Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Life, Love, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Suffering, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: 988, Adhyayana, Ajna, Blood, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, Dr. Paul Emmerez, Dr. Richard Lower, klishtaklishta, klişţāklişţāh, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, siddhis, Sir Walter Scott, Uha, Yoga Sutra 2.24, Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.7
Happy Pride! Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension and/or uprooting ignorance so we can all have more peace, freedom, and wisdom (inside and outside).
“Uha means ‘knowledge without doubt, clear understanding, intuitive knowledge.’ It is the power of revelation – the fundamental force behind all human discovery. It has its source in mahat tattva, the pure and pristine manifestation of Ishvara’s prakriti, and is therefore infinite. In our day-to-day life, it manifests in the form of discerning power. This is also the force behind our memory.”
“Adhyayana means ‘study, analyze, and comprehend.’ We have the capacity to study, analyze, and comprehend an abstract idea whether it is spoken, written, or implied. We even have the capacity to decipher our own and others’ intention and predict the causes as well as the far-reaching effects of those intentions.”
— quoted from the commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.24 from The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
According to Yoga Sūtras 1.5-7, we all have functional/not afflicted thought patterns and dysfunctional/afflcited thought patterns, the latter of which creates suffering. Those two types of thought patterns can come in the form of correct understanding, false understanding, imagination (which is sometimes translated as “verbal delusions”), deep/dreamless sleep, and memory. Obviously, we want as much functional, correct understanding as possible and that comes from direct/sense perception, inference, and revelation documented in sacred text and/or scriptures.
But….
How do you know what you know? How do you know what you know is true? We all know there are things we don’t know; however, there are also things that we don’t know we don’t know. So, how do you know that what you don’t know you don’t know doesn’t negate what you think you know is true?
Maybe you don’t.
Maybe you can’t.
Or maybe you have no interest in going down that particular philosophical rabbit hole at [insert whatever time it is for you here].
There is also the possibility that you are someone who just knows — or who thinks you know — when someone is telling the truth. Maybe you have a feeling, a sense, a sensation that is information. We all have that. Unfortunately, we can all ignore that gut feeling, that prickly feeling, that little Spidey-sense. We can also override it.
Of course, there is another type of person you could be.
You could be the type of person who thinks/feels that you can tell whether a person is trustworthy just by looking at them. Not because you are using the first and third of the siddhis (“abilities”) described as “unique to being human,” but because… you know, “blood will tell” or “blood will out.”
Click on the titles to find out why some things don’t mean what we think they mean.
FTWMI: Blood Will Tell (or Blood Will Out)…
Thicker Than…? (a”missing” 2-for-1 post, for Monday-Tuesday)
“The first words he said when he had digested the shock, contained a magnanimous declaration, which he probably was not conscious of having uttered aloud – ‘Weel – blude’s thicker than water – she’s welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same.’”
— quoted from “Chapter IX, Die and endow a college or a cat. Pope.” of Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer (pub. 1815) by Sir Walter Scott, Bart
Please join me today (Saturday, June 15th) 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 “06142020 World Blood Donor Day”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
### QUESTION WHAT YOU KNOW ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.
Tags: 1919, 1989, 19th Amendment, 988, Caroline Myss, chakra, Changing Perspectives, June 4th, Life, Lubavitcher Rebbe, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, protest, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, revolution, Samit D’Cunha, shabda, siddhis, six-four, Sāmkhya Karika, The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Thomas de Saint Maurice, Tiananmen Square, Tristan Ferraro, Visuddha, Viśuddha
Happy Pride! Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing Eastertide; Counting the Omer, and/or working as a force of peace, freedom, and fulfillment (inside and outside).
This is the “missing” post for Tuesday, June 4th. This post contains passing references to sociopolitical conflicts, oppression, and war. You can request an audio recording of this practice or a related 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 ancient philosophers divided the world into four realms of life. Look closely and you will see they are realms of transcendence—because to live means to transcend:….
And we human beings, how do we transcend our bounds? We reach outside of ourselves with words. With dialogue.
Of all creatures, we alone are capable of hearing ourselves through the ears of another.”
