2025-03-26: Gates of Heaven
GATES OF HEAVEN | How NOT to go through them
Using your free will to keep doing God’s work
Listen to an audio of this blog post below and / or continue on to read.
The fires in Los Angeles, CA began on the same day my mother started immunosuppressive therapy for her Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, a slow growing blood cancer. Getting accepted into a clinical trial to start treatment earlier than usual, she anticipated a year long journey back and forth to the infusion center receiving an intravenous drip of a highly potent, targeted drug followed by a pill that would hopefully bring her cancer levels down to basically nothing. It wouldn’t eradicate it, but the levels would be undetectable by the time treatments ended putting her in remission for roughly six to seven years.
Both having healthcare backgrounds, my brother and I had to remind ourselves that it came down to supporting the patient, our mother, in what she felt was right for her and what she believed would work even if we thought otherwise. Taking a similar approach of supporting my mother with where she was at, my father looked at both eastern and western medicine treatments regarding my mother’s cancer to understand different options forward. After we discussed as a family all known possibilities, he left it up to her to decide.
What occurred inside my mother’s body starting on Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 mirrored on a micro level the apocalyptic scene that occurred on a macro level in Los Angeles (LA). The explosive inflammatory response from the initial two treatments burned tens of thousands of cancer cells just like how the fire burned tens of thousands of acres of land. Both lasting roughly a month, the adverse reactions from these events would bring both parties, my mother and the residents of LA who were affected by the fires, to their knees. My mother begging God at the black iron Gates of Heaven for her life during a near death experience (NDE) and the LA residents begging friends and family for a roof to cover their heads.
The debris clean up from these two events would be unlike any other. The hazardous waste materials from all the drugs pumped into my mother’s body and the ones intermixed within the ashes and debris of burned homes and structures needed to be carefully removed to prevent overload of the body’s detoxification system. Not only from the physical elements, but the emotional and spiritual response as well. In the meantime, prevention of further issues such as potential infections and fear of adverse reactions for my mother or mudslides and severe depression for the fire victims rose high on their priority lists.
Art therapy, including gardening, dancing and painting proved to be helpful for my mother during her healing.
GARDENING THERAPY
A normally vibrant fuchsia flowering plant with lengthy stems, Rock Purslane had been blooming around my parent’s yard for the first couple years after they moved in and had the landscaping completed. After my mother’s diagnosis, we noticed its slow decay as the leaves shriveled up and the beautiful flowers no longer bloomed. As we made our way outside to get my mother fresh air during her recovery phase, I’d don my gardening gloves while my mother, using all her strength, sat in a patio chair with her walker in front of her, head slouched down, eyes barely open. I’d pretty easily pull out each one of these dead plants from the soil as we repeated the affirmation, “Bye bye cancer,” with each successful yank. Visualizing every one of these plants as the cancer cells that were leaving her body, my mother’s words came out with a soft whisper and mine as a strong cheer trying to instill in her the energy she needed to heal.
DANCE THERAPY
Feeling the power of this visualization and affirmation technique, we developed this further when I got an opportunity to choreograph a dance routine live during one of my classes at school. I told my mother the theme for my dance was human imperfections. At the end of the piece, each dancer would go up and voice words that filled in the phrase “I release (blank) and become (blank)”. Since her risk for infections remained high, my mother stayed home, but I recorded her voice saying, “I release cancer and become healed”(listen below). Playing this recording for her during my open choreography session, it again helped my mother feel the healing power of the arts as she watched the recording back afterwards.
ART THERAPY
Now it was time to incorporate my mother’s experiences by creating a piece of mixed media artwork called “Release” that perfectly summarized the previous events in a visual form. Taking a few stems from the withdrawn Rock Purslane, I made shadows on a wood panel that were outlined and carved. Already part of the wood, what looked like the thin line of smoke from a blown out flame streaked through the center and became the backdrop for my mother’s affirmation “I release cancer and become healed”.
PLANETARY PARADE
Interestingly, on a larger scale, seven of the eight planets within our solar system aligned in a “planetary parade” during this time. This meant multiple planets appeared in the same part of the sky, often along the ecliptic, which is the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Mercury was the only planet to not take part in this parade, but everybody else joined. Visible to the human eye, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn lined up while Uranus and Neptune followed suit and could be seen by binoculars or telescopes. This occurrence caused a magnetic shift that attracted elements back into alignment. My mother, slowly transitioning back into a state of health and the LA fire victims into new locations in life. Both hopefully bringing a shift in the direction of fulfilling their life purpose. Therefore, in my mother’s artwork a sphere symbolizing these planets made its way in the center with the petals of a sunflower blooming around it to illustrate new growth.
“I’m not ready yet. I can do a lot of good in the world. I can cook for people.”
