An Important Announcement About Kissing & Giving (with a little Double Dipping) September 12, 2026
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, 7-Day Challenge, Donate, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, One Hoop, Pain, Suffering, Tragedy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Bert, brain, Healing Stories, KISS MY ASANA, Leslie Scrivener, Mind Body Solutions, Robert Bárány, Rosh Hashanah, Sandra Razieli, Terry Fox, tzedakah
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“L’Shana Tovah U’Metukah!” to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.
Stay safe! Live well! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.
“[His mother, Betty] wondered if Terry really knew how much work and money it would take to run across Canada. Apparently he did. He had discussed his idea with Colin Johnstone, chaplain at the cancer clinic, and on the same day had walked into the office of Blair MacKenzie, executive director of the British Columbia and Yukon Division of the Canadian Cancer Society, and told him he wanted to raise money for cancer research. MacKenzie was skeptical.”
“MacKenzie believed Terry’s ambition, to raise one million dollars, was impossible.
Terry left MacKenzie a letter, one that he composed with Rika [Noda] — using his ideas and her grammar. His letter read:
The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then when I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.”
— quoted from “6. ‘Mom, I’m going to run across Canada’” in Terry Fox: His Story (New Revised Edition) by Leslie Scrivener
Speaking of marathons and tzedakah (giving as a “righteous act”). . . It’s time to talk about a certain yogathon.
You may be thinking, “Wait, isn’t the yogathon in the Spring? How did I miss the yogathon????” And, yes (to the first question). With the exception of 2016 (when it was in February), the Kiss My Asana yogathon has typically been held in April. This year, for reasons above my paygrade, the yogathon is being held in September. In fact, it starts today (and runs through September 18th).
So, to answer the second question, you didn’t miss it. Today is the first day of the 13th annual Kiss My Asana yogathon that benefits Mind Body Solutions. Normally, I post special offerings throughout the yogathon and sometimes host a Kiss My Asana class. Unfortunately and ironically, I have decided not to host a fundraising page this year.
“My quest would not be a selfish one.”
— quoted from Terry’s letter to MacKenzie in “6. ‘Mom, I’m going to run across Canada’” in Terry Fox: His Story (New Revised Edition) by Leslie Scrivener
Don’t get it twisted! Even though my reasons for not hosting a page are personal, I am still going to “do yoga, share yoga, and help others”. I am still going to donate and promote the yogathon. However, instead of asking you to kiss my asana, I am going to ask you to pucker up and Kiss [Sandra’s] Asana.
As some of you know, Sandra Razieli is a dear friend, as well as a phenomenal yoga/movement teacher and rabbi. She was my co-teacher on the 2015 Sukkot/Gratitude retreat and #23 when I did the 5 questions (in 2016). She has a long history with Mind Body Solutions and, also, with the best ways to practice when you have a “curvy” spine. Over the last few years, Sandra has been delving a little deeper into the mind part of the whole mind-body experience and she is highlighting some of that work with the brain during a special class for this year’s yogathon.
You can click here to Kiss [Sandra’s] Asana… & Cerebellum!
“I was now successful in proving that a direction of movement is localized in the cerebellum. For I found cases in which the reaction of the extremities was missing in one direction only (on the side of the cerebellar hemisphere which was diseased) whereas the reaction of the extremities on the other, healthy side and all the other reactions in the extremities on the diseased side were normal…. Close investigations, however, proved something more namely that within such a centre there was also localization with regard to joints.”
— quoted from the Nobel Prize lecture “Some New Methods for Functional Testing of the Vestibular Apparatus and the Cerebellum” by Robert Bárány, winner of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (delivered September 11, 1916)
As I mentioned before, my decision not to host a page this year is unfortunate and ironic. The unfortunate part is that it is partially related to my brother’s recent hospitalization. The ironic part is that he could definitely benefit from the work Mind Body Solutions does with people living with trauma, loss, and disability. (And, this is the double dipping part, because I would also appreciate it if anyone could help a brother out!)
“Profound, inspirational, and touched my heart.
Now, when anybody asks how Bert did, you can say, ‘What he said at the beginning was profound, inspirational, and touched my heart.’”
— quoted from Bert’s 2020 eulogy for our mom
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
- Answers to Yogis Questions
- A Poetry Practice
- A Preview of the April 1st Practice
- Some Stories
- Prāņāyāma
- The Body/Chakra offerings
- A Series of Poses (scroll down to see the first KMA Community Page post)
- The Series of Shorts Series
- The Full Practice Series (2025)
Remember, if you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you can be notified as soon as the videos are posted.
