“Wherever you are is called Here,” the speaker continues.
Stillness is an intentional pause to think, listen and notice the external world, to observe one’s internal state; it transforms our relationship with time and space and often ourselves. A moment of stillness is like a brief journey to another place.
“When the body is able to find some quiet,” explains Reverend Inryu of All Beings Zen community in Adams Morgan, “the mind has an opportunity to quiet down.”
Stillness is a precursor of meditation. One settles on a chair or on a cushion, organizing the skin, tissues, muscles and bones of the body to find a steady seat.
Even in the movement of walking meditation, a person cultivates a sense of internal stillness, clearing the sky of the mind. In group walking meditation, the custom is to take the pace of the most unhurried walker, voluntarily slowing. Notions of compassion and interconnection correlate with stillness. Inryu points out that all religions include contemplative practices for quiet retreat.
“Stillness has a lot of virtues,” agrees Washington, D.C., area bird watcher Nick Lund, who blogs at The Birdist, “and one of them is seeing how quickly everything else is moving. There’s a relativity there.”
We know that as long as we’re alive, we’re never truly still. However, by identifying gradations of movement, we increase awareness of ourselves and others.
“Birding is not particularly still in general,” Lund clarifies, “but when you’re in the woods, especially at this time of year when the woods can seem empty and quiet, you can just stop and close your eyes and be perfectly still and listen, and that’s when you start to pick up on how active everything else is. You start hearing birds and squirrels and all the other animals, people and dogs moving around.”
In a room, where meditators typically keep their eyes open, “being settled may open up a vantage to be more aware of what’s happening in the moment,” Inryu explains. “That can be a lot of activity, shifting sunlight or moonlight, shadows on the walls, the breathing and adjusting of people in the room.”
Inryu describes a quality of peace with our essential essence that comes from slowing down so completely. This peace allows us to be present.
“I think of being still as an opportunity to create conditions where you can be a human in your being aspect, rather than your doing aspect,” Inryu says.
Stilling transforms us from participants to observers. It’s as if we move off the playing field of modern human life to sit on the sidelines and observe the game. Whether noticing a thought or noticing a bird, we engage wholly.
“There’s beauty everywhere,” says Inryu, who has lived in D.C. for 23 years. She describes a flock of pigeons in a tree on Adams Mill Road that flew up all at once in a dance, like a murmuration of starlings.
“I even think of the exquisite beauty of people outside the Metro stations offering music,” she adds.
Attuning to the soundscape of the self and the city is a way to recognize the range of calm amid noise. Experiment with this by sitting or standing still for a minute or two for ambient sound meditation. Listen for sounds near and then farther and farther away. Notice the sounds without attaching to a single one. Then broaden and focus the awareness on sounds like turning the lens of a camera.
By pausing and listening, Lund saw something unexpected.
“I was trying to find a barred owl in Rock Creek Park on the last day of the year. I went up there around dusk and hung out and it was empty. It was quiet and cold, but I just stopped — one thing you can do with owls is stay still. I wasn’t moving, I wasn’t talking and I heard a rattling.”
He stayed still.
“I could tell it was a redheaded woodpecker and by just standing in that spot the bird came close and I was able to get a great look.That mindfulness and patience was rewarding. I didn’t see the bird I went out to see but I saw something surprising. I wouldn’t have seen it had I been trudging along.”
There’s a mutual benefit to being completely present with another. That “an-other” could be a person or a bird or even yourself. Stillness shelters a sense of whole-hearted attention on intimacy, on warmth, friendliness and an affinity for inhabiting a point in time.
For Lund, birding is a way to “slip into a calm and interesting mindset. It’s a hobby that fits me.”
For someone else, it might be listening to the tock of a grandfather clock, gazing at a painting, smelling the fragrance of simmering stew, floating in a swimming pool, sitting with a pet, gazing into the light of a candle, noticing the breath.
Identifying how you can still and what brings you peace is the key. Then, with practice, these attributes of stillness carry into actions as you move along life’s literal and figurative hectic roadways.
“I look forward to being shoved in a home somewhere and being able to sit quietly and look out a window at a bird feeder,” Lund says. “That would be a mental stillness, of a life pretty much over with, an unburdening that is involved in that and a time when you can devote time to your hobby. That’s a stillness that I’m looking forward to.”
— Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches small group and private lessons in yoga, meditation and writing in Harpers Ferry, W.V. and Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
Wardrobe of Warhol’s Washington Editor Up for Auction
INVITED TO A fancy dinner dance in February, a high-power luncheon in March; and what will you wear to the 2017 inaugural (it’s never too early to plan)? If you’ve got any special event on your calendar or just want to look stylish on a Tuesday, then bidding at the Sloans & Kenyon fashion auction in Chevy Chase this Friday and Saturday is a must.
The 638-item lot includes an abundance of riches: Dior dresses, Courrèges skirt suits and coats and couture Dennis Basso furs from the estate of Ina Ginsburg; from the estate of a Massachusetts Avenue medical industry executive and from the closet of a Middleburg socialite come a fire-red Valentino slip-like gown, a knitted Russian sable wrap that feels magically lightweight and a Pauline Trigère black-and-white cut velvet cocktail dress. More to love: men’s cashmere and shearling coats, Ferragamo and Christian Louboutin shoes, Judith Leiber bags, jewelry and vintage gloves.
Particularly interesting because of their elegance, construction and provenance are the 65 items from Ina Ginsburg. The Vienna native, who left Austria by cargo ship to escape the Nazis, made it to the United States and married prominent lawyer David Ginsburg. The couple purchased a 19th-century home in Georgetown, where Mrs. Ginsburg was famous for her lavish parties, one of which she gave in honor of artist Andy Warhol. The two became friends and Warhol asked her to be the Washington editor of his celeb-focused magazine, Interview. She also was an arts patron — a trustee of what is now the National Opera and of the American Film Institute. And, she advised her fellow Austrian, Arnold Schwarzenegger, how to up his game from weight lifter to actor, etc.
The woman needed a wardrobe for her many roles. But she was anything but a passive buyer and lucky for her, she had a seamstress to help customize her clothing choices. She was a fan of adding detachable white collars to personalize jackets and dresses, according to auction curator, Sabina Fogle. She had weights added to seams to make a Ralph Lauren jacket lay right and narrowed the cuffs on a nubby cream Oscar de la Renta coat.
De la Renta, André Courrèges and Carolina Herrera were among her favorite designers. Slightly frustrating to the auction house but emblematic of her character was her penchant for removing designer labels from her clothing. For auction goers, the catch is that Ginsburg was petite; sizes go from 0 to 4. But there are plenty of mediums and larges in the remaining 500-plus items of the lot. Which includes lots of coats from Guy Laroche, Ralph Lauren and Dolce Gabbana (in tailored leather). Lots of furs, too — chinchilla, lynx, mink, raccoon and sable. But if wearing fur makes you anxious, there are several with water-repellent outer shells and warm fur linings. All are priced well below what it would cost to buy a fur today. Just an example: a Russian sable floor-length coat has a suggested bidding price of $7,000-$10,000. A similar coat at Saks Fifth Avenue retails for $85,000.
