Lessons From the Eel's Mouth and the Landing of a Golden Dragonfly - Zara's Journey.

Sun rising. Zara and I sat on a rock and observed how sunlight brought life to the rock faces and turquoise river water that surrounded us. Inch by inch, not in a hurry.

As we were.

Leaning back to being held and opening our hearts to being love. Spiced cacao on our lips. This is how the journey began.

We were 10 minutes in, capturing images of Zara in the light shadow of a tree, when she spoke frankly "this is my safe space, and I don't like being observed." We were in the little curve of the river that she visits every sun rising and with the presence of the camera, she was feeling like her simple morning rituals were becoming a performance.

I felt my humility - not to be confused with shame - I felt myself as another creature of the forest, observing, without agenda. Instead of feeling the desire for a particular result, I was present with the beauty of our surroundings being awoken by the sun, reflecting off of Zara's skin in the most magical ways.

I spoke to this, and we breathed and moved, and continued through the feeling of slight awkwardness. It's such a common theme that arises and I trust that it can be the doorway into embodiment.

I was in my underwear, knee deep in the river. Zara took her clothes off "I just need to get in" she said. Later she translated this to "I needed to escape."

But the light on the leafy rock wall caught my attention and I asked if she would mind getting some images there before getting her hair wet.

So, there she was, exploring the textures of the foliage, half of her body in the water. Suddenly she let out a yelp followed by a swift movement to get out of the water.

There on her ankle was the graze marks of an eel's teeth. We looked to the water and there, elegantly moving toward us, was a beautiful eel about the length of my arm.

It circled, curiously. I love the way eels move, back and forth, completely devoted to protecting the sacred waters. We watched a while, before Zara braved wading back into the water.

From the moment of the bite, everything changed. It seemed the lighting glowed more and followed Zara, creating beautiful silhouettes and illuminating her body. And Zara, who had changed into a soft white linen dress, transformed into a Patupaiarehe (forest fairy), completely in her element, no longer bothered by the camera.

We flowed together. We received multiple visits by the eel, who, like the camera, was purely observing with curiosity. When we enter these flow states, beauty is absolutely everywhere and there is no "doing" to be done. We follow impulse, we let the light guide us and sound call us.

We stopped by the waterfalls and entered the dark shadows, home to mossy beds. Zara lay in water of contrasting shades of turquoise and gold. Hundreds of frames told the story.

Then we returned to the rock where our journey had begun. As we spoke of marriage and names, a huge dragonfly flitted through the air and landed on Zara's hand as if to celebrate the journey we had completed. The dragonfly, with its metamorphosis, symbolises the shedding of old stories and beliefs, leading to great transformation. The timing and directness of the dragonfly was the type of synchronicity that reminds you that we are all part of this great cosmic story!

Upon reflection, Zara shared that before the eel bite, she had been on the land, holding back, feeling the discomfort of being seen and wanting to escape. Having entered into the unknown territory of the water, the eel bite represented the worst that could happen while wading out beyond the familiar. If the worst had passed, what did she have to lose by stepping into being fully seen?

Befriending the eel was befriending the fear of being exposed.

Zara also shared that she really felt the space to be with the unfolding of the process. If I had have asked her to pose on this and that rock and snap snap snap, taken photos, done!, then she would not have had the space for the sticky, awkward feelings to arise and move through.

Giving time and focusing on the process rather than the result, allows the actual act of taking photos become a transformational process in itself. The photos then become the reflection of transformation that took place.

Zara is an Ancestral Healing practitioner Spiritual guide and Depth coach.

I have had the honour of experiencing her work both in 1-on-1 and group sessions and can completely testify for the enormous power of her work in breaking negative generational cycles and really getting to know myself through the presence of my ancestors. Zara holds space with a lot of humility and grace, inviting the client to connect with their own sources of wisdom.

You can find her at:

https://www.instagram.com/zara_tau/

https://zarataulelei.as.me/