Nico Timmerman
In 2016, after outfitting a small sailboat for offshore cruising, I set sail from San Francisco in the direction of the antipodes! I navigated through the South Pacific, in search of greater connection with nature and with myself.
Antipodes was created to be an original expression of a wellness ethos inspired from my own quest for peace, as well as my study of Aldous Huxley's works (Heaven and Hell, Island, etc) and the teachings of Chris Wallace (non-dual Shaiva Tantra), David Milliotis (Astanga), Ram Dass, Allan Watts, Herman Hesse, and many more!
My goal with Antipodes is also to prototype a viable way to grow as a teacher of yoga and mindfulness while staying grounded in a very practical craft (in my case woodworking), mirroring traditional figures in yoga, such as Krishnamacharia's own teacher, Brahmacharya, a simple farmer in the Himalayas.
About Antipodes in Aldous Huxley's "Heaven and Hell"
In Heaven and Hell, Huxley draws a parallel between the vastness of unknown at the geographical antipodes of the world (in 1956!) with the largely unmapped inner antipodes of the mind. He illustrates some of the different ways civilizations have found to point to/visit the mind's antipodes. One of the most important doorways he describes is through art. I've made a collage (right) that regroups many of the works he discusses, can you identify any? Do you recognize any Van Gogh, Monet, Le Douanier Rousseau, Goya, Rembrandt, to name only a few? Coming soon : this collage will be interactive so you can learn more about each artist in the context of the mind's antipodes.
