A Third Poem [for the poets born today] June 7, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, First Nations, Healing Stories, Life, Love, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Poetry, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Commemoration of the Dead, Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Erdrich, Nikki Giovanni, PRIDE, Prince Rogers Nelson, Yoga Sutra 3.15-3.16
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or observing the Commemoration of the Dead.
Happy Pride!
Here is a third poem
for the poets born today
[in 1917, 1954, 1943, and 1958]
because I have just a little, tiny bit
more to say.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel
cool, beautiful, and strong / And also warns you.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel
love and anger (at strangers) and grief and more.
A good writer moves you and makes you feel
gratitude for the history within every part of you… including your feet.
A good writer moves you….
And makes you move.
©MKR 2025
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT BELOW FOR THE OTHER POEMS.
NOTE: The original poem is embedded in the second poem (and contains links to the poets’ poems).
Please join me today (Saturday, June 7th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06072020 Birthday of Poets”]
MUSIC NOTE: The YouTube playlist includes extra videos related to three of the four poets. The poem linked here is interactive and also includes one of those videos.)
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
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.)
### REMEMBER: DON’T WASTE ANY SWEETNESS ###
First Friday Night Special #56 — Invitation to “What We Believe II” (w/excerpts) June 6, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Loss, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yin Yoga, Yoga.Tags: 988, D-Day, George Williams, Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, World War II, YMCA, yoga, yoga philosophy
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating PRIDE and/or the Apodosis of the Ascension on the anniversary of D-Day.
Happy Pride!
“And what is the right way of living? Are we to live in sports always? If so, in what kind of sports? We ought to live sacrificing, and singing, and dancing, and then a man will be able to propitiate the Gods, and to defend himself against his enemies and conquer them in battle. The type of song or dance by which he will propitiate them has been described, and the paths along which he is to proceed have been cut for him.” (Book 7)
— quoted from The Laws by Plato
Before we consider the “right way [to live]”, we must consider what we believe. Not “In what” or “In whom”; but simply what is it that we believe with every bone and every fiber, and every day of every year? It is a simple, yet tricky question.. Because if you believe something — really, truly, believe with your whole heart and every fiber of your being — then your actions will reflect your beliefs. Right? Everything will be in alignment. Right?
Only, we humans tend to be a little more complicated than that. So, maybe the next thing to consider isn’t whether your every thought, word, and deed perfectly reflects what you believe. Maybe the next thing to consider is whether or not you are willing to put all of your efforts — all of your thoughts, words, and deeds — on the line, in support of a campaign (or an organization…or a country…) in which you believe.
What would you do for freedom, for country, for God (whatever that means to you at this moment)?
On a certain level, this last question was answered by George Williams and the other founders of the YMCA, today in 1844, and by those who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, exactly 100 years later (today in 1944).
The stories of these two events are very (very) different and yet they come back to the same thing(s): What people believe.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLES BELOW FOR MORE.
“Don’t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. A lady of my acquaintance said, ‘I don’t care so much for what they say as I do for what makes them say it.’”
— quoted from 1875 essay “Social Aims” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Please join me tonight, Friday, June 6, 2025, 7:15 PM – 8:20 PM (CST) for “What We Believe II”. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
This Yin Yoga practice is accessible and open to all.
Friday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
NOTE: At the beginning of the practice, you will be prompted to pause and select a track. The playlist tracks are slightly different in length and duration; however, the overall content is the same.
A playlist inspired by D-Day and the founding of the YMCA is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06062020 D-Day & YMCA]
Prop wise, I will suggest using a table or a chair and 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 will also be handy.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
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: Updated invitation number.
### PEACE TO & FROM EVERYTHING & EVERYONE WE ENCOUNTER ###
Noticing Ruth & EXCERPT: “Noticing Things [on… June 2nd]” (a post-practice post for Monday June 2, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Love, Meditation, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Shavuot, Suffering, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, awareness, Book of Ruth, ethics, Exodus, foundation, Jon Lord, morals, PRIDE, Religion, Shavuos, Shavuot, Shemot, Sir Edward Elgar, Ten Commandments, the Afterfeast of the Ascension, Thomas Hardy, Torah
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Happy Pride!
