It's a book by Krishnamurti that I'm re-reading at the moment. I finished it and then turned back to the front and started again. Yes, it's that good but also I had the awareness of just how much of it was going over my head, so hopefully a second reading will allow a little more to permeate my little grey cells . . . : )
In the book K talks about how we are constrained in our lives through authority. This authority comes in many forms - some obvious: societal, parental etc; others less so, such as the internal authority we have as an established framework within us that is a structure built from our previous experiences. These "truisms" are borne of our past and passed experiences yet we hold onto them and when we do we view life and ourselves with "the authority of yesterday" and in doing so never truly see or interact with what is before us in the actual moment.
To be completely present in a moment, letting go of preconceptions, knowledge, frameworks, traditions, structures etc is to free from this authority of the past, this freedom leaves you open to full experience of what is before you. This is newness, freshness, and is invigorating. Rejecting authority (which is different than rebellion or revolt), means that you are free, no longer looking to others, no longer fearful (because there is no right or wrong, no fear of mistake), and living fearlessly is a tremendous unburdening of all the dead weight you have been carrying with you as baggage to this point.
Basically I haven't captured the ideas nearly as well as he has but it is something that I do think about, the limitations we perceive in our lives which are self created realities; if we are unwilling to admit entry to other possibilities then the absoluteness of our realities are assured. It is far easier to perceive in others than in ourselves, I think we often see people we care about who have a strong belief about themselves or the circumstances of their life which just do not appear so to us yet the totality of their convincement actually manifests what they believe. In subtle ways through their reactions, actions, words they create subtle beginnings or seeds that grow into fully formed realities of their own invention.
We do the same things in our own lives but, we are living so much within our own framework that we fail to see or perceive it. Living each moment in full awareness of ourselves, letting go of knowledge, allows learning to take place in the moment, and allows other options to slip through the web of possibilities.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
In the old days they didn't have TV . . .
And neither do we. But, we also don't have a piano to sit around singing songs, we do however have a camera to sit around pulling faces . . .
tonguey
startled
ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
cheesee
no excuses
hey, noone said they were tuneful in the old days . . .
tonguey
startled
ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
cheesee
no excuses
hey, noone said they were tuneful in the old days . . .
Tantra and Life
I'm writing an essay (hear the creaking of those brain cogs that have been long rusted into an unfortunate modern scrap metal sculpture). The subject of which is the title of this blog. It is a fascinating topic, sort of the yoga equivalent of that English Lit major topic: Shakespeare is as relevant today as he was in Elizabethan England. Discuss.
It is extremely tantric that I realise as writing this essay that the essence of Tantra (the interrelationship of all things and the highest form of reality being any and everything that is before us right now, in a positive sense) marries together my above paragraph and yoga. For me, asana is the antidote to the cliche "use it or lose it". What is called the "natural aging process" is in fact the mistreatment of fine machinery. With the exception of those living with inherited ailments of the body most of us start life in a shiny new machine which we then overwork without oiling, fuel with the wrong energy and then leave out in the rain to rust and then complain bitterly about the shoddy machine we've been given to drive.
Yoga, as I understand it is beautiful. It is not about touching your toes. Which is the first thing that most people guiltily confess to me when they discover I am a yoga teacher. It is not about bigger better faster more or give up slump down laze round complain, the Western approach to life. It is about noticing the beautiful thing that our body is. The body and mind are our whole means for experiencing and perceiving this world.
They are not who we are. They change, whatever we define as "ourselves" is unchanging at its essence. If we think back to ourselves as children, obviously we have changed physically and mentally, yet it is undeniable that whoever it is that is having this experience, is the same as the person we remember from then, there is some essential "us-ness" or "me-ness"that remains unchanged.
Yoga Asana is recognition and maintence of your Tonka truck, to see the driver through their lifetime. It is not about comparing yourself to someone else in your class, there is no Olympic medal for toe touching that I am aware of. I am also unaware of any compelling argument to convince me of the superiority of one who can touch their toes to one who can't. If you can articulate it to me or better yet yourself I would be very interested in hearing that hypothesis.
As in yoga, as in life. So ask yourself, What stops me from doing things which conceptually there is no reason why I couldn't do? Is it your mind? The mind is a faithful servant to us, but is the blind servant who doesn't see dangers heading straight for the master because of their devotion to their regular duties.