Head to Sloans & Kenyon tomorrow for a sneak preview and for the chance to try clothing on. For more information on the bidding process, go the website or call 301-634-2330.
I WAS CHIDING myself for staying in my pajamas one day last week even though I was working on a particularly vexing software problem and was glued to my computer. I admitted to my cousin what I was still wearing when we spoke later that afternoon and to add insult to injury, he joked that staying in pjs all day could be a warning of mental illness. No, really?
Then the very next day, the headline of Wall Street Journal fashion reporter Christina Binkley’s story read “Fashion’s Latest Command: Wear Pajamas in the Daytime.” Of course, my lavender and white flannel pajama set from Brooks Brothers wasn’t the kind of sleepwear she was referring to, and she didn’t suggest wearing any of it to the office. Still, Binkley did refer to it as one crazy trend, and then backed off, saying it wasn’t all that nutty a look considering that pajama tops are roomy versions of buttoned blouses, and bottoms are forgiving and comfy. (The best ones to wear outside the house have waistbands.)
Binkley’s not alone. Glamour.com recently declared, “Boudoir elegance is one of the newest fashion trends to come out of the spring 2016 runway season.” The Telegraph (UK) concurred that the “pyjama-as-outerwear movement is on the verge of going mainstream.”
I never imagined I would wear my workout gear in any other place than the gym, but now most days when I don’t have appointments I’m in my home office wearing my yoga pants and top, and it’s not a stretch for me to pull on a jacket and then run some errands or grab a coffee at the local barista.
They say “never say never,” but unless I’m sleepwalking, there’s no way I’m going to show up anywhere—even at a fashion-forward evening gathering in any city in even the fanciest set of silk pajamas. Full disclosure: In the late ’70s, I bought a loose-fitting buttoned shirt with contrast piping around the open neckline and chicly, or so I thought, tucked it into my denim pencil skirt to wear to a party on NYC’s Upper West Side. When it got very late and our hosts suggested that my boyfriend and I sleep over, he cracked, “Janet’s already wearing her pajamas.” From then on, I’ve thought pajamas should remain at home.
–Janet Kelly
What do you think about wearing pajamas outside the bedroom? Send an email to info@mylittlebird.com and let us know.
AS A STUDENT of classical mythology, I was introduced to Janus, worshiped by the ancient Romans as the god of all beginnings as well as the god of exits and entrances. A “janus” was a ceremonial gateway in Rome through which mighty armies once marched. In paintings, sculpture and on coins, the god is represented by a double-faced head, which is thought to be looking forward and looking back.
Which is what everyone seems to be doing this time of year. InStyle and The New York Times, among others, chronicled fashion’s biggest moments of 2015, including Caitlyn Jenner’s arrival on the fashion scene and the departures of Dior’s Raf Simons and Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz. In trends, designers looked back to the ’70s with wide-leg pants, fedoras and fringe all touted as must-haves. The influential Marc Jacobs took a liking to Victorian looks on his fall runway, as did Joseph Altuzarra with his prim lace blouses. Turtlenecks made a comeback and so did fur, both faux and real. And, let’s not forget “winter florals,” athletic-inspired attire and puffer coats. One of the few looking or rather leaping ahead was Belgian designer Iris Van Herpen whose 3-D printing and innovative use of materials like stainless steel gave her fall collection an otherworldly, sci-fi look.
Speaking of science fiction, the new film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” is poised to influence our fashion choices for 2016. Says fashion critic Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times, …”I would look out for (in no particular order, and in both men’s and women’s wear): the return of sand tones; the rise of the flight-suit variation of the jumpsuit; distressed leather; pleated drapery beyond Fortuny silks; and tailored kimono dressing.”
From Spring 2016 runways, fashion prognosticators from The Washington Post, Vogue and The Wall Street Journal think bold colors (lots of reds and blues), graphic prints, embellishments (feathered and embroidered denim), lingerie-influenced clothing and lots of shoulder-revealing garments have a shot at showing up at a store near you. Because runway rarely translates to reality, it is yet to be determined what you will actually buy once these clothes arrive mid-February or thereabouts.
It’s free and easy, takes only a few minutes and seems to promote health and harmony.
Humming turns the body into a musical instrument, creating vibrations that travel through spaces, such as nasal cavities. Like a hall monitor, humming keeps things moving to clear the way.
Recent studies reported in the New York Times show that humming “helps increase airflow between the sinus and nasal cavities, which could potentially help protect against sinus infections.” Mucus build-up leads to infection. That’s when your head feels dull and achey.
The musical aspect of humming may explain why it can be a mood lifter. We connect with another time and place by humming a nostalgic tune. Musicologist Joseph Jordania believes humming may be one of humans’ earliest means of communication, letting one another know they are safe.
As with singing, humming leads to a longer exhalation, which can be soothing. A humming breath sequence used in yoga, called brahmari, or bee breath, is said to deepen breathing and reduce anxiety. Practice the breath alone, where you might feel less self-conscious, or recruit a friend.
When I’ve led brahmari breathing in yoga classes, buzzing like bees proves so fun that people often smile. This exercise can delight children and — if you’re willing to hum like a hive with them — may distract them from a bad temper.
Want to try it? Stand or sit with a neutral, relaxed posture. Take two breaths, feeling rooted in the chair or on the ground. Gently place the thumbs in the ears and fingers over brow bone, closed eyelids and upper cheeks. Lips lightly sealed, inhale through the nostrils and then exhale through the nose and make the sound of the letter “m.” Carry the sound throughout the exhalation. To sustain the buzzing, the exhalation needs to be intentional, but not forceful. Continue as long as you like, then pause to notice the stillness and quiet. Where do you feel sensation in the body?
A more familiar sound from yoga is “Om.” It should be a three-part vocalization — a-u-m — concluding in the “m” of a hum.
One study used brain imaging to measure the Om sound’s potential to stimulate auricular branches of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve influences both the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, touching in with multiple organs, including heart and stomach, as it wanders down from the brain stem through the body.
“Humming’s going to affect your vagus nerve and that’s going to affect your level of anxiety,” said West Virginia-based somatic movement therapist Lauren Wadsworth. She adds that humming may affect tissue as well.
“I use sound sometimes, though I don’t do it out loud,” Wadsworth says of humming silently as she works on a massage client. “I notice it will shift the density of the tissue.”
“Hum” is onomatopoeic — the word formed around the sound associated with it — and dates back to the 14th century. Wordless, humming appears simple. But as a form of vocal activation, it requires collaboration of both hemispheres of the brain, as speech does.
Try simple humming with one hand on the chest and one on the abdomen. Notice the vibrations. Use the senses of sound, touch and feeling to focus the mind for a few breaths.
Humming engages brain and body, bringing a sense of integration that can be calming. It’s as if we are attuned. This may help explain why people with autism are known to hum. When humming becomes repetitive and stereotyped, the activity can signal dementia.
