🎨❤️🩶

Give and receive Shed leaves Nourish the soil What do you leave behind?

🌞

It felt like a return to retained memories. In touch with little me, older me and holding hands with present me all at the same time. The present moment, it feels so large, knowing that this moment will later on feel so small.

Moving through me and moving me like water through a tree: reclamation, alignment, dreams, acceptance, playfulness, authenticity and groundedness, a continuous expansion of my heart and embodying my full potential whilst honouring those who came before me The appreciation and love I received, I’ll carry so deeply Thank you for celebrating 27 with me

I watch the sun setting into autumn and for a moment I know why we are here. The leaves changing color are reminding me of how quickly moments turn into memories and the touch of the cooling air brings me closer to what exists deep within my heart.

In a continuous conversation with nature The leaf that fell onto me teaches me about letting go The ripened fruits falling around me are teaching me about the richness of it I walk through the forest and feel that we (the trees, the bees, the clouds and all of us) are here together, sharing the fruits

They’re all vessels (moments of creation, plants and the body)

Comparing people to trees and trees to the sun to unfold it all

I look at how a branch creates flowers and realize that endings mean growth As we are transitioning into autumn I realized that endings mean growth

The sun rises and I feel tears behind my eyes, as I am asked to look at what each ray shines onto 🌞🦋

Just a lot of love and shared blessings that’s all What a gift to have spent time with family and to then be held by friends (and give them heart-shaped gifts)

💚💛❤️ Sometimes all we can hold on to are our memories, our times spent together, our times spent alone, doing and being what we love and even when we find ourselves losing them, as we continue with out lives new ones are being created and captured, in the heart, the mind and the rest of our body. ❤️‍🔥 hug them a little longer, laugh and cry together a little longer, eat together a little longer and listen to their stories a little longer 🤲🏽

Held by the warmth

Daily gifts

Touched this piece of earth briefly (a collection of grounding moments the past 3 weeks)

Something that will always touch my sentimental heart deeply is when nature is making whatever I am thinking or feeling even more profound. Those confirming or disruptive moments when you are being open to the signs and symbols around you, the sun’s rays shine onto you, or when it starts raining on a specific timing and for one breath, one ebb in between the flow of two heartbeats, everything aligns 💚

Sweet moments captured through the flowers of Senegal. These are definitely not about the outcome, not even about the flowers. They are about moments of rest, conversation, connection, zooming in, that “being alone in your room feeling” and just fully being here during free hours. They are about me playing with watercolor again since a longgggg time. Each an embodiment of a memory of something or someone.

As the sun is setting into the sea we find fire and water merging into one. They both give and take. This season is about both, about flowing, radiating, unpredictableness and aliveness

Carry them with you, the memories. Me talking, me moving … it’s an invitation to my inner world, my home. Please come in, I’ll cook for you. Music will be playing. I’ll paint as I listen to your stories. But please, please, to feel alive, let’s not forget to dance. Our moment here is short, which makes it special. So as long as we are in this body, please, my friends, let’s dance together ❤️

It connects me to nature, the present and the past

We’re surrounded by little reminders of love, don’t forget to be grateful

The wind is singing and so the plants are singing. The animals are singing and so we join our breath to sing with the wind and be with the animals.

The multi-layered experience of what’s within

This morning I met the tree that rose from the soil and with it I too surfaced as I was holding hands with her roots.

💛

To me, a flower embodies the circle of life, animals, fruits, the soil and plants. There’s a continuity and rhythm and it invites you into almost all of your senses. It’s a symbol for playfulness, uniqueness, expression, communication and community, which are things that I appreciate 🌼

Eventually it all plays a part in the story as a whole

Rising 🤲🏽 staring into the east, welcoming the sun after that inviting the fire of the day (south), the release of the evening (west) and the openness of the night (north) and so on and so on

🤲🏽🌼🪲🪱🌺🌋🥬🫐🫛🥒🥭

Through resurfacing from the soil (winter) and feeling the warmth of spring excitement, I found out that textile paint is my new favorite medium!! It combines paint, crochet, up-cycling clothes, honouring the beauty I see in the world and dressing myself and my surroundings playfully 🍃 I had to have a new painting project because it allows me to - feel every feeling (read: the proces is always full of surprises that I have to learn to trust which doesn’t happen without some screaming and crying) - think some thoughts - have friends over and talk and have tea and parallel play, which fills my heart I’m note done yet because crocheting the edges of the large cloth takes a very long time + I made some stains on the trousers sooo I want to solve that by making more paint smudges

📝 Once in a while I walk through a deep valley and meet the source that feeds my admiration and gratitude

… only this year I felt like I almost missed a good friends birthday, the good friend being the first day of spring.

🤲🏽🍫❣️

Mornings I feel best. For many us, new mornings come. Bird songs rise, darkness falls. The sun rises, complicated thoughts fall. Substituting the warmth of your bed with the warmth of the sun, metamorphing into another you. I’m one day older, never too (I love aging). How would the younger you feel about this day? Who’s traces are you stepping on? What are you making traces for? What body parts are your compass on this path and do you craft your days from?

🌋! The watchful giants

Red earth abundance

Doorways!

Life of forms/forms of life

Flowers of Rwanda

🌳🐛

👐🏽🍂🤝 As I am moving through the depths of this season, I am reminded to take care of ______ I feel autumn invites us to look both inward (dropping leaves sending energy to the core) and outward (what low sunlight shines onto)

Plant seeds, water them, admire the flowers, invite pollinators, patiently wait for the fruits, cook something from them and share it (you know??)

