Changing Places

Sadly, this young boy is a friend of our sons….

We are heartbroken for John’s wife Deb and their family today…. there are no words….

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro — Man dies on first certified dive

The body of a 45-year-old diver was found yesterday afternoon after a five-hour search off La Jolla Shores.

John Sonsteng, of Poway, and his 19-year-old son were diving for the first time after receiving their certification at a depth of about 150 feet at 9 a.m. when Sonsteng ran out of air, San Diego lifeguard Lt. John Greenhalgh said.

Search teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and lifeguard agencies around the county scoured the sea for hours before finding Sonsteng using a remote-controlled underwater vehicle about 2:30 p.m.

When Sonsteng ran out of air, the two began “buddy breathing,” sharing the air supply from the son’s tank as they tried to ascend to the surface, but they became separated.

The son told authorities that he continued to ascend, but he too ran out of air at about 40 feet below the surface, Greenhalgh said.

When he surfaced in front of the La Jolla Shores lifeguard station, about a quarter of a mile out to sea, he began waving his arms and caught the attention of a lifeguard.

The teen was taken to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest as a precautionary measure because of his rapid ascent. He was listed in “stable but guarded condition” yesterday, a nursing supervisor said. It was unclear whether he was suffering from decompression sickness, in which gas bubbles form in the bloodstream.

Rescuers launched an immediate search with dive teams, a helicopter and boats, but by 10 a.m. the mission was reclassified as a recovery effort, Greenhalgh said. Divers from the Coast Guard and other agencies later responded to aid in the search.

Dive instructor Todd Young, with Aqua Tech Dive Center, said his group of student divers had just completed their first dive when lifeguards ordered all divers in the area out of the water.

Young said novice recreational divers are taught not to exceed a depth of 60 feet unless they have more advanced training. Divers who breathe high-pressure gas at extreme depths can begin to feel as though they are drunk and judgment can be seriously impaired.

“We preach that you should always be watching your gauges and compass,” Young said.

In the morning! In August! In San Diego! Weird… and it won’t last long…but nice.

Ah. Apparently this is partly the influence of tropical storm Julio drawing in moisture. Things could get interesting later in the week as this gets closer…

I don’t think Dubya is in any position to compare anyone to Nazi appeasers.

How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power | World news | The Guardian

George Bush’s grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company’s assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator’s action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Nice thoughts on creating life versus getting stuff from Christine Kane.

Creating vs. Getting | Christine Kane

The laws of creativity apply to everything - not just to works of art.

The gift of practicing art is that it teaches the creator how to create, and how to be a creator. Over and over again, the artist learns the process of making things - including the obstacles that arise, the futility of forcing the flow, and the joy of allowing inspiration. This practice has been nothing less than revolutionary in my own life.

That’s because I grew up learning more about Getting than I did about Creating. And I’m not alone in that. Most of the life lessons we’ve all learned are about Getting.

We gotta get rich, get approved, get things from people, get a job, get a life, get laid, get publicity, get someone to do something, get approval, get high, get married, get a loan, get good grades, get a clue, get into college, get up, get down, get out.

Get it?

Getting is an epidemic. It makes us grab at life. It takes us out of the present moment. It makes us powerless. It forces us to manipulate our own spirits so that we can manipulate the situation. Getting requires that we use our precious creative power to get, rather than to use it for its primary purpose, which is to Create. When we misuse this power, we become contorted. We block the flow. The focus is on “out there” rather than “in here.”

When we become Creators, we turn the whole thing around. Everything becomes an inside job. We experience true power. We create our lives.

Change and risk-taking are normal aspects of the creative process. They are the lubricants that keep the wheels in motion. A creative act is not necessarily something that has never been done; it is something you haven’t done before. — Margaret Mead

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”
– Julia Cameron

“We are the yin and the yang of the creative process.”
– Cynthia Weil

“Imitation is at least 50 percent of the creative process”
– Jamie Buckingham

“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.”
– Bill Moyers

“Of all the qualities in your being, that which is most god-like is creativity” - Pir Ilayat Vilayat Khan

“It moves me when anybody is just wandering through life, sleepwalking, and then wakes up. It’s like the caterpillar to butterfly thing - the chrysalis. It’s just so moving because they’re not going to go to their grave with a slipping down life.” — Lili Taylor

I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?” — Chuang Tzu

“I embrace emerging experience.
I participate in discovery.
I am a butterfly.
I am not a butterfly collector.
I want the experience of the butterfly.”