My mother always had such a strong will and this message she wordlessly delivered to the Supreme Being who had arms stretched wide open above the Gates of Heaven ready to receive my mother back home during her NDE, brought my mother back to this Earthly physical plane eager to perform her service. She lay alone on a gurney in the Emergency Room during this experience waiting for a hospital bed post swelling of her airway due to a rash from the toxins trying to escape her body through her skin that left her almost intubated and sedated. Our family sensed the awe in her voice the following morning when we heard about this experience as she described the thin metal rods on each periphery of the gates that moved into larger rods that made its way to the center arching upwards towards a central peak where the Supreme Being presented on a different plane than where my mother stood. Unable to fully comprehend in a piece of artwork what this visually looked like for her, an embroidery string showing thin and thicker lines seemed to be the simplest, most efficient way to go. This same string holding up a black cloth tied only by a bow in the back showed how the act of releasing this cloth that represented her cancer could be the mental power my brother and I hoped she would develop from the beginning to help heal herself.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I learned through this experience to let the Greater Plan be the highest good for all as I myself had a discussion with this Supreme Being before my father and I left my mother in the ER room to get some needed sleep. Holding her left hand quietly chanting, I delivered my own thoughts through the melody, “If it’s her time, take her. I let my mother go for You know what’s best for her.” This realigned me to my own purpose in life to be a channel for God’s divine healing to move through if He knows it’s what’s best for the individual. Being ready to accept my mother back home, He couldn’t resist my mother’s free will to keep doing her service here on Earth. For all the fire victims in LA, may you see the hand of God stretched out ready to help you as you use your free will to keep going, find a greater purpose in life and realign yourself to the Greater Plan through this horrific tragedy.
Written in morse code on this artwork, the word love reminds us all of the attractive force that is pulling and aligning us back to our true self and the work we’re meant to accomplish in this lifetime.
.-.. --- ...- .
NOTE: “Release” artwork is being shown during the FLORA art exhibit at the Coastline Art Gallery in Newport Beach, CA from April 9th-25th, 2025.
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Viktoria T.
Interests: Art, Ceramics, Dancing, Nature, Designing
Viktoria T.
Interests: ART, DANCING, NATURE, CERAMICS, HEALING, DESIGNING
Blog Posts
2024-05-09: Sacred Threads
SACRED THREAD | an organic state of destruction bringing people together through the invisible strings connecting us all
There are certain people you meet that seem to be instant friends. Some could argue that it’s because of shared interests that bond people immediately together and I have known this to be true, but I also understand that these bonds can seem much deeper than simply sharing a common like or dislike.
As the first law of thermodynamics states, “energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form or be transferred from one object to another.” When we change form by destroying the outer body through death, this invisible string or sacred thread keeps us together until we can meet again with a different outer garment needing to learn each other’s new names and faces.
This is how I felt with my dear friend Viktoria whom I met in fall of 2023. Both of us had come from different places in the world, Viktoria from Ukraine and myself from Texas, and we landed at the same school in the same modern dance class. We instantly became friends and it was clear the timing of our meeting was divinely guided to help support one another during our particular periods of growth.
Prioritizing our artistic avenues of interest was apparent for both of us as we had each been through other careers during our earlier years that we knew we had to learn from in order to get to where we needed to be. Viktoria was an accountant and graphic designer while I had worked as a nurse and done property management. Watching each other reconnect with our artistic talents was motivating and inspiring for us to see. We continued to collaborate with one another through dance, voice, and fashion, landing an opportunity for me to showcase Viktoria’s uniquely designed hummingbird dance costume down the runway during the Saddleback College Spring 2024 Fashion Show on Thursday, May 9th, 2024 that just so happened to be called, “Sacred Thread”.
INITIAL PHASES
Anything Viktoria touches turns to gold. When I saw her initial sketches, I knew the outcome of this piece was going to be good. The hummingbird symbolizing the following:
A highly developed, open heart
The ability to fly backwards
Being brave, cheerful , and fearless
The path of the soul, when through serving other people, a person gains the joy of being and trust in what is happening
An immortal soul and creative energy
Viktoria skillfully collaborated with Tetiana Markova to construct the costume. Over the next couple of months, I met with her for fittings, each time being more and more impressed with what was surfacing.
FINAL PRODUCT
The outcome was GOOD. Real GOOD. Far exceeding anybody’s expectations.
CHALLENGES
Anything good always comes with its challenges.
Viktoria had a vision for how she wanted the costume to be presented down the runway with myself improvising dance movements and poses to tribal inspired music. Because this wasn’t Viktoria’s own runway show, she couldn’t do whatever she wanted. We had a bit of push back as the fashion department wanted our number to fit within the theme and protocol set out for the rest of the models. We understood and chose to collaborate as best as possible finding the happy medium between both sides.
