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Nicolee McMahon and the Practice of Immediacy in the Arts

Sandra Fluck Author Interviews
March 31, 2017

Nicolee MillerNicolee McMahon, Roshi, is a Dharma heir of Zen Master Taizan Maezumi, Roshi. She is co-founder of the Three Treasures Zen Community in San Diego, California. She is semi-retired but continues to co-lead retreats several times a year. She has been creative throughout her life, and after an unusual experience, she developed the Practice of Immediacy in the Arts (PIA). She is married, and has two grown children, a stepson, and four grandchildren. She is also semi-retired as a Marriage and Family Counselor.
Nicolee McMahon interviewed by Sandy Fluck
You have recently published Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts (PIA). What is your book about? Who is the audience?

Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts (PIA) is about freeing up creativity by
allowing everything that shows up in one’s inner and outer environment to be included in
the artistic process. In that sense my audience is all those people who are interested in
expanding theirs or others’ creativity. It’s also an awareness practice as one’s awareness is broadened naturally and is refined as one engages in PIA.

What was the “spark” that initiated the journey leading to Arte of Now: Practice of
Immediacy in the Arts? Or were there several “sparks” along the way?

I had an experience in the mid-1990’s during a Stan Grof holotropic breath workshop
where all my energy centers lined up from the base of my spine to the top of my head.
Suddenly a powerful current of creative energy passed from the top of my head down
through all the centers. In my mind’s eye, it ran around the world and returned to me. I
had no idea what this meant and began a journey to learn more about this creative force.

You were an artist before you began Zen meditation and developing the method called
practice of immediacy. How do you see this relationship between your art, Zen
meditation, and PIA? Did one path influence the other, or were they mutually influential?

I began formal Zen training in 1980, drove to LA to work with my teacher every week,
and participated in 6-7 week-long retreats/year. In order to do Zen training, something
had to give as I was also married, raising a family and working. So I temporarily put
aside creating art other than my beading. I received Dharma Transmission in 1995 from
Maezumi Roshi. After that, my pent-up creativity wanted a larger venue than beading,
and I went back to painting. The years of meditation (zazen) and koan practice (ex:
‘what’s the sound of one hand clapping’) had developed many of the qualities that were a
natural fit when PIA emerged into my world: not knowing, letting go, including
everything.

You also trained in a method called Voice Dialogue, which was instrumental in the
development of PIA. You have also trained with shamans. How did each of these give
you insight into PIA? Other kinds of training that deepened your insight?

I began training with Hal and Sidra Stone, who developed Voice Dialogue, in 1980 at the same time that I began Zen training. Voice Dialogue is a trans-cultural psycho-spiritual approach to consciousness that facilitates access to many different states of mind and archetypal energies. As I wanted to learn what PIA was about, Voice Dialogue was a method I used. Two different times, with a pen and paper at hand, I physically moved over to the voice of PIA and began writing down what was coming through — both times the words emerged in poetic form.

I trained with a shaman from 2000-2007 and learned how to journey with drumming.
Journeying is a non-ordinary state where one suspends the rational mind and can access a
deep wealth of understanding. I did 3 vision quests as well as other trainings, including
learning a profoundly new relationship with the natural world. Both Zen and the
shamanic approach cultivate awareness, openness and not knowing — essential
ingredients in further grounding PIA.

Also, being a mother, spouse and grandmother have deepened my understanding of PIA.
For example, I find the medium in which I’d like to work and follow the PIA directions
of not knowing, including whatever is happening in my awareness within and without
including expectations of any kind. If my relationships are stressed, the thoughts and
feelings about that are included in PIA plus the sounds of a bird chirping, the smell of
food, a car going by — everything in my awareness within and without is included. If a
creative flow emerges out of the cacophony of the moment, then the whole thing can turn
into a work of art or just be messy. Regardless, my awareness consistently shifts to a
much broader, inclusive way than where I began.

Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts includes thirty-five reproductions of your
paintings, twenty-five in Part Two and ten in Part Four. You call these reproductions
“Visual Examples.” Why? And why in two different sections?
Arte of Now

Read the review

PIA can be used with the visual arts, literary arts, music and dance/movement to open
one’s creativity. My 25 paintings in Part II are called ‘visual examples’ as I’m using the
medium of acrylic paints. Part II are PIA done in one sitting. They are ‘pure PIA’ as
they are made up of what’s unfolding now and are never altered.

Part IV consists of Revised PIA (PIA+) as they are PIA that have been altered. That
means I’m making artistic decisions to change the original PIA — sometimes they are
small changes and other times quite a lot has been changed from the original.

Also, representational artists can use PIA as a method to break through a creative block
and then go back to their representational piece and see it in a new way. This is also true
for writers, musicians and dancers.

You write often about liberating the creativity within. What does this mean to you? Do
you believe everyone has this need to create, that it is intrinsic?

