Body parts: Ribs and Tail by Kiki Smith

Katie Grinnan

Katie Grinnan’s Mirage (2011) Made of plastic, enamel, and sand, the sculpture was formed from the casts of the artist’s body in different positions of her yoga routine.

Sunday Tune

Sunday Tune

Attachment is blinding: It lends an imaginary halo of attractiveness to the object of desire.

-- Sri Yukteswar

Marquees by Jenny Holzer, 1993
via lioneater

Shadows

All image by Anna Paola Guerra

via somethingchanged

A bear escaped from the zoo, Paris, 1910 by Roger Viollet Found here.

Found here

(source iswas+willbe)

hahaha! found here

Kryoga Ads

Clever!! found here

I AM AWARE
I EXIST
I UNDERSTAND
I GIVE

(found here)

Rib Ring

Rib Ring by Odette.

Judith Hanson Lasater

Just listened to this interview with Eva Norlyk Smith of YogaUOnline.com and Judith Hanson Lasater (find via yogadork) and Judith had some very interesting points. I recommend having a look/listen. She talks about why yoga is not so much about poses as it’s about exploration and experience, and some of the challenges yoga teachers face.
One of my favourite bits...

"...People don’t have to touch their palms on the floor, they don’t have to get their knees down to the floor in Baddha Konasana.
As yoga practitioners, that’s not what we need to aim for, and as teachers, it’s not our job to make them do these things! Our job to create a space in which they can explore being present, a space that allows them to evoke the best parts of themselves. And as teachers, that is reflected and expressed through our words and our touch and our demeanor, and the spirit and context that we create within the class.
When I, as a teacher, can create an environment in which people are choosing, out of their own power and volition, to move in the direction of wholeness and health, then I’ve succeeded. When we help students choose to move in the direction of health, that is a victory.
We’re all here to make mistakes—to screw things up and to figure it out. We make mistakes on all kinds of levels, and then we try to clean up the mess, try to learn from it. We’re here to explore the things we can’t do, as well as the things we can—with love and attention. And that’s practice, that’s yoga."

  --Judith Hanson Lasater

Myth + Symbol

Myth + Symbol opening. photos by Chau

Dancers doing stretch exercises. Brussels, 1929 (via circulare)

Sūtras

SUTRAS 500-100 B.C 
Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew.

Sutras sew meaning together.
It outlines classical understanding of the mind.

196 sutras = threads of yogic
wisdom

From here
Image source

Pose of the week

Uthitta Trikonasana (Extended Triangle pose)

If you can walk, you can do the standing poses and they really are important. Standings are a great place to start when you are new to yoga, brilliant for building and improving strength, great for warming up the big muscle groups and working through some of the fundamental principles of alignment that apply to many other poses....i could go on...my favourite at the moment is Trikonasana and right now i practice it most days.

As with so many poses there is a play of opposites in Trikonasana—establishing a solid foundation in order to fly, standing firmly on your feet in order to grow away from the earth, and finding muscle support and strength in order to expand and become lighter (and less serious.) - and it is really worth exploring!

Practice  For full pose instruction see here.

Sequencing Begin with Tadasana and then Vrkasana, if you are the mood for a balance. Trikonasana extends the spine and opens the hips in preparation for backbends; lengthens the hamstrings and opens the hips in preparation for deeper forward bends; teaches the connection between legs, hips, and spine in preparation for inversions; and lengthens the spine and strengthens the back in preparation for deeper twists. You can think of this pose as a teacher of basic movement principles that apply to many other poses.

Benefits Stretches and strengthens the thighs, knees, and ankles, stretches the hips, groins, hamstrings, and calves; shoulders, chest, and spine, Strengthens abdominal muscles, can help relieves backache, especially through second trimester of pregnancy, Therapeutic for flat feet, osteoporosis and sciatica.

Cautions Heart Condition: Practice against a wall. Keep the top arm on the hip
High blood pressure: Turn the head to gaze downward towards the front foot in the final pose. Neck problems: Don't turn your head to look upward; continue looking straight ahead and keep both sides of the neck evenly long.

(Image source)  

Dorian Leigh

Dorian Leigh Knew!
Photographed by Irving Penn in 1946.
Found via lazingonasundayevening

found here

Recipe

Rachel Khoo's Terrine Forestière (and my lunch today...yum!)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
450g mixed wild mushrooms
2 knobs of butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste
4 eggs
250g crème fraîche
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
A pinch of nutmeg
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and pepper  

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line two 250g mini loaf tins* with baking paper.

Clean the mushrooms carefully with paper towels or a brush, then roughly chop any that are large to make them all about the same size. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the shallots and garlic. Once the shallots begin to brown, add the mushrooms and fry for a good 10 minutes until they have released all their juices (if the pan is too small for them all in one go, fry in batches).

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl with the crème fraîche and mustard. Add the nutmeg and parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Remove the cooked mushroom mixture from the pan with a slotted spoon (to drain off any liquid) and divide between the prepared tins. Pour the crème fraîche mix over the mushrooms and bake for about 15 minutes or until set. Leave to cool slightly before cutting. Best served at room temperature.

 *Or make 1 large terrine in a 500g loaf tin and bake for about 30 minutes or until set.

Jason de Caires Taylor

Underwater sculptures by Jason de Caires Taylor via ruineshumaines
Video here.

Lisa Kellner

Installations by Lisa Kellner via ineedaguide

Love the jewellery from iswasandwillbe and the descriptions that come with...

"...Inspired by the organic progression of life, the tumble series features long calm circles of beads accented by rough and tumble centerpieces of raw brass cubes...when life gives you rocks, tumble them into something beautiful!"

Lucas Maassen

Two projects i like...

Valerie, My Crystal Sister
Artist Lucas Maassen never had a sister. His parents separated before making another baby, so he did what any scientifically-inclined artist would do: he crystalized bits of his parents’ DNA. He then made larger copies of the crystals and had his parents assemble a sculpture from those crystals as part of an exhibition titled Confrontations.

Valerie, My Crystal Sister from Lucas Maassen & Sons on Vimeo.

and...
Lucas Maassen & Sons
"Lucas Maassen has employed his 3 sons, Thijme (9), Julian (7) and Maris (7). His Sons are responsible for the paint job of the furniture which is build in the factory. They get paid 1 Euro for every piece of furniture they paint. As agreed by the contract they signed.
Due to Dutch child labour laws it is only possible for Thijme, Julian and Maris to work for 3 hours a week. As a result of this the production speed has became a crucial factor in the process. Time limitations are set, they contribute to the typical LM&S aesthetics."

via witanddelight

Sunday Tune

Sunday Tunes...

I couldn't decide which today!