FTWMI: Liminal & Rare Days (abridged) February 29, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in 19-Day Fast, Ayyám-i-Há, Baha'i, Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Faith, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Love, Mathematics, Men, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Religion, Science, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Women, Yoga, Yom Kippur.Tags: #shareyourcolours, Bruce H. Kramer, Calendars, Cathy Wurzer, Dalia Fein, Edward Reingold, Gregorian calendar, Jessica Fein, Joan Borysenko, Julian calendar, Nachum Dershowitz, rare disease, Rare Disease Day, Season for Nonviolence, Season of Non-violence
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Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Lent, Ayyám-i-Há, and/or Rare Disease Day during this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!
If the colors are too much, click here for a monochromatic copy of the entire 2023 post.
This is the abridged version of a 2023 post related to February 29th (which was original posted with information from yesterday’s post). Some context and links (including a video) have been added/updated. There’s no practice today; however, you can request an audio recording of a previous 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.)
“That’s the thing about a rare disease. You fight for a diagnosis for years ― on average, according to Global Genes, it takes seeing 7.3 physicians and trying for 4.8 years before getting an accurate rare disease diagnosis ― and then, even once you know, you must continue being a detective as you try to piece together the clues as to how the illness might progress. You become an expert in a disease you wish you’d never heard of.
As a parent, you also quickly morph into a nurse, therapist, chief operating officer, educational advocate, cheerleader and warrior. You feel alone, because by definition, your child’s diagnosis is exceptional. And yet, 1 in 10 Americans and 300 million people globally are living with a rare disease.
You find community not just in other people who share the specific diagnosis your family is facing, but in those struggling with any rare diagnosis. It doesn’t matter what the exact symptoms or disease trajectory are. What matters is the shared understanding that your dreams as a parent have forever shifted.”
— quoted from the (February 28, 2022*) Huffington Post article entitled “My Daughter’s Rare Disease Was A Mystery For Years. Here’s How We Finally Got A Diagnosis.” by Jessica Fein
In addition to being (what I would consider) a “liminal day,” February 28th can also be a “rare” day. Typically, when we think of a “rare” day on the Gregorian and Julian calendars, we think of February 29th, Leap Day, which is rare because it only happens every four years.** Leap day is the perfect day for Rare Disease Day, which is observed on February 28th during non-leap years like 2023. Observations on this alternate date, coincide with the anniversary of the United States House of Representatives passing the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 on February 28, 1982. The act went into effect on January 4, 1983, and it facilitated the development of “orphan drugs” (i.e., drugs for rare diseases and disorders). Japan and the European Union enacted similar acts in 1993 and 2000, respectively. Prior to the act being passed in the U. S., less than 40 drugs had been approved as treatments for rare diseases and disorders (in the whole history of the United States). In the three decades after the act went into affect, almost ten times as many drugs had been approved.
Why the difference? Why did it take an act of Congress?
Unfortunately for those who face life-threatening and life-changing diseases, research is primarily driven by pharmaceutical companies, which are mostly driven by profits — and there’s just not a lot of profit in rare diseases.
“That referral led us to the geneticist, who ended up delivering the information that changed our lives.
‘Dalia tested positive for a genetic mutation that’s associated with myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibers, or MERRF syndrome ― an extremely rare form of mitochondrial disease,’ the doctor said.”
— quoted from the (February 28, 2022*) Huffington Post article entitled “My Daughter’s Rare Disease Was A Mystery For Years. Here’s How We Finally Got A Diagnosis.” by Jessica Fein
Approximately 300 million people are living with a rare disease. That doesn’t sound very rare when you add in their family, friends, and caregivers. But, here’s the thing: those 300 million people are not living with the same disease. They are not even living with the same two or three diseases. In the medical community, a “rare disease” is typically defined as a disease that affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. That means it can affect one or two people, or several hundred around the world. In the United States, Huntington’s disease; myoclonus; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – also known as motor neuron disease (MND); Tourette syndrome; muscular dystrophy; Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS); Prader-Willi syndrome; and Usher syndrome are all considered rare diseases or rare disorders. Sickle cell anemia is also considered a rare disease; even though it affects approximately 100,000 people in the United States. Autosomal systemic lupus erythematosus, which is characterized by the presence of (the more common) systemic lupus erythematosus symptoms in two or more members of a single family, is also considered a rare disease.
Approximately 72 — 80% of rare diseases are known to be genetic. About 70% begin in childhood. Tragically, thirty percent of children diagnosis with a rare disease will not reach age 5. While some people have diseases that are degenerative, some people “outgrow” their disease. Another challenge, for people suffering from rare diseases and disorders, is that sometimes people can be suffering with “invisible” ailments — meaning that others perceive them as healthy. All of these differences in symptoms and situations makes it really hard to receive diagnosis and treatment — especially since healthcare practitioners (particularly here in the West) are taught to “look for horses, not zebras.” Unfortunately, rare diseases are really colorful zebras. They require patients and their family and friends to take on all the roles normally distributed between professionals.
Recently, another couple of layers have been added to the already complicated story of rare diseases. For a variety of really disturbing reasons — that I want to believe come from a lack of awareness and knowledge — people have started co-opting orphan drugs and using them for non-life threatening issues. In some cases, they are being used for purely cosmetic purposes without any regard for the people whose lives actually depend on the medication. (NOTE: This is also happening with treatments for “common diseases,” with equally devastating effects; however, those common diseases get more publicity, because they make up a larger share of the market.) On the flip side, COVID seems to have created a situation where some rare diseases are becoming more common — which means, as twisted as sounds, that some people are feeling more hopefully, because more research and development is being done with regard to their ailment.
Again, it all comes down to awareness, education, perspective, compassion, and empathy. Which is the whole point of Rare Disease Day.
Established in 2008, by the European Organization for Rare Diseases, Rare Disease Day is a day dedicated to “raising awareness and generating change for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease, their families and [caregivers].” The 2023 theme “Share Your Colours” is an invitation to share your story. Whether you have a rare disease or whether you love and/or care for someone with a rare disease, sharing your story can be a way to raise awareness, stop the ignorance, and end stigma.
If you are not dealing with a rare disease, be open to hearing other people’s stories. As rare as they are, I have known someone dealing with almost all of the rare diseases and disorders that I used as examples (above). Or, I should say, I’ve known that I knew them, because they shared their stories. Listening, as Bruce Kramer pointed out, opens us “… a little bit more.”
“To be open is to embrace your own great big messy humanity, to cry in sadness but not despair, to recognize presence in the emptiness of the bitter moment of truth, to be afraid but not fearful. Dis ease presents the choice of being open or closed, and opening to her lessons, her gifts, her challenges, is not easy. But dis ease clarifies vision, bringing sight to the blindness of what you thought you knew about living, light to the darkness of cynicism that life’s grief piled upon itself can foster. I know ALS is a horror, yet when fully embraced, it has taught me, it has revealed to me pure unsullied, uncontaminated, unbelievable love.
In my heart of hearts, I know that love never dies.”
— quoted from “25. Faith, Part IV: What’s Love Got To Do with It?” in We Know How This Ends: Living while Dying by Bruce H. Kramer with Cathy Wurzer
The 2023 playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06142020 World Blood Donor Day”]
NOTE: Not all rare diseases are blood-based, but the playlist contains a blood-borne subliminal message.
*NOTE: A follow-up article by Jessica Fein was also published by Huffington Post [on] February 28, 2023.
**NOTE: According to the Julian calendar, Leap Year is every four years. On the Gregorian calendar, which is used by most people who will come across this post, it’s not that simple.
“A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4 and is not a century year (multiple of 100) or if it is divisible by 400. For example, 1900 is not a leap year; 2000 is.”
