The Art of Revelation
Absorbing and throwing off creative sparks, plus mindful yoga sessions to feed body, mind and soul
Hit the ❤️ at the top or bottom of this email to make it easier for other people to find this publication and more importantly, MAKE MY DAY!
Having just returned from a soul-satisfying, eye-popping three-day holiday to Vienna, I am convinced more than ever in the pulse-racing, heart-bursting, mind-expanding, transcendent power of art.
Heart-bursting, mind-expanding, transcendent power? Yeah, those are the same things you could say about a yoga practice. In fact, we have said similar things before:
Contemplation? Check. A full-body experience that creates a resonance between what’s perceived outside and felt inside? Check. Attention restored thanks to art’s soft fascinations? Check. A realization that we are in the universe and the universe is in us? Check.
It’s true that as far as asana goes, a day at the museum is hardly equivalent to a vigorous Vinyasa class. Yet when you expand your definition of yoga beyond the physical, it’s not such a stretch to see and feel its principles reflected around you.
Enraptured before Klimt’s dazzling, electric paintings (this one OMG and this one and this one) it was hard not to think of the Sanskrit word tejas or tejase1 which means “quality of light” or “sparkliness”. Could it be the shimmer emanating from the works that put me in a transcendent state? Klimt used gold and silver leaf in addition to traditional pigments. Was it my own rapt radiance entering into dialogue with Klimt’s brilliance? In the Om Namah Shivaya mantra, tejase is the last word of the last line in an invocation meant as a call to return to your essence. It’s no accident that the mantra closes with this idea of illumination. Is there a better way to describe revelation?
#/media/File:The_Kiss_-_Gustav_Klimt_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
After the jump: four creative, mindful Paris sessions that will make full use of your body and mind, and feed your artistic soul.
ART IS A MIND-BODY-SOUL PRACTICE
The Louvre’s Parcours Off/ are an opportunity to experience the museum differently. Its En Muscles visits are helmed by a fitness coach who will encourage you to see yourself in the sculpted physiques of greco-roman statuary. Dare to dream! November 8th and 22nd, December 20th, 2024.
On the occasion of the Hans Josephsohn retrospective, the Musée d’Art Moderne is hosting meditative drawing workshops with French-Ukrainian artist Elvira Voynarovska whose work explores volume and form. November 17th and December 1st, 2024 and January 12th, 2025.
Visite Zen is the Musée d’Orsay’s new program designed for families with kids aged 6-12. During each 90-minute session, you’ll connect with art using techniques inspired by meditation and yoga. No experience necessary. November 24th and December 15th, 2024.
If you think of your body as your abode, then these yoga sessions at Cité de l’Architecture are a doubly apt way to feel at home by building a deeper connection to yourself and to your environment. November 30th, 2024 and January 25th, March 29th, and May 24th, 2025.
AND DON’T FORGET: OTTOLENGHI TIX FOR SALE
As part of his Comfort book launch, Yotam Ottolenghi will be in Paris speaking at Casino de Paris on Friday November 8th. I have two tickets for sale! If you’re interested, please get in touch 🤝
The complete final line of the Om Namah Shivaya mantra is “Niralambaya Tejase” and can be translated as “ultimately free, a luminous sparkling whole.”