A Joyful Practice

First Friday Night Special #46: Saying Yes to Life and to the “Impossible” & EXCERPT: “The Powerful Possibilities That Come From ‘A Brother’s Love’” August 2, 2024

Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside). Stay hydrated, y’all!

“The light that’s in your eyes / reminds me of the skies / that shine above us every day—so wrote a contemporary lover, out of God knows what agony, what hope, and what despair. But he saw the light in the eyes, which is the only light there is in the world, and honored it and trusted it; and will always be able to find it; since it is always there, waiting to be found. One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light. It is necessary, while in darkness, to know that there is a light somewhere, to know that in oneself, waiting to be found, there is a light. What the light reveals is danger, and what it demands is faith.”

“What a journey this life is! dependent, entirely, on things unseen.”

— quoted from the essay “Nothing Personal” by James Baldwin (b. 1924), original published as part of a collaboration with Richard Avedon

Born today in Harlem, New York, in 1924, the author James Baldwin was — by his own words (see excerpt below) — an impossible person. He was someone who said yes to life and yes to the light inside of himself. He was someone, as Maya Angelou pointed out, who lived with his whole heart and encouraged others to do the same.

To live with one’s whole heart is the original meaning of “courage,” a word James Baldwin put in the same category as words like “artist,” “integrity,” “nobility,” “peace,” and “integration.” Words that, he said (in the speech “The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity”), “[depend] on choices one has got to make, for ever and ever and ever, every day.”

Of course, to make those choices wisely, we need to have some semblance of balance — especially as it relates to the heart.

Click on the excerpt title below for more.

FTWMI: The Powerful Possibilities That Come From “A Brother’s Love”

“I have slept on rooftops and in basements and subways, have been cold and hungry all my life; have felt that no fire would ever warm me, and no arms would ever hold me. I have been, as the song says, ‘buked and scorned and I know that I always will be. But, my God, in that darkness, which was the lot of my ancestors and my own state, what a mighty fire burned! In that darkness of rape and degradation, that fine flying froth and mist of blood, through all that terror and in all that helplessness, a living soul moved and refused to die. We really emptied oceans with a home-made spoon and tore down mountains with our hands. And if love was in Hong Kong, we learned how to swim.

It is a mighty heritage, it is the human heritage, and it is all there is to trust. And I learned this through descending, as it were, into the eyes of my father and my mother. I wondered, when I was little, how they bore it—for I knew that they had much to bear. It had not yet occurred to me that I also would have much to bear; but they knew it, and the unimaginable rigors of their journey helped them to prepare me for mine. This is why one must say Yes to life and embrace it wherever it is found—and it is found in terrible places; nevertheless, there it is; and if the father can say, Yes. Lord, the child can learn that most difficult of words, Amen.”

— quoted from the essay “Nothing Personal” by James Baldwin (b. 1924), original published as part of a collaboration with Richard Avedon

Please join me tonight (Friday, August 2, 2024), 7:15 PM – 8:20 PM (CST) for “Saying Yes to Life and to the ‘Impossible.’” 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.

This Yin Yoga practice is accessible and open to all.

Prop wise, this is a kitchen sink 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 want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice). Having a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table may be handy for this practice.

Friday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.

NOTE: The playlist tracks are slightly different in length and duration. Start with track 1, 8, or 10.

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 a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

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.

### MORE LOVE ###