"Inventive" is without doubt the most accurate of adjectives! It is perhaps the hallmark of my career in high tech. (As a software developer, I invented solutions. As a technical writer, I routinely invented automated production systems. And when I was working on an AI game-playing program, I invented two new heuristics--one of which was written up as a thesis by a fellow at Carnegie Melon!)
Of course, YouTube videos have been a source of continuing inspiration for my current project. But each time I wake up or meditate, I seem to have arrived at solutions for things I've been working on, seemingly out of nowhere. (I love that. As I wrote in "Meditation, Connection, Inspiration, Purpose", acting on inspirations = living my life's purpose. I call it "inspiration-driven" living. :_)
Note:
The trick is to recognize each inspiration as a gift, and inwardly express gratitude for it. Otherwise, arrogance and hubris follow in their wake!
Here's the take-apart workbench I've been using, built on two lightweight portable sawhorses:
The top panels actually sit on two rails that run between the sawhorses.
You can see where the rails are notched underneath to fit the sawhorses, and where they are notched on top to fit a 2x4 (with a cutaway) that is attached to the underside of the panel.
The whole bench is 4' long on top. It's original purpose was to cut 4x8 plywood sheets down to a 4x4 size I can manage, and transport in the van. For that purpose, the middle panel comes out (so I can cut between them). And I added a small extension that pulls out on aluminum rails, to make sure that the half I cut off doesn't tip off the bench.
And that's just one of many things I've built for this project! The good news is I'm having fun, in a serious-learning-curve kind of way, and I'm slowly developing the skills (and acquiring the tools) to do precision work!
:__)
For more "process notes" on the things I've been doing, start with the "My Workshop" post at the new Meditate Better blog.
]]>But then I was brought up short by the finish! I had been focusing on the simplest and easiest process (therefore the hardest to screw up), and hoping for the best. But that approach simply did not work out. The results were horrendous.
So it was back to the web for a ton of research. Once again, every expert in town has a different way of doing things, so it was a matter of testing and trying different combinations of products and techniques, tracking the results, and seeing what worked.
Doing all of that added another 2 weeks to an already overly-long process, but again, it was time well spent.
Here is the collection of test boards with stains and finishes:
(The winner is the one at the right, on top.)
Then I needed a portable "spray hood" to contain the mess and keep dust off of the finishes, not to mention letting me work when it's windy):
And of course I needed a few more jigs for the finishing process. Here they are, inside the spray hood. (Some of them were cobbled together using cardboard boxes. Those are due to be replaced!)
After that, it was only necessary to gear up for the staining and spraying and finishing:
And now for the result (tada!):
However, after all that, it turns out the finish still isn't smooth! I finally got the color right, so it looks good. So one more round of research and experimentation looms. But then we're good to go!
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Recounting a wonderful Ayurveda Day celebration, with great food, great people, and Dublin's Mayor Dave. Plus: What I learned about Ayurvedic healing, and how meditation fits in.
My thanks to Sarat Addanki, CEO of AyurWay in Pleasanton, CA, for a wonderful day!
The Ayurveda Day luncheon was terrific. We all took the pledge to live a healthy lifestyle, in accordance with nature (including our own internal nature!) I met wonderful people, had great conversations, and ate awesome food. (Vegetarian Indian dishes. No one does "vegetarian" quite like India. The meals are tasty, filling, and they satisfy for hours.)
Dublin, CA Mayor David Haubert was in attendance. And what a strong presence he was! He's a progressive politician who sees the struggles of ordinary Americans, and who wants to alleviate them. He's currently running for Alameda County Supervisor. He deserves our support!
The venue was the Elliston Vineyards in Sunol. It was off the beaten-track and quiet, with an awesome mansion and a large Koi pond that had 3 fountains running into it next to a nice shaded gazebo. So I set up my bench in the gazebo and proceeded to have a spectacular meditation.
At the event, meanwhile, I managed to acquire a lot of information on Ayurvedic healing modalities. Talk about good! Yeah. They are. They earn the Eric Armstrong stamp of nutritional approval. :__)
The reason it's a "nutritional" approval is that the healing techniques are essentially nutritional in nature--but at times in unexpected ways!
