Really Advanced Meditation

Beginning Meditation-Advanced Meditation

Continuing with the theme of 'beginning'....

Somewhere Along The Way

We started the prompts again.  This week is 'beginning'.  
I made up this  storytelling game...

I can tell a story of my life or parts of my life.  I can embellish, leave parts out,  hate it, love it, repeat parts, be disappointed, angry, bored, joyful, curious.  Kind of amazing I can fill in the story of my day, my life  with any thoughts, feelings, words I want. 

And I can start again.  Tell it differently.

The Blank Page(with text)

It's been a month! since I posted anything. At least a month since I focused on my own art.  Been busy with learning editing at CTSB.  I made this story in powerpoint a while ago, but now that I understand more technology I have added audio and posted to youtube.  I love knowing which 'buttons to push' so I can share some of these powerpoint presentations.

It's Not What It Is

About a week ago a woman emailed me:
 Hi, Deb.

I was waiting in a doctor's office and saw a print of yours.  Each box started with the phrase, "It's not what it is" followed by an alternative perspective:  "It's how you use it"  "it's how you respond to it", etc.

Is it possible to still get that print?  I can't begin to tell you how it speaks to me!  

There was also another one:  A bubble with a big "X" for the present and lots of other bubbles, such as Forgotten Past, Long Past, Precent Past, Near Future, Anticipated Future, etc.  OMG!  Another one from inside my mind.  Is that one available, too?

Please let me know if I can get these.

Thank you!

Heidi

I was very moved by her letter, especially since I have been taking steps to promote my art to more doctors, therapists and coaches!  I found the drawing.  I have others that are similar but here is the original.

Lifting Spirits (with music)

I redid this piece for TV because I thought it needed some music.  I just took music from what was available in imovie...and added a shadow to the feet.

Notice What Lifts Your Spirits

It's been over a month since I have posted.  I have been busy organizing and EDITING! a local tv show...In Words Out Words(IWOW) The TV Show.  Learning all kinds of new technology, and loving it.  This began as a powerpoint which I screen recorded through quicktime, then imported into imovie, then translated back into a quicktime movie and then to youtube.  This doesnt have sound. but I have learned how to do that too! so exciting!!!!!

Just This

I'm cleaning up some of my old powerpoint pieces.  Not sure this is ready, but here is today's version.

Wicker Chair

I love making stuff in powerpoint.  Problem has always been I can't translate it for the web. BUT yesterday I used my new iphone and videotaped the powerpoint.  The result isn't exactly 'clean' but I'm pleased I can 'animate' in ppt and at least you get the idea!!!!

Here is the flat version.

         Wicker Chair Story              Wicker Chair Experience

©Deb Koffman

Famous Meditators

I had a funny idea for the TV show.  'IT'S TIME FOR FAMOUS MEDITATORS' as a segment.  Maybe the famous meditator has been all over the world meditating in different places, like grocery stores and kmart parking lots. Or maybe he's practiced meditating with great(famous) teachers like jack kornfield and tara brach and pema chodron. or maybe he's been awarded meditation medals for sitting still the longest.  or for being the kindest, or breathing in and out and letting go of each thought as it appears.  Maybe he eats when eating, walks when walking, speaks mindfully, pets the cat when petting the cat, (vs. eating while petting the cat, or brushing teeth while driving or talking on the cell phone, landline and to a person in room) maybe he meditates on TV!!! maybe he jsut has a good marketing campaign or wears great outfits when he meditates.  any thoughts for this segment? maybe he has his own brand of meditation products.   Hmmmmm....have you all seen this yet?

Sit cushion and 'Sit now and forever hold your peace' ©Deb Koffman

Mindfulness Made Easy

I am getting back in the swing of my mindfulness TV show...today I posted a couple things on mindfulnessmadeeasy.blogspot.  Cleaning the drawers and closet must have helped because look how organized I am getting!  I actually have 4 pages of 'headings'!  things like What is Mindfulness?  and 'it's time to Notice This' and 'letters from People who want to know stuff about mindfulness' and 'its time for sitting meditation' and 'its time for walking meditation'.........

I COULD get MILDLY overwhelmed, but I thought that posting one thing at a time on the mindfulnessmadeeasy blog would be a simple way to start rolling.  Here is the link http://mindfulnessmadeeasy.blogspot.com

Making Space In Drawers

After I organized the closet, I felt so good and S P A C I O U S, I kept going and organized the dresser drawers.

Making Space In The Closet

I was thinking about needing more psychic space, and how to create that.  When my mind is filled with shoulds, maybes, have to's, don't knows, I tend to feel overwhelmed and cranky.  Clearing space and making order is a way to calm my anxiety.   So I organized the closet in my studio.  I took my time, didn't have anything else to do, enjoyed myself.  I threw stuff away that I didn't use or want,  I folded fabric, wrapped soul support cards in rubber bands, dusted the shelves, vacuumed the floor, rearranged where things went on shelves.