— quoted from the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
According to Indian philosophies like Yoga and Sāmkhya, when a person is in their natural state of existence, they are endowed with certain siddhis or “abilities,” six of which are outlined in the Sāmkhya Karika as “powers unique to being human.” The power of word (shabda) is one of these six and Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, described it as the power “to give a form to sound, assign meaning to each segment of sound, and to store both sound and meaning in memory….[and] the capacity to communicate both sound and its meaning to others. We also have the capacity to give a visual form to each segment of sound and the meaning associated with it.” So, this power includes spoken expression, sign language, and written language. It is a power associated with the fifth chakra, which is energetically and symbolically associated with the throat.
The Viśuddha chakra is also associated with will and determination — which is an interesting dynamic when we talk about situations where people fight for the right to be heard while others actively (and systematically) deny those rights. Those types of situations happen all the time and are currently happening all over the world. Since our current events might be a little too fresh to really gain perspective, let’s step back and consider a couple of encounters that took place on two different June 4ths: one happened here in the United States in 1919; the other happened on the other side of the world in 1989. Both involved people who wanted to be heard and governments who opposed that desire. In some ways (most ways), however, the outcomes were very different. In one case, people were disempowered. In the other, some people were empowered with the richest power.
“Your every choice, thought and feeling has biological, environmental, social, personal and global consequence. Actions motivated by personal will that trusts Divine authority, gives you the richest power.”
— quoted from “Morning Visual Meditation” (focus for Chakra 5) by Caroline Myss
For Those Who Missed It: The following is an updated and slightly revised post from 2020. A coda, a 2021 excerpt, and a playlist have been added for additional context.
If you are a certain age or older (as I am) and from certain countries (ditto), and you don’t even have to click on the link above to see the photo. Just the words immediately conjure up the general timing (1989), if not the exact date it appeared around the world (which is June 5th), and circumstances. Even though the picture is still, you can probably “see” the little bits of motion that surround this “incident” in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That’s how the people in China refer to it (if they refer to it): the “June 4 incident” or the “six-four incident.” Not the protest and (definitely not) the massacre, unless they are outside of China.
The Chinese government initially referred to the events in 1989 as a “counterrevolutionary riot,” but then started diminishing the impact. The “counterrevolutionary riot” became just a “riot” and then a “political storm.” Now, the government calls it “political turmoil between the Spring and Summer of 1989.” They did not initially acknowledge that anyone died in and around Tiananmen Square — after what started out as peaceful, student-led protests against the government. Later, they would acknowledge that “some” people were injured and “a few” died…but they still distance the injuries and deaths from the “incident.”
Keep in mind, “some” and “a few” are calculated in the thousands.
More telling than how they speak (or don’t speak) about what happened over those couple of days in 1989, is the fact that if you grew up in China and are 35 years old or younger, you can probably identify the location (after all, it is a landmark in Beijing), but you may not be able to identify the time, date, and circumstances associated with this picture. At least, this was the finding of a PBS interview dated April 11, 2006. When I watched the interview, I was a little surprised. What surprised me even more was that if you grew up in the United States and are 35 years old or younger, you might not even be able to identify the location. (I asked around.)
Now, consider this second picture.
Do you know this woman? Do you have any idea why (or what) this woman would have been celebrating today in 1919? It’s not surprising if you don’t, regardless of your nationality or age (since if you are reading this blog, you probably weren’t alive at the time). But there are some clues; in particular, that date: June 4, 1919. Ring a bell? Does it help if I say she’s connected to the United States?
Feel free to Google it. I’ll wait.
Even if you somehow know this woman is a suffragist, her name (Phoebe E. Burn, “Miss Febb” or “Febb” to her friends) may not mean a whole lot to you. Even if you’ve attended one of my August 18th classes and heard me mention her name (and that of her son, then 24-year old Harry T. Burn, Sr. of Tennessee), it still might not immediately register that the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, was approved by Congress today in 1919. It was passed with 56 “ayes” and 25 “nays,” and ratified by the required three-quarters of the Union on August 18, 1920.
