Do you have a favorite kind of breath work? There are lots of patterns that help to regulate, stimulate, and relax.
What I’ve noticed, though, is that left to my own devices I spend far more time taking in than letting out, so when I have a mindful moment of clarity, I don’t start with a deep inhale, I start with a deep exhale.
Why am I grateful this #ThankfulThursday to Ali Manning of @vintagepage designs?
Is it a coincidence that I finally developed the #morningpages habit just as I was introduced to the #handmadebookclub?
Just today I wrote the final pages and added another completed journal to this stack of hand-mades from the past year
Fortunately, I have a stash ready to go. Which one would you choose next?
Many experts who know a lot more than I do about various schools of meditation practice believe the best posture is one that includes open eyes, downcast gaze.
According to Pema Chodron, author of “Uncomfortable with Uncertainty” and many other writings, the open gaze is a way of “remaining awake and relaxed with all that occurs”. It also is thought to help you stay awake, which sounds pretty practical.
Then again, she is also a proponent of a practice called tonglen, which essentially means breathing in the pain and discomfort of the world and breathing out love and kindness – lovely and aspirational, but really tough when you feel the need of comfort yourself.
Right now, I just know that I am a pretty visual person, and it’s a step too far to try to shut out all of the visual information. It’s enough of a challenge to quiet the monkey mind without feeding it through my eyeballs. One thing at a time.
Thankful this month for @barizaki, one of the first people to teach me the fine points of bookbinding and box-making at her studio in my hometown of Chicago.
Had a lovely afternoon at that studio yesterday with local members of the #handmadebookclub browsing through her beautifully curated retail boutique. Nothing like an in person shop crawl with like-minded crafty friends you’ve only known online til now.
I don’t know if I’ll ever use a process quite this structured again, but the series of new paintings is coming along.
My last Instagram reel showed the original still life and the tracing paper drawings that were made from every angle, then layered to finalize 10 compositions.
Next, using transfer paper to get the drawings onto the substrate, and painting in the first “passages” of light and dark across the page before starting to play.
You can see a sneak peek of one of the finished pieces in the first frames of the newest reel HERE or by aiming your phone camera at this QR code.
The series of 10 turned into 5 pairs that (I think) may be finished. I’m letting them settle a little bit before I call them resolved and show you.