Who’s Afraid of Sitting, Breathing… in a Room? (the “missing” Saturday post w/an excerpt) January 25, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Abhyasa, Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, Confessions, Depression, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Loss, Meditation, Movies, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Vairagya, Vipassana, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, asana, Dr. Toya Webb, hatha yoga, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Haţha Yoga Pradipika, Metta, Michael Cunningham, Pancham Sinh, Patanjali, priviledge, siddhis, The Air I Breathe, trauma, Virginia Woolf, Yoga Sutra 1.33-1.40, Yoga Sutra 3.16, Yoga Sutras 2.51-2.52
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Many blessings to everyone, and especially those observing Maha Kumbh Mela.
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy / May you be healthy and strong!
This is the “missing” post for Saturday, January 25th. It is a slightly revised (and remixed) version of previously posted content (with some new content mixed in). If you click on the link in the “CODA, redux” (or the excerpt below), please note that the beginning is similar (but the posts are different).
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.
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“A writer is a person who sits at a desk and keeps his eye fixed, as intently as he can, upon a certain object—that figure of speech may help to keep us steady on our path if we look at it for a moment. He is an artist who sits with a sheet of paper in front of him trying to copy what he sees. What is his object—his model?”
— quoted from the essay “The Leaning Tower (A paper read to the Workers’ Educational Association, Brighton, May 1940.)” as it appears in The Moment and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf (b. 1882)
Yoga Sūtra 1.40: paramāṇuparamamahattvānto ‘sya vaśīkāraḥ
— “When, through such practices [focusing on a certain object, as previously described in YS 1.33 – 1.39), the mind develops the power of becoming stable on the smallest size object as well as on the largest, then the mind truly comes under control.”
CODA, redux
Do you ever think about what yoga and Virginia Woolf have in common? No? Just me? Ok, that’s fine; it’s not the first time — and will not be the last time that I make what, on the surface, appears to be a really random connection. It’s not even the first (and probably won’t be the last) time this week. However, whenever I circle back to this practice and this theme, I found myself thinking about different similarities. In previous years, I found myself thinking a little more about mental health and the implications of having space, time, and the other resources to focus, concentrate, contemplate, and meditate. This year (and in 2023), I found myself thinking more and more about what it takes to tell our stories and the vantage point(s) from which we tell our stories — especially the stories we tell about our defining moments.
“A writer has to keep his eye upon a model that moves, that changes, upon an object that is not one object but innumerable objects. Two words alone cover all that a writer looks at—they are, human life.”
— quoted from the essay “The Leaning Tower (A paper read to the Workers’ Educational Association, Brighton, May 1940.)” as it appears in The Moment and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf
Yoga Sūtra 3.16: pariṇāmatrayasaṃyamādatãtānāgatajñānam
— “By samyama [focus-concentration-meditation] on the three-fold changes in form, time, and characteristics, there comes knowledge of the past and future.”
We all have defining moments in our lives. These may be moments that we use to describe the trajectory of our lives or maybe moments that we use to describe ourselves. Either way, when a single moment plays a big part in who we are and what’s important to us, we sometimes forget that that single moment — as important as it may be — is part of a sequence of moments. It is the culmination of what’s happened before and the beginning of what happens next; it’s just a single part of our ever-changing story. Even when — or, especially when — that moment is the story, we have to be careful about how we frame it. It doesn’t matter if we are telling our story or someone else’s story; how we tell the story matters.
“But the leaning-tower writers wrote about themselves honestly, therefore creatively. They told the unpleasant truths, not only the flattering truths. That is why their autobiography is so much better than their fiction or their poetry. Consider how difficult it is to tell the truth about oneself—the unpleasant truth; to admit that one is petty, vain, mean, frustrated, tortured, unfaithful, and unsuccessful. The nineteenth-century writers never told that kind of truth, and that is why so much of the nineteenth-century writing is worthless; why, for all their genius, Dickens and Thackeray seem so often to write about dolls and puppets, not about full-grown men and women; why they are forced to evade the main themes and make do with diversions instead. If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”
— quoted from the essay “The Leaning Tower (A paper read to the Workers’ Educational Association, Brighton, May 1940.)” as it appears in The Moment and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf
Born Virginia Stephen in Kensington, England, on January 25, 1882, Virginia Woolf wrote nine novels (including one published shortly after her death), five short story collections (most of which were published after her death), a hybrid novel (part fiction, part non-fiction), three book-length essays, a biography, and hundreds of articles, reviews, and essays. Some of her most famous essays and speeches addressed the labor of writing — telling stories — and why (in the Western canon) there were so few accomplished female writers. For instance, in October 1928, she gave two speeches to two different student societies at Newnham College and Girton College, which at the time were two of the all-women colleges at the University of Cambridge. (NOTE: Newnham is still an all-women’s college. Girton started accepting men in 1971, and started allowing men to be “Mistress”, or head of the college, in 1976.)
These speeches about women and fiction specifically detailed why there were so few women writers who had earned acclaim (and, to a certain degree, why those that did often did so anonymously or with “male” names). She highlighted the absurd trichotomy between the two wildly archetypical ways women are portrayed in literature and the reality of the very different types of women in the room, let alone in the world. She also speculated about the works that might have come from a woman (say, in Shakespeare’s time) who had a helpmate to take care of the cooking, cleaning, children, and other household business.
In addition to talking about the social constraints that prevented a woman from devoting copious time to the practical application of her craft — writing, she also discussed the social constraints and inequalities that could result in what would amount to writer’s block. All this, she detailed, even before she addressed the issue of a market place predisposed to highlight male writers. All this, she detailed, as she highlighted two (really three) of the things a woman would need to overcome the obstacles of society: (time), space, and money.
“… a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction…”
— quoted from the essay “A Room of One’s Own,” as it appears in A Room of One’s Own And, Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf
“surājye dhārmike deśe subhikṣhe nirupadrave |
dhanuḥ pramāṇa-paryantaṃ śilāghni-jala-varjite |
ekānte maṭhikā-madhye sthātavyaṃ haṭha-yoghinā || 12 ||
The Yogī should practise [sic] Haṭha Yoga in a small room, situated in a solitary place, being 4 cubits square, and free from stones, fire, water, disturbances of all kinds, and in a country where justice is properly administered, where good people live, and food can be obtained easily and plentifully.”
— quoted from “Chapter 1. On Āsanas” of the Haţha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Pancham Sinh (1914)
When I first started going deeper into my physical practice of yoga, I looked into some of the classic texts within the tradition. One of those texts was the Haţha Yoga Pradipika (Light on the Physical Practice of Yoga), a 15th Century text that focuses on āsanas (“seats” or poses), prāņāyāma (breath awareness and control), mudrās (“seals” or “gestures”), and Samādhi (that ultimate form of “meditation” that is absorption). Throughout the text, and in particular in the chapter on mudrās, there is a breakdown of how energy, power, or vitality moves through the body and the benefits of harnessing that power.
I would eventually appreciate how the text is almost a summary of the earlier Yoga Sūtras, but (as an English lit major), what first struck me was how similar Virginia Woolf’s advice to women writers was to the early instructions about a practice that can be used to cultivate clarity and harness the power of the mind. Additionally, the practice requires — nay demands — that we sit and turn inward (in order to consider our perspectives and vantage points), just as Ms. Woolf’s essays highlighted the importance of noticing a writer’s seat.
“But before we go on with the story of what happened after 1914, let us look more closely for a moment, not at the writer himself; nor at his model; but at his chair. A chair is a very important part of a writer’s outfit. It is the chair that gives him his attitude towards his model; that decides what he sees of human life; that profoundly affects his power of telling us what he sees. By his chair we mean his upbringing, his education. It is a fact, not a theory, that all writers from Chaucer to the present day, with so few exceptions that one hand can count them, have sat upon the same kind of chair—a raised chair. They have all come from the middle class; they have had good, at least expensive, educations. They have all been raised above the mass of people upon a tower of stucco—that is their middle-class birth; and of gold—that is their expensive education…. Those are some of them; and all, with the exception of D. H. Lawrence, came of the middle class, and were educated at public schools and universities. There is another fact, equally indisputable: the books that they wrote were among the best books written between 1910 and 1925. Now let us ask, is there any connection between those facts? Is there a connection between the excellence of their work and the fact that they came of families rich enough to send them to public schools and universities?”
— quoted from the essay “The Leaning Tower (A paper read to the Workers’ Educational Association, Brighton, May 1940.)” as it appears in The Moment and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf
According to Virginia Woolf, there was an undeniable connection between wealth, the education that wealth provides, and the success of [male] English writers in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. She saw that common thread of privilege as the very foundation of (and secret to) these writers’ success and described it as a tower, stating, “He sits upon a tower raised above the rest of us; a tower built first on his parents’ station, then on his parents’ gold. It is a tower of the utmost importance; it decides his angle of vision; it affects his power of communication.” She also saw it as a blind spot (for such writers and society) and noted that the tower stood strong well into the twentieth century. While the writers supported by this metaphorical tower sometimes had empathy for those less fortunate than them, she observed that they had no desire to dismantle the tower or descend from it’s heights. Furthermore, the tower (and lack of awareness about it) perpetuated misconceptions about women and about why there were not more women — nor more people from lower income brackets — in the ranks of acclaimed authors.
Here is where I see another similarity between yoga and Virginia Woolf’s work, because some people have misconceptions about what it means to practice yoga, what happens when you practice yoga, who practices yoga, and why people practice yoga. For instance, while the instruction for the Haţha Yoga Pradipika instructed a person to practice when they were “free from…disturbances of all kinds” (HYP 1.12); “free from dirt, filth and insects” (HYP 1.13); and “free from all anxieties” (HYP 1.14), the vast majority of people practicing in the modern world do so in order to free themselves from the various maladies that plague them. More often than not, these types of misconceptions stem from a lack of knowledge about the history and practice of yoga. Unfortunately, that lack of knowledge often causes people to not practice and/or to judge people for practicing.
Just as Virginia Woolf addressed misconceptions about women in her essays and fiction, the translator Pancham Sinh addressed some misconceptions about people who practice yoga and the practice of prāņāyāma in an introduction to the Haţha Yoga Pradipika. Part of the introduction is an admonishment to people who would study the practice (theory), but do not practice it, stating, “People put their faith implicitly in the stories told them about the dangers attending the practice, without ever taking the trouble of ascertaining the fact themselves. We have been inspiring and expiring air from our birth, and will continue to do so till death; and this is done without the help of any teacher. Prāņāyāma is nothing but a properly regulated form of the otherwise irregular and hurried flow of air, without using much force or undue restraint; and if this is accomplished by patiently keeping the flow slow and steady, there can be no danger. It is the impatience for the Siddhis which cause undue pressure on the organs and thereby causes pains in the ears, the eyes, the chest, etc. If the three bandhas be carefully performed while practicing [sic] the Prāņāyāma, there is no possibility of any danger.”