The hair and makeup became another issue. Seeing the fashion department’s vision board, their model looks consisted of slicked back, wet looking hair with dark, smokey eyes. Total opposite of the curly hair mohawk updo and light eyes with black symbols / dots precisely drawn on my face look that Viktoria was hoping for. Again, we chose to keep working towards a middle ground without fully giving up on Viktoria’s vision.
PERFORMANCE READY
The day of the performance became a different story. As I sat in the chair getting my hair and make-up done by the cosmetology department, there was no resistance from the fashion staff. Viktoria expressed what she wanted done and it all became a go. After, I went to do a test run of my walk / dance down the runway and the lead gal pulled me aside and said, “You know what. Go for it. I think you should dance the entire time even in between your poses.”
Getting my hair and make up done by the Cosmetology Department.
It was a good lesson to be learned. To hold your vision, but do so with love. Meaning harmony is more important than what you desire and most of the time it’ll end up working out better than you ever would have expected.
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOS
WHAT NOW?
The hummingbird costume adorns a mannequin in Viktoria’s art room. It’s new additions…a peacock feathered crown with a card that says, “Keep bloomin…Keep becoming” that I made for her to match it.
I have a feeling this costume is going to come to life in a future dance performance using this beautiful theme of sacred threads and friendship that not only shares my story and the many lessons learned from it, but many others as well. We’ll hold this vision with love and see where it leads us.
Til then my friends…Peace out!
HOLD ON - NOT SO QUICK
FAST FORWARD Seven Months
Remember I predicted another performance with this costume? Well, it happened. An informal dance concert at Saddleback College on 12/16/2024 where I performed a solo piece entitled “Wake Me Up”. Music by Simply Three. This piece symbolizing coming back to ME. Finding myself again. Of course Viktoria was in the audience and she got a big shout out at the end. Check it out below.
Maybe we’ll get MANY more performances with this gorgeous costume. Let’s wait and see what the universe has in store for us and this lil’ hummingbird.
Mia R.
Interests: Dancing, Swimming, Being A Great Aunt
2024-04-26: The Unstoppable Princess
“I am UNSTOPPABLE!” Mia shouted from the center of the McKinney Theater stage as she twirled around with her right arm in the air, right leg popped. Nobody in the audience except for her mother, Corinne, I stood by Mia’s side helping her to release the trembling and overwhelm that consumed her moments prior. We were two days from our actual dance performance and finding enough confidence to be up on stage looking out at an audience, even if all the seats except for one were empty, was the first step in getting Mia to perform her two dances from beginning to end. Hearing the conviction behind her words, I had the feeling Mia would surpass all obstacles that laid before her: a knee injury, challenging choreography with a fast tempo, performing in heels, and having down syndrome. I was thankful for the opportunity to work with Mia as it would force me to carve out the needed time to practice the two pieces we were dancing in together. One being a modern dance entitled, “From these hands grow dates” and a burlesque number entitled, “Family Business” for the Spring 2024 Saddleback College Dance Collective.
“From these hands grow dates”
“Family Business”
A Broadway Star in the making!
My mother attended the dance performance auditions back in January as she loves to live vicariously through me since her father never allowed her to dance. I found it a bit odd when she started waiving me over as we began doing across the floors. “Kate, this is Mia,” my mother motioned, gesturing her hand in Mia’s direction and not realizing we already knew each other from modern dance class. “This is her first time auditioning and I need you to help her.” Trusting in my mother’s intuition, I followed in her guidance and had a sense this wasn’t going to be the last time Mia and I would cross paths in this way.
It wasn’t until the end of the semester when Corinne reached out to me about doing private lessons with Mia. I had observed her throughout the semester as Mia dealt with a knee injury that happened the second week of practice and left her sitting out the majority of the time. I knew I had my hands full, but with Mia’s dedication to want to take the leap and perform for the first time in college, we were going to make it happen.
We met five times over the course of a week for hour-long sessions where I started with the most challenging section, the Charleston, which was in the second portion of “Family Business”. I learned here that Mia had a dream to dance on Broadway someday and knowing this was a move that dancers become highly familiar and good at on the big stage, I wanted to make sure she nailed it.
To help Mia remember the moves, I combined certain elements together and gave them a funny name. As we’d dance together, I would use a soft voice to call out, “hip slaps,” next is the “wave,” now let’s do the “robot”. All of these words indicated to Mia the type of move we were performing in that portion of the dance. This method worked beautifully and I noticed towards the end of our sessions, Mia was performing most of the dances on her own without needing to look at me for guidance.
