Smile. You may not know it, but your life just changed.
Skeptical?
Take another deep breath. Now, deepen your expression.
Whether you are new to yoga, a dedicated practitioner, or just someone trying to sort out all of the hullabaloo (and not call it “yogart” in mixed company), a joyful practice can help you find things you didn’t know you needed – and explore gifts you didn’t know you had to offer.
Still skeptical? That’s cool. It doesn’t change the fact that somewhere between that first deep breath and this next one (Inhale….Exhale.) your brain chemistry changed!
And just think, you didn’t even have to step on a mat.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE, the 3rd Week after Pentecost & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast, and/or Youth Day (in South Africa).
This is the “missing” compilation post for Tuesday, June 16th, features some remixed content and excerpts. My apologies for not posting before the practice. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“World is broken into fragments and pieces
Once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone, there’s too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning”
— quoted from the song “New Beginning” by Tracy Chapman
We can spend a lot of time talking about the ways we are different and even about the things that divide us. However, over the last few days, I have talked about the things we have in common. Including our shared fears. The funny/ironic thing is that some of the things that we have in common are also the very things that divide us. I think this is highlighted by the fact that we (as a world and, also, as individual countries) are still dealing with issues that divided us decades — even centuries — ago.
For example, today is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 “House Divided” Speech (in Springfield, Illinois), which launched his unsuccessful bid to unseat the Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. In the speech, the future president talked about the issues that were on everyone’s minds (then and now): states’ rights, slavery, race and ethnicity, and citizenship. He made a statement that reminds me of Leo Tolstoy’s “Four Questions”; quoted Jesus (from The Gospel According to Matthew (12:25, NKJV); and issued a warning about what happens when a group — be it a country or a family — are not acting as“a unified whole.”
“‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”
“Have we no tendency to the latter condition?”
— quoted from the “A House Divided” speech by Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois (June 16, 1858)
Language, education, and the rights of citizens are not only (additional) issues currently dividing us here in the United States, they were issues at the heart and core of the anti-apartheid student uprising that occurred June 16-18, 1976. Today’s observation of “Youth Day” in Soweto, South Africa, is a commemoration of a horrible event that is proof positive of what happens when a house is divided. It is also a reminder of how people came together when horrible events bring them together.
“All people who died on that day, to me, it is like they did not die in vain. As people we managed to take out good things from bad things, to live by today, to shape ourselves and our country.”
— Antoinette Sithole talking about the Soweto student Uprising (06/17/1976) and the unknown “gentleman” (Mbuyisa Makhubo) and woman who helped her after her 12-year old brother Hector Pieterson was killed
“Mbuyisa is or was my son. But he is not a hero. In my culture, picking up Hector is not an act of heroism. It was his job as a brother. If he left him on the ground and somebody saw him jumping over Hector, he would never be able to live there.”
— quoted from Mbuyisa Makhubo’s mother Ma’makhubu explaining why her son picked up a stranger (Hector Pieterson) during the Soweto student Uprising (06/17/1976)
We can look at the words of Abraham Lincoln and the actions of Mbuyisa Makhubo against their landscapes of horror and only see someone’s role in a moment of crisis. Or, we can recognize that on any given day there are people who pick us up when we are knocked down, bring people together (maybe over a “grittle”), and/or teach us “the dream the prayer/The notion that we can do better.”
“We can break the cycle, we can break the chain
We can start all over, in the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths, the dreams, the prayer
The notion, we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world”
— quoted from the song “New Beginning” by Tracy Chapman
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06162020 Abe’s House & Soweto]
MUSIC NOTE: Tracy Chapman’s “New Beginning” is a song about coming together when there is suffering and also about breaking the cycle/chain that leads to more suffering. Even though it is not currently on today’s playlist, it reinforces today’s message and appears on some of my other playlists.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
### “Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now”
— quoted from “Get Together” by The Youngbloods (written by Chester Powers) ###
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the 3rd Week after Pentecost, All Russian Saints, & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast on World Blood Donor Day.
