LISSA RANKIN INTERVIEW ( 1 OF 4)
In this four-part video interview, Lissa Rankin discusses: separating what you do from who you are • the origins of her website, Owning Pink • getting your mojo back • the challenges of work/life balance • her wedding-day Shamanic journey • the quadruple crisis that redirected her path • the meaning and value of surrender • the value of synchronicity • enlightened, holistic self-care • The Woman Inside project, a deeply meaningful artistic endeavor that started with breast cancer patients • details about her two upcoming books
Click on each of the above topics for more information from Lissa
Lissa Rankin, the Pink Physician!
It was a real treat video-interviewing Lissa Rankin and finally meeting her face to face! I had written in an earlier post about the amazing synchronicities that had brought us together.
Lissa is an OB/GYN physician, an author, a nationally-represented professional artist, and the founder of Owning Pink, a website and series of workshops committed to building authentic community and empowering women to get their mojo back. She practices holistic women’s health at Clear Center of Health in Mill Valley, California.
Lissa’s nationally-recognized abstract encaustic paintings and sculptures are represented by galleries in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Boston, Atlanta, Laguna Beach, Houston and Bethesda. She is the author of What’s Up Down There: Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist if She Was Your Best Friend (St. Martin’s Press 2010) and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art With Wax (Random House, 2010).
Lissa lives in Northern California with her husband and fellow artist, Matt Klein, and their daughter, Siena.
LISSA RANKIN INTERVIEW ( 2 OF 4)
LISSA RANKIN INTERVIEW ( 3 OF 4)
LISSA RANKIN INTERVIEW ( 4 OF 4)
LISSA’S “THE WOMAN INSIDE” PROJECT
Lissa's cast of Susan, whose story is told below
I was moved by Lissa’s artistic venture, which celebrates, honors and empowers breast-cancer survivors. Here is how Lissa describes The Woman Inside project:
As an OB/GYN physician, artist, and writer, my aim in creating The Woman Inside Project is to shine a light on the beautiful woman that lies within each breast cancer survivor. When I began this project five years ago, I was arrogant enough to think I could hand-pick the women with the “interesting” stories, but I was quickly humbled to realize that every woman is beautiful when you take the time to see her.
For this project, I spent the past five years casting with medical plaster the torsos of women with breast cancer. When I complete the cast, I hold it up and say to the woman, “So this is what the world sees. Now tell me about the rest of you.” I then listen for as long as it takes her to unveil the breathtaking woman inside.
When the woman goes home, I paint her cast with encaustic, pigmented beeswax, the medium about which I wrote my first book Encaustic: A Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax (Random House, 2010). I also transcribe her story into a first-person narrative of the beauty I see within each woman. Women I have cast describe it as a spiritual healing of sorts, during which I touch their bodies, cast their pain, then remove it and transform it into a work of art. The stories I write are gifts to each woman, revealing to her the way I see her, letting her know she is heard and witnessed.
Cancer tried to knock Susan over, but she’s a Weeble—she might wobble, but she doesn’t fall down. When Susan was 40, her doctor recommended a routine mammogram. Just before she put her breasts into the machine, the tech said, “Good luck,” and Susan knew at that moment she had breast cancer. At every crossroads in her cancer journey, she received more bad news, but she never let it suck out her spirit. She works for the Dr. Seuss foundation, so I asked her favorite book, which she told me is McElligot’s Pool, in which a boy’s unbounded optimism allows his imagination to soar. When fishing in a small crack in the earth, in spite of the discouraging words from the pessimistic farmer, He imagines a colorful swirl of sea creatures hidden underneath. “Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish. If a fellow is patient, he might get his wish! And that’s why I think that I’m not such a fool, when I sit here and fish in McElligot’s pool.” Susan is like that boy. Even when facing unfavorable circumstances, when negative outcomes pile up and many would lose hope, when fear and doubt might plague those less optimistic, Susan grabs hold of her family, holds her head high, and smiles broadly, braces gleaming, imagining all of the new experiences the future holds, just underneath the crack in her life she is putting behind her.
ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA
Phil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.
Here is a three-minute video that introduces you to Phil and his book. Click here to buy Sixty Seconds. Click here to ask Phil to add you to his e-mail list for updates on his blog and books.
Reading this book is like spending a few minutes face to face with each of the contributors and listening to their personal stories. Click here to read unsolicited testimonials from readers. Learn more by visiting the official Sixty Seconds website.
Sixty Seconds was one of three finalists in the General Interest/How-To category at the 12th annual Visionary Awards presented by COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) in Denver on June 27, 2009.
Tags: Lissa Rankin, Owning Pink, spiritual, surrender, synchronicity, work/life balance
