Sunset Over Manhattan

I've been so busy over the past bunch of monthes that I haven't had as much time for long walks.  This is kind of a shame, because I love long walks, but also awesome because I'm pursuing all kinds of interesting things like teaching, martial arts, and oh, right, that almost full-time yoga teacher school that I will be finished with in four weeks.  Holy cow.  

One thing yoga has really been confirming for me, is to take time and enjoy the little moments in the present.  This is something I already knew, and, if I didn't, it's all over the internet, and in every self-help book that's ever been published.  But, seriously, take a second, look around you, and be in the moment.  I'm learning a lot more of the psychology and science of this concept in my classes, because it's not just an intrinsic portion of yoga, it's essential and one of the goals along the journey.  It's so healthy to do this- to just experience what is happening instead of being wrapped up in your mind.

Actors have this problem basically all of the time.  It's possibly the number one problem I see for actors, and I'm becoming obsessed with how, through the body and voice, to teach my students how to break free of this.  My hypotheses are plentiful, and I'm learning that the answers are different for each individual person, but that certain exercises work for more than others.

This brings me to my next thing- it's not just actors who can benefit from this- working on the body, the voice, and the mind.  Everyone can.  What do I want to do about this?  Not sure yet.  We'll see.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my beautiful, long walks, like this one over the Manhattan Bridge.  The view of the sun setting over the financial district.  The vibrant glow of bright spray paint and metal in its rays.  The small flowers along the side of the path.  

 

The little things.  Life.

Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Flashback

I had not walked over the Williamsburg Bridge in about nine months.  Since I moved out of Bed-Stuy, I don't live anywhere near it.  I live fairly far south, and I barely go to northern Brooklyn at all, so there is no reason for me to walk over it.  I walk over the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges fairly often, but they are near places I hang out, and are just generally closer to where I find myself most of the time.  Yes, the Williamsburg is a cool bridge, there is no doubt about that, but I live nowhere near it.  However, when a good friend of mine wanted to meet up for lunch in Williamsburg on Friday, and I didn't have to be anywhere else until later in the afternoon, I saw an opportunity for a little trip across the East River and down memory lane.  

When I did live in Bed-Stuy, I walked over the bridge all of the time.  I was constantly meeting Danny at Grand Central Station late in the evening, and then we'd take a nice two hour walk back to our neighborhood together, to catch up on the day.  At the time, I was still in school, doing my last semester of college.  I was in a summer intensive- six weeks of Shakespeare and then five weeks of Chekhov, with four to nine hours of class a day, so I had lots to talk about.  This time, I walked the bridge by myself in broad daylight, and noticed all kinds of things I hadn't seen before.  New grafitti, the look of the train tracks below, the signs on buildings near the bridge.  Some of it probably was not there before- that is one thing I love about street art- it is always changing.  Someone adds a new word to a design, paints on a rafter that was previously clear, or even covers up a previous message or symbol with their own.  It's fluid, new. I like that.  

Oh... and here's a gratuitous hipstery self-portrait for funsies.

Look at me.  I'm obviously thinking deep thoughts about post-modern performace art, underground bands you've never heard of, and organic bok choy.

Just kidding. What was I actually thinking about?  Probably about how my camera was running out of batteries.  And how I wish that there were more public bathrooms in New York.  Deep, deep thoughts.

New York City, New York, USA