EXCERPT: “Reaching for a Higher Plane” *UPDATED* April 13, 2024

“Nine days and nine nights of blessings and happiness if you are celebrating Chaitra Navaratri!” Many blessings to all and especially to those observing Great Lent!

“All you have to do is open up a little bit and then you’ll be experiencing a part of that person’s soul. It’s just there – in the presence of a beautiful painting, a creation, something created by someone else. This is insight into not who they are physically, but who they are on this other plane. So, what makes it magical, always, is to hear music performed live.”

— Bill Conti

The following excerpt is from a 2021 post about Bill Conti (whose music is featured on today’s playlist):

“Consider, for a moment, the things that can bring people together… even tear down walls. Consider, for a moment, what ‘sooth a savage Breast,’ — music… sweet music.

Born today in 1942, Bill Conti is an Italian-American composer and conductor known for soaring scores that inspire (underscore) the indomitable human spirit. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Score (for The Right Stuff) and five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Musical Direction for three (of his nineteen) Academy Awards ceremonies. He has also been nominated for a plethora of Academy, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards; has had his (television) music on the Billboard Hot 100; and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. He has written jingles and themes for every human emotion and a variety of situations in which we humans continuously find ourselves. He believes in the power of music to bring people together and, in composing music that brings people together, he composes music that opens us to possibilities… music that elevates us.

All we have to do is listen. All we have to do is listen — to the music and to each other — that’s how we open, that’s how we come together.”

Reaching for a Higher Plane

MEET MS. BANNING: 2019 Kiss My Asana Offering #13

“When the audience and the performers become one, it is almost nearly divine, where this oneness can actually meet in some, not physical place, but in some spiritual place, in the middle, not the performers performing, not the audience receiving, but all of a sudden that contact is made and it becomes wonderful.”

— Bill Conti

NOTE: This fifth day of Navaratri is devoted to Skandamata, who is a fierce mother as protector — who simultaneously holds her baby, rides a lion, and keeps her eyes (especially her third eye) open for any and all danger.

Please join me today (Saturday, April 13^th) 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 myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04132021 Reaching A Higher Place”]

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.)

CLICK HERE to Kiss My Asana! (Or, you can also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!) Donations made this weekend will be doubled. 

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