Circle of Inspiration

Posted by Stan Stewart (Sawyer) on November 30, 2009 under Stan Stewart | Be the First to Comment

20-some people sitting in a circle.  Each one draws a card.  Well, not everyone.  There are 21 cards.  Round cards.  The InterPlay Inspiration Deck.

The 20-some must be 23.  The last trio shares a single card.

We’ve been improvising (pure InterPlay) for hours.  Stories.  Movement.  Intuition.  As the card slides into my finger tips, I accept that now-familiar picture and story.  It’s the Practice card.  Again.

Each person in the circle, in turn, shares what the card brings out from their life or experiences of the day.  Many quote from the card.  I repeat the phrase (again): “She knows that to change your life, you just need to change your practice.”  I enjoy that the message is an inspiration, a blessing.  Not the heavy way that I’ve held this sentiment other times.

InterPlay Inspiration Deck display

The sharing is beautiful.  People cry.  There’s a tear in my eye.  Anita is across the circle from me.  She’s in the trio sharing the Incrementality card with two other women.  She is telling us her experience of seeing the cards used in this circle in this way.

I am inspired.

(Inter)Play

Posted by Stan Stewart (Sawyer) on November 19, 2009 under Stan Stewart | Be the First to Comment

Anita and I will be heading to Oakland, California tomorrow, to join with other InterPlay leaders in a day of play, reunion, and celebration on Saturday.  I enjoy playing with other people who like to play.  I’m really looking forward to some (Inter)Play.

I consider improvisation to be a highest form of art.  Having heard the mantra “just improv” from other artists too many times, I’ve been continually more and more committed to improvised music and dance and storytelling over the past decade.

Back in 1999, I became “certified” (if not certifiable) in InterPlay, an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body.  Under the mentorship of Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry, I moved from a clunky techno-geek to being a slightly less clunky techno-geek — which was a huge change. Above all, I learned that I really do have a body and that it really does inform me about almost everything about me. This was — and still is — a miracle.  No matter how “spiritual” I may be (or believe myself to be), I will always be a body in this life.  The other thing that I learned is that improvised art (dance, storytelling, singing, instrumental music) is an incredibly cathartic and artful experience.  Both of these learning have stayed with me 100% over the years.

What I imagined I’d be telling you about in this post is my passion for improv.  Now that I’m here typing this, I find that words are insufficient for what I want to get across.  So let me try this scattershot approach:

The Exformation round card from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck

• improv art informs my whole self (InterPlay is also about integration of body/mind/spirit)
• when I practice my improv artforms I am more grounded and vulnerable
• improvisation is an exformation (this is what InterPlay calls moving information out of the body) — I (and I would say all humans) need exformation to stay healthy and conscious
• improvising connects with now — how Zen can ya get?

So sing a little song, tell a little story, dance a little dance in the name of now.  It’ll be good for your body, mind and soul.

Bless you.  Bless me.

Practice art

Posted by Stan Stewart (Sawyer) on November 18, 2009 under Stan Stewart | 3 Comments to Read

There is so much in my “art world” to be excited about right now. Mandala Design Works has three shows coming up. Two in Pennsylvania and one in Seattle! Wellspring East annual holiday show and Lelavision shows take place the weekend of December 4-5. Mudworks Dutot show starts the weekend before that and continues for three weekends. I’ll be playing live, improvised music at various times at the Dutot on the two December weekends.  Hope you’ll drop by to have a look and a listen.

At all three of those shows you can see and buy our inspirational jewelry, mandalas, photos, music CDs and other handmade artwork. Each artist has new material since our last show and some of these are not up on the web site. Given the custom nature of handstamped jewelry and personal mandalas, this may be your only chance to see these pieces of art.

Meanwhile, Anita has released The InterPlay Inspiration Deck. These 21 round cards are a testament to her incredible creative talent. Each one has a word or phrase (an InterPlay principle) to inspire your moment. Of course, that’s not all. The word on the card is illustrated with an ingenious colorful picture on one side and imaginative story on the other. You will be inspired by this deck. I’m not just saying that. I keep a deck at work and it’s been an inspirational life-saver. Stories coming here soon.

For today, I drew the card for Practice with the great story about the goddess who “knows what is best for you … She knows that to change your life, you just need to change your practice.”  I don’t know about you, but I need to be reminded about the stuff I already know.  Thanks for the reminder, Anita.  It’s great to get these reminders with a picture, a color, a story and the tangible, tactile sensations of the card in my hand.

So, check out Anita’s new InterPlay Inspiration Deck and come see our art at an upcoming show.

Bless you. Bless me.

InterPlay Inspiration Deck on my desk with the Practice card drawn

Mandala Design Works Meeting

Posted by Susan Bradford on November 6, 2009 under Susan Bradford | Be the First to Comment

Here we are at one of our wonderful meetings. We have had a beautiful meal, drunk some red wine, brainstormed about our three upcoming shows, and now we are learning to blog. I am learning to blog. Who ever would have thought! But I can see that this has the potential to be fun.

So while I’m doing this I’ll share my latest revelation. I got back to Water Gap a week ago, and have realized a very important thing: I am addicted to Delaware Water Gap. I love Orcas and love living there, and wouldn’t change that for the world. But I am addicted to being in the Gap. To my friends, to creating and showing art here, to doing Reiki here, to the Deer Head, and to feeling truly myself amid the warmth and support I feel in this town.

Onward Mandala Design Works!