“There’s something powerful about music, sounds and voice,” Wadsworth says. Who, what, when and how people hum taps into personality and biology.
The average adult human body is 50 to 75 percent water. “We know that sounds moves through water, it’s an incredibly resonant field,” Wadsworth points out. “So we become more resonant as we become more fluid.”
This resonance, she believes, can connect us not just with ourselves and other people but with a broader sense of belonging. “Our life on this planet is about water, so as soon as we become more fluid we become more resonant with all of life on this planet.”
Connecting is largely about effective communication which, for humans, means language. Beyond being an end in itself, humming can be used as a vocal warm-up, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Begin with the nasal sound “m” and glide from a high to low pitch as if sighing. After speaking, humming can provide a vocal cool down: Focus on a tickling feeling in the nose.
Think there’s something melodious to your humming? Transform it into musical notation. Forbes reported on a smartphone app that scores sounds recorded into your mobile phone, including humming.
Whether you’re humming for health or harmony, consider keeping the crooning on the hush-hush. Like using a neti pot, humming to clear sinus passageways may best be practiced behind a closed door. And humming for happiness — outside of a yoga class — may wisely stay a solitary joy. Leave public humming to the birds and the bees.
–Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches private lessons in yoga and meditation in Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
IF YOU HAVEN’T yet unearthed that perfect thingamajig for your niece who just moved to D.C., your food-loving son-in-law in Connecticut, your jewelry-obsessed bestie in Boston or anyone else still on your list, let MyLittleBird guide you.
You undoubtedly remember our Shop Opp in November, when we brought together 30 local retailers for a one-day holiday shopping extravaganza? Well, from these home-grown merchants, we’ve selected 10 practical and whimsical ideas to help you complete your list and get on to celebrating the season.
–Janet Kelly
For cold-weather enthusiasts. The lucky recipient of a pair of Skhoop socks ($32) can make a statement while trekking, skiing or just putting up their feet by the fire. Available at Core72 (core72dc.com), 5502 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-686-4258 and 3316 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-244-1100.
Find the breed of your favorite dog owner on one of these pillows made by a local D.C. artist. Irresistible. $50 at Cheeky Puppy, 1709 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202 621-8868 and cheeky puppy.com.
Top off a bottle of Limoncello or olive oil or wine with a little bit of Italian style. This cheery ceramic bottle stopper ($18) is from the Via Umbria store at 1525 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-333-3904 and viaumbria.com.
Who knew storage containers could look this good? Scout Bags! This Palm Beach Pink stackable bin ($59.50) with a lid folds flat when not in use. Perfect for a first apartment. See scoutbags.com for area locations.
A black and white marble cheese board. We haven’t seen any cooler. $88, mintwoodhome.com.
Estiletta carries lesser-known Spanish and Italian designer clothing and accessories, including this on-trend Victorian guipure lace necklace by Colette Barcelona. $65, www.estiletta.com.
Stress relief perhaps? Coloring books for adults are flying off the shelves. “Just Add Color: Mid-Century Modern Patterns” ($12.99) makes an unexpected fun gift. A set of four coasters with individual fabric designs on cork board for fans of artist Louise Bourgeois ($25). Both at National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave NW, 202-783-1994 and shop.nmwa.org.
HOW SETTLED ARE YOU in your seat? If you’re sitting on a chair of any sort, you may have already joined the ranks of the uncomfortably settled.
The health hazards of sitting are making news: A recent poster published by The Washington Post graphically depicts the disease, degeneration and correlating death that may result from too much cushion warming.
The Post’s tips suggest sitting up straight, away from the chair back, shoulders relaxed, arms bent at the elbows and close to the sides, relying on the body’s underpinnings,
A rarer option is abandoning the chair to come to the ground. Sitting on the floor gives new meaning to supporting oneself. And because most of us can’t sit on the floor for any great length of time, we move around more than we would when planted in a chair.
Sitting on the floor reconnects us with the earthiness of being alive. It can be easier to find one’s center of gravity without furniture’s encumbrances. Some consider the practice “grounding,” believing it calms and centers the mind while energizing the body.
“It’s a confidence builder,” says Sally Craig, who teaches gentle yoga at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in D.C. “Being aware of where your body is in space. Having that level of body awareness is critically important for avoiding falls or falling safely, with the least amount of damage.”
A relatively new fitness measurement known as the sitting-rising test (SRT) assigns points to the amount of effort required for a person to sit down on and rise from the floor. NBC News reports that in people of all ages, SRT results correspond with longevity.
“The simple act of sitting on the floor (and getting up again) can increase the strength and flexibility of your legs, hips and back,” writes Victoria Moran in Younger by the Day. “Excessive sitting on chairs, on the other hand — unless you are acutely conscious of your posture and the placement of your body in space — encourages relaxed abdominals and rounded shoulders.”
Yet, for many of us, sitting on the floor is not as easy as it was in the last century, when our limber little bodies were called to the carpet for kindergarten circle time.
“For some people, it’s very uncomfortable to sit cross-legged on the floor,” says Craig. “That’s actually an anatomical situation. It has a lot to do with how open people’s hips are, and the way that their hips are open.”
As an alternative, she’ll have students sit on the floor with legs extended.
“There’s nothing like having a room full of people your age or older down on the floor,” says Craig, who turns 72 next month. Her students range in age from 65 to 90.
Sitting on the floor can restore a sense of childlike aplomb, whether in a yoga class or at home.
On the ground, we play with pets, kids and grandkids. Being on the floor levels the playing field with family and friends; we leave the hierarchical arrangement of living room furniture to gather on a rug around a board game or warm up before a fireplace with a glass of wine or mug of cider.
If sitting on the floor is already natural for you, carry on, accepting changes along the way. We all need to keep at it.
“I’ve noticed it’s harder for me to get up and down off the floor,” Craig says. “To get up, I have to go from sitting to table pose to kneeling and then lift my hips up. I look for things to hold onto.”
If sitting on the floor is new for you, get cleared by your doctor and your common sense, then move slowly. Stay near a sturdy chair or bench. Consider engaging a yoga teacher or movement specialist for guidance. Be safe.
Once on the floor, shift your position every few minutes. As Craig points out, “There are all sorts of ways of being on the floor besides just sitting.”
Transition to the floor in stages. If you’re accustomed to an Aeron chair, try taking a phone call perched on a stool, engaging the muscles of front and back body to keep you upright.
If you’re propped on a sofa tapping at your laptop, slip down to the carpet, set the machine on a low table, and align the neck long and shoulders broad and strong.
To investigate a cross-legged seat, tuck feet beneath shins to support opposite thighs. Keep the level of the knees below the hips by propping the sitting bones on a folded blanket or cushion. Your bottom will be on the support, thighs on the floor.
Imagine, as Eric Franklin urges in Dynamic Alignment through Imagery, that you have sneakers on the sitting bones. Rise through the crown of the head and let shoulder blades slide down the back as you roll the pubic bone forward. When the pelvis feels neutral, draw the spine perpendicular to the floor. Get a sense of the ribbon of spine supporting torso, especially the lumbar curve at the spine’s base.