Siddhis are the powers or “accomplishments” achieved from continuous practice. They range from being able to extend peace out into the world and understanding all languages; to being able to levitate and know the inner workings of another’s heart and mind; to the six “powers unique to being human.” Bandhas are “locks” and refer to internal engagements used to seal sections of the body in order to control the flow of prāņā. The three major bandhas referred to in the text are the same engagements I encourage when I tell people to “zip up” and engage the pelvic floor and lower abdominal cavity (mūla bandha), the mid and upper abdominal cavity (uḍḍīyana bandha), and the throat (jālandhara bandha). I typically refer to a fourth — pada bandha — which is a seal for the feet; however, in classical texts the fourth bandha is the engagement of the three major bandhas (root, abdominal, and throat) at the same time.
Before anyone gets it twisted, let’s be clear that this introduction is not advice to grab a book and follow instructions without the guidance of a teacher. In fact, Pancham Sinh specifically advised people to find a teacher who practiced and indicated that while one could follow the directions from a (sacred) book, there are some things that cannot be expressed in words. There are some things that can only be felt.
This is consistent with Patanjali’s explanation that the elements and senses that make up the “objective world” can be “divided into four categories: specific, unspecific, barely describable, and absolutely indescribable.” (YS 2.19) That is to say, there are some things that have specific sense-related reference points; some things that can be referred back to the senses, but only on a personal level; some things that have no reference points, but can be understood through “a sign” or comprehension of sacred text; and some things which cannot be described, because there is no tangible reference point and/or “sign” — there is only essence. To bring awareness to all of these things, we “sit and breathe” (even when we are moving).
“athāsane dṝdhe yoghī vaśī hita-mitāśanaḥ |
ghurūpadiṣhṭa-mārgheṇa prāṇāyāmānsamabhyaset || 1 ||
Posture becoming established, a Yogî, master of himself, eating salutary and moderate food, should practise [sic] Prâṇâyâma, as instructed by his guru.”
— quoted from “Chapter 2. On Prāņāyāma” of the Haţha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Pancham Sinh (1914)
Yoga Sūtra 2.51: bāhyābhyantaravişayākşepī caturthah
— “The fourth [prāņāyāma] goes beyond, or transcends, the internal and external objects.”
Yoga Sūtra 2.52: tatah kşīyate prakāśāvaraņam
— “Then the veil over the [Inner] Light deteriorates.”
“Unconsciousness, which means presumably that the under-mind, works at top speed while the upper-mind drowses, is a state we all know. We all have experience of the work done by unconsciousness in our own daily lives. You have had a crowded day, let us suppose, sightseeing in London. Could you say what you had seen and done when you came back? Was it not all a blur, a confusion? But after what seemed a rest, a chance to turn aside and look at something different, the sights and sounds and sayings that had been of most interest to you swam to the surface, apparently of their own accord; and remained in memory; what was unimportant sank into forgetfulness. So it is with the writer. After a hard day’s work, trudging round, seeing all he can, feeling all he can, taking in the book of his mind innumerable notes, the writer becomes—if he can—unconscious. In fact, his under-mind works at top speed while his upper-mind drowses. Then, after a pause the veil lifts; and there is the thing—the thing he wants to write about—simplified, composed. Do we strain Wordsworth’s famous saying about emotion recollected in [tranquility] when we infer that by [tranquility] he meant that the writer needs to become unconscious before he can create?”
— quoted from the essay “The Leaning Tower (A paper read to the Workers’ Educational Association, Brighton, May 1940.)” as it appears in The Moment and Other Essays by Virginia Woolf
When we “sit and breathe” a lot of things bubble up: thoughts, emotions, sensations, memories. Part of the practice is noticing what comes up and part of the practice is remaining the witness to what comes up (rather than engaging every little fluctuation of the mind). Contrary to some popular misconceptions, people who practice feel a lot — they’re just not always distracted by every thing they feel. Instead, they allow the different thoughts, emotions, sensations, and memories to pass back and forth between their conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind until the busy brain rests. They are not constantly cataloging what is specific, what is unspecific, what is barely describable, and what is absolutely indescribable; however, they are aware of all of these categories as they experience them.
One of the things we can feel, but not touch, is emotion. Emotions can come with visceral experiences and, in that way, can fall into the “unspecific” category. More often than not, however, what we feel is “barely describable” (or even indescribable) — and yet, writers are always trying to describe or capture the essence of what is felt. Virginia Woolf constantly endeavored to describe what she felt and what she felt she saw others feeling. Even more salient, she often focused on the disconnection between what her characters felt and what they could describe about what they felt. The author’s efforts were hindered, or aided (depending on one’s viewpoint), by the fact that she experienced so much trauma and heartbreak; much of which led to emotional despair.
“I feel a thousand capacities spring up in me. I am arch, gay, languid, melancholy by turns. I am rooted, but I flow.”
— quoted from “Susan” in The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Click on the excerpt title below for the 2022 post that details some of Virginia Woolf’s trauma and heartbreak. (Again, the introduction is similar, but some of the content is very different.)
Sitting, Breathing… in a Room [the “missing” Tuesday post]
“vapuḥ kṝśatvaṃ vadane prasannatā
nāda-sphuṭatvaṃ nayane sunirmale |
aroghatā bindu-jayo|aghni-dīpanaṃ
nāḍī-viśuddhirhaṭha-siddhi-lakṣhaṇam || 78 ||
When the body becomes lean, the face glows with delight, Anâhatanâda manifests, and eyes are clear, body is healthy, bindu under control, and appetite increases, then one should know that the Nâdîs are purified and success in Haṭha Yoga is approaching.”
— quoted from “Chapter 1. On Āsanas” of the Haţha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Pancham Sinh (1914)
“The human frame being what it is, heart, body and brain all mixed together, and not contained in separate compartments as they will be no doubt in another million years, a good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
— quoted from the essay “A Room of One’s Own,” as it appears in A Room of One’s Own And, Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf
The Air I Breathe, one of my favorite movies, was released in the United States on January 25, 2008. Inspired by the idea that emotions are like fingers on a hand, the main characters are known to the audience as Happiness, Pleasure, Sorrow, Love, and Fingers — and their stories are interconnected, even though they don’t necessarily realize it. In fact, some of the most desperate actions in the movie are motivated by fear and a sense of isolation. Promotional materials for the movie proclaimed, “We are all strangers / We are all living in fear / We are all ready to change” and in the movie Happiness asks, “So where does change come from? And how do we recognize it when it happens?” Happiness also says, “I always wondered, when a butterfly leaves the safety of its cocoon, does it realize how beautiful it has become? or does it still just see itself as a caterpillar?” I think both the statement and the questions could be applied to so many, if not all, of Virginia Woolf’s characters. They could also be applied to all of us in the world right now.
This time of year, the statements and the questions also remind us that change happens every time we inhale, every time we exhale — and we can make that change happen.
“‘For,’ the outsider will say, ‘in fact as a woman, I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.’ And if, when reason has had its say, still some obstinate emotion remains, some love of England dropped into a child’s ears… this drop of pure, if irrational, emotion she will make serve her to give to England first what she desires of peace and freedom for the whole world.”
— quoted from the novel-essay “Three Guineas,” as it appears in The Selected Works of Virginia Woolf by Virginia Woolf
As I have mentioned before, I consider the 8-Limbed Yoga Philosophy to have very real-time, practical applications and I normally think of the physical practice as an opportunity to practice, explore, and play with the various elements of the philosophy. I will even sometimes use aspects of alignment as a metaphor for situations in our lives off the mat. Given this last year the last few years, however, I have really started to consider how āsana instructions from classic texts like The Yoga Sūtras of Patanjali and the Haţha Yoga Pradipika, can be more practically applied to the most basic aspects of everyday life.
- For instance, if we spend our time on the mat cultivating a “steady/stable, comfortable/easy/joyful” foundation in order to breathe easier and more deeply, doesn’t it make sense to spend some time cultivating the same type of foundation in our lives?
- Going out a little more, if we do not have the luxury or privilege of practicing “in a country where justice is properly administered, where good people live, and food can be obtained easily and plentifully,” doesn’t it behoove us to create that land?
- Finally, what happens if we (to paraphrase yoga sūtras 2.46-47) establish a baseline for stability and then loosen up a little bit and focus on the infinite? Patanjali and the authors of the other sacred texts told us we would become more of who we are: leaner in body, healthier, brighter, more joyful, “clearer, stronger, and more intuitive.” In other words: peaceful and blissful.
“lōkāḥ samastāḥ sukhinōbhavantu”
— A mettā (loving-kindness) chant that translates to “May all-beings, everywhere, be happy and be free.”
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “01252022 Sitting, Breathing… in a Room”]
“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.”
— quoted from The Hours: a novel by Michael Cunningham
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).
“Realize that there is freedom in telling your story and that there is power in your words.”
— quoted from the November 2018 TedxDelthorneWomen talk entitled, “Change Your Perspective and Change Your Story” by Dr. Toya Webb
### BRING AWARENESS TO YOUR SEAT! ###
HAPPY New Year 2025! ** UPDATED** January 1, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Bhakti, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Faith, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Karma Yoga, Life, Love, Mala, Mantra, Meditation, Mysticism, New Year, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Vipassana, Wisdom, Writing, Yin Yoga, Yoga.Tags: 108 Sun Salutations, Anthony Shumate, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's Day, Nguzo Saba, Nia, Sun Salutations, Surya Namaskar
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“Happy New Year!” “Kwanzaa, yenu iwe na heri!” – “May your Kwanzaa be happy!” to everyone who is celebrating! “Happy Chanukah!” to all who are celebrating!
Many blessings to all!
Part of the 6-piece “Monumental Moments” series by Anthony Shumate, 2015 (located in Buffalo Bayou Park, along the Kinder Footpaths)
TRANSFORM • RENEW • HEAL • ENERGIZE
Celebrate the New Year with 108 Sun Salutations 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM CST!
AND/OR
RELAX • RELEASE • REST • RENEW • HEAL
Celebrate the New Year with Restorative Yoga+Meditation
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM CST!
The New Year is a beginning and an ending… and it is also a middle. On New Year’s Day we honor and celebrate transition with 108 Sun Salutations in the morning (10 AM – 1 PM, CST) and/or a Restorative* Yoga plus Meditation practice in the evening (5 – 7 PM, CST). We also put things in perspective. These practices are open and accessible to all, regardless of experience.
*NOTE: In previous years, the evening practice has been Yin Yoga.
Please wear loose, comfortable clothing and make sure you are well hydrated before the practice. It is best to practice on an empty stomach (especially for the 108 ajapa-japa mala), but if you must eat less than 1 hour before the practice, make sure to keep it light. Make sure to have a towel (at the very least) for the 108 practice. For Restorative Yoga, a pillow/cushion or two, blocks or (hardcover) books, and a blanket or towel will be useful. I always recommend having something handy (pen and paper) that you can use to note any reflections (and will have some supplies handy).
IN-PERSON IS FULL! Use the link above for login information (or click here for more details about these practices and other practice opportunities related to the New Year).
The 108 playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “New Year’s Day 108 Ajapa-Japa Mala.”] NOTE: This playlist was been revised for 2024, but should still sync up with the 2021 — 2023 recordings.
