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Are you afraid of the dark? What does it represent for you? Have you ever considered that darkness could be healing or benevolent?  Me and and my dear friend, the forest. This year the darkening season hit me hard. I thought I had conquered my shadows and achieved some state of inner peace, but something felt off and I fell into a mild depression. My mind was confused: where was this coming from and why was I still experiencing this..?! Even though I have been in the process of honouring darkness and beginning to understand it's importance, there was more to discover. No matter how well we think we know our shadows... we rarely have truly faced all that there is to meet. And.... it is all a part of natural cycles of life! Not something to scare away from but to surrender into for deeper understanding a healing. It is about time we EMBRACE darkness as an important force for good.  Phosphorous glow of the lichen on the branches of these old trees. We need to balance the overpowering energies of continuous striving. Darkness is that feminine principle of non-doing. Pure presence. Being enough, saying: it is ENOUGH now. Enough of consuming, enough of 'making more' enough of believing that 'continuous growth' is an important value above all else. I invite you to start having a whole new relationship with darkness and all that it represents. Continuous striving is part of the sickness we face in our human world and it is hurting us as it is hurting the planet. We know this. And yet... it is hard to embrace that darkness as we have learned to fear it. We have learned to fear the feminine essence and make it 'less than' the masculine. We have been taught that only light is holy and healing. But most of the universe is dark matter. Darkness holds the seeds. In the womb it is dark as well. Darkness is nurturing, if we learn to let it be so and surrender into the healing it offers us.  No make up, no fancy clothes... I am enough as Mother Nature holds me. As a child I loved lying down in the dark of the winter, on the bed of snow, looking far into the starry skies. This filled me with pure wonder and happiness! Such a simple joy with such a profound effect. The snow with it's icy sparks... has always given me such a sense of wonder and magic. Listen within, take gentle care of yourself, celebrate both the light and the dark. We are balancing the energies here on Earth. For inspiration you, listen to my Vocal Blessing on FB: FULL MOON Vocal Blessing With love, sweet darkness and pure light, Meri You are always welcome to connect with me, soul to soul.
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This autumn has gifted us with exceptionally glorious colours. It has felt like nature's way of filling us up with radiant beauty, bright coloured medicine to prepare us for the upcoming dark months. Nature is also celebrating the past season of growth and light. Treasuring the elixirs that sustain life. The trees turn their flow inwards - and let go. Gracefully, to become bare and silent again.  Autumn walk by the sea. This morning, walking back home after taking my daughter to her kindergarten, I felt the invitation to enter the forest right next to our house. I somehow haven't been there that much, as it is not so easy to enter. It is a bit of a wild thing, not very big, but no paths, lots of moss, untamed growth, tricky terrain. I have already felt grateful and blessed for having this forest as our neighbour, but this morning, I truly fell in love with her... It felt like entering another reality. Very natural and simple, yet so magical and full of variety.  Our forest friend, breathing right next to us. Since we moved here 1,5 years ago, I have felt a new era in my life beginning. So much has shifted and changed. Though I have been on this path for many years already, there is new depth I have been feeling into here. Time and time again, I have been guided to look closer, to receive the gifts already present. To look with profound appreciation and sense of discovery, even when in my own back yard.  My misty breath in the morning sun. My body felt wonderful, walking in the forest terrain, as it makes all the joints move more creatively than on a steady, flat ground. The scents of decay and hidden treasures. Wisdom of the trees, the intelligence of their communication that we have only now begun to understand. The healing effect of being connected with nature. Becoming more accepting of our own limitations, our cycles, our death as part of life. ''The wonder of birth. The mystery of death. Human life, cycle by cycle, around the sun. Opening. Closing. Circling into it's own fulfilment.''  Roses for the last goodbye. I wrote this poem as my farewell to someone I have know most of my life, a father of a really dear friend. He passed away pretty suddenly and was buried recently. On a beautiful autumn day, we gathered together to say our last goodbyes. To realise that life is a fleeting experience, is surprisingly easy to forget. In nature, tuning in with the changing seasons, we see life transforming right before our eyes. This constant transformation is our nature too. Invitation for humble understandings of the fragility of life. We are all growing together, aching together, longing together. Whether we are aware of it or not. Feeling into the depth of our collective human sorrow is healing, as we recognise each other's beauty through our fragility. Much love and a breath of fresh air from me and my forest friend, Meri You are always welcome to connect with me, soul to soul.