As we engage in the habits and rituals that are familiar and comfortable we turn away from the challenging, the unexpected, the different and we live on a kind of autopilot which makes the mind dull. Yoga is about awakening the mind from this soporific stupor that drains our energy and our inspiration. When we truly engage with and interact with what is before us, instead of what we decided would be before us before we even looked or engaged with it, there is a kind of beauty and newness to things that is always there but that we usually fail to see. Nothing has changed in the scenario, barring our awareness.
When you do asana (yoga poses) this is precisely the skill that you are exercising. Before you "do" yoga it looks a lot like assuming an outlandish pose, along the lines of "strike a pose" for the camera. In fact, the external appearance of the pose is a partial and indeed rather superficial appearance of what is happening when we practice asana, much like the way that the photo of a person is not the essence of the person it portrays.
Yoga poses blend many different things to teach us about ourselves. They are not about creating the most intense sensation that we can possibly bare. They are not so much about where you can and can't touch the body physically as mentally. Can you let your mind be present with you in the pose instead of wandering off somewhere else on a Sunday stroll to what you will have for dinner tonight, how much you need to cut your toenails, that great gadget/dress/magazine you want to buy, where to go on your holiday . . . ?
Can you work with your body rather than battling against it? Can you help it to gently extend what it can do, rather than berating or lamenting it for what it can't. Can you strengthen it, without punishing it through over exertion? Can you listen to what it is telling you at any given moment, hear what it is asking for?
Can you be honest about where you are at rather than where you would like to be at, or where the person next to you is at? Can you take the responsibility for how you treat your body rather than blaming your injuries or exhaustions on the person who your mind helpfully edited so you didn't have to listen to all those bits you felt didn't apply to super heroic/poor little you?
Can you be compassionate to yourself? Can you acknowledge that you are doing the best that you can right now, with what you have? Not so much physically, although yes, here too, but more in your mental efforts.
There is an awful lot to remember and then do. Having a running commentary in your head lambasting every little thing you do wrong as you attempt to keep a positive attitude and to keep on making effort, seems a little counterintuitive, no? Yet for many people this is a very great challenge. This is again the mind. It has that feeling that parents have when their kids start to assert their individuality and independence (I imagine), and feels a little worried that its role is being taken for granted at best and supplanted at worst. In fact, it is the same as the parent - child relationship. There will always be appropriate times for interaction, advice, a common face turned to the world. And there will equally be times when the child is on their own, experiencing and interpreting the world for themselves.
I could go on with this. But mercifully ( :) ) I shan't. I'll just say that to find a yoga teacher who you understand in some way who can keep you safe physically in the poses (for they are still a large part of the practice) and teach you to love learning about yourself, the world and the correlation and interconnection between the two is an amazing and beautiful thing. I hope you can and will let your mind sidetrack its routing from letting that information come in to its end destination of "No, I can't" to take the alternative route; "Maybe I can. I can".
ps. Superyogi tip: If you can't touch your toes bend your knees ; )
It is extremely tantric that I realise as writing this essay that the essence of Tantra (the interrelationship of all things and the highest form of reality being any and everything that is before us right now, in a positive sense) marries together my above paragraph and yoga. For me, asana is the antidote to the cliche "use it or lose it". What is called the "natural aging process" is in fact the mistreatment of fine machinery. With the exception of those living with inherited ailments of the body most of us start life in a shiny new machine which we then overwork without oiling, fuel with the wrong energy and then leave out in the rain to rust and then complain bitterly about the shoddy machine we've been given to drive.
Yoga, as I understand it is beautiful. It is not about touching your toes. Which is the first thing that most people guiltily confess to me when they discover I am a yoga teacher. It is not about bigger better faster more or give up slump down laze round complain, the Western approach to life. It is about noticing the beautiful thing that our body is. The body and mind are our whole means for experiencing and perceiving this world.
They are not who we are. They change, whatever we define as "ourselves" is unchanging at its essence. If we think back to ourselves as children, obviously we have changed physically and mentally, yet it is undeniable that whoever it is that is having this experience, is the same as the person we remember from then, there is some essential "us-ness" or "me-ness"that remains unchanged.
Yoga Asana is recognition and maintence of your Tonka truck, to see the driver through their lifetime. It is not about comparing yourself to someone else in your class, there is no Olympic medal for toe touching that I am aware of. I am also unaware of any compelling argument to convince me of the superiority of one who can touch their toes to one who can't. If you can articulate it to me or better yet yourself I would be very interested in hearing that hypothesis.