In addition to teas and herbal capsules, they offer treatments using herbally-medicated oils that are customized for each patient. The treatments include massage, treatments where they build an organic wall around a joint and bath it in a "lake" of oil, and at least one where they run a continuous stream of medicated oil onto the 3rd eye.
Those treatments, believe it or not, are essentially "nutritional" in nature. (And those are just the ones I learned about!)
What you may not know is that the skin is the largest digestive organ in the body. How, you wonder? Glad you asked! (Read on for the details, or stop here if you've had enough...)
Although the medium-chain fats in coconut oil go directly from the intestinal tract to the liver (like other nutrients), the long-chain fats (both saturated and unsaturated) are first taken up by the lymph system.
That system surrounds every cell in your body. It handles molecules that are too big into the blood stream. It's where the immune system pummels invaders, and it's the path that fats take to get to the liver.
But here's the thing: "Every cell in the body" includes your skin. Oils are absorbed through the skin, into the lymph system. So oils on your skin are absorbed in exactly the same way as oils and fats in your digestive tract!
All of which makes me wonder: How on earth did Ayurvedic practitioners know all this in India, 5- or 10-thousand years before "modern" science was invented. (Or, perhaps more accurately, re-discovered.)
In short, it was a great day, made even more wonderful by the opportunity to learn something new.
The plan at this point is to develop some meditations that people can use to work from the inside-out, to complement the Ayurvedic practices that mostly work from the outside-in.
]]>I was convinced that the Mark 4 design was it. I really was! Then it met potential customers. Oops!
The legs were a little thin--thin enough that they bent a bit when significant weight came down at just the right angle. And in terms of aesthetics, customers preferred the current design (the Mark 2) hands down over the new one.
Then there were my own reservations. although they did stack, to a degree, they didn't stack quite as well as I would have liked. And the way the carry handle had to be arranged, the base cushion had a tendency to slide off when the bench was carried.
So it was back to the drawing board! I had discarded the Mark 3 design after my own testing. And now the Mark 4 was done and dusted. Time for the Mark 5!
The new design combines the best features of the Mark 2 and Mark 4, so I'm certain it will be a winner. It has the folding legs you can see in the current Mark 2 design. And it looks virtually identical, so I know it will meet with the same great customer response.
But at the same time, it's much lighter--not quite as light as the Mark 4, but significantly lighter, all the same. And because it folds in addition to being lighter, it will be much easier to move around.
It will be slightly less expensive, too. Not as inexpensive as I had hoped, due the extra hardware required by the folding design, but still somewhat less than the current design.
The best news, though, is that the Mark 5 will be a lot easier to build, and it will be possible to scale production.
If I need a few, I can build them in my driveway. If I need a dozen, I can use a MakerSpace down the road and build them. If I need a hundred, I can send the CAD file to a builder anywhere in the world, and get them built.
At this point, the design is complete. Next week, I will build one more (hopefully my last) prototype to prove its viability.
The new design solves the production pipeline problem. It took 5 months to import the Mark 2 benches, with many a headache along the way. And importing in small quantities, the import fee for each bench was huge (hence the price).
I could live with the costs. They simply dictated the price of the bench. But the import delay was a killer! I have 2 more books (mostly written) to follow the Bench Yoga book (available at Amazon), and yet another one to follow that.
Meanwhile, the plan is to begin giving workshops. I have so much to share! I plan to put all of it into the books, eventually, but it will take a couple of years to get them all published.
In the meantime, I want to share the practices and principles I've learned in 30 years of spiritual pursuits, 40 years of athletic pursuits, and 50 years of dietary pursuits! But once I start giving classes, people are going to want benches. If I can't replace the ones I have in a timely manner, I'll have a problem! If I sell the benches I have, I won't be able to give workshops. But if I don't, I lose the income I need to ramp up to bigger import volumes, and attendees lose the ability to use what they have learned to develop their own meditative yoga practice!
Given the time lag, then, there was simply no way to win!
The new design solves that problem. It will let me meet demand and scale the business. And there is demand. Lots of people are meditating, and discovering that they need a comfortable way to sit!
