Health + Wellness- Quigong and Taichi as meditation

When everyone had to go in quarantine, my mental health worsened along with my physical health. I was sitting in bed all day even when I had to wake up for remote learning. It drained me and I'd have no energy throughout the day. I decided that mediation and practicing and self-awareness may help me deal with some of my feelings. For about 5 days, I practiced meditating through movement. I would focus on a positive thought or emotion and focus all of my energy on it. After a while, my problems would drift away and my body would get lighter. I discovered that Taichi and qigong are also good things to practice for meditation and movement. While I mostly learned about a few taichi stances and positions, I enjoyed qigong the most. Qigong is a meditation used for spirituality, mental and physical health, and martial arts training. When I'd feel tired and unmotivated in the beginning of the day, I practiced a 20-minute qigong routine I found on Youtube almost every day. I also began watching other videos to help with my mood and energy like Qidong Mood Lifter and Quigong for Flow for Brain Optimization. 

A video of me practicing Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade Qidong exercise 

Other videos I watched during my quarantine:

-  Qigong to Purge and Tonify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GtFp6sz5zM

- Daily Qigong Routine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmmNWj9YtAw

- Quigong full 20-minute daily routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwlvTcWR3Gs

Film+Community Service

In October 2019 I volunteered at the Chicago Film Festival. In order to become a volunteer I attended a training session at Columbia College that discussed the different volunteer roles there are and what you do in one. One of the roles that I had there was counting each person that came into the theater with this little clicker they gave me. I can't lie, it was kind of fun. I also occasionally took tickets and voting sheets from viewers of each film. In my second shift, I was in charge of lighting and greeting each person who walked into the theater. I also helped with seating people and telling them where to go.

The best part about volunteering at the Chicago Film Festival was the fact that we got to watch the movies when there was nothing to do for a couple of hours. We also got free popcorn and movie tickets to some movies playing at the festival. I would definitely do community service like this again because I really like movies, and it was pretty flexible and easy-going.

Around the end of November, I also got a P.I.E (Professional Immersion Experience) at the Gene Siskel FIlm center. While I was there I helped with some media marketing and busy office work like filling envelopes, making phone calls, and data entry work. I would also post movie events and dates on the Gene Siskel Facebook page. Later that winter, I asked if I could come back to get some volunteer hours and it was approved by my supervisor Lori. When I was volunteering there I basically had the same responsibilities as I did when I was an intern. It felt really good to be back because I enjoyed the work environment at the film center along with the people who worked there. Everyone was kind and had really good energy.

The Making of @CTAfits_:Finding Home and Community in Chicago

BlackHawk Park

Photographing youth at Blackhawk Park in Chicago is one of my favorite community service experiences because I got to take photos for their website. Blackhawk Park has several different afterschool activities for kids. While I was there I photographed the karate class, the sports club where kids chose to play soccer as their game of the day, and the gymnastics club. I loved photographing the gymnastics class the most because the little girls were so cute. They were also very fascinated by the fact that I had a cool camera, just snapping photos of them tumbling. Many of them couldn't wait for me to take their picture so I could show them.

The kids in the gym were playing an intense game of soccer that was really fun to watch. It was hard to capture good shots of them running around, but I got a few that looked really energetic.

A few weeks later, I was asked by one of the members of the board to come back and film there earth day event. Although it was very rainy that day I thought it was a great way to celebrate earth day. The community decided to plant trees outside of the center and I had to document them. I brought my camera and took videos of them planting trees and moving soil around.

Giving Back to My Community

In December of 2018, I went to a community Christmas party on the South-Side of Chicago. I wrapped kids for children and families who were coming to the party from the neighborhood. There were a lot of children there who were happy to receive all kinds of books and toys. My favorite part about being there was talking to different kids and watching them sing along to different Christmas carols a band came in to play. There was also food and a number of games that the children could enjoy.

Going into my first community service experiences, I was a little nervous but it felt really good to watch everyone enjoy themselves while giving back to my community.

How To: Manifest Your Dreams

The last AP for my Endurance class was focused around creating a survival guide for yourself that will guide you through completing your mission. In this class, I've been trying to define what my true mission in life is. Starting a mission is just as hard as finishing one, and on top of everything I don't exactly know what my real dream in life is yet. Working on this AP gave me a better direction of where to start with my mission. First, I thought of people that I look up to that have inspired my mission. I then created a map and timeline of my accomplishments through life that got me where I am today.  The map is more of what my life will be like in the future. It will guide me when I get stuck or hit a roadblock. It will also remind me of what I'm working hard for. 

Although many of these Action Projects were difficult for me, it really helped me think about what I want to do with my life when I'm finally done with school and I have a degree. A lot of people don't know where to head next and they feel stuck. This assignment helped me plan ahead. I also learned about myself more and how I process experiences that have led me to be the person I am today. This AP took a lot of brain strength for me because I really sat down and got to know myself more as a person and where I see my future heading. In conclusion, I believe that my confidence will help me survive as an artist because even if things are going terrible, at least I can tell myself that I will be okay at the end of it all.

Citations:

“About Us.” Support Black Art, www.supportblackart.com/about.

Dazed. “Art Hoe Collective.” Dazed, 8 Feb. 2016, 

www.dazeddigital.com/projects/article/29584/1/art-hoe-collective.

Galerie Myrtis, galeriemyrtis.net/about/.

“Shape The Future of Black Art.” Black Art Futures Fund, www.blackartfutures.org/.

Finding Meaning in 12 Hours

In this unit I was able to bring my mission and vision to life through art. Although this AP was very challenging for me, it proved that I have strength, creativity, and the drive to chase after what I really want. I was given only 12 hours to work towards a mission that I have. The main mission that I’ve been thinking about since this term started is exploring home, life, and love through random objects and concepts. Every hour that goes by brings me closer to my mission. I learned that the mission and vision are two different things. A mission is a road you travel on to get to your vision. You may hit some speed bumps or get a flat tire, but you ultimately want to reach the end of the road. At the end of the road is your vision. Your vision is the tressure and rainbow waiting for you.

This course taught me that I can have several missions and visions, as long as I work towards it with hard work and effort. For 12 hours, I looked for used objects around my neighborhood that I could paint or collage. While I’m also exploring the theme of youth in my work, I thought it would be cool to paint a baby rocking chair that I found in an alleyway. The idea is that I can find some kind of sanctuary in these items even if they’ve been used thousands of times. I can make an object something of my own. At the end of the 12 hours I had a beautiful baby blue chair filled with images of my favorite movies, comics, etc. As I was working on this chair, I built a strong connection with it. I connected this to the relationship Laura Dekker had with her boat. Laura Dekker is the youngest person to sail across the world. When we watched her documentary in class, I was very inspired because it not only showed me that I can find peace in non-living things, but it showed me that I can literally do anything I put my mind to even if it sounds crazy to other people.

Since my video can not be put here due to technical difficulties, below are photos I took throughout my 12 hours to document the evolution of my chair.

Finding it for the first time

First attempt at painting it

After Spraypainting and Priming it

Added Collage

Final Piece