Thursday, December 27, 2007

BALANCE / HEALING HANDS / SACRED MUSIC



























































(35-minute drawing time, 5:50 to 6:30 a.m., using two "Paused" images from the PBS film "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet." The first image is of a hospital nurse and the second image is of her hands holding the hands of an elderly man in her care while they talk. Click on the pictures for a clearer image. I haven't figured out why the image degrades when I save it. I used the Appleworks6 "Painting" program on an iBookG4 while listening to nothing except what was in front of me.)

(Today, while writing, I am listening to "LIVE: Ravi Shankar at the Monterery International Pop Festival. Two friends and I were there in 1967 and heard this performance.

On Sunday, June 18, 1967, two other 17-year-old young women and I drove from Redwood City, California to Monterey, California for the afternoon concert of Ravi Shankar at what came to be known as the Monterey Pop Festival. We had just graduated from high school a few weeks earlier. Two of us had been to the Magic Mountain Music Festival, earlier in June. As it states in one of the links, Monterey was the first "widely promoted" rock festival in the world, but the first rock festival was the Fantasy Fair & Magic Mountain Music Festival which took place at the summit of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County.

None of us were familiar with the music of Ravi Shankar, but the only tickets left were for his concert on Sunday afternoon. As it turned out, we were extraordinarily fortunate to have heard that astonishing and memorable concert. The beautiful and complex energy of Ravi Shankar and his friends performing the sacred music of India couldn't have been more moving. The music lifted me, carried me and set me down again in amazement. I have listened to this concert again and again, always with renewed awe and gratitude.)

I have a perpetual calendar with daily images of quilt patterns. The names of quilt patterns fascinate me. Today's pattern is called "Balance."

When practicing yoga postures, balance is not a fixed state. Early in my practice of yoga postures, I thought the goal was to be as still as a statue. I felt like a complete failure in those poses which required balance. Then one day, while my yoga teacher was demonstrating a pose that involved balance, I noticed that her foot was not still at all but making constant tiny adjustments which resulted in balance. From then on, although I still found it difficult to balance on one foot, I gave up the idea of being motionless in a balancing pose. In fact, in some of the balance postures I am constantly about to fall dramatically, one way or the other. I let that be okay.

The same goes for a balanced life. Not easy, but I keep practicing.

4 comments:

The Dream said...

Whoa - cool that YOU WERE THERE! Great music for meditation ... must get some. Balance - I continue to work on it. It's a lifetime process. Just when I think something is in line and going well, there is always something else to work on, my sister.

mageez said...

I am fascinated by your calendar. Where did you find it?
Thanks
Maggie

am said...

dream -- Thinking of your words about lifetime processes. There was a song from the early 1970s by "It's A Beautiful Day," the song with the lyrics:

" . . . love takes a lifetime."

maggie -- The perpetual calendar was purchased at a store in Northwest Washington, one which specialized in quilt fabric. I think it may still be available. Hope you can find one, too!

It was published in 1999 by Martingale & Company (That Patchwork Place) in Woodinville, WA. The title page of the calendar reads:

365 Quilt Blocks a Year
Nancy J. Martin

Anonymous said...

I like your take on balance. Reminds me of my pursuit of "stillness in motion."
I used to have Ravi Shankar records, the original meditation music.
I'm liking the contour work on your drawings here, they look plenty clear when enlarged.