A Joyful Practice

EXCERPT (with links): “Stonewall Was Not Televised” June 28, 2023

Happy Pride! Many blessings to everyone!!

“They don’t make much of an effort to put themselves in our shoes, understanding that our lives are unbelievably difficult under current conditions, and actually work to change those conditions. They don’t get that: I don’t understand cis-people. I tried! I tried for 34 years to understand what it’s like to be cis and to understand what it means to be a cis-woman and I don’t get it. And you might never get what it’s like to be a trans-person. You ain’t never – no explanation will be enough.

So you have to, at some point, start putting aside your lack of understanding and saying, like, ‘I support human rights, period. It doesn’t matter if I understand.’ Because, look, I don’t understand your experiences as a cis-person, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to withhold my support for your civil and human rights until you can explain it to me.”

– Journalist, author, artist, parent, and activist Beau Brink, interviewed in the Conspirituality podcast episode “143: Trans Reality, Trans Possibility”

The following excerpt is from a 2021 post:

“The Civil Rights Movement started long before the events of Sunday, March 7, 1965 and the continued long after the other two “Selma to Montgomery” marches that followed. Some would even say that it continues to this day. Similarly, the movement to uphold the civil rights of the LGBTQIA+ community didn’t start (or end) with an unannounced raid in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, June 28, 1969.

Unlike what happened in Selma, Alabama on “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” the events that took place in and around New York City’s Stonewall Inn 52 years ago today were not televised around the world. People did not see the brutality and, initially, they did not see the indomitable human spirit rising above the brutality. Bottom line, people did not see the humanity that some were trying to systematically erase and/or ignore. Therefore, it took a while for people to get it…. Although, some would say, there are still people who don’t get it. What people sometimes don’t get, is that regardless of which marginalized (or even non-marginalized) group you discuss, civil rights are human rights – and, last time I checked, we’re all human.”

Click here to read the entire 2021 post.

Please join me today (Wednesday, June 28^th) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You will need to register for the 7:15 PM class if you have not already done so. 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 “06252023 PRIDE”]

NOTE: The Spotify playlist includes an extra interlude track (since the message from Sunday is not part of the studio recording).

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.

Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.)

### BEING MORE FULLY HUMAN ###