Arts Cuts: Make Your Voice Heard

The BC Liberal Government has proposed massive cuts to arts funding over the next few years. If you are an artist, have artistic children, or if the arts in any form have enhanced your life PLEASE contact your MLA and encourage your tribe to do so too.

Be informed, check out the Stop Arts Cuts website: http://www.stopbcartscuts.ca/

Apparently ‘ink’ petitions are more powerful, so get out your pen and write right now! This blog has some great guidance: http://stopbcartscuts.wordpress.com/

I can’t even begin to articulate how opposed to the cutting of 92% of the funding allocated to Arts in BC over the next few years I am. At the Wrecking Ball, an fund raising event put together by the vibrant theater community, the statistics were presented so colorfully and humorously. In the new year the government is going to be making some big budget related choices, NOW IS THE TIME TO CONTACT YOUR MLA. I don’t feel like reiterating the facts, I just want to remind you that your voice counts and now is the time to speak out.

If you Twitt follow these great tweeps:
http://twitter.com/AllianceArts
http://twitter.com/stopbcartscuts

May BC remain a colorful province. May artists everywhere be victorious. :: Creativity Counts ::

 

Heart Mind Education

I had been feeling a little less centered in my heart than usual, a direct effect from facing many challenges in a short period of time. We all go through difficult periods, though navigating our way through them with grace and ease can be slippery. Luckily for me I had the great fortune to be in the presence of the Dalai Lama, once again. Since his inaugural visit to Vancouver in 2004 then again in 2007 my life has gained great inspiration from attending events and talks with H.H. This year I attended Educating the Heart: Creativity and Well-Being and Heart-Mind Education, a part of the Vancouver Peace Summit.

Inspiration

I navigated my way through the morning crowds and the rain Tuesday morning super focused to get to the Orpheum on time and to be receptive to the forum and energy. After being on the verge of having my heart shut down once again it is sufficient to say that all traces of my angst have been dissolved into bliss. Enlightenment is infectious after all.

The morning forum on Creativity and Well-Being started with a half hour presentation by the Blue Man Group. Having gone to one of their inspiring and immensely entertaining performances in NYC I was thrilled to have them present on creativity at this event. Creativity and spirituality are two of my biggest passions that I relentlessly pursue. The Blue Man Group proposed the question worthy of some consideration: What is creativity? Is it a mystery or can some parts of it be understood? The Blue Man Group comically demonstrated how creativity is where we focus our mindset.

Maintaining and connecting to our innocence balances our ever evident hero mentality, they got the entire sold out Orpheum to go back to childhood, and re-connect with the feelings of insecurity, awkwardness, and irrelevance and encouraged us all to focus that awareness on red clown noses handed out to us when we arrived at the venue. With all of those feelings rekindled then channeled on to those clown noses protruding from our faces, we were encouraged to connect and interact with the people around us with their noses on representing that vulnerability. That state can be frequented easily, with or without a clown nose. Don’t suppress it!

As the forum on Creativity and Well-Being progressed I couldn’t help but swell up with warmth and fondness for the Dalai Lama. His presence seems to evoke a spiritual growth spurt every time I see him live. Some key points from the forum for me were in discussing education systems, the emphasis is on reading, writing and arithmetic. The delegates discussed the importance to expand the schools’ focus to adapt 3 other arms: reflection -a skill that enables the brain to keep growing beyond childhood, a skill required to train the mind and to liberate creativity, relationships – a necessary skill to develop in order for there to truly be peace on this planet, and resilience.

…Compassion and creativity are the ultimate in keeping the brain healthy…

Ekhart Tolle was an engaging speaker, as always. He shared a humorous story of a soccer statistic he read in the paper that morning. During a kickoff the player that pauses after the whistle is blown before kicking has a higher likelihood of scoring than the kicker that goes for it right away. This process fortifies the creative process, it redirects our attention to deeper levels of our being, where all power resides. Conceptual elements dissolve and we join forces with the power of stillness. From stillness comes universal power that can be put into form. Stillness was defined as non-conceptual intelligence. Though, relying on tuning into the stillness is not enough, it was noted that it takes 10,000 hours to master something… To get the humorous version, you have to hear Ekhart tell the story, you are not getting it here!

