Nathalie Eno: drawing energy from the moment

From the Porte Dorée, we wander among the trees of the Bois de Vincennes. Sneakers on her feet, blond hair tied in a braid, Nathalie Eno wears a navy blue jacket on her shoulders so as not to be cooled by the autumn temperatures. We sit down on a bench, at the edge of the pond, where ducks and barnacle geese exclaim together. The large rock at the Vincennes zoo, visible in the distance, blushes in the light of dusk. “At a very young age, I was already trying to understand the nature of the mind,” recalls the photographer, behind her tinted glasses. " To be or not to be ". It was first the theater and Shakespeare that taught him to put himself at the service of a work. Philosophy, then. “Spinoza attracted me a lot. His thought, based on love and joy, and his intuitive perception of the world, allow him to grasp the nature of things at a single glance. »

“I discovered spirituality in India when I was 17,” continues Nathalie Eno. Leaving to do a photo report on the Pushkar camel fair, she took the opportunity to visit the temples of Dharamsala. “Despite the great misery that we saw, believers made offerings there continuously, I was transported. »

Back with in her luggage an additional report on veiled women, the young woman published her first shots in women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Marie-Claire. She then worked for five years for the magazine Première, while taking her first steps in fashion, as an assistant to photographer Dominique Isserman. She introduces him to her sister Aline, who hires her as a set photographer for her first film, Le Destiny of Juliet, in 1982. It was the beginning of a new and long career.

Mourning and suffering

At the same time, she continues her quest for meaning. Qi gong, yoga, dance, psychotherapy, Nathalie tries out different methods. Struck by bereavement at the age of 38, she decided to work on suffering, which led her to Buddhism.

We resume our walk and pass in front of Kagyu Dzong. It was here, in the heart of the Bois de Vincennes, that she met Lama Gyourmé for the first time. The Bhutanese lama advises him to read The alchemy of suffering by Jamgon Kongtrul. Very quickly, she began to practice the rituals of Tara, Mahakala, Chenrézi, Sangyé Menla daily at home. On weekends, she leaves to “turn the prayer wheel” in Vajradhara Ling, in Orne. After a few months, realizing the changes taking place within her, Nathalie takes refuge.

“Bringing a character to light requires human qualities. On a set, everyone must be in harmony with themselves for the group work to work, like a crew on a boat. »

In 1999, she met His Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche in Kagyu Dzong, the Vajrayana temple located in the heart of the Bois de Vincennes. “I found my main master lama that day. There aren't really words to describe what I felt,” concedes Nathalie Eno. Since then, she has followed his teachings without interruption as well as those of other great masters such as Mingyur Rinpoche, Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, His Holiness The Karmapa and Bokar Rinpoche until her death.

 “Be in tune with yourself”

A child in his stroller looks at us with a big smile. On the other bank, a swan frolics under a weeping willow. Nathalie notices the progress made in thirty years of practice. “I am less affected by emotions. Meditation is a valuable method to advance on the path of enlightenment and become better people”. She also finds herself more focused in her work. “On a shoot, you have to be forgotten in order to be able to capture moments that will no longer exist. » Zulawski, Miller, Dupontel, Dany Boon, Sophie Marceau, Yolande Moreau… None of these stars has escaped the sharp gaze of Nathalie, who has participated in more than 90 films. “Bringing a character to light requires human qualities. On a set, everyone must be in harmony with themselves for the group work to work, like a crew on a boat. With these words, shelducks advance on the lake, leaving a furrow on the water.

 “Energy follows thought”

This rich life journey led Nathalie to reiki (see box) six years ago. She has become a "master" in this practice of energy care. “We become a channel that lets the universal energy of life pass”. The birds are singing in concert above our heads, Nathalie remains pensive: “If I received a family transmission from my great-grandmother, a healer, I am convinced that my thirty years of Buddhist practices and studies m help enormously to progress in the discipline".

The light is going down, it's time to turn back. “In our time, we need to make prayers to transform suffering into wisdom,” she reports. “There are two universal laws: like energies attract and energy follows thought. It seems to me that the Dalai Lama is saying that if meditation were taught to all eight-year-olds, violence would disappear from the world within a generation. On this formula, the whistles sound the closing of the wood. We leave the park, in the wake of the joggers.