Welcome the new - TRUE!

2017 is over and so is the December Yoga with Adriene challenge as I mentioned in an earlier post.

I did my best and got down (dog) and freaky yogi almost every day. Some days I didn’t find the time and also I lost a few days being ill. Those days are great opportunity for just letting your soul catch up (love this expression, thanks Annica!) and get some XP on meditation practice. I absolutely enjoyed this time and I can feel the benefits of the daily practice.
If you missed it here's a bit of a flashback for you!

So happy to hear from the friends that joined and followed the journey! No crying cuz it's over though, there's a new challenge coming up! Come with me and Adriene on the TRUE journey now in January. I won't document it as fanatically as LIGHT but there will be yoga every day!

 

Here's the calendar for TRUE

Playlist 
Here's the link to the youtube playlist

Practice times
Here's the link to the practice times for the challenge

Today is officially the second day of TRUE and the word of the day is MOTIVE. But anyone can join in at any time. That's the beauty of home practice.

See you on the mat! Love out and peace in <3 
 

"...when I talk about running."

A good 15 minutes ago I closed Haruki Murakami's "What I talking about when I talking about running." I made it to the other side. Even if it is a good book I always feel kind of relieved that it's over and if it's a really good book there is a sadness, as if someone dear to me would have left this world. Right now I'm in a subtle grief. 

Balance and discipline

Actually I wasn't at all interested in running, and if it wasn't Mr Murakami that had written it, then I don't think I would ever end up reading about running. To be honest it wasn't an amazing book, but what was amazing was this little man who had a jazz bar and sold it to start writing books and train hard for marathons, despite most of his surroundings telling him not to. Mr Murakami goes his own way. His discipline is admirable and I feel inspired to, although with a more gentle approach, try to find balance between my creativity and my yogic training. 

This is the second book I read by Haruki Murakami. Previous was "Kafka on the shore" and it was pretty interesting. Strange but full of inspiration and beautiful almost movie scenes.

Perfect alignment

This is also the second book I read in my life that seems to just be perfectly aligned with my universe and where I am at the time.

It could be little things like he's writing about the falling rain and how good things can come from it, where I would look out and think to myself... Ah, well that's true. If It wasn't for the rain then I wouldn't be sitting here right now, reading that line... or another time when he mentioned running girls with their ipods on, earplugs in and ponytails swaying from side to side as the come trotting down the street, and shortly after... there they were!

Sometimes it would be just the right sentances for the moment. A paragraph that not only longed to be quoted, but also seemed to fall into place the topics that had been floating around in my mind. If it would have been a game of "memory" then the game would be over quickly.

Then there was the thing about the knees. And this really puzzles me. 

For those of you who haven't read my previous posts I've been a bit stiff, since I got a cold. Especially feeling limitations in the knees. Then I went to yoga class. The knees got worse. So since I can't practice, I read instead. Which led to me stumbling upon a chapter where he's really down. Everything's seemingly stuck or going backwards... and what should be his biggest problem at that moment? Of course... the knees. In particular the right one. What are the odds?

Quotes

At times the book has a soundtrack, which is one of the things I loved with "Kafka on the shore" as well. It is also very quotable. I folded some pages, sometimes forgetting that it's a library book. I've narrowed it down to just a few that feel right for the moment (please take note that this is a book originally written in Japanese, translated to Swedish and now I'm trying to get it right in english...)

"It is said that physical pain is the basic condition for to truly understand things."

"The wall dividing a healthy self-confidence and unhealthy boldness is very thin."

"... there are few arguments for me to continue running the way I am, but far more than a truck load against it. The only thing I can do is to continue to carefully polish those arguments for it. As soon as I have a moment to spare, I diligently polish them one by one without missing anything." 

Better than reality - bad habit.

I used to be a big time snoozer and honestly the first thought that appears when the alarm clock goes off is still sometimes oh how sweet it would be to fall asleep again. Please just a little bit more... 

NO. 

Why? 

You will not enjoy it as much as you enjoy the thought of it AND it even tends to make you more tired. If it's hard for you to wake up then why on earth would you force yourself to do it more than once? 