— quoted from “2 — The Gregorian Calendar, 2.1: Structure” in Calendrical Calculations by Nachum Dershowitz, Edward Reingold
### SHARE YOUR COLOURS ###
2024 / “For Those Who Missed It (& those who still don’t get it): Divine Remembrance” January 27, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Loss, Love, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: Allen Mandelbaum, chakras, Cliff Eisen, Daniel Goleman, Dante Alighieri, Dov Forman, Dr. Viktor Frankl, Eli Wiesel, Experimentum Crucis, Franz Vesely, hatha yoga, Herman Abert, Holocaust, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel "Izzy" Arbeiter, Jessica A. Botelho, Lily Ebert, Muladhara, President Joseph R. Biden, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Selma van de Perre, Stewart Spencer, Trevor Noah, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Peace and safe passage to all on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
This is the “missing” post for Saturday, January 27th. It includes an introduction related to the 2024 Saturday practices and the 2022 version of a 2021 post (with the 2022 “preface note” moved to the end. This post and practice references political conflict, war, and genocide. 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.
“I promised myself when I was in very deep in this terrible situation that when I came out, I will tell the world what can happen.”
“I know what it meant because I came normal, in a normal family [from a] normal country and suddenly— And it doesn’t begin with killing, never. It begins only with words. and then it gets worse and worse.”
— Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor and co-author of Lily’s Promise: Holding On to Hope Through Auschwitz and Beyond—A Story for All Generations explaining why she tells her story in the 2022 Home Office video “Holocaust Survivor Lily Ebert’s Story” (featuring Lily Ebert, her great-grandson and co-author Dov Forman, and then-Home Secretary Priti Patel)
During the 2024 Saturday practices, we are exploring how this present moment (every present moment) is the culmination of past moments and how this present moment (every present moment) becomes the beginning of the next/future moments. There are several ways we could go about this exploration. For obvious reasons, I am (primarily) using paradigms based on the chakra system in Yoga and Āyurveda as they come to us from India. During January, we have been focusing on the lower body and lessons we learned from our first family, tribe, and/or community of birth.
Some of these lessons were directly and intentionally taught to us. However, others were inferred and/or completely unintentional. No matter what age we are, there are some lessons we absorb and soak in and others that we reject. Either way, those lessons make up our foundation in life. With regard to the first chakra, which is energetically and symbolically connected to survival, these lessons are also related to trauma — and, in particular, generational trauma.
On a certain level, it doesn’t matter if (or to what degree) you believe in the energetic, symbolic, spiritual and/or religious aspects of this practice. Neither does it matter, on a certain level, what you believe about some of the egregiously atrocious things that have happened — and are happening — in the world. Our belief or doubt does not change the big “T” Truth and Reality (of our past). Our belief or doubt only changes how we understand the world and our place in the world. Our belief or doubt only changes how we engage the world — which means our belief or doubt can change the world (of our future).
My hope is that you come along for this ride — on the mat and/or on the blog — and that, somewhere along the way, your heart gets bigger and your mind becomes more open.
“What we create, experience, and suffer, in this time, we create, experience, and suffer for all eternity. As far as we bear responsibility for an event, as far as it is ‘history,’ our responsibility, it is incredibly burdened by the fact that something has happened that cannot be ‘taken out of the world.’ However, at the same time an appeal is made to our responsibility—precisely to bring what has not yet happened into the world! And each of us must do this as part of our daily work, as part of our everyday lives. So everyday life becomes the reality per se, and this reality becomes a potential for action. And so, the ‘metaphysics of everyday life’ only at first leads us out of everyday life, but then—consciously and responsibly—leads us back to everyday life.”
— quoted from “Experimentum Crucis” in Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything by Viktor E. Frankl (with an introduction by Daniel Goleman and an afterword by Franz Vesely)
For Those Who Missed it: The following was originally posted in relation to the January 27, 2021 practice and re-posted today in 2022.
“Io non mori’ e non rimasi vivo;
pensa oggimai per te, s’hai fior d’ingegno,
qual io divenni, d’uno e d’altro privo.”
“I did not die, and I was not alive;
think for yourself, if you have any wit,
what I became, deprived of life and death.”
— quoted from Dante’s The Divine Comedy — Inferno, Canto 34 (lines 25 – 27), translated by Allen Mandelbaum
“I did not die, and yet I lost life’s breath: imagine for yourself what I became, deprived at once of both my life and death.”
— A popular, oft quoted, translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy — Inferno, Canto 34 (lines 25 – 27)
In November 1301, Florence, Italy was the site of a great political upheaval that destroyed much of the city, established a new government, and resulted in the death or banishment of many of the previous leaders. One of those people exiled from their hometown was Dante Alighieri, who was banished on January 27, 1302. Dante had very briefly served as the city’s prior, one of its highest positions, and when the new government — ruled by his political enemies — took over, he was accused of corruption, ordered to pay a fine, and to spend two years in exile. But, the poet didn’t believe he had done anything wrong and, more to the point, his assets had been seized by the new government. So, his sentence was changed to perpetual exile (with the threat of death if he returned without paying the fine.)
Thus began the poet’s bitter wandering. He was in his mid-30’s; and while he would participate in several failed attempts to retake Florence, much of the remaining 20-odd years of his life would be devoted to writing The Divine Comedy, a long narrative poem divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In the poem, the poet (and his soul) literally travel through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven (or Paradise) — and metaphorically travel towards God. He is initially guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, who represents “human reason;” but it is Beatrice, who symbolizes divine knowledge/love and who first appeared as the object of the poet’s great love in his “little book” La Vita Nuova (The New Life), who guides him from the end of Purgatorio into Paradiso. The poem reflects Dante’s medieval Roman Catholic beliefs and draws strongly from the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, one of the great saints he meets in Paradise.
“Article 1. Whether the soul was made or was of God’s substance?
Objection 1. It would seem that the soul was not made, but was God’s substance. For it is written (Genesis 2:7): ‘God formed man of the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man was made a living soul.’ But he who breathes sends forth something of himself. Therefore the soul, whereby man lives, is of the Divine substance.”
— from Summa Theologica (1a Qq. 90, volume 13) by Saint Thomas Aquinas
Even when we have different theological and/or philosophical beliefs, we can agree that breathing is a sign of life, of being alive. However, there are medical situations where someone is breathing and there are no other signs of life. Then there are medical and existential situations where someone is alive, but not living. This latter can be very subjective. Yet, I would argue that there are situations under which almost everyone can categorically agree that it would be really hard to truly live (and feel alive). Those same situations are the ones where it would be hard to take a deep breath in and a deeper breath out.
I think, perhaps, Dante felt that feeling (of being alive, but not living) to a certain degree when he was exiled from his home and had almost everything familiar to him stripped away. However, Dante could still roam, and to a certain degree freely. He lived out his life in relative comfort and he was still free to worship according to his beliefs. He was not persecuted for his beliefs (only, for his politics) nor was he tortured because of his gender, ethnicity, height and appearance, or simply because he had a sibling born on the same day. He could write what he wanted to write and received recognition for his efforts. Furthermore, with the exception of what would happen if he returned to Florence, he did not have to fear being killed for his beliefs — or any of his personal attributes. He may have felt, metaphorically, as if he was “deprived of life and death,” but he still had some control over his life and his ability to live it. On the flip side, the millions of people rounded up, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and killed during the Holocaust, spent many of their days in a reality much like the first part of Dante’s poem: they were actually deprived of life and living.
“‘I [will never forget ‘the very bad things’….] I was there and had to see this with my own eyes,’ he said. ‘My mother and my father, and my 7-year-old brother, were murdered in another camp in Treblinka, which is not far from Warsaw.’”
— Israel “Izzy” Arbeiter, a 95-year old Holocaust survivor and lifelong rights activist, telling his story in “Auschwitz survivor reflects on Holocaust Remembrance Day” by Jessica A. Botelho (for NBC 10 News, WJAR, 1/27/2021)
The persecution during the Holocaust started with social and physical segregation; it escalated into government-sanctioned destruction of property; and eventually progressed to the establishment of concentration camps across German-occupied Europe. Millions fled their homes. Millions more would be held captive and tortured. An estimated two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population was murdered while the world stood by, in some cases in disbelief. In addition to the approximately 6 million Jewish people who died, the Holocaust claimed the lives of an estimated 5 million Slavs, 3 million ethnic Poles, 200,000 Romani people, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 members of the LGBTQIA+ community (mostly identified as gay men). This horrifically tragic destruction of society and community during the Holocaust was not, cannot be, over-dramatized. It also should not be forgotten.