Tuck a support — rolled towels or small pillows — beneath the knees to alleviate strain. Be sure to alternate the cross of the legs. Check out Richard Rosen’s The Yoga of Breath, for supported sitting postures using blankets and other props.
Keep in mind that sitting, like standing, is about balance. Balance requires establishing a solid base (feet or sitting bones, depending) on which to arrange hips, shoulders and ears in vertical relationship.
The head is heavy — 10 to 12 pounds. So no matter where you are sitting — even in a chair — gently situate the skull so that it feels light, even suspended.
And know that, no matter where you are, altering the body’s position in space affects what the mind perceives.
–Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches private lessons in yoga and meditation in Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
SEE THE PHOTOS from MyLittleBird’s pre-holiday gift-shopping extravaganza at Dock 5 at DC’s Union Market.
Sophie Blake selling her awesome jewelry. In the background, Sophie’s assistant Kay helps LittleBird Janet pick a custom lipstick color from vendor Finding Ferdinand. / MyLittleBird photo.
Shoppers Sandy Davis, left, and Jacqueline Trescott eye the vintage jewelry offerings at Madge Novel Vintage (that’s Madge in the center). / MyLittleBird photo.
Shopper Bonnie Kogod admires Mintwood Home’s well-curated selection of decorative accessories. Seated are Mintwood founder Heloise McKee and director of brand strategy Caroline Lawler. (Kogod also bagged an incredible Roberto Cavalli bustier at the CarpeLuxe boutique, not shown.) / MyLittleBird photo.
Bejeweled vintage shoes, fedoras, a Chanel clutch and fringed accessories from luxury consignment shop Ella Rue. / MyLittleBird photo.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts mini-shop offered interactive art books, knitting kits, mugs and many more holiday gifts. More than one LittleBird bought that do-it-yourself cardboard reindeer, shown at the center of the picture. / MyLittleBird photo.
A great big thank you to all our vendors.
Scout Bags made selecting just one gorgeous color combination a hard choice; Core 72‘s activewear was cozy enough to wear happily at home; Yinibini Baby‘s tiny T-shirts and bibs were irresistible, interactive art books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts gift shop were a no-brainer for grandchildren. Everyone wanted olive oil from Via Umbria! For guy gifts, sleek selections from the Grooming Lounge; The Cheeky Puppy pleased our many dog lovers with pillows and toys. Covetable modern jewelry came from Sophie Blake New York, fun accessories and tunic tops from Urban Pearl and faux fur collars and yummy-colored sweaters among the many offerings from J.McLaughlin. Joe Elbert‘s hand-crafted furniture was heartbreakingly beautiful. ShoeLaLa‘s shoes made us forget our aching feet. We swooned over the bud vases, custom pillows and cocktail napkins from online home decor store Mintwood Home. And how about the fringe and fedoras from luxury consignment shop Ella Rue!
Hysteria, we first visited you in Old Town in 1999 when you were a tiny boutique. Now there’s so much more clothing and accessories! Estiletta with its clothing from new Spanish designers, Carpe Luxe‘s vintage clothing in all price ranges and Wild River Jewelry are fantastic new discoveries.
According to yoga legend Vanda Scaravelli, moving through yoga poses shifts a person’s energy levels.
“While the process of transformation is going on,” Scaravelli writes in Awakening the Spine, “various changes are taking place in the substance of which the body is composed: in the heart, blood, lungs, bones, etc., bringing order and new vitality to the body.”
It makes sense that gentle movement, with attention to the body’s alignment and breath, can cheer us up. After all, the heart is positioned between the right and left lungs. When its muscular walls beat, blood pumps to all parts of the body.
The lungs allow the body to take in oxygen from the air. In addition to the diaphragm, muscles in the neck and collarbone area, the abdomen and between the ribs help the lungs expand and contract for breathing.
Five minutes, five moves.
1. Seated pose with simple breath flow (first pose).
Sit toward the front of the seat in a sturdy chair. Place feet under knees, connecting the soles with the floor. Bring the spine long to align shoulders over hips, ears over shoulders. Palms of the hands rest on the thighs. Inhale.
On an exhale, slide the palms forward on the thighs to round the shoulders and back, drawing the chin toward the chest (second pose).
On an inhale, slide the palms back toward the hips, elbow points behind, lifting the chest and face. Picture the collarbones “smiling” (third pose).
Repeat four more times, exhaling to round, inhaling to lengthen.
2. Return to the seated pose.
Lift the arms, bringing the upper arms parallel and the forearms perpendicular with the floor. Keep the feet engaged. Inhale, gentle pressing the feet into the floor, the sitting bones into the chair seat and rising through the crown of the head and then… (fourth pose)
Exhale to gently rotate to the right, placing the left hand on the right thigh, finding a resting place for the right hand on the chair seat behind you (fifth pose).
Stay in this shape for two breaths. Release on an exhale, returning to the seated mountain pose.
See if you can let the head follow the heart, unwinding in this order: torso, shoulders, neck, face.
Repeat, gentle rotating to the left. Hold the shape for two breaths.
3. Return to the seated pose. Stay seated and on an inhalation, raise the arms overhead, palms facing each other. On an exhalation, keep the fingers toward the ceiling as the shoulder blades descend down the back. Imagine the bottom tips of the shoulder blades reaching in to the torso toward the back of the heart.
Hold for three additional breaths. Awaken the whole body, from heels to toes up through fingertips. Keep the spine long, face relaxed. Smile (sixth pose).
You can also stand for this movement (seventh pose).
You can also lift the face toward the ceiling, echoing the gentle backbend you practiced in the chair. Stay strong through the legs (eighth pose).
4. Still seated?
Make sure the feet remain connected with the floor. Inhale and lift the arms, gently grasping the right wrist with the left fingertips. Exhale and bend to the left.
Notice the right sitting bone. Imagine lengthening all along the right side of the body from sitting bone to fingertips while maintaining space along the left ribs as well (ninth pose).
Inhale and return to center. Exhale to release the arms.
Standing?
Same movement with a balance challenge. Lengthen and bend. Create space in the side body, moving with the breath (tenth pose). Practice the pose on both sides.
5. The last movement synthesizes these movements in a standing peaceful warrior flow.
Stand with the feet hip distance apart. Step the left foot in front of the right. The left toes point forward. Turn the right foot out at a slight angle.
The torso: shoulders over hips, ears over shoulders, gaze ahead.
Feel engaged across the soles and edges of both feet. This is home base.
On an inhalation, lift the arms and bend the front leg slightly, keeping the knee moving straight forward and behind the tips of the toes.
On an exhalation, lower the arms as the front leg straightens, return to home base, where you started.
(For balance support, stand near a wall or sturdy chair. Keep the left fingers on a solid surface and raise only the right arm.)
Repeat the action five to 10 times.