Harry Burn, the Republican Representative from Tennessee, was the youngest congressman and was expected to vote against the amendment; which would have killed the legislation. When he voted, he was wearing a red carnation, indicating he was against the amendment. However, unbeknownst to those around him at the time, he carried a note from his mother telling him, “Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the ‘rat’ in ratification.” And, so he did.
Some states got on board relatively quickly, but it would take a while for other states to make the law officially valid. In fact, women would not “officially” and legally have the right to vote (without impediment from the state) in Alabama (until 1953), Florida (until 1969), Louisiana and Georgia (until 1970), North Carolina (until 1971), South Carolina (until 1973), and Mississippi (until 1984).
If you’re wondering why it took so long, consider the fact that many people in power (i.e., men) saw women as little more than children or property. Additionally, they feared what would happen if the power dynamic shifted and women were not only seen as their equals, but also given equal time to be heard as they voiced their concerns about the country. (Speaking of power dynamics, don’t even get me started on how long it took some states to ratify the 13th Amendment, which didn’t even include the right to vote. Yes, I’m looking at you, Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi.)
Protests, revolution, and change: it always comes down to this. It also comes down, once again, to perspective. When leadership does not get on board with the changes their constituents are demanding, progress is slow and painful. When individuals do not do the little bit that they can do, for as long as they can do it, very little to nothing happens. When people do not speak up to those they love who may be on the wrong side of history, we find ourselves at a stalemate.
Just consider the historical examples of today.
Despite the quarantine (in 2020), the political landscape in China looks similar to 1989 — people are once again protesting. And, while women have the right to vote in the United States, own property, drive, and operate a business (that’s not a brothel, boarding house, and/or saloon), there are still major discrepancies in the lived experiences of American men and women.
But, wait a minute. I’m kind of leaving something (or should I say, someone) out of the discussion. Do you see it? Can you see it? If you can’t, you’re in “good” company, because some people couldn’t see it in 1919 either.
𝄌
Throughout the practice, you may or may not have noticed what was missing, a voice that wasn’t being heard. Sadly, it is a voice that is too often still not heard: the voice of certain marginalized people. While the 15th Amendment to the U. S. constitution theoretically guaranteed Black men the right to vote in 1870, many states and territories implemented laws that prevented African-American men from exercising that right. Similarly, Black women — who were an active and critical part of the suffrage movement — were “legally” prevented from voting until the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Additionally, Native and Indigenous Americans who were granted U. S. citizenship by way of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 (enacted on June 2, 1924), were not always able to enjoy their rights — including the right to vote — until 1948. Again, because states could still legislate barriers to entry.
As I said before, some of these voices are still not being heard. We see this, again and again, as people who cry out against the atrocities happening around the world (including in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Israel and Palestine, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, and Russia)* are silenced or in some way restricted — not only in those areas, but also in these here United States.
Maybe none of this seems like a big deal if you are someone who, historically, is enfranchised, seen, and heard. Consider, however, that we are all part of the same world; we are like different parts of the same body. You can ignore your little or your big toe all you want, but see what happens the next time you stub that toe. See how you move through the world when some part of you is in pain.
Now, consider what happens when you listen to the sensation, the information, communicated by your mind-body and move in a way that cultivates harmony and peace, instead of more pain.
“It is easy to keep oneself in a holding pattern, claiming that one does not know what to do next. But that is rarely true…. Admittedly it is frightening to leave the familiar contents of one’s life, even [when] one’s life is often desperately sad. But change is frightening, and waiting for that feeling of safety to come along before one makes a move only results in more internal torment because the only way to acquire that feeling of security is to enter the whirlwind of change and come out the other end, feeling alive again.”
— quoted from the section entitled “Between the Head and the Heart” in “Chapter 5 – The Fifth Chakra: The Power of Will” of Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06042022 Having A Say”]
NOTE: The YouTube playlist includes speeches that are not available on Spotify. I would add some more recent speeches…, but many of this year’s speeches were “muted.”
First Friday Night Special #8: “Having Our Say / Let’s Get Loud”
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).