Schedule a FREE session with me HERE How have these past few months been for you? Do you feel a sense of newness in your life?  After a performance at my home river for an international group of traditional fishermen and women. Personally I have gone through a series of deeply transformative passages this past summer. Transformation does not always include any specific ritual or a process, you don't necessarily need to go on an organised retreat, travel somewhere or make any magic tricks. This time, it has been all about BEING PRESENT with what really is there, all that makes life simply and deeply meaningful. I realised, I had been striving to make things happen in a way that was not completely authentic for me. Even though I am all about purity, honesty and authenticity, there had been that lurking sense of having to 'make it' - financially, artistically, personally - in some 'bigger' way. Somehow more impressive, more awe-inspiring, more like I was really living the dream I have held dear and true to my heart. It was not so much about what I was doing, but that sense of it 'shoulding' be something even more, that was stressing me out. It took me some complete time off to release all those false expectations that I had allowed to influence me. It can be really hard to define success in your own terms, to DECIDE for yourself, how the most meaningful and fulfilling life truly looks like and feels like for you, without it having to impress anyone else. And like me, perhaps to simply realise that you already ARE living your dream! VIDEO: Performing at the exhibition opening at Pentik Gallery in Posio, Finland. Sculptures by Teuvo Tuomivaara, paintings and video clip by Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna I have contemplated again on how fragile human life truly is and how desperately we need to redefine what we decide to strive for. We all, as humanity are facing huge challenges. Softness, grace, inner expansion into grounded wisdom. Touching the human heart and soul deeply, is my passion that gives meaning and a sense of purpose for all that I do. The inner fire has been glowing again and the compass is set free to follow my truth: that purest voice within that is here to reveal the highest path. As life would have it, after releasing everything, once again, I feel completely renewed. And, as if by magic, my autumn has been full of creativity, new connections and performing in inspiring venues as well as connecting with friends and family in joyful ways!  After our performance for children, IroIro-ii at Border Pride with Titta Court and both of our kids So, how do you know you are on the right path for your greatest expansion? Do you let yourself truly, TRULY decide what YOU need to be happy and let other’s define it for themselves? Tune in with your sense of meaning, nurture that deep connection with your essence and have much love, gentleness and respect for yourself!
If you need any support with your journey, I am here for you. Meri Deep breath in... deep breath out... Sense how your body feels. Welcome all the sensations that move through you.  PHOTO: Midnight Sun at the Solstice These are times of great release and renewal. What magic are YOU inviting into your life at this time? There has been a strong calling for me to spend the summer close to my origins. To live a life of ever greater simplicity. My mother comes from a remote area in Finland where there is a lot of untouched nature. There is silence. Natural purity. There are lots of curious forms in the nature that seem to really come alive as imaginative beings, nature spirits  PHOTO: Nature Spirit that appeared in a lake to me and my daughter in the Mother Forest As a nomad at heart, it has been truly curious to feel like not wanting to travel. This whole year has been a time of renewal and again, this month of July, feels like a sweet surrender into yet another rebirth. Instead of going 'further' I am invited to keep going deeper. Receiving even deeper roots, strengthening the physio-psychic connection with Mama Gaia. It is also a summer of 3 eclipses. Today, on Friday 13th July (in Europe) at the New Moon there was a Solar Eclipse. It is time to let go of old patterns and balancing the masculine/feminine energies in your life and your ancestral lineages. It is time to CREATE NEW PATHWAYS for your personal and professional self to express it's true essence. You might not see the whole picture yet, but listen in and welcome the insights you are receiving now.  