As in yoga, as in life. So ask yourself, What stops me from doing things which conceptually there is no reason why I couldn't do? Is it your mind? The mind is a faithful servant to us, but is the blind servant who doesn't see dangers heading straight for the master because of their devotion to their regular duties.
As we engage in the habits and rituals that are familiar and comfortable we turn away from the challenging, the unexpected, the different and we live on a kind of autopilot which makes the mind dull. Yoga is about awakening the mind from this soporific stupor that drains our energy and our inspiration. When we truly engage with and interact with what is before us, instead of what we decided would be before us before we even looked or engaged with it, there is a kind of beauty and newness to things that is always there but that we usually fail to see. Nothing has changed in the scenario, barring our awareness.
When you do asana (yoga poses) this is precisely the skill that you are exercising. Before you "do" yoga it looks a lot like assuming an outlandish pose, along the lines of "strike a pose" for the camera. In fact, the external appearance of the pose is a partial and indeed rather superficial appearance of what is happening when we practice asana, much like the way that the photo of a person is not the essence of the person it portrays.
Yoga poses blend many different things to teach us about ourselves. They are not about creating the most intense sensation that we can possibly bare. They are not so much about where you can and can't touch the body physically as mentally. Can you let your mind be present with you in the pose instead of wandering off somewhere else on a Sunday stroll to what you will have for dinner tonight, how much you need to cut your toenails, that great gadget/dress/magazine you want to buy, where to go on your holiday . . . ?
Can you work with your body rather than battling against it? Can you help it to gently extend what it can do, rather than berating or lamenting it for what it can't. Can you strengthen it, without punishing it through over exertion? Can you listen to what it is telling you at any given moment, hear what it is asking for?
Can you be honest about where you are at rather than where you would like to be at, or where the person next to you is at? Can you take the responsibility for how you treat your body rather than blaming your injuries or exhaustions on the person who your mind helpfully edited so you didn't have to listen to all those bits you felt didn't apply to super heroic/poor little you?
Can you be compassionate to yourself? Can you acknowledge that you are doing the best that you can right now, with what you have? Not so much physically, although yes, here too, but more in your mental efforts.
There is an awful lot to remember and then do. Having a running commentary in your head lambasting every little thing you do wrong as you attempt to keep a positive attitude and to keep on making effort, seems a little counterintuitive, no? Yet for many people this is a very great challenge. This is again the mind. It has that feeling that parents have when their kids start to assert their individuality and independence (I imagine), and feels a little worried that its role is being taken for granted at best and supplanted at worst. In fact, it is the same as the parent - child relationship. There will always be appropriate times for interaction, advice, a common face turned to the world. And there will equally be times when the child is on their own, experiencing and interpreting the world for themselves.
I could go on with this. But mercifully ( :) ) I shan't. I'll just say that to find a yoga teacher who you understand in some way who can keep you safe physically in the poses (for they are still a large part of the practice) and teach you to love learning about yourself, the world and the correlation and interconnection between the two is an amazing and beautiful thing. I hope you can and will let your mind sidetrack its routing from letting that information come in to its end destination of "No, I can't" to take the alternative route; "Maybe I can. I can".
ps. Superyogi tip: If you can't touch your toes bend your knees ; )
Monday, November 06, 2006
London personified?
Something I've been thinking about a bit lately. If London were a person, who would it be?
A large question, and I'm sure a large personality. I'm not so good statistically (though I'm sure that would be fascinating), so here goes my completely non-scientific random, one person's observations-based take on that question.
I'm going to go with female, just to choose a gender for my comments. Diverse ethnically, a mix of say 8 different heritages coming from a mix of parentage, step-and-defacto parentage and grandparentage on both sides.
Perhaps somewhat confused, of fluctuating mental health. Inconsistent, diverse, definately. I think that she would be obsessed by health, which is not to say healthy. That she would wear A LOT of makeup, presenting surface respectability by trowelling makeup into cracks and wrinkley bits. This would help explain another attribute - poor personal hygene, or at least a definate "aroma" which feeds back into that layer upon layer aspect that would make Sara-Lee proud.
A mix of trash and high-brow, definately a participator rather than recluse. I think work-wise something in the media, or at least the public sphere. Possessed of impeccable morals and social graces which are evident in situation-dependent appearances, falling wayside like last season's whatever under the nightfall of a publicly anonymous situation.
