A Joyful Practice

How is This Story Different From All The Other Stories (a “renewed” post w/links) April 24, 2024

“Chag Sameach!” to everyone celebrating Passover and/or Counting the Omer! Happy Riḍván!” to those celebrating “the Most Great Festival.” Many blessings to everyone, and especially to anyone observing Great Lent! Happy National Poetry Month!

“Everybody knows a hundred stories, you know, a thousand stories — the question is: Why does this story pick on you? Why this story and not that story? My guess is now this: the story or poem you find to write is the story or poem that has some meaning that you haven’t solved in it, that you haven’t quite laid hands on. So your writing—it is a way of understanding it, what its meaning, the potential meaning, is. And the story that you understand perfectly, you don’t write. You know what the meaning is; there’s nothing there to nag your mind about it. A story that’s one for you is the one you have to work to understand.”

— quoted from “A Conversation” (with John Baker, 1989) in Talking with Robert Penn Warren, edited by Floyd C. Watkins, John T. Hiers, and Mary Louise Weeks

A portion of the following is a revised and updated version of a 2023 post:

Today, April 24^th, is a day when I always tell a story…or two (or three). Or, sometimes, I tell an old favorite in a slightly different way. For instance, in 2020, I focused on telling the story of the Library of Congress, which was established today 1800, and preserves by (and about) people like including Anthony Trollope (b. 1815), Carl Spitteler (b. 1845), Robert Penn Warren (b. 1905), Sue Grafton (b. 1940), Eric Bogosian (b. 1953), and Kelly Clarkson (b. 1982).  In 2021, I focused on telling the story of Robert Penn Warren. I sometimes reference holy and auspicious stories (as I did in 2022 — and will today). I have been known to tell the story about telling stories (as I did in 2023).

In every case, however, the practice is an opportunity for svādyāya (“self-study”) and is all about how our minds and bodies tell stories.

Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly telling stories. We tell stories verbally, visually, and viscerally. We tell stories in the ways we move and, also, in the ways we don’t move. We tell stories about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going — and we do this on and off the mat. Whether we realize it or not. On the mat, the storytelling is done through the poses and sequences. Since our bodies are different, we can each tell (and understand) the same “story” in different ways. Since our bodies change over time, we can learn different things about ourselves each time we tell the “story.”

CLICK HERE for the 2023 Kiss My Asana post related to “healing stories.”

“Social tensions have a parallel in the personal world. The individual is an embodiment of external circumstances, so that a personal story is a social story.”

— Robert Penn Warren quoted from “A Conversation with Robert Penn Warren [with] Frank Gado / 1966 (From First Person: Conversations on Writers and Writing, by Frank Gado” as printed in Conversations with Robert Penn Warren, edited by Gloria L. Cronin and Ben Siegel  

Today, I am sharing some auspicious and holy stories, stories that are sacred in one or more religious tradition. They are stories about suffering and the desire for one’s suffering to be alleviated. For some people they are simply that and nothing more: just some of the over 168 million items, in over 460 languages, that can be found in the Library of Congress. For some people, however, these stories are very personal stories. They are they stories that give people hope. They are the stories that give people strength and inspire them to work for a kinder, more peaceful, loving, and cohesive world.

“The asking and the answering which history provides may help us to understand, even to frame, the logic of experience to which we shall submit. History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”

— quoted from The Legacy of the Civil War by Robert Penn Warren

Please join me today (Wednesday, April 24^th) 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 (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04242024 PRGL Stories”]
Music Notes: One track in the before/after music is different on each platform, because I was unable to find the track below on Spotify.

Oneness

Check out the links below for the stories referenced during this practice.

Suffering & Hope (the “missing” Tuesday compilation)

EXCERPT: “But What About Earth…and Space (and Grace)?” (a post-practice post for Monday)

Reflections in the Garden (the “missing” Sunday blessings, music, & links)

Accepting Rachel’s Challenge & Entering the Garden (a Saturday post-practice compilation)

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

Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.

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

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