Maia Malou Raven

I offer online courses and programs for women from all countries to come together, to dare to be who they are, dare to land firmly in their bodies, dare to reclaim their feminine resources and power, dare to express their emotions, dare to dive into their creative potential and dare to go for their dreams.

MY STORY

All my life I have had a yearning for understanding human society, psychology and the deeper mysteries of life. Originally from Norway, I have felt called to take part of a bigger universal society and not being limited by my national borders and culture. When I was 17 I went for a year to the United States. And later, without a plan for a future career, I started studying Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. It was an interesting journey that took me first into doing a fieldwork in India, interviewing street fruit sellers in the not so known city of Thiruvananthapuram. Secondly, I did my master’s fieldwork in Havana, Cuba, where I studied moral boundaries among so-called “jineteros” – men without official jobs making their living hanging out with female tourists.

I loved being a student, but once I finished my education I had no idea what to do. Working for a while with cross-cultural artistic projects at the Norwegian embassy in Havana, and later in the administration at Art’s Council Norway, I realized that I really enjoyed working with artists, as reading about and conversing about all the artistic projects out there set my heart on fire. But in the end, the job consisted mostly of administration – and static work in front of the computer. I came to the conclusion that I am a “shadow artist”, which I read about in the book “The artist’s way” by Julia Cameron – meaning a person that works behind the scenes, but what she really desires is to be an artist herself.

So I was bored and I really did not know what direction my life was taking. Could it be that I was supposed to work 8-16 every day for the rest of my working life, or was there something more to life than this? I felt I had so much potential that I did not use, and as the job basically took all of my energy, I did not have much more to give once I wrapped up by the end of the day. What I realize now is that I used so much of my brain power, and forgot to take care of my more feminine side; being present, feeling all the feels, and being deeply grounded in my body. I used my masculine muscles of doing and racing forward and did what was expected of me, at the expense of my feminine side. That created an imbalance within me. But I slowly started to listen to my wise woman inside whispering to me that there was really something else to my life.

While working full-time, I started attending several courses diving deeper into psychological topics, meditation and mindfulness. I took an education in integral therapy, using music as a healing tool for reaching deep into the psychological layers. When I started educating myself to be an art therapist, I realized for real how much potential that was within me, that had been hidden in the shadow for most of my life.

Working through my inner blockages using creative tools, I could finally experience breaking free from living a life that I thought I had to live to make ends meet. I came to the realization that I am an artist in soul, and that I need to honor my feminine sides to feel centered and at peace with myself. It is essential for me to live a creative and inspired life where I can use all of my resources; where I can co-create through intention, willpower and have the courage to live out what I am called to do and trust the process, even if I am not sure what the outcome will be.

Two years ago I moved from Oslo to Copenhagen to try something totally different and to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. I now live in the lovely village of Lejre, Denmark, together with my 3 years old son. As I have been living in the city center for most of my adult life, it is a relief to finally live closer to nature that I feel so deeply connected with.