Because of the high learning curve, not knowing where she was in the various dance formations and the anxiety that goes along with her Down Syndrome, it wasn’t a surprise after the first tech rehearsal that Mia, myself, Corinne, and the director had to come together to talk about the safety of Mia performing, not only for herself, but for the other dancers as well. What I appreciated the most about this conversation was we didn’t give Mia the option to completely back out. We understood instead that we needed to give her choices to stretch her just outside her comfort zone. Therefore, we told Mia there were plenty of opportunities in both dances where she could exit off stage if she wanted to or she could do the entire dance. It was up to her.
The two choreographers for “From these hands grow dates” and “Family Business” really came together in the end to support Mia further by pairing her up with dancers in the different sections of each piece and running through the formations as a group. When I saw Mia looking back at me as we released the blue fabric at the end of “From these hands grow dates”, I felt so much joy. She did it. She made it all the way through. My heart was ecstatic. Being told to act solemn in this dance, I couldn’t help but smile back at Mia as she mirrored my expression.
Then when I saw her at the end of the formation in “Family Business” with her hands framing her face and her left leg popped smiling out at the audience, I couldn’t help but think of the mountain Mia climbed to make it to that point. She really was unstoppable and as Corinne so nicely added, Mia was the unstoppable princess who was supported every step of the way during her first dance performance for Saddleback College. I truly believe in her and have full faith that she will become a Broadway star someday doing the very same Charleston we performed in “Family Business”.
A flower crown I made Mia with a ribbon that said, “The Unstoppable Princess”
Look at that smile! So happy. You go girl!
Arjun R.
Interests: Bass Guitar, Music, Science, Composing
2022-02-14: First Principles Logo
Final Logo
In the beginning, I didn’t have the confidence to make my own logos. I would reach out to other artists to bring my concept designs to life. They were always done beautifully, but I knew there would come a point where I needed to gain this confidence to start doing these designs on my own. This happened when I first created the logo for lil’ kaytro designs and then for
Pathway Immersion. When First Principles asked me to do their logo, I accepted with a deep sense of gratitude knowing how far I’d come.
Arjun first mentioned the concept of both the bass and electric guitar crossing to symbolize a collaboration then somehow incorporating a sense of time passing. These guys had been friends since childhood and were still making music together. I went in this direction using watercolor to paint the guitars and bringing everything into illustrator to make a vector image, but after reviewing with First Principles, we decided to scratch the idea and start new.
First Design - Scrapped
I found a piece of plywood in the garage and started drawing out the letters with a more heavy metal look to them. After playing around and cleaning it up in photoshop, I walked back out to the garage and found another piece of wood that had slashes on it. My dad and I had been working out in the garage the day before and I think this was the remnants of the project he was finishing up. I took a photo and placed it behind the block letters. The day after, my creative juices were flowing and I added color, pastels, and epoxy powder to the mix to see what came out of it. Next thing you know, we had an additional two logos along with the first modified version for First Principles to choose from.
Three different logo designs
In the end, they made a great choice and afterwards told me they were thinking of having t-shirts made. I was super happy about this and will definitely be getting one for myself to represent this great duo.
Interested in a custom design?
2022-02-03: Alliance Song Cover
Arjun came up with another great concept design that would help the team of scientists he works with to be inspired on their latest project. He had composed this track over the Christmas break and now wanted the visual to help everyone see the possibility of the two molecules they were experimenting with to become allies.
My word for this year is growth so naturally when I went to do
this next song cover Arjun fittingly called “Alliance”, I was eager to expand on my layered technique by incorporating wood and burning techniques. We had a lot of scrap plywood left over from Nate’s van renovation so I began experimenting myself.
I used the torch to burn part of the wood creating a darker area close to the center where I would then take the rotary tool to outline the hands shaking. From there, I added blue stain and took the rotary tool again to indent the letters for “Alliance”. This is when I took out a whole bunch of supplies and began adding layers: green acrylic paint, pastel, rust airbrush paint, white chalkboard marker, superglue (lol), and wood shavings. Then, as usual, I took my knife and peeled back those layers in various areas to give a textured look. The final addition was the nails and two different colored embroidery threads to symbolize further interconnected, joining forces helping one another.
We didn’t have to do to much to this one after I submitted the first copy. It was an instant love from everyone. Hopefully it helps to bring about the positive outcome Arjun and his team are hoping for with their latest, never been done before project.
Progress Photos
2021-11-13: Song Covers Hung Up in Arjun's Office
Prior to this, I’d been sending Arjun the originals for all the song covers. Because I work with various layers and then bring everything all together in Photoshop, one song cover could have 2-3 pages of designs. For example, with “Velocity”, the F-18 and words were done on one page then the background was done on a different page. This makes it cleaner
when you go to piece it all together.
Because of this, I decided to start printing them on high-quality paper and sending Arjun those instead. He then completely surprised me when I saw he framed and hung them up on the wall in his office. Don’t they look awesome?
