The Magic and Spaciousness of Baja.

Last month I had the great fortune of visiting Baja Sur, Mexico. It is a place that I always wanted to visit and explore. The East and West coasts of Baja are grounds for Blue whales, Grey whales, Humpbacks, Orcas and so much other wildlife. 

I was immediately struck by the spaciousness that I felt in such an arid and open land. 

The colors are exquisite and the landscapes are truly breathtaking. The skies go on forever. 

The moment I arrived, I felt my body become more spacious, the sun kiss my face and the sound of my mother tongue soothed my heart. For years I had wanted to visit this far away terrain with it's sun drenched mountains. 

A rare gift of time with a hummingbird mother and her nest with two eggs was an extraordinary sight. As I watch for hummingbirds in my garden, I immediately recognized the lighting fast speed of this beauty. 

Her nest was at the top of a cactus, between two buildings. She flew from vine to vine collecting nectar, all the while keeping an eye on the eggs. One morning, I saw her elevated in the nest and she was feeding two little beaks with her very long tongue. The eggs had hatched and two perfect babies had emerged. As she swooped by my head, back and forth, her delicate chirp almost felt like messages to the chicks, reminding them they she was close.

Between trips for nectar she sat upon the chicks and protected them with a watchful eye.

Below is a collection of shells from the Sea of Cortez.

Each and every time I gather shells from a new land I think of my grandmother Isabelle and her beautiful collection that sparked not only my curiosity for nature but also far away places that might have such treasures.

Dawn at the Sea of Cortez. 

The starkness of Baja stole my heart. These beauties wait patiently along side of the water waiting for just the right opportunity to pluck their meal.

I am quite sure that a part of me was left behind in the beautiful waters of Mexico.

 It is so rich with life. 

There is little to write about these pictures, they tell their own delicious and mysterious stories. 

Gracias Baja Sur!

New Discoveries.

As with all new endeavors, there are always new discoveries. Much to my surprise, a recent project for one of my doctoral classes opened up an entirely new realm. It is the world of video. 

I am so grateful to Dr. East Haradin for her encouragement  in my Practice Based Learning class. She has lent us her heart and offered support and motivation to grow, expand and to ask ourselves how we can become more of ourselves and bring this facet of our being to the medicine that we practice. 

Just weeks after completing a three year professional training in Somatic Experiencing, I began my Doctoral classes through Pacific College of Oriental Medicine where I received my MSTOM. The completion of this program is the next part of the journey as I begin to research Integrative Neuroscience and explore our relationships with rhythms and the natural world. 

So many beautiful aspects of my work are now coming together. Creating the video with pictures that I have taken and small videos from nature has been a reminder of how everything may be interconnected, even though it may not always appear so at the moment. 

My fascination with nature, internal regulation, its' rhythms, and mending of the nervous system are coming together in a poetic and personally meaningful way. 

This is the first video that I have ever made, but I'm inspired to create more pieces in the future. 

Thank you Dr. East Haradin, Dr. Peter Levine and Dr. Mary Giuffra for being such generous luminaries on the path. 

Happy Spring!