*NOTE: According to Humanitarian Law & Policy analysis by Samit D’Cunha, Tristan Ferraro, and Thomas de Saint Maurice — all legal advisers for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “there are over 120 armed conflicts around the world, involving over 60 states and 120 non-state armed groups. The majority of these armed conflicts are of a non-international character, the number of which has tripled since the turn of the millennium.”
### • ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Bhakti, Books, Changing Perspectives, Donate, Healing Stories, Health, Hope, Karma Yoga, Life, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Super Heroes, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: B. B. King, Bertrand Russell, Bhagavad Gita, Camp Winnarainbow, Hog Farm, Nobody for President, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, phun, samkhya, Samyama, sankhya, Seva Foundation, Wavy Gravy, Yoga Sutra 1.30-1.31, yoga sutra 2.18
Be brilliant! Keep your loving-kindness strong and long lasting. Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing the Second Eastertide, Counting the Omer, and/or working as a force of peace, freedom, and fulfillment (inside and outside).
“As we saw in sutra 2.18 , each of us has the capacity to shine and make the world around us shine. However, most of this capacity has become dormant. Shaking off this dormancy and reclaiming our inherent effulgence is tapas. It has nothing in common with the religious concept of austerity.”
— commentary on Yoga Sutra 2:43 in The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
Yoga Sutra 2.18: prakāśkriyāsthitiśīlam bhūtendriyāmakam bhogāpavargārtham dŗśyam
— “The objective world (what is seen), consisted of a combination of elements and senses, and having a nature of illumination, activity, and stability, has two purposes: fulfillment and freedom.
According to Indian Philosophies, like Yoga and Sāmkhya, we humans are capable of extraordinary things. Some siddhis (“abilities”) are so out of the ordinary they seem like Marvel Universe powers or Jedi Knight Tricks. Then, there are six described in the Sāmkhya Karika as “powers unique to being human.” Even if we just stick to those six — which can seem mundane on the surface, using those powers can create, heal, and transform everything and everyone around us.
Unfortunately, according to these same philosophies, we are disempowered by cittavŗtti (“fluctuations of the mind”) and avidyā (“ignorance”). This disempowerment can lead to really obvious signs and ailments, like those listed in the Yoga Sūtras 1.30 – 1.31, as well as in the inability to access the siddhis which are part of “true nature.” Even more tragic is the fact that (a) most people don’t realize these powers are inside of them and all around them and (b) that people are often looking for power in the wrong places.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna warned Arjuna — again and again — about thinking there is only one way to be devoted and only one way to serve. Chapter 18 even outlines the personalities, dispositions, and responsibilities of Seers, Leaders, Providers, and Servers. There is even detailed descriptions about how each role serves the larger community. But, you know who is missing — or, at least not explicitly described?
Someone with a rainbow afro or a cowboy hat, a red nose, a tie-dye shirt, overalls, and a “Nobody for President” button. In other words, a person that must be embraced with conscious “phun.”
“This may seem odd, but that is not my fault.”
— quoted from “25 – Nietzsche” in (Book 3, Modern Philosophy) of History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell (3rd Earl Russell, OM FRS)
This is a slightly revised excerpt from a 2021 post. Some related facts, as well as class details and links, have been updated. Click here for the original post, which focused on one siddhi in particular.
“Are you wavy gravy?”
— B. B. King to a “random” person lying on the stage before his set-up (at the Texas International Pop Festival, 09/01/1969)
Born Hugh Nanton Romney on May 15, 1936, the official clown of the Grateful Dead is not related to the political Romney family. However, as an activist for peace and a hippie (not to mention a self-proclaimed “flower geezer”) he has had a hand in politics and even organized a presidential campaign.
Romney and his wife, Jahanara “Jah” Romney, co-founded Hog Farm, America’s longest running hippie commune, in the 1960’s. They first made it onto the world’s radar when volunteers from Hog Farm provided security for the 1st Woodstock Rock Festival (August 15 – 18, 1969). The Hog Farm volunteers called themselves the “Please Force” — as in, “Please don’t do that, please do this instead.” While providing similar service at the Texas International Pop Festival (09/01/1969), Romney met B. B. King,* who gave him the name “Wavy Gravy.”
