“Are there any other seats available?” I asked the flight attendant in the tiny section at the back of the plane. “I’m sorry, it is a full flight,” he said. I’d just realized that my seat wouldn’t recline and we were headed to Paris from New York. I was exhausted and exhilarated, high on the energy of the moment and was sure I’d want to sleep at some point. 
A little disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to recline, I settled back down in the isle seat next to the well dressed woman seated next to me, who I’d been embarrassed to realize had heard me. She assured me with her east coast charm that those seats were actually the safest in the plane. After the sounds of preparing for takeoff, she asked why I was headed to Paris. I was excited to share that I’d been invited to show my apparel collection at Prêt à Porter Paris, a fashion industry trade show. She turned to look at me with happy surprise and said that she was headed there too and that she was a writer for Women’s Wear Daily (WWD is only the MOST important trade publication in the fashion industry!). OMG what luck, I couldn’t believe it! She said was covering lingerie and had been doing that trip for many years. Immediately we started connecting and she wanted to know my story. 
You see, being invited to show your collection as a guest is not the same as applying to show and paying a hefty sum to do so. Prêt à Porter had added a Green section to their trade show to promote and highlight brands that were in the new and emerging space of sustainability. At the time, there were very few brands that were actually blending sustainability with true high fashion and mine was a leader in that space. I had been trained in New York and Italy and then worked for top Italian brands for four years before returning to Portland where I started my line. 
Freshly back from Italy in 2005, I was getting to know local folks in the industry when a makeup artist asked me to partner with her to produce a fashion show. I thought about it and said, “Sure, on one condition: it has to be about sustainability.” She agreed and so I started to reach out to the few brands around the country who were in that space to see if they wanted to send collections to be included in the show. To my surprise, ALL OF THEM said yes! So I suddenly realized I needed to put together my own collection for the show. I didn’t have much time, I think it was about two weeks. So I borrowed $2,000 from a family friend, and having just moved into my new design studio, started creating. I didn’t know what would happen once I got a design studio. I just knew it was time, and that there was so much energy and momentum around it that I jumped in and knew something would come into being once I said yes to it. This is how my life seems to work, and why I now know I was primed to follow the path that has led me to the work I do now. 
During the process of creating this collection, I worked closely with my mom, Connie Cohen. She was instrumental in helping me understand concepts of sustainability, having written her Master’s Thesis on “The Role of the Arts in Sustainable Culture.” I remember us brainstorming late one night at the dining room table trying to sort out how to communicate the idea of limited resources in a way that was poetic and beautiful; that could inspire rather than scare people into making responsible decisions. We landed on a canary as an indicator species, and came up with a sort of poem that would tell the story of canaries in the coal mines. The fact that my anti-Apartheid Dad was from South Africa with its huge mining industry, added a flavor of meaning to this concept. 
My dear artist friend Susanna Battin became the first of my many interns. She helped hand paint the words of the poem onto a series of un-dyed bamboo dresses I designed for the show. I drew a canary and created a silk screen of it that I printed on the backs of all the dresses in different places. When the models walked out, they brought what we later called, “The Canary Story” to life one line at a time on each dress. When they all lined up and turned around at the finale, there was a flock of canaries flying across their backs. It was a powerful message and people were ready to hear it.
At the time, I didn’t realize I was launching what would become my fashion company, I was just following the inspiration and energy of the invitation to participate and lean into what I was passionate about. I had no idea that poem and canary would become the guiding light and icon of my brand, I was just trusting and following my intuition.

DEEP IN THE COAL MINES

CANARIES GAVE WARNING

WHEN TO TAKE ACTION FOR SURVIVAL

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

CHANGE 
​BE STRONG

FIND WHAT YOU LOVE

LOVE WHAT YOU DO

LISTEN FOR CANARIES

It was an exhilarating moment. I was excited to bring these two worlds together: Fashion and Sustainability. To make a statement that was so deeply meaningful to me, a tribute to the natural systems on which all life depends using my talent and training for something that could make real change. 

Soon I heard from several writers from local and national publications wanting to feature my work and know more about my vision. It was on. Time to create seasonal collections and start a company - and quickly. The canary became the logo for the ANNA COHEN brand and “Listen for Canaries,” the tagline.