This is the “missing” (2-for-1) compilation post, with excerpts, for Sunday, June 14th — Monday, June 15th.The 2026 prompt question (for Monday) was, “What is something you have in common with someone perceived as being different from you?”
You can request an audio recording of these practices or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“I found that [Karl] Landsteiner and I had a much different approach to science: Landsteiner would ask, ‘What do these experimental observations force us to believe about the nature of the world?’ and I would ask, ‘What is the most simple, general and intellectually satisfying picture of the world that encompasses these observations and is not incompatible with them?’”
— quoted from “Fifty Years of Progress in Structural Chemistry and Molecular Biology.” By Dr. Linus Pauling (published in Daedalus, 99, 1005. 1970)
The way we phrase a question can sometimes lead to a very different answer than when the same question is asked in a slightly different way. As referenced above, the way a scientist asks a question can determine the way in which they experiment. Similarly, the way a question is asked during an interrogation can lead to a different series of events than if a less accusatory version of the question is asked at the beginning of a yoga class.
For example, “What or who do you value?” was the question at the beginning of Sunday’s practice. I also phrased it as “What or who do you care about?” I am sure you can think of a less polite, more profane way of asking the same question — and it is possible you would get similar answers. However, the first question — with the focus on values — is a direct route to the core (and heart) of our identity and behaviors.
“There is no doubt that the most important mechanism in every animate being is attention. We are where we lend our attention. For that reason I have so often repeated ‘Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.’”
— quoted from “6 Change and Crisis” in Man and Crisis (originally titled En Torno A Galileo) by José Ortega y Gasset (Translated from the Spanish by Mildred Adams)
Sunday, June 14th, was the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark Hortman, and their dog Gilbert; as well as the attempted assassination of Minnesota state senator John Hoffman, his wife Yvette Hoffman, and their daughter Hope Hoffman (who was injured, but — thanks to her parents — not shot).* It was also the anniversary of the first No Kings Day.
In thinking about the tragedy, as well as the hopes, of that day, and all the days since, I can’t help but think about how we express our values through our thoughts, words, and deeds. A year ago, to the day, there were people who chose to express their values in a peaceful way; while others simultaneously chose to express their values through violence. And, don’t get it twisted, the violence wasn’t just exhibited by the murderer (who has now been convicted), but/and also by counter-protestors to the No Kings Rally. The ironic thing, and one of the saddest things, is that if you stripped away some of the details, people had the same complaints. Up to a point, you could even say they shared similar sentiments. The difference between those who chose peace versus those who chose violence really comes down how much we engaged the practice of our hearts…how much we engaged the things that make us human.
We can debate whether or not the six siddhis (“powers” or “abilities”) described in the Sāmkhya Karika are, in fact, “powers unique to being human”. However, there is no denying that things like our ability to think, use words, problem solve, and cultivate relationships are aspects of our shared experience as humans. These are things we all have in common. Dana (“generosity”) is, in some ways, the most unique of the powers simply because it is the one that can intrinsically overlaps our legal systems.
“The last category of our innate siddhis is dana, ‘the ability to give.’ We have both the wisdom and the courage to share what lawfully belongs to us with others. We are designed to experience the joy of giving. This joy is the architect of human civilization, characterized by self-sacrifice and selflessness.”
— quoted from the commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.24 from The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
A few months back, I read 2 books that — at their core — were about connection, belonging, really seeing someone, and generosity. In one book, the generous protagonist was motivated by not being seen, not being understood, and not being accepted as a child. He wanted other children — even ones who were different from him — to experience the love and sense of belonging he missed out on as a child. Even though he was very generous with his money, what stands out in his actions was how generous he was with his other resources: time, energy, love, acceptance. His generosity went beyond his bank account and (slight spoiler alert) when it was pointed out to him that he is being a little stingy (with himself and his truth), he course corrected. His generosity went deeper.
On the flip side, the other book rubbed me the wrong way, because I couldn’t get past the idea that, if the protagonist had less money, he might have given something more valuable than the gifts he gave: He might have gone deeper and given more of himself.
“[The 2026 World Blood Donor Day] campaign, ‘One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives.’, places humanity at the heart of every blood donation. It reminds us that each donation is more than a medical act: it is a powerful expression of solidarity, compassion and collective responsibility.”