Wavy Gravy, co-founded the Phurst Church of Phun, a secret society of comics and clowns dedicated to ending the Vietnam War, because he thought activists dressed as clowns would be less likely to be arrested. In 1980, he ran a “Nobody for President” campaign that included a November 4th rally across from the White House. The campaign “staff” of Yippies (from the Youth International Party) and anarchists mostly promoted the “none of the above” option on the ballot. However, the campaign was known for slogans like “Nobody’s Perfect;” “Nobody Keeps All Promises;” “Nobody Should Have That Much Power;” and “Who’s in Washington right now working to make the world a safer place? Nobody!” He also proclaimed that “Nobody makes apple pie better than Mom. And Nobody will love you when you’re down and out.”
“Keep your sense of humor, my friend; if you don’t have a sense of humor it just isn’t funny anymore.”
— Wavy Gravy
In 1975, Wavy Gravy and Jah founded Camp Winnarainbow, which is a “socially minded, justice focused organization” dedicated to “[doing] something good for a change.” Part of the Hog Farm community, Camp Winnarainbow offers some Adult Camps; 3-year Teen Leadership Programs (for ages 15, 16, and 17); Residential Camps (for ages 7 – 17); and scholarships (some of which used to be funded by proceeds of Ben and Jerry’s “Wavy Gravy” ice cream). While they had to cancel some programming in 2020 (for the first time in 45 years), Camp Winnarainbow was able to move some programs online and safely continue some of their outdoor programming. The programs are committed to “Big Fun” as well as equity, inclusion, and interdependence — not only in theory, but also in practice. Some of the graduates of the Teen Leadership Programs are preparing to take on leadership roles at for future camps and programming.
In 1978, Wavy Gravy and Jahanara Romney joined Dr. Larry Brilliant, Dr. Girija Brilliant, Dr. Nicole Grasset, Ram Dass, and Dr. G. Venkataswamy in co-founding the Seva Foundation. The Brilliants’ had successfully helped eradicate smallpox and were looking for a new initiative. Knowing that over a billion people live with unaddressed vision impairments; that hundreds of millions of underserved people need ongoing eye care; and that 90% of all vision impairment can be prevented or cured, the Seva Foundation grew out of the belief that restoring sight is one of the most effective ways to relieve suffering and reduce poverty. The global non-profit eye organization works with local communities around the world to train local eye-care providers and develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight.
“If you don’t change, you’re dead, so I try to keep changing.”
— Wavy Gravy
The Seva Foundation’s name comes from the Indian concept of “self-less service.” The organization provides critical eye care to underserved communities (especially women, children, and indigenous populations) and has provided surgeries, eyeglasses, medicine, and other eye care services to over 44 million people in over 20 countries — including Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sub-Sahara Africa, and the United States. One of their highlighted programs is Guatemala Brillando (“Brighter Guatemala”), which “is poised to establish five new hospitals and 30 vision centers bringing primary eye care to rural and other areas that are currently underserved. Seva will develop sustainable programs which create jobs for local women and men to help them provide critical services to their home communities.”
Annual benefits for Camp Winnarainbow and the Seva Foundation include some of the same musicians that appeared at the Woodstock Festivals: the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby and Graham Nash, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Ani DiFranco, Ben Harper, Elvis Costello, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Sly and the Family Stone — and, of course, the Woodstock Festivals Master of Ceremonies, Wavy Gravy.
“We’re kind of a family — a huge, expanded family. And we can do any number of things, because each one of us is going to do a different thing. But mostly we’re just going to try and be groovy, and (uh) spread that grooviness to everybody.”
— Wavy Gravy being interviewed at the John F. Kennedy airport in August 1969 (about Hog Farm’s participation at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair)
Please join me today (Wednesday, May 15th) 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 “05152022 Still (Not) Clowning Around”]
“We are all the same person trying to shake hands with our self.”
— Wavy Gravy
Thank you to everyone who Kiss[ed] My Asana!
We surpassed the overall fundraiser goals & one of my personal goals!!! 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!!!
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.
*NOTE: B. B. King passed away May 14, 2015. Rest in power, king!