In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 designated January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In addition to establishing a day of remembrance and calling for an outreach program, the UN’s resolution also “urges Member States to develop educational programmes… in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide…; rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or part; and condemns without reservation all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur.” The original resolution is reinforced by UN resolution 61/255 (issued in January 2007), which reaffirmed the General Assembly and Member States’ strong condemnation of Holocaust denial and noted “that all people and States have a vital stake in a world free of genocide.”
January 27th was chosen as a day of remembrance as it was the Saturday, in 1945, when Auschwitz-Birkenau (the largest Nazi concentration and death camp complex) was liberated by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. The liberators found approximately 7,500 survivors — not realizing at the time that these “survivors” had been designated as too sick or weak to be transported (i.e., marched) to another site as the Allies were closing in on the Nazis. The Red Army also did not initially realize that the camp complex had held at least 1.3 million prisoners, most of whom had been or would be killed before the other camps were liberated in April and May of 1945.
“For in my tradition, as a Jew, I believe that whatever we receive we must share. When we endure an experience, the experience cannot stay with me alone. It must be opened, it must become an offering, it must be deepened and given and shared. And of course I am afraid that memories suppressed could come back with a fury, which is dangerous to all human beings, not only to those who directly were participants but to people everywhere, to the world, for everyone. So, therefore, those memories that are discarded, shamed, somehow they may come back in different ways, disguised, perhaps seeking another outlet.”
“What is a witness if not someone who has a tale to tell and lives only with one haunting desire: to tell it. Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.
After all, God is God, because He remembers.”
— quoted from an April 7, 2008 All Things Considered: “This I Believe” essay by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was one of the most famous survivors of the Holocaust. He was a teenager when he and his family were sent to the concentration camps. His parents (Sarah Feig and Shlomo Wiesel) and his sister Tzipora would not survive the camps. He was reunited with his older two sisters (Beatrice and Hilda) at a French orphanage. For 10 years, Professor Wiesel went about the business of living his life — but he did not speak or write about his experience during the Holocaust.
He did not speak or write about his younger sister or about how his father guided him with reason and his mother guided him with faith. He did not speak or write about the guilt and shame of being helpless or about how (and why) he maintained the will to survive. Then he began to write and speak and advocate for change. He advocated not only for Jewish rights and causes, but also for non-Jewish people oppressed in places like South Africa, Nicaragua, Kosovo, Sudan, and Armenia. In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and he received a plethora of awards from around the world, including the United States’ 1986 Medal of Liberty and the 1992 Presidential of Freedom.
Anne Frank was born less than a year after Elie Wiesel and would spend much of Germany’s occupation of the Netherlands in hiding. A mere five months before the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was liberated Anne’s family and friends were discovered and sent to the concentration camps. She was 15 years old, basically the same age Elie Wisel had been when his family was rounded up. Anne; her mother Edith; her sister Margot; their friends Hermann and Auguste van Pels; and Fritz Pfeffer, the final person to hid in the Annex, all died in the camps or while being transported between the camps towards the end of the war. Anne’s friend, Peter van Pels, died 5 days after the camp he was in was liberated by the Americans. Peter’s parents (Hermann and Auguste), and Fritz Pfeffer all died in the camps.
Otto Frank was the only person hiding in the Annex who survived the camps. He was one of those designated as “too sick” or “too weak” to be transported and therefore was at Auschwitz-Birkenau when the camp complex was liberated on Saturday, January 27, 1945. He would soon discover that his family and friends had not survived. However, a piece of Anne and the family’s history had survived.
Miep Gies, his former secretary and one of the six Annex “helpers,” had held onto Anne’s journals. Those journals, which Anne called “Kitty,” were full of the day-to-day minutia of their lives in hiding; Anne’s thoughts about the state of the world, her feelings about her family and the others in hiding; details about her first kiss and budding romance with Peter; her personal ambitions and desires; and her passions. She wrote about the things that gave her hope: a tree, a patch of blue sky, fresh air, and music.
In fact, on more than one occasion, Anne Frank wrote about being inspired by music. She wrote about receiving a biography of the composer Franz Listz and about listening to “a beautiful Mozart concert on the radio” with Peter. It is presented as a date, a little living in the middle of hiding. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born January 27, 1756, might have especially appreciated that she wrote, “I especially enjoyed the ‘Kleine Nachtmusik.’ I can hardly bear to listen in the kitchen, since beautiful music stirs me to the very depths of my soul.”
“…music, in even the most terrible situations, must never offend the ear but always remain a source of pleasure.”
— quoted from a letter (dated September 26, 1781) from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to his father, as printed in W. A. Mozart by Hermann Abert (Editor: Professor Cliff Eisen and Translator: Stewart Spencer)
Saturday playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “012701 Holocaust Liberation & Remembrance”]
A 2024 MUSIC NOTE: The playlists are slightly different, as some music is not available on Spotify. The YouTube playlist also includes videos of Holocaust survivors telling their stories (one of which is embedded below).
A 2022 NOTE: As I mentioned
yesterday(and in the previous post), I find it twisted, upside down, and backwards that we need to remind each other that we were all born to be loved (and to love).Similarly, it boggles my mind that on this day of remembrance there are still people in the world who want to brush the unsightly bits of our collective history under a rug or deny that certain atrocities even existed. Just as bad, in my mind, are people who just refuse to get that staying home and/or socially distancing so that a disease doesn’t kill them or someone they love, is not the same as hiding in an annex so that you or someone you love isn’t murdered. Wearing a mask (of your choosing) is not even close to wearing a yellow star — and it hurts my heart to realize some folks may actually believe otherwise.
I’ve added an embedded video from
last year2021. And, even if I’m “preaching to the choir,” I’m going to keep preaching.
“I first learned about the horrors of the Holocaust listening to my father at the dinner table. The passion he felt that we should have done more to prevent the Nazi campaign of systematic mass murder has stayed with me my entire life. It’s why I took my children to visit Dachau in Germany, and why I hope to do the same for each of my grandchildren — so they too would see for themselves the millions of futures stolen away by unchecked hatred and understand in their bones what can happen when people turn their heads and fail to act.
We must pass the history of the Holocaust on to our grandchildren and their grandchildren in order to keep real the promise of “never again.” That is how we prevent future genocides. Remembering the victims, heroes, and lessons of the Holocaust is particularly important today as Holocaust deniers and minimizers are growing louder in our public discourse. But the facts are not up for question, and each of us must remain vigilant and speak out against the resurgent tide of anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry and intolerance, here at home and around the world.”
— “Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” released January 27, 2021
Sssh. Listen. Selma is speaking!
### PEACE IN, PEACE OUT ###
### AUM ###
Reintroducing… An “Impossible” Person January 23, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Loss, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: adaptive yoga, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, disability, Ed Roberts, Harry Reasoner, independence, KISS MY ASANA, klişţāklişţāh, kriya yoga, Lee Roberts, Matthew Sanford, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, political science, pranayama, prāṇāyāma, Rolling Quads, Shotokan Karate, svadyaya, svādhyāya, yoga, yoga philosophy, Yoga Sutra 2.1, Zona Roberts
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Breathe in… and savor the best parts of your life. Breathe out… and let go of something that keeps you from savoring the best parts of your life.
This is the first part of “Doing: Lessons in unexpected, ridiculously inconvenient, unplayable things (& ‘impossible’ people).” A version of the following was originally posted in 2021 (and reposted, in a different contexts, in 2022 and 2023). Click here for that philosophical 2021 post in it’s entirety.