— William Stafford

“The butterfly’s attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign.”
– Primo Levi

I’ve always been fascinated with the process of change. I remember as a kid doing things like letting berries ferment in water, literally turning water into wine. I didn’t drink it, just enjoyed the process of it and the smell. I would bury things in the yard to see what happened to them, play with the moss that grew in the fountain. I was fascinated by things like my dad’s compost pile, seeing yard clippings change into fertilizer. I loved it when ice formed in the fountain and I could take it out in big sheets. I love watching the changes in my garden, watching plants grow, seeing the little chrysalis form when the caterpillars who munch holes in my passion flowers are ready to change to gulf fritillaries.

I suppose I come to the creative process the same way. I’m not too worried about the results, I just enjoy trying different techniques and materials and playing around with them to see what happens. I admire and appreciate artists who aren’t afraid to do something different, and I think that is ultimately why we consider an artist great - because they create their own unique approach. I was trying to show a friend why I love impressionistic art the other day, with the bright colors and the way the impressionist uses dark and light color contrasts to create movement in a painting. He seemed surprised I knew so much about art. But I would say I know about the art I enjoy, and try to figure out why I enjoy it. My husband is a fabulous art critic, something I didn’t know until I started asking him what he thought about my art. He always mentions something I didn’t even consciously realize I was doing, which is great.

So change and art go together naturally for me. But the risk to show myself through my art - ah, now there is the challenge…

“Trickster is a boundary-crosser. Every group has its edge, its sense of in and out, and trickster is always there, at the gates of the city and the gates of life, making sure there is commerce. He also attends the internal boundaries by which groups articulate their social life. We constantly distinguish — right and wrong, sacred and profane, clean and dirty, male and female, young and old, living and dead — and in every case trickster will cross the line and confuse the distinction. Trickster is the creative idiot, therefore, the wise fool, the grey-haired baby, the crossdresser, the speaker of sacred profanities. Where someone’s sense of honorable behavior has left him unable to act, trickster will appear to suggest an amoral action, something right/wrong that will get life going again. ztrickster is the mythic embodiment of ambiguity and ambivalence, doubleness and duplicity, contradiction and paradox.

That trickster is a boundary-crosser is the standard line… there are also cases in which trickster creates a boundary, or brings to the surface a distinction previously hidden from sight. In several mythologies, for example, the gods lived on earth until something trickster did caused them to rise into heaven. Trickster is thus the author of the great distance between heaven and earth; when he becomes the messenger of the gods it’s as if he has been enlisted to solve a problem he himself created. In a case like that, boundary creation and boundary crossing are related to one another, and the best way to describe trickster is to say simply that the boundary is where he will be found — sometimes drawing the line, sometimes crossing it, sometimes erasing or moving it, but always there, the god of the threshold in all its forms.” — Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World

I wonder how many of the boundaries we face are really the creation of Trickster. I find myself looking at the times I have crossed known boundaries and found myself entangled in a mess, but gained from it so profoundly. Perhaps Trickster does create our world, our thoughts, our illusions of separation from others. I’ve learned to respect the boundaries others create and observe them, but I am always questioning my own, wondering if they are something I still need or is it time to erase them, change the lines, move them around a little or get rid of them completely.

I guess I’ve absorbed enough of the Trickster to keep my personal growth constantly moving, and now find myself pressing once again on the boundaries around me. And I wonder where Trickster will next show up in my own life….

Hubby is back from the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco - and I got presents! Yay! This dragon headed turtle is one of them, along with some yummy Teuscher’s chocolates and a nice hat and scarf from the Scottish store.

Dragon headed turtles are a Feng Shui charm:

The Dragon Headed Turtle brings with it the ancient secrets that can protect a home from negative energies.