To cultivate creative power you need to ‘do’ something, this enables our imagination to work. Collaboration in schools is commonly considered ‘cheating’. Does this raise an issue of human rights? Has education become de-personalized? In problem formation creative thinking evolves. The school does this for the children, leaving them with an academic focus to solve problems that gives little or no opportunity to develop creativity or strengthen collaborative skills.

So what does teaching to the whole child look like? The Blue Men Group have started a school in NYC, the Blue School, that teaches to the whole child with an emphasis on creativity and compassion. With these conditions in place then the child is empowered to learn and has an innate curiosity that comes from deep within. A world with children that have been raised in this environment would be harmonious and sustainable I am sure.

The Dalai Lama said that the 20th century was a century of bloodshed and violence, millions of people were killed. May the 21st century be the century of peace. Intelligence is a source of conflict as we all fight to defend our views. I am down with focusing my awareness towards my heart rather than my intellect. Are you?

People who are the happiest are the ones who make others happy. Accept children exactly where the are at, do not be controlling and demand that the be successful in the world. To be happy human beings how do we deal with emotions inside such as desperation, fear and anxiety? We all have these emotions and for me I have a mediation practice that keeps that all in check. How do we educate our children to develop these skills? I feel relieved that H.H. addressed 16,000 students after the forum and discussed tolerance. Our children are our future, and they are receiving the empowerment needed to take charge and make this century the century of peace. He talks about how war is outdated. If we all had this message when we were young from a role model such as H.H. how would our planet look now?

By no means am I developing curriculum though the forum gave me renewed energy, motivation, and insights that I can bring home and integrate into my family. My heart is feeling nourished, swollen with inspiration and holds a feeling of gratitude to have had such an inspiring morning.

Vancouver Peace Summit
Nobel Laureates In Dialogue
September 26-29, 2009
http://dalailamacenter.org/

For more information on how schools may be killing creativity, check out Delegate Sir. Ken Robinson on TED HERE.

 

FUSE: Interactive Art For The Whole Family

Today I had to do some errands downtown and serendipitously stumbled upon the first ever Family FUSE Weekend at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I had the young apprentices with me so naturally they were excited about all of the great activities that were going around the VAGs perimeters, inside and out.

making seed balls

We hula hooped, stilt walked, made an animation, and even made seed balls. The Environmental Youth Alliance creates events that connect youth to wholesome activities ranging from gardening plots, walks to educate on edible herbs growing in our environment ect. Seedballs are a great way to re-plant areas that don’t have great soil or irrigation conditions, it involves mixing local seeds with clay and soil, the clay holds the water, helping the seeds to germinate in less than ideal conditions. These seeds can be planted anywhere including in unsuspecting abandoned lots and unnoticed free spaces of land in our environments. I think guerrilla gardening is pretty cool.

parkour krew

Solen was thrilled and amazed by the Parkour demo. It is impressive… think of the stunts from The Matrix, guys running up walls and doing back flips off, guys diving through the air and doing acrobatics over stair wells in sequence ninja style. It is amazing what we humans are capable of training our bodies to do.

painting bliss

While Sarina and Solen did some paintings that will be displayed at the VAG for the next week I got to dance to a DJ while admiring all of the chalk art and other engaging activities. Later on, while exploring the Annex inside we found the amazing goo sculpture that mesmerized Sarina & Solen at Granville Island. Sarina was transfixed upon the florescent goo coming out of all of the pipes ever so beautifully and I literally had to drag her away. Vancouver based sculptor added the ink from 50 highlighter pens to 250 gallons of non-toxic polymer to create a beautiful snot-inspired visceral piece to appease his wacky sense of humor while managing to create a dynamic piece that captivated all children who crossed its path.

glow in the dark goo

The VAG has a new Director who was at the TATE before coming to Vancouver. The Family Fuse Weekends will be happening three weekends of the year. Don’t miss it! Check out the new programing!

marbles

After spending 5 hours at the beach yesterday I had no problem playing downtown on such a gorgeous day. I am drinking up all of the creativity boosting goodness that we stumbled upon.