I recently spent 20 minutes showing 3 meditators the bench, how to use it to get comfortable, how to use it to improve their posture, and how each of the practices generates a palpable energy flow. Afterward, all three bought a bench! And one wants to give a bench to her mom.
Once people try it, they love it. Even a lifetime practitioner of yoga and ordained "swami" (teacher, guru, expert) from India sat on it and said, "This is really comfortable". (Here is a picture of him sitting on the bench, holding my book.)
So I have no doubt that once people try it, they will want one. And workshops will give people a chance to try it. But now, instead of posing a dilemma, their purchases will make it possible to scale the operation, and bring "Yoga as a Meditative Practice" to an ever-widening audience.
]]>I'm happy to say that it is a hands-down winner. It will be lighter than the current model (I'll have an exact weight in a day or so) and will be a LOT easier to manufacture. But it's very strong, and very stable, and will be a lot less expensive, as well.
Of course, the current "fine furniture" version looks great in any setting. And it folds, which is a plus. But it will be possible to supply the Mark 4 version in quantity, at an affordable cost!
So I can now say with confidence that we're just about ready for this concept
to go through the roof! See my next post for a refresher!
Thanks for listening! I look forward to sharing a picture of finished Mark 4
prototype with you very soon now--and to making them available shortly
after that!
The question is: What is the best way to create the spine alignment needed for the energy to flow, and maintain that posture for long enough to experience the benefits?
There are many ways to do it, from the Japanese zazen (kneeling) tradition to sitting crossed-leg on a cushion. What those options have in common is a slight tilt of the pelvis that helps to put your back into a perfectly upright, perfectly balanced position.
Okay that covers your back. But what about your legs?
The way your legs are arranged determines where you can sit:
The Yoga Meditation Bench gives you the same level of comfort as a meadow or gentle hillside. You can sit as though on a bench, but it is also wide enough and deep enough to let you sit cross-legged (without having to go all the way down to the floor).
The good news is that you can start out sitting the same way you would sit in a chair, but you're not forever limited to that position. You can gradually work your way into more advanced positions.
Even better (for most of us) is the fact that the bench gives you a fourth option:
That position turns out to be an ancient tradition in India, as shown in the Bench Yoga book. And it's one that helps even a novice user to get the pelvic tilt they need for effective meditation.
In fact, when you count up the many variations detailed in the book, there are more than 54 ways to sit, in total. Here's the sampling of positions shown in the Quick Start Guide:
And since you can easily change positions, you can continue meditating with minimal disruption when your legs get uncomfortable.
Finally, it is important to note that while the ideal, balanced posture lets you meditate with minimum muscular effort, some effort is still required. And to get that posture in the first place, you need flexibility in specific areas like the shoulders and hips, as well as strength in areas like the neck, upper back, and the "sit up" muscles.
The Bench Yoga program is designed to help you achieve that combination of strength and flexibility--more efficiently than with a typical yoga practice, and more effectively than with many approaches to strength training.
Most importantly, the Bench Yoga program is a practice that anyone can do, and benefit from.
]]>A great big hello to all of the new friends I made there. Thanks for stopping by and filling out survey! I enjoyed sharing the parts of my practice that were most helpful for you.
I trust you got a lot out of the back-position and leg-position evaluation, and that you are using that information and the exercises I gave you in your own daily practice. (If not, I trust that you will starting one soon!)
Website & Email
MeditateBetter.com is up, running, and looking pretty good! I don't have an email handler for it just yet, so for the moment I'm using the email address from my personal site: eric@treelight.com. (If you visit that site, you'll find more than 400 articles on a wide variety of subjects--many of them on nutrition, fitness, and spiritual growth.)
Benches are Almost Here
The cushions were delivered the 3rd week in June, as promised. I picked them up, and have them in my hands. But the benches! The benches were delivered the 3rd week in June, too. But they were delivered to New York!
It wasn't the builder's fault, either. The shipper said they were coming by way of Los Angeles, and put it in the documentation. But they were sent to New York anyway. (!) They are being trucked here now, but the delay has been costly. Currently, the estimated delivery date is July 19.
Reminder:
If you live anywhere near the San Francisco Bay, use the coupon code SFBAY to get free shipping. (The offer won't last forever, but it will be there while we're ramping up!)
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