— quoted from the World Health Organization’s 2026 World Blood Donor Day site
Sunday was also World Blood Donor Day, which is the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Karl Landsteiner (b. 1868). Coincidentally, the day that honors the “Father of Transfusion Medicine” falls the day before the anniversary of the first documented successful “xenotransfusion”. On June 15, 1667, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys (with assistance from Dr. Paul Emmerez) successfully transfused about 12 ounces of sheep blood into the elbow of a 15-year old boy who had been experiencing chronic fever — and who was not finding relief from leeches repeatedly administered by a barber-surgeon. Thanks to the research of Dr. Landsteiner, we now know that 1667 transfusion and similar 17th-19th century transfusions avoided killing the recipients by pure luck!
World Blood Donor Day is an opportunity to educate people about blood (and plasma) donations and, also, an opportunity to celebrate and honor the people who literally give their life’s blood. Consider, for a moment, that if everyone donated money, but no one donated blood or plasma, the money would just sit in the banks. Maybe, occasionally, moving from one bank to another. On the flip side, if everyone (who could) donated blood and/or plasma, but no one donated money, people would use their siddhis and figure out a way to get the blood and plasma to the people who needed them.
“Inspired by the idea that the whole of humanity can be reflected in a single drop, the [2026] campaign highlights how every donor helps form a lifeline that connects and protects us all.”
— quoted from the World Health Organization’s 2026 World Blood Donor Day site
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06142020 World Blood Donor Day”]
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
*NOTE: One June 14, 2025, the murderer made additional attempts on the lives of Minnesota legislators and their families. In one case, the legislator was on vacation. In a separate case, the attempt was thwarted by police presence and interaction.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the 2nd Week after Pentecost, All Russian Saints, & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast on World Blood Donor Day.
“The last category of our innate siddhis is dana, ‘the ability to give.’ We have both the wisdom and the courage to share what lawfully belongs to us with others. We are designed to experience the joy of giving. This joy is the architect of human civilization, characterized by self-sacrifice and selflessness.”
— quoted from the commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.24 from The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
“[The 2026 World Blood Donor Day] campaign, ‘One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives.’, places humanity at the heart of every blood donation. It reminds us that each donation is more than a medical act: it is a powerful expression of solidarity, compassion and collective responsibility. Inspired by the idea that the whole of humanity can be reflected in a single drop, the campaign highlights how every donor helps form a lifeline that connects and protects us all.”
— quoted from the World Health Organization’s 2026 World Blood Donor Day site
Please join me today (Sunday, June 14th) at 2:30 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom.You can use the link from the “Class Schedules”calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06142020 World Blood Donor Day”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the 2nd Week after Pentecost & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast.
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2023. Some links, class details, formatting, and date-related information have been updated/added.
“I am using the term [existential] in a very simple, straightforward way; simply to refer to existence. [As an adjective] Existential Psychotherapy means simply, a therapy focused on concerns emerging from the nature of existence.”
— Dr. Irvin Yalom, speaking at a 2009 Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference
Existential therapists, like Dr. Irvin Yalom (who turns 92 95 today), are concerned with the same questions as existential philosophers: Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? You know, those easy questions. The therapists, however, may be more concerned (than the philosophers) about how we answer the questions. Or, we could say, they are concerned with the actions that come our answers.
Born today in 1931, Dr. Irvin Yalom is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford and an author of fiction and non-fiction that deals with the mental and emotional workings of the mind (and heart). He pioneered existentialist psychotherapy and was featured in the 2003 documentary Flight from Death, which explores how people deal with what Patanjali highlighted as the fifth afflicted thought pattern: fear of loss/death. (YS 2.3)
Dr. Yalom’s therapy and research are based on his belief that “we are here, through random events; that we are here alone…. that we are responsible for carving out own life pattern, our own meaning… we have no predestined fate, most of all it means that we are finite… we all have to face inevitable death.” Like Virginia Satir and Dr. M. Scott Peck, he focuses not so much on a “presenting” issue/problem as on how we deal with our issues and problems. He outlined four givens: Isolation, Mortality, Meaninglessness, and Freedom (which comes with responsibility). According to Dr. Yalom we deal with inner conflict around the four “givens” and our responses are either functional or dysfunctional. Dr. Louis Hoffman added a fifth “given” to this idea: we have an emotional, embodied experience.
