A Quick Note & EXCERPTS RE: Having A Say and Being Seen & Heard June 4, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.Tags: 1919, 1989, 19th Amendment, 988, Afterfeast of the Ascension, Arthur Brisbane, Caroline Myss, democracy, freedom, June 4th, PRIDE, protest, revolution, shabda, siddhis, Tess Flanders, Tiananmen Square
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating Pride and/or the Afterfeast of the Ascension.
Happy Pride!
“Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.”
— Arthur Brisbane (originally cited as Tess Flanders)
Take a moment to look around, as much as you are able, and then close your eyes.
What do you see (with your eyes closed)? By that I mean, what do you visualize? A big part of yesterday’s practice was how the mind/brain works with our eyes so that we can see. This same type of processing happens with all our sense organs. Information comes in, the mind/brain collects the information (in the form of sensation) and then communicates that information (via our mind/brain/intellect) in a way that we understand. This processing taps into certain siddhis or “abilities”, six of which are outlined in the Sāmkhya Karika as “powers unique to being human.” One of my favorite of the big six siddhis is the power of word (shabda); but, you know what they say….
So, let’s consider pictures… and all the other things that activate our senses; because, over time, we may associate certain sensations (images, sounds, scents, tastes, and/or textures) with certain words and concepts — so much so that those sensations could stand in place of the words themselves!
For example, what image comes to mind when you think of the word “freedom”?
How about, an image that comes to mind when you think of the word “democracy”?
How likely is it that someone else will imagine the same things as you? Pretty likely if you have similar experiences (i.e., if you grew up around the same time and in the same place).
Now, consider the idea of “fighting for freedom and democracy”. Do you still imagine the same thing(s)? It is possible that our visualizations for this phrase might vary and be a little different — even if we grew up in the same place, around the same time, and even if we have similar experiences. However, if we were playing a game like Big Picture Apples to Apples, where each player picks a picture card (from their hand) that they think another player will associate with a certain word, our shared experiences would probably make us pick the same cards (if we had the same hand) — or, at the very least, to recognize the pictures we each selected.
Here are two cards in my hand for today:
TANK MAN
Now, consider this second picture.
Tboyd5150 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
Having A Say & FTWMI: The Power of Being Seen & Heard (the “missing” Tuesday post)
“Your every choice, thought and feeling has biological, environmental, social, personal and global consequence. Actions motivated by personal will that trusts Divine authority, gives you the richest power.”
— quoted from “Morning Visual Meditation” (focus for Chakra 5) by Caroline Myss
Please join me today (Wednesday, June 4th) 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 “06042025 Having A Say, redux 2”]
NOTE: The YouTube playlist includes speeches that are not available on Spotify. I would add some more recent speeches…, but many of the 2024 speeches were “muted.”
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.)
NOTE: In the 2024 post excerpted above, I reference a handful of armed conflicts. According to Humanitarian Law & Policy analysis by Samit D’Cunha, Tristan Ferraro, and Thomas de Saint Maurice — all legal advisers for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “there are over 120 armed conflicts around the world, involving over 60 states and 120 non-state armed groups. The majority of these armed conflicts are of a non-international character, the number of which has tripled since the turn of the millennium.”
### • ###
FTWMI: Seeing/Perceiving & Believing in “Dragons” June 3, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Baseball, Books, Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Afterfeast of the Ascension, Dr. David Hubel, Dr. Torsten Wiesel, Ernest Thayer, eyes, J. R. R. Tolkien, Martin Gardner, ocular plasticity, Shavuos, Shavuot, truth, visual cortex, yoga, Yoga Sutra 2.20
2 comments
Happy Pride!
“Chag Sameach!” to everyone who is celebrating Shavuot. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension.
For Those Who Missed It: The following post with date-related excerpts was originally posted in 2024. Class details, as well as some formatting and date-related information, have been updated.
