Here's a Gift for You

An uplifting short film I co-directed with Michael "Pom" Preston of the Winnemem Wintu tribe of Mt. Shasta.

It's based on one question:

What's one word from your ancestral language that changed your life and that you can offer to the next generation to heal our relationship with the world?

Appropriate for all ages.  (20 mins.)  

My lineage and perspective

Some people say that nature is part calm and part turbulent tempest.

Yin Yang.  Just like us.

But my experience is that when thriving, nature is primarily peaceful – with rare moments of pressure release.

In this way, the Earth offers us a clear mirror for what our best lives can look like.  As we pay attention, she reminds us that, like her, when we thrive, we are calm by nature.

Not sleepy calm, nor boring calm, nor out-of-touch calm.

Calm in the sense that we can relax enough to let the unbridled flow of life run through us, so that – especially in these painful times –  our lives and our work may become instruments of more resonant beauty and healing – for ourselves, our communities and our Earth.

My perspective is informed as much by the Caribbean, the tepuys and the rainforest who raised me in Venezuela, as by the fog-laced Pacific redwoods who helped me raise my daughter in northern California.

In addition, my work weaves together three main threads of my life:

• Himalayan Traditions: 20+ years of study with the Dalai Lama and nature retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh;
• Indigenous Wisdom: many occasions since childhood to learn from elders and wisdom keepers from the Pemón, Warao, Yanomami, Maya, Q'ero, Quechua, Kogi, Wiwa, Mexica, Hawaiian, Cherokee, Potawatomi, Diné and Winnemem Wintu communities.
• Creative Expression: my work as a filmmaker of multiple award-winning projects focused on deepening our relationship with nature, which have been sponsored by Robert Redford’s center for documentary projects, chosen for Tribeca’s initiative for documentary shorts, broadcast on PBS and selected for 50+ film festivals around the world.
   

From time to time, I send an occasional compilation of what's rooting me in my natural peace.

Here's the link to connect on Instagram.

And here are some of the places my work has been featured.

Who's Rosa Guayaba?

Rosa Guayaba is the particular color of a ripe guava fruit. You say "dusty pink". I say "rosa guayaba." Saying those words connects me not only to a favorite color and a treasured taste of my beloved Venezuela. Rosa Guayaba is gratitude for the immeasurable gifts the Earth offers us each day. Rosa Guayaba is the scent carried by the breeze, reminding us of who we are and what we are here for. Rosa Guayaba is reverence for nature and for all that is sacred.  

This is what I look forward to helping you stay close to.

@rosa.guayaba started as my Instagram handle, as a way of exploring this new thread as it wove itself into life and acknowledge that it was not coming from me, but rather though me from what I experience as the most generous flow.

Along the way, some people have started calling me Rosa, which I didn't expect, yet it makes me smile inside. 

DISCLAIMER

The Calm by Nature and nature practice programs and mentoring are intended to educate and inspire you on your personal journey toward wellbeing and happiness. They are not intended to replace care best provided by qualified professionals and they are not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.