Cardiac Trainers Website and Product Launch

We have some exciting news to share today.

Our product, Cardiac Trainers is now available for sale on the newly launched website:

 https://www.cardiactrainers.com/

Cardiac Trainers have been designed to provide surgeons with hands on practice to develop their cardio-thoracic surgery skills. Each kit comes ready to use with a full set of consumable parts. Each kit also comes with access to a full set of instructional videos by Dr. Gabriel Loor providing instructions for how to best use the kits.

"The Cardiac Trainer prepared me to excel in surgery residency. I was far ahead of my peers in terms of technical skills and Cardiac Trainers helped me get there."

— Elissa Butler, Chief Surgical Resident

Flow

This series focuses on flow and human interconnection.

Tonguetangle

Tonguetangle original work is currently available for purchase. 

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Tonguetangle 12"x12" Flow #4

Inner Space Embrace

Inner Space Embrace. 32" x 36"

Inner Space Embrace. 32" x 36"

Inner Space Embrace original work is currently available for purchase

Inner Space Embrace original work is currently available for purchase

Body of Light

Body of Light. 32" x 60" is currently hanging in the Boynton Health Services women's clinic in Minnesota.

Rati Devi : Goddess of Desire

Acrylic and paint marker on canvas. 35"x48"

Acrylic and paint marker on canvas. 35"x48"

ConnecToMe

Connect to me.

  1. A connectome is a comprehensive map of neural connections in the brain, and may be thought of as its "wiring diagram". More broadly, a connectome would include the mapping of all neural connections within an organism's nervous system.

Neural Networks connect human hearts through space and time

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10 principles of a Good Life

Life is a complex and mysterious journey we explore together. Here are a few principles I've discovered to help guide and illuminate along the way:

1. Always Take the Braver Path

Chase your fears. Dance with the things that cause your heart to tremble. You will never regret doing the braver thing.

2. Whole-Ass Everything and Try to Stay Whelmed

So often we are in excess or deficit of stimulation that the mere state of being perfectly, adequately whelmed, strikes as mildly absurd. So averse are we to admitting to trying our best that we are more comfortable (proud even) with"Half-Assing" than putting forth our full effort.

3. Never Stop Seeking Adventure

So committed I am to the exploration of unknown territory that I wrote it into my marriage vows. Adventure does not have to mean skydiving or mountain climbing. I believe in pursuing the unknown. I believe life is for discovery. 

4. Continually Self-Improve

Never let yourself believe in the mistaken idea that you are a finished product. You are never done until you are dead. 

5. Put Your Oxygen Mask on First

Believe in the airplane wisdom: you cannot help others until you've seen to your own health and well-being.

6. Be Your Whole Authentic Self

Live with honesty and authenticity to find your tribe.

7. Share Your Light

Cultivate your inner light and let it shine. 

8. Forgive Yourself. Forgive Others

You've got to fail so you can succeed and we are all failing all the time. There is nothing to be gained from perfected stagnation.

9. Hold No Blame. Hold No Regret.

You may feel regret. You may feel blame.  Do not hold them for too long. Let them pass swiftly.

10. Align with Love. Lead With Curiosity.

Let your actions be guided with love and driven by curiosity.

6 Working Definitions of "I"

Who are you? How do you know?

I spend an exceptional amount of time ruminating on identity. I often wonder where do I end and where does the world begin? Maybe everyone else has got this figured out already. Maybe they don’t see it as a big deal. But I can’t seem to wrap my mind around it and I see it as one of the most important questions of existence. By what criteria is something “me”? I’ve got a couple of working definitions but they all break down somewhere.

"I and I (also spelled I&I, InI, or Ihi yahnh Ihi) is a complex term, referring to the oneness of Jah (God) and every human. Rastafari scholar E. E. Cashmore: "I and I is an expression to totalize the concept of oneness. 'I and I' as being the o…

"I and I (also spelled I&I, InI, or Ihi yahnh Ihi) is a complex term, referring to the oneness of Jah (God) and every human. Rastafari scholar E. E. Cashmore: "I and I is an expression to totalize the concept of oneness. 'I and I' as being the oneness of two persons. So God is within all of us and we're one people in fact. I and I means that God is within all men."

