For the third week of The Rubin Daily Offering, meditation teacher and sustainability coach Kate Johnson joins the Rubin’s Chief Experience Officer Jamie Lawyer to explore how the gestures, mudras, and postures seen in artworks at the Rubin Museum can inspire us to be present in our bodies during challenging times.
In this episode, Jamie Lawyer introduces us to a painting of Milarepa, the famed Tibetan poet and yogi. Then Kate Johnson leads a meditation inspired by Milarepa’s gesture of listening to help us expand our receptive awareness.
Milarepa (1052-1135) and Scenes from His Life; Tibet; 18th century; Pigments on cloth; 33 × 24 3/8 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.174
Situ Panchen (1700-1774); From a Palpung set of Masters of the Combined Kagyu Lineages; Kham Province, Eastern Tibet; late 18th century, ca. 1760s; Pigments on cloth; 69 1/4 × 36 × 1 1/2 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Purchased from the Collection of Navin Kumar, New York; C2003.29.2
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; Nepal; 13th - 14th century; Gilt copper alloy with semiprecious stone inlay; 16 1/8 × 6 1/2 × 2 7/8 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.16.8
Bodhisattva Maitreya; Tibet or China; 17th - 18th century; Pigments on cloth; 58 1/2 × 32 1/2 in. (estimated); Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.34
Fourth Demo Rinpoche, Lhawang Gyeltsen (1631–1668); Tibet or China; Dated by inscription, 1667; Pigments on cloth; 101 x 64 x 3 1/4 in. (256.5 x 162.6 x 8.3 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, gift of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; F1997.45.2
Kate Johnson works at the intersections of spiritual practice, social action, and creativity. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation in the Western Insight/Theravada tradition since her early twenties and is empowered to teach through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School/Fordham University, and MA in performance studies from NYU.
Kate is a core faculty member of MIT’s Presencing Institute, and has trained hundreds of leaders and change-makers in using Social Presencing Theater, a mindfulness and dance improvisation methodology used to inform strategic planning and systems change in our complex world.
Jamie Lawyer is the chief experience officer at the Rubin Museum of Art. She previously served as the head of interpretation, digital learning, and evaluation for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
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