“‘If you’ve given a dollar, you are part of the Marathon of Hope.’”
— quoted from “9. ‘I think you’ve all heard my story’” in Terry Fox: His Story (New Revised Edition) by Leslie Scrivener
If you are struggling, 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 an app, which I have not 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 need 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).
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Get Ready… To Pace Yourself (a compilation of notes & excerpts) September 12, 2026
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Books, Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Meditation, New Year, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Rosh Hashanah, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Ariel Kendall, Battle of Marathon, Dr. Reena Kotecha, High Holidays, Jane McGuire, Lori Palatnik, meditation, Norman Fischer, Rabbi Alan Lew, Rosh Hashanah, Run like Rel, Ten Days of Atonement, Ten Days of Awe, Tom Craggs
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“L’Shana Tovah U’Metukah!” to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.
Stay safe! Live well! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.
“FOR TEN DAYS, THE GATES ARE OPEN AND THE WORLD is fluid. We are finally awake, if only in fits and starts, if only to toss and turn. For ten days, transformation is within our grasp. For ten days, we can imagine ourselves not as fixed and immutable beings, but rather as a limitless field upon which qualities and impulses rise up and fall away again like waves on the sea. Some of these impulses rise up with particular intensity. We may even experience them as afflictions, but they can be the keys to our transformation. Their intensity points to the disequilibrium and dysfunction in us that is in need of transformation.”
— quoted from “Chapter 7, What The Soul Does While The Gates Are Still Open: The Ten Days of Teshuvah” in This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Rabbi Alan Lew (with a forward by Norman Fischer)
Towards the end of September 2025, I had a very rich conversation with a dear friend (who was also a dear friend of my mom) and she told me about This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Rabbi Alan Lew. I immediately looked it up; but, even though I still haven’t found a copy yet, I am always struck by how people spend their time and how much time they need to get their hearts and minds in the right place for a special occasion (which, in some cases, is the rest of their lives).
For some it is 10 days, for some it is 40, for some it is 49, for some it is 9. Still others spend their whole lives getting ready. My fascination with how people get ready is why I asked people:
“How do you get ready for something big, for something momentous, for something auspicious?”
— The prompt question from Monday’s Common Ground Meditation Center practice (on 9/22/2025)
If you are getting ready for a big sporting event, there are certain things you do… days, weeks, months, even years beforehand. There’s a certain amount of training that gets you ready — physically and mentally. That training may involve changing what you eat and drink (and/or when you sleep). It may involve figuring out (and training with) the gear that helps you perform at your best. It may even involve a team. Training for something like a race or a marathon also involves pace yourself during your training and pacing yourself during the event. Finally, before you set up at the starting line, you have to qualify and/or register.
But, as I mentioned before, when I asked people about getting ready for something, it was towards the end of September 2025. So, I wasn’t thinking about getting ready for a sporting event — and neither were the people attending the practices.
Back in 2025, one of my yoga buddies talked about getting ready for a wedding and, over that weekend, another yoga buddy talked about going to a wedding anniversary party. Those were big, momentous, auspicious occasions. They required people to get ready and, also, to RSVP!
But, how do you RSVP for another year of life?
For that matter, how do you qualify for another year of life?
RSVP
— Acronym for Répondez s’il vous plaît [French for “Respond if you please”]
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW TO FIND OUT HOW YOUR RSVP FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF LIFE!.
In addition to being Rosh Hashanah (and the beginning of the High Holidays) today might be the anniversary of the Battle of Marathon (in 490 BCE).
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
“‘Remember to enjoy it’ says [running coach Tom] Craggs, ‘sometimes take the headphones out, suck the crowd in, when you get to those last few miles dedicate each one to someone important in your life. You’ll bring it home and have a fantastic race.’”
— quoted from the Runner’s World article entitled “Last-minute pacing tips for your best half-marathon: You’ve put in all the hard work in training, but here’s how to make sure you stick to race pace.” by Jane McGuire
Please join me today (Saturday, September 12th) 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 by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “Rosh Hashanah: Pace Yourself 2026”]
Click here for the P.A.C.E. Yourself guided meditation with Dr. Reena Kotecha (video)
“Start with a dream. Chase after it. Run with it. Hold FAST to Your Dreams. (Your dream is worth chasing.)”
— A little inspiration from Run Like Rel
If you are struggling, 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 an app, which I have not 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 need 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.
You’re Invited to Bend… & To Take The Deepest Breath You’ve Taken — On Retreat!
September 25 — 27, 2026
LIMITED SPACE FOR HOTEL DISCOUNTS!