Notice how the relationship of crown of the head over the pelvis needn’t change. Feel how the body’s weight shifts slightly and fluidly.
Imagine the movement creating space among the ribs and collarbones, throughout the upper back. Imagine breath traveling through that space.
“There is also great beauty in following, while breathing, the slow spreading of the lungs so delicate and, and at the same time, so powerful, bringing life into all of us,” Scaravelli says.
Let breath guide the movement, slow, steady, bright.
When you feel complete on both sides, stand or sit for a moment to absorb the effects of lifting, lengthening, bending, revolving, reaching and returning the body for a few minutes in space.
“You will be amazed to discover that, if you are kind to your body, it will respond in an incredible way,” teaches Scaravelli.
–Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches private lessons in yoga and meditation in Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
Brooches made a big statement on fall 2015 runways. Left to right: A graceful adornment at the collar from Chanel, oversize plexiglas at Prada and a bevy of brooches from Dolce and Gabbana.
Pin it on: Jones New York hummingbird with colorful glass ($25, macys.com).
Imagine your fedora with a dash of whimsy from Carolee’s elephant pin ($65, bloomingdales.com).
Instead of splurging on the Prada jacket, splurge on the designer’s crystal and sapphire brooch ($505, prada.com) for one of your own lapels.
Got a new cape? Fasten it with Kenneth Jay Lane’s anemone flower brooch ($75, saksfithavenue.com). Functional and decorative.
Watch the Nordstrom video for “nine ways to get stuck on” brooches. This vintage-looking faux pearl and crystal brooch is $44 at nordstrom.com.
More is more this season. Tap the trend with Saint Laurent’s gold and silver-plated brooch set, including a star, crown, a four-leaf clover, crystal-embellished ‘YSL’ letters. $995, netaporter.com.
Alexis Bittar’s broken heart brooch in lucite and crystal is mended with a goldtone safety pin. ($295, alexisbittar.com).
Oscar de la Renta’s starburst crystal can be worn as a brooch or as a necklace (chain included in $490 price). saksfifthavenue.com.
A tiny Chanel backpack hung from a mountaineer’s pick (makes a witty choice of a brooch on a purse. $825, chanel.com.
For fall, forget restraint. It’s the more the merrier for embellishments. Think adornments like the ubiquitous fringe (most recently showing up on sweaters), studs on shoes, charms on handbags and glitter and gems on everything. Which brings us to those bejeweled pins and brooches beloved by our mothers and grandmothers. They resurfaced briefly when First Lady Michelle Obama began flashing them in 2009, but fell back into the category of stodgy. Now they’re baaack again, seen on fall 2015 runways at Prada, Chanel, Suno and Dolce & Gabbana.
You’ve probably got some stashed way and forgotten in the back of your jewelry drawer. Dig them out. Or, see out our picks above. And, for some clever ways of wearing them, watch this video from Nordstrom.
WHEN I WAS growing up in D.C. in the ‘70s and ‘80s, people brewed coffee at home in a percolator, Chemex or Bialetti, poured a mug from the office carafe or grabbed a styrofoam cup of corner-store brew. These days, a D.C. pedestrian — like John Cheever’s Neddy Merrill, swimming his way home through backyard pools — can caffeinate block-by-block through the city at cafes simple and swanky.
So, where to go? I’ve selected 10 places in the city that have character, a quality as essential for a successful pick-me-up as a perfectly timed pour-over or a buttery croissant.
In the ‘90s, I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area where Peet’s Coffee & Tea ruled the roost. On a visit home to D.C., my big brother treated me to breakfast at Jolt ‘N Bolt. It’s still here! In business since 1994, this unassuming spot predates the dissemination of Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts as well as more refined choices. Hide out at a small table in the clean alleyway with a generous piece of coconut cake.
“I walked in and really liked the vibe,” says barista Kirstyn Rowen, who was working the counter during one of my visits. “We get a lot of regulars.” When I moved back to D.C. this spring after more than 25 years in California, I was over the moon at discovering Coffee Nature. Such a down-to-earth feel is uncommon in the nation’s capital. Homemade flyers announcing music shows and writing groups flutter in the breeze of the open door. There’s no rushing.
A visit to Lourdes Bakery and Coffee Shop in Columbia Heights is a Saturday morning breakfast ritual for John Sanchez, who sits outside on the patio to read the newspaper. “I come from Maryland,” he says. “It’s good for a healthy breakfast.” Enjoy fresh sandwiches on homemade bread, like hot ham and cheese with peppers, tomato and onion, as well as Salvadoran pastries. Basic coffee conjures nostalgia with its styrofoam cup.
At $1.65 for a small drip with 59-cent refills, you can afford a few minutes to catch up on email or meet up with a colleague at Bakers & Baristas in Penn Quarter. Add a Viennese-inspired pastry or personal-sized quiche to your order and make it a meal.
“We have high-quality coffee and people appreciate that,” says barista Ben Phillips. I know I did. Split a pot of French press with a friend on the small brick patio after a trip to the Dupont Circle farmer’s market. Or power up with an espresso while lined up on a stool tapping at your laptop. Phillips adds, “We have a lot of regulars and we know them by name.”
6. Open City
2331 Calvert St. NW
Sun. – Thurs. 6 a.m. – 12 a.m.
Fri. – Sat. 6 a.m. – 1 a.m.
From dawn past dusk, Open City welcomes locals and tourists alike. It’s a great place to people watch and to strike up a conversation. Dog lovers appreciate outdoor benches, bowls of clean water and dog biscuits. Buy a pound of coffee (I do every week) and get a cup to go on the house.
“It’s not exactly like all the others,” says long-time Capitol Hill resident Lynn McDonald on a visit to Bayou Bakery. Ample and comfy seating is distributed throughout the cafe’s restored carriage house and garden. This is a place for a mother-daughter outing or to linger long with a good friend.
Baked by Yael is a cheerful place popular with kiddies for the cake pops. The small neighborhood bakery also offers simple, fresh coffee. Grown-ups will appreciate the raspberry bars, available in a vegan version. Sit outside or near the big window and observe National Zoo visitors coming and going from the main entrance right across the street.
9. Little Red Fox
5035 Connecticut Ave. NW
Tues. – Sun. 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
In addition to the city’s best apple pie, Little Red Fox cooks up a variety of fresh soups, salads and sandwiches to satisfy all. Charge up with a snack and caffeine while you ponder questions for author readings a few doors up at Politics & Prose.
Bright art creates a funky vibe, encouraging patrons who come for coffee to stay for soup. Gaze out the large windows to rest screen-weary eyes. Or pop over to Books for America on your way to Soho and settle into the welcoming space with a good read.
–Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches private lessons in yoga and meditation in Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
FOR YOUR DOG, and especially for your cat, your apartment is a small world. And you’re at the center of it.
“If you’re bringing an animal into your home, it’s not a piece of furniture,” says Scott Giacoppo, chief community animal welfare officer at the Washington Humane Society. “You’re getting an animal for companionship, to enjoy the benefit of the human-animal bond. We have an obligation to keep our pets happy and healthy. And it’s fun.”