“From a practical standpoint then, svadhyaya is the process of employing the power of discernment and maintaining a constant awareness of who we are, what we are trying to become, and how the objective world can help us accomplish our goal.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.1 from The Practice of the Yoga Sūtra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
The Yoga Sutras offer a detailed explanation of the dysfunctional/afflicted thought patterns that create suffering. Patanjali described those thought patterns as ignorance, the false sense of self, attachment (rooted in pleasure), aversion (which is attachment rooted in pain), and a fear of loss/death. He established ignorance (avidyā) as the root of the other four and stated that this groundwork is established no matter if the ignorance is dormant, attenuated, disjointed, or active. He then broke down the different ways avidyā manifests in the world — which basically goes back to the ways in which we misunderstand the nature of things — and how the other four afflicted thought patterns rise up.
We can find examples of how avidyā and the other four dysfunctional/afflicted thought patterns manifest all around us. There are, therefore, also examples of how the sources of our ignorance can be the path towards freedom, fulfillment, and more clarity. One example of this is how some people view those that are not considered “able bodied.” Think about the activist Edward V. Roberts, for example.
“I fell in love, like many people do. We do that as well. And it became ridiculously inconvenient to have my attendant pushing me around in my wheelchair with my girlfriend. It was an extra person that I didn’t need to be more intimate. I learned how to drive a power wheelchair in one day. I was so motivated to learn something that it changed in many ways my perception of my disability and of myself. She jumped on my lap and we rode off into the sunset or to the closest motel.”
— Ed Roberts in a 60 Minutes interview with Harry Reasoner
Known as the “Father of the Independent Living” movement, Mr. Roberts was born today in 1939. By all accounts, he spent his formative years as a “regular” boy. Then, at the age of fourteen, he contracted polio — this was in 1953, two years before the vaccine ended the polio epidemic. The virus left the active, “sports-loving” teenager paralyzed from the neck down, with mobility only in two fingers and a few toes. It also (temporarily) crushed his spirit. He initially spent most of his days and all of his nights in an 800-pound iron lung. When he wasn’t in the iron lung, he used “frog breathing” — a technique that uses the facial and neck muscles to pump air into the lungs.
Now, if you have not interacted with someone with a disability, you might think — as Ed Roberts initially thought of himself — that he was a “helpless cripple.” You might, like him and one of his early doctors, back in 1953, think that there was no point to his life. You might think that he couldn’t do yoga; couldn’t get married (and divorced); couldn’t have a child; and definitely couldn’t do anything to change the world. You might think that he wouldn’t be celebrated.
But, if you think any of that — just as he initially thought that — you would be wrong.
“There are very few people even with the most severe disabilities who can’t take control of their own life. The problem is that the people around us don’t expect us to.”
— Ed Roberts in a 60 Minutes interview with Harry Reasoner
Just to be clear, to my knowledge Ed Roberts didn’t practice yoga. However, he did practice Shotokan karate. Also, it is interesting to note that (a) the glottis (which includes the true vocal chords and the rima glottidis or empty space at the back of the throat) that we engage to practice Ujjayi prāņāyāma, is the same area he would engage to breathe without the iron lung and (b) once he changed his understanding of himself — let go of his “false sense of self” — he was able to change the world.
Even though he could attend school by telephone, Zona Roberts, Ed Roberts’s mother, insisted that he attend school in-person one day a week. for at least a few hours. She also encouraged him to think of himself as a “star” and to advocate for his own needs. So, when he was in danger of not graduating from high school, because he hadn’t completed driver’s education or physical education, he pushed back on those who would limit him.
After graduating from high school, he attended the College of San Mateo and the University of California Berkeley — even though one of the UC Berkeley deans wanted to reject him because someone else had had an unsuccessful bid at college and the dean viewed all people with disabilities as a monolith. At Berkeley, Mr. Roberts pushed to have on-campus housing that would accommodate his needs and, once that was established, pushed the university to admit and provide the dormitory experience to other people with “severe disabilities.” The Cowell Residence Program became a model for universities around the world.
Mr. Roberts and some of the other students in the Cowell Residence Program referred to themselves as the “Rolling Quads.” They were very active in changing people’s perceptions and understandings and, therefore, they were able to change policy and infrastructure. “Curb cuts,” the ramped opening between a sidewalk and street, are one of the changes that resulted from their activism. After Ed Roberts graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Political Science, he went on to teach at an “alternative college.” He also served as Director of the state organization that had once labeled him too disabled to work and eventually co-founded the World Institute on Disability (at Berkeley). His activism — including protesting at the San Francisco offices of the Carter Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and testifying before Congress — led to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990).
“And I literally went from like 120 pounds to 50 pounds. I also discovered how powerful the mind is, when you make up your mind.”
— Ed Roberts in a 60 Minutes interview with Harry Reasoner
If I remember correctly, I first dug into Ed Roberts’s story because someone on the internet mentioned him and his birthday. Maybe this was in 2017, when there was a Google Doodle to honor him. Or, maybe I made a note to myself when I saw the Google Doodle and then incorporated it into a class the following year. Either way, I had time to dig in.
Perhaps, since some of my themes are date-related and I do keep an eye out for such things, one might not consider my heightened awareness of Ed Roberts as being overly synchronistic or serendipitous. This is especially true considering that my annual participation in the Kiss My Asana yogathon is one of the many things that predisposes (or conditions) me to pay attention to stories about accessibility. If anything, I could kind of kick myself for not digging into his story sooner.
But, we only know what we know and we don’t know what we don’t know. The odds are pretty high, though, that I would have eventually come across his story and his legacy — which provides a lot of reminders about how to move through the year in a way that brings change that makes the world better than we found it.
“My bottom walk-away experience that I believe I carry with me every day is that my father never settled for anything and always fought for everything. And he always, always followed his gut, followed his passion, went with it no matter who was against him, and oftentimes there was more people against him than it was for him.
So I’ve always followed my gut and followed my passion. And in so many different speeches, he would always encourage that person to look within themselves, find their passion, follow it. You can’t… You can’t go wrong with your gut. You can’t go wrong with your passion. Don’t ever settle. He never settled. I’ll never settle. I carry that with me every day, and if there’s anything he loved to pass on, it’s just go for it.”
— quoted from “A Day in the Life of Ed Roberts: Lee Roberts Talks About His Father, Ed Roberts” by Lee Roberts
Please join me today (Tuesday, January 23rd) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “07112020 An Introduction”]
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
Errata: This post has been updated to more accurately describe the anatomy related to “frog breathing.”
### Wake Up Your Mind & Just Go For It! ###
EXCERPT: “What We Need to Live Well” January 17, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Faith, First Nations, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Kumbh Mela, Life, Loss, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King Day, mental health, Peter Collinson, Sebastian Junger
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May all beings everywhere feel a sense of belonging! Warm wishes for peace and righteousness to everyone celebrating Kumbh Mela!!
“Though they have few but natural wants and those easily supplied. But with us are infinite Artificial wants, no less craving than those of Nature, and much more difficult to satisfy….”
— quoted from the “Hardwicke Papers” copy of a letter addressed to Peter Collinson dated “Philadelphia May 9th, 1753” and signed “B: Franklin”
The following excerpt is from a 2021 post:
“[Benajamin Franklin] was once critical of himself because, as he wrote, his experiments were ‘able to produce nothing in this way of use to Mankind.’ Yet, he stayed curious, kept trying new things and eventually invented many things that made life easier for people; including the lightening rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove. While these things all served a purpose and made life easier, maybe even more efficient, they didn’t (in and of themselves) help others live well — when living well is related to purpose and, therefore, related to others.
Ultimately, once we establish the meaning of the living well, the real question we must ask ourselves is. ‘What do we need to live well?’ Whenever we’re addressing life ‘needs,’ I find that we sneak a whole lot of ‘wants’ and desire into the mix. These are what Benjamin Franklin would classify as ‘Artificial’ and that would fall into the category of ‘extrinsic’ values, according to the definition Sebastian Junger uses in his book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, which is a discussion on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
Click here for more about the work and insights of Benjamin Franklin (born today in 1706, according to the Gregorian calendar) and Sebastian Junger (born today in 1962).
Click here for similar insights discussed (in 2022) when today was Martin Luther King Day.
“The findings are in keeping with something called self-determination theory, which holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered “intrinsic” to human happiness and far outweigh “extrinsic” values such as beauty, money and status.”
