Flake it til you make it?

I don't know where I'm going to live tomorrow. I don't think I really want to stay in the bay area.

California? Who really cares about it anyway..

Is it a pipe-dream? Am I-- was I California dreaming,

Why am I thinking of Thailand now?

Am I running,...or doing exactly what needs to be done for myself right now., where I'm going to live

What I'm going to do!!?

Well,.. I don't know yet.. I do know, at least right now--I'm a wanderer.

And while I am procrastinating to blog Wandering; The Path of Expansion (pt.2)... I thought I would put up this quote by Jeff Brown... someone I don't even know but caught wind of through a friend... This made me feel better.

"It is important to grant ourselves permission to wander as part of our Soulshaping journey. So often mischaracterized aslostness, there is a kind of immersion in the not knowing that is actually quite focused & necessary if we are going to excavate and identify our divine purpose. So much information can come up when we are looking in no particular direction. A sense of wander, Flake it till you make it.." 


Thanks for that.


~B

Housewarming In Oakland

Last night we had a housewarming in the house I'm temporarily living in... There were some other musicians who came and at one point the convergence happened.

Harmonica, guitar, drum, flute and myself on the didg'... We played-people sat and listened, and I realized the power of music.. Again.

Afterwards Yuki said to me that being able to play the didg' is a rights of passage--a coming of age instrument.  Those who can play it, in this case myself... are sent a message that we are ready to step-up in the world...

I really got that.. The didgeridoo is an instrument that I continually give thanks to for being able to play... It is so powerful that sometimes I have to LITERALLY stop playing it b/c its just too much for me.

Then I new that I am supposed to keep playing this instrument. We'll see where it takes me.

~B

Intermission Enjoyment

Before 'Wandering, the path towards expansion (pt.2)' comes through here.. I thought I would post a video from my new york city subway concerto days, waaaay back in the summer of 2010...

Someone was just asking to see this SO, I am going to post.

It's the spirit of my wandering, really. For me, to go OUT in the New York City Subway system with all my didg' gear...

1. Tapestry to sit on
2. Crystals to display
3. bamboo bowl for donations
4. Casio keyboard 
5. Egg Shaker

... and plop down

    6.  Oh yeah, and my didgeridoos

... and plop down to play in the middle of the platform.. well, for me. That took some cajones (aka, balls).  Then my box expands. See how that works? No!? Ok, then have a look see.. I'm so happy!

Didg'in da' subway from brandon waloff on Vimeo.
This is my second time out in the NYC subway system (broadway/lafayette) playing the didgeridoo. I have here, a mini casio keyboard accompanying me. While I did get circular breathing down, it was difficult to do while playing the keys. No matter, enjoy~

~B

Wandering; The Path Towards Expansion (pt.1)

I'm going to take out a snip-it of my manifesto and delve deeper into what it looks like to wander, and why wandering is a pathway to expand your capacity to fully understand your life and connect with others (well, that's actually going to come next time--this is pt.1).

Before we look at my own created inquiry of 'wandering', let's look at what 'wandering' has meant to many in the past (meaning before RIGHT NOW!) and will never be on this blog.

• To wander, in the sense of the word, is just to stroll around, carefree, aloof and gay. To move about. As some online dictionaries will note (Merriam); 'wandering is similar to strolling around without a fixed course... but later says "to follow a winding course"  Huh. Soo,... does this contradict?  It also says wandering is "going astray morally." Now we're starting to dig... Morally? I'm confused. Leave it to stiff, up-tight English, wanna be noblemen to fuck us over here.

If you're lost you're in good company. Wandering has always meant in the world of agreement to just flail around, daydream, get lost, be aloof, etc... However I am not 100% in disagreement (we're also going to see why the world of agreement really makes no sense,.. next time, next time). 

I think all of this above IS the precursor to an effective wander, what it lacks, HOWEVER.. is a powerful context. So now, let's take a look at what I think 'wandering' is to be with the added umph and intention to expanding who you are,.. got it!? K...

• Wandering, here- is the act of moving outside of your ‘self prescribed box’. 
• We are all in a box, so without getting too heady about this now, let's just say that wandering is partly getting lost and feeling all gay-like while you have no intention at all for going anywhere. That, I kinda like.  BUT, like I pointed to earlier,... we need some context. 
• If you are in everyday comfort-mode--- and aren't challenged by life-you're in a box. And nothing is wrong with that... (Actually, we are always in a box, even when there is expansion a new box is created). So, there is nothing wrong with staying in your box- it just doesn't provide anymore added insight into your life that you may receive through wandering- or continuing to move through the box- or being at your edge…that being said… 

• Wandering; is being at your edge. 
• Being at your edge is feeling risk and adventure. It's doing things you normally don't do. That is important. You don’t have to leave ‘home’ and venture across the globe to wander, you can do it right where you are now,.. I mean, you're always right here, so ya know.. who cares about going somewhere else. "Wherever you go, there you are." -thanks Chevy...and another one... 