 

Maintaining a Clear Mind Through Meditation

It has been a full week, and I am currently enjoying watching the moon full up with light. It is just days away from reaching its monthly peak of lunar rays that permeate every living substance on this Earth…

I have been enjoying working with SierraSil, it has been an exciting week for the small but quickly expanding natural mineral supplement company based out of Vancouver, BC. They have helped thousands stay off of nasty anti-inflammatory drugs and have been so much fun to work with. Worth mentioning this week was the Midforms Festival, presented by the New Forms Media Society. Also, a Kirtan with Durga Das at Semperviva, fun bike rides in the winter sun, teaching my son to skateboard and a good girlfriend in town from Topanga, CA adding to a juicy and spicy week.

With all of the busyness, the balance of work and play, family and friends, personal practice and creative pursuits, how does one contain all of this and stay clear? Meditation! In keeping with last week’s theme, here is an article I wrote for My Yoga Online… Drink some tea and try it out. If you are an avid meditator (!) then a reminder of the foundations never hurts…

As we develop a greater self-awareness with our unfolding yoga practice, cultivating mindfulness through meditation techniques is a natural progression on our path. The benefits of meditation have been proven by modern science to significantly reduce stress and tension, greatly improving our health, a necessary component to a balanced lifestyle in today’s fast paced world. The Seven Points of Meditation Posture is a key foundation to a successful meditation practice.

Seven Points of Meditation Posture

The seven points of meditation posture have been used for thousands of years by great Masters and Yogis and have proven to be highly effective for creating successful meditation practices. These meditation cues are a necessary foundation to become successful in taming your mind through this ancient practice. Whenever preparing to meditate, check into your body and encourage that all 7 points are in position.

For a person not used to meditating, the sitting posture may be an uncomfortable position to achieve. The most difficult part can be sitting in a cross-legged position called Full Lotus Pose (Padmasana). If you cannot do the Full Lotus Position, then explore Half Lotus Pose (Ardha Padmasana). If you still cannot be relaxed or comfortable in Half Lotus, then just sit in a position that is comfortable and stable. Generally, people can sit in a loosely, cross-legged posture with the feet beneath the legs, but many people do not naturally have flexible joints or may have some injuries or damage. So please do not be shy if you need to use a chair or sit on props. Folded up blankets work nicely as well to elevate the hips and release discomfort or tension out of the legs, hips, and back.

The seven points of meditation posture are:

1. The sitting position, preferably the Lotus position.

2. The position of your back should be straight but not tense or tight.

3. The position of your shoulders should be back a little. Raise your shoulders up to your ears and then roll them back so that your shoulder blades move downwards. This motion helps to guide the upper body into position.

4. The position of our hands-there are three methods;
a) For general relaxation, your hands are in your lap, not too low, with the right hand in the left hand, palms up and the thumbs touching.
b) For determination, your hands are flat, palms down, resting one hand on each knee.
c) For stimulation, which activates and frees the energy systems of the body (especially the Body, Speech and Mind), each hand has the thumb touching the base of the ring finger, and the fingers closed firmly, not too tight, round the thumb, and the hand resting palm down on each knee.

5. The position of your neck is held tall while lightly tilting the skull down a few millimeters (by gently bringing in your chin). Ensure the balance of the skull is maintained over the neck.

6. The position of your eyes: there are three methods;
a) The eyes look down following the tip of your nose.
b) The eyes are gently closed.
c) The eyes look straight ahead, but very slightly lower than level or lower than the horizon.

7. The position of your mouth and tongue; your mouth can either be closed or just slightly open so air can escape (as if you were saying softly the letter AH). The tongue is relaxed in a natural position, or the tip of the tongue can lightly touch the roof of the mouth just behind the area where the gums meet the upper front teeth (this called Jalandhara Bandha).

Now that you have an idea of a comfortable meditation position, you simply breathe out, breathe in, relax, and watch the breath without interfering. The traffic of your thoughts in your mind is always there. Just let the thoughts move, do not interfere or try to change anything, do not try to diminish anything, or try to increase anything. As you rest and watch the breath, the thoughts will dissolve on their own. They will diminish and dissolve to the earth, dissolve to space, and dissolve to the air. The mind will relax on it’s own and become more peaceful and content.

For those who wish to pursue meditation, it is crucial to understand this Three-Point Instruction:

1. Meditation is not meditation unless you make it a habit. When meditation practice becomes habitual, this becomes meditation.