— quoted from Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
Please join me today (Wednesday, January 17th) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “01172021 Franklin Junger”]
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.)
### DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO LIVE WELL, LOVE WELL, & STAY FULLY HUMAN ###
EXCERPT: “Updated & Revised! Purpose Driven” December 30, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Japa, Japa-Ajapa, Life, Loss, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Religion, Suffering, Twin Cities, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 12 Days of Christmas, Age of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, catechism, David Brooks, Kwanzaa, New Year's, Nguzo Saba, Nia, Sita (Joan Weiner) Bordow, Surya Namaskar, Swami Satchidananda, Twelvetide
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“Kwanzaa, yenu iwe na heri!” — “May your Kwanzaa be happy!” to everyone who is celebrating! Peace and many blessings to everyone, everywhere!
“You can perform japa, repetition of a mantra or Sacred Word, in the midst of your day-to-day work. Then, when it becomes a habit, even when you are working intensely a portion of the mind will keep repeating the mantra always. That means you have locked one end of your chain to a holy place, while the rest of the chain remains still in the outside world.”
— a note written by Swami Satchidananda, quoted in Sri Swami Satchidananda: Apostle of Peace by Sita (Joan Weiner) Bordow
The following excerpt is from a post related to the fifth day of Kwanzaa and Twelvetide, as well as to why we do what we do on New Year’s Day:
“Feast / Holy Days are celebrations of sacred mysteries and significant events. Note that even when the focus is tied to a specific person (martyr or saint, including Jesus and the Virgin Mary), there is a connection to miracles, which are beyond science — in other words, more mystery). In addition to serving the purpose of commemoration / remembrance, feast days stimulate excitement around spirituality and help people embody the stories and history of their faith. In Christianity, particularly in the Catholic tradition, the order of the feast / holy days (throughout the year) is its own ritual storytelling. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church has a history of calendar reforms that have served the purpose of reinforcing the liturgical aspects of their rituals, thereby bringing faith into the foreground of people’s lives. Keep in mind, however, that this tradition did not start with the Christianity. The Hebrew Bible is full of commands from God about what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.”
Click here to read the entire post.
“The philosopher Abraham Kaplan calculated that over 60 percent of Judaism’s 613 commandments involve physical ritual: lighting candles, ritual baths, etc. These deeds are a kind of language, a way of expressing things that are too deep for words.”
— quoted from a New York Times letter to the editor entitled, “There Should Be More Rituals” by David Brooks (dated April 22, 2019)
No classes today, but if you are on the Saturday and/or Sunday class email list, you will receive a recorded practice.
CHECK OUT THE CALENDAR! You can kick off New Year’s Day 2024 in two ways (and in two spaces): with the very active practice of 108 Sun Salutations at 10:00 AM or with the very “chill” practice of a Yin+Meditation practice beginning at 5:00 PM. All times are Central Standard. Register to practice in-person (or join us via Zoom). Details are posted on the “Class Schedules” calendar.
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.)
### Have Purpose, Will Travel! ###
EXCERPT: “‘Bah Humbug!’ & Other SAD Sayings” December 19, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Faith, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: A Christmas Carol, Advent, Charles Dickens, holidays, mental health, SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder
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Peace and blessings to all, and especially those celebrating Advent.
“‘But you were always a good man of business, Jacob’ faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. ‘Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. ‘Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’”
— quoted from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol, the novella by Charles Dickens was first published today in 1843. Here’s an excerpt from my post about how Scrooge might have had Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a form of clinical depression that affects over 3 million people in the United States each year:
“Some people view A Christmas Carol as a secular holiday tale; others see it as Christian allegory. I see both sides of that coin, but also consider that there is a mental health message within the text. Even if Scrooge is a ‘scrooge,’ he also exhibits all the characteristics of someone who is unhappy because his mind-body is out of balance. (When you think about it, it’s not surprising given how much he works, and how little work-life balance Dickens gives him!) All that said, anyone of us can be scrooge. So, it’s important to note that there is a lot we can do to help our mind-bodies find balance. It is equally important to know when we need some external intercession. SAD treatment can include light therapy, talk therapy, changes in diet and exercise, antidepressants, and/or a combination of the above.”
Click here to read the entire post, which includes symptoms, treatments, and a little bit of Yoga Philosophy.
“He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness.”
— quoted from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Please join me today (Tuesday, December 19th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “12192020 SAD Carol”]
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.)
### Breathe. You’ve Got This. ###
Remember, “It’s Much More Than Just a Candlelight”* (the “missing” Saturday post w/excerpts) December 9, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Books, Changing Perspectives, Chanukah, Dharma, Faith, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Loss, Mathematics, Meditation, Men, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 1 Maccabees, Beresh't, Chanukah, coding, computers, Deuteronomy, Devarim, dreidel, Eliyahu Touger, Ethics of the Fathers, Exodus, Genesis, hanukia, Hanukkah, Hebrew, Irving Montak z”l, Jan Adkins, Jean Haddon, Leviticus, Maccabeats, Maccabees, Maimonides, Matisyahu, Matitiyahu, Matīṯyāhū, Moses ben Maimon, Nissim Black, Pirkei Avot, Rambam, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, rving Montak, Shamash, Shemot, Vayikra, Yoga Sutra 1.36, Yoga Sutra 2.44
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“Happy Chanukah!” to all who are celebrating. May all be safe and protected, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (November 25th – December 10th) and on all the other days of the year.
This “missing” post for Saturday, December 9th is a compilation of previously and newly posted information. 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.
“If [a person has the opportunity to fulfill only one of two mitzvot,] lighting a lamp for one’s home [i.e., Sabbath candles] or lighting a Chanukah lamp – or, alternatively, lighting a lamp for one’s home or reciting kiddush – the lamp for one’s home receives priority, since it generates peace within the home.
[Peace is of primary importance, as reflected by the mitzvah requiring] God’s name to be blotted out to create peace between a husband and his wife. Peace is great, for the entire Torah was given to bring about peace within the world, as [Proverbs 3:17] states: ‘Its ways are pleasant ways and all its paths are peace.’
Blessed be the Merciful One who grants assistance. This concludes the third book.”
— quoted from Mishneh Torah, Scroll of Hanukkah (Halakhah) by Rambam (translation by Eliyahu Touger. Jerusalem, Moznaim Pub. c1986-c2007, Dedicated in memory of Irving Montak, z”l)
Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides and often referred to as Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher who was as prolific and influential as he was (to some) controversial. He is remembered as one of the most important scholars of Torah and Halakhah (Jewish law) and his legacy is very much alive in the way people live, celebrate, and honor their faith. For example, one of his treatise is a breakdown of Chanukah — in which he continually reinforced the most important aspects of the holiday in the event that one could not celebrate under ideal conditions.
Unfortunately, those contingencies were vital to people who have, historically, found themselves living under less than ideal situations. Of course, I understand that highlighting a reference to peace and Chanukah — especially one from Rambam, who was also an Islamic scholar — may feel off to some people right now.
But… let’s be real.
If you are Jewish, if you celebrate the commanded holidays, if you are in community with Jewish people — and/or Palestinian people — and/or if you are someone (like me) who honors the rituals and traditions of different cultures, Chanukah hits different this year. How could it not? After all, Chanukah is a celebration of a series of miracles directly connected to a revolt against oppression and battles fought for the survival of the Jewish community — and it started at sunset on Thursday night… exactly two months (to the date) after a horrendous terrorist attack in Israel.
The attack happened during a sacred time of celebration within the Jewish community and during a music festival that attracted people from around the world. It also happened around the anniversary of a war in 1973 (that also occurred during a holy time in both Judaism and Islam) and on the anniversary of other significant conflicts that have taken place in Israel and in the Gaza Strip. For two months and counting, Israelis and Palestinians (not to mention people of other nationalities who were in the area), have dealt with more terror and more horror, more conflict and more war… without any end in sight.
One could argue that none of this is new in the Middle East. One could argue that this darkness has been omnipresent and that people have celebrated Chanukah in Israel for decades in spite (and because) of this exact kind of darkness. One could argue that there have been (and continue to be place) places where it is not safe to celebrate — yet people find a way. One could argue that Chanukah has always inspired some people to shine in the way they live their faith and for some people to shine in the way they defend their faith.