The Dragon symbolizes luck, the turtle long life and the baby turtle is a symbol of new beginnings. The Dragon Headed Turtle (Tortoise, Terrapin,) is the symbol of longevity in your home, especially for the head of the house. The dragon headed turtle is also a powerful symbol of wealth, health, prosperity and protection.

Legend has it that the turtle has within his body the secret of heaven and earth and the design of his shell shows the magic square, which is the guide for life.

This beautiful dragon headed turtle can be used to improve relationships by placing a piece of red ribbon in his mouth, to attract wealth use golden ribbon.

If you are having Health problems place a piece of blue ribbon in his mouth.

To increase his strength place him in the North of your lounge or office or place him behind you when you are sitting at your desk to give you support.

To increase your success or improve your options place one inside your front door on a table, in the evening turn him round to face the interior.

Never place him in the kitchen or bathroom.

May my creativity be restored
On all levels
In all areas
and forevermore

When the Madwoman is transformed from destructive paths and embodied in creative ways, a woman will not give up her vision. Rid of the resentments, paranoia, and isolation that result when her anger is suppressed or goes unrecognized or unacknowledged, she will be free to create. Her vision will be clear and congruent, and she will have the courage and wisdom to embody it in the world. — Linda Schierse Leonard, Meeting the Madwoman

I am just finishing up reading this book, and if anyone would like to read it, I will be happy to send it along to you. Just leave a comment here and I’ll get in touch with you for a snail mail address.

From Lewis Hyde’s “The Gift” (thanks, Evelyn!)

As a parable of a gifted person, “The Shoemaker and the Elves” is also a parable for artists. Most artists early on find themselves in the position of the shoemaker on the first night — a talent has appeared, but it’s naked, immature. Ahead lie the years of reciprocal labor which precede the release of an accomplished gift. To take a literary example, George Bernard Shaw underwent a typical period of retreat and maturation before he emerged as a writer. The young Shaw started a career in business and felt the threat not of failure but of success. “I made good in spite of myself, and found, to my dismay, that Business, instead of expelling me as the worthless imposted I was, was fastening upon me with no intention of letting go.” He was twentry. “In Marche, 1876, I broke loose,” he says. He left family, friends, business and Ireland. He spent about eight years ‘in absentia’, writing constantly (five novels, published only toward the end of his life — and then with a note by Shaw asking the buyer not to read them). Erik Erikson has commented:

“Potentially creative men like Shaw build the personal fundament of their work during a self-decreed moratorium, during which they often starve themselves, socially, erotically, and, last but not least, nutritionally, in order to let the grosser weeds die out, and make way for the growth of their inner garden. Often, when the weeds are dead, so is the garden. At the decisive moment, however, some make contact with a nutriment specific for theif gifts. For Shaw, of course, this gift was literature.”

For the slow labor of realizing a potential gift the artist must retreat to those Bohemias, halfway between the slums and the library, where life is not counted by the clock and where the talented may be sure they will be ignored until that time, if it ever comes, when their gifts are viable enough to be set free and survive in the world.

Rachel Isadora

Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match-Seller

IT was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling fast. In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, roamed through the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left home, but they were not of much use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that they had belonged to her mother, and the poor little creature had lost them in running across the street to avoid two carriages that were rolling along at a terrible rate. One of the slippers she could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran away with it, saying that he could use it as a cradle, when he had children of his own. So the little girl went on with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day, nor had anyone given her even a penny. Shivering with cold and hunger, she crept along; poor little child, she looked the picture of misery. The snowflakes fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her shoulders, but she regarded them not.

Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savory smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand….

Artist: Basko Tamara, 14 years old, the pupil of the children’s art school of P.I.Chaykovskiy. Title - picture: The little Match Girl

The Heart and Soul Nebulae. © CalTech/Palomar

Constellation of The Heart - Kate Bush songs lyrics song lyric

Oooh and if you see the woman with the key
I hear she’s opening up the doors to heaven
Oh and here comes the man with the stick
He said he’d fish me out of the moon…

It’s so cool when people get it…..