The Restorative playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “01072022 A Reflective Moment”]
Both practices are available in-person (if you are registered) and online. They are also donation based. If you don’t mind me knowing your donation amount you can donate to me directly. You can also email me to request my Venmo or Ca$hApp ID. If you want your donation to be anonymous (to me) and/or tax deductible, please donate through Common Ground Meditation Center (type my name under “Teacher”).
Please note that there is still no late admittance and you must log in before the beginning of the practice (so, by 9:45 AM for the 108 or by 4:45 PM for the Restorative Yoga+Meditation). You will be re-admittance if you get dumped from the call.)
Part of the 6-piece “Monumental Moments” series by Anthony Shumate, 2015 (located in Buffalo Bayou Park, along the Kinder Footpaths)
Part of the 6-piece “Monumental Moments” series by Anthony Shumate, 2015 (located in Buffalo Bayou Park, along the Kinder Footpaths)
*Anthony Shumate’s “Monumental Moments” sculptures are located in Buffalo Bayou Park, along the Kinder Footpaths in Houston, Texas. They are unexpected reminders to “Explore,” “Pause,” “Reflect,” “Listen,” “Emerge,” and “Observe” – all things we do in our practice!
### NAMASTE ###
A Quick Note & Excerpt About Breathing and…. October 26, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Art, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Tragedy, Vipassana, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Amnesty International, Betsy Driver, breath, breathing, Emi Koyama, gender, haṭha yoga, hatha yoga, intersex, Intersex Awareness Day, Intersex Day of Remembrance, Intersex Solidarity Day, Laura Inter, Max Beck, Morgan Carpenter PhD, Morgan Holmes PhD, Nyanasatta Thera, pranayama, prāņāyāma, sex, United Nations
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom on Intersex Awareness Day.
May everyone be healthy and strong; may everyone be peaceful and happy; and may everyone recognize their whole self.
“[A monk] then applies this perception to his own body thus: ‘Verily, also my own body is of the same nature; such it will become and will not escape it.’
Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body internally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body externally, or he lives contemplating the body in the body internally and externally. He lives contemplating origination-factors in the body, or he lives contemplating dissolution factors in the body, or he lives contemplating origination-and-dissolution-factors in the body. Or his mindfulness is established with the thought: ‘The body exists,’ to the extent necessary just for knowledge and mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the world. Thus also, monks, a monk lives contemplating the body in the body.”
— quoted from Satipatthana Sutta (The Foundations of Mindfulness) translated by Nyanasatta Thera
Prāņāyāma — the awareness of breath (and the extension of breath) — is a big part of the physical practice of yoga (haṭha yoga, regardless of the style or tradition). As we bring awareness to our breath, on and off the mat, we may start to notice the things that take our breath away. We can experience things that take our breath away because they are surprising and beautiful. We can experience things that take our breath away because they are surprising and terrifying. Then there are things that take our breath away because they are just surprising, unexpected….
We may rush to qualify them with some adjective or another and, in doing so, rush to some conclusion about what we need to do… when, really, we just need to breathe (that’s today’s first step); recognize what is (that’s today’s second step); and repeat the first two steps (that’s the third step).
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR THE RELATED POST (& VIDEO).
For Those Who Missed It: Third Step: Repeat the First & Second Steps
“Myth 2: Being intersex is very rare
According to experts, around 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits – comparable to the number of people born with red hair.”
— quoted from the Amnesty International article “Its Intersex Awareness Day – here are 5 myths we need to shatter”
October 26th is Intersex Awareness Day, which highlights and raises awareness about human rights issues faced by intersex people. It also raises awareness around the fact that there are people — all around the world — who are born with one or more sex characteristics that “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.” According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, these characteristics include chromosome patterns, gonads, and/or genitalia.
While there may be just as many people in the world with red hair as there are people in the world with intersex traits, the latter are not as easy to spot. Estimates on how many people are born with intersex traits may vary (depending on the traits and/or conditions) from 3% to 0.0009%. Aside from the fact that I’m referencing statistics related to over 40 intersex conditions, the wide variation in estimates is related to the fact that some people are not initially identified (medically) as intersex. Additionally, some people may never be identified as intersex. Lack of diagnosis can be the result of something relatively small — like the fact that a baby’s chromosome patterns (and/or gonads) are not typically tested. However, lack of diagnosis can also be the result of something fairly major — like the fact that sex (and gender) are typically assigned at birth based on the external appearance of a baby’s genitals.
And, here’s the kicker: If a baby’s genitalia appears ambiguous (to a medical practitioner) and/or atypical, a common practice has been to surgically alter the genitalia. Sometimes, even a baby’s internal sex organs (gonads) will be altered. Again, these surgeries and medical treatments happen to babies, as well as to children and young adults, who are too young to consent and/or may not be informed about their options. Sometimes, even their parents are not informed!
Medical attitudes and practices related to people with intersex characteristics are changing, in part because of people like Morgan Holmes and Max Beck, who both participated in the first public demonstration of intersex people (and their allies) in North America, today in 1996. Dr. Holmes (a Canadian sociologist) and Mr. Beck (who died in of cancer in 2008) attended the American Academy of Pediatrics annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts, with the intention of delivering a presentation on the long-term outcomes of “fixing” intersex infants through cosmetic surgery. However, they were met with what they described as “hostility” and escorted out of the venue. They later returned, outside of the venue, to demonstrate and advocate for better medical awareness. In 2003/2004, Betsy Driver (who was mayor of Flemington, New Jersey, January 2, 2019 – January 3, 2023) and artist and activist Emi Koyama organized the first official Intersex Awareness Day on the anniversary of that first public protest. Since then, people like Morgan Carpenter and Laura Inter have advocated for self-determination, while also providing peer support and education for and about people who have intersex traits.
For the next two weeks — up until November 8th, which is Intersex Day of Remembrance (also known as Intersex Solidarity Day) — grassroots organizations around the world will host events related to intersex visibility. Some of these events will be celebrations and opportunities for networking. Some of these events will be moments of reflection and remembrance. Some of these events will be all about political action and advocacy. All of these events will be about putting an “end [to] shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children.”
“The flag is comprised of a golden yellow field, with a purple circle emblem. The colours and circle don’t just avoid referencing gender stereotypes, like the colours pink and blue, they seek to completely avoid use of symbols that have anything to do with gender at all. Instead the circle is unbroken and unornamented, symbolising wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities. We are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolises the right to be who and how we want to be.”
— quoted from the creator statement entitled “The intersex flag” by Morgan Carpenter, PhD.
Please join me today (Saturday, October 26th) 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 “10272020 Pranayama 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.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
### O ###
First Friday Night Special #47: An Invitation to “A Little Maintenance & A Little Playful Inquiry” (the “missing” invitation w/excerpt & links) September 6, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Buddhism, California, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Life, Loss, Love, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Suffering, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Vairagya, Vipassana, Wisdom, Writing, Yin Yoga, Yoga.Tags: 988, Atma, Chris Foster, mental health, Peggy, Phaedrus, Philosophy, Plato, psyche, Robert Pirsig, Self, Sigmund Freud, Socrates, Soul, yoga, Zen Buddhism
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone working to maintain friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay safe! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.
This is the “missing” invitation for the “First Friday Night Special” on September 6th. It includes a related excerpt. You can request an audio recording of this Somatic Yoga Experience (SYE) 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.
“How you do yoga is how you do life.”
— my first yoga teachers
Earlier this week, I referenced a classical, philosophical analogy which identifies the senses as wild mustangs (or elephants); the mind/brain as reins; the body as a chariot; the mind/intellect as the charioteer; and the Atman-Self as the passenger along for the ride. You may consider your mind-body in a very pragmatic and utilitarian way — as the vehicle that gets you from point A to point B; from the place where you are born to your final destination. On the other hand, you could be someone who is more about the journey than the destination; someone who likes joy rides and scenic routes. Either way, having a mind-body is just like having anything else: maintenance is required. Sometimes you will seek out a professional; however, there are times when it behooves you to do something yourself — or, at the very least, to know what needs to be done.
While I used the analogy as it appears in the Indian philosophies, my yoga buddy Peggy mentioned that a similar (albeit, slightly different) analogy appears in Plato’s Phaedrus, in which Socrates and Phaedrus discuss the parts of the soul/psyche* (i.e., the charioteer as the intellect; one winged horse as the rational or moral mind; and one winged horse as the passionate, sense-driven mind). Her comments were particularly serendipitous since “Phaedrus” is the name that Robert Pirsig used to refer to his younger self in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, today (September 6th) in 1928, Robert Pirsig noticed that one’s philosophy about motorcycle maintenance can extend into other types of maintenance. In fact, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, he wrote as much (if not more) about the physical and mental health of the riders on the road trip as he did about the health of the motorcycles they rode and the society in which they rode.
He also illustrated how a slightly irritating, little thing (like a drip of water) can become the source of great frustration when not addressed; how that frustration can manifest as anger towards others; and that — even when you need a professional to take care of the big things — there is wisdom in taking care of the little things along the way.
“It occurred to me that maybe I was the odd one on the subject, but that was disposed of too. Most touring cyclists know how to keep their machines tuned. Car owners usually won’t touch the engine, but every town of any size at all has a garage with expensive lifts, special tools and diagnostic equipment that the average owner can’t afford. And a car engine is more complex and inaccessible than a cycle engine so there’s more sense to this. But for John’s cycle, a BMW R60, I’ll bet there’s not a mechanic between here and Salt Lake City. If his points or plugs burn out, he’s done for. I know he doesn’t have a set of spare points with him. He doesn’t know what points are. If it quits on him in western South Dakota or Montana I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
“I might have thought this was just a peculiar attitude of theirs about motorcycles but discovered later that it extended to other things — .”
— quoted from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig
The following excerpt is from the 2022 version of a 2020 post:
“It’s like a road trip. The vehicle is moving but we are still inside the vehicle; the scenery is still, but appears to be moving. Everything merges and converges while we are still. Do you see where we’re going?
It’s OK if you don’t. This is kind of like that old joke where someone says, ‘I’m not lost. I know exactly where we are. We’re in the car.’ Now, consider what happens if we could get out of the box or cage we’re in and become part of the scenery. Not walking necessarily, but riding. So that the scenery is simultaneously still and moving… but so are we. And, just like with a moving meditation, there is some part of us that always stays still.”
Click here to read the 2022 post about Robert Pirsig (b. 09/06/1928).
“The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be ‘out there’ and the person that appears to be ‘in here’ are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together.”
— quoted from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig
The September First Friday Night Special features a Somatic Yoga Experience (SYE) with some Yin Yoga. It is accessible and open to all.
NOTE: There is a little more movement during this practice than in a typical First Friday Night Special.
Prop wise, you may need props at the beginning and end of the practice. A chair is recommended for this practice if you have low back issues. You can practice without props or use “studio” props and/or “householder” props. Example of Commercial 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. A water bottle can be used if a ball is not handy.
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. [Look for “09062024 The Art of Moving Maintenance”]
NOTE: On the YouTube playlist, the outro for the practice is “Pirsig’s Pursuit” by Chris Foster, which I did not find on Spotify.
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).
“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”
— quoted from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig
*NOTE: When Dr. Sigmund Freud used Plato’s analogy to refer to the parts of the psyche, he identified the charioteer as the ego; the superego as the critical and moralizing horse; and the id as the horse motivated by the desires of the senses.