“Chag Sameach!” to everyone who is celebrating Shavuot. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension.
This post-practice post for Monday, June 2nd, includes a short excerpt. The 2025 prompt question was, “What are you noticing (about yourself and/or others)?”
You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell’s boom,
‘He hears it not now, but used to notice such things?’”
— quoted from the poem “Afterwards” by Thomas Hardy, set to music by Lon Lord
The bulk of this Monday night practice was about noticing things (in general) and about noticing things in the practice. There are elements inspired by the Sunday practice and, also by the fact that it June 2nd is the anniversary of the birth of two people who noticed things: Thomas Hardy (OM), born today in 1840, and Sir Edward William Elgar (1st Baronet, OM, GCVO), born today in 1857.
One of the things they both noticed was people’s patterns and how those patterns reflect what was at the core or the heart of certain people and what motivated those people — in other words: they noticed the roots/foundations of people’s actions.
“‘I had a neat stock of fixed opinions, but they dropped away one by one; and the further I get the less sure I am. I doubt if I have anything more for my present rule of life than following inclinations which do me and nobody else any harm, and actually give pleasure to those I love best.’”
— quoted from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Take a moment to notice that everyone and everything has foundations. People have physical foundations and, also, ethical and moral foundations. In some cases, our ethical and moral foundations are also religious and/or philosophical. For example, for people within the Abrahamic religious traditions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) the Ten Commandments and the stories in the Torah — also known as the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament — make up the cornerstone of the foundation.
I have noticed, as others have also noticed, that when someone converts to a religion (or a philosophy different from one they were taught as a child) they often spend a lot of time studying the sacred texts, scripture, and history of their adopted faith. They often consciously consider what brings peace and what creates suffering. As a result, converts are often more knowledgeable and more devout than people who grow up within a religion (or philosophy). Take Ruth, for instance, whose story is found in the Book of Ruth (in the Hebrew Bible / Christian Old Testament).
Ruth was someone from one culture, who married into another, and decided to stay with her Hebrew mother-in-law and her adopted culture even after her husband died. Her acceptance and devotion to G-d (and her mother-in-law) are emphasized throughout her short story. The harvest time and the reaping at harvest time are also big elements in her story — and set a time frame for her story, which is one of the reasons her story is read as people celebrate Shavuot.
“And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law [Ruth], ‘Blessed be he of the Lord, who did not leave off his kindness with the living or with the deceased.’”
— quoted from The Book of Ruth (Rut) 2:20
Shavuot (also known as Shavuos), the Festival of “Weeks”, started at sunset on Sunday night. It comes at the very end of the 49-Day period when people were Counting the Omer — a ritual preparation of prayer and contemplation that started on the second night of Passover. Shavuot is celebrated for one day in Israel and two in the diaspora. According to Shemot / Exodus (34:22), Shavuot traditionally occurred at the beginning of the wheat harvest and, therefore, is also known as the “Festival of Reaping” or “Day of the First Fruits”. It is currently celebrated as the commemoration of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and, by extension, the revelation of the Torah.
In addition to reading the Book of Ruth, people celebrating Shavuot may attend services, recite extra prayers and blessings, feast, and celebrate with joy. Dairy-based products, which vary depending on the region, are often prominent during these feasts. Additionally, some people will decorate their home and/or synagogue with greenery. Some people will also celebrate the birth and/or passing of King David, Ruth’s great-grandson. Finally, some people will pull an all-nighter studying Torah — a tradition that dates back (at least) to the 1300s and is symbolically associated with the story of Moses having to wake people up to receive the Torah.
Which brings me to another thing I, and others, have noticed: Many people may identify themselves as having a certain foundation — in other words, identify themselves as member of a group — without following the basic tenets outlined in that foundation. They are basically asleep and sleep-walking through life, not noticing if their actions are creating suffering or alleviating suffering.
Now, the question is: Have you noticed your patterns?
Click on the excerpt title below for the post about Thomas Hardy and Sir Edward Elgar.