• To Wander is also to look within; 
• 'The act of walking, or leaving your home {home is described as your place of comfort} with no intention of getting anywhere AND being willing and open to learning about yourself along the way as you get lost! In fact, wandering is the act of getting lost, lost in yourself… or just plain lost (there will be more on this to come as well).

Now that this has been covered, the question arises-why even care to do this at all?  I promise to delve deeper next post.. 

This was all inspired by the sentence, "all of us are explorers wandering, and we should all be looking into ourselves in order to expand our capacity to love and understand ourselves and others"  in my 'what this blog is about' section.. now entitled, 'The Wanderers Manifesto'


~B

We're Switchin' It Up~

My Parents would be proud; I'm doing something with my Judaism--wandering.

I'm not a hedge fund manager, a lawyer, or even a... he-he..or that, someone else filled those shoes. I'm a real, bona fide wandering jew- I may be green, but I'm surely not the plant variety of  the 'Jew that wanders'. No. I'm me, Brandon, Tuvia Simcha, a man on this earth walking around, playing my didgeridoo, practicing being conscious through yoga, dance and movement, meditation and communication,... Looking into and 
e x p l o r i n g ...swimming around with and playing...

juggling the stuff, all the stuff and nothing but the STUFF...

So why did I choose to do this?

A yoga blog was too small for the content I wanted to write about. While I do enjoy being in my practice and experiencing the benefits that a yoga practice gives me, it was just getting a bit boring talking about yoga. Plus, Hello!! I'm over here in California wandering around looking for work, a home, and really noticing that without purpose to why I came out here, life is totally aimless. But not so aimless that it can't be appreciated and learned from. So, I have come to realize that I am a wanderer, and quite enjoy just the process of being IN my wandering.

I think there is a message to send and that people can take the time to explore in life, wander and get lost in themselves, I mean, if you never set foot outside of your own environment how could you really know who you are, or what you're made of, or even more important.. what you're dreams are. You could argue that we become a social construct, thinking we are in control and know who we are, but how can you be so sure. "The unexamined life is a life not worth living." Socrates said that...

So please, please.. sit back and relax, for a minute, while we say, 'pardon our appearance' and completely switch up the context of this blog. Context is the container for which the following content will appear, and without proper context -the message cannot be sent. The Context IS decisive. What's your context?

I invite you to read over the draft of my manifesto, or, as you will find it -- the 'what this blog is about' sidebar section to find my own mission statement for creating the switch-up of this blog.

~B

21 In The Hole

Ive been in California for 21 days now! I thought I would play around with this A BIT and highlight some of my experiences throughout all the mishugas that has been my life OFF THE MAT! 

I was hoping for Dhanurasana (bow pose) for the 21st of the 26 Bikram poses to choose, which would be fitting since this blog is, in fact, entitled slow-down-YOUR-asana (Yes, that is why the name of this blog is a yogic variation of sorts on Dhanurasana [pronounced-'dahn-yur-ahs-ahna], b/c it's funny. Get it). 

And that's not even the point I am intending to make here, and neither is Bikram Yoga, which I don't even practice anymore, I was messin with the number 21. 

So, back to it. I have been journeying throughout the land of California for 21 days now. From Berkeley in the bay-- to LA, and tomorrow back up north. In that time I have,

• Lived, practiced and worked at a buddhist collective in Berekeley
• Went to the top of a mountain to possibly live with a young, budding kirtan master
• Eaten lots of roasted duck soup in the aka 'asian ghetto' of Telegraph
• Practiced Anusara at Kula Yoga
• Been moving my body and studying my energy and motion as lab, Ecstatic Dance-SF bay
• Danced for a photographer who shoots energy and motion
• AND, danced for a filmaker dancer- who films dancers- in a West Oakland skate park
• Watched the Phillies (fuck!) at Jake's Steak House in SF, a local phillies/eagles nestablishment.
• Participated in Dia De Los Muertos or Day of The Dead in SF
• Eaten at Cafe Gratitude, 3 times
• Worked with The Jewish Partisans Education Fund, non-profit in SF
• Rode to Los Angeles through Craigslist rideshare
• Blogged for Leaders Causing Leaders Conference in Long Beach
• Slept in Marina Del Rey, Venice, Oakland and Berkeley thus far
• Have been selling Vila Acupressure mats, almost placed in The Sports Basement, come oN!
• Was hired to sell Kulae yoga mats and apparel by the company, excited!

I'll cap it there and head to bed now.. so much is going on around me and inside me these days.. It's really all about the journey. 

~B