THE SOUL JOURNEY

- How do you know where to go?
- I follow the Tao.

The Soul Journey is a real life journey, self inquiry, meditation in action, vision quest and radical soul work.

Along the way Claudia created a feature film-meditation called The Soul journey, and she wrote two self-published books. The first, Travelling like clouds, the art of being present, was written through her nomadic travels. The second book, The depths of Stillness was written through the stillness of the pandemic. Both books are now available to buy online. The next step will be a unique online course to bring it all together, The healing journey of the Soul. This page shares a collection of texts written along the journey, the trailer of the film and various links.

I have been ‘traveling as a means to meditate’, embodying the space-in-between, embracing impermanence and change. In 2016, after nearly 10 years living in London, I decided to leave everything and ask questions, in this time of personal and global transitions, the age of interbeing.

For over 2 years I lived off a suitcase and I carried my camera with me. I've seen many faces, places and things. I lived in cities, in the countryside, by the sea, in a forest of cork trees; I stayed with family, old and new friends, in houses, flats, a yurt, a rural artist residency, a cottage, a boat, Buddhist monasteries and two caravans. I was like a pilgrim on the road with my heart wide opened, and many people welcomed me with generosity and kindness.

When I started my Soul journey I didn't know I would make a film and write books, but indeed this traveling meditation turned into images, sounds and words, an exercise to put things into perspective, to experiment, to integrate and embody values and ideas, try out things, as a way to create space to allow a new story to emerge. Without a home to go back to, I opened my wings and surrendered!

If you watched my previous film Give us Space online, or attended any of the community screenings and artivist events that I organized, you know how I have been engaged in the housing justice movement in London. My personal housing crisis is not in the documentary directly but indeed the film resulted from my personal experiences, the research and awareness I gained through it. Gentrification knocked on my door too many times, the layers of trauma were piling up. When I had to leave again (this time the house I lived in was being sold), I decided to end this cycle and go out and about in search of the true meaning of Home.

It was not a holiday or a simple adventure, to then go back to the usual life, no, it was an experience of radical opening, of mystery and awe. For a long time there was a true call to journey, and inspired by Joseph Campbell words “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls”, I decided to leave, facing the crisis in the eye and take it as an opportunity for change.

Living a nomadic life, I moved between 4 countries: England, Germany, France and Portugal. With one-way tickets, I stayed in 43 different places, dancing with uncertainty, following the synchronicity path and letting things unfold. There were many challenges, discomfort, exhaustion, survival, and also fun, unexpected and beautiful people and places on my way. And growth, not the kind of 'more', but of less, of depth.

The journey became my home.

The journey started as a real life experience of uncertainty. The film became a very personal meditation, a reflection on our world and transitions, a visual poem on Nature, a contemplation on grief, loss and the impermanence of (my) Life. I hope it is inspiring. I started this in 2016, however only during the lockdown, I could complete the film. With the pandemic I was called to give distant healing and to plant the garden of the soul. Through these gifts, and a welcomed stillness, in the silence of Nature, I wrote a new book and learned new skills for new directions for the times we are living in. I followed the threads to the depths to be in service.

Indeed 'uncertainty gives us the present moment'. What unfolds is often surprising. One thing I learned was that uncertainty and crisis, however challenging and very uncomfortable, can open powerful roads for growth and teach us to be present, open the imagine new possibilities and practice resilience.

BOOKS

Travelling like clouds, the art of being present

excerpts of the book

"I travelled without a plan or destination like the wandering Taoist monks did in ancient times; they called it 'travelling like clouds'. Many ancient cultures have some form of this conscious wandering as a way of expanding limits, of un-learning, of walking into unknown roads as a practice of self-discovery; as a rite of passage or initiation.

This was indeed an essential part of my journey. To live this truth in my daily life, in my relationships, in my actions. Like a seeker, a wanderer, a cloud, I travelled as a means to meditate, embracing impermanence and change. Embodying the space in between, I stayed in the liminal zone."

Along the journey Claudia lived in cities, in the countryside, by the sea, in a forest of cork trees, she made a film on solar panels while living in wilderness, she cared for women with Alzheimer's and dying, practicing compassion in action, while aligning with Soul, and listening to Earth, water, drought and wind.The book is partly memoir, partly travel writing, and explores themes such as, uncertainty, loss, simplicity, living in wilderness, Nature connection, healing, energy, and trauma, with depth, to inspire other souls. It follows Claudia's inner and outer journeys, questioning how - as a Wanderer, an artist, an Earth protector and healer - she can bring her gifts, wisdom and resilience into the world to help co-create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

This is an independent self-published book

available as e-book and paperback book

270 pages, text and photographs, in english

BUY BOOK

'The depths of stillness'
new book available now
(October 2021)

BUY BOOK

FILM-MEDITATION

The Soul Journey

Watch the trailer

Experimental documentary | 1h33

The film is not yet available online

here's some words from people who watched it

with gratitude

"This is one of the most beautiful, artful film encounters

I have ever experienced. Your work is Essence-touching medicine"

“Your camera films like I imagine the Soul would see.

I can only thank you for your unusual generosity and empathy"

"Thank you for your wonderful Soul Journey, a poignant story, beautifully captured on film and eloquently expressed. I will watch it again now and thank you for sharing it with me, especially during this extraordinary time of enforced stillness."

"We were impressed by the way you embrace Nature and by your statement

that uncertainty should be seen as a quality, not as a burden."

