James Broughton might be worth looking into with respect to yoga and 
meditation. He makes references to both in Seeing the Light, later re-printed 
as Making Light of It (easy to find online). The Golden Positions (1970) 
references yoga positions, and if I’m not mistaken he practiced yoga. But a 
steak of meditative, Zen philosophy runs through the book, which is also just a 
delight to read.

JW

Dr. Jonathan Walley
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Cinema
Denison University
https://denison.edu/people/jonathan-walley


> On Oct 26, 2025, at 10:09 AM, Heath Iverson <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Thanks for the thoughts all!
> 
> I am indeed curating a program around this concept. The Sharits and Whitney 
> catalogs are already in the mix--especially Whitney's work as it relates to 
> sacred number and geometry. There's also Jordan Belson's SAMHADI. I've got 
> the formal, abstract/metaphoric angle covered; now I am looking for films 
> with literal ("pro-filmic" like they say in the biz) instances of these 
> practices and their material culture and expression. Im interested not just 
> in the formal representation of subjective yogic/meditation states, but how 
> these practices are metabolized by a largely western avant-garde form. Given 
> the strong counter-cultural overlap of the mid century 
> underground/experimental/artist film world and the adjacent new age/new 
> spiritualist movements I expect there'd be some good examples but, not much 
> comes to mind... there are some hare krishnas accidentally in Mekas' films...
> 
> On Sun, Oct 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM Gabriele Jutz <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>> I suggest Transit(ive) by Canadian filmmaker Sarah Bliss (HD video created 
>> from 16mm projection performance with digital sound, recorded on digital 
>> video. 06:36.  2017).
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> In her artist statement, Sarah Bliss describes herself as “a filmmaker, 
>> artist, educator, and Buddhist practitioner who facilitates presence and 
>> attunement with the sensate, desiring body.”
>> 
>> Transit(ive) is the result of the artist’s manual interaction with the 
>> projector lens, while the soundtrack presents a cell-phone recording of her 
>> father’s dying breath. The act of expiration, literally “breathing out,” is 
>> associated with death. Transit(ive) is a video document of death and loss, 
>> as well as a techno-spiritual reunion with the artist’s father following his 
>> death.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Here you can find more about Transit(ive): 
>> https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3775230/3775231
>> 
>> (chapter “Lungs to Ears”)
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------
>> 
>> 
>> Hon. Prof. Mag. Dr. Gabriele Jutz
>> Universität für angewandte Kunst
>> Abteilung für Medientheorie
>> 
>> T +43 699 12 10 81 44
>> 
>> dieangewandte.at <http://dieangewandte.at/>
>> medientheorie.ac.at <http://medientheorie.ac.at/>
>> Postsparkasse
>> 
>> Georg-Coch-Platz 2
>> 
>> HP Raum 022
>> 1010 Wien / Austria
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> https://dieangewandte.academia.edu/GabrieleJutz
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Von: Frameworks <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> im Auftrag von Dave Tetzlaff 
>> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
>> Antworten an: Frameworks posts <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>>
>> Datum: Sonntag, 26. Oktober 2025 um 06:23
>> An: Frameworks posts <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>>
>> Betreff: Re: [Frameworks] Avant Garde Film and Yoga
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Well, there are a fair number of avant garde films that ARE 
>> yogic/meditative/spiritual practices in form somehow without PHOTOGRAPHING 
>> such practices as they exist in the real world [or as we say in the biz 
>> (sic) "the pro filmic event"]
>> 
>> Paul Sharits: Mandala Films
>> 
>> Ernie Gehr: Serene Velocity*
>> 
>> John and James Whitney 
>> 
>> (and others germane to The Center for Visual Music)
>> 
>> Scott Bartlet: Off/On
>> 
>> Anthony McCall
>> 
>> Several shorts in The FluxFilm anthology, though 'Zen for Film' might not 
>> qualify depending on how you take it. 😉
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> In some cases the artists expressed some meditative/spiritual intent. In 
>> others, it kinds works out that way regardless. The cited above are just 
>> what comes to my mind at the moment. There are more for sure...
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> If you were curating a program on your stated theme, you might mix these 
>> formal examples with representational ones in interesting ways an audience 
>> might appreciate.
>> 
>> -- Frameworks mailing list [email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]> 
>> https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
>> 
>> -- 
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