handful of wildflowers
cast iron pan, wood smoke
crow's call, waning moon
translating the Inaudible
​
For as long as Marlaina 
can remember, her knee-jerk impulse has been
to create through every medium that called her:
writing, art, music, dance, photography, moving images, cooking, and fragrance.
Today, her everyday life as a professional writer, painter, and composer often intersects with what 12th-century abbess Hildegard Von Bingen called viriditas,
"the greening power" or divine, creative life force of nature. 
Coming from a long line of creative souls,
Marlaina was raised in a holistic, metaphysical, and artistic home where she was deeply
encouraged and supported as both a creator and a mystic. 
​
Since 2016, Marlaina has been a regular national-content writer and journalist
for Natural Awakenings magazine,
the leading evidence-based health and green living magazine
 in the States (2.5 million monthly readership via hard copy and online).
Marlaina has several articles a month in the publication and has interviewed
some of the most significant sources in the industry including Mayo Clinic,
Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Gladys McGarey, celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito,
neuroscientist/global Transcendental Meditation leader Tony Nader,
yoga legend Rodney Yee, and inspiring New York Times bestselling authors
Thomas Moore and Sarah Ban Breathnach. Due to editorial protocol,
she sometimes uses the pseudonyms Maya Whitman and Zak Logan. 
In addition to holding certifications in clinical essential oil therapy and therapeutic massage, Marlaina's passionate independent study of the human nervous system and the neuro-energetic effects of trauma greatly informs her work.
t 
She is a multi-genre author of 15 titles 
including the reference book Multidimensional Aromatherapy,
the OBE memoir Naked Soul (Llewellyn Worldwide, 1998),
Spiritual Famine in the Age of Plenty, and
Goddess Consciousness: Women's Mysticism and Sacred Arts.  

As a composer, under the name WillowWynd, Marlaina has released 21 albums 
in the genres of contemporary classical piano, world/new age and ambient vocals.
Her diverse work has been featured in
award-winning short films directed by Tara Gadomski,
small business promos, gallery art installations, meditation videos, and self-help courses.  
 
As a third-generation painter, she dedicates her brush to fine visionary 
and clairvoyant art that celebrates and reveals who we are in the Big Picture.
 
In 2016, Marlaina experienced a life-altering
physical and emotional healing that prompted a profound understanding
of deep mind-body connections, Sacred Union, and personal resonance.
Her greatest joy is her medicinal pantry of 75+ herbs and immersing herself in the seasonal beauty and medicine of nearby meadows, gathering her own stock whenever possible. Marlaina chooses a path of slower living, rejecting smartphone and AI mentality
to relish what she loves best: cooking healthy gourmet meals,
sketching and painting in sun-dappled pine groves,
and hiking wildlife sanctuaries year-round with her beloved husband,
 Jos. C. Donato, an author of historical fiction. 
Her two home art studios are the heartbeat of her daily life
as she continues to expand her personal body of work based upon
her mystical experiences, healing remission, and OBEs.
The latest delight is spending time in the healing presence of horses
and learning more about their sometimes-astonishing intuitive and emotional capacity.

Marlaina's mother Winifred was a multitalented singer-songwriter, poet,
and Renaissance woman who independently studied nutrition
and managed health food stores in New York City in the 1950s. 
From this early foundation, Marlaina continues to live by the premise
that healing, art, and spirit are indeed a singular force.