“After the banquet, at a Harvard decennial class reunion in 1895, [Ernest] Thayer recited Casey and delivered an eloquent speech, tinged with ironic humor and sadness. (It is printed, along with Casey, in Harvard University, Class of 1885: Secretary’s Report No. V, 1900, pp. 88-96.)…. Surely the following passage is but a roundabout way of saying that it is easy to strike out:
We give today a wider and larger application to that happy phrase of the jury box, ‘extenuating circumstances.’ We have found that playing the game is very different from watching it played, and that splendid theories, even when accepted by the combatants, are apt to be lost sight of in the confusion of active battle. We have reached the age, those of us to whom fortune has assigned a post in life’s struggle, when, beaten and smashed and biffed by the lashings of the dragon’s tail, we begin to appreciate that the old man was not such a damned fool after all. We saw our parents wrestling with that same dragon, and we thought, though we never spoke the thought aloud, ‘Why don’t he hit him on the head?’ Alas, comrades, we know now. We have hit the dragon on the head and we have seen the dragon smile.”
— quoted from “There was Ease in Casey’s Manner…” in The Annotated Casey at the Bat: A Collection of Ballads about the Mighty Casey / Third, Revised Edition, Edited by Martin Gardner
In The Hobbit, Or There and Back Again, J. R. R. Tolkien reminded us “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” Well, folks, we have been living with several dragons in our midst and, having not included that fact in our previous calculations, we find ourselves recalculating — and “[hitting] the dragon on the head…” only to see it smile.
I realize that everyone may not identify my metaphorical dragon in the same way that I intend it. So, let me be clear: the dragon equals our problem(s) and how we deal with our problem(s).
The Grace of “Being Sensational and Seeing Clearly” & FTWMI: When Intuition Expands *UPDATED*
“Science is not an intelligence test. Intuition is important, knowing what questions to ask. The other thing is a passion for getting to the core of the problem.”
— Dr. Torsten Wiesel (b. 06/03/1924), co-winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Every person, every organization, every family, village, city, state, and country has a problem (or two… or more). Some problems seem uniquely ours and others transcend all the different labels we may apply to ourselves.
Back in a June 2022 side note, I posted that “… we may have different opinions about why we, here in the USA, have a problem — but we really can’t deny that there is a problem. We also can’t afford to deny or ignore the fact that it’s a problem no one else in the world is having. Neither can we deny or ignore the fact that if we keep speaking with ourselves, instead of with each other, than we will keep having this problem.”
The subtext to my observation is also the subtext to the speech Ernest Thayer gave in 1895 and to his poem, “Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888”, which was originally published in The Daily Examiner (now The San Francisco Examiner) today in 1888. To extend the dragon metaphor just a little more, we can look at that subtext as the dragon’s tail. What beats us, bashes us, and biffs us — what lashes us and, ultimately, may defeat us — is our own ego and our reluctance (or inability) to see things from a different perspective.
Again, I realize this metaphor isn’t perfect. I realize some people may interpret in a different way than I intend it and that some people just won’t get it. I also understand that some people may understand it in a different way today than the would have last week or last year (when it wasn’t the Year of the Dragon)… or last century. That’s kind of the point.
Each of us perceives things the way we perceive them based on our previous experiences and then we move through the world accordingly. Patanjali pointed this out in the Yoga Sūtras (particularly in YS 2.20) and outlined ways to bring our awareness to our awareness, to notice what we notice — in order to expand our awareness and, in the process, expand our understanding.
Another way to look at this same concept is through the eyes of scientists like Dr. Torsten Wiesel (who was born today in 1924) and Dr. David Hubel, who collaborated on research that centered on the way we physically see — and sometimes don’t see.
“We’re interested in how the brain works, and we work on the part of the brain that has to do with vision. And we…we record from single cells in the brain, and ask how it is you can influence those cells by shining lights and patterns.”
— Dr. David Hubel, summarizing research with Dr. Torsten Wiesel that won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Please join me today (Tuesday, June 6th) at 12:00 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 by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06032020 How Can We See, Dr Wiesel”]
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.)
ERRATA: Title corrected and included J. R. R. Tolkien’s last name.
### We Shall See What We Shall See ###
Noticing Ruth & EXCERPT: “Noticing Things [on… June 2nd]” (a post-practice post for Monday June 2, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Love, Meditation, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Shavuot, Suffering, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, awareness, Book of Ruth, ethics, Exodus, foundation, Jon Lord, morals, PRIDE, Religion, Shavuos, Shavuot, Shemot, Sir Edward Elgar, Ten Commandments, the Afterfeast of the Ascension, Thomas Hardy, Torah
add a comment
Happy Pride!
“Chag Sameach!” to everyone who is celebrating Shavuot. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension.
