Thoughts

Images of The New Shul 
“Pilgrimage” Mandala 

Pilgrimage to Bliss

One thing I am aware of in my day-to day-existence
is that the longer I meditate, the better I feel.  
Opening to communication and connection with others
in a way that was not there before.  

In the last ten days I took different pilgrimages
around the city and beach.
I tried on different ways of doing things in different aspects of my life.
It came easy.
Thom Knoles recently spoke about OCD behaviors
and how breaking patterns in how we do things
is a good way forward.  
To not be stuck in old ways,
“the ever-repeating known”,
ways which we are maintaining
that are no longer of service to us…
that are simply habit.  

So at the final day of Yom Kippur Services,
I created a Mandala for anyone who wanted; 
they could create their own journey and build their personal
reflection at the table.

That way I could remove myself from the director
role I’m so used to. 
To allow what I started with the process to build on its own.  

Before ending the middle spine of the table
from which all others could build, I found myself welling up, 
listening to the music, singing.
Before I knew it, I made this heart shape. 
 
Bliss
“The last quality of the unified field—-
and the most important—-
is bliss.  
Bliss should not be confused with happiness.
Happiness is always for a reason. 
You are happy when someone pays you a compliment,
or when you get a great job,
or when you make a lot of money,
or when you have a satisfying relationship.
But when you are happy for no reason whatsoever,
in the mere fact of existence,
you are in a state of bliss.
This bliss is where we come from;
it is the nature of existence itself.
It is inherent in the field;
it is more primordial than our body,
nearer to us than our mind.
And it follows us wherever we go. 

In this state of pure bliss is the expression of pure love.
When love is pure you become the embodiment of love.
This love is offered to none, denied to none.
it just radiates from you,
like light from a bonfire or dreams from a dreamer.
It kindles the spark of love wherever it falls.”  
Bliss description is from Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra.

10.05.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image of a new weaving, Sept. 2025
Woven Weft material : Recycled mylar Balloons and 
recycled dry cleaning hangers.

Manifesting the Unmanifest 

This week after celebrating the New Year
and the creation of a flower Mandala and 
having it tossed in the river… letting go of old ways of doing
things and manifesting new ways of taking pilgrimages in the city…
I began weaving a new piece.
Out of the unmanifest, we create. 
My energies took me to select yellow balloons. 
The color of optimism. So this weaving begins.

Studying Creating Affluence: Power of Knowledge, Desire and Spirit 

Day 19 for a number of us studying, came the word
Unmanifest
with the description… 
“Even though it is the source of everything in creation
that is manifest, by itself it is unmanifest.” 

With further examination I found…
“unmanifest describes something that is not yet revealed,
perceived, in tangible form, a state of potential.” 

For instance…
Out of a simple cancellation from a friend with dinner, 
came a new invite to a play, Prince Faggot (if you can see it,
SEE IT). About the journeys of the future of Prince George.
Spirited, sexual, humorous and poignant.

Out of the stillness of our desires there are unmanifested desires. 
Don’t ignore those desires.  

09.28.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image of Sunset Tempest weaving, Sept. 2025
Woven Weft material : Recycled Mylar Balloons

Image of the Statue of Liberty at Sunset from the Water
Street Projects, at the opening of Collectible Design Sept. 2025

Looking out the window from high above the cityscape and capturing
that simple image of the Statue of Liberty between buildings, representative of a time reflecting optimism, freedom, democracy, independence, friendship, alliance and appreciation.
A gift from another country for the people. 
Lady Liberty, reading at the base of this beautiful woman: 
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

All of these possibilities came flooding into my awareness this week,
(and an awareness of how these ideals are being trampled upon),
while I was reviewing daily pages from the Deepak Chopra book
“Creating Affluence” on the teachings of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

First off: Infinite Correlation.  
Simply seeing the Statue of Liberty prompted me to weave this piece. 
It forced me to relearn about what the statue stands for,
to re-read the words of Emma Lazarus. 
This strengthened my presence of Infinite Creativity…
the act of manifesting thought from a deeper level.
To weave something with underlying meaning.
How Pure Knowledge can lead to All possibilities.  
How Self-Sufficiency is part of the Perfect Balance of our evolution.  