I would argue, however, that for people outside of Israel — and maybe, even, for some people in Israel — the parallels between what was and what is are more striking. I would argue that what felt (for some) like a theoretical threat has become a very real (and present) existential danger. I would argue that while it is easy (maybe too easy) to ignore what was happening to others (e.g., random Greek citizens) during the the 2nd century BCE, it is detrimental to ignore how this current crisis affects Palestinian civilians, a good majority of whom were/are children.
I would argue that it is one thing to study and debate the laws of faith when one can spiritually (and/or intellectually) bypass the connection between what someone thinks and says and the actions that person actually commits and/or inspires others to commit.
“It’s much more than just a candlelight
’cause we’ve fought more than just a little fight”
— quoted from the song “Victory” by Nissim Black
Full disclosure, I do not political (or even philosophically) align with the American-Israeli Rapper/Singer Nissim Black, who was born today (December 9th) in 1986. That said, I have been inspired by some of his music, including his 2022 Chanukah song entitled “Victory.” Yes, the song and video literally (and figuratively) hit different given current events and the fact that his home is under attack. Yes, his song and lyrics are very intentional and specific to Chanukah and the Jewish people. None of that, however, negates the fact that the symbolism he references in the song applies to everyone in the world.
Remember: Light shines on more than one person or group of people and we all must fight against the darkness, inside of us and all around us.
For Those Who Missed It: The following excerpt was originally posted, in a slightly different context, in 2021. In addition to some slightly revisions, some dates and links have been updated. As we do in the physical practice, I encourage you to use it as a starting point for svādhyāya (“self-study”).
Light and the symbolic meanings of light have been celebrated since the beginning of time and by every culture on the planet. During the darkest times of the year, people celebrate light as well as the symbolic meaning of light overcoming darkness. In the Northern Hemisphere, we have a whole long list of winter celebrations that start around Halloween and will continue into the beginning of the new secular year. This year’s celebrations started with Samhain (October 31-November 1); which was followed by Diwali, the 5-day Indian festival of lights, (November 9-15); and now Chanukah, the 8-day Jewish festival of lights, which started at sunset on Thursday. The highlight, some might even say the culmination, of the Chanukah story is “the miracle of the oil,” the miracle of light. However, the fact that there were eight nights and eight days of light when there was only enough oil for one day is just one of many miracles in the story — and one could argue that it’s not even the final miracle.
“(1) Rabbi [Judah HaNassi] would say: Which is the right path for man to choose for himself? Whatever is harmonious for the one who does it, and harmonious for mankind.
Be as careful with a minor mitzvah as with a major one, for you do not know the rewards of the mitzvot. Consider the cost of a mitzvah against its rewards, and the rewards of a transgression against its cost….
(3) Be careful with the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress.”
— quoted from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) (2:1 & 2:3)
More often than not, I question where to begin this story. For some, it makes sense to start with Matīṯyāhū and his sons, the ones who would become known as the Maccabees, and how they defied the orders of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. But, I like to put certain actions in context – which means going back over two hundred years to the rule of Alexander the Great who, in the 4th century BCE, conquered Persia and expanded the Greek empire – an expansion that included the Jewish people.
Alexander’s attitude towards the Jews and their faith is sometimes described as “tolerant.” He didn’t really care what they did or what they believed, because he didn’t see them as a threat. Life was hard if you were a Jew under the reign of Alexander the Great, and even under the rule of many of the Greek kings that came after him. It was hard to make a living and you would face harassment and bullying, but you could do you (as we say these days).
Of course, some people wanted an easier life. Known as Hellenic Jews, these people changed the way they dressed and wore their hair; the things they ate; how they talked; and what they talked about. They even changed the way they practiced their faith. They stopped observing the Sabbath and (publicly) studying Torah. They stopped circumcising their male children or devised ways to hide the circumcision. This last part was necessary, because of there were many aspects of Greek life that required men to be nude. However, by the 2nd century BCE it wasn’t enough to hide who you were. King Antiochus made it illegal, under penalty of death, to be Jewish or to practice the faith. He also created situations, like appointing High Priests and building a gymnasium outside of the temple, that made it harder for people to hide.
It’s one thing to keep the faith when doing so just makes things a little uncomfortable. It’s another thing altogether to keep the faith when doing so could result in your death. Yes, I know; throughout the history of religion there has been religious persecution and there have been people who kept the faith despite that persecution. But, whenever it happens, I think it’s a bit of a miracle.
To understand why people keep the faith, sometimes it’s helpful to understand what the believe. Definitely, in this case, to really understand the Maccabees and the gravity of what they did, we have to understand what they believed – which means getting into a bit of Torah… and, eventually, going back to the beginning of time.
“And God said, ‘Light will be,’ and light was.”
— Transliteration of the Hebrew from Bereishit – Genesis (1:3), most commonly translated as “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.
So, in the beginning of the Abrahamic creation story, there was God, there was heaven and earth, there was water, and there was “the spirit on the water.” There was also emptiness and darkness. Then, depending on how you translate or interpret the text from the Hebrew Bible (which is also the Christian Old Testament), God either created light with a command or predicted the existence of light. Either way, in the original Hebrew, the twenty-fifth word is ohr (“light”) and Chanukah begins, every year, on the 25th of Kislev. (Similarly, Christmas occurs, every year, on the 25th of December, but that’s a another story.)
Matīṯyāhū and his sons believed this creation story, believed in God and the power of God, and lived their lives according to their faith. They were priests who studied the word and the laws of their people and, therefore, observed the commandments and the commanded holidays. Of course, if you look at Vayikra–Leviticus 23, where the appointed festivals and holy days are outlined, you won’t find any mention of a festival of light. Neither will you find mention of Chanukah in the similar list located in Devarim–Deuteronomy 16. After all, the word chanukah means “dedication” and that doesn’t happen until later in the story.
What you will find instead, at the beginning of Vayikra–Leviticus 24, is a commandment to “take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually” and detailed instructions on how the menorah should be publicly displayed (24:1-3). You will also find, at the end of Devarim–Deuteronomy 16 and the beginning of Devarim–Deuteronomy 17, commandments on what not to do; instructions to investigate reports of transgressions; and instructions on punishments. Now, I am not going to support or condone the instructions on punishments. I am just pointing out that they are there and that Matīṯyāhū and his sons believed in these instructions.
When the father was told to make a sacrifice to the Greek gods, he refused. When a Hellenic Jew stepped up to perform the desecration in his place, Matīṯyāhū killed him. His actions meant that he and his family had to flee to the caves in the wilderness. Others followed them — and I don’t just mean physically. They also followed them spiritually. In the caves, the people studied Torah, observed the Sabbath, and kept the faith. They were a light in the wilderness.
“The world that we live in, so much cold and strife
One little light to warm another life
Fill the darkest night with the brightest light
Cause it’s time for you to shine
A little dedication, a small illumination
Just one person to change a whole nation
Let me see the light”
— quoted from the song “Shine” by the Maccabeats
At some point, someone suggested that this father and his sons, this band of brothers, should take on the Greek army. Now, keep two things in mind. First, Matīṯyāhū and his sons were Kohens; they were priests and scholars. They weren’t warriors or athletes, like the Greeks. In fact, one could say that they were the polar opposite. Second, the Greek army at this time was (reportedly) the biggest and best trained army in the world. Remember, they were the army of a people and a culture that prized physical prowess. So, it was kind of ludicrous to consider going up against them.
Yet, take them on they did… which brings us back to their beliefs and the power of their beliefs.
Remember, the earlier commandments on setting up temple, observing the Sabbath, and all the different ways of keeping the faith were codified within the context of God leading the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. Matīṯyāhū and his sons may not have been physically ready for the battle, but they were mentally and spiritually ready. They knew the wilderness and they knew the Torah. They knew that in Shemot–Exodus 15, their ancestors sang of the power of God. They knew that story included the words, “Who is like You among the powerful, O Lord? Who is like You, powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praises, performing wonders!” (S-E 15:11) And that, at least that first part, became their battle cry.