"Oh wow that was incredible, I was so moved by it & you are incredibly talented,

the editing was brilliant'

“What a journey and what a moving and fascinating film.

Yes, a spiritual journey that makes us question our priorities….beautifully made. Thank you.”

ONLINE COURSE

NEW 7 WEEK COURSE
Coming Soon

INFO & SIGN UP

A feminine way of filmmaking

I am happy to be a woman, with my sensibility, my intuition, my receptivity and my nurturing nature. I notice how these qualities are in the making of the film - a feminine way of film making, so different from the predominant masculine way present in the film industry where each person does a bit, there is the director, the producer, a hierarchy, things are planned, controlled, made fast, with many takes to reach perfection.

For me, film making became a quiet activity, the equivalent to writing a secret poem, full of depth and meaning, simply a way to dwell on the mystery of being human.

In my way of making films, which I am calling here the feminine way, there is curiosity to wait for the light, there is acceptance and patience, there is time for being and not knowing what will come next, there is time to listen, within and around, attentively, and with care. I film and edit without separation, present to what comes to me, finding the secret connections, between sounds, images and words, through a collage of sensations and insights, like a meditation.

This is a film made with the patience of a weaver, hand-made, holistic, healing art. I feel proud I have made this film on my own, as a seeing of the soul. Also note that 70% of the making of this film was done ecologically on solar panels, in harmony with the cycles of Nature, while living in a caravan.

DEEP ECOLOGY AND NATURE

In London I was part of the environmental movement and of the permaculture and deep ecology communities, but I was longing for a deeper experience in Nature. When I got the opportunity to live in a caravan in wilderness in the South of Portugal, I said yes and there I started this film-meditation. I had no electricity, running water or the internet. The film was made on solar panels. A daily practice of being with Nature. I started by filming my daily life, fixing the caravan, getting water, etc, then I started filming the trees and how they would change with the sun and the rain, the fog and sunsets. I was limited to about 3 hours of laptop use as our DIY solar panel was not very powerful but I was dedicated to work on the film every day as a meditation practice, with awareness and focus.

By then I realized that my soul journey had actually started many years ago, when my partner passed away with cancer. I later had another important turning point, after my heart operation 6 years ago. I didn't know it back then, but those two life events changed everything. In my tiny caravan, I went back on a long flashback to look into my personal life and the Life happening around me, in London, in the world, over the past 10 years. Slowly I dropped the stories and kept the insights. The film became somehow mysterious, poetic and philosophical. I used video and photo diaries. Through filming and editing, I selected pieces of life and excerpts of films that I made, while filming myself in the process. I use video footage, photographs, texts, music, sounds to express these insights, finding new connections, not only into my own life, but into Life itself, Death, Nature, and Art.

I found out that Nature is where I belong, and I slowly discovered the wisdom that rises from deep within the body. After years living in a fast paced mega-city, I was (re)discovering a new but familiar intimate feeling: a sense of belonging to Earth started to emerge as I connected with my own nature, through the deep time of trees, the cycles of the Moon and the tides of the ocean. To film the Nature around me was a deep relation that demanded focus, presence, attention and readiness. The impermanence of the light and the subtle changes were quick to disappear. Each season would bring something new. Along the journey, in the many places and landscapes I've stayed, it became more and more clear that the external world was not separate from me, it was often a mirror, an extension, a sign of where to move next, or a way to convey some truth or teaching; we are deeply interconnected, we are the same fabric of Life.

Sound quotes in the film

Along the journey I was supported by many people, teachings and learnings, sometimes through books, online courses and podcasts. Charles Eiseinstein, Bill Plotkin, The tree sisters, Clarissa Pinkola Estes were very important and somehow were my travel companions and teachers. With them, and many others, I studied and embodied the transitions of a new paradigm, through eco-psychology, soulcraft practices, trauma healing, deep time, spiritual ecology and the awakening of the wild feminine and sisterhood. In the film, I use some sound excerpts of webinars of various teachers and speakers that are influential to me, and inspired me through the journey, allowing new insights and expansion. In the film, I add these teachings as short sound quotes, in a subtle tapestry of connections and insights that mirror my own. I mix those with music, images and stories. Here are their names with links for their work, with deep gratitude:

Charles Eisenstein, Michael Stone, Alan Watts, Joanna Macy, Thomas Hubl, Gabor Maté, Chris Johnstone & Rob Hopkins, Clare Dubois / Tree Sisters, Grandmother Flordemayo and a special thanks to Ian Mackenzie for his films 'The gift of our wounds' (with Michael Stone) and 'Humanity's new story' (with Thomas Hübl).

Music in the film

I always carry music with me. I traveled with my headphones and the music for the film was carefully selected. Most of the music is made by friends, or people I met on my journey, it's an amazing soundtrack with the music of the underground and independent music from the many places I lived and travelled to, from London of course, Berlin, France, Philadelphia, Brighton... Ambient, techno, drum'n'bass, healing sounds, beautiful voices, meaningful music.

With many THANKS to the fellow travellers, who kindly allowed me to use their music in this film it was such an important part of the journey itself. Here are their names with links for their music pages to help spread independent music and their good work!

Audio Dependent / Tim Cowie

69db / Sebastian / Dharma Techno

CZENTRIFUGA FALLEN STARS | czentrifuga

OLAN MILL ft JANE WILD

ELEMENTZ OF NOIZE | M Ocean Records

SLIPPING INTO SUBLIMNITY

IMAGES ON AIR