SHEBANA COELHO
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there is a story that only you can tell



your vision

There is a story only you can tell and live....and I'd like to help you tell it.  I've worked with people on MEMOIRS, FAMILY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS, FILMS. SHORT STORIES  and HEALING PRACTICE WEBSITES. 

I've also  worked with people who have no project in mind - they simply want to write, journey, embody for the sake of it or feel compelled for reasons they can't explain.  Perhaps they sense - as I do - that HARNESSING YOUR CREATIVITY helps to get to your TRUTH.  I sincerely encourage your impulse to begin - to deepen your encounters in creativity - I feel it opens mysterious doors within the body spirit and leads to new journeys.


There's a certain kind of alchemy in metaphor
that I feel brings healing
and helps people to listen to the voice
that guides them and
us into the stories only we can tell.


NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO STEP INTO STORY

Story Guide

only you know your vision. how I hope to help is work with you to nurture it so can grow greener, excavate it if it has gone underground, or catalyze it into form if it is still vapor.

Write

Journey

Embody


What I love is listening & playing in metaphor and movement to nurture someone's vision to find its own particular resonance
CONTACT ME FOR A COMPLIMENTARY SESSION

"revelations in the heart "

I love this phrase from Leonard Cohen describing what he wants his work to inspire.  His vision comes across so clearly as  something particular to his particular way of being in the world.

I believe that encountering your particularity ~ the sound of your voice speaking its own truth and fiction - your presence on the page or stage - is beautiful and necessary because it lights you up. And that light carries....

Especially now, I believe it's vital that we inspire each other to REMEMBER the histories only we can remember, TELL the stories only WE can tell, live the LIVES only we can live, one step, one dance, one word at a time, creating a COLLECTIVE network of resonance and healing.



we begin with a genesis session
A GENESIS session starts the journey to  the heart of your vision,  what led you to create...
In this embodying session - we move with, write and listen to the vision...
       ...even if it changes… even if it doesn't.. 
the point is to create a resonant baseline so that moving forward or backwards, the project is seen through your vision, so that when you get lost... 
       ...because everyone gets lost….
         .., you can return to the genesis and that will guide you, ground you into to the true form for the story that only you can tell. .

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We continue with what suits your process and project - it could be writing/creativity sessions, feedback on pages you have written,  interviews/conversation sessions or a mix and match combination.

Step into your story

For all kinds of projects, in all stages, I offer Individual Creativity Sessions in which we write, journey, embody and Insightful Feedback  ~ all within the context of your vision and drawing on my decades of experience in film, creative writing and facilitating workshops.
write ~ journey ~ embody
The CREATIVITY SESSIONS  like the workshops I facilitate, are guided sessions  to inspire body. spirit and imagination through  open-hearted encounters with metaphor, nature, alchemy, songs and stories; they incorporate theater, song, and movement to nurture a felt body sense of inspiration and create embodied prose and lyric writing.

The umbrella name and vision for my work as a performer, writer and story guide is
FARAWAY IS CLOSE: resonant cross cultural experiences that dissolve borders and connect us to different cultures and also to what feels distant within us,
the stories under the skin, indigenous to spirit.

I'VE FACILITATED GROUP WORKSHOPS IN NEW MEXICO, MONGOLIA, PALESTINE, & AMERICAN SAMOA

READ MORE AT FARAWAYISCLOSE.COM

Get in touch for a Complimentary Discovery Session

In this 30 minute session, we meet on the phone or online and talk about your story/project. I listen and share feedback that I hope will serve as encouragement and resources that may be of use. If we feel a resonance to working together,
that will become clear as well.


email

writeoutloud13 at
gmail dot com
​

Testimonials

"a way of exploring the landscape within me"
"a patient and curious listener"
"Thank you for lighting a fire inside me""

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In Land Creativity Writing Workshop
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In Land Creativity Writing Workshop

Working with Shebana repeatedly gifted me novel ways of framing and understanding my journey.

Working with Shebana is itself a journey – a way of exploring the stories, perceptions, rhythms, sounds and connections comprising the landscapes and terrains within me.