Living in these unprecedented times…
(funny I initially wrote unpresidented times…)
let’s aim for experiencing Unboundedness in all that we create.  
Nature is our guide; it is not constrained by boundaries,
notions or past experiences. 

Gift yourself the time to create, read, see friends, meditate… 
…and let’s make more connections to our evolutionary paths.

09.21.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

The stormy politics of the time are enough to cause
chaos in the nervous system.
It’s so challenging with all that we encounter visually
thru news reels, social media, advertising campaigns.
Frankly, it doesn’t seem like we are close to reaching
the critical mass of destruction that our
collective is capable of seeing.

With friends, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy
over Labor Day weekend.
And fell in love with this epic story.  
Like the classic epic stories of our tradition,
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata,
destruction and chaos goes on for years and years.  
Don’t mean to be a buzz kill…
this world is going to observe so much more
than we already have observed.
So hang on to your family, friends, drs., teachers and associates.

There are things we can do and we all know them so well.  
Stay off social media sites.
Go out to see art, theater, concerts. Read a book. 
Be with creative cultural individuals.
Go for weekends away and tune into nature.  
Take a bike ride. Clean out your garden.
Take a dance class, a ceramics class, a weaving class.
Look at networks that build the creation operator in you. 

This past weekend FIFTH FLOOR MEDITATION
hosted a rounding retreat on Fire Island
with a wonderful Ayurvedic Chef, Mary Whitlock.

We all Rounded together.
A Round consists of asanas, breathing and meditation,
which gives the body and mind an opportunity to release
deep-seated stresses while stirring our natural inclination
toward bliss. 
The asanas prepare the body for releasing
before meditation, so one can achieve a deeper state of rest during
our Vedic Meditation eyes-closed practice.  

On the other side of stress release
is expansion and bliss,
which will carry on well beyond the weekend retreat setting. 

It’s a turbo load of stress release in a 4-5 day retreat.

Give yourself a timeout from the chaos in the world.  
Reach out if you have questions about rounding or meditation.  
And recognize what you need, to soothe your nervous system.

09.14.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Image of this past year’s work 18′ x 42″   
woven on 10 frame looms that was shipped out this week.

My great assistant, Eve, helping me pack it all up. Forever grateful.

Shlomo, of Artisan Shipping Co., is my trusted river guide.

Made from the discarded product from the
Corporation that commissioned this work. 
My consideration was based on my background in sustainability
and weaving recycled and discarded detritus
that is so prevalent in society today.  

AS THE RIVER FLOWS

The process of figuring out, requesting materials,
and then, prototyping pieces…
is always a challenge with weaving new materials.
I love the challenge. But get caught in little tributaries 
here and there and then have to figure out how to 
get back into the flexible flow of making it through weaving,
installing methods, crating/boxing and then, shipping.

Still moving down the River.

My mission when weaving detritus is to use the material
and make it look like anything other than what
the material being used was actually intended for. 
A challenge and a delight.  

AS THE RIVER FLOWS

The river is a metaphor we discuss regularly in teachings 
from the Vedic Worldview. 
We are looking for flexible flow in our day-to-day lives.
When that doesn’t happen, that means something is off.  
It could be a number of things and maybe simply one. 
We would describe that as hitting the side of the river when things
aren’t flowing. When we get stuck. Frustrated, stub our toe. 
Feeling uneasy. We need to pay attention to our feelings and course
correct, let go of overthinking.

That’s why sitting by the side of the river is so delightful.  
It moves in one direction and continues to move
til it reaches its destination. 
And we love watching that water stream past us with ease. Masterfully.

Next up will be hanging this art piece
and weaving it all together on site. 
A project in flow…  Making room for others to come.  

09.07.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com