It was an exciting time. I gathered more interns to help and started teaching Fashion Design at Art Institute International of Portland while building my business. I could hand pick the most talented students to work with me and that was such a great perk! Sourcing local patternmakers, sample sewers and production proved to be more challenging, but I made my way through and was soon balancing a large team of talent to bring this vision into form. 

I shared this story and more with the woman sitting next to me on the plane as we ate our dinner and enjoyed wine together. I also shared that I would leave the show early and return to New York to spend a couple exciting days with the executive team at the apparel company, Eileen Fisher. I’d been awarded one of five $10,000 Socially Responsible Women Owned Business Grants. They were flying us to New York to celebrate together, show us a window into how their successful socially responsible business model worked, and to be available for any questions. 
When we deplaned, a young girl was in front of us and the woman said to her with a beaming smile on her face, “You know, this is a famous fashion designer!” It was so lovely to experience her calling me that. 
We shared a taxi and hugged goodbye, wishing each other well. I was excited to meet up with my team who had already arrived from Portland. Only a few minutes later as I was entering our marbled flat, my phone rang, a number from New York. My new airplane friend had reached out to WWD and another writer on staff wanted to interview me right away about the Eileen Fisher grant. It was published a day or two later and was my second time being featured in the iconic publication. I’ll share soon about the first time, which was also an incredible and magical experience. 

It turned out to be quite amazing to see how Eileen Fisher and her team ran their business. It was so inspiring, organized and easeful in a time when that was not the norm in the fashion industry, which tends to thrive on fierce competition, intense timelines and complex systems. It was amazing and such an honor. Eileen was kind, gentle and strong and I learned so much that deeply influenced me in those couple of days spent with her and her team. 

I was following the energy, walking through doors as they opened in front of me and magical things were happening. At that time, my healing work was unfolding through my talent as a designer and visionary dedicated to honoring our natural systems. That evolved over time to include many more chapters that led me to where I am now. 
Your story is unfolding as you move along on your journey and this is an invitation to listen to what feels true, good and important and follow it through the opening doors in your life. Many times over, I have learned that this yields amazing things. Thanks for reading! 

“My friend accidentally killed her cat,” she said. “She hasn’t been able to get out of bed for days and is really struggling,” my dear friend and collaborator, Rosemary, said to me on the phone last Friday night. “Can you help her?” 
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I arrived the next morning and met them both. We went upstairs to her bedroom while her husband and beautiful young children played downstairs. As soon as we started to talk with each other, her other cat, Cookie, scratched at the door, wanting to join us. Avery was surprised. “He usually isn’t like this,” she said as he connected with each of the three of us, looking at us and walking between us. I wasn’t surprised at all. This kind of thing happens with animals all the time when doing sessions. “He knows what’s happening,” I said. “He’ll help us.” 
I’d brought a bundle of dried lavender and rosemary to help with the session and he leapt up on the ottoman where I’d set it down and was rubbing all over it. All of us were amazed, but I knew it wasn’t time to use that tool yet, that would come later.

​As I started the grounding meditation, he walked under my legs, rubbing up against them and jumped up behind me rubbing on my back, very out of character for him. I could tell it was going to be magical. As I opened up to the spirit world I could feel Chloe, Avery’s cat who’d passed. She was sweet and loving and very forward. She showed her eyes first, beautiful and clear and unusual in some way. Avery confirmed this to be true. Then Chloe showed her beautiful fur and parts of her personality. 

The session moved at a gentle pace, one thing being revealed and then another. Soon her grandmother started to appear in my awareness and I could see that she was close with Avery, very dedicated to her when she was alive and also now. I had a feeling about something being in the room that was hers or representing her just behind me and to the right. Avery was astonished when I asked if there was an item representative of her in that part of the room and said there was a figurine that was on her shelf right there that was her grandmother’s for years that she’d recently taken down, and had just been thinking about. She’d been thinking about her grandmother and wondering if she might come through. Of course she came into my awareness just before we started to do healing energy work, perfectly timed to support Avery. 
I could sense her grandmother’s hand on her forehead, the soothing loving energy of her. I followed suit, placing my own hand there, caressing her forehead lovingly, explaining what I was feeling and knowing this was the opening that would help her let go. 
I intuitively knew immediately on the phone the night before that Rosemary would assist with the session. She works with energy too and I knew it would be part of her journey to learn, serve and receive as a healer in this process for her friend. She sat to one side of her while I sat on the other and with her consent we opened her energy channels with gentle touch, following the energy of her body to know where to place our hands. Avery was ready. The flow was powerful and she was starting to release deeply rooted energy and feelings of intense responsibility and tension that expanded beyond the trauma from losing Chloe. 
When in session with a client, I am shown through my sensory system, relevant information that will help them evolve and heal. This information is provided because the client has invited loving spirit connection and support and consented to receive. 