This post-practice post for Monday, June 2nd, includes a short excerpt. The 2025 prompt question was, “What are you noticing (about yourself and/or others)?”
You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
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.
“And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell’s boom,
‘He hears it not now, but used to notice such things?’”
— quoted from the poem “Afterwards” by Thomas Hardy, set to music by Lon Lord
The bulk of this Monday night practice was about noticing things (in general) and about noticing things in the practice. There are elements inspired by the Sunday practice and, also by the fact that it June 2nd is the anniversary of the birth of two people who noticed things: Thomas Hardy (OM), born today in 1840, and Sir Edward William Elgar (1st Baronet, OM, GCVO), born today in 1857.
One of the things they both noticed was people’s patterns and how those patterns reflect what was at the core or the heart of certain people and what motivated those people — in other words: they noticed the roots/foundations of people’s actions.
“‘I had a neat stock of fixed opinions, but they dropped away one by one; and the further I get the less sure I am. I doubt if I have anything more for my present rule of life than following inclinations which do me and nobody else any harm, and actually give pleasure to those I love best.’”
— quoted from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Take a moment to notice that everyone and everything has foundations. People have physical foundations and, also, ethical and moral foundations. In some cases, our ethical and moral foundations are also religious and/or philosophical. For example, for people within the Abrahamic religious traditions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) the Ten Commandments and the stories in the Torah — also known as the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament — make up the cornerstone of the foundation.
I have noticed, as others have also noticed, that when someone converts to a religion (or a philosophy different from one they were taught as a child) they often spend a lot of time studying the sacred texts, scripture, and history of their adopted faith. They often consciously consider what brings peace and what creates suffering. As a result, converts are often more knowledgeable and more devout than people who grow up within a religion (or philosophy). Take Ruth, for instance, whose story is found in the Book of Ruth (in the Hebrew Bible / Christian Old Testament).
Ruth was someone from one culture, who married into another, and decided to stay with her Hebrew mother-in-law and her adopted culture even after her husband died. Her acceptance and devotion to G-d (and her mother-in-law) are emphasized throughout her short story. The harvest time and the reaping at harvest time are also big elements in her story — and set a time frame for her story, which is one of the reasons her story is read as people celebrate Shavuot.
“And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law [Ruth], ‘Blessed be he of the Lord, who did not leave off his kindness with the living or with the deceased.’”
— quoted from The Book of Ruth (Rut) 2:20
Shavuot (also known as Shavuos), the Festival of “Weeks”, started at sunset on Sunday night. It comes at the very end of the 49-Day period when people were Counting the Omer — a ritual preparation of prayer and contemplation that started on the second night of Passover. Shavuot is celebrated for one day in Israel and two in the diaspora. According to Shemot / Exodus (34:22), Shavuot traditionally occurred at the beginning of the wheat harvest and, therefore, is also known as the “Festival of Reaping” or “Day of the First Fruits”. It is currently celebrated as the commemoration of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and, by extension, the revelation of the Torah.
In addition to reading the Book of Ruth, people celebrating Shavuot may attend services, recite extra prayers and blessings, feast, and celebrate with joy. Dairy-based products, which vary depending on the region, are often prominent during these feasts. Additionally, some people will decorate their home and/or synagogue with greenery. Some people will also celebrate the birth and/or passing of King David, Ruth’s great-grandson. Finally, some people will pull an all-nighter studying Torah — a tradition that dates back (at least) to the 1300s and is symbolically associated with the story of Moses having to wake people up to receive the Torah.
Which brings me to another thing I, and others, have noticed: Many people may identify themselves as having a certain foundation — in other words, identify themselves as member of a group — without following the basic tenets outlined in that foundation. They are basically asleep and sleep-walking through life, not noticing if their actions are creating suffering or alleviating suffering.
Now, the question is: Have you noticed your patterns?
Click on the excerpt title below for the post about Thomas Hardy and Sir Edward Elgar.
Noticing Things [on Friday, June 2nd] (the “missing” and revised invitation)
“‘There, gentlemen, since you wanted to know how I was getting on, I have told you. Much good may it do you! I cannot explain further here. I perceive there is something wrong somewhere in our social formulas: what it is can only be discovered by men or women with greater insight than mine–if, indeed, they ever discover it– at least in our time. ‘For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?–and who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?’”