### BREATHE: You need air in your tires and wind in your sails. ###
More Than Love from Althea & Arthur (the “missing” Sunday post) *w/an extra 2025 note* August 26, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Abhyasa, Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Harlem Globetrotters, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Meditation, Men, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Poetry, Suffering, Tragedy, Vairagya, Vipassana, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Abhyasa, AIDS, Alice Marble, Althea Gibson, Angela Buxton, anti-Semitism, Arlyn Gajilan, Arnold Rampersad, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Black History Month, Camera Ashe, cardiovascular, Chicago Tribune staff, Dean Radin, Dr. Abraham Maslow, Dr. Reggie Weir, Ed Fitzgerald, Eric Fishl, Eric Goulder, Evonne Goolagong, Frank DeFord, Grand Slams, heart, HIV, Howard Thurman, inner game, Jeanne Moutoussamy, Johnnie Ashe, Louise Brough, Love, Men's Health, military, Neil Amdur, positive psychology, Racism, Rhiannon Walker, Richard Curtis, Serena Williams, siddhis, Swami Satchidananda, tennis, tennis elbow, Vairagya, Venus Williams, W. Timothy Gallwey, Yoga Sutra 1.2, Yoga Sutra 3.24, Yoga Sutra 3.37, Yoga Sutra 4.29, yoga sutras, Yoga Sutras 1.30-1.31
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing the Dormition (Theotokos) Fast; and/or working to cultivate friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay hydrated & be kind, y’all!
This is the “missing” for Sunday, August 25th. Technically, it is also the “long lost” post for the 2021 practice. 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.
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.
“III.24. Extraordinary strength, resulting from samyama on the concept of physical strength (the aphorism specifically mentions the strength of an elephant, which was undoubtedly the strongest creature in Patanjali’s world), but it might also include mental, moral, or spiritual strength. This could be interpreted as an exceptional form of mind-body control or as a mind-matter interaction effect. Swami Satchidananda sums up this siddhi with the comment, ‘You can lighten yourself; you can make yourself heavy. It’s all achieved by samyama. Do it; try it. Nice things will happen’ (p.188).”
“III.37. Siddhis may appear to be supernormal, but they are normal. This is not a description of a siddhi, but rather a caution to avoid regarding or attaining the siddhis as unnatural or supernormal, as that could become a distraction to sustaining and deepening samadhi.”
— quoted from the “Taxonomy” section of “Part I: From Legendary Yoga Superpowers… Chapter 7: The Siddhis” in Supernormal: Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities by Dean Radin, PhD
In the Yoga Sūtras, Patanjali defined yoga (“union”) as a moment when all the internal chatter fades away (YS 1.2) and devoted a whole chapter to describing the powers that come when you focus-concentrate-meditate on a single thing and harness the power of the entire mind-body. He also outlined a process by which one can become completely absorbed into (or merged with) the point of their focus-concentration-meditation. Some of it sounds magical, extraordinary, or supernatural; but, it’s actually extra ordinary and very much supernormal. The ability to be single-minded and absorbed into something (or someone) is something we all do at various times in our lives.
We do it when we are “in the zone” and we do it when we are in the “first blush” of love.
Being in the zone is what athletes call it when you are in the moment, see exactly what needs to be done, and can do it in a way that almost appears effortless. Things just fall into place. Sometimes it even feels effortless and magical to the person that is in the zone. (YS 4.29) Other times, an athlete may find themselves running into the same obstacles and hinderances described in the Yoga Sūtras (YS 1.30-1.31) — not realizing that they need to practice non-attachment. Patanjali recommended focusing on the breath and, thousands of years later, a tennis player and coach recommended the same thing.
“It is said that in breathing humans recapitulate the rhythm of the universe. When the mind is fastened to the rhythm of breathing, it tends to become absorbed and calm. Whether on or off the court, I know of no better way to begin to deal with anxiety than to place the mind on one’s breathing process.”
— quoted from the “Focus During a Match” section of “7. Concentration: Learning to Focus” in The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
Letting go of your own ego and getting out of your own way are foundational lessons in The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance (1974) by W. Timothy Gallwey. A tennis player and coach, Mr. Gallwey used his own experiences to help others play better psychologically — because sometimes you can up your game by changing what you are doing mentally, emotionally, and even energetically. Years after The Inner Game of Tennis was published (and after he published a companion book in 1976), Mr. Gallwey found that people were applying his book to other areas and in other disciplines. So he wrote Inner Skiing (1977), The Inner Game of Golf (1981), The Inner Game of Winning (1985), The Inner Game of Music (1986), and The Inner Game of Work: Focus, Learning, Pleasure, and Mobility in the Workplace (1999), and The Inner Game of Stress: Outsmart Life’s Challenges, Fulfill Your Potential, Enjoy Yourself (2009). In each book, the bottom line is to get to a place where the mind is quiet.
Which brings us back to the other time when everything else disappears: love.
Love, nothing else matters — except in tennis.
“Perhaps this is why it is said that great poetry is born in silence. Great music and art are said to arise from the quiet depths of the unconscious, and true expressions of love are said to come from a source which lies beneath words and thoughts. So it is with the greatest efforts in sports; they come when the mind is as still as a glass lake.
Such moments have been called ‘peak experiences’ by the humanistic psychologist Dr. Abraham Maslow.”
— quoted from the “‘Trying Hard’: A Questionable Virtue” section of “3. Quieting Self 1” in The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
Full disclosure: When I was growing up, I was the only person in my immediate family who didn’t play tennis. So, there are a bunch of things about tennis that just don’t make sense to me. For instance, why does “love” mean “zero” in tennis? There are a lot of different theories about why “love” equals “zero” in tennis. Some of these theories don’t have a lot of supporting evidence; they just seem like old wives tales that may or may not be true. They stick around, however, because they are funny. For instance, there is the idea that English speakers were mispronouncing the French word l’ œuf (“egg”) — so it sounded like they were saying “love” — and that the number zero looks like an egg. This is sometimes paired with the idea that if you make a bunch of mistakes (and score no points) you’ve laid a goose egg. The biggest problem with this theory is that when in France, where tennis was first developed, people simply used the word zéro.
Another prevalent (and possibly more credible) theory about the term, that dates back to the 1700s, is that when you have no score, but you still give it all you’ve got, then you are playing for the love of the game. This is a slightly more credible theory, because, according to the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the word “amateur” comes from the Latin words anator (“a lover”) and amo (“to love”), referring to a person who does something for love rather than for money.
Of course, every professional begins as an amateur and one could argue that every professional wants to feel the way they did when they were an amateur — as if nothing else matters, but that moment and the love of the game in that moment. And, this is where things get interesting; because, in tennis, the most prestigious tournaments are “open” to amateurs and professionals. They all play for the same stakes. They all play with love so palpable it can make other people fall in love with the game. Some even play with the kind of passion that can also change the face of the game.
“I always wanted to be somebody. If I made it, it’s half because I was game enough to take a lot of punishment along the way and half because there were a lot of people who cared enough to help me.”
— quoted I Always Wanted to Be Somebody by Althea Gibson, edited by Ed Fitzgerald
Born today in 1927, Althea Gibson was a professional tennis player as well as a professional golfer. In 1949, she was the first Black woman and the second Black athlete (after Dr. Reggie Weir) to play in the National Indoor Championships hosted by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA, now known as the USTA). While she earned a full athletic scholarship to Florida A&M University (FAMU) and was considered an elite athlete all around the world, her race and ethnicity meant that she was not able to play in some of the most prestigious competitions in the world. To be clear, USTA had anti-discrimination rules in the 1950s; however, to qualify for certain tournaments, a player had to have a certain amount of points. In order to earn those points, a player had to play (and place) at a number of tournaments. Of course, some tournaments were held at clubs that were white-only — which meant that a player like Althea Gibson couldn’t play.
The first crack in that glass ceiling came when American Tennis Association (ATA) officials and 18 time Grand Slam championship-winner Alice Marble very publicly lobbied for Althea Gibson to be the first African-American to receive an invitation to the Nationals. Three days after her 23rd birthday, Ms. Gibson made her debut at Forest Hills and won. The world took notice; even though she ultimately lost the next match (in a delayed round) to Louise Brough, the then three-time defending Wimbledon champion, who also lobbied for inclusion.
Six years later, in 1956, Althea Gibson became the first African-American to win a Grand Slam event when she won the singles crown at the French Championships (now known as the French Open). She and Angela Buxton (from the United Kingdom) also won the doubles. Later that season, she won the championships in Rome, Italy; New Delhi, India; and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The following year, and the year after that, she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (which preceded the US Open) and was named “Female Athlete of the Year” by the Associated Press. (1957 was also the year she beat Louise Brough, who by then had won 35 major championships.)
“According to [American sculpture Eric] Goulder, each [of the five granite blocks] represents the ‘boxes’ society puts people in. [Althea] Gibson’s image emerges from the highest one, which balances on its corner to emphasize how she transformed the world’s view of African American athletes.
‘Her shoulder is exposed to make clear that those who followed stand on her shoulder,’ said Goulder. The final box, which is aligned differently from the others, is meant to show that the world has changed, but not entirely.
Its inscription reads: ‘I hope that I have accomplished just one thing: that I have been a credit to tennis and my country.’”
— quoted from the August 26, 2019, Reuters article “Trailblazer Althea Gibson honoured with statue at U.S. Open” by Arlyn Gajilan
Overall, Althea Gibson won a total of 11 Grand Slam events — including five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. In 1964, she became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour, where she broke course records and was among the 50 money winners for fives years. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (in 1971); was one of the first six inductees into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame (in 1980); and, in 2007, on the 50th anniversary of her first victory at the US National Championships, she was inducted into the US Open Court of Champions.
Althea Gibson was also inducted into the the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Additionally, she received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (in 1988) and was the first woman to receive the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Theodore Roosevelt Award (in 1991). In 2000, Sports Illustrated placed her at #30 on their “100 Greatest Female Athletes” list. In 2013, the United States Postal Service honored her with a postage stamp and, in 2019, a bust of her was unveiled outside of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, where the US Open is now held.
“In a statement Sunday, tennis champion and activist Billie Jean King had this to say: ‘We all know people who influence us and, if we are lucky, we meet a few in our lives who improve us. Althea Gibson improved my life and the lives of countless others. She was the first to break so many barriers, and from the first time I saw her play, when I was 13 years old, she became, and remained, one of my true heroines.
‘It was truly an inspiration for me to watch her overcome adversity. Her road to success was a challenging one, but I never saw her back down. Althea did a lot for people in tennis, but she did even more for people in general.’”
— quoted from the September 29, 2003, Chicago Tribune article “Althea Gibson” (by the Chicago Tribune staff)
Even though Ms. Gibson broke so many color barriers that people compared her to Jackie Robinson, she couldn’t overcame all the obstacles put in her way. Despite winning multiple times at Wimbledon, she and her doubles partner, Angela Buxton, who was Jewish, were denied membership to the All England Club on more than one occasion.1 While many of the competitors that she beat were receiving endorsement deals, similar deals never came her way. That sort of racism and prejudice led her to join the LPGA, but even there she ran into literal barriers to entry. Sometimes she was not allowed to compete. Sometimes she had to change clothes in her car, because the clubs, hotels, and dressing rooms were segregated and no accommodations were available to her. While the highest earners (during the years she played on the tour) averaged, almost $35,000 a year, Althea Gibson’s lifetime golf earnings were under $25,000 (plus or minus a car she won at a Dinah Shore tournament).