The mornings are becoming more sacred. As appreciated as important. I'm always eager to get up "earlier" for morning yoga. This really helps waking up on the "right" side. Good attitude, good connection with the present, body and mind. So get up when you wake up! I clean my mouth and grab a glass of lemon water. Lit candle. Hit the mat. Timer and inspiration book at the side. The best way to feel when the timer beeps is relieved and disappointed at the same time. Because it should be demanding (in a good way.)

The body is used to it now. When I take it away I feel it the same and the next day. Something's missing hmm? Looks like it's finally become a habit, a routine. Getting more and more into the mindset, understanding more, being more present... but of what value is knowledge if it can't be put into practise?
I'm looking forward to when I can bring the mindset out in the "real world". When I can feel around people what I'm feeling in my yogic training... As always the mind is good at the associating game, usually linking things to the past or future, away from the present moment. This time it was the past.
... A few years ago I had enough. I just wanted to up and leave this society. I desperately wanted to find an ashram in India and find that peace. It's a good thought, but if the words of monk Thích Nhất Hạnh "there's no enlightment outside of daily life" are true then... OK, let's say I went to an ashram. Let's say I found that peace, but how would I bring it back with me? How could I fit it into the daily life with all it's stress, pressure and rules? With all the places, faces and things distracting me. It would be easier to find peace in an ashram becasue you would have the perfect setting, the perfect schedule, the perfect peer pressure and the perfect way of life served for you. Devoting your life to peace and making it a priority you would find it faster. Out here it's more difficult. Then again if you manage to center yourself and stabilize despite all the noise of the world around you then you would have no transition problem, no adjusting problem and you wouldn't long for the ashram whenever things weren't heading "your way". You would have the strength of making it on your own. Yes, it is harder to find here but easier to keep because it is tailored for your particular life situation. Don't get me wrong, I would still like to visit an ashram, monks and all, but not in desperate pursuit of peace. If you chase it you can't catch it, but if you sit down patiently it will come to you, no matter where you are.

By the way, it looks like there will be breakfast yoga three days of the week for the staff at work. Thank you universe!

Sometimes the thought is "better" than reality.

We tend to glorify our bad habits.

Always remember

it's a choice between

what you want NOW 

and 

 what you want the most.

The lost sparks.

The conversations I have with my oldest sister. They're incredibly inspiring but at times tough. She always seems to say what I need to hear. The resistance I feel usually means that there's some truth in the remark. At times the sudden bright light can hurt the eyes, but eventually they adjust.

We have been discussing gender a lot. It's a topic that really gets me fired up at times. Heart pounding anger, bitterness and sadness for the injustice that is and has been. Thankfully meditation and yoga helps me to step away and view it from some distance. I think some of my bitterness is my own creation. The belief that I somehow would be limited by what society identifies me as. We created society, who should have the power but us? I am part of the society. I am one of the labellers. The more I open up to the fact that everything has more than one side and more than one truth the less limited I feel. The sex doesn't matter. The skin doesn't matter. The length or width of our bodies don't matter. The symmetry of your face is no matter.

What matters is ignorance. The knowledge that's somehow lost because of faulty education. The traditional echoes of the past are there most of the time not because people are idiots or intentionally mean, but because they just don't know better. We might think the teachers are our teachers but truth is we learn from the ones who raise us and we inherit their thoughts and beliefs to a large extent. We can change our minds, but not without first being aware of our "recorded" messages, that we're just repeating. We need to separate our own thoughts from things we've just picked up from others. We're often thinking of humans as intellectual. Sometimes I think that's our greatest flaw because it even makes us stupid as we tend to complicate things for ourselves.

What really matters is that we're not happy. Sometimes because we're victimizing ourselves and others. We're trying to change "us" or "them" with force instead of understanding and accepting. I'd like to simply emphasise our need to wake up and see the real issues. Don't get me wrong, I still want to fight the injustice and I still want equality, but I don't feel it's doing anyone good to be in constant fight mode. Sure it's energizing sometimes to just pour out your oh so important opinion but carrying anger is harmful in the long run. I'm asking myself what good has the rage brought onto the face of feminism? Don't waste your breath on angry monolgues for closed minds and ears. Pick your fights. Pick the ones that truly matter. If you feel that something is missing then find it! Something I missed in my childhood was a hero. Someone who I could look up to. I didn't think there was any woman out there to inspire me to greatness beyond appearance. I was too focussed on how little women were mentioned in history to see the ones that actually stood out despite everything. Now that my eyes are searching they seem to be everywhere. They're brilliant and they're filling me with hope... For the future generations. Not because women and men will be equal, but because they already are and we still have the chance to understand it. To lay down our swords and embrace eachother as the same. We're all from the same place and heading the same direction.