A very addictive person, both in essence and to know. Hyper stimulated and stimulating, one of those people you enjoy immensely being unable to get your head around. A font ever-spewing of knowledge, both fascinating and the kind that makes you turn the cheek in the less Christian sense.
That's for starters,
anyone else?
A large question, and I'm sure a large personality. I'm not so good statistically (though I'm sure that would be fascinating), so here goes my completely non-scientific random, one person's observations-based take on that question.
I'm going to go with female, just to choose a gender for my comments. Diverse ethnically, a mix of say 8 different heritages coming from a mix of parentage, step-and-defacto parentage and grandparentage on both sides.
Perhaps somewhat confused, of fluctuating mental health. Inconsistent, diverse, definately. I think that she would be obsessed by health, which is not to say healthy. That she would wear A LOT of makeup, presenting surface respectability by trowelling makeup into cracks and wrinkley bits. This would help explain another attribute - poor personal hygene, or at least a definate "aroma" which feeds back into that layer upon layer aspect that would make Sara-Lee proud.
A mix of trash and high-brow, definately a participator rather than recluse. I think work-wise something in the media, or at least the public sphere. Possessed of impeccable morals and social graces which are evident in situation-dependent appearances, falling wayside like last season's whatever under the nightfall of a publicly anonymous situation.
A very addictive person, both in essence and to know. Hyper stimulated and stimulating, one of those people you enjoy immensely being unable to get your head around. A font ever-spewing of knowledge, both fascinating and the kind that makes you turn the cheek in the less Christian sense.
That's for starters,
anyone else?
Saturday, October 14, 2006
London in Limbo
It's supposed to be getting yukky here (weather wise). And we keep expecting something along the lines of . . .
instead of which it is park weather.
Park and Scrabble weather. That is where I'm headed tomorrow to geek it up bigtime. Yay!
Escapades of late have included a camping jaunt to the isle of wight, staying in a camping ground that made the shortlist for being the hi de hi camp ground (in my mind anyway) complete and replete with giant denim suited mascot Humphray Bear and Saturday night chanteuse Johnny Beau Geste (who Ferg and I couldn't resist cutting some moves to on tha floor). During this weekend away Ferg and I did our best to win people over to the charms of the lemonheads by fashioning (MacGuyver style) a speaker out of an offcast whiskey bottle tube with which to project the lemonheads classic the outdoor type. The following week we had only managed to convince Ollie and Watson to accompany us on our pilgrimage to the Forum to witness Evan in his latter day (continuing) glory. My phone camera made a tiny blurry speck of him so please enjoy "arty" blurry shots of another feature of the evening - the lighting . . .
Also, strange creatures have been sprouting up around the land. Fashion conscious denim-fetishist trees and cutesy confection have been contesting with Bansky in drag attempting to sweep all the controversy and weirdness (weirdly) under the brickwall.
And on the romanticness front Imery and I just celebrated our 7th year together with a trip to the only hungarian restaurant in the UK which has been going since the 50s and retains a total homespun charm while serving delicies like wild cherry soup and venison goulash. Yay and yumtastic.
Adios : )
x
J
instead of which it is park weather.
Park and Scrabble weather. That is where I'm headed tomorrow to geek it up bigtime. Yay!
Escapades of late have included a camping jaunt to the isle of wight, staying in a camping ground that made the shortlist for being the hi de hi camp ground (in my mind anyway) complete and replete with giant denim suited mascot Humphray Bear and Saturday night chanteuse Johnny Beau Geste (who Ferg and I couldn't resist cutting some moves to on tha floor). During this weekend away Ferg and I did our best to win people over to the charms of the lemonheads by fashioning (MacGuyver style) a speaker out of an offcast whiskey bottle tube with which to project the lemonheads classic the outdoor type. The following week we had only managed to convince Ollie and Watson to accompany us on our pilgrimage to the Forum to witness Evan in his latter day (continuing) glory. My phone camera made a tiny blurry speck of him so please enjoy "arty" blurry shots of another feature of the evening - the lighting . . .
Also, strange creatures have been sprouting up around the land. Fashion conscious denim-fetishist trees and cutesy confection have been contesting with Bansky in drag attempting to sweep all the controversy and weirdness (weirdly) under the brickwall.
And on the romanticness front Imery and I just celebrated our 7th year together with a trip to the only hungarian restaurant in the UK which has been going since the 50s and retains a total homespun charm while serving delicies like wild cherry soup and venison goulash. Yay and yumtastic.