To create comes from the Latin “creare: to make, bring forth, produce, beget.” In that
sense, yes, my overall view is that we are creating our lives all the time. An intrinsic
need to create includes, cooking, relationships, child rearing, gardening, sewing,
business, making money, teaching — whatever we’re producing. Specifically, many
people are inhibited from creating works of art as their inner squasher or critic is
constantly assessing the value of what is being created, and is often such a diminishing
inner voice that people give up rather than endure the criticism and feelings of
humiliation. In my own case, I struggled with this critical voice but in practicing with the
directions for PIA, I began making visual and written art that I would never have thought
of creating before. PIA includes what’s occurring now — that means including the
squasher rather than being stopped by the criticism. By using PIA, the experience of
being creative can be very satisfying, bringing a sense of well-being, openness, fun, a
movement of energy, expansion, while also cultivating awareness.

What books—even going back to your college days—set you on the path to where you
are now, that is, as the author of Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts?

Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung
Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
Dogen Zenji’s Time-Being in Moon in a Dew Drop edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi
Zen Koan books: The Gateless Gate, The Blue Cliff Record, The Book of Equanimity, The Transmission of the Light
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Embracing Ourselves by Sidra and Hal Stone
Big Mind Big Heart by Dennis Genpo Merzel

What books have you read that are relevant to your understanding of creativity?

Upon reading Dogen Zenji’s Being Time (also translated as Time-Being), I had a
paradigm shift in how I look at the creativity inherent in every moment. I’m also very
interested in the neurobiology of creativity — I’ve read articles about it but have not
found a book for lay people yet.

How important do you think reading books is for understanding the self, other people,
and the world?

When I was 15, living in Mexico City, our neighbors, who were moving, gave me a box
full of books. Carl Jung’s book Man and His Symbols was in the box. That book had a profound effect on me. I read it over and over and still feel gratitude to Jung for his insights about human beings, cultures, traditions of all kind, the shadow, psyche, et al. He also chose powerful pictures that expanded the impact of his words. Man and His Symbols was a seminal book for me and was influential in directing me toward the paths I would later walk in my life. I find books to be a treasure trove.

What did you learn about writing the Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts that
would inspire a young person who wants to be a writer?

I feel there’s a ripening process before writing a book. It took me 2 years before I was
ready. And it was essential for me to create the time and space to write. I began by
taking a week off and rented a friend’s empty apartment for a week so I would be
undisturbed. The structure of Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts emerged
the first night I began writing. I spent 6-7 hours/day to flesh it out and then spent months
rewriting and editing at home. But without that initial concentrated week effort, my
sense is that the experience of writing the book would have been very different. I also
asked 5 people to give me honest feedback about what I was writing. It’s very helpful to
read what you’ve written out loud — doing so can help you recognize and trust your
own voice, your vision for your work. And if you get stuck, PIA is so helpful to move
through the flat places and the stuck places.

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Sandra Fluck

Writer, poet, and educator, Sandra Fluck graduated from U.C.L.A. with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in English Literature. She also has a Master of Arts (Religion) from the Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. She has taught English Literature, Creative Writing, English Composition, and Technical Writing in colleges in California and Pennsylvania.  Sandra is the creative force behind bookscover2cover.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Leilani SquireLeilani Squire says

    May 3, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    Nicolee has written and published a beautiful book about life and creativity, space and time, presence and awareness. I was given a copy for my birthday and to hold the book in my hands is a delight in itself. I love to gaze upon the lovely reproductions of her work; especially “Wings” (which is on the cover and is truly beautiful!); “Woman Dancing”; “Untangling”; and “Shaman’s Dream”. I think you can get a feel for what her paintings are about by the titles, as you might have a sense of her creative process as well.

    When I was a teenager, I met Nicolee through my sister, Sandy. (We’re talking the mid-1960’s) They were roommates at UCLA and I used to visit my sister often. I looked up to Nicolee with such adoration and admiration. There was some spark within her that radiated outward and affected me in a most positive way. Both she and Sandy were role models for me during that formative for me. Through the years, on my walls, I have hung a couple pieces of her artwork. They always brought delight, too.

    So for now, all these years later, to read her book has been another journey for me. I have also been involved in the arts all my life (this is my treasure trove) and I relate to what Nicolee has discovered through her experiences. I respect how she has applied her discoveries and is so dedicated to the creative process and her Zen practice, that she has shared them with us in the form of The Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts. Her book is a worthy and meaningful contribution. Anyone who is interested in pursuing the creative act, and for those of us who seek balance and wholeness in our daily life and the practice of creativity this is a good read.

    Reply
  2. AvatarPiper Templeton says

    April 11, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    It’s always fascinating to read and discover the different ways people tap into the mystery of the brain and creativity. Thanks, Sandra and Nicolee.

    Reply

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