### “DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO GRIN” ~ Wavy Gravy ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Donate, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma Yoga, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Passover, Philosophy, Religion, Riḍván, Suffering, Volunteer, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: Charlie Harary, Exodus, freedom, International Jazz Day, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Passover, seder, Shemot, svadyaya, svādhyāya, Yoga Sutra 2.1
Many blessings to everyone, and especially to anyone observing Great Lent on Great Tuesday! “Chag Sameach!” to everyone celebrating Passover and/or Counting the Omer! “Happy Riḍván!” to those celebrating “the Most Great Festival.” Happy National Poetry Month & International Jazz Day!
“‘And this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord.’”
— Shemot / Exodus 12:11
The following excerpt is from the 2022 “renewed” version of a 2020 post:
“Every year, as we approach the end of Passover, I think about the first Passover Seder. What would that have been like? How would have felt to celebrate freedom? How would it have felt to give thanks to G-d for that freedom? Charlie Harary points out that while it is natural to think the first Passover Seder occurred a year after exodus, it actually happened the night before exodus. That’s right: G-d commanded the Jewish people to celebrate their freedom and give thanks for being delivered out of Egypt before they were even free — even before they knew their freedom was guaranteed.
Can you imagine doing that? Can you imagine how it would feel? Can you imagine the faith it would take to sit in the middle of your suffering, in the middle of your family and friends as they suffer, and give thanks for what’s to come?
There is a history of this kind of observation in the Hebrew Bible….”
Re-envisioning Freedom, on a Tuesday (a “renewed” post)
“The study of scripture is another way of putting the principle of self-study into practice…. Elaborating on the concept of svādyāya, Vyasa emphasizes that only those texts that embody indisputable knowledge showing us the path to ultimate freedom are an essential component of self-study. In other words, svādyāya entails the study of spiritual texts that are authentic, contain experiential knowledge, and are infused with the energy to guide us on the path of inner freedom.”
— commentary on Yoga Sutra 2:1 in The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
Please join me today (Tuesday, April 30th) 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 “04142020 Envisioning Freedom”]
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).
You can still click here to Kiss My Asana Now! (Or, you can also click here to join my team and get people to kiss [your] asana!)
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
### FEEL FREE ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Abhyasa, Art, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Science, Suffering, Vairagya, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: Bösendorfer, Charles Lim, David Shenk, Dr. Gerald Lynn Early, ECM Records, Fausto Bongelli, Improv, jazz, Köln, Keith Jarrett, Manfred Eicher, Miles Davis, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Robert Dimery, svadyaya, svādhyāya, Tim Harford, Tomasz Trzcinkinski, Vera Brandes
“Chag sameach!” to those who are able to celebrate Tu BiShvat. Peace and blessings to everyone!!
For Those Who Missed It: This is the second part of “Doing: Lessons in unexpected, ridiculously inconvenient, unplayable things (& ‘impossible’ people).” Some content has been added. A version of the following was originally posted in 2022 (and reposted, in a different context, in 2023). You can click on the aforementioned years to find the previous contexts.
“Thus svadhyaya means ‘to study, examine, and reflect on ourselves, our internal states, the objects of our senses, and the current condition of our body and mind, as well as on the thoughts, feelings, and options that are so dear to us.’ For the sake of simplicity, we can translate svadhyaya as ‘self-study.’ Self-study requires that we make an inventory of our physical and mental resources and assess the vitality of our body and the rate at which we are expending it. It also requires that we remain vigilant and avoid dissipating the power of our mind with unwholesome activities.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.1 from The Practice of the Yoga Sūtra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
How do you react when things don’t go your way? What happens when you are very specific about what you want and/or what you need, but then you don’t get either? Are you quick to anger? Or, do you get “hangry” when you haven’t eaten and you have to deal with irritating situations? Do you “see red” at the drop of the hat or the blink of an eye? If so, there are (obviously) practices for that.
There are also handy tips (even if you don’t have a mindfulness-based practice). For instance, it’s ideal to get a good night sleep, eat when you need to, and — as much as you are able — avoid situations and people that push your buttons. Of course, just to be on the safe side, you could just not leave your house on days where you might be easily irritated.