They put the initials of the battle cry on their shields and banners. When Matīṯyāhū died, Judah, the son he left in charge, became known as Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, in Greek). While there are several other explanations for the name and for the meaning behind the name, the one I learned first was that Maccabee (the acronym) sounded like the word for “hammer” and so the people in the revolt became known as God’s hammer. For seven years, the hammer came down on the mighty Greek army and eventually defeated them. This, depending on how you count, is the second or third miracle of the story: the light breaking through the darkness.
“But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: How shall we, being few, be able to fight against so great a multitude, and so strong, and we are ready to faint with fasting today?
And Judas said: It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company:
For the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but strength cometh from heaven.”
— 1 Maccabees 3:17-19 (DRB)
The Maccabees returned to the temple and found it was completely wrecked. Everything forbidden had taken place. There were idols and evidence of sacrifice. The menorah was not lit and bottles of olive oil had been shattered and in other ways desecrated. Cleaning up the temple became the new battle. Rededicating the temple became the new mission. In the process of cleaning up and restoring the temple, they (miraculously) found one vial of oil that still had the seal of the High Priest. Who knows how old the vial was? Who know who found it? Doesn’t matter. It was another miracle.
It would take several days, over a week, to make the oil required to light the menorah as detailed in the Torah. Using the one vial of oil would be a symbolic gesture — one might even call it a sign of faith. But, it wouldn’t fulfill the commandment, because they wouldn’t be able to keep the candles “continually” lit. They had to make a choice: wait or do what they could do.
They decided to do what they could do. Miraculously, the candles stayed lit. As I point out each year, going into the first day and the second night — even the second day and the third night — people might have thrown the word “miracle” around lightly. After all, there was always the possibility that someone had measured the oil incorrectly and that there was more than expected in the vial. (We won’t get into the odds of that happening or the odds of that particular bottle being the one that wasn’t violated.) However, as the nights and the days progressed, there was no denying that “a great miracle happened.”
Letters on dreidels (outside of Israel): nun (נ), gimel (ג), hei (ה), and shin (ש)
Letters on dreidels (in Israel): nun (נ), gimel (ג), hei (ה), and pei, (פ)
— Hebrew letters symbolizing the phrases (in Hebrew) “A great miracle happened there” and “A great miracle happened here”
Every year, people celebrate the miracle of the oil and commemorate the rededication of the temple. Part of that celebration is a game that involves spinning a four-sided top, a dreidel. Each side contains a Hebrew letter that represents a word. While many people only think of the dreidel in the context of modern celebrations, the practice of spinning the top actually dates back to the time of the Maccabees. It was a way for children (in particular) to study in secret.
Except in extenuating circumstances, when it is not safe to do so, people are instructed to place their hanukia (a special menorah for the occasion) next to their door or in a window that can be seen from the street — so that anyone walking past will be reminded of the miracle that started with faith. In some traditions, each person lights their own individual hanukia — again, in a place that is visible. Lighting the candles is a sign a faith, a sign that people are keeping the faith, and after all this time, that is itself a miracle.
Lighting the candles in as public of a way as is possible is a way to see someone’s faith and, also, a way by which the faithful “see everything else.” If you look at a hanukia you will notice that it is different from a regular menorah. The primary way it is different is that there are nine candles instead of seven. I know, if you are unaware of this, you’re thinking, “Wait. Aren’t there supposed to be eight candles?” One would think that, except for the fact that the eight candles (and lighting them) are part of a mitzvah (“commandment”). Therefore, they can’t do any other “work.”
The ninth candle, the one that is set apart — either out to the side or on a different plane than the others — is a worker, an attendant, a caretaker: the Shamash. It is the candle that lights all the other lights and, in Orthodox homes, it is the light by which people read the Torah and play the dreidel. It is the light by which people see.
Take a moment to notice, in this story and in all the other light related stories of this dark season (even the ones from faiths that don’t share roots), to notice there is always a worker, an attendant, a shamash or caretaker of the miracle. There is always someone who is the source of light. Whether that light is goodness, wisdom, love, kindness, compassion, equanimity, or joy there is always someone shining bright. And if we see the world in that light, by that light, we all end up living a better world.
Since the Saturday practice focused on grace (of self) as well as light, we ended with a little more light… and a little more grace — both in the form of a person who was true “shamesh” in the world: United States Navy Rear Admiral Grace Brewster Murray Hopper, who was born today (December 9th) in 1906, and was known as “Amazing Grace,” “the Queen of Code,” “the Queen of Software,” and “Grandma COBOL.”
Click here for the 2020 post about the person who often gets the credit when we say we have a “bug” in the system.
“[Grace Hopper] said, ‘The most important thing I’ve accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, “Do you think we can do this?” I say, “Try it.” And I back ’em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older and I stir ’em up at intervals so they don’t forget to take chances.’”
— quoted from “Grace Hopper: The Admiral in Command of Knowledge” by Jan Adkins, published in 30 People Who Changed the World: Fascinating bite-sized essays from award winning writers – Intriguing People Through the Ages: From Imhotep to Malala Yousafzai (Got a Minute?), Edited by Jean Haddon
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “Chanukah (Day 2-3) 2022”]
NOTE: The YouTube playlists contains some official videos that are not available on Spotify.
*TITLE NOTE: The title for this post features lyrics from the song “Victory” by Nissim Black (which can be found at the end of the playlists).
### PEACE ###
Breathe, Question, Change (a Monday Moving Meditation reflection) December 4, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Baha'i, Books, Changing Perspectives, Depression, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Loss, Meditation, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, Franz Xaver Kappus, Joanna Macy, Masáʼil, Questions, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Temple, Walt Whitman
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May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy (and curious), during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (November 25th – December 10th) and on all the other days of your life.
This is just a reflection related to Monday, December 4th. There is no recording for 2023; however, you can request an audio recording of a related practice (as listed below) 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.
“Here, where I am surrounded by an enormous landscape, which the winds move across as they come from the seas, here I feel that there is no one anywhere who can answer for you those questions and feelings which, in their depths, have a life of their own; for even the most articulate people are unable to help, since what words point to is so very delicate, is almost unsayable. But even so, I think that you will not have to remain without a solution if you trust in Things that are like the ones my eyes are now resting upon. If you trust in Nature, in what is simple in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, not in your conscious mind perhaps, which stays behind, astonished, but in your innermost awareness, awakeness, and knowledge. You are so young, so much before all beginning, and I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
— quoted from Letter #4 (dated July 16, 1903) addressed to 19-year old officer cadet Franz Xaver Kappus, published in Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Look back over the years (or check out the links indexed below) and you will see that I often reference and quote Rainer Maria Rilke, who was born today in 1875. I am particularly fond of the aforementioned advice the poet gave the 19-year old officer cadet Franz Xaver Kappus in the fourth letter, dated July 16, 1903. I go back to them again and again, in every season of every year of my life (to paraphrase Walt Whitman); because, I think it is great advice for everyone: “Live the questions….”
Of course, to live the questions requires us to breathe (into) the questions and notice what happens.
“To breathe! Oh poem we cannot see!
Pure space exchanged continually
For one’s own being. Counterpoise,
In which I come to be, a rhythm.”
— quoted from Sonnets to Orpheus, II.1 by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Robert Temple)
Just as there is something divine (universal and sacred) about the breath, there is something divine about questions. I am not sure we can be alive and not have questions. Additionally, in the Bahá’í Faith, each month is named after a virtue or attribute of God. One of the months is Masáʼil, which means “questions,” and it begins at sunset exactly a week after Rilke’s birthday. How serendipitous! So, I think this is the perfect time to ask ourselves questions; to live those questions; to breathe those questions; and to change with those questions.
That, as it turns out, is also good advice from Rilke. It is advice we can take on and off the mat.
“Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. And Daphne, becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.”
