Catch the Spirit of Fun & Beauty...
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Ch Ch ChChanges...
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Fall is Coming, So Is Our Website!
Though the temps are still hovering in the high 90's as we speak, changes are on the way. The stores are full of wool sweaters from Curio, and all cotton ones from Willow. The days, or at least mornings are darker earlier, and the cricket songs are getting faster and with shorter pauses (a sure sign of approaching Fall). This season has been a challenge to many in the US with extreme heat the norm all over. Amazing to remember the record snows of last winter in the midst of it.
A reminder in all of this is the constant cycling our Earth, and our lives are subject to. In the midst of endings come beginnings. Our website launch will bring As Kindred Spirits a way to reach out to the greater world with our intention of sharing our ideas of truth and beauty via our many talented artists, designers, craftspeople and staff. We hope this change in venue will allow us to be of greater service to all of you.
As this season of fecundity, light and heat makes way for the cooler harvest,may you enjoy the awareness of the constant cycling our lives and seasons, and may you always enjoy where you are in the ride!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
In a conversation with my 20 something stepson, I asked if when hanging out with his friends they ever discussed the events of the day. Thinking of the worries over the BP oil spill, the jobless rate, the economic issues, Haiti's destruction and rebuilding, etc., etc. He responded that they did not. I then asked if he every thought about these issues himself, to which he responded, "No not really." His dad then asked his opinion of the way things in the world were going and he said that things were just fine.
This got me thinking about the amount of time, energy, and resources we dedicate to our worries. I've often wondered whether or not the situation in the world is so much more dire, or is it just, with instant information on a global scale, that we are more aware of the difficulties in the greater world. This combined with the natural progression of young self-involvement towards the wider view of approaching elderhood.
When younger we also believed in the limitless possibilities, and as we age we become generally more conscious of limitations, of money, other resources and obligations,and of our health.
Is there a way to balance the hopeful attitude of youth tempered with awareness of obligation and the stewardship of the greater good? Some rely on the power of positive thinking in its various forms, some fall prey to despair, merely stop trying and grumble angrily at their TV's and computers.
Walking the path of balanced hope seems one of the greatest challenges as I age. By choosing to be with others of hope, surrounding, and being aware of beauty in the people, places, and things around me, choosing to be entertained and charmed by what, or who shows up in the store and in my life while simultaneously choosing to march forward on those issues that call to me I hope I can, we can hold that balance.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. For a long time it was barely noticed. It only became a nationally recognized holiday when President Richard Nixon signed the holiday into law in 1972.
Sonora Smart Dodd was inspired to create this day to honor dads while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1908. She, and her siblings, had been raised by her widowed father, " A courageous, selfless, and loving man."
On the silver anniversary of the holiday Bonnie, the great-granddaughter of William Jackson Smart wrote;
"A father sat with bowed head in his aloneness. About him clung his weeping children. The winds outside threw great scarves of powdered snow against the window panes, when suddenly the last born tore himself from the group and rushed out into the storm calling for his mother. Yet even his baby voice could not penetrate the great silence that held this mother.
Hurriedly, the father gathered him back to his protection and for more than two decades, William Jackson Smart, alone, kept paternal vigilance over his motherless children.
This poignant experience in the life of Mrs. John Bruce Dodd of Spokane, Washington, who was then Sonora Louise Smart, was the inspiration for Fathers' Day which materialized through the devotion of this father and the father of her own son, John Bruce Jr., born in 1909. Through the observance of the love and the sacrifice of fathers about her everywhere, her idea of Fathers' Day crystallized in 1910, through a formal Fathers' Day petition asking recognition of fatherhood."
Fathering is important for each of us, whether it be from a biological or step-dad, or from an official or unofficial uncle or other male figure who takes the time to love and guide us towards the steps of our path
.G_d bless our Dads!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Rukmini Walker, owner of As Kindred Spirits galleries speaks internationally on Bhakti Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, and the traditions of kirtan. She is on the planning committee for the women’s spiritual empowerment event, Sacred Circles, held for many years at the Washington National Cathedral. She is involved in interfaith dialogue as a DC board member of the United Religions Initiative, and is a co-founder of the Vaisnava-Christian dialogue.
Her business, As Kindred Spirits, aims to connect the work of the finest craftspeople with charitable and fair trade ventures, seeing beauty and truth, “As Kindred Spirits”. As Kindred Spirits represents designer jewelry, clothing, and American craft at three locations in the Washington DC Metro area: at Reagan National Airport, at Congressional Plaza in Rockville, Maryland, and at the new Annapolis Towne Centre in Annapolis, Maryland.
Before opening As Kindred Spirits, Rukmini Walker, lived and worked in yoga ashrams in the US and India for twenty-five years. She was initiated into the Bhakti Yoga tradition as a disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1968. She has one son, Gauravani, and lives in Rockville, Maryland with her husband.
There is so much interest in the physical aspects of yoga these days, Rukmini’s passion is to share her knowledge of this yogic philosophy to understand some of the deeper meanings and background of the postures and yogic lifestyle. She has been studying the Bahkti Yoga traditions for over 30 years. She is deeply honored to speak on these subjects to area groups. yoga classes, and worksops.
Gauravani, of the Kirtan group As Kindred Spirits, asked his mom prior to naming his band if he could use the name of her gallery as the name of his band. “Of course!,” she said, not knowing that in the future AKS (the gallery) would have to vie for a small share of internet hits from AKS (the band). “Can’t be disturbed about these small things,” she thought. That’s the intention behind the name, As Kindred Spirits. All living beings- trees, the grass, fish, the animals, humans, the earth, even one’s own son need to be honored as our ‘kindred spirits’
Sometimes Rukmini & Gaura lead Kirtan, and yoga retreats together. Kirtan is call and response chanting from Bhakti yoga. Bahkti yoga is the yoga of love in action. It includes the aspiration to live, “In the world not of it,” or as an engaged, urban mystic. The aim to live in humility like the grass…as the grass is plural, we all live in community; each of our actions impacts us all.
If interested in a further conversations with Rukmini about your group hosting her as a speaker please contact her though our e-mail: askindredspirits3@gmail.com
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Dancing in the Rain!
This was forwarded via e-mail... hopeful and fun
LIFE IS NOT HOW YOU SURVIVE THE STORM, BUT HOW YOU DANCE IN THE RAIN....
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