Dreaming Reality

The Sanskrit word "Yoga" has a number of meanings in English, but at the core is the word "union." There are many branches of yoga, with stretching & breathing occupying only a handful. With few exceptions, what we in the West have come to recognize as Yoga is actually "Hatha" Yoga, the physical aspect of a much greater philosophy designed to help cultivate "awareness." Awareness is a rather ambiguous word, but in this case it refers to one's ability to perceive the world for what it really is--pure energy. As humans, we generally relate via our five senses. Yoga practice enables us to awaken other senses and to fine-tune the basic ones we've learned to rely on.

When I first began taking pictures, my process was extremely reactionary. I would sense something happening with my five senses, move in, compose the image, press the shutter. As time went by, I began to recognize that in some instances I was reacting to a "feeling" or intuitive sense rather than to a particular sight or sound. Furthermore, I began to play with the idea of using my imagination to coerce various forces or factors into alignment so that I could take a photograph in a way that appealed to me. Usually it was just a matter of time before the image would take shape.

Having practiced Yoga steadily over the last several years, I've witnessed a profound transformation in how I act creatively. I'm able to perceive things that I'd missed in the past (having become more aware of the infinite possibilities of space), and am interested in expressing what I see in my mind's eye rather than what I experience in society. My visualizations are increasingly reflective of what I observe in my immediate sphere, and mind seeks out in my external surroundings what it's playing with internally. It's as if I'm designing the Universe right before my eyes by drawing from the elements around me and allowing these concepts to evolve. This symbiotic relationship is proving to me that, as Yogic philosophy clearly suggests, there is no separation between inside and outside--it's all one.