If you read the “Velocity” blog post below, you won’t be surprised to see this song cover was placed front and center. We know who contributed to making that decision (wink wink Muki). I’m sure when Arjun does zoom calls that’s the main cover everyone sees and was placed there intentionally for that reason. I bet it’s started some awesome conversations.
Can’t wait to see how this collection continues to expand in the future.
2021-10-03: Yellowstone Song Cover
A friend of mine were up in Pacific Palisades, CA walking around the lake at SRF Lake Shrine and I was telling her how Arjun asked me to create his next song cover called “Yellowstone”. This song cover he wanted to be a pictorial collage, which combined the Grand Teton and a geyser. Arjun had recently visited Yellowstone and was very inspired as many normally are.
As we walked around Lake Shrine and visited their museum, I saw a picture taken from Yellowstone with a car full of people that was stopped on its way
into the park and three baby bears standing on their hind legs balancing up against the car doors. I took a picture and sent to Arjun who messaged back right away and said let’s add the bears into the collage as well.
My friend said to me, “That’s a tall order. Are you going to be able to do that?”
My heart got excited and I thought to myself, “Yes. Yes I am,” as I smiled with a knowingness that this was going to turn out really cool.
I took to drawing the Grand Teton first then I could see how the geyser was going to flow to the south of it. The night sky was going to direct your eye to the top of the highest peak than flow down into the geyser.
All of this understanding comes through as I keep taking one step further with the design. We tried the bears out in the geyser, but they were a distraction, so we moved them up to the walking path and the “tall order” song cover was complete. We did it!
I saw this magazine cover (pictured right) later on at Sprouts and said to myself, “Hey look! It’s our Yellowstone cover.” 😆
It’s always such a joy to collaborate with others on great ideas like this one. Glad we made it happen.
Progress Photos
2021-07-20: Velocity Song Cover
A lot of Arjun’s inspiration for the song covers comes from his son, Muki. When I was asked to draw a F-18 supersonic fighter jet for the next song cover, Velocity, I knew this was all him. I had homeschooled Muki for about a year and a half when he was in the first grade and I can’t tell you how many times we were flying around the house with our arms stretched out wide pretending we were jets, airplanes, rockets etc. (Click here to read our fun stories together). We always had a blast. So this one was going to be for him.
After drawing the jet, I used water color to fill it in and give a worn look. The background was a mixture of watercolor, pastels, and charcoal. We played around with the words and color of the plane quite a bit until we landed on making the word “Velocity” go across the wing span. It didn’t stand out as much so the jet could draw your attention instead.
This instrumental track makes you feel like you’re on a mission with this pilot. I should just call him pilot Muk. When you listen to the full track in Spotify, between 03:03-03:10 you’ll hear the sound of the f-18 in the background. It’s such a great addition. I’m sure every time Muki hears it, he is pretending he’s sitting right there in the cock pit, flying at supersonic speed with all his gear on successfully completing his mission.
Progress Photos
2021-04-25: Replay Song Cover
Arjun started a collaboration with a long-time friend who played the electric guitar. They named their duo, First Principles and their first instrumental track was entitled, “Replay”. The main request for this song cover was to add a playful cat because Arjun’s son loves all types of cats, especially lions, tigers, and cheetahs. The other request was to either do it in black and white or sepia.
As you can tell with everything else I’ve done, I love color, but this
request was a breath of fresh air because I wanted to be taken out of my usual process and see if I could apply my techniques using a different medium like charcoal. I remembered using charcoal a bit when I was in art classes in college and actually found a zip loc bag with some of those old supplies.
I visualized a progress bar spanning across the middle with the sound waves coming off of it in both directions and a cat playing somehow on the bar. Adding together a piece of black and white mixed media paper, I started with white charcoal to draw the sound waves then black charcoal to draw replay.
The first draft was done in black and white, which First Principles decided needed to be changed to Sepia. The cat was hidden in the corner so I pulled him out and made him front and center. Then after a little trial and error in photoshop, I did a mirror effect with the sound waves, simplified it tremendously and made “Replay” super bold.
Progress Photos
2021-03-24: Aqua Regia Song Cover
With Arjun being a scientist, I giggled to myself when I got the message from him about creating a new song cover called “Aqua Regia”. He sent me a link to learn more about this mixture and how it dissolves gold using nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. I actually became intrigued by the story of a man who in the 1940’s, dissolved the gold Noble Prizes of two winners in aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from taking them. Then after the war, he precipitated the gold out of the acid to their original. It was quite fascinating and I couldn’t wait to get started on this one.
Arjun’s request was to have gold bars flaking off and merging into light. Tough request, but doable. It was around Easter time and I actually got inspired by these eggs at Whole Foods (pictured right) since they had gold flakes on the top.
