Thoughts

The news of the weather and water temperatures
reaching peaks that are beyond where they have ever
been is a warning call which we feel inside us.
These calls have been going off for some time.
The heat from fighting around the world is reflected
in the raising of temperatures.
There are infinite correlations as to why the heat is rising.
The political climate adds stress which culminates
in heat and we go on and on. 
What can we do as individuals to decrease the heat?
Stabilize our inner being.
This allows us to learn to cultivate a calmness that doesn’t add to stress levels.
I have found that Vedic Meditation gives us this capability.
Growing up as a 4th generation recycler,
I watched artists from all fields,
coming and rummaging amidst the discards of everyday life.
Looking for pieces that would inspire their next sculptures. 
This early childhood experience is embedded in my
sense of Being. It’s that inner sense of innocence
that triggers the creativity.
It’s that sense that sustains my life’s mission.
When I learned to meditate I was able to sense what I needed to do.
That  enabled me to build a new brand of textiles,
LUUM for the A + D community with the support of David Feldberg at Teknion, the focus was sustainability.
This has been a steady mission for the past 24 Collections. 
Now with art commissions, I recognize that the need of the time is to follow that passion and continue on.  
The weaving process takes time in the making.
Winding the warp, Dressing the loom, Threading the warp.
Collecting the hangers, cutting the hangers, winding the bobbins…
all a sequence that is both rewarding and calming.
When we sit twice a day we cultivate our baseline happiness.

It comes from inside us. Not outside us.  
We cool down.
Shown and grateful for this next wire commission.
Two strands of 5 to be woven. 

Concentrating on innocent and natural stabilizing.
And recognizing what’s needed.

10.13.2024 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

The Seeds we sow. 

Love this time of year in the northern hemisphere
when the tops of grasses are sprouting their seeds for
next spring to take root. They are fluffy and fanciful.   
Nature’s natural seasonal flow takes us to our closets as well.
Boxing or moving our summer clothes to make 
room for our autumn and winter clothes. 

This weaving of cotton and autumn grasses holds this changing
transitional time of year woven with beauty and content.
It holds both richness and rustic textures.
It’s in these transitional times
that we feel our senses more in our individual practices.
Dawn comes later and dusk comes earlier.
Both great times to do our meditation practice.
These four transitional morning times.
As colors shift.

Vedic Meditation offers us the use of a “Bija” (seed)
mantra which is used in our twice a day practice.  
Each day, twice a day we sit with our eyes shut and draw
the mantra into our awareness. That’s all we need to do.
The effortless attention to the “mantra” (mind vehicle)
 is essentially watering the seed.  
The technique takes over, transcending.
Our thoughts sprout up which have no meaning in our
practice and we let them go and come back to watering the seed.
This seed turns into a stabilizing factor in our lives.
Just as the warp and weft stabilize the grasses.

We are essentially rooting ourselves and establishing
ourselves in our true sense of Being.
We get a sense of who we are minus all the stress
and anxiety, anger and sadness. That is not to say that
we don’t get stressed or angry at times.  
Actually meditators feel their senses much stronger
then non meditators. It means we simply
don’t stay stressed. Which is the real cause of dis ease. 

As we clean our closets, weave our art pieces, and
prune our gardens we recognize the importance
of all natural materials.
What we wear, that we are surrounded by and
what we design or create with.
These are the materials that have true stabilizing energy.
Deep in our roots we find meaning…

Sowing the seeds of stability in everything we do.

10.06.2024 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

This week I was delighted to hear the Vedic Worldview on
the differences between Envy and Jealousy
from my ultimate Guru,Thom Knoles.
With a broader discussion with my teachers
Melanie and Neil Kirkbride last night
that brings me to this post today.  
(I would be remiss if I didn’t share this weaving
commissioned awhile back by Ken Cohen…
on his birthday week! HB Ken and Thanks.) 

We have all felt the heightened state of watching
someone having an experience that inspires us.  
An enviable position that was self created.
I felt it this week at “Lunch at a Landmark” as I watched
with pure joy Shigeru Ban being honored and speak of his work. 

I pondered as I started my trek homeward
how wonderful his mission in helping aid so many people in crisis
by creating housing for them around the world In times of disaster.
It felt wonderful to be in his presence in this enviable state.
Not to mention, seeing his numerous masterpieces.
I believe that Nature organizes for those that help others.
He is a case in point. 

