I’m so pleased to be able to share my interview with Narelle Carter-Quinlan.
Narelle is a Master Teacher with 50 years experience presencing students in the songline of eco-somatics, yoga, dance, scoliosis and Consciousness. In our truly wide-ranging conversation, Narelle shares her deep wisdom and experience on topics including:
how she learned to listen to Country from her father
walking as listening
what does embodiment mean
how to start to build a relationship with place
mangroves as grandmothers
why we are here
“Listening is about porosity…being immersed in place - not recognising any separation… can I drop my defences enough to be with you, as in tree, as in rock, as in platypus.”
(from the interview)
Listen to the audio or watch the video below:
“You can pick up a rock, ask it “Who are you? Tell me your story.””
Narelle is an Elder in the everywhen of eco-relationship, she expresses her life through body-land photographic image and filmscapes, the transmission that is written and spoken word, and deep movement. Her lineages include decades of formal biomedical academia and research, Iyengar yoga, Dance, three decades formal walking through Transformation with her Spiritual Teacher, and over six decades deliberate immersion on Country. She is Australian. Foundress and Steward of The Saltwater Songlines Project, Narelle is devoted to the loving woven fabric of all sentience, experiencing Itself.
“Embodiment for me means that I can sense every part of my inner landscape.”
She talks in the interview about the process of creating her online gallery, which can find at www.saltwatersonglines.com I highly recommend immersing yourself in it for a while, including watching her beautiful films. She is on Instagram: @saltwatersonglines and you can subscribe to her Substack
Narelle describes as the mangroves as being ‘generous and generative’ and listening to the conversation again, this seems to sum up for me the nature of the insights that Narelle shares.
“The rhythmicity of walking allows a shift in consciousness, takes me to something very very ancient, very primal.”
At the end, Narelle invites us to go outside, just go there and stand (or lie down) and listen for five minutes, and see what you can hear.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections from listening to this conversation, and if you go outside and listen for five minutes - what did you hear?
This is beautiful, Olivia. Thank you for interviewing me and putting this together xo