I used black mixed media paper again, pastels, and watercolor for the background. Color pencils and sharpie for the gold bars and chalkboard marker for the white light.
I remember almost getting to a breaking point where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish. You’ll see in the progress photos below, I originally designed the bottom portion with these white vertical lines. Not sure where it was coming from, but I couldn’t get myself to cover them up further with more layers including the bright light. Arjun is always a great facilitator to help me get through these sticking points and with a few suggestions, we made it happen and got their song cover.
Progress Photos
2021-01-31: Falcon Funk Song Cover
This instrumental track has an upbeat, jazzy feel to it. Arjun mentioned there were additional instruments like the trumpet in this one and when I hit play for the first time, it had me up and dancing in no time. I loved it. The only request from Arjun was a falcon on the front of the song cover.
I’ve learned with my art process that I prefer abstract concepts. Let’s throw some layers of paint onto a page, create details
around what morphed, and then write some words. Well when it comes to drawing pictures of real things such as animals or people, it’s not my comfort zone. But I learned from the first song cover that none of this was going to be in my comfort zone and I was going to have to step out of it.
I did apply water color though first down the center of the black mixed media painting. From there, I started to see the shape of the falcon’s head and wings then went to town with the rest. Apparently the falcon wanted to try and pick up a trumpet or be blown away by the trumpet (I’m not quite sure). It showed up on the bottom of the page, which I quite liked because that’s the instrument that really got me up and moving in the first place when listening.
Second track was done. That’s why I started to feel anxiety over what if Arjun asks me to do another one. Where will I get the inspiration to keep going with these. This was another bit of resistance I had in me. I always knew I could do one or two design pieces, but to consistently produce work. That was a different story. I knew I had to push through because Arjun was going to keep making music. This was certain because he loved to compose.
Progress Photos
2021-01-24: Blue Nile Song Cover
When I found out I was recommended to help Arjun with his first song cover, my resistance immediately came to the surface. I had always been nervous about doing custom design products. This fear stemmed way back to when I was going the graphic design route in college and suddenly switched to nursing because I didn’t have the confidence in what I was doing to really pursue it.
I pushed this feeling down and surrendered. At this time in my life, I
had a deep knowing that everything was already created in the universe and we simply had to learn to be the channel for these works to come through. So I graciously accepted this new endeavor and went full force against this inner resistance.
There is a pool by my house and I would go there to watch the way the water rippled. I brought my new black mixed media paper and wanted to try the water color out on it. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to show very well, but thought with the addition of colored pencils, acrylic paint and whatever else I could find in my art supply drawers I would use.
The reason I like to start with watercolor is because it flows freely onto the page. This is my way of saying, “You start the artwork for me and I’ll keep following through with my intuitional guidance to take the next step.” From there I can see what’s starting to form on the page and begin adding more layers.
Arjun wanted a bass guitar in the photos so after creating the circles, I used a blade to apply a tearing effect where the guitar would come out from. Then I could see where the letters were going to stem off the river part to write “Blue Nile.”
If I wouldn’t have resisted my resistance, I wouldn’t have taken the opportunity to do this for Arjun. I think back to how important it is to face our fears and keep doing what we know in our hearts is what we’re meant to do.
Progress Photos
Phat N.
Interests: Science, Space, Design, Technology, Military
Phat N.
Interests: SCIENCE, SPACE, DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY, MILITARY
Blog Posts
2021-10-30: Never Give Up On Space Google Site Creation
Taking an idea and bringing it into form is not an easy task. Every step of the way needs to be thought through because you’re not simply reading from instructions to piece together your project. You’re actually conceptualizing your idea, architecting it, and then building it on your own.
Phat had an interest in watching instructional youtube videos and telling me all about how these youtubers were building rockets and parachutes and conducting various science experiments. All the avenues he was really interested in. I gently nudged him a few times to try out doing some of these projects on his own with one recommendation. I wanted him to use these videos as inspiration instead of simply copying them. Why? Because I knew it took a greater will power to develop something of his own. Not a new invention, but his own way of building something.
Phat tried out a parachute first and was pretty successful. We attached the parachute he made to a slimline aluminum bottle and got it up in the air a few times during our sessions to see if it would deploy. It did, but it needed to get to a higher elevation to really see if it worked. That would have to come at a later date.
Then Phat had an idea on how to build a rocket with some supplies he had in his house. I loved this idea of repurposing materials he already had so he didn’t have to purchase anything. The funny part was Phat didn’t tell me at first, but I knew he was working on something. I supported him with any kinds of questions he had, such as double checking math calculations for how to determine the diameter of a circle or mentioning how he had some dowels on one of the tables in his room and maybe it’d be a good support for a structure. Again I was thinking he was making a rocket, but wasn’t sure.
