A Joyful Practice

DID YOU KNOW #3: Hello Hyoid Bone (A Kiss My Asana offering) April 16, 2024

Happy National Poetry Month! “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!

“Well, de hip bone jump to de back bone,
And de back bone jump to de neck bone,
And de neck bone jump to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord.”

— quoted from the Negro spiritual “Dem Bones” (a.k.a. “Dry Bones” and “Dem Dry Bones”) by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson

NOTE: The call and response between lyrics is missing from the above quote.

At some point in your life, you’ve probably heard, maybe even sung, some version “Dem Bones.” What many people think of as a song or nursery rhyme about how the human body is connected, is actually a Negro spiritual written by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by J. Rosamond Johnson. The brothers — who also collaborated on the song “Life Every Voice and Sing” — were inspired by a passage in the Hebrew Bible / the Christian Old Testament that refers to future blessings. Specifically, they were inspired by the prophet Ezekiel’s “Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.” [Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 37:1–14] Rather than intending it to be an anatomy primer, the Johnson brothers wanted to highlight how bones come together and are animated by the Spirit of God for a specific purpose.

It was originally recorded, in 1928, as “Exekiel Prophesied To The Dry Bones” (or, simply, “Dry Bones”), by the Famous Myers Jubilee Singers. The group was some configuration of singers from what we now know (and remember) as the Fisk Jubilee Singers. This particular grouping would have been under the direction of Mrs. Henrietta Crawley Myers, who led the group (and adopted the new name) after the death of her husband, Reverend James A. Myers, who took on the director role after the resignation of John Wesley Work II.

(NOTE: The Reverend Myer, Mr. Work II, Noah Walker Ryder, and Alfred Garfield King were probably the members of the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet that made the first authentic recordings of Negro spirituals, in general.)

Over time, variations of the song were recorded and published by a variety of artists (including Alvin and the Chipmunks). It also inspired other songs — like “Dem Bones,” written by Gregory Porter and Troy Miller, which feels in-keeping with the original. While we could blame or credit a 1979 Schoolhouse Rock! episode for the fact that the song got repurposed as an anatomy primer, the truth is that maybe as early as the 1930’s (and definitely by 1947), people were singing that Ezekiel (as opposed to God, working through Ezekiel) was “connecting” the bones and that the bones were “your [bones]” (as opposed to dry bones just lying around in the valley). That change in perspective and language paved the way for a change in understanding.

While I am not referencing the spirit of God in the video below, this is an opportunity to gain better understanding about your bones.

NOTE: To get the full effect, watch the video on YouTube.

The video above is part of my 2024 offering for the 11^th annual Kiss My Asana yogathon, which benefits Mind Body Solutions (MBS). I am super excited to dedicate this week (April 13^th — 19^th) to raising awareness and resources for MBS’ life-affirming work “to help people live better in the body they have.” You can help by joining me as we practice with purpose, by sharing this page, and/or by making a donation that creates opportunities for more people to practice yoga.

Each year, in addition to hosting my fundraising page and making my own personal donation, I offer a blog post and/or a YouTube post — sometimes even a whole practice. This year, I wanted to highlight elements of the practice that we may overlook or take for granted. I also wanted to underscore that participating in the Kiss My Asana yogathon is just a tangible way to do what we do in every practice: set an intention and dedicate the merits of the practice to someone other than ourselves. Finally, I wanted to offer something that reflects my inspirations; something that “begins in delight and ends in wisdom;” and something that was short, fun, and full of insight (or, maybe it’s just randomly useful information) — something that I think of as the video equivalent of a villanelle (check out that last link for details).

You can click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!) 

If you’re interested in my previous KMA offerings, check out the following (some links only take you to the beginning of a series and/or to YouTube):

• 30 Poses in 30 Days 
• A Musical Preview
• 5-Minute Practices (the playlist)
• 5 Questions Answered by Yogis
  • The 5 Questions Playlist
• Answers to Yogis Questions
• A Poetry Practice
• A Preview of the April 1^st Practice
• Some Stories
• Prāņāyāma
• The Body/Chakra offerings
• A Series of Poses (scroll down to see the first KMA Community Page post)

Check out this 2023 class post to find out one of the reasons why Mind Body Solutions is so important to me!

If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you can be notified as soon as the videos are posted.

### YOU CAN’T KISS MY HYOID, BUT YOU CAN KISS MY ASANA! ###