Obligation means commitment. Owners of contented pets fit their schedule around the animals’ needs. Pass by a D.C. apartment building in the early morning or late evening, and you’ll see people walking with a phone in one hand and a leash in the other.
Tight schedules and fatigue are inadequate excuses for neglecting a pet.
“Break out of that thought process,” Giacoppo says. “Remember, they’re waiting for you all day.”
Waiting for everything from a pee break to the chance to stretch their legs. For apartment dogs, there’s no plastic flap to access earth and sky. They live in a building with noises and smells of people and other animals all around. Consider that a canine has a sense of smell at least 10,000 times greater than a human’s: passing through a hallway prickles him with stimuli he cannot investigate. Outside, on that walk he’s waiting for, he can be a dog, sniffing and listening.
An apartment cat’s territory ends at the front door. The efficiency kitty depends on her owner to crack the window for fresh air, and pull back the shades so she can nap in a patch of sun.
Apartment pets generally have less independence than animals in houses. Paradoxically, in the smaller shared space, their individuality can shine.
Recognize that every animal is unique. “They all have different personalities just like we do,” says W. Austina Sajery of Dog Walker D.C. Stock the house with toys. Pet stores carry puzzles for both cats and dogs to paw at and nuzzle, which helps them stay stimulated and sustains attention.
“All cats like to play,” Giacoppo says. “You have to find what they like to play with.”
One cat will prefer a toy dragged along the floor. Another wants to jump. Some turn an empty box or crumpled up piece of paper into amusement.
When playing with a cat, remember the three-step play sequence: stalk, kill and eat. Giacoppo keeps a bag of cat treats nearby when playing with a laser-dot toy. On the cat’s final pounce, he tosses a treat and puts away the toy. That signals that playtime is over.
Squeaky stuffed toys amuse one dog; another wants hard things to chew on. “Find out what your dog prefers and supply those needs,” Giacoppo advises.
Animals also need to have their own space.
“If you crate a dog, get the biggest crate you can,” Sajery says. “Give them all the room that they can have.”
Better yet, allot a section of the couch for the dog’s lounging. “One dog I walk has his own towel. As soon as I’m done drying him off he takes it to his little bed.”
Pets need somewhere they can relax. They also like to hide. Consider tucking a cat bed under an end table concealed by a tablecloth. Or place a dog bed beneath a counter. Keep litter boxes clean and blankets fresh.
Having a dog or cat may mean making the decor pet friendly to encourage exercise, exploration and a sense of safety.
“I share my home with them,” Giacoppo says of his three cats and two dogs. “They’re part of my life.”
So are cat trees, he says.
“I have a cat tree on either side of a large entertainment center. The cats can cross the living room without walking on the floor.” Place a cat tree in front of window. Throw a dog quilt onto a window seat.
“A lot of dogs like to look out the window,” Sajery says. “They like to see the world. My cats love that, too.”
Sajery and Giacoppo agree that living with a contented apartment dog or cat — one who is curious, healthy, calm, well-behaved and quiet —boils down to three things: exercise, socialization and interaction with a human companion.
That means long walks for dogs — two to four times a day — with sniffing time. D.C. residents have the advantage of 11 dog parks and Rock Creek Park ‘s 1,754 acres of forest. Make sure your dog is well-behaved.
“Obedience training provides a great form of exercise, physical and mental, and builds the bond,” Giacoppo says.
Two of Sajery’s clients got creative. “One would bring her dog over and they could hang out together and then get walked together. The dogs were separated at night and had their owners.”
A dog’s ability to adapt to apartment life depends not on breed, age or health, Giacoppo says, but on time: time with the owner and time exercising. Although dog walkers provide a resource for busy owners, Sajery points out pooches ultimately want their people. “Even if they know me, the dogs want to spend that time with their parents,” she says.
Some of that time can be squeezed in. Giacoppo says one of his cats meets him in the kitchen by the coffee pot in the morning for a treat. Another cuddles while he watches the news. Keep a brush near the TV; most cats like to be groomed.
They also benefit from a fellow feline companion, although there may be some initial friction when bringing a second cat into the home. “After that transition it’s wonderful.” Sajery says. Giacoppo recommends Catification by Jackson Galaxy for insight into the kitty mind.
Cat or dog, learn about your animal’s unique qualities and treat him or her with the courtesy you show any loved one.
“You always want to say goodbye to your pet before you leave,” Sajery emphasizes. “And the first thing you do when you get home is say hello.”
–Alexa Mergen Alexa Mergen teaches private lessons in yoga and meditation in Washington, D.C. and edits Yoga Stanza.
Gardens of the Franciscan Monastery / all photos by Alexa Mergen
COMPUTERIZED ACTIVITY TRACKERS strapped and clipped to wrists and waists count steps. With a smidgen of intention those steps can really count.
Any walk becomes mindful through breath awareness and focus. In walking meditation, we notice surroundings at the pace of the body. The ability to just be, with ease, reduces stress and contributes to mental and physical health.
Stand. Feel the connection of your feet with the ground. Sense the body’s organization, hips aligned over ankles, shoulders over hips, ears over shoulders. Relax the outer corners of the eyes. Keep the chin parallel with the ground as the gaze lowers. Clasp hands in front of or behind the torso or let them swing freely.
Start at a crossing-the-room pace. Then walk more slowly. This may feel off-kilter, as if you are relearning the body’s relationship with gravity. Slip into what meditators call “beginner’s mind,” a perspective of openness and receptivity.
Apply a sense of spaciousness to thoughts as well. Imagine the mind made of baleen, the keratin bristles found in a whale’s mouth. Gather through the senses what nourishes; filter out what doesn’t.
If a thought tugs annoyingly at the sleeve of your awareness, pause and give it full attention. Settle it. Then resume walking with an unhurried, steady pace. Continue for five to twenty minutes.
Two breath techniques can help with concentration.
The first is covert — an observer won’t know you’re meditating. Count the number of steps taken on inhalation and the number on exhalation. Be curious. For example, three steps inhaling and five steps exhaling. Or 2-3. Or 4-4. Any set of numbers will serve to bring you to the moment.
The other method is palpable. Lift a foot on an inhalation, carrying it through to touch down on the exhalation. Noticeably slow the motion of stepping, as if playing a 45 record at 33 rpms. Imagine the foot imprinting the ground.
By synchronizing movement with breath, the slog to carry out the rubbish or a jaunt across a parking lot can function as walking meditation.
But D.C. abounds with special spaces for mindfulness excursions. Here are 10 favorites, free of charge, open to the public.
Listen to breezes in Japanese maples. This sheltered, serene space is as pleasant on a sunny day as a rainy one. Imagine each footstep as a gesture, the brief walk as a dance.
On the middle level of the garden, look for the bronze Sphere No. 6 by Arnaldo Pomodoro. Walk on either the grass or the paving stones. Or try both surfaces and compare the experience; welcome each.