PHOTO: barefooted in the Mother Forest Naturally a sensitive time, it has been sweet to leave time for sensing, being at home, connecting with nature. Barefooted in the sun. Naturally held between the Heaven and the Earth. The Cosmic Connection is open and the Celestial Energies are streaming in. Balancing it all by grounding is very important right now. Ground your feet, where ever you are - let them touch the Earth. Transformation is whirling through us. Stay gentle, stay connected with your body. Let the emotions wash through you. It is time for release and renewal. Tonight I will swim in the river to let all what needs to leave, be washed away. With the purity and the clarity of the Nordic Summer, Meri Do you feel like you want some support or more clarity in your life? You are welcome to book a FREE Conscious Connection Call with me! Soul to soul connection that awakens your own core essence, Intuitive Insights and a personal Vocal Blessing. My gift to you! Where ever you are in the world - or in your life. Once upon a time... there was water. Our very origins. What made life on Planet Earth possible.  'Good Words, Better Water' our first performance on AIB 2018. PHOTO: Hanna Kanto For a whole week in the beginning of June, at Art Ii Biennial, we immersed ourselves in water. Water as a metaphor, an element, as the flowing current of our emotional body. Being chosen as one of the artist for Art Ii Biennial 2018, States of Matter, truly felt like an honour and like an important turning point for me personally. My work is more and more about embracing healing practices combined with art. Here, this merging of high quality creative acts with high quality healing frequencies, felt natural and welcome.  Rippling waves with healing intentions were sent to bless the waters everywhere. The creative process we went through was reflecting the states of water on Earth all too well. Originally our project, titled the 'Bottled Water Exports' was born with my dear friend and performing artist, Kate Gane, from Australia. We would finally get to collaborate! We would first work with art and healing in Finland, then in Australia. This was a vision that would reach around the globe. Kate is a sensitive soul living in close communion with the Earth. And she got ill. As Mother Earth is being polluted and abused by us humans, in the need for shifting our unbalanced actions, Kate's body become a vessel of transformation through cancer. She was unable to come.  Empty fortune cookie. Message received Staying energetically connected with Kate to continue from a distance, we got a new collaborator in the mix, a third continent, to come perform with me in flesh and blood. Performance artist Ignacio Pérez Pérez, from Venezuela, currently on strike(!) and living in Helsinki, agreed to jump into the unknown with me. The conditions were different than initially planned. Instead of a few weeks working together, we only got some days. Even as the biennial started we were still finding our way through. Like the empty fortune cookie I got as we ate Chinese for lunch one day, the higher plan was made clear: trust your inner knowing.  Ignacio's fortune cookie. Different message. Connected meaning. The liberation came as we liberated the creative process. Our collaboration took wing as we let it have free form. We need to stop trying too hard to actually let magic happen. The flow of life guides us when we let it breathe and move freely through. It can truly be magical when this holistic process of life, art, healing and breathing becomes one.  Raquel Sakristan: Floating Structure. Made with local people with disabilities. We got to breathe art and witness beauty. To be complex humans through simple interactions. We got to be with water, celebrating it's many qualities and possibilities. THANK YOU! As we are living through such demanding times, the invisible message from my fortune cookie is truly important. Please paint this into your heart: Trust your own knowing. Trust your intuition. Trust that you are here for a very good reason, even when it can be hard to see it at this very moment. With so much love and tenderness, Meri P.S. More professional photos will be coming later. Video clips as well. This blog post shares part of our process with simple images and honest reflections. Co-creating with nature has been calling me in various forms lately. From gardening to improvising with a human friend, blending in with the soil, the leaves, the moss. We are also working on a whole Art Biennial focused on water. Interestingly, a project where WIND was the main element came also back to me through my news feed recently! Elements galore!!  PHOTO: still from a video by Stephan Balleux Six years ago in The Netherlands we worked on a project with kites as instruments, using the element of air for creating sound in various ways. My dear friend and collaborator Frouke Wiarda had invited several artists to design kites as well as composers and musicians to make music with them. I participated in two pieces: one very physical one where I played a kite string, using it even as a weird kind of a microphone. Another with a composer Dyane Donck who composed a piece of music, I Talk To The Wind, from my vocal sounds (pre-recorded and live) and the sound of a kite.  