The Art of Breaking Chains

“It is one of the greatest gifts to wake up and realize you hold the key to your own chains. Its even greater to realize you have the free will to let them go.

So I suppose the question remains….do you really want to?”

Alexandra Bourne

Author & Medicine Woman, Pilgrimage to the Cradle of Mankind

The Art of Breaking Chains became a quest for the sake of this girl. Painted at 16 yrs old during a time when my world felt heavy and the void felt deep. An unexplainable sadness lingered behind the kindness of my smile, but it was nothing short of confusion. A sense that there was something more to be witnessed in our existence than this mediocre lifestyle that drained me to my core. Discomfort had always been there. It wore a mask that said “warrior up” “be strong” and “just accept it”. But there was no bone in my body that could “just accept” the reality of living in survival mode all the time. The fire in my soul screamed for a justice that was unfamiliar, rooted in anger. It was a justice of remembrance. A justice in the reclamation of truth, the art of living. The call to break through the mold of conditioning, to see beyond the polarity, the illusion and the influence of greed, power and hatred. It was the call to return to the memory of who we really are. And in doing so I devoted my path to the exploration of this truth. It was one of the hardest medicine walks of my life…but the end of one chapter…is only ever the beginning of another.

The Art of Breaking Chains was written halfway through the pilgrimage off grid next to a Volcano in Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud. It is a stepping stone and a gateway into revealing a 10 year journey across the globe in the most extraordinary and unusual way. In humility and in faith.

When you look at her does is it make you feel uncomfortable? Does it surface emotions of empathy or does it stir an avoidance within your reality? Do you disregard her because she triggered the defense mechanism of your conditioning? Or does her resonance speak to the part of that you wish to finally meet but maybe just don’t know how? All art invokes feeling. Perhaps this why its such a powerful tool in the silence of subtle communication. Whether you become triggered or inspired, it exposes the truth within your vulnerability. The colours and the rawness of every brush stroke can become a revelation of your journey, if you let it.

This story aligns to a series of paintings of a girl, who in her despair and emotional depths, finally begins to see the chains that shackle her to a life of unfulfillment. As she wakes to the reality of her own imprisonment she becomes a witness to the very chains she holds in her hand. You’d think it would be a liberating feeling to acknowledge the power we hold to release our bonds of a scripted life, but in truth, it is where the spiral begins. In order to become who you truly are, you must first unbecome who you think you are. “How?” she asked… “How do I do it?” “Where do I even begin”…

She serves as a reminder that we are human. That we have the capacity to feel endless layers of emotion, whether that’s pain or pleasure, joy or discomfort. For some of us we can wear the mask indefinitely, but for most, its undeniable that we crave something more, and so we ask the questions. What was once subconscious now makes its way to the surface. First it arrives as a knock at the door as the desire for truth and liberation grows. But soon the knock becomes a version of yourself holding a box of matches, ready to burn it all down. I call this our inner arsonist. It is the moment where the patterns, the cycles, the suffering, eventually become intolerable and something within us needs to shift. And that’s where we start…by answering the call. For when your soul say’s “I’m ready to know” the whole force of nature replies. And although it may not come in an answer that you’ll like to hear, remember, even the sharpest of realities carry a promise of hope. Its the hope for brighter days, the hope for freedom, and it comes to you with the support of those who have walked where you stand now, in testimony. Hope is the very spark that lights the match.

She now recognizes the chains are her responsibility and spirals into the overwhelm of a long road home. The mind and the heart are at a crossroads of staying stagnant in suffering or risking it all in the pursuit of freedom. It is not without courage that we walk into the fire of a burning building and alchemize its teachings. But the beauty is, we are never walking alone. In these paintings you see the chains discarded beside her as she sits in the victimhood of change. This isn’t to criticize the victim, its to acknowledge a very real part of us that believes what is happening is unfair. And in that our greatest power is the choice to see defeat as an opportunity to grow, to choose strength, to rise. The caterpillar runs along the chains towards becoming a symbol of transformation into a butterfly. I know what you’re thinking…oh no, not another cliche reference on metamorphosis, butterfly’s and rainbows…spiritual fairy dust, but it absolutely is. Its the messenger of hope that says even in the darkness hour of our inner work we can evolve into beauty. It is the pressure and patience that alchemizes your pain, your lessons and ultimately your surrender into gold. Nature is a teaching of a higher power, it is a guide to the answers we seek, never forced, always present. And in the stillness, it speaks.

The answers didn’t come to tell her how to break the shackle around her ankle, even though that’s the goal. The answers spoke of lightening the load by removing the links, piece by piece. The paintings that were once of despair, deep blues and dark red hues, begin to brighten into turquoise, greens and vibrant colours as she releases the weight. Nature becomes a consistent support of encouragement and what returns is a profound sense of love that fills the void we could never explain. Often times the unravelling of our pain is too heavy for us to put down and the pressure to break free can easily become the burden that keeps us stuck. In this she realizes that surrender is an act of releasing what arises in the moment and being willing to take the next step on an unknown road of promise. It is the embodiment of trust and a restoration of faith as we lean into ourselves. The burdens, the trauma, the pain are mere reflections of not just the hurt done onto us, but the hurt we have done onto others and the hurt we’ve done onto ourselves. Resentment, shame, self-sacrificing…you name it. We all carry the humanness of the experience and in that we hold the power of transcending pain into purpose. We learn the art of healthy boundaries, forgiveness and respect, not only for ourselves, but for humanity as a whole.

Our unbecoming is a masterpiece of liberation.

Our blank canvas is a dream painted in eternity.

Our journey is the magic we find in the

Art of Breaking Chains.