— quoted from Sonnets to Orpheus, II.12 by Rainer Maria Rilke
If you are interested in previous posts (and practices) related to Rainer Maria Rilke, check out the following:
- The very first “First Friday Night Special” was a little “Bedtime Yoga” in 2020.
- The 2021 vinyasa practice coincided with Chanukah… and was part of a series of questions.
- Click here if you are looking for the 2022 vinyasa playlist for this practice.
- This 2018 Kiss My Asana offering was inspired by Rilke’s poetry about breathing (and dealing with life’s challenges, including unexpected grief).
- This 2016 Kiss My Asana offering was the answer to a question (about questions).
“Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am”
— quoted from Sonnets to Orpheus, II.29 by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Joanna Macy)
### What Helps You Breathe Deeply In and Breathe Deeply Out? ###
First Friday Night Special #38: An Invitation to “(True) Stories Before You Sleep” & An Excerpt December 1, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Art, Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Loss, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Science, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: #LetCommunitiesLead, Claudette Colvin, Larry Kramer, Laura Barcella, monomyth, Phillip Hoose, Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks Day, story, World AIDS Day
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On World AIDS Day, Rosa Parks Day, and every day: May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy / May you be healthy and strong!
“Once upon a time…”
— the English phrase that begins many fairy tales and folktales
According to the monomyth or Hero’s Journey paradigm, stories from all over the world have similar features: like heroes and heroines who overcome challenges in order to bring a boon to make the world better. Different cultures and languages may begin their stories in different ways. (“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” and “It was long long ago. If I was there at that time I would not be here now. But, as I am, I have one small story…” being among my favorites.) However, since at least the 14th century, most stories in the English language have the same beginning and (in modern times) a common ending… a happy ending.
Although, if you go back far enough, you may find that “…and they lived happily ever after” was originally “…and they lived happily until they died” or that the (quote-unquote) happy ending might be considered a fate worst than death (e.g., being forced to live a life devoid of all the character valued). In fact, many ancient stories were darker and more realistic than modern tales. They had endings that were contingent and temporary. They were closer to real life and were intentionally meant to parallel real life in order to give us insight into how we can live our lives.
In real life, we find ourselves in the middle of the story… sometimes even in the challenging and heartbreaking parts of the story. Sometimes, we fall asleep before the end. Sometimes, we must dream up the happy ending in order to wake up and make it come true. So, for this month’s First Friday Night Special, prepare to tuck yourself in and dream of happy endings (to stories that begin in scary and heartbreaking ways).
“If this article doesn’t scare the shit out of you, we’re in real trouble. If this article doesn’t rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, [we] may have no future on this earth. Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.”
— quoted from “1,112 and Counting” by Larry Kramer, printed in the New York Native (Issue 59, March 14 – 27, 1983)
The following revised excerpt is from the 2020 post entitled, “Stories for the Living.”
“Today I have two stories for you. Both are fables, in that they are stories with a moral. Both are also true — in that they actually happened (and both stories contain a multitude of other stories). Finally, both stories are open ended… in that we are still living with the ramifications of the stories and their lessons. There are some other overlaps (like the fact that both involve people who changed the world). However, ultimately, one of the stories is a dark and twisted fairy tale, while the other is a bit of a horror story. You can decide which is which.”
Click here to read the stories.
“‘Mine was the first cry for justice, and a loud one. I made it so that our own adult leaders couldn’t just be nice anymore. Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don’t the adults around here just say something?’”
— quoted from Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Please join me for the “First Friday Night Special #38: ‘(True) Stories Before You Sleep’” tonight (December 1st) at 7:15 PM – 8:20 PM (CST), for a virtual Yoga practice on Zoom. 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.
This “Bedtime Yoga” / Restorative Yoga practice is accessible and open to all.
Prop wise, I recommend your pajamas and bed (plus your pillows and blankets). Seriously. Additionally, this is a kitchen sink practice. You can practice without props or you can use “studio” and/or “householder” props. Example of “Studio” props: 1 – 2 blankets, 2 – 3 blocks, a bolster, a strap, and an eye pillow. Example of “Householder” props: 1 – 2 blankets or bath towels, 2 – 3 books (similar in size), 2 standard pillows (or 1 body pillow), a belt/tie/sash, and a face towel.
You may want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice). Having a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table may be handy if you are not using a bed.
Friday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “12042020 Bedtime Yoga”]
NOTE: The playlists contain a different variety of musical selections and you will only need one track/album for the practice. With one exception, the tracks play without interruption. There are more options on the YouTube playlist, but there is a different Sigur Rós option on the Spotify playlist. The December 202 practice is a good one to do without music. If you are using the music for this practice, I recommend the “sleep” tracks (i.e. #5, 6, or 7 on YouTube or #3 or starting with 4 on Spotify).
“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.”
— Rosa Parks, as quoted in Fight Like A Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World by Laura Barcella
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.)
### Let Communities Lead ###
FTWMI: Here’s To Those Who Serve(d) November 11, 2023
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Loss, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Yoga.Tags: 988, Armistice Day, Choti Diwali, Diwali, Laurence Binyon, mental health, Movember, Thomas Hardy, Veterans Day, World War I
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Peace and blessings to all, and especially to those observing/remembering armistice and/or celebrating (Choti) Diwali. May there be more light in the world.
For Those Who Missed It: With the exception of the final quote and additional links (at the end), the following is a slightly revised version of a 2020 post. Class details and some links have been updated.
“Compassion. Respect. Common Sense.”
— Retired Marine Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers (a.k.a The Saluting Marine) when asked what he wanted to inspire in people who see him standing/saluting
At “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” Paris time, 1918, all was quiet on the Western Front. At least in theory. It wasn’t as neat and tidy as it sounds; however, there was an official cease fire, an armistice that was scheduled to last 30 days. It was, for all intensive purposes, the end of World War I. Exactly a year later, Buckingham Palace hosted the first official Armistice Day event in England — and, thanks to the suggestion of South African author and politician Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, people around Europe began observing two minutes of silence in honor of those who had died during the war and those who were left behind.
The practice of observing two minutes of silence (in honor of people lost during conflict) started as a daily practice in Cape Town, South Africa in the spring of 1918. Today, those two minutes are one of the rituals shared by people who are observing Armistice Day (in the Britain and the Commonwealth, France, Belgium, and Poland) and Veterans Day (in the USA and Canada). These observations are sometimes, like in the case of England, focused on those who served and were impacted by World War I. However, in the United States and Canada it is a day to honor all veterans and their families. (The UK, USA, and Canada all have separate days to honor those who died while serving in any military conflict.)
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them”
— “Ode of Remembrance” quoted from the poem “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon, published September 1914 (in honor of the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force in the opening action of the war on the Western Front, WWI)
We have so many rituals and traditions around remembering those who were lost during conflict and tragedy. But, consider how we honor the living — those who return with wounds we can see, as well as wounds we cannot. Since today is a day, in the United States, when we remember all those who served — living and dead — it is a good time to really consider the experiences and challenges of those who return home different from the way they left.
During Movember classes, I talk about mental health and the fact that middle aged white men make up the highest percentage of suicides in America. Add to that, the increase in the percentages when someone has served in the military. Every 72 minutes, a veteran or active service member takes their own life; that works out to ~17 — 20 people a day or ~140 a week. These numbers do not include people who attempt suicide or consider it.
As I’ve pointed out before, we must keep in mind, that people feel a lot of different things people when they consider suicide. It’s emotional. There are, also, a lot of different things that pull people back away from the edge. It’s personal. Some people may not want to talk about the details of their service and the things that they experienced. They may, however, want to talk about something else. We can honor them by listening.
“IX
Calm fell. From Heaven distilled a clemency;
There was peace on earth, and silence in the sky;
Some could, some could not, shake off misery:
The Sinister Spirit sneered: ‘It had to be!’
And again the Spirit of Pity whispered, ‘Why?’”
— from the poem “And There Was a Great Calm (On the Signing of the Armistice, 11 Nov 1918)” by Thomas Hardy
Please join me today (Saturday, November 11th) at 12:00 PM, for a 90-minute yoga practice on Zoom. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “11/11 @ 11”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
A Joyful Practice 