The Friendly Letter

My soon-to-be 7 year-old daughter has been subjecting us to reenactments of her lessons from school lately, using the whiteboard in the girls' playroom.  In the moment, these lessons are a mixed blessing; we get insight into what she is learning at school while being bossed around in the evening as we catch up on the day's emails, finish dinner and clean up, and get ready for bedtime.  The lessons have ranged from "From Seed to Tree" to "The Works of Leonardo da Vinci" to "What is an Adjective?", complete with lesson, review, Q&A, and homework.

Last week, we had a lesson on The Friendly Letter.  We learned about friendly letter structure, formatting, and proper greetings and closings.  For homework, we randomly drew names of another member of the household and were assigned to write a friendly letter addressed to that person, due in one week.  As if we weren't busy enough!  We procrastinated, hoping Sophie would forget about the whole thing, but she never does.  She even made notebook paper for us by drawing blue lines on white paper, an orange line for the margin, and punched three holes along the side (I told her I had notebook paper, but she insisted on making it for me).

And then, we started to experience the magic of The Friendly Letter.  I received my letter shortly after the assignment was made, from my father, written in Google Docs and emailed to me.  It was brief, but I was moved by his expression of his love and the sense of permanence and sincerity from his written words.   Over the following few days, notes of love and appreciation trickled throughout the house from one person to another.  For the recipients and receivers of The Friendly Letter, it has been a moving experience, an opportunity to reflect on the goodness evident in our lives, to practice kindness, and to nourish our relationships with each other.

Thank you, Sophie, for the lesson on The Friendly Letter.

Why do we roll to the right in Savasana?

A question came up in yoga class about why we always roll to the right after Savasana. It turns out there are a variety of reasons why we roll to the right:

The right side is auspicious
Rolling to the right has a symbolic basis. In India, it is considered more auspicious to enter a holy place with the right foot, and in many parts of the world, we extend our right hand in greeting (in grade school, I remember being taught that we use our right hands to greet others partly because most of us are right-handed, but also because we are exposing our hearts to others). The right side also represents the east; rolling toward the east, or the rising sun, symbolizes asking for blessings, grace, and bliss.

There are physiological reasons for rolling on the right
Since the heart is on the left, rolling to the right puts less pressure on the heart and helps allow the blood pressure reach homeostasis.

Some believe that the right side corresponds to the cooling channel (ida nadi) which would keep the body in a state of calmness as it comes into a sitting position.  Physiologically, the sympathetic (active) nervous system is thought to be associated with the right side of the body, and the theory is that by rolling to the right, the meridians associated with the sympathetic nervous system helps stimulate wakefulness when coming out of Savasana.  But I believe this is an oversimplifcation of what is really going on in the body (otherwise how does anyone sleep on their right side?).

The most important thing to keep in mind about coming out of Savasana is this:  an appropriate Savasana provides the room for the student's nervous system to shift to a state of ease (lower heart rate and blood pressure, stimulation of the digestive processes, lower body temperature, release of endorphins). Students should come out of Savasana gradually, slowly, with no hurry or jarring action. Additionally, rolling to the side and pressing the floor helps prevent tension in the neck and lower back.

... but it depends!
So, we roll to the right after Savasana. But like everything, it depends. Pregnant women should lie on their left because it makes the heart's job easier as it keeps the baby's weight from applying pressure to the large vein (called the inferior vena cava) that carries blood back to the heart from the feet and legs. Lying on the left improves circulation to the heart and allows for the best blood flow to the fetus, uterus, and kidneys. Since the liver is on the right side of the abdomen, lying on the left side helps keep the uterus off that large organ.

Contemplating the 3 C's

I've been taking a yoga teacher training class (PURE method) through Equinox with Michelle Myhre and Keith Erickson. Both are passionate and inspiring teachers and practitioners; in fact, when I signed up, my intention was not to become a yoga teacher but rather, I was motivated because I wanted to learn all Keith and Michelle could offer about yoga. Although this training has been a huge commitment that has required a lot of time, money, and energy (160 hours of classes plus 40 hours of practice, observation, and assisting in class required), I'm extremely grateful I took the time to learn the skills to do healthy things for the body and soul and be able to share them with others.

I opened this past weekend's class with this dharma talk I wrote, a derivative of the commencement speech I gave at the College of Engineering at my alma mater last month:

Come into a comfortable seated position with your spine erect. Begin taking long, slow, and deep breaths through the nostrils. Take notice of your body... what’s happening within you today? Take notice of your mind... how is your spirit today?

We are near the end of our eighth week of our yoga teacher training; only two more weeks to go. We’ve devoted our weekends, and weekday mornings and evenings to this journey. Along the way, we’ve bonded as a community and have grown to know each other’s souls and bodies. What brought each of us here, and what will we take away as this training comes to an end?

For today’s opening, we will contemplate the lifecyle of learning and growth. I call them the three C’s: curiosity, courage, and confidence. Let's meditate on these three C’s.

First, curiosity.