Noticing Things [on Friday, June 2nd] (the “missing” and revised invitation)
“‘There, gentlemen, since you wanted to know how I was getting on, I have told you. Much good may it do you! I cannot explain further here. I perceive there is something wrong somewhere in our social formulas: what it is can only be discovered by men or women with greater insight than mine–if, indeed, they ever discover it– at least in our time. ‘For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?–and who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?’”
— quoted from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
NOTE: If you are interested in the poems and music referenced in the excerpted post (and practice), there is a remix available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06022023 Noticing Things II”] At some point I may (or may not) update it to include more of the “Enigma Variations.”
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
### BRING YOUR AWARENESS TO YOUR AWARENESS ###
A Quick Note & EXCERPT: “When Awareness Expands” June 1, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Black Wall Street, Cable News Network, CNN, Greenwood District, Indian Territory, Randy Hopkins, Swami Vivekananda, The CNN Effect, trauma, Tulsa, yoga sutra 3.5
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, getting ready to celebrate Shavuot, and/or celebrating the Seventh Sunday of Pascha: The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
Yoga Sutra 3.5: tád jayat prajñā lōkāh
— “Through the mastery of that [three-part process of samyama] comes the light of knowledge, transcendental insight, or higher consciousness.”
“When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers come under his control. This is the great instrument of the Yogi. The objects of knowledge are infinite, and they are divided into the gross, grosser, grossest and the fine, finer, finest and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to gross things, and when you begin to get knowledge of this gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 3.5 from Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda
Ted Turner’s CNN (Cable News Network) premiered Sunday, June 1, 1980, at 5 PM EST; making it the first 24-hour news channel and the first all-news television in the United States. While other news channels made fun of the new outlet, CNN stayed focused (with the slogan “Go live, stay with it, and make it important.”) and changed the way government made and addressed policy and also the way people interacted with each other and the news.
There was no such thing as CNN back in 1921, when the Greenwood District (in Indian Territory) — also known as “Black Wall Street” — was destroyed in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
NOTE: The post excerpted below does not reference the shooting which happened in Tulsa today in 2022.
“On Thursday morning, June 2, 1921, one of Tulsa’s many problems was that of optics. A large chunk of the city had been obliterated in a matter of hours and an embarrassingly large portion of the city’s population had a hand in the obliterating. How this was going to look to outsiders was far from an irrelevant concern for many Tulsans, especially the city’s elite for whom pride in the city’s accomplishments was keen…. Would businesses go elsewhere? Would other ‘better citizens’ from other places look down their noses?”
— quoted from The Center for Public Secrets Journal article entitled, “Mask of Atonement: The Plan to Rebuild the Homes of Greenwood” by Randy Hopkins
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, June 1st) at 2:30 PM. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06012021 The Difference A Day Made”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
### PEACE IN, PEACE OUT ###
FTWMI: It’s Not About What We’re Saying… (a short post with links & an excerpt) *CORRECTED* May 25, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Japa-Ajapa, Karma, Karma Yoga, Life, Mantra, Meditation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: Aaron Lindsey, chakras, Counting the Omer, Eastertide, George Floyd, India.Arie, KISS MY ASANA, mantra, Ralph Waldo Emerson, United States, Veterans, Yoga Sutras 3.15-3.16
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha and/or the Blind Man.
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2024.
Some date-related information has been updated and an extra sentence was added.
“Don’t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. A lady of my acquaintance said, ‘I don’t care so much for what they say as I do for what makes them say it.’”
— quoted from the essay “Social Aims” in Letters and Social Aims by Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. 1803)
[On Friday, May 24, 2024], a group of United States veterans reportedly spent part of their Memorial Day weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina with the intention of asking people at the Republican National Convention to honor the basic principles of the “republic, for which it stands” and they were (reportedly) escorted out of the area. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that and the about the idea of still serving even after one’s official service is over — and about how people react to that.
Four Five years ago today, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that and the about the importance of treating someone you perceive as being different from you with respect — and about how we seem to keep forgetting that.
Two hundred, twenty-two twenty-one years ago today, Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I often say that I am blown away by the fact that his words are still relevant to our present circumstances. Even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is about that.
And, even if I don’t talk about it, this practice is also about what you are feeling in this present moment.