Along the building’s north side, the museum’s water feature guides a curvy walk. With each step, reflect on time. The fountain pays tribute to Goose Creek, renamed Tiber Creek, which served as a canal in the city’s early years.
Across from the fountain’s east end, look for the memorial garden in honor of United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The small round garden provides a still space.
Tucked to the side of the National Garden find a stretch of bright flowers. Mosey, airily taking in sounds of sirens and engines mixed with buzzing bees and murmuring voices of other visitors.
Walk a circle around the the cast-iron “Fountain of Light and Water” or choose one of the straight paths. Offset the weightiness of the surrounding office buildings by bringing a gentleness to your gait.
This sliver of land bound by busy streets is a haven for pedestrians. Rows of thin, silent ginkgo trees contrast with the hubbub. Passing through the memorial of water, glass, granite and bronze, embody a sense of dignity.
Tucked on the ground floor of the museum is a display of hundreds of birds recorded in Washington, D.C., preserved by taxidermy. Pause in your walking and contemplate the beauty of a bird, standing eye-to-eye with a tundra swan or soaking in the cerulean of an Eastern bluebird.
Seek out the Gotelli Dwarf and Slow-Growing Conifer Collection and find the gazebo. Use the gentle grassy hill for a meditation walk. Take note of the breath while ascending and descending. Let the spine echo the strong trunk of the white oak.
Cross the wooden bridge, flanked on one side by the Anacostia River and on the other by D.C. Water’s Beaux Arts Main Pumping Station. Drink each breath of air as if it were water.
BALTIMORE HAS ENDURED its fair share of troubles in the past several months, but a visit over Labor Day proves that the city is alive and well — and in a couple of cases, at least, flourishing.
For more than 10 years, my husband, Jim, and I have been motor boating or sailing to Baltimore, most frequently tying up at Harbor East in the marina. How that has changed. Formerly housed in a trailer, the marina office (and showers and bathroom facility) is now on the ground floor of a Johns Hopkins office building. Right next door is a Four Seasons hotel so popular it is building more floors to accommodate guests. The number of stores and restaurants has grown accordingly. Madewell, the denim division of J. Crew, and an enormous outpost of home-grown Under Armour athletic wear are newcomers, adding to the mix of individual stores like Sassanova (shoes) and Amaryllis (jewelry). Dining out at Ouzo Bay offers the option of fresh fish by the pound and an outstanding view of the harbor from its wraparound patio. Several new apartment buildings are going up, eager to capture that same view.
A counterpoint to Harbor East’s posh is the Fell’s Point neighborhood, a walkable few blocks east along the waterfront. Here’s where to find locally owned boutiques and grittier restaurants, including Bertha’s Mussels, a place to sample eight kinds of the bivalve, along with daily specials of the same; and Jimmy’s, an old-school diner that’s a favorite for breakfast. Prices are refreshingly good on shoes and handbags at Poppy & Stella. One of the few chains here, Hats in the Belfry sells a selection of hats that would look right at home in Downton Abbey.
Although I’ve yet to explore them myself, I’ve heard good reports about the growth of Canton and Federal Hill. Next trip.
/photo MyLittleBIrd
What best captured the zeitgeist of Baltimore for me was the sign on the door of tattoo parlor Saints & Sinners in Fell’s Point, attesting to the city’s healthy sense of humor and gritty spirit. You go, Baltimore!
WITHIN OUR MORNINGS, there are moments as expansive as giant soap bubbles we could step into and inhabit. This is mindfulness: that intentional “stepping into” the current of right now, with curiosity, without judgment.
Why bother with mindfulness? After all, by the time the sun comes up there are cats to feed, coffee to brew, news feeds to read and cereal to chew.
Mindfulness, as defined by the American Psychological Association, is moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. Noticing what’s happening in our mind and body, as it’s happening, appears to offer a host of benefits from greater relationship satisfaction to increased focus, strengthened immune system and a more functional memory.
Even better, the cat can eat, the coffee can pour and the cereal can be crunched. Routine activities provide the perfect home base for practicing mindfulness.
Reading the news, on the other hand, will have to wait. But after a few mindfulness moments, when you do turn to headlines, chances are you’ll feel more focused. A mindful morning increases the likelihood of continued mindfulness throughout the day.
How do we measure a moment?
Moments are by definition moving forward. To be mindful, we want to pause them, hold them up like a glass paperweight to the light. The surest measure of a moment is the breath. Yogis say that each person’s breath is as unique as her fingerprint. A Swiss study found exhaled compounds in breath can in fact serve as a “breathprint.”
The first step to mindfulness, then, is to breathe. If you’re reading this, that’s already happening. So read on.
Use the breath to measure a moment. On the inhalation, say to yourself “mo-.” On the exhalation, continue with “-ment.” The inhalation, “mo,” might offer a sense of expansion. The exhalation, “ment,” might provide a sense of slowing or anchoring.
Close the eyes now and continue for three more conscious breaths, marking, with attention, a moment in time.
With eyes open again, notice that this process is experiential. There’s no right or wrong way, no goal, prize or destination.
Try it again. Three more conscious breaths, saying the syllables “mo-ment.” Or dropping that, allow the breath to happen without the idea of a word at all.
Next, consider your morning routine. Look for activities that you do pretty much every day. I always have a mug of coffee, home-brewed from Open City grounds, or a cup of Celadon Pearl green tea from leaves shipped by Red Blossom Tea Company in San Francisco. Sometimes I sit in the living room; other times I’m on the go, and the beverage comes along in a kleankanteen travel mug.
The green tea is fussy. After reaching a boil, the water in the kettle needs to cool. Here’s where I can breathe, six or eight full cycles of inhalation and exhalation, standing in the kitchen, until it’s time to steep the leaves.
The coffee brews for four minutes. The timer on the kitchen stove provides a one-minute warning after three minutes. Beep! That last minute is when I close my eyes and follow my breath in and out of the body, being still for just 60 seconds.
In Buddhism, the sound of a bell, be it a doorbell or the “tink” of an incoming text message, can be used as a bell of mindfulness, a reminder that we are alive right now.
Out the door already? Waiting for a traffic signal is a classic mindfulness tool. Renowned teacher Thich Nhat Hanh writes small poems called gathas for enriching daily moments with mindfulness, including one for driving a car.
Before starting the car, I know where I am going. The car and I are one. If the car goes fast, I go fast.
Walking the dog means a significant wait for me at the traffic signal at Connecticut Avenue and Devonshire Place NW. That’s where I can stop and breathe. One of my students practices mindfulness on Metrorail sitting amid fellow commuters.
Having mapped a place in your morning routine to apply mindfulness, know that you can do it. Keep it simple. Mindfulness is not meditation. It requires no special cushion or technique. It’s about being with what is happening without holding sway over it through analysis or control. And it takes only a moment, a moment defined by you, by your breath, by your life.
Mindfulness practice is private, intimate and transformative. Ever present, the breath is like a good friend who always picks up the phone when she sees your number appear.
I leave you with my own start-the-day gatha.
