http://troutunderground.com/2008/03/12/the-five-zen-photography-tips-you-might-not-have-heard-before/

Yesterday night my wife and I attended the Childbirth Education, Part 4 at the local community hospital. We first learned about regional anesthetic for pain that is called epidural. Then we were shown a video. We then moved on to learn about various medical interventions and procedures such as cesarean. Again, we watched a video. Nothing scary in the video. The whole procedure of cesarean was shown in computer animation. Oh man, childbirth is... not for the faint hearted. Salutes to moms and moms-to-be!

I got up this morning and before breakfast, I practiced Pure Contour Drawing. I gazed at a single wrinkle in my palm and I began to draw the edges of the wrinkle. My eyes traced the edges very slowly while my hand recorded my perception at the same slow pace. The important thing is to keep the eyes focused on the palm. Never look at the drawing until the exercise is finished. Also, no distraction whatsoever. Oh, I forgot to set a timer (5 minutes is just right). I just stopped drawing when I finished tracing the edges.

The baby crib that my wife and I assembled last week.

Today my wife and I attended the third part of the Childbirth Education.

Together we learned various positions for laboring out of bed and for pushing. My wife practiced the positions, I learned how to support her.

The following points are very important to keep in mind:
(1) Throughout the labor, BREATH RHYTHMICALLY (to relax and to relieve pain.)
(2) Taking shower or bath really helps the labor process.

Today the instructor also reminded all of us to call the hospital when contractions are 3 to 5 minutes apart, last about 60 seconds, and this pattern is at least one hour long.

Last night I continued to practice drawing upside down. The subject is a sixteenth-century German horse and rider. My drawing is shown on the right. The sensation of putting down line by line - hand coordinating with eye - continued to amaze me. 

My pencil drawing above was drawn upside down.

Going to practice drawing upside down. It's one of the exercises in the book "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain" by Betty Edwards. When something is upside down, it may not look like anything to me, and all I see are lines and shapes formed by lines. Just draw what I see.