There was no way of knowing where the process would take me, but I knew
the art was transforming me
My whole body, mind and soul became fixated on “the energy” during this particular psilocybin journey. My heart was open . . . I always feel full of love on mushrooms.
I was attempting to dance with my Tai Chi fans in a life-giving, inner-outer body make-over practicing an internal martial arts exercise I developed 15 years ago called Bagua Flow.
The exercise combines motion and meditation into a poetically choreographed life-affirming breath-flow sequence, which incorporates the use of Tai Chi fans to magnify Qi (life-force energy), personal power, balance, coordination and focus.
The plan was to bring my mind/body and Qi to a level of no-thought - then use my giant Chinese paint-brush to manifest art forms onto huge 6 foot long pieces of paper to see what would manifest.
I knew anything was possible. On mushrooms, if you listen quietly, you will receive answers subtly.
Six hours later I was still standing totally engrossed in the process, - I had no clue where it would end up. And when I was finished, I knew I was all in on a new form of art and my ongoing perception that I had no talent for art changed forever.
It was like learning a new language.
The cool thing about this experiment was that there was no rhyme or reason to it. It was just about creating . . . and I started to see the beauty in my imperfection. The art was random and I could see this was the key. As soon as I started to “straighten up, think and be sober” I LOST the whole process and the art looked flat and boring.
The mushroom delivered just as they always do in their own special way. It was beautiful as I began to understand the “art of life” and my innermost feelings. I was granted new ways to think through it all. My experiment was one of the deepest processes I’ve ever experienced.
Without the mushroom journey I never would have thought to bring the exercise, art and moving meditation together as a one. The random journey of “let’s see what happens” gave me the creative safe space without fear of judgement to explore my inner self.
And, this was how the Wabi Sabi art integration after giving a psilocybin retreat got started.
Wabi Sabi means the art of imperfection - it’s art without the mind getting in the way. It becomes an expression of your energy and soul. It’s about freedom, personal power and creativity. It’s a new transformational journey that shows how to “drop the thinking.” It’s like life expressing itself as art.
The process was effortless and I had no identification of doing the art as I was allowing myself to get out of the way and empty all my energy onto the paper. I was not focusing on knowledge, beliefs or skills, only the act of the moment.
The metaphor was seeing how life runs through you when you get out of the way.
You’ll see it in each piece of art depending on how you manifest your energy.
The whole process was amazing and I wrote a poem about it . . .
A poem for manifestation:
Our pasts do not matter; we are united by the future.
We come together to create, and in doing so we discover what is deep inside us.
We nurture our nature, embrace new ideas and let them slip into our dreams.
We look into our art and find a common language - a shared understanding that if we manage to go back to simplicity we can go anywhere.
We embrace the messages our art form delivers as we move towards the future.
We are limitless; explorers of what is still to come.
About:
Maria Camille, founder of Bagua Flow and Wabi Sabi Art Integration hosts psilocybin therapy retreats in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Maria brings together the mind/body of Bagua Flow exercise (the overall aim is to facilitate "stillness within thought and movement", which mirrors the balance and harmonious flow of nature and inner freedom) with the Wabi Sabi arts as an integration therapy after the psilocybin journey.
Maria has been a student and practitioner of the internal martial arts most of her life. She utilized the lessons of internal martial arts in her training to win the World Skydiving Championships (4 gold medals) for the U.S. in Style Competition (gymnastics at 200 mph. – with only 26 seconds of free-fall time).
Email for more info or to join in a retreat: maria@mariacamille.com