Despite the ongoing challenges, Althea Gibson kept persevering. Maybe one of the reasons she never seemed to back down was because she was always fighting to survive. She dropped out of school when she was 13 years old and ran away from home because her father was abusive. At one point she lived in a Catholic shelter for abused children. By that time, she was already a paddle tennis champion in New York City and her neighbors had pooled their resources together to purchase her a junior membership and lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. But, young Althea didn’t initially love tennis. It was a means to an end; it was one of her many means of escape.
“‘Being a champ is all well and good,’ I would tell the well-meaning people who asked me about my retirement, ‘but you can’t eat a crown. Nor can you send the Internal Revenue Service a throne clipped to their tax forms. The landlord and grocer and tax collector are funny that way: they like cold cash. I may be the Queen of Tennis right now, but I reign over an empty bank account, and I’m not going to fill it by playing amateur tennis, even if I remain champ from now until Judgement Day.’”
— quoted from “So Much to Live For” in So Much to Live For by Althea Gibson with Richard Curtis
In addition to being an accomplished athlete, Althea Gibson was also a singer, a saxophone player, an actor, a sports analyst, and an author. She turned to all of those mediums in an effort to support herself and pushed the limits of everything she did so that each industry was better than she found it. She even opened for the Harlem Globetrotters by playing exhibition games with Karol Fageros and ran for public office. For much of her adult life, she was also a mentor and coach. She facilitated Pepsi Cola’s national mobile tennis project in underprivileged areas and ran multiple other clinics and tennis outreach programs. She inspired her competitors, as well as players in subsequent generations: like Billie Jean King and Serena and Venus Williams.
The Williams sisters, in particular, sought advice on how to play and how to deal with racism (on and off the court). In fact, Serena Williams won her first (of six) US Open titles in 1999, shortly after faxing a letter and a series of questions to Ms. Gibson. In 2000 and 2001, Venus Williams followed in Althea Gibson’s footsteps by winning back-to-back championships at Wimbledon and the US Open. Like Evonne Goolagong, the Australian Aboriginal (Wiradjuri) athlete who became the second non-White woman to win a Grand Slam championship (in 1971), the Williams Sisters and other African-American athletes experienced a different financial landscape than Althea Gibson, but they still had to deal with racism and prejudice.
“You can’t compare tennis with baseball, basketball, or football. When Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, dozens of good baseball players in the Negro leagues were waiting to follow. When Althea Gibson, the first prominent black in tennis, won national grass-court titles at Forest Hills in 1957 and 1958, there was no reservoir of black talent waiting to walk in if the door ever opened. Blacks had no identification the sport — on or off the court.”
— quoted from “3. The Passage” in Off the Court by Arthur Ashe with Neil Amdur
Another person Althea Gibson inspired was Arthur Ashe, who who won the US Amateur Championships today in 1968. A couple of weeks later, on September 9th, the Army lieutenant at West Point, followed in Althea Gibson’s footsteps: winning the first US Open and becoming the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam event. He also became the first person (period) to win the US Amateur and the US Open in the same calendar year. These were not his first, nor his last, groundbreaking achievements in tennis. In 1963, he was the first Black player selected for the US Davis Cup team and, so far, he has been the only Black man to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.
Up until 1968, the US National Championship events were held at a variety of locations and only open to amateurs. When it became the US Open, it was open to professionals as well as to amateurs — which is what Arthur Ashe was at the time. In fact, he was the underdog, going up against a professional. He was also active duty, during a war — his younger brother Johnnie accepted an extra tour in Vietnam, which allowed him to compete since the United States had a policy against sending brothers into a war zone. First Lieutenant Ashe’s amateur status meant that his prize money went to the runner up.
“‘Money makes me happy.’ Who would make such a crass remark? I did, in my book Portrait in Motion, written with Frank DeFord. But the truth is that I’m glad I have enough money to live comfortably, and I enjoyed adding to my bank account as I earned money on the tennis court and in various business deals when I was a professional. I was not born poor, but my father was hardly rich. I long ago decided that, on the whole, I much prefer having money to not having it. In that sense, it makes me happy.
On the other hand, I also learned a long time ago what money can and cannot do for me. From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.”
— quoted from “6. The Striving and Achieving” in Days of Grace: A Memoir by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
Arthur Ashe was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (in 1979), the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame (in 1983), and the International Tennis Hall of Fame (in 1985). In 1975, he received the inaugural Player of the Year Award from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and was named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. In 1977, other players on the ATP-tour awarded him the ATP Sportsmanship Award. In December 1992, just a few months before he died, he received the “Sports Legend” Award from the American Sportscasters Association. In 1993, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s George Thomas “Mickey” Leland Award, and ATP’s Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award by the ATP. He was also an author and an Emmy Award winner. In 1997, the newly constructed Arthur Ashe Stadium became the largest venue at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open. “Soul in Flight,” a statue sculpted by Eric Fishl, was unveiled in 2000 as a memorial to Arthur Ashe and to the spirit of sportsmanship and humanitarianism that he embodied. In 2005, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor.
Throughout his career, Arthur Ashe was an activist. He was part of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and also part of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. He also advocated for Haitian refugees and was a campaign chairman for the American Heart Association. In 1983, he contracted HIV after a blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery and, when he announced his diagnosis in April of 1992, he became a very public HIV/AIDS advocate and educator. He also founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health.
“Perhaps my favorite prayer-poem by Howard Thurman is ‘The Threads In My Hand.’ The speaker of the poem says that he holds only one end of a number of threads, which come to him from ‘many ways, linking my life with others.’ Some threads come from the sick and troubled, some from the dreaming and ambitious; still others are knotted beyond the speaker’s power to understand and unravel. But one thread is different from all others:
One thread is a strange thread—it is my steadying thread;
When I am lost, I pull it hard and find my way.
When I am saddened, I tighten my grip and gladness glides along its quivering path;
When the waste places of my spirit appear in arid confusion,
the thread becomes a channel of newness in life.
One thread is a strange thread—it is my steadying thread.
God’s hand holds the other end…”
— quoted from “10. The Threads in My Hands” in Days of Grace: A Memoir by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
In chapter 10 of Days of Grace: A Memoir, Arthur Ashe described himself as “a fortunate, blessed man… [with] no problems” — aside from two really major health problems. Those two health problems were not the one’s most commonly associated with tennis players. In fact, neither Arthur Ashe nor Althea Gibson seemed to have dealt with the one of the health issues most commonly associated with a non-contact sports like tennis: “tennis elbow” — which is a bit of misnomer. While 50% of tennis players report elbow pain — 75% of which is considered true “tennis elbow” — tennis players only make up about 10% of all the cases of nationwide. In other words, you can have “tennis elbow” even if you’ve never played tennis. It’s simply a repetitive stress issue. So, if you do certain movements repeatedly, without stability, you could end up with tendonitis or tendinosis. Tennis, even when done on a table, is very asymmetrical; making unilateral stability a priority.
But, neither of these record-breaking seemed to have a problem with tendonitis or tendinosis. Unfortunately and ironically, Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe both had cardiovascular issues.
Two cerebral hemorrhages, in the late 1980s, a stroke in 1992, and related medical expenses left Althea Gibson in dire straits. No help was forthcoming when she reached out to various tennis organizations; however, Angela Buxton, her former doubles partner, was able to engage the tennis community and raised nearly $1 million in donations from around the world. In 2003, she suffered a heart attack and then, later that year, died from complications related to respiratory and bladder infections.
Arthur Ashe had a family history of cardiovascular disease and was 36 years old when he suffered his first heart attack in 1979. His heart was in such bad condition, despite his athleticism, that he needed a quadruple bypass. A few months later, he had to delay his return to tennis, because of chest pains. In 1983, he had a second bypass surgery — which is when it is believed he contracted HIV. Paralysis in his right arm led to a battery of tests, exploratory brain surgery, and the HIV diagnosis. Due to the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, Arthur Ashe and his wife initially decided that the best way to protect their young daughter was by not publicly disclosing his diagnosis. In the fall of 1992, he had a second heart attack and learned that a newspaper was planning to release his diagnosis. A few months later, in 1993, he died from AIDS-related pneumonia.
“By the time you read this letter from me to you for the first time, I may not be around to discuss with you what I have written here. Perhaps I will still be with you and your mother, sharing in your daily lives, in your joys and in your sorrows. However, I may be gone. You would doubtless be sad that I am gone, and remember me clearly for a while. Then I will exist only as a memory already beginning to fade in your mind. Although it is natural for memories to fade, I am writing this letter in the hope that your recollection of me will never fade completely.”
— quoted from “11. My Dear Camera” in Days of Grace: A Memoir by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
As I mentioned before, I grew up as the non-playing member of a tennis-loving family. Most of the time I didn’t mind not playing tennis, because I was absorbed in other things. I loved other things. There was one time, however, when I was really grateful that I didn’t play — and so were my parents.
It was during a time when we were living in the Maryland-D.C. area, late 70s or early 80s. If memory serves me2 — and if I go by the 1981 publication date of Off the Court — I was probably have been as old as 12 or 13. Either way, I was small (spoiler alert: I have always been small). Since I wasn’t playing in the tournament, I wasn’t restricted to certain areas the way my brothers were restricted. So, my parents lifted me over the fence with a copy of Arthur Ashe’s autobiography. Being the man that he was, he didn’t hesitate to sign it.
It was a very memorable day that I will never forget, but, to him, it was: “Just another day at the office…”
“…he told the Baltimore Sun’s Jim Caffrey[,] ‘I never get too excited about winning anything; it’s just my philosophy of life.’”
— quoted from the August 13, 2017, Andscape (“#RememberWhensdays”) article, “The day Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win the US Open: Ashe earned the top ranking in the country with the five-set victory” by Rhiannon Walker
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “08252021 Love from Althea & Arthur”]
NOTES: 1The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), also known as the All England Club, is a private members’ club in Wimbledon, London, England. Established on July 23, 1868, the majority of the nearly 600 members are are Full Members — who, along with Life Members and Honorary Members, make up no more than 500 members. A little over 50 members are Temporary Members of Junior Temporary Members.
To be placed on the waiting list, full and temporary membership candidates must submit an application with formal letters of support from four existing full members, “two of whom must have known the applicant for at least three years.” While some honorary members are occasionally elected by the club’s committee, “past [Wimbledon] Singles Champions, other eminent Lawn Tennis players…” are typically (and automatically) invited to become honorary members. While Black players and Jewish players were theoretically eligible to join the club in 1951 and 1952, respectively, neither Althea Gibson nor her doubles partner Angela Buxton (who retired at the age of 22, because of tenosynovitis) ever made the cut.
2In July 2025, my father randomly texted me about getting Arthur Ashe’s autograph. He remembered it being on a program, which would have made me a lot younger than the age I remembered.