Adios : )
x
J
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Announcing . . .
sort of, quietly and modestly in a non-egomanical yogaish sort of way the birth of my yoga website. Yoga Seed. Yay! With many thanks to my gurus of technical and visual stuff O & I - much respect.
It's, yes, predictably all about me Jenn Burford but more specifically, yoga with me. The address is www.yogaseed.co.uk.
There you can find info on my public class, small group lessons, private lessons, yoga in general and the like, just in case you didn't get more than enough yoga to last you a incarnation or two ; ) by visiting the blog.
Check it out : )
and then one month later
she resumed her "daily" blog.
News of the month in brief muppety form:
Still no passport . . .still no LA trip . . . still no ann-reunion : (
Have been augmenting my stump of natural knowledge with the Daily Mail's free fortnight of David Attenborough docos -geektastic : )
2 fullon all yoga weekends preceded by a dancetastic bank holiday weekend.
Have been spending some time too with my New Zealand yoga teacher who is visiting.
but my fave:
I finally saw the Lucksmiths live last night - only been waiting for that since I was 20 ! : ) Was fab tastic. The pic is from the song called camera shy, thought that seemed appropriate.
Then, tomorrow night is pitch black . . .
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Looking and Seeing
In yoga we make the distinction between looking (active, consumptive) and seeing (passive, receiving). In physical asana practice when you stare really hard at something it is an equivalent of grasping, grabbing, clutching. If you can let your gaze rest on something in an even, broad way so that you take in the wider scene, your mind is more still, yet still fluid and adaptable. As in asana, as in life. Rigidity and intractablness create tension which clouds the ability to think and act clearly. Maintaining a certain firmness (discipline without a sense of punitiveness or over-control) creates a spaciousness that allows you to perceive a whole scene or scenario and respond likewise, in a calm, focused and decisive manner.
I enjoyed this article from this weekend's Guardian about looking, hope you do too . . .
How to ... look
Guy Browning
Saturday August 12, 2006
The Guardian
Everyone sees but few look. For most people ,"having a good look" happens only when something interests them. For the small minority who are in permanent "have a good look" mode, everything is interesting. In general, the more you look at something, the more interesting it becomes.
On average we see a thousand advertising messages a day. When we go to bed we might remember one of them. This tells us two things: 1) most advertising is wasted;, and 2) just because we've got our eyes open doesn't mean we're looking.
The song says that you can look but you better not touch. But looking is a way of touching, which is why you can often sense when you're being looked at. Similarly, when you look into some individuals' eyes, it give you a physical jolt, as if you'd been kicked by a small horse.
Many people don't look much because what's happening inside their head is far more interesting. The less they look at the real world, the more unreal their internal world becomes. The level of people's eyes is a good indicator of where their minds are: eyes up, daydreamer; eyes ahead, well-adjusted person; eyes down, introvert or bingo player.
Love is blind but has a great sense of touch. More interesting than love at first sight is love at 74th sight, when someone who was part of your comfortable visual furniture suddenly becomes a thing of incredible beauty. The world would be a much better place if we could see everyone as incredibly beautiful, but that would make falling in love a less intense experience.
Looking at something carefully doesn't mean you can see it properly. That's because everyone wears the distorting glasses of their personality: paranoid people see everything as a conspiracy, greedy people see everything as a potential snack. The rule is, you don't see the world as it is, but as you are.
People see only what they want to see. Being something or someone that no one wants to see is therefore the closest we're likely to get to being invisible. Advanced physicists and philosophers will tell you that things exist only when you look at them. It would therefore be a great experiment if everyone agreed not to look at advanced physicists and philosophers for a while.
I enjoyed this article from this weekend's Guardian about looking, hope you do too . . .
How to ... look
Guy Browning
Saturday August 12, 2006
The Guardian
Everyone sees but few look. For most people ,"having a good look" happens only when something interests them. For the small minority who are in permanent "have a good look" mode, everything is interesting. In general, the more you look at something, the more interesting it becomes.
On average we see a thousand advertising messages a day. When we go to bed we might remember one of them. This tells us two things: 1) most advertising is wasted;, and 2) just because we've got our eyes open doesn't mean we're looking.
The song says that you can look but you better not touch. But looking is a way of touching, which is why you can often sense when you're being looked at. Similarly, when you look into some individuals' eyes, it give you a physical jolt, as if you'd been kicked by a small horse.