Be Alive Believe Be You : The Myth of Success and My Creative Process

no one has it figured out…we are all working on whatever it is we are working on. everyday. I think Dreams can be realized but never quite be completely fulfilled because the moment we are almost there we Dream a new Dream. That is the beauty of life! I think frustration and unhappiness is believing there is one true way and that eventually you figure it out, eventually you win the race, get the prize.

I believe happiness is reveling in the beauty of the truth that the journey really is the destination.

Off to make some art for a few days. I may post if I get a chance since I’ll have my laptop with me, but if not, have a great weekend!

Thanks to whiskey river for these timely (for me) quotes on art. I’ll be off to the Learning and Product Art Expo this week to play with art stuff in Pasadena. I haven’t done any art really for some time now, since the boys and the dogs are always around and I really have no space for making art. So it feels a bit weird to be starting up again, but it will make a nice break in my routine. And I’ll probably come home with a ton of additional art supplies that I won’t use in addition to the ton I already have that I don’t use!

whiskey river

“What do drawings mean to me? I really don’t know. The activity absorbs me. I forget everything else in a way that I don’t think happens with any other activity.” - John Berger

“What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration.”
- Elizabeth Bishop

“It is conceivable that the artist might once again be completely integrated in society as he was in the Middle Ages. Today he is hardly likely to find himself unless he is a non-conformist and a rebel. To say this is neither dangerous nor new. It is what society really expects of its artists. For today the artist has, whether he likes it or not, inherited the combined functions of hermit, pilgrim, prophet, priest, shaman, sorcerer, soothsayer, alchemist, and bonze. How could such a man be free? How can he really “find himself” if he plays a role that society has predetermined for him? The freedom of the artist is to be sought precisely in the choice of his work and not in the choice of the role as “artist” which society asks him to play.” - Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

“We are all creative artists of life, our physical bodies being the artist’s material (canvas/clay), with our nerves, thoughts, feelings and senses (i.e. the personality components) comprising both the material on which, and the instruments with which, the person molds his creative genius into conduct, behaviour, forms of action and life itself, with his life reflecting every image he creates out of the in-exhaustive source of the unconscious, with every deed expressing originality, creativity and the artist’s living personality. The artist of life is that man who is master of himself wherever he may be found, behaving truly to himself.”
- Daisetz Suzuki

About the picture - this is part of my artistic evolution, which really goes back to taking Pamela Underwood’s body writing workshop. This was one of the pictures I chose that most affected me and resembles my own body image as a Rubenesque female. I actually painted in the critter on the left side into one of my works. These days, I lack a space to do art and the privacy to do it, and that is one of the things that is most bothering me. The materials are at hand and I want to do it, but time and available space seem such an obstacle. On the plus side, I’m going to the art expo in Pasadena in a couple of weeks and taking some classes there. Yay!

As I get nearer my birthday, Ive been starting to beat up on myself a bit for not even getting close to one of the goals I set for the year of dropping all the weight I had wanted to. I initially lost about 15 pounds, but have gained about five of those back again.

But perhaps that was the wrong goal anyway. I have eaten far better this year, worked out a lot more, and am far stronger and have more lean muscle mass than I did last year. While I’m still “Rubenesque” (and yes, I could have posed for the picture above), and always will be with these hips, I think I can be happy about the “gains” I have made in my overall health. I’ve even gone off one of my mainstay bipolar drugs, Effexor, since it was pushing up my blood pressure and intraocular (eye) pressure. While I haven’t found quite the right combination of nutritional replacements and supplements yet, I’m certainly paying way more attention to what I eat and gaining a lot of knowledge about what the nutritional needs are for people with bipolar disorder.

As I do my research, I occasionally run across gems like this one that remind me that I need to keep my eyes on the real prize, better health, and not on my scale.

Diet and Obesity

How easy is it to take off weight and keep it off? Unfortunately, we run into a wall when we lose 10 percent of our body weight, Dr Korner reported. Adipose tissue shrinks, which results in less leptin, which puts the hypothalamus on red alert. The body goes into survival mode, increasing hunger pangs and lowering metabolism. Within three to five years, she said, almost all dieters are back up to original body weight.

