Christmas is definitely over for this time, even here up north. I want to thank Joanna at LotusHaus for posting my Christmas Ikebanas on her blog. That was a nice surprise. Thanks also for the kind words coming all the way from Seattle.
Joanna is a great blogger with lots of things going on. Check it out on LotusHaus!
Since I can't control the contents of the video bar from YouTube in the left column, I'm posting my favorite video here as well.
It's an Ikebana demonstration at the Shambhala Meditation Center in Boulder, Colorado. 48 minutes long, so sit back, relax and enjoy as Alexandra Shenpen explains how they work with ikebana as a way of meditation.
I especially like the focus on balancing heaven and earth, or the visionary and the down to earth principle in life. It's fascinating to see how Shenpen is working with this in her ikebana arrangement. Another interesting thing is the way she's talking about mans place in between heaven and earth from an ecological perspective.
Those minutes when the day break and the sun is coming out of the dark winter colors everything else seems to stand still. We've had some really spectacular daybreaks this winter. I was trying to capture the colors of one of them in this arrangement.
Ikebana is the Japanese art of arranging flowers. More than being decorative, ikebana is thought of as a path of life or a kind of meditation.
I'm studying Ikebana with the Sogetsu school, and currently I hold a teachers certificate of Sankyu Shihan (teacher, third grade). My flower name is Senju 泉樹.
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"Ikebana is the art of space - the space between branches, the space between flowers and leaves and the space between masses. In other words, the space between the branches and flowers comes alive. This space is a plentiful void projecting tension and power."
Sofu Teshigahara
"I regard myself as a creator of shape who uses mainly flowers as his metier, rather than purely as an arranger of flowers."
Sofu Teshigahara
“Ikebana is a form of sculpture that exists only within a limited time span, transforms from moment to moment, then perishes.”