Thoughts

The Melody of Freedom is ringing in my ears lately,
as we listen to the news.
And as people are systematically being taken away.
Let these people go!
Making connections with the past, present and future, this
weaving, entitled The Song of the Sea, is from an allegorical weaving
series from Weekly Torah portions and is woven from Mylar Balloons
found on the beaches of Fire Island.
It is then sewn onto the parchment, to
frame the only poem/song found in the Torah. 
About recognizing we are all meant
to be free.
The story of Exodus and the parting 
of the sea.

Meeting this week with a young group of students at the JCC
in Brooklyn, The Rabbi of The New Shul, Misha Shulman, and I asked
how the students felt about an artist using the Torah
as a foundation for the work.
A young student, younger than the students shown, stated: 
”I think it’s good, so you can use the Torah to teach other 
stories.”
How beautiful is that.
So here we go!

This week’s Topic is “The Song of the Sea”

Who is like you? 
That is a song sung every Friday night,
reflecting our connections with other.
In the Vedic Worldview there is no 
other. You are it.
We are all unique beings walking around this 
beautiful, colorful ball, rotating 
around the sun. 
Knowledge coming to us
and awareness from within ourselves, on how we 
contribute and/or take away energy
is a constant recognition and evolution.

Being lies at the root of everything.
Like the Ocean, it gives and it takes. 
This is in motion, like we are in our active lives.  
We have choices on how we want to Be 
on this planet. 
Our creative impulses pull us, and sometimes 
push us, into behaving in ways that can disarm. 

Like doing artwork on a Torah!

Let’s continue to find ways to come together, as we did in
the National Day of Action.

04.06.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

1288 warp threads on the loom of Metallic pigment
sheath core fiber for a new weaving
to begin next week

A FRESH START

This week’s story posted on instagram
was of a young man who took
the 4-day 90-minute course to learn
to meditate. 
He commented that 90 minutes was the 
perfect amount to take in the knowledge
and to get the idea of how to be a self-
sufficient meditator. And that he could
really feel the deep quietness when 
he finished meditating.
He was referred to me by a friend in Australia,
so I asked as he was leaving, if I could
get a quick pic to send her a thank you
note. 
Usually reluctant about those things, and not
wanting to encroach on privacy, I asked
him later in the day, if I could add the pic
on my story board.  
Sharing that there was nothing better than
teaching new students how to meditate
and watching the light emerge in their eyes.
A Hallmark of a meditator.

Sharing this sentiment, there is also nothing better
than putting on a sparkly warp and having a
fresh start to begin a new weaving project. 
Thank you SG for helping with the winding and warping.
The pristine quality of the uniform
tie on and the simplicity of the plain weave… is 
always so rewarding. Then, sliding your hand
over all the threads, to feel if there is
evenness or tension across the warp.
I love that part.

This week also brought a dear friend and meditator,
who came into the house. I hadn’t seen her for a year.
She knew, that I knew, that she had stopped meditating.
From the moment she came up the stairs. 
I said, “It’s all ok!”
You see… we have a Fresh Start every morning
that we wake up and every afternoon, when 
we simply do our 20-minute practice. 
We can sense the evenness and the tensions 
immediately. They show up in the form of thoughts and 
body sensations. 
In this inward least-excited state, we let the thoughts go 
and sense the body tensions dissipate.
(Stress is embedded in our physiology.)
We then open our eyes after practice, to a
Fresh Active Start.
Recognizing some expansion to our awareness.
My friend sent a note a day later,
saying she hadn’t known why she stopped 
but had started again!

Like weaving, preparing for the process
to meditate is a simple, natural technique. 
It takes inward time
and outward time.
Then the magic begins!

Each meditation is a fresh start.
Each weaving is a fresh start.
If you’ve stopped meditating, making, creating…
START FRESH
and feel the shift. 
It’s Always Good!

03.30.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Paper Detritus weaving in the works. 
Working on this one for the past 8 months.
There will be ten frames, interconnected
to create a piece 18′ long.

Cyclical Behavior

As a weaver, we get into a rhythm of interlacing
the weft strands onto the warp. 
With tapestry weaving, it is done methodically
by interlacing by hand, over and over again. 
In this case, it’s the same weave structure. 
There will be ten frames in all.  
Color shifts, every time a new weft strand
is entered. I am creating
the base for this structural sculpture.
The color selection creates the
evolution of the full piece. The strands
can’t be too strong in color, dark or light.
Or you will see a repeat that will stick out.
Balanced color placement is essential.

Balance in everything is a good thing. 
Work-Life
The hard part is stepping off the cyclical behavior 
pipeline and giving yourself the much
needed time to make the shifts. Recharge and 
Evolve in a different way. 
That’s why Vedic Meditation is so useful. 
It gives you the Shift twice a day
from doing, doing, doing…
by Being, Being, Being. 
We sit, get the much needed rest we need, 
and recharge for the next 6 hours of activity. 
And then effortlessly sit for another 20 minutes.
Truly feeling recharged and deeply rooted and Stable.