— quoted from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
NOTE: If you are interested in the poems and music referenced in the excerpted post (and practice), there is a remix available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06022023 Noticing Things II”] At some point I may (or may not) update it to include more of the “Enigma Variations.”
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 an 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).
### BRING YOUR AWARENESS TO YOUR AWARENESS ###
A Quick Note & EXCERPT: “When Awareness Expands” June 1, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Black Wall Street, Cable News Network, CNN, Greenwood District, Indian Territory, Randy Hopkins, Swami Vivekananda, The CNN Effect, trauma, Tulsa, yoga sutra 3.5
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, getting ready to celebrate Shavuot, and/or celebrating the Seventh Sunday of Pascha: The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
Yoga Sutra 3.5: tád jayat prajñā lōkāh
— “Through the mastery of that [three-part process of samyama] comes the light of knowledge, transcendental insight, or higher consciousness.”
“When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers come under his control. This is the great instrument of the Yogi. The objects of knowledge are infinite, and they are divided into the gross, grosser, grossest and the fine, finer, finest and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to gross things, and when you begin to get knowledge of this gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 3.5 from Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda
Ted Turner’s CNN (Cable News Network) premiered Sunday, June 1, 1980, at 5 PM EST; making it the first 24-hour news channel and the first all-news television in the United States. While other news channels made fun of the new outlet, CNN stayed focused (with the slogan “Go live, stay with it, and make it important.”) and changed the way government made and addressed policy and also the way people interacted with each other and the news.
There was no such thing as CNN back in 1921, when the Greenwood District (in Indian Territory) — also known as “Black Wall Street” — was destroyed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
NOTE: The post excerpted below does not reference the shooting which happened in Tulsa today in 2022.
“On Thursday morning, June 2, 1921, one of Tulsa’s many problems was that of optics. A large chunk of the city had been obliterated in a matter of hours and an embarrassingly large portion of the city’s population had a hand in the obliterating. How this was going to look to outsiders was far from an irrelevant concern for many Tulsans, especially the city’s elite for whom pride in the city’s accomplishments was keen…. Would businesses go elsewhere? Would other ‘better citizens’ from other places look down their noses?”
— quoted from The Center for Public Secrets Journal article entitled, “Mask of Atonement: The Plan to Rebuild the Homes of Greenwood” by Randy Hopkins
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, June 1st) at 2:30 PM. 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.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06012021 The Difference A Day Made”]
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.)
### PEACE IN, PEACE OUT ###
FTWMI: Simmering, simmering… boiling, boiling over (a revised note with excerpts) May 31, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Mantra, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Afterfeast of the Ascension, America, Black Wall Street, Counting the Omer, Dr. Robert Hudspeth, Greenwood District, John Townsend Trowbridge, Karen Barrow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Sturman, Tulsa, Walt Whitman
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension.
For Those Who Missed It: The following is a revised version of a note and excerpts originally posted in 2023. Extra quotes, class information, links, and some formatting have been added/updated.
“I was simmering, simmering, simmering. Emerson brought me to a boil.”
— Walt Whitman (b. 05/31/1819) as quoted in a February 1902 article by John Townsend Trowbridge, published in The Atlantic Monthly
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Walt Whitman (b. 1819) and the anniversary of the beginning of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the destruction of Black Wall Street. While I generally focus on the former on the 31st and the latter on the 1st, both bring to mind an analogy I often use in association with Whitman and with America: a pot on an open flame.
As I described in a 2020 post, “There are times when we have so much churning inside of our minds and our bodies that it can make us physically ill. It churns and churns, until it spills over. Or, another analogy is to think of all of that emotion as water inside of a pot on top of an open flame: it’s “simmering, simmering, simmering…” until it boils over. When we are children, we are taught to be mindful of the hot stove and the pot that sits on top. We watch our elders; placing various ingredients inside, stirring, churning, adjusting the flames – even tasting along the way, sometimes even letting us taste a little. We watch and learn that we can make something delicious, or potent medicine, or poison, or paint and dye. We watch and learn that if we don’t pay close attention we will make a big, unusable, inedible mess. We watch and learn that if we are not careful, we can hurt ourselves or others.”
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLES BELOW FOR MORE.
The Bard of Democracy (and of getting better air in our lungs)
“Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs.”
— Walt Whitman writing about the new game, baseball, in the Brooklyn Eagle (07/23/1846)
The Difference A Day Made I (a “missing” post, that is also very timely)
“What is it then between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?
Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not,”
— quoted from the 5th stanza of the poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman
Please join me today (Saturday, May 31st) 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 “05312020 Walt Whitman”]
NOTE: The YouTube playlist includes recordings of some of the poems, as part of the before/after class mix. These tracks are not included on Spotify. Both versions have a 2022 addition.
“In Kenya, people walk out of yoga class feeling great, just like they do in New York. The one difference I loved, however, was that the children who took the classes always broke out into a spontaneous song or dance right in the middle of class. Then they would go back to the yoga postures.”
“Visiting the Kenyan [women’s] prison brought me unexpected joy. The inmates, some of whom are H.I.V.-positive, told me that yoga has become a rare source of happiness in their daily lives.”
— Robert Sturman talking about documenting the work of Africa Yoga Project (quoted from the New York Times interview “Yoga in Africa” by Karen Barrow)
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.)
### “A KELSON OF THE CREATION IS LOVE” (WW) ###
Für Deine Gesundheit! “Be Curious….” (mostly the music) May 28, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Maya Angelou, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Suffering, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Alen Voskanian MD MBA, Hunter Doherty Adams, Jarem Sawatsky, mental health, Patch Adams
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, Counting the Omer, and/or observing the Apodosis of Pascha.
“The purpose of a doctor or any human in general should not be to simply delay the death of the patient, but to increase the person’s quality of life. ”
— Dr. Hunter Doherty “Patch” (or “Stumpy”) Adams (b. 1945), quoted from “Chapter 5. Overwhelmed With Minutia” in Reclaiming the Joy of Medicine: Finding Purpose, Fulfillment and Happiness in Today’s Medical Industry by Alen Voskanian, MD, MBA
Please join me today (Wednesday, May 28th) 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 “10102021 World Mental Health Day (redux)”]
“Then [Patch] sat back and said ‘…. The question is “are you living?” Are you living? Are you being the human being you want to be? Are your relationships healthy? Are you grateful? What is your sense of wonder? What’s your sense of curiosity? What thrills you?
You can decide to love life. You can decide to love your partner. You can decide to know what I mean when I say, a tree can stop your suffering.’
Somehow those words struck me as free. I don’t need to figure out everything about dying. I need to keep living. To be thrilled, to be grateful, to be wonder-filled. To be curious about life and living. These are ways of being that are accessible to me.”
— quoted from ”Diving into an Ocean of Gratitude — Living and Caring with Patch Adams” by Jarem Sawatsky
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.)
“Be curious!”
“And while you’re waiting to come up with a question, I can say that I make me. I decided at 18 to never have another bad day and I am 79 on Tuesday and I haven’t had a bad day since I was 18. I love my life. I chose to make me and to be six qualities: happy, funny, loving, creative, cooperative, and thoughtful.”
— Dr. Hunter Doherty “Patch” (or “Stumpy”) Adams, quoted from the May 25, 2024 live-stream video entitled “Celebrating my 79th Birthday with My Loving Community”
### BLESS YOU! ###
Note & EXCERPT: “The Grace of Knowing How to Feel & FTWMI: How We Learn To Feel (and what we learn from feeling)” May 27, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Mysticism, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, beauty, compassion, Counting the Omer, empathy, Nature, Rachel Carson, Rosalind Dymond Cartwright, sympathy, Tony Hillerman
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or observing the sixth week of Pascha.
“‘Everything is connected. The wing of the corn beetle affects the direction of the wind, the way the sand drifts, the way the light reflects into the eye of man beholding his reality. All is part of totality, and in this totality man finds his hozro, his way of walking in harmony, with beauty all around him.’”
— quoted from The Ghostway (Navajo Mysteries #6) by Tony Hillerman
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson (b. 1907) and Tony Hillerman (b. 1925). Both writers had a way of making Nature a character with the intention of making readers feel for nature.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
The Grace of Knowing How to Feel & FTWMI: How We Learn To Feel (and what we learn from feeling)
“But it seems reasonable to believe — and I do believe — that the more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.”
— Rachel Carson accepting the John Burroughs Medal (April 1952) and printed in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson
Please join me today (Tuesday, May 27th) at 12:00 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 by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05272020 Carson & Hillerman”]
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.)