Many people don't look much because what's happening inside their head is far more interesting. The less they look at the real world, the more unreal their internal world becomes. The level of people's eyes is a good indicator of where their minds are: eyes up, daydreamer; eyes ahead, well-adjusted person; eyes down, introvert or bingo player.
Love is blind but has a great sense of touch. More interesting than love at first sight is love at 74th sight, when someone who was part of your comfortable visual furniture suddenly becomes a thing of incredible beauty. The world would be a much better place if we could see everyone as incredibly beautiful, but that would make falling in love a less intense experience.
Looking at something carefully doesn't mean you can see it properly. That's because everyone wears the distorting glasses of their personality: paranoid people see everything as a conspiracy, greedy people see everything as a potential snack. The rule is, you don't see the world as it is, but as you are.
People see only what they want to see. Being something or someone that no one wants to see is therefore the closest we're likely to get to being invisible. Advanced physicists and philosophers will tell you that things exist only when you look at them. It would therefore be a great experiment if everyone agreed not to look at advanced physicists and philosophers for a while.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
i hate to admit i'm old . . .
" The idols of today are unmistakable - self esteem without effort, fame without achievement, sex without consequences, wealth without responsibility, pleasure without struggle and experience without commitment."
. . . but I agree with this quote, so I guess there's no denying it :)
. . . but I agree with this quote, so I guess there's no denying it :)
Saturday, August 05, 2006
water bears
. . . win this years prize for cuteness and adapability under 1mm. These weird little things make us seem quite lame as far as impressive biological abilities. They "look more like a candy Gummy Bear than a grizzly bear -- they have the bright orange, red or green colors of Gummy Bears, and a gummy surface texture."
All this cuteness plus they can do lots of superhumanoid stuff like survive amazing heats, freeze and come back to life, be desicated and come back to life (this does not involve coconut in any way : ) but rather means they can lose every tiny droplet of liquid from their system and still reanimate).
For more amazing geeky facts and excitement check out the above link to "the incredible water bear".
Enjoy : )
disclaimer: drawings are cuter than reality - IW still thinks they're very cute
(i say maybe in a liquified orange ameoba/slater type way . . .)
Thursday, August 03, 2006
"When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago"
- Nietzsche
I find this extreme -ly true.
Humans are amazing little science projects of someone bigger standing over trying out stuff in a random jenn-understanding-of-science kind of way! : )
There is the madness (good as well as bad) of sleep deprivation, excesses, lacks, and compacted psychoses borne of compressed and concentrated living.
Kind of like the intense colour and power packed intensity of fruit juice "drinks" the ones that list the fruit around ingredient number thirteen - right behind 5 synonyms for sugar, 5 "colours" disguised as numbers and 3 stabilisers ( i think these are what stop you from going right over the edge on your long way dooooooooown from the sugar high of the drink).
This ramble has been brought to you by one well rested (and falsely buoyed by that ole seductive morning siren caffeine) . . .
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Grew, well, ok "aquired" a moustache, no really . . .
See?
Handiwork and design care of one I. C. Watson origamist extraordinaire, big ups! (hippy floral body art issuing from same source . . . ).
The occassion? Other than general lack of hairyness demanding to be dealt to ?
My friend Marese's birthday in the park, summer summer summeryness, rockabilly band and picnicing, all the things that make you forgive London's naughtynessess (for a bit at least).
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Went to see a kundalini guru
and practice kundalini yoga with her. Not really sure how i feel about it, other than a bit weird.
Also went to see Undercover Surrealism at the Hayward Gallery. I listened to voodoo, looked an animal entrails and admired Miro's scribbles.
My latest madcap adventure will be a trip to the US to visit my bestest homie ann, dependent on the altruism of the British passport peeps, fingers crossed xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx those are standing in for crossed fingers in lieu of some spiffy new keyboard fingers crossed lingo from tha kids.
Next weekend we're off to the countryside to check out Shrewsberry and hook up with the kiwi connection.
nano nano
jenn from zen
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds
I am currently very into Bob. He is great. I am (again) tired but I wanted to write something so I didn't completely bail on my new resolution. I was just going to post some Soho scenes but my camera had other ideas. . . grrr.
So, more Bob:
The stone that the builder refuse will always be the head cornerstone.