In this case, I was shown that there was a pattern in her life of taking more than her share of responsibility especially for outcomes that were not ideal and being extremely harsh on herself in a way that she wouldn’t do with anyone else, which she confirmed. I could see that this pattern was also at play with what happened with Chloe who had climbed into the dryer for a nap. Avery had closed the door and started it going without knowing she was in there. It was agonizing for her that this had caused the death of her most beloved animal companion and she held such a level of intense emotion, regret and sadness. She carried a huge amount of responsibility for what happened and even though she took actions that led to the outcome of her passing, I could see the responsibility was not all hers to hold. I helped her understand this and how interlinked Chloe’s passing and her healing was. The extreme version of this pattern at play made it no longer possible to sustain in Avery’s body and this is why we were there; why spirit connection was happening at this time. Many elements, energies and intentions were converging to support this transformation for her. 

I could also energetically sense that she would hold herself separate from others, not allowing herself to receive and that her incredible relationship with Chloe was a kind of healing she’d never experienced before, which she confirmed. I was shown and then explained that Chloe’s ultimate gift to Avery in her passing provided the opportunity to release this strong held pattern so she could be far more free and open in her life. It was clear that it would have been very difficult for her to let go of this pattern and allow this major shift - spiritual, emotional and physical without this intense experience. She also desperately wanted to know that Chloe didn’t suffer too much and needed to communicate how much she loved her and how sorry she was. 

There were more words and energy work that took place. She was holding so much grief and tension in her chest. Rosemary was amazed as she witnessed Avery’s body and energy system distinctly soften and release under her hands. 

It is hard to articulate the depth and measure of the incredible life changing experience that transpired from this exchange. I feel as though when I’m tapped into the level of consciousness, of being, of communication and exchange that happens while serving toward the highest good in partnership with the spirit world, a kind of powerful healing beyond our full capacity to understand takes place. 

We all felt deep and powerful shifts and knew when the healing was complete. As we did the closing meditation, Cookie, who had been working with us the whole time, scratched at the door once again to be let out. His work was done. I could feel and confirmed to Avery that his role would shift and he would help her continue to heal. 

“This is an absolute miracle!” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to ever get out of bed. And I feel completely different now. I feel lighter and back to myself. I couldn’t be more grateful.” She shared these words with gratitude filled tears as we locked eyes for a long moment then she and Rosemary had a long sweet tearful embrace followed by all three of us in a hug. We all felt so lifted by the experience. “This was absolutely incredible!” 

I then felt the pull to clear the room and her with the smoke from the lavender and rosemary. Afterward, Rosemary and I went downstairs to the laundry room where Chloe had passed. Avery thought she’d never be able to enter that room again. We opened the windows and burned the herbs in that space while Avery remained upstairs gathering items for creating an altar in there. Then we brought her gently into the room and made the beautiful altar together. Rosemary and I sang to her and Chloe. It was beautiful and transformative. Then our work was complete. 

I reached out yesterday to find out how Avery has been doing the last few days. Here’s what she said:“I feel like I have been reborn. It is the craziest thing. Like I’m meeting Alex and my kids for the first time. How a cat dying could cause what’s happening is mind blowing. The block that was there was preventing me my entire life from being where I am now.” 
This is the beautiful work I have been aching to write and share about for years. I get to see this incredible transformation unfold time and time again, each scenario unique, beautiful and profound.

Another friend reached out for an urgent session for her mom as I was writing this post this week. Her mom’s dog is passing and her mom’s mother very recently passed. I struggle to find the words for how powerful the healing and messages were that came through in that session yesterday. 
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Whether you are near or far, whether it is for you or someone you love, if you feel the pull to receive or provide a session for another who needs it, follow that feeling. There is a reason you are reading this, let that reason become clear. I am here to help and because of the trend of these sessions this week, I am opening up my books to do more urgent sessions (in person and online) and house calls, which I haven’t done in years, as needed. ​