6 Working Definitions of "I"

 

Definition 1: I am the living cells in my body.

Implications: Am I not my hair? Am I not the space inside my lungs? Does my skin cease being me the moment I scratch an itch?

 

Definition 2: I am that which I can directly control with my mind.

Implications: I can directly control things that I hold. Some people cannot directly control their bodies. Tools, machines and thought controlled devices allow us to control anything with our mind.

 

Definition 3: I am that which was made from my DNA.

Implications: Clones, twins, children, donated organs.

 

Definition 4: I am my mind.

Implications: I am not my body. I am the energy that flows through my nervous system

 

Definition 5: I am everything.

Implications: We are all one. That which you cannot effect is like a limb you have not learned to control. Connection through communication and empathy. 

 

Definition 6: I am that which I make the conscious decision to be.

Implications: I can be anyone or anything that I choose to be at any given moment as it suits my needs or desires. I can attach "I-ness" to any machine or tool, any object, human, or living thing that I understand well enough to effect.

 

Which definitions resonate the most with you? Do you have your own? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Depicting Sacred Geometries

A Yantra is a sacred diagram used in Eastern mysticism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. The act of wearing, depicting, enacting and/or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits in the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions.

As I attempted to recreate these geometries, I was perplexed by the asymmetrical symmetry of it. The faint lines behind the triangles are my original attempt. The colors in the washed out background were my mixed emotions. The red in the top left corner is all that is left of my anger. The blue in the bottom left is all that remains of my sadness. Creating this piece has helped me through some emotionally turbulent times and makes me want to teach therapeutic art classes.

3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

This semester, I am taking my first college class since graduating in 2011 with a BFA in Graphic Design. The class is MM3305 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing taught by Mac Cameron and Derek Mathers. 

In a sentence, 3D printing and manufacturing has affected me by igniting my imagination.

If you can make anything, what will you make?

Medjules for surgical training

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Medjules are a suite of modular trainers intended to objectively asses skills such as knot-tying, suturing, and tool articulation. Each new skill comes in the form of a modular top to be attached to the universal base.

Like a 3D game of "Operation" meets "Simon Says", the tool articulation task tracks speed and accuracy while transferring metal rings from one S-shaped post to the next. This Medjule records the frequency and duration of error each time a ring touches a post.

 

3D Body Scanning and Printing

A Poem at Three AM

It's a beautiful thing.

To know someone.

To hold a copy in your mind.

To simulate hypotheticals.

It's a beautiful thing.

To be known.

To live in another's head.

To share a part of yourself.

Every time you imagine my reaction.

Every time I predict your action.

That's me in you.

That's you in me.

At least in part.

We live on.

Weekend Watercolors

BioRadiance

A watercolor of the vessels in the head and the radiant energy we produce.

A watercolor of the vessels in the head and the radiant energy we produce.

Out the Dog Door

What does the yard look like to a dog with all its happy sounds and smells?

What does the yard look like to a dog with all its happy sounds and smells?

Fronding Fleurettes

A watercolor inspired by the patterns found in capillaries and leaves

A watercolor inspired by the patterns found in capillaries and leaves

Uh Oh. Fall Down. Whatevertheplace.

What do babies dream about? Probably new concepts like object permanence 'what is a face?' and 'how does motion work?'

What do babies dream about? Probably new concepts like object permanence 'what is a face?' and 'how does motion work?'

Taking Inspiration from Kishi Bashi

Kishi Bashi's music has been an important influence in my life. I first heard the enchanting violinist two years ago when he last performed in Minneapolis but I was unable to attend. I devoured the first album on repeat and it was this music that got me through an incredibly challenging time in my life. I played his joyful melodies to get through the collapse of a company I had worked hard to save and it gave me the strength I needed to start a business that has become more than I could have ever imagined. 

The following summer when visiting my sister in Tokyo, I got the chance to see him perform. The show included Japanese dancers in maid outfits and I was able to watch from the front row. 

In the same year, I worked hard to pursue my dream of inventing and performing a new style of acrobatics. On my birthday, I was gifted tickets to his upcoming concert in Minneapolis. This is my tribute to everything Kishi Bashi's music has meant to me.

See you on the 30th, K!