I wanted to create a script that flowed aesthetically with the designs I was planning on using on the yoga mats. Having spent a considerable time in the Middle East, I loved the way Arabic words scrolled across a page. I also have always been attracted to the dense characters found in Japanese and other Eastern scripts.

Through my research I came across a scripting called Elian Scripting (http://www.ccelian.com/concepca.html) that had the ability to both flow as the Arabic language and stack like Asian languages. The language is based on a grid system similar to the pigpen cipher developed by Freemasons about 400 years ago and had been used by both George Washington and by Union prisoners during wartime to encode messages. The language split the alphabet into three blocks of nine letters that were referenced by the path one would take from the center to get to each block.

I liked the ideas behind Elian Script but I felt the structure of the writing was based on a normal alphabetic structure that would not fit well with the yoga mats and was 2/3s of the masonic script and wanted more differentiation. After consulting with my friend, numerologist and medium Emily (emilyspirit.com), I decided to restructure the script to reflect equality and harmony. I re-arraigned the letters so that their alphanumeric values added up to be the same no matter what row, column or diagonal they were on (like a Sudoku). I then re-drew the paths to each block so the symbols were no longer convoluted and overlapping but a beautiful spiral similar to the ones found in nature. The script was now beautiful, readable, stack-able and unique; a perfect fit for the yoga mat. To make the squares all add up even I used A-Z (1-26) and had to put the number 27 in one of the blocks to keep all the rows and columns even. 27 is a beautiful number that can be represented in many ways. 27 is three to the power of three and I know how powerful threes can be.

I also found that the lengths of lines determining the grid seemed to be elegant and give the script an Arabic feel, but was not great for readability. I decided to differentiate the blocks by crosses and dots.

That is the history of the 27 yoga script. When the yoga mats are stenciled with paint, x-acto knives or a laser cutter, anyone can have their mantra or name beautifully scripted on their mat. I want to create something someone will treasure and show their individuality and the development of the perfect scripting was an important step.

Tomorrow I will write about the images I have made for the mats.

Here are some examples of the script