THE ROCKET
Two weeks later, Phat showed me the rocket and I was blown away. Not only by his ability to make it, but also by his creative skills to use the supplies he already had.
SPACE ARTWORK
Shortly after, this incredible artwork came through him.
ADDED COLOR
We brought this artwork into photoshop during our session and added a little color.
Next, I mentioned to Phat that I thought we needed to showcase his recent work on a free google site. He was excited and so was his family.
We took to designing this site over the next couple weeks, adding all his great content, and developing a parachute project for him and anybody else who was interested could work on together.
I was going to use Phat’s artwork above as the home page banner, but I was thinking how we still needed something original for the other section banners. Without mentioning this to him beforehand, Phat showed me this new set-up with his telescope. He put the telescope facing straight to the ground, placed a go pro to look through the eye piece, connected the go pro to our zoom session so I could see whatever was being shown through the telescope, and then Phat placed some pieces of colorful paper under the telescope. I was very curious to see what was going to happen. This is what came through on my end.
It was perfect. There were our header pictures and he didn’t even know we were needing them.
So Phat’s ideas all came to life in a very natural way.
Click the image below to be taken to the “Never Give Up On Space” google site.
Ten of us worked through the following curriculum during an hour time period:
Initial Goal Assessment
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Values: Discussion and Activity
Goal Setting: Personal, Educational, Training/Sports/Health, Professional
Match your goals to your values & your why
Action Plan: Contributing factors to achieve your goal
Visualization Exercise
I couldn’t be more pleased with the collaboration between the participants and myself along with the joint effort from Nate and I to create this program for them. We look forward to the next event and would love to hear your suggestions for another workshop. Maybe a Resilience / Perseverance workshop? What would you like to be covered in this workshop?
Send your thoughts my way: hello@thepathsleadingbacktome.com
2023-06-03: FTR Grand Opening
We always knew Nate had a business mindset because when he would be asked to cut the grass at a young age, he would find a friend in the neighborhood he could pay to do it for him.
Unfortunately, this business mindset took Nate down a dark path for a bit during his high school and early adult years, but he turned himself around and took the high road to becoming a physical therapist. From here he set out on finding a way to combine his knowledge of healthcare, personalized approach to helping patients, and his love for snowboarding and sports training.
I’m stoked to tell you Nate figured it out and took an opportunity to rent a 2,500 square foot space in Big Bear, CA where he got the equipment and tables he needs to start doing what is called functional training and rehab.
What is FTR?
It’s a therapy program that helps to improve a person’s overall physical fitness and performance by training the body to perform movements that are relevant to daily activities or sports.
Check out FTR’s instagram @ftrphysiotherapy that shows many great videos on exercises and techniques Nate and team does with their patients.
The grand opening was shared with two other businesses, a gym called Fitness Source and a mixed martial arts place called Fight Syndicate, that are housed under one facility called High Altitude Training Center.
Nate and I were able to collaborate during his grand opening where he opened up his space for me to facilitate a “Self-Worth Workshop” and put out samples of my skincare line, which will now be sold at Bear Valley Wellness down the street. It was a great success!
Eight lovely people joined in where we had a brainstorming session to identify our self-worth, created diagrams to personalize this discussion, and touched upon how our self-dialogue impacts our thoughts of self-worth vs. self-doubt.
Nate’s vision for this space is really beautiful. He wants to invite others who are experts in their areas of yoga, meditation, stretching, nutrition, therapy etc. to use FTR Physiotherapy as a place to gather and help bring full body transformations for all the people who come there. Couldn’t be more happy for this guy!
2021-09-11: "Stay Wild" Van Build
My brother, Nate tends to bring home interesting “gifts” that none of the family is expecting though apparently he thinks about them for quite some time beforehand just doesn’t tell anybody. Like when I was in high school and he brought home this yorkie and said we couldn’t get attached to the puppy because he
was planning on selling the little guy to someone else. Well you know that didn’t happen as planned and we learned many great life lessons from this playful dog.
Same thing happened when he brought this van over to my parent’s house with these ideas to do a custom build and live out of it. At the time we didn’t realize it was a big thing especially for sports enthusiasts to complete these amazing van builds and live on the road. But with anything Nate puts his mind too, we support him 110% and said let’s give it a go.
This all happened right as the COVID-19 lockdown was taking place. Nate, my dad, and I coincidentally were in the same place during these quiet months and it gave us the perfect opportunity to do a very fun project with the family. My dad, who grew up working alongside his father in a machine shop and later became an
aerospace engineer, was the brains behind the custom build. I simply used it as an apprenticeship to learn more about something I absolutely enjoyed doing. And my brother, well it allowed him to save time and money on the custom build being able to leverage two very willing enthusiasts to do a lot of the work with him. So let’s just say all the stars were aligned when they brought us together.