2. You have to spin the twisted yarn or string of the mind not too tight and not too loose. Too tight, it will be too hard and it will break. And too loose, it will be too soft and it also will break. When you find this balance of mental tension, this becomes meditation.

3. If you do not stir water, it settles and remains clear. If you do not disturb the mind, it will settle and become peaceful and free. When you achieve this state, this is mediation.

A regular meditation practice will definitely allow your mind to organize and stabilize itself, and this will allow us to gain peace, happiness, clarity, and tranquility. Mastering the seven points of meditation posture as well as understanding the Three-point instructions on meditation are key elements in cultivating a solid foundation for your meditation practice. Enjoy your peace of mind. This planet needs you to.

 

thoughts of the day

Today was a beautiful day, like the one before, and the one before that. There is snow falling, which seems shocking and out of place, although it is winter in Canada and it was forecasted. The cold enveloping my outer world makes me dress warm and cozy and settle down with a cup of kava root tea and while I listen to my favorite songs on shuffle as I work on my computer.

Today I was driving to a video shoot I produced/directed with my friend Bryan who shot it, and as we were catching up in my car I was talking about my weekend that just passed. My children spent the weekend with their grandparents and I was OFF MY LEASH for two full days! I have a very busy schedule and when I am not working or studying I am with my children, picking them up from school on most days and hanging out with them until they go to bed, then I go back to work.

So, naturally on my two days off I locked my doors and stayed home and spent most of Saturday meditating/doing yoga/meditating/chanting, and whatever it is that people like me do. Saturday night I spent the eve with a dear friend Sundara who did some stellar body work on me. Sunday I did more yoga, went to my meditation centre, and picked up my children. I didn’t think twice about laying low and retreating deep within, it felt natural and long over due.

It was when I was talking about my weekend with Bryan and he commented that not many people take the time to do nothing and listen to what is deep inside, making the space to connect and release. I was reminded of all the people on this planet, living our fast paced lives, we constantly are plugging in, plugging in, going from one thing to the next, bombarded by media, seeking to be entertained, never feeling satiated. Desiring more, consuming more, creating more, more, more…

Take the time to stop and do nothing. Unplug. Take a break from thinking, listen to yourself and tell me how you feel. Travel deep within. Discover emptiness.

Happy Tibetan New Year [losar tashi delek]
Year of the Earth Ox

MAY PEACEFUL HEARTS,
PEACEFUL FEELINGS,
AND PEACEFUL INTELLIGENCE
GUIDE THIS WORLD
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT.

H H the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

 

Enlightened Cinema at the Chai Gallery

This evening I got back from the first initiative of bringing together an existing conscious and creative community to put their focus towards appreciating and creating movies with uplifting and conscious content. Hosted by award winning actor and producer Winston Rekert at the Chai Gallery in Vancouver, there will be monthly screenings of short films produced by the community, as well as other local and international films. For years the Chai Gallery has been a gem in Vancouver, serving organic ayurvedic eastern food, being a venue suitable for the whole family to enjoy music, and money going to NGO’s to benefit children who’s lives are affected by war. On any given night it is packed with a sweet crowd and a little later the dancefloor is alive with groovers young and old.

The first ever Enlightened Cinema at Chai evening started with a partial screening of Baraka, then Winston screened several other short films courtesy of the Spiritual Cinema Circle, as well as a short film by a local film student. After the viewings the collaborations began and people started sharing their ideas and experiences. It was so wonderful for me to see the beautiful space filled with a large screen, projector, and a room filled with people enjoying films! The Chai Gallery’s co-owner Mustafa Reza has a degree in film and with so many of the colorful people that are involved with the space having an interest or passion in video in one way or another, and with Winston Rekert’s experience and willingness to cultivate a progressive video community, there is now a possibility for a vibrant community to shine even brighter.

To become involved with community filmmaking efforts, contact: chaicinema@gmail.com

So if you know any eager film-makers, actors, composers or friends who have a story to tell, please put the word out or come out and enjoy some of the best Chai Vancouver has to offer, good food, great people, and inspiring films of course.

Chai Gallery Restaurant, 3243 West Broadway. 1st Tuesday of the Month starting January 2009 7pm-10pm

I can’t wait to write about any possible projects that have started from this evening after next month’s Enlightened Cinema at Chai.