PHOTO: still from a video by Stephan Balleux You can sit back and watch the event at Gaudeamus Music Week below! ON THE VIDEO: For the pieces I performed, go here: 06:03 ' Windkracht 3': Nico Huijbregts (piano), Frouke Wiarda & Meri Nikula (kite string & voice) 22:55 'I Talk To The Wind': Meri Nikula (voice) & Dyane Donck (composition) My voice and expression is untamed, as usual..! Using sounds that come from deep within, primordial sounds, moving between the sophisticated and the unknown, the beautiful and the sometimes uncomfortable. It is becoming more and more clear this is part of my work here. Bringing a very physical approach to singing, I am here to truly FREE THE VOICES of women and men as it is symbolic to us expressing our truest essence here on Earth. If you ever need some help and support with connecting with your core and freeing your voice, I am here for you! Speak Your Truth. Stay connected with your core and with nature. We all need to ground ourselves as the wild wild winds of transformation are blowing across the globe. With love, Meri Get your personal Vocal Blessing & Channeled Message through this link!
There I was, at Luleå Airport in North of Sweden, with a huge box containing my sculptural costume created by Essi Korva. That costume I was to bring with me to Berlin for an exhibition with Galleri Syster. It didn't work out. Even after agreeing on the details of the transport by phone, they simply refused to take the box and the costume on board... So, what to do? Call a sister! Hanna Kanto, another artist friend joining the exhibition was already in Berlin. I would need her help in creating another sculptural costume in 1,5 days. She said YES and a whole new character was born: a comic baroque figure, Marie Antoinette's double-ganger (shortly before the revolution) for a new performance piece WHIPPED (s)CREAM. WHIPPED (S)CREAM Meri Nikula (performance & voice), Hanna Kanto (costume & paintings on the background)
Our exhibition in Berlin with a wonderful group of artists from Gallery Syster turned out to be quite the adventure. The pressure of creating a new character from a scratch in less than two days was intense. We went to the local flee markets to find materials and let our imagination fly wild! With a bit of polyuretan foam, glue and some paint, Hanna heroically made this sculptural dress for me to bring alive. WHIPPED (s)CREAM is portraying a woman lost in her appearance and status. Like a clown, she is trapped in her role. Both funny and tragic. Trying to find a way back in expressing her humanness within the crazy structures of society.  Sara Edström, Therese Engström, Fanny Carinasdotter, Hanna Kanto & Meri Nikula - some of the artist sisters from GALLERI SYSTER It was the first time for me to join forces with Galleri Syster. Our artist talk also revolved around the theme of co-creation and needing a collective around you, even as a solo artist. I love when the idea of 'sisterhood' is coming from so many directions now, within the spiritual world but also in the artistic circles, more and more. Together we lift each other up and collaborate instead of competing, as the feminine way is rising to meet as equals with the masculine ways of working. Marie Antoinette was brought to life again, to make us aware that the time for choosing the wellbeing of all instead of a select few is highlighted again. We are all in this together. Wild,
feminine, creative POWER to you all, men and women! Meri Beloved friends! It is a fertile time for birthing your dreams. The Light and the Dark are balanced. The masculine and the feminine are joining forces. We have been swimming in the Piscean realms, the formless, feminine mystery, the origins of all life. With the Equinox, the Aries Sun is coming in with it's masculine power to ignite the growth of all those seeds you have dreamed during your journeying inward.  A friend recently asked if I was pregnant. Not in the sense of having a baby in my belly, but I AM rebirthing myself again! I am thrilled to introduce you to my new creation where you can access my offerings in a more direct way. Please welcome Irindira Vocal Arts, my new space for sharing Healing Vocal Arts. I would love to be of service to you on your path to greater authenticity!  