### MANY BLESSINGS (to the nth degree) ###
FTWMI: It’s Not About What We’re Saying… (a short post with links & an excerpt) *CORRECTED* May 25, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Japa-Ajapa, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Mantra, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: Aaron Lindsey, chakras, Counting the Omer, Eastertide, George Floyd, India.Arie, KISS MY ASANA, mantra, Ralph Waldo Emerson, United States, Veterans, Yoga Sutras 3.15-3.16
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha and/or the Blind Man.
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2024.
Some date-related information has been updated and an extra sentence was added.
“Don’t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. A lady of my acquaintance said, ‘I don’t care so much for what they say as I do for what makes them say it.’”
— quoted from the essay “Social Aims” in Letters and Social Aims by Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. 1803)
[On Friday, May 24, 2024], a group of United States veterans reportedly spent part of their Memorial Day weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina with the intention of asking people at the Republican National Convention to honor the basic principles of the “republic, for which it stands” and they were (reportedly) escorted out of the area. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that and the about the idea of still serving even after one’s official service is over — and about how people react to that.
Four Five years ago today, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that and the about the importance of treating someone you perceive as being different from you with respect — and about how we seem to keep forgetting that.
Two hundred, twenty-two twenty-one years ago today, Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I often say that I am blown away by the fact that his words are still relevant to our present circumstances. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that.
And, even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is also about what you are feeling in this present moment.
The excerpt below is from a 2021 post. Click on the title for the entire post.
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, May 25h) at 2:30 PM. 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.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05252022 Pratyahara II”]
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.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] My Asana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
### “Continue to breathe / In honor of your brother / That’s what your heart is for” ~ India.Arie (Aaron Lindsey / India.arie Simpson) ###
EXCERPTS: “Today in Rock and Roll” & “… some Powerball® thoughts” May 24, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Anna Mae Bullock, Bob Dylan, Counting the Omer, Dechen Shak-Dagsay, KISS MY ASANA, music, Nat Hentoff, Regula Curti, Robert Allen Zimmerman, satya, Tina Turner, truth, Uvalde Texas
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha.
“‘The most important thing I know I learned from Woody Guthrie,’ says Dylan, ‘I’m my own person. I’ve got basic common rights-whether I’m here in this country or any other place. I’ll never finish saying everything I feel, but I’ll be doing my part to make some sense out of the way we’re living, and not living, now. All I’m doing is saying what’s on my mind the best way I know how. And whatever else you say about me, everything I do and sing and write comes out of me.’”
— quoted from the liner notes by Nat Hentoff (from Bob Dylan’s album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)
Today is the birthday of Bob Dylan (b. 1941) and the death anniversary of Tina Turner (d. 2023).
Click on the excerpt titles below for more.
Please join me today (Saturday, May 24th) 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 “05242022 Bob’s Poems”]
NOTE: I chose not to create a new playlist this year, inspired by both Bob and Tina; however, the first embedded link (above) includes a special message from Tina Turner and I have added the following chant towards the end of both playlists.
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.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] MyAsana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
### AUM ###
EXCERPT: “The Fools and the Angels [‘Came out by the same door…’]” May 21, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Alexander Pope, American Red Cross, Brian Theodore Tyler, Clara Barton, Edmund Dwight, Graeme Edge, Ishbel Ross, John Butler, KISS MY ASANA, Klaus Badelt, Moody Blues, Yoga Sutra 4.15, yoga sutras
add a comment
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating World Meditation Day, Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha and/or Apodosis of Prepolovenie.
“Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Not yet the last to lay the old aside.”
— quoted from “Part 2” of An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope
In addition to being World Meditation Day and the anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pope (born 1688, according to the Old Style / Julian calendar, today is the day Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
The Fools and the Angels [“Came out by the same door…”] (the “missing” Tuesday post)
“Clara promptly wrote to her Boston friend of the Franco-Prussian War days, Edmund Dwight:
There seems to be such a muddle of ideas growing out of the mishaps in Congress that it was very apparent that somebody must say something and that, you know, is the place where I always come in; the door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.”
— quoted from “PART TWO – XIV. Johnstown Flood” in Angel of the Battlefield: The Life of Clara Barton by Ishbel Ross
Please join me today (Wednesday, May 21st) 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 “05212025 More Fools & More Angels”]
The post excerpted above includes this musical meditation, which could absolutely be used for a practice.
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.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] MyAsana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
A Joyful Practice 