CORRECTION: During the 2024 practice, I referred to Arthur Ashe as a photographer; however, I was confusing him with his wife, the photographer and graphic artist Jeanne Moutoussamy.
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
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).
(### • ###)
A Quick Note & EXCERPT: “The Practice of Observing Where You Are (and keeping notes)” August 10, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Philosophy, Science, Vipassana, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Ferdinand Magellan, Greenwich Mean, insight, James Smithson, John Flamsteed, King Charles II, meridians, Prime Meridian, Royal Observatory Greenwish, Sir Isaac Newton, Smithsonian Institute, yoga practice
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone navigating the road(s) with friendship, peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay hydrated & be kind, y’all!
“When I have got some more observations of it I shall bee [sic] able to tell you how long it will last and where it will pass[. At] present I dare not pretend to that knowledge.”
— quoted from a letter to “to Crompton [for Newton]” dated “December 15th (1680)” by John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal
Every mindfulness-based practice is an opportunity for observation — for noticing what we notice and bringing awareness to our awareness. These practices are also a way to better study cause and effect, on and off the mat. One of the underlying intentions, especially during this year’s Saturday practices, is to notice cause and effect in order to better understand our trajectory — which, in turn, can help us navigate through life with a little more intentionality.
August 10th is the day the cornerstone for the Royal Observatory, Greenwich was laid (in 1675); the day Ferdinand Magellan set sail today (in 1519), with the intention of circumnavigating the globe; and the day the United States Congress passed legislation (in 1846) that established the Smithsonian Institution.
Click on the excerpt title below for more about observation, navigation, and preservation.
FTWMI: The Practice of Observing Where You Are (and keeping notes)
Please join me today (Saturday, August 10th) 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 available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04192020 Noticing Things”]
NOTE: This is a 2-for-1 playlist. You can start with Track #1 or Track #14.
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
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.
### YOU WILL REACH YOUR DESTINATION! ###
A Quick Note & Excerpt: “Sitting in Grace & ‘A center of stillness surrounded by silence’” (a Monday post-practice post) July 29, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Abhyasa, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Fitness, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Vipassana, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Dag Hammerskjöld, Daniel Goleman, Joseph Goldstein, Mahāṭīkā, Mahāsī Sayādaw, meditation, Mindfulness, Theraveda Buddhism, United Nations, Vipassana, Vipassanā, Vipassanā Mettā Foundation Translation Committee, yoga practice
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone working for peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside). Stay hydrated, y’all!
This is a post-practice post related to the practice on Monday, July 29th. The 2024 prompt question was, “What do you appreciate about your practice(s)?” (Noting that this can be related to any practice.) 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.
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.
“The Mahāṭīkā says that the delight leads to jhāna [meditation] in certain cases. However, this does not mean that it cannot also give rise to insight concentration. Some Pāḷi texts explicitly mention that spiritual delight leads to the wholesome arising of other mental states such as rapture, calm (passaddhi), happiness (sukha), concentration, and knowledge of things as they really are (yathābhūtañāṇa). In the context of insight practice, every time one notes an object well it gives rise to delight. As a result of this, practice becomes enjoyable. This enjoyment in turn supports the progress of insight knowledge, step by step, until noble ones are liberated from the cycle of suffering. This is why delight is regarded as a cause of liberation for the noble ones.”
— quoted from the “Delight and laziness” section of “2. Purification of Mind: Liberations and Hindrances” in Manual of Insight by Venerable Mahāsi Sayadaw, translated and edited by the Vipassanā Mettā Foundation Translation Committee (Forwards by Joseph Goldstein and Daniel Goleman)
One of the things I find delightful and amazing about mindfulness-based practices — and particularly about my yoga and meditation practices — is that they meet you where you are, accept you as you are, and embrace all that you are.
Then, the practices encourage you to do the same for yourself (and, eventually for others).
I appreciate that this means we can practice even when we don’t feel super motivated to do anything (including a practice). I also appreciate that this means we can adapt and adjust the practice as needed — based on how we’re feeling, where we are, and/or what else we need to do in the course of the day. Finally, I appreciate that regardless of how any one of us feels about props, music, teachers, and other practitioners (all of which I love), we don’t need them to practice.
All any one of us needs to practice is our breath and our awareness of our breath.
Which means we can practice anywhere — including at the United Nations Headquarters.
Click on the excerpt title below for more.
Sitting in Grace & FTWMI: “A center of stillness surrounded by silence”
“…delight will arise spontaneously when one’s mindfulness, concentration, and insight mature. There is generally no need to try to deliberately develop it. However, when laziness is an obstacle, one should arouse delight by contemplating the virtues of the Triple Gem, the benefits of insight, how much one has purified one’s moral conduct since beginning to practice, or the pure and noble quality of the noting mind.”
— quoted from the “Delight and laziness” section of “2. Purification of Mind: Liberations and Hindrances” in Manual of Insight by Venerable Mahāsi Sayadaw, translated and edited by the Vipassanā Mettā Foundation Translation Committee (Forwards by Joseph Goldstein and Daniel Goleman)
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
The 2023 playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “07292023 Still Breathing, Noting, Here & at the UN”]
The 2020 playlist is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “07292020 Breathing, Noting, Here & at the UN”]
“The more faithfully you listen to the voices within you, the better you will hear what is sounding inside.”
— quoted from Markings by Dag Hammerskjöld
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).
### Peace In, Peace Out ###
The Serendipity Practice (the “missing” and “long-lost” Sunday post for 1/28) March 11, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Movies, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Tragedy, Vairagya, Vipassana, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: Aimee Lehto, Beau Lotto, Boyd Croyner, Carl Jung, chaos theory, Christa McAuliffe, Ed Sheeran, Elvis Presley, Horace Walpole, Horatio Walpole, Jackie Gleason, John Cusack, Jostein Gaarder, Kate Beckinsale, LEGO, Muhammad Ali, Pavlov's dog, samskaras, samskāras, santosha, santoşā, serendipity, shoshin, Space Shuttle Challenger, synchronicity, T. H. Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley, vasanas, Voltaire, vāsanā, vāsanās, yoga philosophy, Yoga Sutra 2.20
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May we all be safe and protected / May we all be peaceful and happy / May we all be healthy and strong / May we all appreciate the “accidental goodness” in our lives.
This is the “missing” post for Sunday, January 28th. It includes some previously posted content. In the final notes section, there is a reference to a tragic event. You can request an audio recording of a related practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at 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.
“The causality principle asserts that the connection between cause and effect is a necessary one. The synchronicity principle asserts that the terms of a meaningful coincidence are connected by simultaneity and meaning…. Although meaning is an anthropomorphic interpretation it nevertheless forms the indispensable criterion of synchronicity. What that factor which appears to us as ‘meaning’ may be in itself we have no possibility of knowing. As an hypothesis, however, it is not quite so impossible as may appear at first sight. We must remember that the rationalistic attitude of the West is not the only possible one and is not all-embracing, but is in many ways a prejudice and a bias that ought perhaps to be corrected.”
— quoted from “3. Forerunners of the Idea of Synchronicity” in Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle by C. G. Jung
Causality, the principles of cause and effect, is a big aspect of the Yoga Philosophy — and I am, without a doubt, a big fan. I am quick to go down the proverbial rabbit hole to see how things are connected. Of course, everything is connected: we just don’t always see/make/understand the connections. As indicated in Yoga Sūtra 2.20, “The Seer is the pure power of seeing, yet its understanding is through the mind/intellect.” This doesn’t mean that someone who sees/understands something that others don’t is smarter than those others; it simply means that they see things in a different way… a special way.
For much of my life, I have seen things in special ways. My tendency to seek out connections has resulted in me seeing and making connections that other people don’t initially see/make. At some points in my life, others have viewed the way I think as interesting, weird, cute, and/or a sign of being “smart” (or of “thinking too much”). More than one university professor commented that my logic was sound, but that “no one else” — meaning no one with credentials in the Western canon — had come to such a conclusion and therefore….
Perhaps, you have heard the same thing about something that has occurred to you. Suffice it to say, I heard that something I did was “a bit of a stretch” long before I started teaching yoga.
Thankfully, I received some halfway decent marks despite the fact that my content was unexpected. More importantly, I was never forced to conform and, therefore, never got completely stuck in the trap Carl Jung warned us about: the trap created by believing that there is one way (the Western way) to see things. I eventually understood that the workings of our mind/intellect are based on more than brain chemistry. The way we think is also based on all the different things we have experienced; all the different perspectives to which we have been exposed; how open we are to possibilities other than the ones we are seeking; and how aware we are that we are the ones creating the meaning.
“This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavor to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called ‘The Three Princes of Serendip:’ as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of the them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right….”
— quoted from a letter addressed to Sir Horace Mann, dated January 28, 1754, by Horace Walpole (The Right Honorable The (4th) Earl of Orford, Horatio Walpole)
When Horace Walpole, the Right Honorable Earl of Orford, shared the word and meaning of serendipity, in a letter dated January 28, 1754, he cited the English version of a Persian story (from at least 1302) that had come into the English canon by way of French and Italian translations. Each version of the story is slightly different, but the common elements are (1) a king who sends his sons out into the world to give them the best possible education and (2) the three princes who already have been educated by the best teachers* and tutors in their homeland. As the three princes travelled, they paid attention to all the details around them and — using their knowledge, skills of deduction, and insight (based on “[seeing] things in a special way”) — came to conclusions that were obvious to them but not so obvious to others.
Perhaps the most famous of their adventures is the one cited by the earl, in which the princes described and located a missing camel (or mule). To be clear, the princes were not looking for the animal in question; but, others were looking and those others believed the princes had the animal (or knew where to find it) because the princes knew so much about the animal. They knew it was slightly lame, blind in one eye, missing a tooth and carrying a pregnant woman while bearing honey on one side and butter on the other. They knew all this despite the fact that, at the point in the story when they are accused of stealing the animal, the princes had never seen it! They had only seen evidence of it and made connections that led to certain logical conclusions. While Horace Walpole called the story “a silly fairytale,” others — including Voltaire (in 1747) — recognized the story as containing the cornerstones of deductive reasoning (both psychologically and logically) and of the scientific method.
“Those who are interested in learning more of the fateful history of Zadig must turn to the original; we are dealing with him only as a philosopher, and this brief excerpt suffices for the exemplification of the nature of his conclusions and of the methods by which he arrived at them.”
“[Zadig’s] defence was worse than his offence. It showed that his mode of divination was fraught with danger to magianism in general. Swollen with the pride of human reason, he had ignored the established canons of magian lore; and, trusting to what after all was mere carnal common sense, he professed to lead men to a deeper insight into nature than magian wisdom, with all its lofty antagonism to everything common, had ever reached. What, in fact, lay at the foundation of all Zadig’s argument but the coarse commonplace assumption, upon which every act of our daily lives is based, that we may conclude from an effect to the pre-existence of a cause competent to produce that effect?”