I am in the process of strengthening the foundations of my sacred space, both within my home as my castle and my body as my temple, to be better available and capable for the healing and the transformational art I feel called to create. I encourage you to step into your next level of self care and self love in your life to release your full capacity in service for healing this planet! ''For every man and woman on this planet right now there is an urgent call to step out of any fear of living an authentic life. You will feel a calling towards your soul’s guided path. Follow the call, take those steps, walk through the fires with fierceness and the vulnerability of accepting yourself just as you are, right now.'' For the first time I am also offering LIVE one on one sessions if you want to connect with me directly. These session are Conscious Connection Calls where you will get clarity around your chosen subject and a stronger connection with your essence. Find out if something resonates with you on my new homepage for Healing Vocal Arts: https://www.irindiravocalarts.com/ EQUINOX LOVE and SOLAR POWER to IGNITE your Truest Essence!! Meri Happy Wednesday! Happy Chinese Year of the Dog! Happy New Day in general, my dear. It is a new beginning, every day you are alive.  Talking Nymphs - Live Performance PHOTO: Lars-Martin Hunstad Despite February being one of the coldest months here, I absolutely LOVE this time of the year. It is also my birth month, time for my personal New Year's Celebration. As someone who needs a lot of time for reflection and is constantly refining my alignment with my truest essence, I love reflecting on the possibility for having continuous, circular New Beginnings. I want to make sure I am paying attention, listening within and making adjustments when necessary, to live a more authentic, satisfying and meaningful life.  Talking Nymphs - Afterglow PHOTO: Lars-Martin Hunstad I had the pleasure to start this year's performing in the stunning LOFOTEN ISLANDS in Northern Norway, invited by Ny Musikk Nordland. It was a concert I will never forget! I was singing together with a natural echo: TALKING NYMPHS, evoking the nature spirits on this special location. The energy was very strong there. It is hard to record the echo though, so unfortunately I have no proper video to post here... but I have something else, new and exciting to share with you! MY FIRST FACEFOOK LIVE: https://www.facebook.com/meri.nikula.54/videos/10155032403222063/ This is another new beginning for me, to start sharing in this direct and unedited way, so that I can reach you all, around the globe! I am planning on LIVE sharing on both my private page as well as my professional page, Irindira Vocal Arts, so if you want to follow me there, here is the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/merindira/ Sending you
THE GLORIOUS LIGHT of the Radiant February SUN from my snowy village to you all, around the world! Remember to appreciate the simple joys of life today. Meri This midwinter darkness has been cradling me in it's murkier waters. There is a heaviness of old patterns being brought into the surface. It seems to me that now that I have my safe haven, here in my 'new' home, it is now safe to have a deeper look into some aspects of self I have rather left unnoticed.  PHOTO: the edge of ice between snow and water It is curious, when truly going after your dreams and starting to realise them, something can still catch your heart in shadow. Part of that 'something' is exactly that: simply a call to be there, embracing that darker side. The vulnerable, the unfinished, the out-of-tune parts of ourselves. There are moments when we really just need to be still and listen to the murmurs of those unheard parts. To be present. To forget the busy roadmap we have created for ourselves and surrender to the mystery of listening.  PHOTO: in the stillness of winter, hidden signposts I asked my guides for some insights and a blessing for these times, for this new year we have entered. A melancholic melody started appearing. I took the microphone and recorded it and the rest of the blessing. Always without editing. This one embracing all the misaligned and out-of-tune parts of ourselves, either falling way or integrating into our greater whole: '' Big questions are called forth. Deep commitments are being asked of you. You are setting a new course for your life and the life on planet earth. Choose your priorities wisely. Choose with you heart and womb, that creative core within. Choose in alignment with Mother Earth. Ask for her guidance and support. Together we can heal even the deepest wounds. Be receptive, be vulnerable, be willing to shift and transform and you will be held and guided through it all. ''  PHOTO: forest from the trees... In celebration for your courageous act of simply being alive. Grateful for the beauty of your unique journey at this time, together, on Planet Earth. Blessed be, blessed be, blessed be! Meri IRINDIRA |
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