But, what if people are not only expecting you leave your house, they are expecting you to travel across the ocean and put on a show?
And, what if it was a show that had never been performed before?
“You always want to make it as good as it can be, but… But when you have problems that you can’t do anything about, one after another, you start forgetting what you’re actually doing, until it’s time. And that’s one of the secrets….”
— Keith Jarrett in a 2007 interview about his (01/24/1975) Köln Concert
In the 1970’s, 15-year old Vera Brandes started organizing jazz concerts and tours. At around 17, the German teenager started organizing the New Jazz in Cologne concert series. The fifth concert was scheduled for 11:30 PM on January 24, 1975, and it was going to be the first jazz concert at the 1,400-seat Cologne Opera House. The concert would feature a twenty-nine year old jazz pianist named Keith Jarrett, performing improvised solo piano pieces. Yes, that’s right, he was going to make it up as we went along — and the sold out concert would be recorded. (According to last.fm, the tickets were 4 DM [Deutsche Mark] or $5; Wikipedia indicates the 4 DM equaled $1.72.)
Here’s a few other salient details about the American pianist: He has perfect pitch and garnered some international attention (as a classical pianist) when he was in high school in Pennsylvania. He started playing gigs in Boston while attending Berklee College of Music and moved to New York City after about a year. In the Big Apple, he started making a name for himself, playing with jazz greats like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Jack DeJohnette, and the Charles Lloyd Quartet. By the mid-to-late 1960’s, he was playing and recording with his own trios and that’s around the time that Miles Davis invited him to join his jams (alternating and/or playing with Chick Corea).
Keith Jarrett and his own band of musicians — Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, (eventually) Dewey Redman, and a handful of other similarly accomplished musicians (including Sam Brown) — recorded over a dozen albums for Atlantic Records from 1971 to 1976. In that same time period, one iteration of the quartet recorded an album for Columbia Records; but then the label dropped him — theoretically so they could promote Herbie Hancock. Right around the same time the Columbia-door closed, another two others doors opened: Keith Jarrett and his quartet got a contract with Impulse! Records and he was contacted by Manfred Eicher, a German record producer and co-founder of ECM Records.
ECM stands for “Edition of Contemporary Music” and the label is known for high quality jazz and classic music – and musicians who give the side-eye to labels. It was a great creative dwelling place for musicians like Keith Jarrett and Steve Reich, whose music I have also used in some practices. The professional relationship between Keith Jarrett and Manfred Eicher led to the “European quartet” collaborations, solo piano albums, and, eventually, to that legendary concert in Cologne, Germany.
Here’s another important thing to know about Keith Jarrett: He has a reputation for being very, very particular about concert conditions. He doesn’t like audience distractions, especially when he is improvising, so — at the height of his career — audience members were given cough drops during winter concerts and he would sometimes play in the dark to prevent people from taking pictures. He is known for vocalizing while he plays jazz (but not, notably, when he plays classical music) and reportedly led people in group coughs.
Now, imagine you are a musician like this — one who knows their stuff and is also very particular about the instruments you play — and you are presented “the unplayable piano” just hours before you’re meant to play a groundbreaking concert. What if you were also hungry, tired, and sick?
Would you see red? Or would you “accidentally” find goodness?
“KJ: When I was a teenager, my youngest brother had a lot of issues, and didn’t go to school. He couldn’t go outside, so he couldn’t have friends, so he was basically a prisoner in my mother’s house. There was an upright piano there. And occasionally, my brother, knowing zero — meaning really zero — about piano, would work out anger or frustration, which he must have had gobs of, by going to the keyboard and just playing some shit. He didn’t know what notes he was hitting or what would come out. But I realized there were moments that were so good and they came from his ignorance. I’m not sure he even knew they were good moments. But I found myself thinking: how would a pianist ever — how do you approach that if you know the instrument?
DS: How do you find the accidental goodness?”