We all wanted to be part of this yoga teacher training because we are curious about yoga and are interested in learning more. Curiosity is the basis of learning and creativity. It’s more about asking the right questions than the answers themselves. On the yoga mat, being curious opens ourselves to discovering and connecting with our minds and bodies. Off the mat, our curiosity allows us to discover and fuel our passion. Walt Disney once said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

Now let’s talk about courage.

How many of us know someone who has said to us, “I don’t want to try yoga because I’m not that flexible?” Or “I don’t want to try do X because I’m afraid of Y?” Maybe we have felt that way at times too, when we had to make something out of nothing, or when we engaged in an activity even though we didn’t really know what we were doing.

On the mat, we summon our courage to go into poses that may be new, or seem awkward or unnatural. Whether on or off the mat, courage is the willingness to face whatever is in front of us. Maybe it’s fear of failure. Maybe it’s a fear of the unknown. Maybe it’s a fear of rejection. Whatever it is, when we gather the courage to face whatever is in front of us, we emerge stronger, more resilient, more flexible, and those qualities will withstand whatever failure, rejection, and uncertainties we encounter in life. Courage gives us the strength to take risks, and where there is risk there is opportunity.

The last C is about the value of challenge and adversity and the confidence gained from it.

Each of us made sacrifices to be part of this yoga teacher training. We devoted significant time, energy, and money to be here. Along the way, we had doubts about our ability to fulfill all the commitments required of this training. How could we possibly complete all the reading, writing, and practice hours while juggling work, family, and other responsibilities and commitments? And yet here we are all still here. We are doing this!

On the yoga mat, as we practice asana, we are physically and mentally challenged. Sometimes we don’t know if we can get into the pose, or stay in it long enough. But when we do, we feel awesome!

Adverse conditions help toughen us mentally and build confidence. We can choose to blame failures on factors we cannot control, or we can believe we have the ability to shape events and circumstances by making the most of what we can control. When we take on new challenges, a little at a time, we build our confidence to take on more ambitious endeavors. And thus the cycle of learning and growth begins again, with curiosity.

Let’s bring our hands together and offer our salutations to Brahma, for curiosity which cultivates passion and creation; to Vishnu, for courage through which we persist through whatever we face in front of us with optimism, and to Shiva, for adversity and the confidence and joy gained after we overcome challenges.

Guru Brahma
Guru Vishnu
Guru Devo Maheshwara
Guru Sakshath Parambrahma
Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha

(tr: Guru is the creator Brahma, Guru is the preserver Vishnu, Guru is the destroyer Siva. Guru is directly the supreme spirit — I offer my salutations to this Guru.)

Who is the inventor?

The other day, Sophie brought home stencils and coloring pages about inventors including George Stephenson and Leonardo da Vinci. It prompted an interesting discussion with Charlotte as the two of them argued as passionately as I've ever seen them.

Sophie: "Leonardo da Vinci invented the airplane."
Charlotte: "No, he didn't! The Wright brothers invented the airplane."
Sophie: "YES! It was Leonardo da Vinci. We learned that in school."
Charlotte: "No, Leonardo da Vinci only drew designs for airplanes but he didn't make it up into the air. The Wright brothers built the first airplane that made it into the sky."

In fact, Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He made hundreds of drawings that illustrated his theories on flight. One of his ideas, the Ornithopter flying machine, was a design that da Vinci created to show how people could fly, and was the basis for the modern day helicopter.

Who is the inventor, the designer or the builder?

The World According to a Two-Year Old

As much as it irks my husband to give our two-year old control of a $300+ digital camera, I love to see the photos she takes. Her photos give a wonderful glimpse into how a two-year old sees the world. From a trip to a Chinese restaurant:

And photos from a recent walk:

Reisenthel

I normally am not a fan of websites completely built in Flash but Reisenthel's shopping experience makes good use of the technology to create an effective online shopping experience.

Check out the Reisenthel site

"Yes, AND..."

I just started taking an improv class at Stanford--the decision to take this class was spontaneous and I hadn't given much thought to what I wanted to get out of it; it just looked like fun. Having had the first class this week, I had some interesting takeaways that will stay with me as a parent, a manager, a designer:

Dan, the instructor, had everyone break up into groups of four and pretend we were on a planning committee to work on a task (e.g. redesign a city park, plan a vacation, etc). The first round, we were instructed to respond to every suggestion with "No...". In the second round, we were told to respond with "Yes, but...". In the third round, we responded with "Yes, and..."

The effects of these various responses were profound. Even though we were only in a mock situation and following orders, the impact of having someone say "No" to every suggestion was a real downer, limited the flow of ideas, and even affected people's body language and physical interactions. Feelings of resentment surfaced toward people who rejected well-formed ideas, even though they were acting on orders.

In the "Yes, but..." condition, people were more animated, but this passive-aggressive way of saying "no" still killed creativity and people's willingness to advocate for their ideas. Watching this scene unfold, "Yes, but..." mirrored countless business meetings we've all had.