In the Yoga Philosophy, what Dr. Yalom calls “functional or dysfunctional” is described as klişțāklişțāh (“afflicted and not afflicted”). Philosophically, we can see the correlation between our dysfunctional or afflicted thoughts and actions and our suffering (and/or the suffering of others). Of course, this takes us right back to the root or bedrock of our suffering: the first afflicted thought pattern, ignorance.
— “Ignorance is the ground for the remaining afflictions, whether they are dormant, attenuated, disjointed, or active.”
Yoga Sūtra 2.13: sati mūle tadvipāko jātyāyurbhogāḥ
— “As long as the root cause [i.e., the five afflicted thought patterns] persists, karmas must bear fruit, and that fruition determines birth in a particular species, life span, and life experience.”
Please join me today (Saturday, June 13th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules”calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06132020 Yalom’s Big Day”]
“‘Lads, your needs are few, they are easily attained, and any necessary suffering can be easily tolerated. Don’t complicate your life with such trivial goals as riches and fame: they are the enemy of ataraxia. Fame, for example, consists of the opinions of others and requires that we must live our life as others wish. To achieve and maintain fame, we must like what others like and shun whatever it is that they shun. Hence, a life of fame or a life in politics? Flee from it. And wealth? Avoid it! It is a trap. The more we acquire the more we crave, and the deeper our sadness when our yearning is not satisfied. Lads, listen to me: If you crave happiness, do not waste your life struggling for that which you really do not need.’”
— the fictionalized Franciscus van den Enden speaking to his students in The Spinoza Problem: A Novel by Dr. Irvin D. Yalom
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the 2nd Week after Pentecost & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast.
“The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in a March 1936 newspaper report in ‘The Yorkshire Post’ of West Yorkshire, England. The expression was used in a speech by an influential British statesman.
Sir Austen Chamberlain, addressing the annual meeting of Birmingham Unionist Association last night, spoke of the ‘grave injury’ to collective security by Germany’s violation of the Treaty of Locarno.
Sir Austen, who referred to himself as ‘a very old Parliamentarian,’ said:—”
“‘…. We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.’”
— quoted from the December 18, 2015, Quote Investigator post, “Quote Origin: May You Live In Interesting Times” (with credit to “top researcher Bonnie Taylor-Blake”)
I think we can all agree that we are “living in interesting times” and surrounded by “wild things”. All of which activates our nervous systems. To paraphrase my yoga buddy and fellow teacher Sandra Razieli, we need/want to cultivate a resilient nervous system. A yoga practice is one of the many ways we can do that.
For Those Who Missed It: The following (slightly revised) excerpt is from a 2025 post. Some links, a quote, and class details have been updated/added. Links connected to outside sites are identified accordingly.
The other day In 2025, I asked a question — “What are we doing?” — and noted that intonation (and adding a few choice words) can change the context. So, today, I am very much asking with a certain tone (and some choice words): “What in the ever-loving world are we doing?”
People might use the old adage and say we are “living in interesting times”. I’m going to say that we are in the middle of wild times and in the middle of wild things. So, the next question I want to ask you is, “What do you do when you’re in the middle of wild things”?
That last question, like my other questions, can be taken in different ways and will have different answers depending on how you react when your sympathetic nervous system is activated. Some people immediately fight (and that means different things to different people). Some people freeze up or collapse. Some people flee. While all of these very natural reactions are activated by our sympathetic nervous system, they can manifest in different ways. For instance, some people fight with joy or other positive emotional expressions (like a little bit of random fun and silliness). Some people use prayers, mediation, plus rituals and traditions to battle whatever plagues them or those they love. Bottom line: People do what they need to do to survive.
“I only have one subject. The question I am obsessed with is: How do children survive?”
