The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

works to stop some modest level of attachment in your busy mind.
Gradually, a balance of fullness and restraint draws you inward.
With such a deep sense of choice about where your attention might
rest, all things seem to return you to your own mind. The garden
has become a mirror of your thoughts and a setting that encourages
honest observation. Inhaling, you are looking at the garden.
Exhaling, you feel yourself beginning to settle into the moment.
Inhaling, you are trying to make opinions stay. Exhaling, you see
that they just want to come and go. The garden is less in front of
you and you are in more in it.
The day I went to visit Ryokanji, I made sure I arrived very early
in the morning. I was waiting at the gate when a monk appeared
and, with a nod, opened the door. I walked quickly up the stone
steps toward my favorite garden. As I grew closer I realized I was
alone and slowed down. At the first glimpse, I was transfixed. I
remember inhaling as an image of the place entered me. Then,
exhaling, I slowly felt the effort of the morning commute disappear
and I entered the place again, as though for a second time, feeling
more physically settled, shoulders dropping, a tremor of being at
one with the place. Then another inhalation and a journey without
words took place through years of expectations and opinions and
then, finally, exhaling and feeling present. A moment later, brilliant
laughter as a hundred young school children ran into the
temple, thrilled to have a morning out of the classroom.
Being Moved
THE INNER STUDIO
If you are open to the world, you will be moved. And if you are
moved, it means you have the capacity to receive inspiration, you
have made a personal connection with something. The feeling of
being moved is a precious and exciting moment in the journey
toward self-expression. If we allow ourselves to be moved, we have
the opportunity to learn about the power of artifacts, places, and
landscapes to affect and motivate us. If we are not open, we will not
be moved and it will be a mighty struggle to create anything. The
reason a creative experience feels so good is that when we feel
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