We can’t speak about envy without discussing
the anti evolutionary, consuming state of low
self worth called Jealousy.
Jealousy arises when one wants to have unity
with someone or thing and cause the other not to have it.
To have something that others have.
If you have waves of this….stop before it takes over.
As it is self fulfilling and causes others not to be around you.
Jealousy is considered a comfort tactic not a strategy for growth.
Melanie and Neil stated that as
we get older our most important mission is 
to continue on a spiritual path of learning,
growing and helping others.
And Thom stated that these moments are all opportunities
to share our practice.  
In becoming more and more conscious of our deeper
states of awareness.  

Step aside states of Jealousy.
Weave / Build / Create– Be sustainable! Be Green.

Reach out if you care to discuss this
and how Vedic Meditation aids
in all that we do to evolve and grow.  

9.29.2024 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

A year and a half ago during a Luum design charrette, we were
pondering what the need of the time would be for September 2024.  
I discussed with the team that these are the months leading up
to election day and the collective will be kinetic.

You could see it back then. Election time, democracy divided,
war in Russia. Strong divisions.  The best way I thought to handle
this kinetic energy is to match it with energetic patterns,
bright use of color and optimism.
AI was being discussed in a big way,
so that had to be adopted to the collection by us of
pixelation and collage. 

Where attention goes energy flows was our theme for 2024.

Our discussions revolve around the collective
consciousness of the universe. 
We as individuals are filled with energy, mostly in constant movement.
Our minds are the same.  Flickering from one thought
to the next, cascading on the currents of life.
Tapping into what to do, why is this happening?
what to eat? why would they vote that way? who is that person?
do I have enough time? why do I feel this way?
what to say at this meeting?  On and on is our questioning.  
Our questions are not who we are.

Meditation allows us to see that these thoughts
as they bubble up and to “let them go”.
The thought is meaningless in our Mantra based practice.
What happens after that, is that we start 
recognizing in our active state outside of meditation,
what we truly want to do for every moment.  
Each meditation cleans the slate of the unnecessary
60,000-80,000 thoughts we have everyday.
And opens up the door to our true Dharma.  

We recognize we aren’t a single individual wave,
in the ocean, we are the ocean.  
We are not these individual thoughts we are a being.  
Searching and then therefore recognizing
what is the best use of our time.  
In service to the collective.

Welcome, Kinetic Energy Collection.
It’s upbeat, happy, sustainable, energetic,
supple, performance driven and colorful.
Definitely the need of the time.  
Special Collage discussion.

9.22.2024 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com

In recent weeks, Its becoming quite evident that I was expected
to create something with my free time.  
This is called social indoctrination.
In early age we are given ideas and attitudes about what we
should be doing and the mold is set.  

These first two weeks of September I am noticing
art projects that I made as a child. 
This string art piece was from the late sixties.
 My father would go to Chicago each Tuesday to see his therapist.
 It was a two hour train ride from the town I grew up.
As he would stop at a Chicago Deli and
bring home all kinds of delightful foods, then go to Old town
to his favorite bookstore for books on Asian philosophy,
and then the art store to find the latest kits for me 🙂
I loved it. Little did I know that that was the start
of the habit that formed me.  

Pantanjali wrote about the Sutras, a word in Sanskrit
that means sutures or stitches.  
From string to twine to cord to rope it’s the habits,
the addictions that binds us. 
Like the string art, each strand, each layer
each time we do a repetitive behavior
it binds us to this behavior.  
Some habits are better than others. There are eating,
drinking, working, sexting, now phone addictions.  
 Addiction switching is inevitable unless we are aware of it.
This is where we resolve a problematic behavior
and re-route the same behavior towards
other areas of our lives. Same pattern, different fixation.
 This does not address the feelings driving the
addictive behavior.  
This requires a lot of awareness, self-honesty
and accountability. 
If we want to create habits pick good ones.
 Meditation twice a day helps us to realize
the strings that bind us. 
Pantajali says with each practice we clip a strand
until we are free from the binding effects of addiction. 

Take a tip from my pops. Read a book, Do art.
See a therapist if you are struggling,
Meditate and join our group. 
Thanks Meg Reynolds for your insights

9. 15. 2024 Deck Talk available upon request info@fifthfloormeditation.com