The Sankalpa Centre for Dreams and Visions ran from March 7 - May 28, 2017 at the Lightbox Studio in Calgary's Arts Commons. I explored through mark-making the information about my body and life path made available by yoga nidra, or yogic sleep. In yoga nidra, meditators unite waking consciousness and sleeping consciousness by rotating awareness through the body in a position of physical rest. Sankalpa, the intention-setting practice within yoga nidra, speaks not only to the dreams and visions that occur in states of deep or half sleep, but also to the desires and goals that inspire waking life. Twenty white rice paper lanterns, resembling "thought bubbles", became vehicles for the intentions that arose during my time in the Lightbox Studio. The process of translating the insights I received in meditation into images anchored new self-awareness into my daily experience and promoted sleep, rest, and relaxation to the public as states of receptivity, intelligence, and creativity. The Sankalpa Lanterns communicate intentions both particular to me and widely relatable, such as "I am confident", "I am organized", and "I am healing". Rather than alighting the lanterns and sending them off, as in the tradition of Chinese sky or wish lanterns, I hung them unlit, as though they could float of their own accord, to remind myself and others, during inevitable periods of forgetting and struggle, to reconnect with the intentions that can inform and transform our lives.
As part of the Sankalpa Centre for Dreams and Visions, I asked the Arts Commons community: How do you feel right now? A feeling can be an emotion, like happiness, sadness, or anger. A feeling can also be a sensation in your body, such as heat or cold, lightness or heaviness, tiredness or energy, pleasure or pain, fullness or hunger. We know how to express our feelings in words, but we don’t often describe them in colours, shapes, sizes, or where they are in our bodies. How Do I Feel Right Now? invites participants to take a few deep breaths, notice what is going on in your body, and record your discoveries in images on this check-in sheet. Check-ins recorded regularly over a period of time can reveal patterns and lend insight toward change.
How Do I Feel Right Now? lives on beyond the Sankalpa Centre for Dreams and Visions. Download and print the .JPG check-in sheet below, as many times as you like. Complete your sheets in a quiet time and place. Keep them for yourself, or tell me how you're feeling right now by posting to Instagram, including #HowDoIFeelRightNow? and @chelshotel in your photo caption.
Thank you for your participation!
