Thoughts

Images:
Sunset over Great South Bay from Dunewood Beach 
Moonrise on Guru Purnima over the Atlantic Ocean
Tossing the Puja flowers and remnants from yearly teachings and ceremonies

Stellar Awareness

This week was filled with celebrations over the once-a-year
Full Moon of July…
In the Vedic Tradition, called Guru Purnima
(also known as the Buck Moon).
As Thom Knoles, my ultimate teacher, has taught us,
this is the highlight of the Vedic Calendar. 

So fortunate to be able to spend time at the beach
and experience Sunsets and Moon Rising with friends and family all week.
 
Under the light of the moon, both during the waxing moon
to the fullness on the 9th and the 
waning moon on the 10th after fullness,
I spent time tossing remnants of the various Puja ceremonies
from this past year into the ocean under the purview of the great full moon.

Asking for the Guru (Gu-remover Ru-darkness)
Purnima (Full moon) to remove any cloudiness or darkness
for any of my students and friends and family.

We can access the removal of darkness by 
our simple natural effortless technique of Vedic Meditation.  
As simple and easy as admiring the sunset and the moonrise each evening.  

Images of Emerald Glimmer, 2025
Warp: sheath core fiber
Weft: Recycled Mylar balloons
Dry cleaning hangers


Emerald Glimmer

Installation this past Monday brought about challenges… 
You never know what the site conditions are unless,
as an artist, you are there 
at the beginning to set the conditions for hanging.  
In this case, the best wood was used in the foundation of the building.
Making it slightly harder to attach the Griplock system,
with the closeness to the wall.  

As we learn in meditation, our awareness (consciousness)
conceives, constructs and governs
each and every situation.  

As my installation partner discussed the site conditions,
he Conceived we might run into a certain challenge…
and he was correct…
We Constructed a game plan for the circumstances and completed
the install, which was Governed by the conditions of this site.
It took us longer but it was beautiful at the end.

As I looked at Emerald Glimmer, a 6′ wide by 41″ weaving
made with recycled Mylar Balloons 
and recycled dry cleaning hangers —
(I had never tried weaving in this width and configuration) —
I realized that the sequence of how our awareness conceives, 
constructs and governs is applicable in every situation.  

And that each year, each weaving,
using new and different materials in new 
and different ways is all about growing in these precise sequences. 

In our meditation, we start as settling into our inner state or being,
then move to thoughts bubbling up,
which we disregard as having no meaning.
If there are resentments, it’s stress coming 
up and out of our bodies.
We let it go…
thoughts of fear… the same,
what I’m getting for dinner… gone.
And then, when we have completed our practice, we take action.  
With clear head and heart.  
Calmer then when we started. 

Emerald Glimmer rests in this room and
brings in the greens from outside
and glistens day and night.
It reflects the other materials and paintings in the room
and is full of all kinds 
of stories found in the balloons from the beach.  
How consciousness works:
Conceiving, constructing and governing. 

Images: Photographs of the Five Elements, Illinois

Nature’s Beauty

Spending time in the surroundings I grew up in. 

It had been 46 years
since being here on my birthday.
Thank you all for the wonderful wishes.

The five elements stood out so proudly.
 
The elements so much more evident now, after training in Vedic Meditation. 
The subtle cues of Nature’s natural reflection.  Always giving and providing.

The EARTH so proudly displaying
the abundance of corn and soybeans, thanks to the rain,
the coolness and the sun.
The rich earth so nourishing.
The trees rooted in the earth, so strong and shade-providing. 

WATER as refreshing as ever and enjoyable to jump into.
Watching the children splash and share their skills in swimming.
In fishing, in catching turtles.
Forever entertaining.
Its reflection at night’s end, the beautiful ripples
and textures, the endless entertainment. 

The SUN heating the air and providing hours of beauty and engagement.
The sunset where my father and I would go each summer evening
as a child to watch it set.
Every evening different than before.
Its brightness and vision. So consistent,
always on time. Reliable as you rise and as you set.

The WIND with the subtle breezes
coming over the wheat and corn fields.
Cooling us down and keeping us refreshed. 

And the SPACE above, around and over the lake and land,
so elegantly executed by Nature’s natural beauty.  
Over the fields. It shows us expansion,
it shows us symmetry and asymmetry and diversity.  


