Charles A. Francis does a great job talking about the mindfulness movement that is spreading by the day. We see the practice of mindful meditation transforming our society whether that is in the next few years or the next 100 years. At some point, a major emphasis will be placed by schools, governments, and educational institutions on meditation and the practice of being mindful to the present moment. We believe that this process helps mitigate suffering.

Via Mindfulness Meditation Institute

You’ve probably noticed that talk about mindfulness meditation is much more common today than it was just a few years ago. Nowadays, I hear about mindfulness meditation from a variety of different sources: on the news, television talk shows, online, and most often in conversation.

It wasn’t long ago that people who meditated were considered to be on the fringes of society. In the 60s and 70s, they were called hippies. In the 80s and 90s, they were called new-agers.

Today, people who meditate are seen as progressive and open-minded. Whatever term we may use to describe them, they are generally loving, kind, generous, insightful, and willing to help others achieve the same rich and fulfilling lives they have.

Mindfulness Meditation Migrates to the West

Though mindfulness meditation has been around for a long time, its migration to the West has been slow, but that has changed over the last few years. There are several reasons for this:

• Changes in the social and political environment. The end of the Cold War has enabled more communication between Eastern and Western societies.
• Advances in communication technology. The rise of the Internet has made communication between cultures much easier, which previously did not interact very much.
• Prominent figures active in diffusing the practice. Most notably, the Dalai Lama has been quite active in engaging the West. Interestingly, a great deal of his interaction has been with the scientific community, to encourage scientists to conduct research on the practice.
• Compatibility with Western values. Since mindfulness meditation is practice, and not a religion, practitioners don’t have to abandon the current spiritual faith in order to avail themselves of the benefits of the practice.
• Effectiveness of the practice. Mindfulness meditation is proving to be extremely effective for all-around personal development.

Read more about scientific evidence, the practice in relation to social issues and more by clicking the link above. 

Click on the map to zoom in and find the breweries around your home.

Urbanarbolismo have designed a vertical garden for the Palacio de Congresos Europa (Palace of Congresses Europe) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

Via Urbanarbolism: 

The city of Vitoria- Gasteiz is recognized internationally for integrating biodiversity and green spaces in the urban architecture. Within the Inside Green Ring Project Urbanarbolismo and Unusualgreen studios have made this green facade to bring the sorrounding ecosystems to the city center.

The vertical garde has a total area of 1492m2, of which 1000m2 are an hydroponic vertical garden system f + p and 492m2 are made of climbing plants covering the windows. We have been used more than 33,000 native plants of different varieties from Alava and the Basque Country .

The main reason to make the project was to improve energy consumption of the Palace of Congresses, the vertical garden “f + p preplant ” system adds a thermal resistance of 2,644 m2.K / W . This represents a 270% increase on the existing facade insulation, resulting in energy savings.

The design performs the ecosystems that exist in the surrounding of the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. From left to right the facade shows the wetland vegetation of Salburua, the agricultural field plots Alava, the ecosystems from the loamy hills and beech forests of the mountains of Vitoria.

At the base of the facade we have placed a corten steel backlit socket which contains an explanation of the ecosystems and plant species of the vertical garden. 97% of the species used in the garden are native or endemic from Álava. This is one of the first vertical garden reproducing native ecosystems of the area where it is located.The use of native plants in the design has been one of the main challenges of the project, many of the plants from Vitoria are adapted to periods of drought and are struggling to survive in moist environments such as conventional vertical gardening systems. For this project we redesigned the f+p system, optimizing substrate saturation so that these plants can perfectly grow .

Image and Article Via WSJ

The new musical “Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds,” written by the late reggae musician’s eldest daughter, Cedella, will open at the New Victory Theater in New York on Feb. 7, one day after what would have been his 69th birthday.

“This is going to be the best birthday ever for dad,” Cedella Marley said. “There will be a lot of children around celebrating.”

The musical is based on Cedella’s children’s book, “Three Little Birds,” which she wrote after realizing that her father’s song would calm her own three young children. “That was the song that could put them to bed at night and wake them up in the mornings,” she said. “My middle son was getting bullied at school. He would come home crazy sad and I would hum the song to him.”

The “Three Little Birds” musical originated in Washington, D.C., last year, and Cedella remembers bringing her three children to the opening night. “To see the little children in the audience singing along — I thought maybe they would know 1-2 songs, but they knew so many,” she said “I was like, wait a minute! They were singing ‘One love.’”

In addition, the musical includes the title song “Three Little Birds,” “Jamming,” “Roots Rock Reggae,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Is This Love” and many others. The show will play at the New Victory until Feb. 23.

Speakeasy talked with Cedella Marley about “Three Little Birds,” preserving Bob Marley’s legacy from oversaturation, and whether the Marley family will open a marijuana farm.

Are there plans for “Three Little Birds” to transfer to Broadway?

Listen, I’m crossing my fingers and my toes. I would love that. That’s one of my dreams, to see dad’s music on Broadway. “Reggae on Broadway,” which is one of his songs too.

Bob has played so many roles to so many people. It is exciting to hear that he will still be touching many children and adults through a musical show. 

Share this:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Email