Meditation is by no means exclusive to our reality. The heroes and villains of fandom know the value of a good meditation session for kinds of purposes… including plotting, deducing, and rejuvenating. And then there’s the Doctor… who is perhaps slightly *less* effective when it comes to NOT using his meditation time for well-digging and…
mantras
Yoga and the “Non Zero Sum Game”
There are no winners in yoga. And that might just be the best thing about it. Yoga is not what they call a “zero sum game,” a phrase which in game and economic theory means a situation in which one participant’s win is equal to the other participant’s loss. In other words, it’s winner take…
Speaking of ways, by the way….
There is such thing as balance. There is such thing as insight. There is such thing as courage. There is such thing as kindness. There is such thing as beauty. There is such thing as goodness. There is such thing as wonder. There is such thing as a warrior for light. Love is not merely…
We are all Darth Vader: The tragedy of ignoring Yoda
Deep truths are not often what crosses your mind when you think “Star Wars prequels.” They are after all infamous for the unforgivably silly Jar Jar and the terribly-written dialogue. But as I am often a prequels apologist, I will assert that there is some pretty insightful wisdom to be learned from Anakin’s journey. That’s…
Getting way existential when you’re totally buggin’
“I was just totally clueless.” Such is the climactic quote of the movie gem Clueless. Such is also the climactic revelation I just keep having in my life. Sharing with Cher (ha) that realization made me love her even more than I would have anyway for her snappy wit and (it can’t be argued) awesome…
Have fun out there, Turd Blossoms: Reverse Warrior
“I’m distracting you, you big turd blossom.” The phrase ‘turd blossom’ isn’t always associated with joy, fun, and profound relief. But in the case of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” it most certainly is. Starlord/Peter Quill/Hotty McHotpants says it near the end of the movie after he and the other guardians crash land in the Big…
“Aw, Brilliant!” : Welcome, 13th Doctor!
“Aw, brilliant!”: the words we’ve waited 55 years to hear. Well, ok, I’m not 55. I mean “we,” as in the Doctor Who fandom… well, not all of them. I mean “we” female Doctor Who fans – although honestly, even I didn’t know I was waiting to hear those words. I’d just sort of accepted…
Bow to the Absurd in Lizard Pose
When I was a kid, I loved to draw frogs. I doodled them on school papers, I put them in clothes, I designed houses for them. They looked something like this: My fascination might have come from the fact that I owned a frog as a pet for many years. Initially it had been purchased…
Losing and finding your mind: Van Gogh’s piles of things good, bad, and wondrous
Barring being actually in the Matrix, what you see and touch is real, right? You know where you are? What you think is dependable? And what you feel is appropriate? Usually we’d say yes, pretty much. We can take those things for granted, and go with purpose to our work, our play, our practice on…
Om and the Force: Binding us all Together
Sorry, introverts of this galaxy and others far, far away. Even when we are alone, we aren’t alone. In the world of Star Wars, there is the Force. As Obi Wan said, “Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and…