A Quick Note & Excerpts RE: The Cornerstones of Friendship, Liberty, & Justice August 5, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Peace, Philosophy, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Art, Books, Emma Lazarus, friendship, Gertrude Rush, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, peace, Poetry, Statue of Liberty, Writing
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating friendship, peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay hydrated, y’all!
“I submit it, then, to those best acquainted with the man personally, whether the following is not Nathaniel Hawthorne,–to to himself, whether something involved in it does not express the temper of this mind,–that lasting temper of all true, candid men–a seeker, not a finder yet:–
A man now entered, in neglected attire, with the aspect of a thinker, but somewhat too rough-hewn and brawny for a scholar. His face was full of sturdy vigor, with some finer and keener attribute beneath; though harsh at first, it was tempered with the glow of a large, warm heart, which had force enough to heat his powerful intellect through and through. He advanced to the Intelligencer, and looked at him with a glance of such stern sincerity, that perhaps few secrets were beyond its scope.”
— quoted from “Hawthorne and His Mosses” [a review of the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story collection, Mosses from an Old Manse] by Herman Melville, published pseudonymously by “a Virginian Spending July in Vermont” (as printed in The Literary World on August 17 and 24, 1850)
Every edifice (or physical structure) has a cornerstone. As I mentioned in one of the excerpted posts below, it is the reference point for everything that is built. In other words, it makes the building possible.
What is true about a physical structure is also true about everything else we build — including friendships, communities, and nations. The cornerstones and foundations of all of those make them possible.
A Possible Friendship
Herman Melville and Nathaniel Nathaniel Hawthorne met today in 1850.
Click on the excerpt title below for more.
A Note, Links, & Excerpt On The Cornerstones of Friendship & Liberty (a post-practice Monday post)
“Impossible” Ladies
While the foundations of some friendships are easily set, setting other cornerstone can seem impossible.
The cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal was placed on a rainy Bedloe’s Island on August 5, 1884. Mrs. Gertrude E. Rush was born in Texas today in 1880.
Click on the excerpt title above to discover why Lady Liberty and a Lady of Justice are today’s “Impossible People.”
“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
— quoted from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Please join me today (Tuesday, August 5th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06172020 The Lady’s Power”]
NOTE: A practice video is coming soon! Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to be the first to practice with me!
“In 1919 Mrs. Gertrude Rush, a prominent black lawyer and [WC] delegate from a Baptist church in Des Moines, Iowa, posited that the vote would enable women to fight for better working conditions, higher wages, and greater opportunities in business. Through suffrage, Rush maintained, women could better regulate moral and sanitary conditions, end discrimination and lynch law, obtain better educational opportunities, and secure greater legal justice.”
— quoted from “Religion, Politics, and Gender: The Leadership of Nannie Helen Burroughs” by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Chapter 8 of This Far By Faith: Readings in African-American Women’s Religious Biography, edited by Judith Weisenfeld & Richard Newman)
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is 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.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
### MAKE PEACE YOUR CORNERSTONE ###
“dignified, [and] flippant” (yet & still almost only the music) July 30, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Music.Tags: 988, Art, Books, Edward Young, Penguin Books, Sir Allen Lane
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May you and yours be blessed with peace, clean water, and a good book!
Please join me today (Wednesday, July 30th) 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 “10202020 Pratyahara”]
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is 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.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
### 
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Quick Note & EXCERPT: “Dà shǔ ‘Major Heat’” (repost) July 23, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Healing Stories, Health, Life, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wisdom, Yin Yoga, Yoga.Tags: "Major Heat", 988, Art, Batman, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Chief Seattle, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, comics, D. C. Comics, David S. Goyer, Dà shǔ, Efrem Korngold L.Ac. O.M.DS., Harriet Beinfield L.Ac., Intertribal Powwow, Movies, Raymond Chandler, tapas, travel
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone practicing peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay hydrated, y’all!
“The center of most ancient cultures, from China in the second century B.C. to the twentieth-century native America, was the earth. Human welfare was attached to the rains upon the soil, the wind of the heaves and pliable trees embedded in an abundant forest. Chief Seattle, in 1854, summed up this ancient view of how humanity stands in relation to the world” ‘This we know – the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.’”
— quoted from “Chapter Three – Philosophy in the East: The Doctor As Gardener” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
Since Raymond Chandler was born today in 1888 (and the first Batman Day was today in 2014), it is time to put on your detective’s hat and investigate what happens when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Click on the excerpt title below for the entire 2023 post.