The excerpt below is from a 2021 post. Click on the title for the entire post.
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, May 25h) at 2:30 PM. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05252022 Pratyahara II”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] My Asana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
### “Continue to breathe / In honor of your brother / That’s what your heart is for” ~ India.Arie (Aaron Lindsey / India.arie Simpson) ###
EXCERPTS: “Today in Rock and Roll” & “… some Powerball® thoughts” May 24, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Donate, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Anna Mae Bullock, Bob Dylan, Counting the Omer, Dechen Shak-Dagsay, KISS MY ASANA, music, Nat Hentoff, Regula Curti, Robert Allen Zimmerman, satya, Tina Turner, truth, Uvalde Texas
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha.
“‘The most important thing I know I learned from Woody Guthrie,’ says Dylan, ‘I’m my own person. I’ve got basic common rights-whether I’m here in this country or any other place. I’ll never finish saying everything I feel, but I’ll be doing my part to make some sense out of the way we’re living, and not living, now. All I’m doing is saying what’s on my mind the best way I know how. And whatever else you say about me, everything I do and sing and write comes out of me.’”
— quoted from the liner notes by Nat Hentoff (from Bob Dylan’s album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)
Today is the birthday of Bob Dylan (b. 1941) and the death anniversary of Tina Turner (d. 2023).
Click on the excerpt titles below for more.
Please join me today (Saturday, May 24th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05242022 Bob’s Poems”]
NOTE: I chose not to create a new playlist this year, inspired by both Bob and Tina; however, the first embedded link (above) includes a special message from Tina Turner and I have added the following chant towards the end of both playlists.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] MyAsana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
### AUM ###
EXCERPT: “The Fools and the Angels [‘Came out by the same door…’]” May 21, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Alexander Pope, American Red Cross, Brian Theodore Tyler, Clara Barton, Edmund Dwight, Graeme Edge, Ishbel Ross, John Butler, KISS MY ASANA, Klaus Badelt, Moody Blues, Yoga Sutra 4.15, yoga sutras
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating World Meditation Day, Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fifth week of Pascha and/or Apodosis of Prepolovenie.
“Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Not yet the last to lay the old aside.”
— quoted from “Part 2” of An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope
In addition to being World Meditation Day and the anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pope (born 1688, according to the Old Style / Julian calendar, today is the day Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
The Fools and the Angels [“Came out by the same door…”] (the “missing” Tuesday post)
“Clara promptly wrote to her Boston friend of the Franco-Prussian War days, Edmund Dwight:
There seems to be such a muddle of ideas growing out of the mishaps in Congress that it was very apparent that somebody must say something and that, you know, is the place where I always come in; the door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.”
— quoted from “PART TWO – XIV. Johnstown Flood” in Angel of the Battlefield: The Life of Clara Barton by Ishbel Ross
Please join me today (Wednesday, May 21st) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05212025 More Fools & More Angels”]
The post excerpted above includes this musical meditation, which could absolutely be used for a practice.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] MyAsana!
While you helped me surpass my fundraising goal, the overall fundraiser raised over half of its goal!!
Whether you showed up in a (Zoom) class, used a recording, shared a post or video, liked and/or commented on a post or video, and/or made a donation — you and your efforts are appreciated! Thank you!!!
### Understand Yourself / Learn Compassion / Learn Love: “Just open your heart and that’s a start” ~ The Moody Blues (KB / BTT) ###
EXCERPTS: “Being Linda” & “Being…” – Lessons in Svādyāya May 17, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Philosophy, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Brown v Board, KISS MY ASANA, Linda Brown, Linda Carol Brown, Sarah Darville, SCOTUS, svadyaya, svādhyāya, Thurgood Marshall
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fourth week of Pascha.
“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”
— Supreme Court Justice (and former NAACP chief counsel) Thurgood Marshall referencing his SCOTUS successor in a Newsweek interview (dated October 28, 1991)
Today is the anniversary of the 1954 Supreme Court of the United States’ landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
Click on the first excerpt title for a related meditation.
Click on the second excerpt title for more history.
