Sunday, before we ventured out to the Village Halloween Parade, I took my brother and sister-in-law to the Rubin Museum to experience the Mandala Lab. For those of you not familiar with this museum, it is dedicated to the art and cultures of the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and other regions within Eurasia, with a permanent collection focused particularly on Tibetan art.
Within the hustle and bustle of NYC, this is a sanctuary of peace and calm.
Using the teachings of the mandala to be able to turn emotions to wisdom is the theme of this exhibition. Here you can see how complex feelings show up in your everyday life and then you are given ways to transform them.
Scent: First we got to experience scent through the lens of the different artists to see how scent affects your brain both in a positive and negative way. As you all know, I am a great believer in using scent to change emotional states which is why I use my aromatherapy blends daily.
Breath: Next, we sat down on a cushion and did some deep breathing while watching a pulsating light in front of us. Again, a good reminder how easily we can shift with some simple breath work. Remembering that when we are stressed our breath gets shallow and exasperates the stress levels in our bodies. The artist advised us to breathe in joy and breathe out envy.
Sound/Sight/Feeling: Our favorite was the gong experience where we felt the power of sound and physical action. Gongs were hung above a long rectangle of water. Here you were encouraged to release anger as you struck the gong…feeling it in your body. Then we were guided to pull a lever that gently lowered the gong down into the water. Seeing the ripple effect of the sound waves moving in the water and hearing how the sound changed for me was profound.
Experiment with one or more of your senses this week and notice how you can move from one state of consciousness to another.
Until next time,
Barbara