Dà shǔ “Major Heat” 2023 (an updated and revised post) *UPDATED*
Please join me today (Wednesday, July 23rd) 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 “08222021 Fire Thread”]
“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do, that defines me.”
— Batman (Christian Bale), quoted from the movie Batman Begins (written by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, based on characters created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger)
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is 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.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
### H2O ###
A Coda & EXCERPT: “A Little Grace [plus] Compassion and Peace (with regards to Ralph Waldo Emerson)” July 15, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Life, Meditation, One Hoop, Pema Chodron, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Vairagya, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, Art, Black Codes, Black Hair, Books, hair, Harvard Divinity School, Jim Crow, literature, Poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Religion, shenpa, transcendentalism, yoga philosophy, yoga practice
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone practicing peace, freedom, and wisdom (inside and outside).
“But when the mind opens, and reveals the laws which traverse the universe, and make things what they are, then shrinks the great world at once into a mere illustration and fable of this mind. What am I? and What is? asks the human spirit with a curiosity new-kindled, but never to be quenched. Behold these outrunning laws, which our imperfect apprehension can see tend this way and that, but not come full circle. Behold these infinite relations, so like, so unlike; many, yet one. I would study, I would know, I would admire forever. These works of thought have been the entertainments of the human spirit in all ages.”
— quoted from the 1838 “Divinity School Address” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
You can read this coda before or after you check out the post excerpted below; because, it involves a “full circle” moment I had a few days ago when I was talking to a neighbor.
This neighbor, who has known me all my life, was talking about sharing a meal with old friends and about the conversations that did and did not come up during the meal. Then she said that the problem with the world was that we were taught, as children, that it wasn’t polite or appropriate to talk about certain subjects in public. I mentioned, as I do in the post excerpted below, that I learned this lesson in a different way. Now, here, I should note that my neighbor and I have different hair textures — and, ironically, her mother occasionally did my grandmother’s hair — but, she got my point.
What struck me about the moment is how some rules and mores get passed down (and around) without people knowing why they are the rules and laws that govern our behavior. For instance, here in the United States, certain laws related to slavery are no longer on the books and yet people — of all races and ethnicities — behave as if they are still the law of the land.
More to the point: We don’t talk about this! In some cases, we don’t discuss certain things because we don’t want to start an argument — which is why we need to practice getting “unhooked”.
In other cases, we don’t talk about certain subjects because we don’t want to be banned (for 27 years… and 6 days) as Ralph Waldo Emerson was after addressing the Harvard Divinity School graduating class today in 1838.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
A Little Grace & FTWMI: Compassion and Peace (with regards to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
“The intuition of the moral sentiment is an insight of the perfection of the laws of the soul. These laws execute themselves. They are out of time, out of space, and not subject to circumstance. Thus; in the soul of man there is a justice whose retributions are instant and entire. He who does a good deed, is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed, is by the action itself contracted. He who puts off impurity, thereby puts on purity. If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God; the safety of God, the immortality of God, the majesty of God do enter into that man with justice. If a man dissemble, deceive, he deceives himself, and goes out of acquaintance with his own being. A man in the view of absolute goodness, adores, with total humility. Every step so downward, is a step upward. The man who renounces himself, comes to himself.”
— quoted from the 1838 “Divinity School Address” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Please join me today (Tuesday, July 15th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “07152020 Peace & Compassion RWE”]
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 ###
EXCERPT: “The wings of ‘some kind of bird’ are not unlike a ‘face’ over ‘weft’” February 22, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Art, Books, Changing Perspectives, First Nations, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Poetry, Wisdom, Women, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Art, body prayer, Books, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Writing, Zitkála-Šá
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Many blessings to everyone, and especially those celebrating Carnival and Maha Kumbh Mela!
Peace, ease, and prayer throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!!!
“Having gone many paces ahead I stopped, panting for breath and laughing with glee as my mother watched my every movement. I was not wholly conscious of myself, but was more keenly alive to the fire within. It was as if I were the activity, and my hands and feet were only experiments for my spirit to work upon.”
— quoted from “Impressions of An Indian Childhood – I. My Mother” in American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends by Zitkála-Šá
Click on the excerpt title below for more about Edna St. Vincent Millay (b. 1829) and Zitkála-Šá (b. 1876).
“I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: you can’t keep weaving all day
And undoing it all through the night;
Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,
And your husband has been gone, and you don’t know where, for years.
Suddenly you burst into tears;
There is simply nothing else to do.”
— quoted from the poem “An Ancient Gesture” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Please join me today (Saturday, February 22nd) 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 “022222 An Ancient Gesture”]
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.)