This morning breath travels in and breath travels out, an unmeasurable moment fathomed.
Let me know how it goes!
—Alexa Mergen Writer and editor Alexa Mergen grew up in Washington, DC, and now lives in rural Nevada.
Photographs take center stage in Linda Kastan’s New York City living room.
Decor is minimal, colors muted to offer a respite from the hectic life of the city outside.
Among the photos that line the hallway of the New York City apartment, in the hallway, a 1938 photo of a girls camp with Kastan’s mother and three aunts.
In the master bedroom in NYC, an antique dresser Kastan’s mother bought at an auction is topped by personal photos in carefully coordinated frames.
The original living room with the rebuilt stone fireplace. The American flag made of found objects is on the far wall.
The modern living room with a cozy window seat overlooking the surrounding greenery. The psychoanalyst couch is in the foreground.
The sailfish was caught by Kastan’s grandfather in Florida.
The paint on the graceful stairway in the country was stripped off and the wood refinished.
In the master bedroom in the country, Maggie Taylor’s “Birds of a Feather” hangs over a piece of refinished furniture that’s topped by three of Kastan’s old sun hats.
The kitchen shelves display a collection of Mexican-influenced pottery by local artist Annie O’Neill (https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieOhPaintedClay).
About to be tossed by an antique dealer in Hudson, the puppet from an old puppet theater was saved by Kastan, who hung it in her office.
The inviting entrance to the house and a view from the street.
LUCKY ME, WHEN IT COMES TO having friends with housesin desirable locations. My BFF, Linda Kastan, a specialist in Greek and Roman art at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, lives with her psychoanalyst husband in a sleek, contemporary apartment in NYC. She also owns a farmhouse about an hour outside the city in the Hudson Valley.
Having just spent a couple of days in her Upper East Side digs, followed by a weekend in her country abode, I got intrigued by the way she uses art to define each space.
Her mostly black-and-white photography collection (she started buying in the mid-’70s) dominates the living and dining room walls of the city apartment. Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Walker Evans, Diane Arbus and Helmut Newton are some of the notable names. The color scheme in the apartment is deliberately muted with browns, beiges and some ochre.
“The idea was to create a calm, quiet environment, leaving behind the hustle of the city,” she says. More sentimental, inexpensive art hangs in the hallway — a 1938 photo of a girls camp with her mother and her three aunts, a photo of her grandfather with Jackie Robinson, her uncle’s bar mitzvah picture. “They’re not just boring snapshots.”
The decor of the farmhouse near New Paltz, which they bought in 2005, is worlds away from New York City. The foundation dates to 1850, but after a fire the house was rebuilt in 1900. Two boxy wings — the living area and the bedroom — were recent additions by the previous owner.
The focus here was on using natural materials to blend with the greenery that surrounded the house. In keeping with the feel of Early American farmhouses, they put in wood floors, took the paint off the banister and stairs and refinished the wood, and replaced the brick fireplace with a stone one. A cork floor makes cooking in the kitchen easy on the feet.
Kastan say the decor evolved from a Maggie Taylor photograph (“Birds of a Feather”) that she bought in NYC but decided was a perfect fit for the country. Taylor works with digital images layered over stills. It was the photo’s element of fantasy and color that appealed to Kastan, who has since bought several other Taylor works. “There’s so much vibrant color here — so many shades of greens and blues that change with the light that I wanted the house to reflect that.”
The furnishings and art are an amalgam of interesting objects that have a folk art feel. A psychoanalyst’s daybed made by Stickley, Scandinavian pillows from the 1950s, a sailfish her grandfather caught in Florida and a metal sculpture of a rooster mix it up in the modern living room. In the small (original) living room [next door? now used as a family room? whatever…the living room. In the small living room (original to the house), an American flag made out of San Pellegrino bottle caps and parts of Coke and Pepsi cans is a post-9/11 gift from an artist friend. The shelves in the kitchen are chock-a-block with pottery with a Mexican folklore feel.
Bottom line for Kastan: “My everyday life is about art and I consider it a major component of a room, not just an after thought. That’s true whether I’m decorating a place in New York City or New Paltz.”
Bushel & Peck Baked’s macaroons. / photo by Grace Donnelly
A GOOD COOKIE can a good meeting make.
As professional leadership coach and mom, Sara Lacombe knows a thing or two about both. What surprised her was how well the two can go together.
“Cookies in meetings are usually an afterthought – they’re big and often part of a packaged lunch that you eat because you’re bored,” says Lacombe, 43.
But put out a plate of good cookies and you’ve got yourself an icebreaker.
Realizing this, the former HR executive decided to pour her business savvy, love of cookies and baking talent into a side business, Bushel and Peck Baked. And since launching last September, her tasty conversation starters have livened up many a conference room.
In her past life she was always striving to build engagement and a sense of belonging, make routine meetings better and increase connection. How? Offer something special — a dulce de leche macaroon, a fresh ginger cookie, a tray of shortbread. “People see food as a reflection of how the company feels about them,” she says. “It’s not about spending a lot of money, but picking really good food that people want to eat. It’s also a way to get to know your employees.”
It may keep her in the kitchen of her Bethesda home until the wee hours of the morning, but making cookies that bring people together – both at the office and at home – is what she feels driven to do.
Chocolate sea salt thins. / photo by Grace Donnelly
“Starting Bushel & Peck Baked taps into a couple of visions – the first being an opportunity to integrate the beauty, strength, talents and elegance of three generations of women, past and present, in my family,” she says. “The second vision is around love and belonging. Cookies bring out our innermost child.”
Food is her family tradition, says Lacombe. Her grandmother connected family members by preparing elaborate feasts, and her mother, who made everything from scratch, made it a point to make each meal better than the last. Her parents were pros at entertaining. A favorite tradition was a New Year’s Day party serving the game her father had hunted and her mother prepared, and, of course, an array of desserts.
Lacombe’s career of nearly 20 years has been focused on human capital, organizational design and leadership coaching. She held several senior HR positions and completed a leadership-coaching program at Georgetown University before going independent in 2012 with her coaching and organizational consulting business, DreamBig HR.
All the new possibilities excite her. “I love the idea of this (cookie business) being the creative outlet to the other half of what I do,” she says.
For now, Lacombe offers only a few scrumptious selections, such as the chocolate sea salt thins and macaroons, that greet visitors to the Bushel & Peck Baked site. She’s tailoring her core items to her customers’ palates.
“The real person emerges when they are connecting with me or someone else over a cookie,” Lacombe says proudly. “In the beginning I thought it was circumstance. Then I noticed the pattern. I just continue to be blown away by it.”
WHEN I WAS growing up in D.C. in the ‘70s and ‘80s, people brewed coffee at home in a percolator, 
FOR YOUR DOG, and especially for your cat, your apartment is a small world. And you’re at the center of it.
BALTIMORE HAS ENDURED its fair share of troubles in the past several months, but a visit over Labor Day proves that the city is alive and well — and in a couple of cases, at least, flourishing.