— Maurice Sendak (b. 1928)
It is important to keep in mind that our sympathetic nervous systems can be activated when we are physically in the wild space (where wild things are happening), and/or when we mentally and emotionally find ourselves in the wild space, from viewing wild things on television, hearing things on the radio, or reading and/or viewing something on social media. All of our nervous systems are being activate.
And, don’t take this as me being flippant; because, I am absolutely serious when I suggest that you go a little deeper into your knee jerk response(s) and notice what you do when you find yourself “where the wild things are” — and what it takes for you to be like Max (and become the “most wild thing of all”).
“‘And now,’ cried Max, ‘let the wild rumpus start!’”
— quoted from Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Today is the anniversary of the birth of children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (b. 1928) and the anniversary of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous (in 1935).
The excerpted post includes passing references to mental health issues and addiction.
“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again. You really don’t have a sacred space, a rescue land, until you find somewhere to be that’s not a wasteland, some field of action where there is a spring of ambrosia—a joy that comes from inside, not something external that puts joy into you—a place that lets you experience your own will and your own intention and your own wish so that, in small, the Kingdom is there. I think everybody, whether they know it or not, is in need of such a place.”
— quoted from A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living by Joseph Campbell
As noted in the excerpted post, it is important to have a sacred space when battling things and people that push you off center. For some people, a sacred space is on the outside; for some it is on the inside; and for some it is both. For some it is all of that mixed in with tradition, ritual, and intention. Ultimately, to go back to the words of Joseph Campbell and Maurice Sendak, it is a place where everything falls into place — where we have good “luck”. It is a place we have to find and/or cultivate, as we do in our practice.
“There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen.”
— quoted from Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Please join me today (Wednesday, June 10th) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class.You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06102020 Here Be The Wild Things”]
MUSIC NOTE: YouTube is the original playlist and includes the video below.
“GROSS: Well, I’m so glad you have a new book. I’m really glad we had a chance to talk.
SENDAK: I am too.
GROSS: And I wish you all good things.
SENDAK: I wish you all good things. Live your life, live your life, live your life.”
— quoted from the NPR Fresh Air interview “Maurice Sendak: On Life, Death And Children’s Lit” with Terry Gross and Maurice Sendak (originally aired September 20, 2011)
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the 2nd Week after Pentecost & the Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast.
For Those Who Missed It: The following note and excerpt were originally posted in 2024.
“‘You can never give up because quitting is not an option,’ [Wayman] Tisdale says. ‘No matter how dark it is or how weak you get, until you take that last breath, you must fight.’”
— quoted from the Dec. 3, 2008 ESPN article “Tisdale reaches for his biggest rebound” by Anna K. Clemmons
The first question I asked in a 2020 blog post (see below) was, “Have you ever experienced trauma, loss, and disability?”
During yesterday’s practice, I mentioned how the trajectory of Robert Schumann’s life and career changed when he lost sensation in his right pinky finger. Eventually, he loss the use and dexterity of his whole right hand. The physical trauma, loss, and disability took an emotional toll that eventually landed him in sanatorium. Coincidentally, today is the anniversary of the birth of Cole Porter (b. 1891) and Wayman Tisdale (b. 1964) — two people who shared a lot in common with Robert Schumann, including music, love, and trauma, loss, and disability… again on the right side. However, they dealt with their circumstances in very different ways.
Click on the title of the excerpt below for the entire 2020 post about Cole Porter and Wayman Tisdale.
“Sad times, may follow your tracks Bad times, may bar you from Sak’s At times, when Satan in slacks Breaks down your self control
Maybe, as often it goes Your Abe-y, may tire of his rose So baby, this rule I propose Always have an ace in the hole.”
— quoted from the song “Ace in the Hole” by Cole Porter
Please join me today (Tuesday, June 9th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into in the class.You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06092020 Not So De-Lovely Circumstance(s)”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or observing the 1st Sunday after Pentecost, All Saints, & the Eve of Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast.
Happy Pride!
For Those Who Missed It: The following was previously posted in 2025. Class details, some links, and the excerpt have been updated/added.