FTWMI: “Being…” – Lessons in Svādyāya (an expanded and “renewed” post)
“When they won, it set a lasting legal precedent. [Linda] Brown was attending an integrated junior high school by then, and she later recalled the initial desegregation of local elementary schools going smoothly. But over the course of her life, she saw the reality of school integration fall short, locally and nationally.”
— quoted from the 2018 Chalkbeat article entitled “In her own words: Remembering Linda Brown, who was at the center of America’s school segregation battles” by Sarah Darville (posted May 27, 2018)
Please join me today (Saturday, May 17th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05172020 Brown”]
NOTE: The playlists have slightly different before/after music and the YouTube playlist includes the video below of Linda Carol Brown.
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.)
You can still click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can still also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!)
### NAMASTE ###
A Quick Note About the Moon & EXCERPTS RE: Suffering / the End of Suffering (the post-practice Monday post) May 12, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Donate, Faith, First Nations, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, arrows, Buddha, Buddha's Birthday, compassion, Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta, Diamond Sutra, Diamond Sutta, First Nations, Flower Moon, Four Noble Truths, full moon, Indigenous Peoples, Jonathan London, Joseph Bruchac, Karuna, KISS MY ASANA, loving-kindness, lovingkindness, Moon, Native, poisoned arrow, second arrow, Siddhartha Gautama, Suffering, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Thomas Locker, Vesak, Wesak
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating Vesak / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Jayanti, Counting the Omer, and/or observing the fourth week of Pascha.
This post-practice compilation for Monday, May 12th features some new content and a collection of excerpts. The 2025 prompt question was, “What is one of the things you do to alleviate suffering (yours &/or others)?”
You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“The lodge melted away
and the trees turned green
with new buds
as the birds began to sing.
And where the cold fire
of winter had been
was a circle of white May flowers.
So it happens each spring
when the Budding Moon comes.
All the animals wake
and we follow them
across our wide, beautified beautiful.”
— quoted from “Budding Moon” in Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back: A Native American Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London, illustrated by Thomas Locker
Full moons (and new moons) are auspicious for many people around the world and have special significance to many indigenous communities. For instance, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, tonight’s full moon is associated with the blossoming of flowers. The names used by various communities can be translated into English as “Flower Moon” by Algonquin and Ojibwe peoples; “Budding Moon”, “Leaf Budding Moon”, “Egg Laying Moon”, and/or “Frog Moon” by Cree communities; “Moon of the Shedding Ponies” by the Oglala Lakota Sioux (in South Dakota); and “Planting Moon” by various Dakota Sioux and Lakota Sioux peoples.
Full moons (and new moons) also have significance within many religious and philosophical communities. For example, in parts of South, Southeast, and East Asia tonight’s full moon is known as Buddha Pūrṇimā (“Buddha Moon”) and highlights celebrations of Siddhartha Gautama / Gautama Buddha. While these celebrations are also known as Vesak, Buddha Day, or Buddha Jayanti — which is the Buddha’s Birthday, not everyone celebrating the Buddha this week celebrates the same thing. In some places, the Buddha’s birthday celebration is also the time when people celebrate his awakening/enlightenment as well as his death at the age of 80. In other places, the celebration of his physical birth and enlightenment (or birth as the “the Awakened One”) are separate celebrations, with the latter also being a celebration of his mahāparinirvāṇa (which is the death or physical passing of someone who is enlightened and, therefore, is free of karma). Finally, there are communities which have three different celebrations.
As I have mentioned before, the celebrations may happen at different times depending on the calendars. This week’s celebrations were held yesterday (Sunday, May 11th) in Cambodia and Thailand; today (Monday, May 12th) Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Bangladesh today; and tomorrow (May 13th) in Indonesia, Sri Lanka. For some of these countries, Vesak / Buddha Jayanti is a national or public holiday and it may also be a banking holiday. People will go to temple for prayers and meditation and to hear talks on the Buddha’s life and teachings, especially as it relates to Three Jewels (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha) and the Five Precepts. There will also be alms giving and vegetarians meals. Some people will also pour sweet tea on statues of the Buddha, similar to the ritual observed in parts of Japan in April.
Most of the following is a compilation of excerpts, previously posted in a different context.