The combination of all 5 elements at one time
is mesmerizing…
as the sun reflects on the water
underneath the canopy of the trees
creating a visual rhythm of beauty
as the trees gently move in the breeze
in the space around us.
So precious and engaging.  
The immensity of sounds from the birds chirping,
the train in the far distance
and the woodpeckers pecking.

As peaceful and magical and forever changing, as time rolls by us.
Each moment precious.
So take the time. 

Grateful for the abundance of beauty in what Nature provides. 
Sharing some soothing time not listening to the news.
Soaking up Nature’s beauty for a minute.

06.29.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image: Floating Warp Geometry, 1980
Linen, cotton, wool and rayon

IT’S ABOUT CHANGE

As a weaver, it always starts with the warp.
I remember distinctly picking out this linen warp to weave.
I was not stable enough, at the time, to know
what I wanted to weave until I began the weaving.
I knew the size.
But not the pattern.
So many options, so many ideas. 
I realized right away that I wanted to show the warp openly;
I had never done that before.
How could I adapt, then, to all the colors and textures
I wanted to weave,
how would I secure the structure and how do I integrate everything together? 
What makes sense…
How can I create a weaving showing the purity
of the materials and have order and geometry?  
All of this can be paralyzing.
There was always a willingness to grow and learn.
So I wove and built a new geometry.
I did unweave a bit here and there
until I got it the way I wanted.

As Vedic Meditators, we need to check in on 5 principles
of Evolution, to ensure that we are not regressing in any way.
That we are going in the direction of progressive change.
We wish to have optimal growth.  
We want our lives to be the byproduct of our right actions.
These five elements need to be embraced for optimal growth
to higher states of consciousness:

STABILITY gives us the capacity to grow our capabilities.
A product of the grounded mind. This comes from Vedic Meditation.
ADAPTABILITY is having adaptive responses to demands
or changes in expectations without wanting to flee.
INTEGRATION means being able to integrate our lives
into new innovative useful knowledge that
enhances our repertoire of capabilities. 
PURIFICATION is letting go of rigid attachment to irrelevant ways
of behaving that are no longer helpful and are holding us back. 
WILLINGNESS TO GROW means having a willingness
to look at new ways of doing things that embrace the need of the time.

In my art and life, I now go through a checklist.
Is my warp Stable.
Is the weaving going to adapt to the setting.
Is everything integrating beautifully.
Is there a purity in the language.
Am I willing to change.

06.22.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image: Artificial Heart Artery Prototypes 

Strong Hearts Prevail 

Our hearts are there to be felt.  
That’s why there are so many songs written.
Healing hearts, breaking hearts and hearts of gold…
Heart Arteries supply blood to the heart. 

I was asked to come up with concepts for weavings
using recycled Heart Artery material.  
This was uniquely the year of my formal meditation 
training, that took me to India for the 3rd time and the year Covid hit.  
Turned out to be good timing (work wise),
to be there in training for 3 1/2 months, that would change my physiology and world.

Needless to say, the Weaving commission project was
lost in the heaviness Covid brought,
which also changed everyone’s world as we knew it.  

At the time, I was questioning the mechanics of the practice of Vedic Meditation… and how would I teach it? 
How would I explain the benefits? 
Forever seeking the knowledge of what is
really happening each time we meditate. 

What was noticed right away was that my physical
health improved.  
I didn’t get the headaches that plagued 
me for years.  
Instead of compression that I felt in my heart and head
or a droopiness in my heart
(Weavings portray my sensations),  
I recognized my mental potential became more clear.
I perceived more “aha moments.”  
Connecting my feelings, by recognizing
what was really happening.  

By releasing stress,
which is what we are doing each time we meditate,
it makes us more conscious. 

Recognizing that those repetitive feelings of discomfort
are unsustainable and cause more stress.  
A job, a relationship, diet, career…
When you meditate, it will be harder to maintain them
if they are causing you so much stress.
Because your heart simply isn’t in it.
We only have a certain amount of adaptation energy
to sustain something that is unsustainable.  

Meditation gives you that platform
to recognize what is unsustainable.  

Weaving pulls me into metaphoric connections
with what’s happening and how I’m feeling.  
Meditation is the key to unharnessing the unsustainable. 

Tap into your heart. 
Learn to Meditate.

06.15.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com