Looking At Fear

I'm working with fear, again.  I made some aspects of this drawing a long time ago.  And some I added today(observing fear, disguising, listening, loving).  Seems important for me to be aware of how I view fear.

Breathing Meditation(blue clouds)

Just trying another graphic version.

Breathing Meditation

I have been practicing just focusing on my breath during sitting meditation practice.  This is a version of what happens on the cushion.  Having a technique, a 'rule' to follow, helps ground me and bring me present.

Anything Is Possible

I've been confused on where I am putting my energy, my attention.  I've felt overwhelmed and physically exhausted these last few weeks.  I have hired people to sit in my gallery and promote Deb Koffman's Artspace on facebook.  I realize my intention for doing those things isn't clear.  It was an attempt to move my energy, try something that might 'work'.  Work how????  I am excited about the mindfulness made easy TV show, but haven't given that much attention since I officially opened gallery in May.  (and I have been fixing my house, replacing rotting stairs, repainting outside, new gutters, planting flowers and giving attention to my parents) Yesterday I posted on my Deb Koffman Art blog.
because it's a clearer focus...commentary and images of art I have made.  I felt more grounded for a while.  I wrote something real, something meaningful.  I thought I would either post here and there or direct your attention to that blog for a while. See what happens.

This piece reminds me when I am clear(empty of thoughts and fantasies, shoulds and have to's) anything is possible.  This is Dina Noto pointing that out.

Walking The Line(title)

I'm looking for a title for this piece. Walking a fine line, walking the line, walking many lines, walking over the line, you're walking a fine line mister, Walking down the line...any thoughts? walking the line means to follow the rules, or means to stay faithful to something, stay on the 'straight and narrow' or standing on the fence, not one side or the other.

Walking Lines-Cardboards In Gallery

Just so you can see the lifesize images.  Ruby, from Pulse, came and saw these today.  She's a dancer and loved them.  I was so happy she could feel them!!!!

Walking Lines (Illustrations)

I am having so much fun refining and adding lines to my walking series.  These are drawn with pen. Shadow added in photoshop.  

Walking (cardboard-1)

I'm working on a large cardboard installation of feet walking in different places.  I photographed the large pieces and photoshopped them so I could see them all together.

Adding To The Leaf

This weeks prompt:adding or subtracting.

  

How channeling works.

I haven't posted this week because my attention has been on other things than the blog.  Today I felt I could give my full attention to the new prompt; channel.  This made me laugh.

Morning Repetition Morning Repetition

Rearranging the events of the morning made different patterns, and made me feel differently. There is a comfort, and ease(visually) in the same routine.

Morning Repetition

I realized after making this grid how a pattern is made.  Quite beautiful that our lives create these visual(and other sense)patterns.  Hmmmm....I want to explore this further.  Changing one thing, or the timing of one thing, changes the whole pattern.  Click on image to enlarge it.

Buttons For Joel

My friend Joel is making art buttons and has asked me(and apparently many others)to make art that he will form into buttons.  These are what I made for him today.  They are 2.25 in diameter.

Box Of Views

I love repeating images.  There is something comforting in drawing the same thing over and over.  The image of the box repeats, but what I notice about it changes.  Makes me think of ways I repeatedly respond to a word, or a person, or idea.  There really are so many ways to look at and define things.

2 Sides To The Story

This weeks prompt: repetition.  I've been working on a piece about responding in different ways to the same situation.  This is a small part of it.

Under Water Distortion

Experimenting what distortion might feel like under water.  Not sure this is a 'successful' animation but I am enjoying fooling around with trying to make the movement feel 'accurate'.
Looking at it now I feel a little seasick, which wasn't my intention...but maybe that's what happens when something isn't clear, it makes us a little sick.

Distorted Vegetables

If I define something as 'distorted' that implies there is a 'not distorted', a 'normal'.  But if I define that same thing as 'interesting', my mind tends to open to what's useful, beneficial, fun, 'good', about it.  Distorted can make me NOT LIKE IT  or worse HATE IT, disregard, disrespect, avoid, reject it.  'Interesting' makes me CURIOUS about it, more open to understanding it on a deeper level.  A kindness emerges from my willingness to accept the 'not normal', the different, the unfamiliar.

Distorted

Interesting

Distorted Thinking(At The Table)

We each see the world in our own way. 

Over The Edge

When I think of myself as a 'crazy person going over the edge' I can't see what else may be happening here.  Drawing a picture(however symbolic) helps me to redefine what I see.  And expands my 'distorted' thinking.  