NOTE: Some embedded links connect to sites outside of WordPress.
“It’s not the case that when there is the view, ‘The soul & the body are the same,’ there is the living of the holy life. And it’s not the case that when there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing and the body another,’ there is the living of the holy life. When there is the view, ‘The soul & the body are the same,’ and when there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing and the body another,’ there is still the birth, there is the aging, there is the death, there is the sorrow, lamentation, pain, despair, & distress whose destruction I make known right in the here & now.”
— quoted from Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta: The Shorter Instructions Malunkya (translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
“I have heard” that Siddhartha Gautama was a sheltered and privileged prince who lived in India during the 6th Century (~563) BCE. He lived without any awareness of suffering until he was 29 years old and left the palace gates. Upon witnessing suffering, he decided to find an end to suffering and sat under the Bodhi tree, determined to wait there until he awakened to the nature of reality. In some suttas (Pali: “threads”), it says that the Buddha (“the Awakened One”) sat there for an additional seven days.
Eventually, at the age of 35, he started teaching from this enlightened state. Some say that he only ever taught about two things: suffering and the end of suffering. His teachings were codified in the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and the Noble Eightfold Path. According to the former:
- Suffering exists
- Suffering is caused by attachment, clinging, craving
- There is an end to suffering
- The Noble Eight-fold Path is the way to end suffering
Following the path includes some sitting… and waiting. What is promised at the end of the sitting and waiting is freedom from suffering. In between there are stories… often about sitting and waiting. For example, “I have heard” two parables the Buddha used to differentiate between (physical) pain and (mental) suffering. Both parables also point to the ways in which we can alleviate our own suffering.
In one parable, a man is shot with a poisoned arrow. As the poison enters the man’s bloodstream, he is surrounded by people who can and want to help him, to save his life. The problem is that the man wants to know why he was shot. In fact, before the arrow is removed he wants to know why he was shot, by whom he was shot, and all the minutia about the archer and their life. While the information is being gathered, the poison is moving through the man’s body; the man is dying. In fact, the man will die before he has the answers to all his questions.
In another parable, a man is shot by an arrow (no poison this time) and then, in the very next breath, the man is shot by a second arrow. The Buddha explains that the first arrow is physical pain, and we can’t always escape or avoid that. The second arrow, however, is the mental suffering (or pain) that is caused when “the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught.” How we respond to moments of pain and suffering determines how much more pain and suffering we will endure.
“I see your suffering.
I care about your suffering.
May you be free of suffering.
May the causes and conditions of your suffering end.”
— a variation of karuna (compassion) meditation
Click on the excerpt titles below for related posts about the Buddha and about lovingkindness.
Holy & Divine 2025 (a reboot)
Threads, Instructions, Truth, Practice, To Contemplate
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
“Furthermore, Subhūti, in the practice of compassion and charity a disciple should be detached. That is to say, he should practice compassion and charity without regard to appearances, without regard to form, without regard to sound, smell, taste, touch, or any quality of any kind. Subhūti, this is how the disciple should practice compassion and charity. Why? Because practicing compassion and charity without attachment is the way to reaching the Highest Perfect Wisdom, it is the way to becoming a living Buddha.”
— The Diamond Sutra (4)
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).
You can still click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can still also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!)
### PEACE & EASE (To You & Yours) ###
We Can Also Dance, 2025 (mostly the music & blessings)* May 10, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Abhyasa, Art, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Meditation, Movies, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Suffering, TV, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Counting the Omer, dance, Fred Astaire, Frederick Austerlizt, Jack Lemmon, Jeanine Basinge
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone Counting the Omer and/or observing the third week of Pascha.
“Fred Astaire explained it to the young Jack Lemmon: ‘You’re now at a level where you can afford only one mistake. The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style.’ In other words, once you were successfully typed, you were safe.”
— quoted from “Part I: Stars and the Factory System ― Product and Type” in The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinge
Please join me today (Saturday, May 10th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “05102022 Fred’s Dance”]
*NOTE: The playlists have slightly different before/after music and the YouTube playlist includes a video and a portion of an interview.
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.)
You can still click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can still also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!)
###
A Joyful Practice 