All this comes as cold comfort to those of us caught in the pincers of our illness and our meds. Depression sends many of us into the warm embrace of ice cream and chocolate while our meds can amount to hot fudge sundaes in pill form with none of the pleasures. Weight management obviously needs to be regarded as a lifetime task - eating the right foods and getting plenty of exercise, while setting realistic goals.

Setting realistic goals may mean that aiming for a Rubenesque ideal is okay for now. Trying to accomplish too much too soon is counterproductive and will only lead to disappointment.

Keep in mind that BMI (body mass index) - which purports to define ideal weight according to one’s height, gender, and age - fails to account for body fat. Muscle is heavier than fat, which may mean that working out after a certain point could put on weight (which is good, in this context). A 5′ 9′ light heavyweight boxer who tips the scales at 175 pounds is only overweight in BMI Land..

The BMI is also blind to body type. Ectomorphs - with light bones, slight muscles, and long limbs (such as marathon runners) are not going to turn into mesomorphic Tarzans - with large bones, broad chest, and well-defined muscles - simply by gulping down protein drinks and going to the gym. Likewise, medical science has yet to find a way for endomorphic Santas to stretch their soft round, short-limbed bodies into a mesomorphic or ecto-meso ideal.

Basically, we have to work with what we’ve got, but this should not discourage you. Athletically chunky is beautiful, as is pleasingly plump. Ignore the computer-enhanced cover girls that bombard our environment and pay attention, instead, to the paintings of the old masters.

With markers. Or their siblings.

“But, mom, it’s an ART project!”

“We were just playing He Man and Skeletor, mom! I have the power!”

Of course if you have more than one child, you know all about “Sharpie Wars”.

And yes, Krista, I’m thinking of you….

Via My Confined Space.

I’m a bit late with this, but here are my answers to the “Getting to Know You” questions for this week.
I don’t usually answer these, but this one interests me.

When did you begin your first blog and what inspired you to do so?

I started this blog in February of 2003. I was quite depressed at the time after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was working through a lot of personal issues, so I was using blogging as a way to journal and record my thoughts. As I began to feel better I started to blog about those inspirations that were helping me in my search to rebuild myself, particularly Taoist writings and thoughts. Now sometimes people even say in the comments that they are inspired by the quotes and inspirations I post here. My current readings tend to be about yoga and yoga philosophy.

But mostly people want to see pictures of my puppy Darwin. Here’s Darwin as a swami:

Do you have more than one blog? Why? How are they different?

Yes, actually, I do. Along with this blog, I have a blog called Native Growers that is about native plants. I’m not very good about updating it, though. Initially this blog was going to be a website for connecting those interested in growing native plants with landscape designers and native plant nurseries, but that business never took off. I used to get ideas for businesses a lot and sometimes have acted on them. I’m great at ideas but lousy at follow through. And now that I’m no longer going into manic phases, I don’t start new projects as often.

I also started other blogs here and there, but this is the one I keep returning to and showing up for. Having my name on feels more obligating, I guess.

How would you characterize your blog?
Creative
Political
Informational
Community-oriented
Or something else?

Yes.

To paraphrase Oprah, what is “one thing you know for sure” about blogging?

It’s different for everyone, and everyone’s experience of it is unique.

Is it important to you to get feedback in terms of comments or pings? Why or why not?

Well, yes and no. It’s good to get other’s comments and feedback and I enjoy that tremendously. But i don’t live or die by it. I know most people will read and move along and not care to comment, and that’s ok. I appreciate all of those who do share their thoughts, of course.

What 3 blogs would you recommend to our readers and why?

Wow, that’s hard. I read so many and most of them are on my sidebar, so pick three and visit. They are all interesting, fun, enjoyable and informative. The ones I visit most often are Americablog for political news, The Big Picture for economic news, and Time Goes By for just plain great writing and news about aging. My reading covers a huge range of topics and interests though, and all of my links are wondrous and fabulous in their own way.