One of my greatest teachers, whom I've for a long time not accepted as a teacher (here it goes with the resistance again...) taught me my greatest lesson so far. We are creators. Of ourselves, our reality and the ripples of the universe around us. Even though little grains of sand can make rings on the surface we need to look beyond it. Beyond the labels. Beyond what eyes can see.

I saw a photo from a time where I was not yet on this earth. You both had a spark in your eyes. I saw another photo where I was in the picture and your spark was nolonger there. At first it made me sad, but now I'd like to think it wasn't lost. I'd like to think that me and my sisters are the same sparks in physical form. Born into this world from love, from passion and from the ultimate power of creativity. It is my honor to be a spark.  

Keep calm & curry on

So back to one of the previously mentioned goals... headstand! There are some helpful guiding videos to help you get inspired and find the way to getting where you want to be. Yoga with Adriene has a good one about headstands. I'm taking it one step at a time. Right now I'm on my elbows with my head in my hands in a kind of downward facing dog, feet slowly coming closer. Still have some way to go.

Every day is a new. As one practises, one learns which asanas that work to your benefit in different situations. It's also good to actually check up with the old yogis, they got the knowledge and they're not afraid to use! Today as I was working and I built up a lot of tension in my shoulders and back as well as mental tension. Yoga can help, but what does intuition say? Mental recharge, physical rest. 

The old Lovisa would have been discouraged in the belief that this was a bad day. It's not a bad day. We tend to label everything in black and white. What is it really though, without our subjective judgment? It's a day.  You may have lost the test because you were unprepared, but if you don't lose the lesson it still had a purpose. 

Everything happens for a reason, it's up to you to find it.

Keep calm

&

CURRY ON

3/3 into wild divine

I'm inspired, too tired.
I WANT TO TELL YOU A SECRET but for now I will keep it.
11 hours of work the third day in a row and I believe my best performance yet.
Now time for liquid sunligt (my new favorite tea) and meditation before I crash like a PC.

This kind of sums EVERYTHING up:

("Journey into the wild divine" at Norrköpings art gallery)

That's it for now.

Peace be with you.

Keep it simple - stickfigures in paint

yoga is FOR EVERYONE and it really is that simple

to prove it I've demonstrated it with stickfigures in paint.

This is sun salutation variation A (there are a lot of ways)

(Want to come closer? Just click the picure and it will get bigger and better!)

ps. 5 means you stay in the pose downward dog for 5 calm breaths

I'm not flexible! is not an excuse to not yoga by the way,

it is actually a damn good REASON to DO IT!

Lovify: FASOM

My second Lovify portrait.  This one of a painter who goes by the name FASOM.

The anchor tattoo

When I first saw them I didn't understand. The rough doll with hollow eyes, an anchor tattoo and mouth stitched together. I couldn't see any deeper meaning behind it... until I had a conversation with the artist behind it – Sebastian Orhevacki Månsson.

It was a sunny summer saturday when he opened up a beer and his mind. 

The youngster days had been tough for him, surrounded by drugs and violence. With the sailor that was his best friend's dad and his own dad in jail as role models things were bound to get troublesome. At a young age he adapted a destructive lifestyle and started getting into fights. ”I really felt like a king” he said about those years, ”but I was on the wrong side of the finish line.”

The limp arms

At 9^th grade Sebastian decided to change things around, so he started dressing ”decent” and then went to study business and administration. To prove a point to his hippie mom he set out to get the good life with the job, the money, the car and all. He started drinking alot. Sebastian was jumping between different part time jobs and constant partying (in the style of Ozzy Osbourne in the 70s) never knowing ”What happened? where am I? How did I get here? Who is this?” One day when he was unusually sober his head just started spinning and it all came tumbling down. 