Here is a third poem for the poets born today [in 1917, 1954, 1943, and 1958] because I have just a little, tiny bit more to say.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel cool, beautiful, and strong / And also warns you.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel love and anger (at strangers) and grief and more.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel gratitude for the history within every part of you… including your feet.
NOTE: The original poem is embedded in the second poem (and contains links to the poets’ poems).
Please join me today (Sunday, June 7th) at 2:30 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom.You can use the link from the “Class Schedules”calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available onYouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06072020 Birthday of Poets”]
MUSIC NOTE: There are some slight differences in the before/after tracks and the YouTube playlist includes extra videos related to three of the four poets. The poem linked here is interactive and also includes one of those videos.)
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or observing the Apodosis of Pentecost on the anniversary of D-Day.
Peace and blessings to those who have served, will serve, and are serving.
Please join me today (Saturday, June 6th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules”calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04072021 Character of the Happy Warrior”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Happy Pride! Many, many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing the Afterfeast of Pentecost.
This “missing” (expanded) invitation for the “First Friday Night Special” on June 5th, includes related excerpt. You can request an audio recording of this Yin Yoga practice (with a little movement and pranayama) via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“Ironically, to Campbell the end of the hero’s journey is not the aggrandizement of the hero. ‘It is,’ he said in one of his lectures, ‘not to identify oneself with any of the figures or powers experienced. The Indian yogi, striving for release, identifies himself with the Light and never returns. But no one with a will to the service of others would permit himself such an escape. The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others.’ One of the many distinctions between the celebrity and the hero, he said, is that one lives only for self while the other acts to redeem society.
Joseph Campbell affirmed life as adventure.”
— quoted from the “Introduction” to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (edited by Betty Sue Flowers)
If you were to pause a moment and share the story of your life, there would be fine points and details that would make your story very different from mine and my story very different from someone else’s story. However, there would be common elements. There would be stages, encounters, challenges that are a part of every life, every story…and every journey.
“GEORGE LUCAS: What happens is that no matter how you do it, when you sit down to write something all other influences you’ve had in your life come into play. The things that you like, the things that you’ve seen, the things — the observations you’ve made. That’s ultimately what you work with when you’re writing. And you — you are influenced by the things that you like. Designs that you like, characters you like, moments that you remember, that you were moved by. It’s — it’s like trying to compose a — a symphony in a way.”
— George Lucas responding to a question Bill Moyers asked about the creative process, quoted from the transcript of “The Mythology of Star Wars, with George Lucas”
Bill Moyers, who was born today in 1943, spent a good portion of his life exploring and reporting on life and the way we live life — especially here in the United States. He did this, in part, through conversations with poets like Robert Bly, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, Adrienne Rich, and Gary Snyder; as well as with politicians like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; visionaries like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Jane Goodall; filmmakers like George Lucas; and writers like Joseph Campbell. In fact, two of his most famous conversations occurred, eleven years apart, on Skywalker Ranch and centered around the “the power of myth” and idea of “the hero with a thousand faces”.
“[Joseph Campbell] agreed that the ‘guiding idea’ of his work was to find ‘the commonality of themes in world myths, pointing to a constant requirement in the human psyche for a centering in terms of deep principles.’
‘You’re talking about a search for the meaning of life?’ I asked.
‘No, no, no,’ he said. ‘For the experience of being alive.’”
— quoted from the “Introduction” to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (edited by Betty Sue Flowers)
Death is part of being alive — and, so, Bill Moyers wrote and talked about death. In the book and the series, Healing and the Mind, he explored the ways in which we experience grief, loss, and the fear of loss, as well as how there is sometimes a disconnect between what we are taught and what we experience. He also discussed the ways in which how we cope can lead to more suffering or great healing.
“When my brother died in 1966, my father began a grieving process that lasted almost twenty-five years. For all that time he suffered from chronic, debilitating headaches. I took him to some of the country’s major medical facilities, but no one could cure him of his pain. At one point during that ongoing search for a help, a doctor tried to teach him that his headaches were somehow related to his grief. But my father persisted in treating his pain exclusively as a medical problem, and the headaches continued to torment him.”