The experience of the slightly (read: very) overwhelming end of summer abundance We’ll peel things off (and put layers on) soon To be grounded like fallen fruits

Za’atar roasted zapatillo Cannellini beans Preserved lemon Cherry tomatoes Garlic gloves Fresh parsley and basil Olive oil Salt and pepper to taste I love having dinner at home while the sun sets and all the dancing that comes before and the conversations that come after I love to take time to do my groceries (to appreciate what is there), to cook playfully while combining flavours and to thoughtfully set the “table” 🥣 There’s just something about the transformation of veggies into wholesome, colourful, delicious and nourishing (and gut healthy ;)) shareable meals, that is so so nice

It’s about the little things sometimes (On my balcony, bakes and body)

🤲🏽🌳for @theconfidantespirits by @carlywollaert

Zooming out AND IN

Kindness = hot!

It’s about gathering the nectar and transmitting sunlight! 🌞 Forever embracing and advocating for not having to chose (life of a third culture kid) and not neglecting parts of yourself. That’s why I work as a dance artist, create art (paint/crochet/?), write, make recipes, travel, read, love everything plants/flowers/herbs/fermentation, do yoga, workouts, play instruments and try to keep up with practising the languages I speak….. I keep track of new ideas or projects through lists in my notes and intuitively chose which ones to bring to life (often many at the same time). I have noticed that there’s a pressure to make money off of your skills/talents/interests and to choose 1. Whilst it is a privilege to be able to work from your passion(s), I also believe that is necessary to do things for the fun of it, for the experience, the process, the possibility to share, for the feeling that for a moment being in the act itself is your whole life. Functioning like this whilst also caring about the earth and everything alive is overwhelming. I love the natural world!! There’s always some existentialism embedded in my thought pattern. It either pulls me up or pushes me down but I guess that brings me to the middle, in balance. (Book: refuse to choose)

❣️🫒

Richness! Posting this for the sounds mostly 💚

Another day of balancing being in my senses and my imagination

❤️‍🔥 Pick your fave

🤲🏽 I was writing about where I’ll let my fire burn this summer and what I want to transform (into), turns out it needs a little more air to breathe

About awe, temporariness and biophilia (and fruits)

Playful traces and warm bodies

(it fuels my love)

🦋🌸🌳🧡 Improved my almond- orange spiced cookies (but left out the tahini-blossom glaze this time) 2 cups self-raising almond flour 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 tb coconut oil 1 tb cookie spice mix Orange zest to taste Combine everything to create the dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Roll out the dough, roughly 1 cm in thickness Bake the cookies in a 150 degrees Celsius pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes Optional to bake them with a tiny piece of orange on top

As we’re almost setting into winter/night, this is a homage to the many sunrises and sunsets in this home 💛

Recently I made a list (as one does) of what I feel during/after certain (creative) activities and thus why I indulge in them. Not how I want or think it affects me but what I truly experience physically, emotionally and energetically. Some examples are the leaps of trust and emotional rollercoaster (aka crying) during painting, the overall aliveness and sense of community whilst dancing, the satisfaction of intuitively combining ingredients that comes with cooking, the “I love life” feeling after seeing a film and so on …

I too fell from a tree once and now it’s 25 autumns and a couple of days later 🥞 My past sun cycle was about my definition of community and the many sidedness of things. My birthday (week) was for self-dates: ceramics, walks, breakfast in bed, old wounds, writing, massages, bleeding, hot yin yoga, acupuncture and flower picking 🌺 I’ll continue to carry: creativity and intuition as my vehicles, slow transformation and being an empathic person with an open heart, whilst making friends along the way 📔

Nature’s jewels 💚 The table of contents of The Heartbeat of Trees because I love every page 💛 ❤️

The whole story

Don’t we look alike? 🌼 Glow + flow makes us root and grow (and glow again)!

Morning 🤍 (sound on) Notes on mixed ethnicity 🤎 This year so far has been about family a lot more than the last (that one being more about friends and community which I both actually perceive as family too). I grew up with both my Congolese and Russian background in terms of culture and language, but it can be challenging to maintain a close relationship with both families due to distance. This spring I have been going through a painful period with my family from my mother’s side being in a war and having to leave their homes in Ukraine but also dealing with it as a poc. Waves of imposter syndrome definitely rise to the surface of my being from time to time. Like so many others, being pressured into choosing sides for the sake of belonging. In any case I experienced that beauty can emerge from crisis sometimes. Every day, I feel wholeness, either within myself (no half this or that…) or as a tiny part of a greater whole. It is important to me to be close and true to myself, to follow my intuition and to be an open channel. I love to speak of and show my inner world out, whether it be through my work, my art, my body, my energy or my voice. I believe I can find or create a feeling of home anywhere I go as I naturally create pleasurable little rituals and routines. A true true feeling of being home comes with people and surroundings, smells, the whole sensorial experience 🍃

“and for no reason I start skipping like a child, I turn into a leaf, kiss the sun’s mouth and start dancing”

Cacao (straight from the tree/after fermentation) and other gifts 💛

Overflowing 🍃 1. Wash your hands! 2. Rio Claro 3. spinach

Earth, water, air, energy and the infinity of fruit bearing trees

🧡🌸🧡 A lush lush world (and a page about the flowering of human consciousness, a new earth)

Wandering around making lots of new friends (with nature and people, should I separate those? ) 🍊🍌🍓🥭🍍🥥🥑🥒🌶🧄🍚🌽🍠 Usually I don’t like to “escape the winter” as I love to experience the cold and coziness of winter knowing that spring, summer and autumn will emerge once again 🌞 In this moment I do notice myself wanting to broaden my sense of and attachment to the seasons that are (un)familiar to me as a source of inspiration 💛 In other words: I definitely enjoyed this soft sunny winter and the fact that I travelled again ✨

💛!! Oh how the sun makes me fall in love with every season again and again and again 💛 life touched by light on a winter/spring day ✨