In contrast, "Yes, and..." generated the wackiest and most innovative ideas, and was certainly the most fun to participate in and watch. "Yes, and..." created implicit ground rules that people were not to judge others ideas but to accept them all, and to build on top of them. People started to lean in closer to each other and make physical connections with a touch of the shoulder or brush of the arm in affirmation. They were smiling and jumping up and down. Everyone felt like a winner coming out of the conversation.

"Yes, and..." captures the essence of what is needed for a successful brainstorm: divergent thinking, nonjudgmental acceptance of ideas, ideas built off of others. Children naturally have this gift for "Yes, and...", but we lose this over time. "Yes, and..." is an excellent mnemonic to help stimulate creativity and be more positive. When is the last time you said "Yes, and..."?

Hello Kitty

When I was a child my most treasured belongings were my Hello Kitty accessories: combs, mirrors, address book, wallets, pencils. I loved the compactness of the designs, the attention to detail, the use of high quality materials. Back in those days, you couldn’t find Sanrio toys in the United States; everything I owned came from Hong Kong. As a sign of how much I loved these items, I stored all my Hello Kitty paraphernalia in a special box my grandmother gave me. Now still in excellent condition, I have passed them on to my kids and know they treasure these things they way I did.

So I was especially interested when Hello Kitty stuff started to become more accessible in the US. You can now find Hello Kitty just about anywhere, especially at Target, where there are items created exclusively for the store under their licensing deal. My five year old daughter is just as into Hello Kitty as I was, citing “Hello Kitty stuff” as the only toys/accessories she really wants.

But what made Hello Kitty stuff so appealing when I was a child was not the image of her character, but the design and quality her character represented. With the licensing of her character, Hello Kitty is slapped on the same bags, shoes, clothes that you’ll find next to similarly made items with Barbie, Disney princesses, or Dora the Explorer on them. Even when I want to buy Hello Kitty “stuff” for my daughter, I find nothing worth buying unless I go directly to the Sanrio store. Hello Kitty has lost its cachet with me, and not because it is no longer an exclusive brand. The brand doesn’t represent the same things it meant to me 20 years ago: thoughtful, well-made, well-designed accessories for children (and even some adults).

1931: A restaurant that delights

One of the best meals we had while in China was at a small restaurant called 1931 in Shanghai, in the French Concession area. The food could easily stand on its own merit, but there were many non-culinary details of our evening there that made it a delightful experience. Reflecting on that meal, these are some of the key ingredients to creating excellent customer experiences:

(1) Consistency of experience
The decor of 1931 was recently remodeled to a more sino-Western 1930's look, complete with colored glass votives and lamps, flowery wallpaper, a painting of four 1930's Shanghai women playing mah-jong in the parlor, and old jazz playing in the background (they even claim to have a Victrola!). The restaurant itself is very small, with only 8-9 tables cozily packed in a small space. The experience felt as if we had wandered into someone’s house in the Concession for dinner. (Unfortunately there was a sign prominently displayed in the restaurant that said no cameras allowed!)

(2) Needs anticipated
Although the restaurant is small and cannot accommodate many diners at once, there was no shortage of wait staff tending to our needs when we were there. Dressed in traditional qipao, the waitresses were attentive and responsive without being too intrusive.

(3) Quality beyond expectations
We had the pleasure of experiencing many wonderful meals in China at some of the nicest restaurants, and this meal tasted as good as the best of them. What made this one stand out was how finely prepared all the ingredients were: potatoes, scallions, and cucumber julienned into the thinnest slivers; vegetables minced so well that almost no chewing was necessary, the food just melted in the mouth. The chef at 1931 clearly recognizes that texture is as important as taste when it comes to creating a delightful meal.

(4) A surprise that brings delight
Shortly after we ordered, we were served three small appetizers served on a glass-blown caddy: roasted seasoned peanuts, tofu with cabbage, and soybeans with vegetables. The finely prepared appetizers did more than put us in a good mood over having bonus food before our meal; they gave us a preview into what was to come. As Brian Wansink has shown, our perception of the quality of a meal is greatly influenced by external factors beyond the food itself, down to the smallest details like where the wine comes from.

The surprise appetizers, attentive wait staff, and consistently 1930’s, cozy atmosphere set such a positive impression and warmed our perceptions toward the restaurant so that the food tasted even better than if the same dishes had been served to us at any other restaurant. We got a great meal and a nice lesson on creating an excellent customer experience.

This space for sale

I was struck by how prevalent advertising is in China. There isn't any space that can't be sold! It was not surprising to see advertising in taxi cabs, even if it is on every seat (even the front passenger side):



But street signs and traffic signals are not exempt either:


And there are these huge boats whose only purpose as far as I can tell are to move giant electronic billboards up and down the river:


To what extent are the Chinese desensitized vs. tuned in to advertising? How are their expectations and tolerance for advertising different from other cultures where public spaces are not sold as heavily? How does that translate to web design?

Pearls Before Breakfast

Inspired by the Washington Post article Pearls Before Breakfast (a bit long, but worth the read; you can also catch the video of Joshua Bell playing at the DC Metro station), I'm going to make a conscious effort to be more mindful of my surroundings and enjoy the beautiful things in life.