Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marti Shawn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Marti, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

I was attending an event at a local kava bar ine Tuesday evening that involved fire spinners, live music, and lots of different art vendors.

As I had been walking around, this man came running up to me and handed me a small print of a painting he created.

“Mel!” He exclaimed, “I wanted to thank you so much for that sensory experience it really changed my life.”

I was a bit confused.

He continued to explain that we met at a festival about six months prior, and he came to me to partake in a sensory meditation. His name is Tim, and he is a visual artist. He explained to me that when we met, he was going through one of the toughest creative blocks of his life. His creativity had been stagnant for over a year. He couldn’t paint, write, draw, anything. He wasn’t inspired. There was nothing coming through him.

After he came to my sensory meditation at the festival, he told me he immediately felt inspired, and created the piece that was now a print grasped between my fingers.

That was the first of many paintings he created since meeting me. He told me he’s never felt this open and free through his creativity in his life, and wanted to thank me so much for helping him move through the blockages he felt were never ending.

I literally cried and asked him for a hug. I still have the print.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Mel, but more recently I’ve been going by Marti Shawn.

I started digging into sensory exploration about three years ago when I walked into a small gift shop and saw the book “255 Ways To Alter Your State Of Conciousness Without Drugs” staring at me in the face.

At the time, I was seeing someone who was completely sober and thought this could be a really fun thing to look at together, yet as I started rummaging through its pages, I saw the way this book was about to change my life.

Sensory Deprivation.

I’d never even heard of it before, but I was intrigued. As I read the description, being a foodie and a chef I instantly thought of blindfolded eating. I started to do dinners privately and communally, only to discover what I was working with was more powerful than I could have ever imagined.

People were practicing presence. They were connecting to themselves deeper than ever before, they were connecting with strangers next to them as if they were lifelong friends. They were curious, they were discovering secrets hidden in the corners of their subconscious minds. They were overcoming their fears.. the list is never ending.

I realized the potential healing in what I was offering and got excited. My brain started coming up with so many ideas. So I expanded.

I started offering private dinners for couples to rediscover the passion in their partnerships, for families to accept new perspectives, for friends to acknowledge their love for one another.

I was invited to run a sensory palace at a nudist festival in New York, I hosted a Sensory Playshop in Florida, I helped a group of locals connect deeper to their land in Hawai’i, it was just incredible.

About two years ago I started digging deeper into shadow work, and getting back in touch with the poet in me. As I was doing my own shadow work I realized, the sensory dinners are also a form of shadow work, and everything I am doing is connected.

Everything I do helps you reconnect to yourself, to discover something new, or to gain fresh perspective which brought me into the writing aspect of my business.

After people have experienced the dining experiences, they always have so much to reflect on, so much to share and acknowledge for themselves which inspired something in me.

A 30 Day Challenge.

A 30 day challenge to hold yourself accountable in your journey. A challenge to be consistent with yourself and your creativity. This challenge is the introductory part of a 4 month program I’ve designed that allows you to use your senses to discover yourself like never before, and bring your subconscious mind to the forefront.

The course consists of a 30 day challenge , a 12 week live sensory writing course with community support, and ending with an immersive retreat somewhere in the world that includes two sensory dining experiences and true cultural exchange. This program has been created to help you rediscover yourself again, and understand how who you are can give you everything you’ve ever needed.

I know what I’ve created here is different, because although blindfolded eating, writing courses, and retreats already exist, the other offerings don’t provide the hands on, intensive in just the right ways, experience you’ll get with me. I’ve created something that speaks the languages everyone’s subconscious mind is constantly trying to translate.

It’s really been such a journey to get here and I am excited to continue growing !

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Being an entrepreneur isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

There are days where you will question everything. I’ve contemplated going back to the grind a few times when business was slow.

I create events constantly, and do my best to market and promote, but doing it alone is hard. I’ve heard so many times “just hire someone to help you!”

With what money?

They weren’t lying when they said you need money to make money. I’ve had event planned that I had to cancel due to no one signing up. I’ve had people no show last minute, I’ve had nervous breakdowns wondering how I’m going to pull this off. I’ve driven around town hanging flyers, created hundreds of ads online, and sometimes, it just doesn’t work in your favor.

You have to learn to be okay with that.

When you’re starting out, it can be tough. You have to build up a clientele, you have to show people that you’re worth what you’re asking for. You have to touch people so deeply in their hearts that they will do whatever they can to be a client of yours.

But you have to keep showing up. You have to fight the voices telling you to quit. You have to keep going.

You never know how close you might be.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Freedom.

I get to be 100% authentically me and get paid for it.

I get to share the creative spurts of my brain with my community and beyond, and people are actually interested in hearing about it.

The most rewarding thing is that I get to choose what I do everyday. I get to feel inspired by life and I get to know myself even better every day because, being a solo entrepreneur, you spend a lot of time thinking with yourself.

I’m really excited because I’ve got some beautiful new directions I want to head in with my business and the beat part is, I get to make those decisions!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://martishawn.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/senserd__

Image Credits
Luis Soto , Carly Benjamin