"The unlimited Creative principle within you is the source of all art and wisdom, a spark of the divine Creator."
- Paramahansa Yogananda
For me, it's all about the Great Creator; the Great Mystery animating all life; the source & nectar of vitality. To me, both healing and creativity emerged out of that place inside of all of us. So, I don't see much difference between my healing and artistic careers. From my experience, on the path of creative blossoming, techniques and mediums are secondary; the inner work is primary. I have discovered 4 primary pillars of a strong and active inner creator that I will share with you below as part of my story: Healing, Inspiration, Calling & Discipline.
Calling & Contribution
The third pillar of Creativity is Calling. What do you care the most about, that is bigger than you? What cause makes your heart beat faster with passion? What contribution do you feel called to make to our world?
Even though I absolutely loved creating arts & crafts for myself, friends & family, when I married my calling(s) with my creative journey I tapped into a much larger resource of life force and creativity. My two biggest callings: inspiring others to be fully their true selves & helping animals have better lives, have been fuelling my creative path.
First, through my Youtube and Instagram channels (see Links), as well as holding Sacred Circles, I attempt to inspire others to be free from shackles of societal conditioning & burdensome limiting personal narratives around creativity, sexuality and false sense of safety. To me, the freedom to be fully one's self, a spark of the creator on Earth, can be suffocated by those shackles.
Second, since I was a child I've always had a special and dear connection with animals. I absolutely love being around them; they help me access an unspeakable part of me that feels unconditionally loving & loved. When I was 18, I became acutely aware of the suffering that we put them through as humans and the hidden slavery they endure in the food industry. I became a vegetarian and decided to help rescue and love as many animals as possible in my lifetime; hence, the seed for establishing an animal rescue sanctuary was planted.
So, bringing together my creative journey and my calling to help animals (and humans) I have decided to dedicate 33% of all the profits from Gaia Heart Arts to establishing (buying the land, building shelters, etc.) and maintaining an animal rescue sanctuary embedded in a community healing and retreat centre (See Gaia Heart Sanctuary). If helping animals, and humans alike!, to find shelter & healing are also your areas of interest, please have a look at my shop and do get in touch for collaborations (Contact).
Healing & Awakening
It hasn't always been this way; I wasn't always a firm advocate for Creativity, believing that we all have the Spark of the Creator inside waiting to be made manifest. Even though I painted and played the Piano as a kid and initially studied Architecture at University, I never considered myself as "the creative type". It was always some other cool kids who carried that identity. It wasn't until I discovered the world of Psychology and Healing and trained as a psychologist and healer (Training) that I realised creativity is an innate human potential, a birthright if I may say. I could see in myself and my clients, what blocks and buries the potential to be creators in our own life is the negative beliefs born out of personal traumas and societal harmful conditioning. In my case, growing up as a girl in Iran, I have worked through layers of sexual shame and suppression as well as infancy attachment and existential traumas stemming from being born during Iran-Iraq war. In addition to that, I have been ploughing through thick layers of personal and societal conditioning including "I am not artist enough", "artists are poor lazy selfish & neurotic!", "making money from my creativity & what brings me joy is selfish & too good to be true".
Immersing myself in Rebirthing Breathwork, Shamanic and Plant Medicine healing & discovering & embracing the path & lineage of Kriya Yoga (Paramahansa Yogananda), I met the spark of the Creator within: the creative life force...And It is my firm knowing that anyone can. I love supporting others to discover their inner spark: join me on Youtube, Mentoring programmes or Creative Play Day and I can show you how. Or you can come for a Healing session and I will help you access the deepest sense of your own being which is already ever joy ever creative ever peace.
Inspiration & Alignment
The second pillar of Creativity is Inspiration. Once I awakened to the inner spark of the creator in me, I wanted to know how to turn the spark into a fire; finding sources of inspiration was the fuel I needed. I started to learn to channel that creative force into drawing, painting, dotting, shaping clay, making crafts, dancing & singing. I also learned from many artists, craftspeople, healers, shamans and teachers along the way (See Training). All was for the desire to connect with the creator, find joy, passion, beauty & finally to share the awe for creation with others either through my crafts (See Shop) or by inspiring them to connect with their own inner spark by facilitating sacred healing circles: Creative Play Day, Sound Baths & Tea Ceremony, Sacred Song & Forest Day Retreats (See Sacred Circles).
I genuinely feel that by aligning with what brings us true joy & inspiration, following our bliss, and healing the wounds of unworthiness and judgement along the way, we can all tap into the reservoir of life force and creativity inside.
To reconnect with the inner spark and clear the dullness from the mind, I have a daily morning practice which includes a cleansing ritual with chanting and offering impurities to the fire (candle!), intuitive movement and dance, Kriya Yoga practice and meditation. I keep my inner fire alive by the fuel of inspiration; my sources of inspiration are Nature, Music and Sacred texts.
Mother Nature is my muse. Patterns, colours, scents and sounds weaving together in an unspeakable unfathomable harmony is a dance prayer; my artistic creations attempt to capture and convey glimpses of that dance. Hence I chose the name Gaia Heart Arts: Gaia is Mother Nature personified as a Goddess and I create arts inspired by Gaia as my heart connects to hers.
Through daily forest walks I bathe in the life force of the trees, rivers, songs of birds, scents of grass and flowers, and allow the colours of the leaves to refresh my inner palette. Since I realised the toxicity of many commercial paints as well as body care products, I use natural nontoxic pigments, organic oils, healing plants and recyclable materials in creating all my crafts and body care products.
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Discipline & Technique
Rebelling against the dominant culture of overvaluing "achievement" and constant busy-ness of modern life, I decided to find and adhere to my own natural rhythms and pace, which meant working a lot less and "Being" a lot more: spending more time in Nature and listening to my body. But, being in my Yin, receptive, feminine energy meant that despite having more hours to spare I wasn't moving steadily towards what I truly valued; that is, actualising the inner creator in the external world. Although spending many hours on processing feelings and allowing intuition and inspiration to emerge has built a strong foundation for creativity; however, after a while the balance of Yin & Yang, Feminine & Masculine, Being & Doing was tipped off. I realised in an attempt to give space to my feelings, sometimes I was wallowing for too long in them, giving energy to the unhelpful voice of worry & fear of failure; the voice that would question if my goals and dreams were "realistic" or worthy of attention.
I realised while strict discipline for achieving a meaningless merely materialistic goal (e.g., making money for the sake of it) felt like a nagging enemy to my wellbeing and psycho-spiritual development, the same discipline in service of a heartfelt genuine desire led to wholesome action, empowerment, concentration and commitment.
So, every morning, waking up around 5 am, I clear out the unnecessary worries, reconnect with my deep values and the source through meditation, Kriya Yoga and occasional special cacao-Hapé ceremony. After a period of reflection and nourishment, regardless of inner resistances of the day, my motto is simply: "Just do it! just start somewhere! seriously just do it!" and the good feelings will follow.
On days where I don't work as a mentor, therapist-healer or group facilitator, I dedicate a portion of the day to learning new techniques and methods and another portion to creating arts and crafts. I continuously learn from online resources and in-person workshops (Training) as well as from reading about artists' journeys and insights: to draw, paint with different mediums, work with clay, make natural body products, to sing & play musical instruments, & about philosophy of Art & Creativity. Every day, parting from the voice of self-doubt I welcome the full power of my new dream team for co-creation: Joy, Life Force & Discipline.
