A breath away – Lorraine Weiss, Ep 4

I’ve had many wise and influential teachers throughout my life who have helped me see past obstacles blocking my progress, not just in my art but also in my life. My guest today is Lorraine Weiss. She is an artist and musician but also a gifted healer and spiritual coach. Lorraine has a remarkable ability to see the complexities of life in much simpler ways. She has helped shift my thinking and see in new ways, which almost immediately returned a sense of joy and spaciousness to my life. Staying present, open without expectation, and knowing and trusting your deepest self are some of the themes that swirl around her teachings. Her coaching was a game-changer for me and influenced my trajectory in my life and, remarkably, my art. Learning to be more present and connected to my intuition dramatically improved my art. So, how can we engage with our deepest selves more energetically? How do we better find our way by trusting and listening more to the soul and the artful creation of our lives? This question is what I want to explore more today in my conversation with Lorraine. Have a listen. It just might catalyze some powerful changes in your life and quite possibly your art too.

Listen if you are interested in…

• How I met Lorraine Weiss and how she altered the trajectory of my life and art [0:30]
• The path Lorraine has walked to learn the concepts she shares [3:04]
• Spiritual lessons Lorraine learned and how they have impacted her life [7:38]
• My belief that our art is an artifact of the journey we are on, not the main point [13:35]
• Tying together the concepts of life force, love, and creative flow [19:35]
• Making the investments that impact the returns you receive [28:01]
• The faith and growth that happen along the creative path [35:01]
• How all of us can hold a space where others can learn these concepts [42:33]

The challenges of life force us to evaluate the stories we tell ourselves

When Lorriane was younger she was a surfer, not just a casual surfer but one of those gifted athletes who eats, sleeps, and breathes the sport. Her life was lived at a rapid pace as she traveled the world to compete in surfing competitions, purely out of love for what happened out there on the waves.

However It was in the midst of this life that health complications suddenly arose that limited her ability to surf. Overnight the pursuit of her life’s passion was no longer possible. That loss introduced a season of deep introspection, questioning, and personal struggle for Lorraine. One of the valuable insights she gathered from that time was that she was telling herself stories that limited her perspective of what was possible. The kind of things she said to herself, which likely sound familiar, were…

• “Why did this happen to me?”
• “This shouldn’t have happened.”
• “Why are there healthy people out there who are not as nice as I am or as smart as I am?”

She discovered that those were actually stories she was telling herself that created suffering in her life. Her journey toward healing and a new path forward are the experiences she draws on now to help others.

You are a breath away from overcoming the stories you tell yourself

When Lorraine was working through her questions about herself and her future, she met Robert Nadeau, an Aikido Master. Even though she was unable to practice the physical discipline of Aikido due to physical limitations, she was able to learn and apply the principles he taught to reorient her life and free herself from the limiting stories she had been telling herself.

Those principles were simple, but powerful… Learning to be present in the moment… how to relax into her body… these are still her only practice and flow into everything she does. The way she describes it is beautiful…

We can get in our heads and be tangled up with our stories, you know, how things shouldn’t be this way… it’s a breath away to relax into your body, into recentering yourself. I’m eternally grateful to him (Robert) and to the practices that I’ve done all these years, which are basically simple. Take a breath, center into yourself, be present, and the conversations in your head get slightly irrelevant.

I know from working with Lorraine that what she describes can be quick. You can shift your thinking. If an artist can enjoy the process of creation and stop the chatter of — whether they can do art at all, or whether they are talented enough, or if people are going to like what they make — and just drop in and be present, then all kinds of opportunities open up for one’s art and creativity.

Growing as an artist means growing as an individual

The practices Lorraine teaches enable us to see the world through a different lens. We become open to pure possibility without expectations. We begin to notice the things around us that are in alignment with the biggest higher sense of ourselves. This awareness often ushers in new opportunities, synchronicities and a sense of wonder returns in our life and life.

It’s a kind of faith. You don’t get to know the journey before you take it, but as you learn to live out of the realization that your life is the art, the path becomes exciting. As you grow, there is an awakening or sensitivity that grows too. As your questions improve so does your art. My hope is that this conversation with Lorraine will help you challenge and change the stories that have limited you. Her teaching is a doorway to greater awareness and a understanding that can help shift the expression of your experience of your art and life.

Resources & People Mentioned

• Lorraine’s first spiritual teacher, Aikido Master Robert Nadeau
• John Coltrane, a jazz artist Lorraine admires

Connect with Lorraine Weiss

• Reach Lorraine via email: lorraineweiss@earthlink.net
• Victory Contemporary Gallery: where Lorraine’s work is currently shown: https://victorycontemporary.com/earrings/#36
  

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