— quoted from the essay “On the Method of Zadig: Retrospective Prophecy as a Function of Science” (1880) in Collected Essays, Volume 4. Science and Hebrew Tradition by T. H. Huxley
Serendipity, like chaos theory, often gets twisted in books, movies, and music. For instance, in the 2001 romantic comedy with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, the couple are actually looking for each other and looking for clues that will lead each to the other. Sure, there are all kinds of coincidences (or cowinkydinks) and near-misses that are described (in the movie) as fate. And, I could see how the situation could be serendipitous.** However, the couple in the movie are more like the villagers looking for the camel (or mule) and less like the the princes. What they experience is more synchronicity (i.e., things happening at the same time) than serendipity.
Just as I am a big fan of causality, I am also a big fan of synchronicity and serendipity. As much as I pay attention to cause-and-effect, I often delight in things that just seem to “randomly” fall into place and things (or people) that show up when I “need” them, but wasn’t looking for them. Granted, there are times when I consider chaos theory and see if I can trace everything back to some little thing that started the domino effect; however, I’m also just open to being pleasantly surprised by “accidental goodness.”
Do you know what I mean? Has that happened to you?
Have you ever read a horoscope or had someone tell you your future and it seemed right on? Have you gone into a practice (or any situation) and been surprised that you got exactly what “wanted” and/or “needed,” sometimes in an unexpected way?
We could say, as Thomas Henry Huxley pointed out in 1880, “In all these cases, it is only the relation to time which alters — the process of divination beyond the limits of possible direct knowledge remains the same.“ However, sometimes there is direct knowledge. Sometimes someone is taking known information and putting it together so that you see/make a connection. Then this becomes similar to the way you can understand what a child makes with their LEGO bricks (the patent for which was filed January 28, 1958, presumably at 1:58 PM). You know what the child makes because they tell you what they are making and your brain fills in the gaps based on the shape. Sometimes, the shape is really obvious — and maybe you have the picture from the LEGO packaging. Other times, your brain really has to work hard to see what the child is seeing.
“If you already understand what I am getting at, you may skip this next paragraph. But just in case, I will clarify: You have a box of Legos [sic] and you build a Lego horse. You then take it apart and put the blocks back in the box. You cannot expect to make a new horse just by shaking the box. How could Lego blocks of their own accord find each other and become a new horse again? No, you have to rebuild the hose, Sophie, And the reason you can do it is that you have a picture in your mind of what the horse looked like. The Lego horse is made from a model which remains unchanged from horse to horse.”
— quoted from the lesson “PLATO’S ACADEMY: The World of Ideas” in the chapter “Plato… a longing to return to the realm of the soul…” of Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
Whether we realize it or not, our lives are put together the way our practice is put together — which is the same way we are instructed to build something with LEGO bricks: from the ground up. Aha! moments, lightbulb moments, epiphanies, and even “happy accidents” are all built on a foundation. We have to be prepared to see the things we see, even when we are not expecting to see them. We have to have the picture — i.e., the possibility — in our minds. We also have to be open to the way the bricks are connected. Ultimately, that’s what I’m really asking:
How open are you to these kinds of things?
My guess — and it’s not much of a stretch — is that your open-ness, or lack thereof, is based on past experiences. I mean, on a certain level, everything is based on past experiences. We do something new and a new neural pathway is created, a new thin veil of saṃskāra (“mental impression”) is lowered over us. We do that same thing again and we start to hardwire that new neural pathway, the veil becomes more opaque. Over time, our behaviors and reactions become so hardwired, that our saṃskāra become vāsanā (“dwelling” place for our habits) and we believe that our habits are innate or instinctive — when, in fact, they are conditioned.
This is true when things seem to randomly and luckily fall into place, as well as when a fortune cookie seems to be spot on. This is also true when we are not so fortunate or blessed; when things don’t seem to easily fall into place or when we don’t “randomly” get what we didn’t know we needed. Furthermore, our physical-mental-emotional response to the so-called “happy accidents” is just as conditioned as our physical-mental-emotional response to things not going our way. We are as much like Pavlov’s dogs as we are like the one-eyed mule (or camel) observed by the Princes of Serendip. To do something other than salivate at the appearance of certain objects and/or to eat on the side of the road we can’t easily “see” is “impossible.”
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.”
— quoted from a 2004 Adidas ad campaign written by Aimee Lehto (with final tag line credited to Boyd Croyner), often attributed to Muhammad Ali
Per chaos theory, little changes in conditioning can change the outcome. Those little changes in conditioning can also change our understanding of a situation and its outcome. They change our “space of possibility.” We start to notice causality and, in the process, start to add to the story — which essentially changes the story. At other times, little changes in conditioning can change our understanding of what is possible and, therefore, what is probable.
All that can change our actions. For instance, consider the comedian Jackie Gleason and how he reacted to Elvis Presley’s first national television*** appearance, on January 28, 1956. No one had seen anything like Elvis before and no one knew how far he would go. So, not surprisingly, Mr. Gleason initially missed certain signs (like how the audience reacted to Elvis) and said, “He can’t last, I tell you flatly, he can’t last.”
To be fair (to Jackie Gleason), there were several reasons why the comedian and producer initially missed the signs. First, “Heartbreak Hotel” had just been released as a single (the day before). Second, Elvis was still relatively unknown on a national level and not many people showed up to see Elvis when he first performed on the weekly program Stage Show. Despite his initially reaction, Jackie Gleason and the other producers of Stage Show scheduled Elvis to perform two shows in January and two shows in February. The future “King of Rock and Roll” performed “Shake Rattle And Roll,” “Flip Flop and Fly,” and “I Got A Woman.” By the time Elvis finished the first show, his schedule was extended to include two more appearances on the Stage Show — thanks, in part, to Jackie Gleason observing the situation, making connections, and coming to certain conclusions.
Ultimately, those are the secrets to serendipity and to practicing serendipity:
- Observing causes and conditions, in order to have as much information as possible;
- Being open to possibilities (and possible connections);
- Letting go of what was; and
- Being right here, right now, with present-moment awareness.
“In no very distant future, the method of Zadig, applied to a greater body of facts than the present generation is fortunate enough to handle, will enable the biologist to reconstruct the scheme of life from its beginning, and to speak as confidently of the character of long extinct beings, no trace of which has been preserved, as Zadig did of the queen’s spaniel and the king’s horse.”
— quoted from the essay “On the Method of Zadig: Retrospective Prophecy as a Function of Science” (1880) in Collected Essays, Volume 4. Science and Hebrew Tradition by T. H. Huxley
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
*NOTE: While most of this practice focused on “happy accidents,” I do reference one tragic accident: the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. On January 28, 1986, all seven crew members were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, who was selected to be the first schoolteacher in space. In the past, when I offered more direct suggestions for personal dedications, I would include a passing reference to family, friends, co-workers, students, and others who remember and were inspired by F. Richard Scobee (Commander), Michael J. Smith (Pilot), Ronald McNair (Mission Specialist), Ellison Onizuka (Mission Specialist), Judith Resnik (Mission Specialist), Gregory Jarvis (Payload Specialist), and Christa McAuliffe (Payload Specialist / teacher). This year, I ended the practice with the words of S. Christa McAullife who said, “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. JUST GET ON!” and “Reach for the stars. Reach for it! Push yourself as far as you can.”
**Spoiler Alert (that’s not really spoiling the movie): Theoretically and hypothetically (because this doesn’t happen in the movie), if the couple in Serendipity were seeking something that ended up getting torn apart, and the pieces were used to make a painting/collage that was placed in a museum — without anyone knowing the source of the material for the collage, then them discovering the information they sought could be considered serendipitous because they weren’t looking for a painting/collage.
*** CORRECTION: I sometimes refer to Elvis’s appearance on Stage Show as his first television appearance; however, it was his first time on a nationally broadcasted show. He had previously appeared on a local broadcast, Louisiana Hayride, that aired on KSLA-TV (in Shreveport, La) on March 5, 1955.
### “I’m gonna pick up the pieces” ~ Ed Sheeran ###
More Songs for the DJ’s Adventure (a remix*) March 10, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 19-Day Fast, Art, Bhakti, Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Healing Stories, Hope, Kirtan, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Poetry, Suffering, Vairagya, Vipassana, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: Kirtan, Krishna Das, Lynn Hirschberg, Raachel Martin, Ram Dass, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rick Rubin, santosha, santoşā, Season for Nonviolence, Season of Non-violence, Wimana (Imo Wimana Chadband), yoga
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Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Lent and/or the 19-Day Fast. May we all find unity throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!
“Some ideas may resonate,
others may not.
A few may awaken an inner knowing
you forgot you had.
Use what’s helpful.
Let go of the rest.
Each of these moments
is an invitation
to further inquiry:
looking deeper,
zooming out, or in.
Opening possibilities
for a new way of being.”
— quoted from the prelude to The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
What would happen if every practice — and, really, everything we did — started with the reminder above (which comes courtesy of a person who has been meditating for almost fifty years)? I think it would help us be more mindful and, perhaps, more intentional. I think, also, that it would make us a little more in tune to how we feel and to what changes the way we feel. Since a catalyst creates and/or increases a fundamental shift without itself undergoing a permanent change, we can use our heightened awareness to go back, again and again, to that catalyst; whether it is a person, place, or a thing… like a good piece of music.
“‘The right sound reaches its hand out and finds its way. So much of what I do is just being present and listening for that right sound.’”
— Rick Rubin, quoted from The New York Times article, “The Music Man,” by Lynn Hirschberg (Sept. 2, 2007)
A good piece of musical work can inspire you, touch you, and can express what you’re feeling even when you can’t put those feelings into words. A good piece of music can pump us up; hold us when we’re feeling down; and make sense of things that are twisted and upside down. Good music may start with the lyrics or the musical notes, but what ultimately sticks with us is the way it sounds… the way it feels… and when it comes to a recording, the way music sounds and feels has as much to do with the way it’s mixed and produced as it does with the way it’s written and composed.
Again, I don’t know the math, but I feel safe in saying that however you do the math, odds are that, on any given day, my playlist contains music in some way connected to producer who has been described as looking like a hippie Guru, a ZZ Top impersonator, and a medium-sized (teddy) bear. Known as “The Loudness King,” as well as “DJ Double R,” Frederick Jay “Rick” Rubin was born today in 1963. While my high school and college buddies were making mixed tapes, Rick Rubin, spent his senior year in college creating a record label: Def Jam Recordings.
“‘When I’m listening, I’m looking for a balance that you could see in anything. Whether it’s a great painting or a building or a sunset. There’s just a natural human element to a great song that feels immediately satisfying. I like the song to create a mood.’”
— Rick Rubin quoted in The New York Times article, “The Music Man,” by Lynn Hirschberg (Sept. 2, 2007)
You might associate Def Jam with rap music. In reality, however, DJ Double R has produced everything from rap to jazz to country to pop to opera to kirtan. He has won at least 8 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his work with The Chicks (2007) and with that other famous chick, Adele (2012). He also won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2007 and 2009, and, in 2007, he was named as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time Magazine.
