Sharon Gannon, You're Awesome, but Why Do You Make Your Cats Eat Carrots?

I've been on an exploration for some years to find the right Yoga, one that resonates 100% with me. I'm happy to say I've found it with Ashtanga. Along the way, however, I've benefited from exploring certain yogic branches, like the way of the "Jivamukta," one seeking liberation, with Jivamukti Yoga. Here are some great gifts I've gotten from Jivamukti yoga:
1. I read an Autobiography of a Yogi (a must read for Jivamukti students)and it has turned out to be one an important book for me.
2. I can hold my head stand for fifty breaths and shoulder stand for seventy-five.
3. I learned to do peacock.
4. The Sharon Gannon guided relaxation CD is one of my favorites.
But, something didn't feel all-the-way right. My beef:
1. The focus on non-violence. The insistence that all jivamukti's become vegans. If you have the Jivamukti instructional DVD's, you'll even see footage of Madame Gannon's vegan cats gnawing on carrots and asparagus. Don't we all know our own bodies better than anyone else? I feel that the human race is so vast and varied to have a one-for-all diet regime.
2. I had the chance to visit the Jivamukti Yoga center in Detroit Michigan. I was surprised that all the students had to take a spiral bound prayer book with them to the mat and do some scripture reading as part of the class. While it was nice, this isn't what I go to a yoga class for.
Jivamukti, I thank you.

Husbands Sketching Wives....

This is a sketch Daniel did of me. I'm glad it turned out pretty good. We all saw the sketch Napoleon Dynamite did of Trisha. Thank god he didn't spend, like, three hours shading the upper lip.

Reflections on Massive Creative Undertakings....

So, Daniel and I have been thinking. Our Uncle Steve is starting a commune where he is building a geodesic dome, tending goats, gardening, using solar/wind energy: general tranquility. He's invited the whole family to pitch into his project. Buy some land somewhere, "between Indiana or Ohio" and start living sustainably. This sounds pretty cool. Stumbling upon the geodesic dome jungle gym at Highland Park a couple of days ago enforced the splendor of this style of building. Daniel, who calls dome homes, "Chill Out" has been doing research. Straw bale construction, covered with earthen plaster is the way to go, he says, with a centralized wood-burning stove and, of course, I say, "lazure for the walls?"

Perhaps the Largest Neo-Jacobean Creative Endeavor Yet!

Perusing the RACI sight, Daniel and I found a Queen Anne style Victorian home on the National Register of Historic Places in Logansport. The street: Eel River Road. The town: Logansport. This house is splendid. ROMANESQUE REVIVAL....need I say more? The problem: 1. it needs a lot of work and 2. the interior charm is gone (someone gutted its innards) 3. Its in Logansport.

Color adds Magic to "Magic Ears"

Here are the illustrations as we submitted them to Kim Bright, the author of "The Princess and the Magic Ears." The girl character is inspired from her own daughter's experience with living with a hearing aid. I've learned so much about Daniel through the creation of these images. His talent astonishes me.

The Princess and the Magic Ears

We've been working fervently at finishing 5 illustrations plus a cover for our first children's book illustration endeavor. The book is : "The Princess and the Magic Ears." Here's Daniel at work with the watercolor pencils. It's a really neat process of putting a watery brush on the penciled-in areas and watching that vibrant water-color fluidity take over the page: undeniable charisma. Steiner would approve. Also really exciting side note: Oticon, the manufacturer of childrens' hearing aids might be interested in including one of our illustrated stories with each purchase of an aid. We could help kids ease into their new apparatus, a transition period with less strife, with our illustrations and with Kim's heartfelt story.

Yoga dreams....

After a phone call from my Aunt Sue about a month ago, I was inspired to start going to yoga classes again. I can't express how much getting into a daily practice has helped me. Like I'm being dipped into cosmic consciousness every day, cleansing my DNA, the very base of my self. This is a daily celebration of life! At a Rolf Gates yoga teacher training, he said, "Just try going one week without doing yoga, start up again, and you'll remember why this is right living."
Not only in the outer, but also on the inner, I've begun to change. I've been having dreams where I'm being instructed by the greatest of teachers. One woman teacher had me lead a chant that I unfortunately don't remember. Last night a man told me, "Yoga is more than exercise, it creates portals." He was rosy cheeked and a living example of health. I feel portals starting to form within myself...

At breakfast...

Daniel asked me this morning why his green tea was pink. I hadn't any idea, so I looked through the recycling bin to find the discarded tea wrapper. (we usually buy bulk tea, but we're trying to use up a pile of tea bags that is getting out of hand.) Shuffling through the papers and plastic, I discovered this: Yogi Tea's Slim Life Green Tea featuring ingredients like Garcinia Cambogia, Amla fruit and other metabolism stimulators. The funny thing is: Daniel is a living example of the French Paradox, eating whatever he wants and gaining not a pound (or kilo). Maybe I found his secret...

Last Night at the Stricklers....

Daniel and I gave a presentation last night to a group at the Stricklers'. We showed a slide show of our lazure workshop experience, we spoke about biodynamic farming methods and Daniel described his work and his methods. His work took everyone's breath away. So did his accent. These are his latest pieces...Things are really cooking in Kokomo! The Community Farming Project, scripture reading club, sound therapy club, our own symphony, and many other projects to come. Its little groups of creative people like the Stricklers' have started that can change lives.

Yoga quotes

So, I found my Indianapolis Yoga Teacher's blog. He mentions me in a post from last Sunday...
"I have a student who apparently went online specifically LOOKING for Mysore-style ashtanga, and who lives an hour north of here. That completely blows my mind. You live up in northern Indiana, the sparsest part of the whole state, and you not only know what Mysore-style IS, but you went LOOKING for it? Shucks, I thought only *I* did stuff like that! Anyway, said student has all the pieces of Primary but dropbacks and standups. I have to assist on Supta K and on Garbha Pindasana, but it's all there.
This is fun. I find, of course, that teaching dropbacks also inspires me to once again teach them to myself."

Daniel's Latest...

These are the paintings that the Carmel Arts and Design District Galleries went crazy over. All are oil on canvas.

In other creation news...

Daniel and I built this beauty last week when the snow was deep. All that's left of her is a snowball-sized lump.

Illustration Central!

It was Tuesday night that I was sent a file to my internet mailbox. It was the childrens' story Daniel and I have been asked to illustrate. It's called "The Princess and the Magic Ears." It is set in the Middle Ages/Renaissance time period with wizards and kings and queens and princesses. We read over the story and came up with six illustration ideas to match the text. Here are some blurry first attempts.




Here are some pictures of childrens' book illustrators that I adore and would like to emulate. The artists are Bessie Pease Gutmann and Jessie Wilcox Smith, both of the Brandywine Style of art from the turn of the century.

New Project!

Daniel has done it again! Wes, owner of Art and Soul Gallery in Carmel was very interested in his work. Wes's one concern: He wants to display canvases that are BIG. So, Daniel built a canvas from scratch, even making the stretcher bars. I got to do the fun part: the staple gun!