Have you ever caught yourself doing the 
same thing over and over again?
Ignoring that the outcome is always the same.
The ability to see the distinction of multiple things 
is essential in raising our awareness.
Subtle shifts can make a huge difference.
We don’t want to fall into the repeating research over
and over again, because repetition attracts destruction.
It’s as if we are going in circles or standing still. 
And nature never stands still.
Evolution works when you change. 
Nature demands change.
We Adapt, we evolve and change, 
That way we are in the right place at the 
right time. 
Weaving 10 frames, using the same technique and 
same materials, can be monotonous. 
But changing each of them up makes it interesting. 
Then adding the textural component 
changes the entire piece.
Giving it an entirely different Energy. 

Let’s discuss energy shifting,
and what we can do to hop 
off those cyclical behaviors.

03.23.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Top Image: Mockup weavings for the doors of an ark for
Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas
Bottom image: The Stern Chapel by Cunningham Architects

Looking for Signs

This week, a friend sent me a screenshot
of a project in Dallas.
The weaving on the ark, that was completed years ago, was shown by Cunningham Architects.
Entitled A Light Spanned, the Weaving reflected
a rainbow.
Perhaps Moses’ first
cognition of a larger self. 
Who doesn’t look at a rainbow and think it’s a sign?

I notice we are all looking for signs.  
To distract us from the unknown and perceived
stress that activates our reactivity.

The fact that my friend sent this image was a signal.  
It compelled me to look this project up,
where I found these beautiful mockups.
SNAP
Moments later, I had a call with a new
client to discuss her project.
I explained that I would weave her 
a mockup, so she could see how 
her piece would be woven.

Searching for a signal…
What is happening in our country,
the world, our Earth and our celestial? 
We are evolving.
Countries are supporting
each other. Standing up for themselves. 
That’s a sign. 
Politics are about money.
Like the waves on Fire Island… some winters, they give and some winters, they take. 
We all wonder what will be there 
when we return.

Why can’t you sleep?  Perhaps it’s this
Full Moon/
Lunar Eclipse. 
Awareness that signs are in abundance.
Awareness that connections
are happening constantly, becomes
routine in meditators.

It was a wonderful week of corollaries from
new students just learning how to meditate.
An immediate connection with how the meditation
releases stress, held deeply in our physiology. 
How our inward inner peace makes space for 
outward creative intelligence.
How sleeping after the 3rd day of learning to meditate 
felt easier.  
Students are asking if this had to do 
with the practice. 
Heck Ya!  
When stress is released from our bodies,
we sleep better.
All signs that the meditation is working.

How thinking about an old friend or weaving
will yield a connection, to samples and friends you hadn’t seen or heard from for years. 

If you are looking for a sign…
Sign up for meditation classes 🙂 

03.16.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

Alphanumeric, 2024
Lord, Abbett & Co. Headquarters
Sheath core Warp
100 pages of shredded Lord, Abbett 1980s ledger paper
40 Recycled Mylar Balloons
1,200 Recycled Dry Cleaning hangers
detail photography by Carolina Madrigal
Thank you, HLW 

The Importance of Oscillation

It’s a wrap!!
Alphanumeric for Lord, Abbett & Co. 
Weaving is my art. Each weaving reflects the consciousness at the time of connection with the client.
I love the collaboration of coming up with the correct piece for the space. And collecting the detritus.
Looking closely, you can see the typeface from the 1980s!
A time of abundance. Discarded ledger paper.

Their employees collected the 1,200 dry cleaning hangers;
and the company colors are green and blue, from used Mylar Balloons.
A perfect mixture. A perfect collaboration,
to create a wonderful weaving of texture and whimsy.
Oscillating from tight weaves to textures of loopy paper.
A place for the company to talk to new employees about their sustainability mission.

Weaving, like all art, tells a story.
Where was I, when I got the call 
to ask if I would consider weaving a piece
for this company?
What detritus will this company have,
to make a meaningful piece that will speak
to sustainability and the environment, 
to which we so need to attend?

I was in a transition phase in my life.
I was oscillating about my work/life next steps. 
This call was the unambiguous sign, telling me
to take the step away from the day-to-day 
work I had been doing for 43 years and
try something new.  
But, but, but… What if it doesn’t work out??

The thing is, the support of Nature is always
around. We simply are not in the state of mind
to see it, hear it and feel it. 
This is the beauty of our meditation practice. 
Above all else, it quiets the persistent chatter. 
The negating thoughts that keep us from 
truly realizing what we want to do next.
The questioning and oscillation between the
big insecurities/big resistance rub up against… 
Just do it! See what happens.

This is the path that we feel comfortable taking
after becoming a meditator.  
The meditation stabilizes our thoughts and nervous system.
Making way to follow the direction of
what feels charming.
Letting go of all the doubts.

Don’t worry about your small thinking; it 
makes way for big thinking. 
Nature is searching; it does not discriminate. 
Something we all desire.

03.09.2025 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com