— quoted from the “Introduction” of Healing and the Mind by Bill Moyers (Editor, Betty Sue Flowers; Executive Editor, David Grubin; Art Research, Elizabeth Meryman-Brunner)
Click on the excerpt title below for the 2023 post related to Bill Moyers and discussions about life and death.
“I never met anyone who could better tell a story. Listening to him talk of primal societies, I was transported to the wide plains under the great dome of the open sky, or to the forest dense, beneath a canopy of trees, and I began to understand how the voices of the gods spoke from the wind and thunder, and the spirit of God flowed in every mountain stream, and the whole earth bloomed as a sacred place — the realm of mythic imagination. And I asked: Now that we moderns have stripped the earth of its mystery — have made, in Saul Bellow’s description, ‘a housecleaning of belief’ — how are our imaginations to be nourished? By Hollywood and made-for-TV movies?
Campbell was no pessimist. He believed there is a ‘point of wisdom beyond the conflicts of illusion and truth by which lives can be put back together again.’”
— quoted from the “Introduction” to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (edited by Betty Sue Flowers)
Click on the excerpt title below for the 2024 post which highlights the monomyth/Hero’s Journey (and includes some elements from the previous post).
“[Joseph Campbell] was, of course, criticized for dwelling on the psychological interpretation of myth, for seeming to confine the contemporary role of myth to either an ideological or a therapeutic function. I am not competent to enter that debate, and leave it for others to wage. He never seemed bothered by the controversy. He just kept on teaching, opening others to a new way of seeing. It was, above all, the authentic life he lived that instructs us. When he said that myths are clues to our deepest spiritual potential, able to lead us to delight, illumination, and even rapture, he spoke as one who had been to the places he was inviting others to visit.
What did draw me to him?
Wisdom, yes; he was very wise.
And learning; he did indeed ‘know the vast sweep of our panoramic past as few men have ever known it.’
But there was more. A story’s the way to tell it. He was a man with a thousand stories. This was one of his favorites. In Japan for an international conference on religion, Campbell overheard another American delegate, a social philosopher from New York, say to a Shinto priest, ‘We’ve been now to a good many ceremonies and have seen quite a few of your shrines. But I don’t get your ideology. I don’t get your theology.’ The Japanese [delegate] paused as though in deep thought and then slowly shook his head. ‘I think we don’t have ideology,’ he said. “We don’t have theology. We dance.’
And so did Joseph Campbell — to the music of the spheres.”
— quoted from the “Introduction” to The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (edited by Betty Sue Flowers)
This Yin Yoga (with a little movement and a little pranayama) is accessible and open to all.
(NOTE: There will be a little bit of quiet space in this practice.)
Friday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06052026 The Journey Continues”]
NOTE: You can select Track #1-#4 for this practice. Track #2 (the Jason Stephenson track) is different on each platform. I will probably remix this playlist, but the primary tracks will remain the same.
Prop wise, this is a kitchen sink practice and I will suggest having a chair, sofa, coffee table or bolster (as well as a blanket) for this practice. You can practice without props or you can use “studio” and/or “householder” props. Example of “Studio” props: 1 – 2 blankets, 2 – 3 blocks, a bolster, a strap, and an eye pillow. Example of “Householder” props: 1 – 2 blankets or bath towels, 2 – 3 books (similar in size), 2 standard pillows (or 1 body pillow), a belt/tie/sash, and a face towel.
You may also want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice).
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If we go a little deeper, however, we find there is only one theme: How we see (and understand) what we perceive is based on what we believe — and what we believe can sometimes prevent us from seeing / understanding / perceiving what is right in front of us.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE (including excerpts from the posts linked above).
“Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.”
— quoted from the poem “Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Please join me today (Wednesday, June 3rd) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class.You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube andSpotify. [Look for “06032020 How Can We See, Dr Wiesel”]
— “The Seer is the pure power of seeing, yet its understanding is through the mind/intellect.” [Translation by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait (for comparative analysis): “The sheer power of seeing is the seer. It is pure, and yet it sees only what the mind shows it.”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
A Joyful Practice 