Distorting Language

The prompt this week is 'distortion'.  Language can be easily 'distorted'.  And wreck my life! Or encourage my life!  If I say 'I am a failure', that makes me feel not so great.  And is a distorted(partial) view of me and 'reality'.
If I say 'I failed at cooking this chicken' or ' I failed at making this work of art',
my mind is more open, relaxed, I can expand on that.
'Oh I experimented, I took a risk, I made an effort, I had courage, I learned something about myself and chicken, I have a story to tell'.

On My Way Today

These are some of the parts of my 'whole' journey...

Some Of The Parts-Poem

I loved that Margaret wrote a poem about her heart parts.  I wrote a poem for myself years ago about all my feelings.  I'm re-posting the cardboard piece that goes with it.  The interesting thing about the poem was that I wrote it about my feelings and then I saw that it applies to all beings, each human, each animal, insect, plant, rock.  Each one is a resource, a jewel, worth knowing, understanding.  All beings together create some kind of unified whole.

These are the parts of me.
Some are easy to look at, some are hard to see.

Some I hate, some I accept wholeheartedly.

Some are blocked, some I play with freely.

Not good or bad, just unique patterns of energy.

Each one a resource, expanding my creativity.

Each one a jewel, worth knowing intimately.

As I integrate every single one, I create a whole unified me.

Alone a gem, together a treasury.

These are the parts of me.

Some Of The Moments

Some of the moments that make up the whole of my life...

Red Tulip

A poem for the tulip I observe...I notice your color, your scent, your stillness, your movement.  I notice your curves, your lines, your space, the thoughts on my mind.  I notice your shadows, your light, what's open, what's tight.  I notice your beauty, my breath, your life, your death.  I notice the whole of you and each little part, I notice our connection and how you touch my heart.

Parts Of The Morning

Sitting outside on this glorious day, listening to the birds, having breakfast, loving the pansies,  freshly mowed lawn and colors of my world.  And inspired by Andrea's grid of tulips from Saturday's drawing class.

Some Of The Parts

This weeks prompt: whole/part.  I love playing with/exploring this idea of the(emotional) parts of myself.  I have learned that we all share the same parts, expressing them, and using them, differently in the course of our lives.  My 'job' as a human being and as an artist is to (ideally) integrate all parts of myself so that each becomes a resource, not a problem.  I mean that for shame, for anger, for fear, laziness, all of them.  They each have an energy, a vital lifeforce that I can 'channel' in ways that serve me and those around me. Honoring each part of me, accepting each part of me is a practice, a challenge, a worthwhile way to spend my life.

This piece, called 'Some Of The Parts' I made many years ago.  Visually I love seeing them all together.  Then I got a kick out of adding string and photographing them on people.

Under My Feet

Interesting that these drawings repeat under a different prompt...textures.  Under my feet, a cloud feels different than eggshells or concrete or ice or rock or sand or water or grass or a net.

Orange Toenails

This has nothing to do with texture or text.  I haven't drawn my feet in a while.  Today I painted my toes orange.  It's spring, I needed some color.

Texture Of Words

The prompt this week is texture and/or text.  Hmmm.  I got a little 'uh oh' when I first saw the prompt.   Panic maybe is more like it.  Texture or text? Texture and text? Just text? Ok text. No. What's texture mean?  And I started to write...rough, smooth, velvety...the texture of crackers, of porcelain, of paper towels.  the texture of wax, of glass, of steel.  the texture of oil paint, olive oil, paintbrush bristles.  the texture of a dried leaf, a new bud, the petal of a tulip just opened.  the petal  of a tulip curled and dead.  the thorn on a rosebush.  the texture of a cat's fur, a cat's tongue, the pads on a cat's paw, the claw.  the texture of wool, of cashmere, of cotton.  the texture of polyester.  the texture of gray hair, of a baby's hair.  the texture of white birch bark, of pinecones, of ashes, of mashed potatoes, of wonderbread.  the texture of watercolor paper, corrugated cardboard, scotch tape.  the texture of a wooden bowl, a plastic spoon, a silicone rubber oven mit.  the texture of a blueberry, a strawberry, an apple, a coconut.  the texture of lip gloss, handcream, liquid soap.  quinoa, granola, cheesecake, yogurt, ice cream, quiche lorraine.  endlessly fun for me...now I'm looking/feeling everything in terms of texture(how it feels on my skin or tongue)snow, sand, ice.  feathers, beaks, eggshells.

The Bath Without The Story

Dropping the story line means letting go of all those thoughts and just feeling the experience.

Spoken Lines

They each had their own lines to speak.

Drop The Story Line

Writing Lines

Writing a first line.

Writing a last line.