We thoroughly thought through the material selection process and decided to use aluminum for the framing because it was lighter than wood and we didn’t want anything heavy weighing the van down.
As we built over the next year, we immersed ourselves in this process of constructing with precision, strength, and the right materials. I learned all about a vernier and how to do fraction calculations that made my head spin! Don’t ask me to do it again because my mind will probably go blank. But what a very fun challenge it all was.
At the heart of this build was my brother. We wanted to make this van represent who he is and what he enjoys. So I started a mixed-media painting for Nate that was a replica of a picture taken of him snowboarding at Big Bear (same one that’s on his shirt in the header pic 😉).
We learned a lot from this van build, especially my brother. For one, after we added in this ceiling to provide greater insulation, Nate realized he probably should have gotten the taller van that was a bit more expensive so he could more comfortably walk around. Then after adding in the bed, he thought how it might have been better to have something that
folded up like a Murphy style bed or one that lifted to the ceiling so he could utilize the space in the back for more purposes.
It was good these learnings happened beforehand because half way into the project, Nate got into a bad snowboarding accident that left him with 9 broken bones and a collapsed lung.
It’s interesting how our outside worlds tend to symbolize what’s going on with our inner worlds because shortly after his van also got into an accident of its own.
With both of these occurrences and two offers that came in on the van, Nate had a little heart to heart with himself during the 3 month healing process. He came to the conclusion that it was best to let the van go and try again with one that would be more suitable to his living style sometime in the future.
This was a very wise move and one that happened when we renovated the Texas farmhouse. See we have to go through these test phases to know if something like “van living” or building a center out in the country is really the thing for us or not.
For Nate, he learned it was with a few modifications of course. For me, I learned I prefer a full, functioning, spacious bathroom with a flushable toilet. The pull out from under your bed, compost toilet doesn’t do it for me. But just because it’s not to my liking doesn’t mean that if the opportunity was presented to me, I’d shy away from it. In fact, I’d probably give it a go because what a crazy, cool experience.
With that, I take my hat off to all those who are living the incredible van life. Go adventure the world and I can’t wait til we get to custom build Nate’s future van when the stars align yet again.
Final Pictures
2021-08-15: "Stay Wild" Artwork
During my high school and college years, it was very rare that my family received a picture of my brother with any inkling of a smile on his face. He always looked a disinterested in the ones we did receive and well we started to wonder if he was ever going to find his spark. It’s hard to know when these great interests of ours are going to be rediscovered, but the day my family saw a photo of my brother flying through the air on his snowboard, which was printed in a newsletter for the mountain resort he worked at, we knew that spark had been found. Most of Nate’s face was covered by his helmet and goggles and there was no smile as usual, but instead was this sense of contentment emitting from his being. He’d found that inherent enjoyment he had been searching for and it was wonderful to see.
I had this picture printed on the back of a t-shirt the following Christmas. Nate wore this shirt all the time and I think was quite proud of it. So when he decided to do a custom van build, I wanted to personalize it even further with a painting of this very picture.
Since we were constantly at Home Depot purchasing supplies, I decided to pick up a piece of plywood and char the edges to frame out the picture nicely.
From here, I added in the layered background consisting first of watercolor, then acrylic, followed my markers and sharpie.
Progress Photos
Nate had been wearing this shirt that said “Stay Wild” and I happened to be reading Cheryl Stray’s book, “Wild” at the same time so I took it as a confirmation that a saying along these lines was going to need to go in the painting.
At the time, we were putting up the framing and plywood in the van, and every time we drilled into the aluminum, we get these curly “q” shavings that were a must for this artwork. They were going to resemble the snow floating up into the air as Nate took his jump perfectly. It was also going to symbolize the foundation in the van that you couldn’t see, but was holding up the walls with a lightness and strength just like Nate looked in the painting.
After the artwork was finished, we needed a unique frame to give it a little more dimension. My dad helped me come up with this design out of about $14 worth of materials. This was far better than the $300+ charge a custom frame was going to cost us. I used a blue and reddish stain, sharpie, and a green powder that was sealed with polyurethane.
To finish it up, my mom wanted to add her special touch and sewed a forest green cloth we put on the back with a thin piece of decorative aluminum. If you actually put the painting up against a window, you can see the cool design in the aluminum showing through the green cloth giving it an even more uniqueness.
All in all, it was super fun and took almost a year to complete.
MY OFFERING
Thank you for sharing a shining sample of your creativity, determination, and your love for your family.
It's a beautiful multifaceted artwork and its beauty is revealed, layer by layer, by the engaging story.
The parallels drawn between the LA fires and the crisis your mother and the rest of your family underwent, all happening at the same time, touched my heart and kept me riveted to the screen till the very last word.
May God's blessings be with you and your family.
- S.R. India