PATHS 1: Wire, screens, stainless steel frame, epoxy, assorted beads, automotive paint. 36×24 inches, 2022. Submitted for Salo-Salo, J. Studio’s Yearend Group Exhibit.
PATHS 2: Wire, screens, stainless steel frame, epoxy, assorted beads, automotive paint. 30×40 inches, 2022. Submitted for Figuras 2022, Pinto’s yearend group exhibit.
These pieces are about changing routines, meditation, and neuroplasticity.
I first attended yoga classes in 2009 (Bikram Yoga) mainly to lose weight. The following year, I moved to another studio (Ananda Marga) to try a different (and gentler) form of yoga (tantra). I tried meditating at home for some time, then gave up the practice entirely.
Fast forward to September 2022. Personal events propelled me to take up the practice again, for several reasons.
First, I needed to partake in calming activities and to mindfully set aside ME TIME (apart from my creative work).
Second, I saw a Reiki Healer/ Soul Reader who told me to get create new routines. Ove a decade ago, the Therapist told me the same thing, “to create new paths in my brain”, she said. Getting this input both from a mystic and a “person of science”, I thought, “There’s no escaping this. This is something I really need to do”.
I started with this 10-minute guided meditation from YouTube, which I also found on Spotify (and added to my Library). Over three months into the practice, I now mostly meditate to instrumentals such as hang drum compositions, or look for music with keywords “Zen”, “Reiki”, and “Chakra” on Spotify.
I find that stretching and doing yoga beforehand primes my mind better for meditation. My mediation times differ, as do my disposition during, and afterwards. There are still days I feel “blah” and meditation becomes just that – a daily routine. Many days have been quite trippy and have given a me a natural high. Most days, I happily and peacefully welcome whatever the day has in store.
When I started this routine, I searched the keywords “routine” “brain” and “paths” to better understand what my Therapist said. Dr. Google led me to “Neuroplasticity”. This article defines Neuroplasticity as “the brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience… referring to the brain’s ability to change, reorganize, or grow neural networks”. Creating and sticking to routines help us strengthen neurons and develop new connections.
If you notice both works above, there are curved lines and spaces that represent these paths. The mandalas represent meditation (Creating mandalas itself is a meditative practice. This is another activity which I added to my daily routine: A Circle/ Mandala a Day). For the figures, I made multiples of the figures in “Free”, an epoxy relief I made in 2007.
(The colors and title betray what the piece was about. I carved out what I deemed then were week, vulnerable spots: the vagina (with societal expectations of the female sex), the uterus (being measured by our ability to procreate, raise a family, and sacrifice ourselves for the the welfare of everyone else), the heart (feeling too much, caring too much, loving to a fault), and the face (the price we pay for being our true selves, for keeping it real.)
For PATHS 1 and 2, I have covered those spaces in women’s bodies. Now, they are complete. Now, they are at peace. Many things can happen in 15 years.
If I keep at this routine, I wonder what life will be like in the next 15.
STEPH LOPEZ ART 
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