The hollow eyes

He woke up on the floor. Shattered glass, cold sweat and a heart going BADABADABADABADABAM (thank you Joey Jordison of Slipknot for demonstrating this on drums). This was his first panic attack and it was the door into a dark path of horrible nightmares, therapy and prescribed medication that he didn't take. He had such bad dreams he didn't dare to rest because he feared for his life. So after losing 15 kg of his body weight and many nights of sleep he had a vision. It was clear.

A zipper across the face

He had felt like a puppet with a zipper mouth, slaving away for the companies, the society and all the roles one was expected to play. but now all the falling apart started falling together. Into a piece - which became his first painting.

This was some time ago and he's been an active voice for young artists in Växjö ever since. Together we did a live painting collaboration and art exhibition at Växjö Kulturbazaar last fall. If you want to see more of his artworks I suggest you vivit his FASOM page.

No more nights and no more days

You can also see him as the chaotic main character in Lanterna Magica Film's "No more nights and no more days" (original title: Ingen natt och ingen dag). The opening will be 28th of March at Palladium in Växjö. Although if you wish to see it I must advise you to book your ticket soon. A little birdie told me they're almost sold out!

Lovify

Lovify = interpreting people Lovisa style with ink in a simplified way. Every now and then I will post a portrait of and write a little about the people who inspire me,and hopefully you will get inspired too. This here is what the portraits might look like... 

This is Anna, whom I met while I was studying textile. This old classmate got some serious taste and her sixth sense as far as I know must be photography. Anna does her thing, goes her own way and is quite the adventurer, exploring the world. Also... she's dangerous competition at volleyboll!

possibilities

This

could

be

you

GLOBAL 

POSSIBILITIES

The cover page for this fantastic presentation we (the possibility ambassadors at Globala Kronoberg) are making. Our mission is to reach out to youngsters to inform them that they have all these possibilities going aboad through different jobs, projects and student exchanges. More about that later...

The lady with pin cushion hair

As an art student you usually get alot of stuff laying around like clay sculptures that are just sitting around the place. I needed a new pin cushion and so I crocheted her a little bun wig. Looks a bit voodoo!

A space mission

Mission: Take some old clothes 

and design something new from it. 

You got one week. 

GO!

I slaughtered 4 knitted tops and a scarf 

to make this cozy space dress 

as a tribute to the designer Sandra Backlund.

Photography: Cecilia Sandhu

Unusual coffee break

 

"KONSTPAUS I KAFFET"

I thought I didn't have a lot of paints... but I was wrong because anything can be paint.
This time I used soy sauce, red wine, hot chocolate, coffee and tea. Not the usual coffee break.

 

 

Job missing

My latest project: JOB MISSING

A more efficient way of finding your job

or actually

helping your job find you

"Hello! 

A while ago I lost my job, have you seen it? It was happy and creative and it loved to interact with other people. I am very fond of my job since we have been exploring a lot together such as graphic design, marketing, tailoring and designing costumes for theatre, acting, art and photography. My job does not only like to talk and write, it is also a good listener. It speaks Swedish, English and a little French and Hindi. Problem solving, team work and helping others is one of its greatest joys. Since it is adventurous and likes to go new places and learn new things it could be anywhere. Please, help me find it! If you know where it is or have any hints please contact me: 

Lovisa Sandhu, jobmissing@gmail.com "

The puppet master

The other day we (the Teater Respekt crew) visited the puppet master Galo Gonzales. We got to see Galos studio, a closed down old brewery which is now filled with dolls, clutter and a tiny stage. Puppets became a real hit in the renaissance epoque, but it didn't show up in Sweden until the 18th century.

Galo Gonzales - the puppet master

A Charlie Chaplin doll he bought on one of his many travels.

 Hanging out in the studio

You can make dolls almost out of anything!
  After visiting the studio we got to make 3D doll "sketches" in carboard and medicinal tape.
...to be continued...

The bearer of good news!

A Mazuka shirt with a print by my sister Malin Sandhu - check! You'll find both her and the swedish brand Mazuka on facebook. I'm the bearer of good news, shot by Cecilia Sandhu. Bham!

Want to see more art by Malin? You can! Right here.