Open your eyes and look within; are you satsified with the life you're living?
and:
How to live a joyful life
(not by Bob).
See ya
xx
So, more Bob:
The stone that the builder refuse will always be the head cornerstone.
Open your eyes and look within; are you satsified with the life you're living?
and:
How to live a joyful life
(not by Bob).
See ya
xx
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Rusty
Composed via a mixture of bad cliches:
1 On a brown paper bag (now transfered to screen)
2 In a cafe with jaunty energetic jazz dicatating the ebb and flow of the pen
3 Accompaied by a ridiculously frothy (hippy) soya cappucino
Rusty could be tautologised as a cliche too: use it or lose it.
Here I am thinking about my penchant for excessive verbiage. My natural predeliction to over indulge my mouth :) and wondering how I came to be so removed from my philonomosity (working it here).
I was thinking about how simple truisms slip from the edge of our minds. The limited rainbow that our mind's palette can display to us allows many colours to muddy into a brown that is indistinguishable from the backgound that they sit upon.
So they're there but not there until somehow the brush unwittingly catches some of that colour and transfers it somewhere else making it visible again.
I wish my palette could hold a rainbow.
1 On a brown paper bag (now transfered to screen)
2 In a cafe with jaunty energetic jazz dicatating the ebb and flow of the pen
3 Accompaied by a ridiculously frothy (hippy) soya cappucino
Rusty could be tautologised as a cliche too: use it or lose it.
Here I am thinking about my penchant for excessive verbiage. My natural predeliction to over indulge my mouth :) and wondering how I came to be so removed from my philonomosity (working it here).
I was thinking about how simple truisms slip from the edge of our minds. The limited rainbow that our mind's palette can display to us allows many colours to muddy into a brown that is indistinguishable from the backgound that they sit upon.
So they're there but not there until somehow the brush unwittingly catches some of that colour and transfers it somewhere else making it visible again.
I wish my palette could hold a rainbow.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Picnic in ze park
IW likes to call this photo "Jenn trys to pretend her hippy drink is actually nice". Nuff said. I couldn't really argue with an assessment that accurate.
Monday, July 10, 2006
This American Life
What is the suspiciously named link to the right?
Would anyone want to jump into courting American Life?
If you could have a choice between the superpowers of flight and invisibility which would you choose?
What do you think this says about you?
Where can you find out?
At a cool-long running radio show from Chicago. When I asked IW to summarise what he thinks its about (since he put me on to it) he said . . .
A 4 act documentary radio show on humanist topics.
Its great, check it out :)
ps. I would fly
to find out what that says about me . . .
go to the site and search for "superpowers",
have fun! : )
Would anyone want to jump into courting American Life?
If you could have a choice between the superpowers of flight and invisibility which would you choose?
What do you think this says about you?
Where can you find out?
At a cool-long running radio show from Chicago. When I asked IW to summarise what he thinks its about (since he put me on to it) he said . . .
A 4 act documentary radio show on humanist topics.
Its great, check it out :)
ps. I would fly
to find out what that says about me . . .
go to the site and search for "superpowers",
have fun! : )
first class
My first yoga class that is. As to the quality and whether it was in fact "first class" well, you'd have to ask a participant that :)
I had 7 students including the lovely IW. I really enjoyed it and I finally feel a sense of going for my dreams. Terror did not even try to court me. I felt capable and calm. how yogic. ;)
namaste, one and all . . .
xx
I had 7 students including the lovely IW. I really enjoyed it and I finally feel a sense of going for my dreams. Terror did not even try to court me. I felt capable and calm. how yogic. ;)
namaste, one and all . . .
xx
Sunday, July 09, 2006
getting in early : )
at the mighty early hour of 12.
Meditated again today after three days off (2 due to inescapable jackhammer noise and 1 due to saturdayness)
I had missed it : )
Tonight is the world cup final. If it seems strange that I might be interested in this know that my interest comes more from the fact that we reside atop bar italia and if the scenes from our street on the nights of regular matches are anything to go by, tonight will be interesting indeed.
We, therefore, are giving actual matchtime a miss (VERY loud doesn't begin to cover the volume) and heading over Angel-ward to try a Japanese restaurant that looks (to harken back to that pop-culture bible of my youth Heathers) very . . . : ) yum.
I'm sure festivities will still be exploding all over the place on our return, so there may be some pics of tonight to follow. In the meantime the above is a morsel from an earlier game . . .
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