Aurelius

No, not Dumbledore. Although that was probably where I truly first heard of this name.. I remember relishing the way Johnny Depp enunciated it for Ezra Miller (start at 3:59).

Had not even registered it while watching Gladiator... He was already put in such a good light in that movie... What an unfortunate way for a great man to pass but his death as shown in the movie is not verified.

It is just this year when I was reading "The Power of Now" that I first came across the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism. I was so blown away by how it resonated with me that it earned an entire page entry in my bujo. 

That was my reminder to dig deep into stoicism but it is only just now that I remember and make another resolution to get the book! Which is really saying something because books are one category of things that I do not really buy anymore. Although I love reading physical books over Kindle, they often feel like clutter at home because they are so rarely picked up. I only kept a very small selection of books that I do not think I will ever let go. And now I am certain, this book has earned its space in my house before I have even read it entirely.

So, what jolted my memory again? For the month of June, I have been reading one book a day according to a suggested "30 Must-Read Books before you turn 50" list. Really not a speedy reader so just summaries of the listed books. 😅 Really gained quite some useful knowledge, even from books I would never have picked up from a shelf ("The 48 Laws of Power"?!?!) on my own.

Recommended book for day 24 is "Meditations". The list does not include authors (and there was no need to because it is always evident which best seller the title refers to) and I had thought this was going to be a yoga-related book but it is actually by that Aurelius this post is dedicated to. 😍 Also interesting that I am currently writing this post on the same land where his wife had died...

Usually, I would peruse a few summaries for the book of the day and draw up my own summary, noting the key points, into my bujo. For this particular entry, I noted that this book is "a collection of personal notes which was never meant for publication" and a command to "READ IT!"

I can't wait to get my hands on it! But first I need to decide which translation.....

Class Pass - Analysis Paralysis or Super Duper?

I first heard of Class Pass from a new student to the Mysore class which I enjoy and attend quite regularly. We were chatting about how advanced the level of the class is and she mentioned how worthwhile it was given the relatively low number of credits it cost her. I was immediately intrigued as the Mysore class is not one of the free classes which I am entitled to as a YICC graduate and it in fact cost more than my usual yoga class.

Besides the possibility to attend my favourite yoga class at a cheaper rate, I was also attracted to the idea of being able to attend a variety of fitness programs at different studios. Afterall, I have been thinking of returning to pole and giving spin and barre classes a try...

Pity I didn't managed to get a referral code from said new student but a search on Google quickly brought me to the right site. However, despite the lure of a free week trial, I first opted for a City Guide for undetermined reasons. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was then offered a 2 weeks trial instead! But I kept missing the limited valid time period that in the end I just went with the one week. Better than nothing?!

The trouble began AFTER signing up! The choices are so endless and limitless that even after applying filter for the type of classes I am interested in, I found myself short listing too many options, previewing their reviews and eliminating some and went back to wondering which was the class that caught my attention. In a bid to make the full use of my limited free credits, I got so bogged down by factors such as location and timing that I very nearly forgo the entire freebie!

Thankfully, when I retried a second time I limited myself to one particular evening and was able to select an interesting new class - rope yoga! It was basically a combination of pole and yoga. And it made me realise that this type of membership is perfect for me who appreciates the variety and flexibility it offers. Within that one week, I went on to try another novel program,  wheel yoga, and classes at 3 studios that I heard much about but would unlikely to try out without this. In fact, I even managed to try out a meditation class at Vyasa which I would otherwise have to pay for. And the experience was great because signing in was never an issue and I did not feel unwelcome as I initially feared at any of the studio!

So, I became an official member of the Class Pass and began forking out the minimum SGD 59 for their basic package. Hope to be more regular in my yoga practice and of course to finally try out spin and barre (nope, never to HIIT). Just keeping my fingers crossed that the credits for classes do not inflate after the first month?!

If you have been thinking of giving Class Pass a try, I say go for that free week! Better yet, ask me for a referral code and we will both benefit!

what does it mean?

Over the weekend, I attended a performance-installation curated as part of Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2019. I had always enjoy art somewhat, I am a dancer after all and my first out-of-the-world experience at Singapore Biennale 20?? is still deeply etched in my mind. But I don't usually actively seek out artistic performances or exhibitions to attend. What I do catch, often and largely, depends on my much more artsy gal pal Geri. Come to think of it, almost all of the paid artistic performances I attended were with her! 😄

I was actually slightly reluctant to catch this particular one when she first suggested it to me, probably because I was feeling kind of broke and didn't really want to spend unnecessarily. But it had been a while since we met and her recommendations had never failed so far so I said "yes!" to ST/LL. This post is not a review on it. But here is an incredibly well-written review on it if that's what you want. I hope my writing skills reach that level sometime in the near future... but anyway my post is more about the thoughts and emotions it had evoked in me.

First of all, I should have noticed the ingenious subtlety of its title way earlier than 10 minutes before the start of the performance. But I did not. It was only when we were seated and perusing the programme booklet did it hit me like a ton of bricks (ok, maybe not that hard, it is subtle after all). I had assumed it was some kind of acronym or code - ST = standard and LL = long lens?!?! but it was a play of the word STILL.

Before I share the director's (Shiro Takatani) explanation of it, I need to put it out there this recurring thought/dream/imagery that I have been replaying in my mind for years. Consider a bowl of marbles. It can be a very serene scenario of pretty marbles sitting in a bowl. Then consider the bowl being upturned and that direct opposite of serenity as the marbles dispersed in all directions. Sometimes, there are marbles, other times there had been liquid, water, seeds, sticks etc. But always this replay of containment versus .... chaos? release? I could not make sense of it. I know there is some truth or knowledge or understanding to be gained from it. Something about the crazily minuscule point between the two states but I could not figure it out all these years. I had tried posing this odd "question" to just 2 people who I thought might have an answer for me but it is still unraveling to this day...

So... try and understand just how big my eyes widened as I read these words from the director:

ST/LL is taken from the word "still". The slash signifies a sense of being "in between" - for example, being between one moment and the next - and expresses the fluctuations between being tranquil or stationary to being busy or in motion. The slash also alludes to the idea to what extent can we recognise a very short amount of time?

I was ordained to watch this performance! By then, I literally could not wait for it to begin. Unfortunately, perhaps because I was not in the pink of health at that moment, I never quite got into a state of "meditation on silence" during the performance. My mind just refused to take a back seat and I was constantly trying to "make sense" and explain to myself what my eyes and ears were taking in. It really was a very arresting visual display. I was totally in awe with the technicalities, lighting and use of multimedia. [How in the world do they superimpose delayed or reversed images on a live stream?!?] However I much preferred the gentle swishing of water as the performers moved across the shallow pool onstage to the almost-oppressive music composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

At the end of it, I still had no answer. Perhaps there was never meant to be an answer? Or perhaps I had not properly formulated a question yet? In any case, I thought this was a perfect example of how art is the only way to express something that can never be fully explained in words, of any language. You can only experience it.



PS: Writing this post is also a way for me to determine if I ever get any closer to finding an answer in future.