and encouraging my artistry and showing me by example how to witness beauty in others.  This story is inspired by the amazing Cari Campbell, her lovely brother and the gift Chris Cobb gave us via his art installation  “There is Nothing Wrong In this Whole Wide World” (temporary art installion at Adobe Bookstore in San Francisco, CA, 2004).  At the end of the story you will find more about the art exhibit.  Many thanks to artists’ Derek Powazek,  Heather Champ and Superhero Journal who made their images available via a creative commons copyright licence  or by permission.  

Are you there? I’m here

Image by Heather Champ * http://www.hchamp.com

Her brother was visiting. They were both excited. Everything was exciting. From sitting on the couch chatting to walking to the corner store getting organic groceries. These were things they could only do in San Francisco.

When they were younger they lived near the city and their mom fed them wonder bread and all kinds of processed stuff. She tells him how her mom is finally starting to understand what it means that she lives in a vegetarian household. Now every recipe is one that can easily be substituted with tofu.  The news of his wife’s pregnancy is still new, but surely mom and dad will develop some lovely fixating habits around that.

The first day, she picked him up from the airport. This was both their hometown in many ways, so the pick up from the airport was easy-smeasy. They hung out all day together alone before coming to her house where her roommate was having a burrito in the living room and soon, her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s housemate would come over. She cracked out the special bottle of wine she was saving for one of those special occasions. This was surely one of them! She was going to whip them all up some delicious food for this good time.

He woke up early as was expected.  He was still on Minnesota time.  His sister had gone to sleep at her girlfriend’s house, leaving him her bed. Most of the housemates were away, but one was there, so he was trying to be quiet. He turned on the light though because his sister’s room was one of those San Francisco specials where the window faces a light well.  He had to go to the bathroom, but by the time he got to the door, he found it quite difficult to open the door. Maybe his sister was protective and locked him in? He started to read the books in his sister’s room. She was always a little kooky, but Christian Living and The History of Shorts were new peaks. He had read all of the History of Atari when he really needed to go. He tried the door again. Still no budge. Was he really locked in? Should he call her? Maybe she was on the way home and he could wait it out a little.

He started to go through the yoga book but just thinking about the poses made him have to pee, so it seemed best just to close his eyes, lie down and breathe. If he fell asleep would he only be dreaming about pee?  It would be so strange if he was locked in. Not only did that not make sense, it is out of character for his sister too! Up until a few years ago, he used to pronounce chamomile tea chamomile instead of chamomile. Breathing, he started to remember about the dream he had.

How odd. He is on 16^th street near Valencia and there is a bookstore. It feels familiar, though he has never been there. A golden cat simultaneously leaps over his feet and meows. He looks down to catch a glimpse. His right hand — which has swayed in reaction, covers his view.  All the books are arranged by the colors of the spines. Look for magic when you open your eyes. The mysterious fortune from last week’s take-out has to come to life and he wants so very much to jump up and down. There is a sofa in the middle of the bookstore so he sits down next to a young woman who is knitting a scarf. His sister had told him that knitting was the newest trend, like yoga. The scarf the woman knits takes after the blue section — patches of dark blue to midnight blue to electric blue to neon blue to light blue to teal blue to sea blue to blue blue blue everywhere.  Across from him he sees one of those books. It hangs off the shelf (attached by a string) and is asking for him and only him to come to it, at that very second. He does. It is an email list. Not sure for what, but it must be to the one who colored the room so his eyes could have magic. He is smiling and astonished.

He calls his sister on her cell phone.

Are you there? I’m here.

His hand reaches for the knob of the door. If he pretends it is not locked, it may not be. As he pulls, the door opens as his sister comes in.  I thought you locked me in and I have to go pee.  She smiles at him and without any hesitation, the doors in this house get jammed sometimes, they just need a little nudge.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heather/1555432/

                       There Is Nothing Wrong With the Whole Wide World                      * Art Installation by Chris Cobb * Photos by Derek Powazek (red-orange, green), Heather Champ (close up with sign) and Superhero Designs (blue)

Related: Both this story and the art installation was originally created in 2004. The incident did happen, but there was a creative non fiction filter applied to it. You can imagine for which parts.

Curious to learn more about Chris Cobb’s magical installation?
Interview by McSweeney’s
Video by KQED Spark
NPR Audio Interview

Rainbow of Books : A FLICKR Stream of more books by color!

To Lyn Hejinian: You are amazing. Thank you for the inspiration, then and now. May you be dance in the arms of love and delight.