Rick Rubin once said, “‘I do not know how to work a board. I don’t turn knobs. I have no technical ability whatsoever….But I’m there when they need me to be there. My primary asset is I know when I like something or not. It always comes down to taste. I’m not there to hold their hands and baby-sit, but I’m there for any key creative decisions.’” I’m not sure that I 100% believe the first claim, but I absolutely see evidence of everything else. Music produced by Mr. Rubin often has extreme dynamics in sound, hence his “Loudness King” moniker — even though what often balances the loudness is extremes of quiet. It’s the dichotomy that works for our brains. In fact, since our brains crave that kind of stimuli, those extremes make songs like “Walk This Way” (his collaboration between Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith) the adult version of a lullaby.
That collaboration, one of his most famous, is typical Rick Rubin: outside the box – in a way that no one else thinks of doing, but then wishes they had. He sees it as breaking down boundaries and part of that is pushing people out of their comfort zones, which often produces a sound that is uniquely an artist’s style and yet, simultaneously, different. Getting pushed out of his box was definitely the experience Ed Sheeran had when working with the legendary producer on x. At one point Mr. Sheeran was afraid that, as good as the songs sounded, they wouldn’t be playable on the radio. So, he wrote and recorded additional music that fit more in the “pop Top 40” paradigm.
“From the first hip-hop records he produced for L L Cool J and the Beastie Boys, he insisted on classic song structure. ‘Before Def Jam, hip-hop records were typically really long, and they rarely had a hook,’ [Rubin] continued. ‘Those songs didn’t deliver in the way the Beatles did. By making our rap records sound more like pop songs, we changed the form. And we sold a lot of records.’”
— quoted from The New York Times article, “The Music Man,” by Lynn Hirschberg (Sept. 2, 2007)
When Rick Rubin left Def Jam Recordings, he planned to start a new label called “Def American Recordings.” While his focus had started to turn more and more toward rock and metal, DJ Double R was not leaving his roots behind. Remember, he started with punk and rap music — like that of the Beastie Boys. Yes, the Beastie Boys actually started with experimental hardcore punk music and evolved into hip-hop stylists. In fact, Rick Rubin was instrumental (a-ahem) in their transition. (Alas, as I noted during the practice, my favorite Beastie Boys album is more jazz than punk or hip-hop and is not produced by Mr. Rubin.) After he become friends with DJ Jazzy Jay and starting a partnership with Russell Simmons, his Def Jam Recordings took off — releasing their first full-length album (L. L. Cool J’s Radio) and signing groups like Public Enemy. When he started Def American Recordings, he continued his relationships with L. L. Cool J, Public Enemy, and Run-D.M.C. — but he quickly ended his relationship with “def.”
A decade after he brought the word to the awareness of the general public, Rick Rubin felt like “def” had lost its meaning. In 1993, when he learned “def” was in the dictionary, he decided to hold an actual funeral for the word — complete with a casket; a horse-drawn hearse; a grave and engraved headstone; a New Orleans-style first and second line (played by six-piece brass band); and a eulogy by Reverend Al Sharpton. Among the 1500+ in attendance were Black Panthers and celebrity “mourners” like The Amazing Kreskin, Tom Petty, Rosanna Arquette, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and pallbearer Mo Ostin (Warner Brothers Records chairman).
“Sharpton’s eulogy summarized the Death of Def in eloquent style, stating that def meant ‘more than excellent. Like, def-iantly excellent with a bang. Now the bang is out of def. It’s lost its exclusivity to the in, def-iant crowd. It died of terminal acceptance.’”
— quoted from the article “Loud End for Def Records” by Wimana (Imo Wimana Chadband), posted on the Raptology.com February 5, 2020
In many ways, the funeral (on August 27, 1993) was a spectacular way to launch his new labels new name: American Recordings. One of the other ways he decided to make a name for his new label was to “find” an artist who was also ready to be “reintroduced” to the world. He wanted someone legendary, but not in the same season they had been in when they first made a name for themselves. He wanted someone like Johnny Cash. Ultimately, Rick Rubin would produce six Johnny Cash “American Recordings,” two of which were released after Johnny Cash’s death. The albums were critical and commercial successes, earning the 2003 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal (“Give My Love to Rose”); the 2003 Country Music Association award for Single of the Year (for a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” — the music video of which also won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video); the 2003 Grammy Nomination for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (for a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water, with Fiona Apple); and a plethora of other awards and nominations.
While Rick Rubin attributes a couple of his nicknames to the fact that he has a long beard, his work has contributed to this idea that he is a “teacher.” He often gives advice about the creative process and spent 8 years working on The Creative Act: A Way of Being (2023). Mr. Rubin said that the book was meant to be “… about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.”
“We’re making something with our hearts and souls, and then we’re sharing it with the world. And if people like it, it’s great, and if they don’t, we wouldn’t change it, because we’ve made it with our hearts and souls, and it’s true. It’s a true thing we’re doing.”
— Rick Rubin, quoted from an NPR, All Things Considered interview with Rachel Martin entitled “Rick Rubin on taking communion with Johnny Cash and not rushing creativity” (December 10, 2023)
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, March 10th) 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 “Songs for the DJ’s Adventure”]
Kirtan is a form of Bhakti Yoga (or union through devotion/love) and involves chanting with music. One of the Rick Rubin-produced songs on the March 10th playlist is a Krishna Das kirtan version of “Brindavan Hare Ram,” which appears on Breath of the Heart. In the album’s liner notes, Krishna Das noted that the melody appeared on a previous album and that when he mentioned missing the singer and his daughter (after they died), “…Ram Dass said, ‘You tell that story wrong.’ / He was right. / Aren’t they [here] in this music,/in this song of longing and unbearable / sweetness. Don’t they live in our lives and sing in our song, in the One Life which breathes in all of us?”
Rick Rubin expressed this same sentiment after Johnny Cash died. He said he “would close his eyes and hear Cash’s voice as he said the benediction. ‘It was like hearing a song that you love,’ Rubin said. ‘He was there with me.’” (ibid, Hirschberg)
*NOTE: This is a remix of one part of a 2021 post. It includes new information and quotes.
### “CHANGIN’ ROCK ‘n’ ROLL AND MINDS” ###
Do You Ever Notice/Observe…? (a post-practice Monday post with links) February 6, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Baseball, Basketball, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Fitness, Football, Healing Stories, Health, Life, One Hoop, Philosophy, Science, Vipassana, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: asana, asymmetry, hatha yoga, Henry Lewis Hank Aaron, Hope Ricciotti MD, John Jeffries, joints, pawanmuktasana, Soma Yoga, Somatic Yoga, Toni Golen MD, unilateral, Willis Johnson
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Happy Carnival (to those who are already celebrating)! Happy National Weatherperson Day!! Peace and ease to all during this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!!!
This is the post–practice post for Monday, February 5th. I will update at least one link after this is posted. You can request an audio recording of either 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.)
“Research still hasn’t confirmed a cause-and-effect link between weather and joint pain, though many people insist they can predict the weather based on such aches. It’s believed that changes in barometric pressure — which happen as weather systems change — trigger these sensations in the joints. Less air pressure surrounding the body can allow muscles, tendons, and other tissues around joints to expand. This can place pressure on joints, possibly leading to pain.”
— quoted from “What triggers weather-related joint pain?” — a 2022 “Ask the doctors” post by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women’s Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor, and Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women’s Health Watch (posted November 1, 2022*)
Do you ever notice/observe that you, your mind, and/or your body feel a certain way just before it rains… or snows? Or maybe you notice that you feel a little off when you don’t get enough sun. Or, maybe, you notice how you feel when you get too much sun. “Correlation does not imply causation.” So, washing your vehicle or feeling a certain pain/discomfort in your joints does not automatically mean it’s going to rain — unless there’s a 90% chance of rain in the forecast. Similarly, we are not guaranteed an early Spring just because one (or more) of the groundhogs didn’t see it’s shadow. Unless, of course, the predictions of said groundhogs are based on science.
Still, we shouldn’t discount the way we feel and it is interesting to note how we feel in relation to the weather and how the weather affects the way we feel. It is also interesting to notice when we pay attention to the weather and the effect the weather has on the way we move about our days.
For instance, during the years when I had the opportunity to teach “Rooftop Yoga,” I checked the weather forecast on a daily basis. Sometimes I even checked multiple times a day and got very familiar with the radar. Similarly, I checked the weather fairly often when the possibility of a snow storm meant I might need more winter gear before the end of my day. Other times… I checked the weather by walking outside. My guess is that if you want and/or need to be outside for your job and/or for an outdoor sport — like skiing or baseball — you probably also pay attention to the weather.
The question is: Are you simultaneously paying attention to your body (as you pay attention to the weather) and what do you do based on what you observe?
“Another possibility is that you do things on cold, damp days that can worsen joint pain or stiffness, such as sit on the couch for hours watching movies. Also, since you’re expecting discomfort when the weather shifts, you may notice joint aches more than you would otherwise. To ward off weather-related joint pain, keep moving with regular exercise and stretching.”
— quoted from “What triggers weather-related joint pain?” — a 2022 “Ask the doctors” post by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women’s Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor, and Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women’s Health Watch (posted November 1, 2022*)
If you do unilateral movement — like walking, running, or skiing — you may not automatically notice your body’s asymmetry. The asymmetry of our bodies becomes more pronounced and noticeable when we do unilateral movement in sports like baseball, either type of football (in certain positions), basketball, golf, tennis, pickleball, and even gymnastics and dance. When someone is serious about playing or doing such things — especially on a pro level — they will typically use unilateral/asymmetrical exercises in their training. However, we humans have a tendency to resist where we are already strong and bend where we are already flexible — and it is easy to play into these tendencies. This can be problematic because, if we only cultivate strength where we are already strong and cultivate flexibility where we are already flexible, the body that is trained for a certain type of activity can quickly break down. In fact, several studies have connected low back (and shoulder) pain in baseball players to the asymmetrical movements required for certain positions.
While all of that may seem fairly obvious, how we use yoga to find balance within the imbalance is not always as obvious. For example, a good twisting sequence with some asymmetrical/unilateral movement can come in handy when you plan to be (outside) doing certain sports. Focusing on asymmetrical yoga poses can be a way to realign the body and mixing in a little “wind releasing” and some Somatic Yoga can not only release tension around the spine, it can also help “repattern the brain” — which how we cultivate new muscle memory. I have also noted how good a good twisting sequence feels when (it turns out that) precipitation is in the forecast.
But, just because we do all of that on February 5th doesn’t mean it’s going to rain; does it?
Nope, it just means we’re observing National Weatherperson’s Day (and the anniversary of the birth of John Jeffries), celebrating Hank Aaron (b. 1934), and noting the invention of (what would become) the modern day mixing bowl.
Note: Previous posts may reflect the fact that February 5th often falls during Lunar New Year / Spring Festival celebrations.
Click here for the 2021 philosophy-focused National Weatherperson’s Day post on how Yoga and Buddhism are connected to a Catholic understanding of discernment.
Click here for the 2023 National Weatherperson’s Day post on Yoga and Buddhism (during the Spring Festival).
Click here for the special 2023 Black History post about Hank Aaron and Patent No. 292,821, which was issued to inventor Willis Johnson today in February 5, 1884.
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
Comment below (or email me) if you are interested in a playlist for this specific practice.
*Disclaimer from Harvard Health Publishing: “No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.”
A Joyful Practice 