Wassily Kandinsky. The Blue Mountain

Marietta Ganapin. Untitled (Blue Mountain by Vasily Kandinsky), 2004 Paper collage

Both yoga and art aim at the same thing, that is, to re-establish our personal connection with the world around us according to our own inner creativity. To render body and mind a conduit through which the creative energy can flow freely, unimpeded by outer restrictions, in the trust that this energy, being a part of the universal energy, is ultimatetely pure and joyful. — Dona Halleman

This is the work of sauca, “to render body and mind a conduit through which the creative energy can flow freely”. It is a noble endeavor. The asanas do much of the work for us.They cleanse the organs, the central nervous system, and the mind, while strengthening the muscular-skeletal system. Much can be accomplished through the asanas, but not all. For each of us, sauca is a journey of discovery. What works for you? Dairy, no dairy; meat, no meat; lots of sunshine, very little sun; lots of stimulation, or quiet solitude; long ambles, or power walks. We each find our own way to health and balance. Once again, we are on the path that leads to truth, and the means for determining the truth is our own individual experience. What practices render you a conduit through which the creative energy can flow freely? — Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat.

Marietta Ganapin is an avid museum and gallery visitor, and her relationship to specific works of art is highly personal and reverential. Her creative method is an expression of her spiritual connection to artwork that she loves. After having viewed the work of art–whether a painting, a sculpture, or decorative object–many times, she then gathers scores or even hundreds of gift-shop postcards or museum brochures which reproduce it. Using a hand-held hole punch and scissors, Ganapin creates a palette of color, pattern and form by repeatedly cutting specific areas of the reproduced image. These hole punches and cut-outs are then used as the building blocks of her designs. With great care and attention to detail, the artist transforms these elements into intricately detailed mandalas. At first, the viewer is dazzled by the obsessive and precise execution in these colorful and beautiful works. Slowly, recognizable details from the source material reveal themselves: a shank of hair in Roy Lichtenstein’s Stepping Out reads as a yellow arabesque in the concentric composition; the eyes and lips of a statuette of the Egyptian god Amun become a ring of dimensional, abstracted forms within the inner rings of the mandala structure. Yet the resultant artworks transcend mere appropriation. Ganapin’s labor-intensive execution and reverence toward her subject parallels the devotional activity of a Buddhist monk creating a sand mandala. As Ganapin has noted, “A symbol of healing, wholeness, totality and spirituality, the mandala inspires contemplation and meditation. For me, what more fitting framework than that of the mandala in reinterpreting other works of art.”

The marvelous Melba has sent me one of her lovely hand-made boxes for the box swap! It’s so adorable! Thanks so much, Melba! And thanks for creating the Create a Connection group - it’s really fun.

Katie Sandwina, billed as the world’s strongest woman, preparing to break a chain over her thigh, c. 1895.

And how shall you rise above your days and nights unless you break the chains which you have fastened around your noon hour? In truth, that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes — Kahlil Gibran

“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“We are strange beings, we seem to go free, but we go in chains - chains of training, custom, convention, association, environment - in a word, Circumstance - and against these bonds the strongest of us struggle in vain” — Mark Twain

“Banks and riches are chains of gold, but still chains” — Edmund Ruffin

The first niyama is sauca, or purity. Sauca on the mat is the work we do to prepare our bodies and our minds to realize the opportunity of asana. For me, it primarily concerns diet, rest, meditation, and avoidance of overwork and overtraining. The result of purity on the mat is a pliant, strong, sensitive, balanced body, a focused mind, and a carefee spirit. We achieve these things through the voluntary surrender of certain freedoms.

If I am unwilling to give up… potato chips and cream cheese brownies, for example, or.. the money I can earn by overworking, or my freedom to stay up until three to finish a good book… then I will not realize my full potential on the mat. It’s that simple. Fortunately, the asanas detoxify us, so that our desire for many of the things we must give up lessens …over time.

Each of us must determine for ourselves what sauca on the mat means to us. The asana gives us excellent feedback. When I am eating the wrong foods, my practice is directly affected; it feels as if someone has pured san in my gas tank. I lose strength, focus, and sensitivty. Slogging through a practice when I am weakened by poor nutrition, I am forced to reconsider my definition of freedom. Sauca, the first niyama, reminds us to apply the yamas on the mat. — Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat