The Exuberant Artist Podcast

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I talk about my the spiritual and deeply healing process of writing poetry over the last year, what I am learning from it, and share some of my deeply personal poems with prompts so you can write with them if you want to. 

Writing poetry has become a deep listening practice in silence and slowness and not knowing. It is mysterious and fascinating to me, how the words collect and assemble themselves into something that speaks so profoundly to what I have experienced in a way that I cannot touch in normal conversation. It is truly a magical and mystical process. 

I mention an amazing book by Kim Rosen called, "Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words." 

I love this quote by Pablo Neruda from his poem, "Poetry" that reads, “Poetry arrived in search of me."

You can learn more about my upcoming art and writing workshops on my website: www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes.  

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I talk about my new writing practice that has become a writing as meditation practice and is incredible healing and powerful for me. I share some reflections on my relationship to writing throughout my life and how it has been opening and expanding lately. 

I also talk about the gift of prompts to open the doorway to our imaginations and how I have been living that through different workshops I have been part of and that I have lead. 

Then, I read a poem by Mary Oliver called, "It Was Early" from her book called, Devotions, then offer prompts for you to write with if you want to. I share what emerged for me when I wrote with one of the prompts. 

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I open up about my relationship to contemplation within my art practice and my life and how it has helped me and continues to help me heal deeply and find a rich, more meaningful relationship to myself, to my art making, to other humans and creatures and to nature. 

I read a poem by Mary Oliver called, "Today" and a poem by John O'Donohue called "For the Unknown Self." 

I share how through contemplation I created a self-guided visual meditation to help heal a childhood experience when I thought I wasn't an artist because I thought I couldn't draw. 

Contemplation has become an essential part of my art practice and my life. It has helped and continues to help me heal my deepest wounds, travel back in time throughout my life and find younger versions of me that were/are still hurting that were asking for my help and attention. It was through the practice of contemplation that I was able to change my relationship to alcohol, to being defensive and guarded, to people pleasing, to anger and other difficult emotions, to my role and choices in various relationships and the list goes on.

I learned to take a long loving look at myself and all of the parts of me, parts that I used to label as bad or good, right or wrong. That practice has been transformative and has rippled out into all aspects of my life.

I share poet, Naomi Shehah Nye's interview on On Being when she mentions a definition of contemplation that spoke to her which is, "a long, loving look." 

I’ve also read that it means to look at something with continued attention, to observe thoughtfully, to consider something thoroughly-to think fully and deeply about something. All of those resonate with me. 

While I am creating something-whether that is a fabric meditation book, a small weaving, a poem or a piece with nature, I move slowly-very slowly and along the way as the piece emerges, I stop and look at it and allow my wonder to unfold within it, softly.

I ask quiet questions but not in the hyper critical/polarized way of is this right or wrong but rather, what are these materials saying? What has emerged after my initial idea that got me started with this particular dance within the creative process? Do the materials want me to take a different step than my mind wants me to? How might I respond to that new information?

This all happens internally, intuitively, gently. I have discovered this way of being in my art practice through just that-practice. Practice and stillness, stillness and solitude, solitude and spaciousness.

I am in awe of the experiences I have at my art table and the new realms that invite me into them to explore and wander around inside of each piece, inside of materials, inside of my own body as I just sit and listen. 

Contemplation can be such a beautiful gift and as I have settled into a contemplative art and spiritual practice, I have felt deeply fulfilled and nourished by it.  It allows me to have a deeper relationship with myself, with art that I create, with other humans and creatures, and with this planet. It invites me to look more closely at my life in so many different ways and continues to help me find my way forward in a way that feels deeper, more true, more aligned rather than moving quickly and doing a lot of different things at once without that depth which is how I lived for a long time.

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

This week on the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I open up about my decision to become sober after 20 years of drinking alcohol. I share my vulnerable story about it, how it impacted me over those many years, why I would use it, why I decided to stop, all of the intense inner resistance I met when I started to look at my relationship to it and what gifts have been coming through the clarity within my art practice and my life.  Recovery Dharma is a sobriety group that focuses on Buddhist teachings. https://recoverydharma.org/. They offer virtual and in-person meeting all around the United States.  The Creative Sober podcast is a great resource to listen to artists stories with sobriety.  

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode, I talk with the incredible fiber artist, Cheryl Janis based in Taos, New Mexico. Cheryl is a deep spiritual being and an empath and she shares her experience going through a dark night of the soul period, how her spirituality connects to her fiber practice, her love for animals and how she makes conscious choices in her art practice to support companies that create ethical fibers like Love Fest Fibers and Yarn Yarn, we talk about the energy around money as an artist and doing energy work to heal subconscious patterns to transform those limiting beliefs and more.

We had this conversation back in February when Cheryl was on the cusp of transitioning from creating weavings to felting. It was wonderful to talk about that new creative work emerging and to see now a few months later, how that felting work is evolving. You can follow her on Instagram or go to her website to see her amazing fiber art and support her. 

Cheryl's website: https://cherylrjanis.com/. 

Cheryl's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylrjanis/. 

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I share how I discovered I am a highly sensitive person, what that means, how it has shown up in my life and my art practice. 

I talk about Dr. Elaine Aron's book, The Highly Sensitive Person which changed my life. 

I also mention a class I took with Myree Morsi, a spiritual healer and trauma therapist who taught a class on being a highly sensitive person. 

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I open up about my spiritual awakening, healing journey, dark night of the soul experiences that happened over 5 years. I share how those deep experiences shifted my art practice in profound ways. I talk about discovering all kinds of uncomfortable things during this process including attachment styles (I was avoidant to a T), emotional regulation, distress tolerance, highly sensitive people, anger and different emotions and my relationship to them, codependency, conditioning from family structures, society, culture, and media and the impact that conditioning has on our entire being, coping mechanisms, limiting beliefs, nervous system activation, inner child, reparenting, self-soothing, alcohol as a coping mechanism, the unconscious mind, shadow work, abstract and concrete thinking, childhood emotional neglect, enmeshment, emotional addiction, physic realms/abilities, empathy, past lives/akashic records reading, spirit guides, states of change, the ego, disassociation, OCD, fear, trauma, people pleasing, social anxiety, epigenetics, mysticism, spirituality vs. religion, visual guided meditation...so many things!

I discovered intimately how art can be a deep healing tool and healing experience. 

Resources:

-Dr. Nicole LaPera, The Holistic Psychologist on Instagram and her website

-Myree Morsi, trauma therapist and spiritual teacher

-The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron

-The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

-The Dark Side of Light Chasers by Debbie Ford

-Therapy Chat podcast

-Information about attachment theory

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I talk about my love of textiles and fibers and all of the different ways I have explored them within my life and my art practice. I share my favorite materials and books on textiles and fibers that I love. 

Etsy Shops I buy supplies from:

-I get many of my Japanese sashiko and Kogin embroidery threads here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/kimonomomo

-I get beautiful handmade papers from around the world from this shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/tornedgepaper

-Hand dyed recycled rope and other interesting fibers: https://www.etsy.com/shop/UnfetteredCo

Textile and Fiber Books I talk about:

-Rug Money:How a Group of Maya Women Changed Their Lives through Art and Innovation by Mary Anne Wise and Cheryl Conway-Daly

-Women Artisans of Morocco: Their Stories, Their Lives by Susan Schaefer Davis

-The Hand Stitched Surface by Lynn Krawczyk

-Layered Cloth: The Art of Fabric Manipulation by Ann Small

-Three Dimensional Embroidery by Janet Edmonds

-Poetic Cloth by Hannah Lamb

-Embroidering within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future by Rangina Hamidi and Mart Littrell

-A Textile Travelers Guide to Peru and Bolivia by Cynthia LeCount Samake

-Sheila Hicks / Lifelines

-The Intentional Thread: A Guide to Drawing, Gesture, and Color in Stitch by Susan Brandeis

-Joomchi & Beyond by Jiyoung Chung

-Natural Processes in Textile Art by Alice Fox

-Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art by Claire Wellesley Smith

-Bojagi and Beyond II by Chunghie Lee

-Threads Around the World From Arabian Weaving to Batik in Zimbabwe

-Kigami and Kami-ito: Japanese Handmade Paper and Paper Thread by Hiroko Karuno

-Stamp, Stencil, Paint by Anna Joyce

-Hand Dyed by Anna Joyce

-Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything from potatoes to linoleum by Lotta Jansdotter

-Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh

-Every Thread a Story: Traditional Chinese Artisans of Guizhou Province by Karen Elting Brock, Linda Ligon and Wang Jun

-The Secret Language of Miao Embroidery by Zeng Li

-Anni Albers On Weaving

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I interview Lauren Oland of Mezame Designs who is a sustainable textile artist and zero waste weaver based in Austin, Texas. 

Lauren is passionate about sustainability and runs a zero waste studio where she uses only remnant fibers and fibers made or grown by small farms and artists. She creates wearable, functional weavings including bandana cowls, jean jackets with her weaving put into the back, shawls, tops, coasters, patches and mending kits. 

In this interview, we talk about:

-Her background studying apparel design and being a freelance teaching artist

-How she discovered weaving and developed her style that was influenced by learning the Japanese style of free form weaving called Saori

-How she approaches color in her work

-How her weaving connects to her deep musical background that runs in her family. She played piano for 12 years and find that weaving is like playing the piano. 

-The ways weaving and creating help her heal and process emotions and connect to a deeper place within herself and to the world

-How the pandemic and a move from the Twin Cities of Minnesota to Austin, Texas have impacted her art practice and business. 

-She shares that she is part of the LGBTQ community and how being raised in a strict religious home and not being fully accepted for who she was within the religion made her seek out more open spiritual expressions in her life and her art. 

Lauren is passionate about sustainability and runs a zero waste studio where she uses only remnant fibers and fibers made or grown by small farms and artists. She creates wearable, functional weavings including bandana cowls, jean jackets with her weaving put into the back, shawls, tops, coasters, patches and mending kits. 

You can find Lauren on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mezamedesigns.

Her Etsy shop is www.etsy.com/shop/mezamedesigns. 

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠

In this week's episode of the Deep Rooted Healing podcast, I talk about my obsession with color and how I love to tell color stories in my art. I share my strong feelings and opinions about colors that goes back to my childhood as a sassy little kid. I share the techniques I use currently in my art practice, how I play with colors across different mediums and what I do to continue to expand my color horizons. I love to tell color stories in my art and thinking about them as stories makes it really playful and fun. I don't like using color theory or color wheels because they feel too intellectual and not intuitive enough for me, however I understand why they can be helpful as doorways into exploring color. 

I share how I use color in my mixed media collages, fabric meditation books and drawings and how play and experimentation are essential for me to move forward with my work in general and with my color language. 

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Emma Freeman is an artist, writer, Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Practitioner. She teaches online art and writing classes at www.deep-rooted-healing.com. She is a sober and a highly sensitive person. She lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

Online creative classes: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes⁠⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠www.deep-rooted-healing.com⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/deeprootedhealing⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠www.facebook.com/deeprootedhealings⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@deeprootedhealing⁠