I very much appreciate her skill and agility in working with voice, movement, imagination and the written word. Her gentleness, ease and full presence meant she was ready to meet me where I was in any given moment and to hold space for me to be in the vulnerability necessary for me to be fully present with myself.   

With Shebana’s distinct kind of guidance, the kind which means she is bearing witness alongside me, I have repeatedly walked towards aspects of myself which have been hidden away in easily missed corners and crevices.

Reframes have combined with fresh images to result in clear, concise, playful ways to see myself and describe the path I am walking.




When I conjure our lessons in my minds eye, I immediately see her smile and radiant eyes and hear our shared laughter.

Together we moved, went still, laughed, cried, as we traversed innumerable borders and boundaries.  

I am concluding my work with Shebana having a stronger, more vibrant container in which to hold my vision and guide my next steps. I have a connection with a clearer, more multi-dimensional voice from which to write the book I’m working on and to communicate about my emerging somatic education practice.

The fruits of our work together will no doubt serve me well as I step more deeply into my identity as a writer and I embark on a new career as a somatic education practitioner (The Feldenkrais Method ®).


Veena Vasista
Wake-Up Artist & Movement Maker
Feldenkrais Method® Practitioner - movement as a portal to freedom  
www.liberatingmoves.com (coming soon)


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On the land
Shebana Coelho is one of those people whose natural grace and intelligence can't help but inspire the rest of us to shine brighter. 
Her natural voice in writing and open heart mixed with imaginative powers make her a fine teacher of writing.

-Joan Logghe
Santa Fe Poet Laureate 2010-2012
Writing teacher for over thirty years



As one of the founding editors of Granta magazine, a novelist, and a creative writing instructor,
I have worked with many writers—including Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi and Kiran Desai, who have proved that the multi-cultural world of India resonates to a world audience—and have read thousands more. 


Shebana is undoubtedly the real thing, with a sophisticated understanding that identity is a complex and wonderful subject. 
-Jonathan Levi 
Guide for the Perpelexed
co-founder,Granta

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Zuni pueblo workshops
I've taken all kinds of writing workshops, but I've never had one led by someone like Shebana, who is so adept at stimulating writers to look at their work in new ways and to take risks in such a positive environment. And the writing she contributes during the sessions is truly inspirational.
-Michael, Santa Fe

This workshop was a game changer! Thank you for lighting a fire inside me.
-Lynn, Santa Fe

"remarkable skill….the ability to listen, assimilate our ideas…and show us what was possible."

"a powerful ability to help one get to the heart of the matter"


"her gift of story-telling, and especially her keen editorial insights"
 
"a patient and curious listener…. her guidance on how to manifest that vision through multimedia."


Read MORE


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Amerika Samoa Community College Workshop 2020
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Mongolia MONFEMNET Retreat 2016

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About me

Shebana Coelho

originally from India. now in New Mexico

"...to nurture and create art that is cathartic and connective.. READ MORE

FOLLOWING WHAT CALLS

A few words on the vision at the heart of my work
as a performer of the play,
The Good Manners of Colonized Subjects,
as a writer, story consultant and human animal...

Writing Samples


Here are some memoir
pieces I've written

More Work samples
in other genres here 

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published in Vela magazine, included in Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 10 and translated into Swedish for the anthology, Limitless.

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 Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer's Disease, editor Holly Hughes

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Ghost Ranch Newsletter Article

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Reimagining the past in Hippocampus Magazine

Pricing

The Write Journey Embody sessions are priced at an hourly rate. 
I also offer packages of sessions.
I offer a 30 MINUTE COMPLIMENTARY SESSION
to meet,  share a bit about each of our visions
and get a feel for how we might work together.
READ MORE...
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GROUP SESSIONS & PRE-RECORDED WORKSHOPS

From time to time, I facilitate

COMMUNITY CIRCLES and Group Workshops


Pre-Recorded Workshops

you can do these at home, at your own pace 
CREATE from the ENCOUNTER
with Mongolia
with Gratitude
with Presence


Adelante, onwards with the story only you can tell

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  • Story Consult
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