— Keith Jarrett in response to David Shenk’s question about having a willingness or eagerness to fail, in “Keith Jarrett, Part II: The Q&A” by David Shenk (published in The Atlantic, October 13, 2009)
Keith Jarrett is known for eschewing electronic instruments and equipment. Obviously, he appreciates the “need” for recording equipment and he has recorded music while playing electronic instruments. But, it’s not his jam — and it’s definitely not the kind of thing he would request for a solo piano concert in an opera house in 1975. No, someone like Keith Jarrett, at that point in his career, for that concert, would request the piano equivalent of a Rolls-Royce. And that’s exactly what he did; he requested a Bösendorfer Model 290 Imperial, also known as the Imperial Bösendorfer or just as the 290.
The 290 is Bösendorfer’s flagship piano. It is an exquisitely beautiful concert grand piano with an equally memorable sound. In fact, it was specifically designed to be grander than any other piano on the market in 1909. And I mean that in every sense of the word grand. It has 97-keys and a full 8-range octave. For 90 years, it was the only concert grand piano of it’s kind. In 1975, it was easily recognizable by any professional pianist… but probably not by random stagehands (who hadn’t had any reason to deal with such a piano) and possibly not by a teenage concert organizer (who also hadn’t had any reason to deal with such a piano).
Keith Jarrett, however, immediately knew that something was off when he arrived at the Cologne Opera House to find a Bösendorfer baby grand on the stage. To make matters worse, he was tired after traveling and not sleeping for two days, his back hurt, and he was suffering from food poisoning. To add insult to injury, the piano was badly out-of-tune and basically broken. Some of the keys and the foot pedals, one of the distinguishing features on the 290, didn’t work properly. It was simply a rehearsal piano or something someone had put in a backstage corner to warm up their hands before the curtain went up. It was too late to find and move a new piano. Even if they could find what had been requested — or something close, like the Bösendorfer (which would have been 5 keys shorter) — it was raining and Vera Brandes was warned that moving such an instrument in that type of weather would make it impossible to tune in time for the concert.
“Don’t play what’s there. Play what’s not there.”
— Miles Davis
Improvisation – in comedy and in music – is known for things like not breaking the flow (so, not saying “no”); and the concept of “yes, and…;” staying present; and being open to change. But, Keith Jarrett had made up his mind. He said no to that baby grand piano. He declared it categorically “unplayable” and said the concert needed to be canceled. And there’s no indication, anywhere, that he was being a diva. He was just being realistic given his history and his frame of reference. The fact that he was sick and tired just made everything worse.
But the indomitable Vera Brandes had a different history and a different field of possibility. She convinced him that she could find someone to tune (and repair) the piano onstage, which she did. She sent Keith Jarrett and Manfred Eicher to a restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat. In some interviews, Keith Jarrett has said that they didn’t eat much because (a) he wasn’t feeling well, (b) there was a mix-up at the restaurant and their meal was delayed, and (c) they had to get back to the theatre. At some point along the way, they decided to keep the recording engineers — because they were going to get paid no matter what — and record what the musician expected to be a horrible and embarrassing disaster of the first order.
But it wasn’t. It wasn’t not even close.
Instead, the three improvised movements, plus the encore of “Memories of Tomorrow,” became the best selling solo album in jazz history and one of the best-selling piano albums. In the Spring 2019 issue of Daedalus, Dr. Gerald Lyn Early, who has consulted on several Ken Burns documentaries (including Baseball and Jazz), pointed out that Keith Jarrett’s solo concerts changed the sound and people’s understanding of jazz (not to mention, who played it); “…made solo piano playing commercially viable by showing that there was a considerable audience for it[;]” and “…proved that the public was willing to take such records seriously….”
From the very first notes, which sound like the warning tones the audience heard in the lobby before the show, Keith Jarrett carried the audience on a sonorous piano journey unlike anything they had ever heard. The album has been praised by musicians, critics, and publishers alike. It was included in Robert Dimery’s book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Eventually, much to the composers dismay, parts of the composition became movie soundtracks. Many wanted Keith Jarrett to transcribe and publish a score of the concert, which he finally, begrudgingly, agreed to do in 1990. The transcribed score, however, came with a very intentional caveat.
“For instance, on pages 50 and 51 of Part IIa there is no way to obtain, on paper, the real rhythmic sense of this section. There is much more going on on the recording, but this “going on” does not always translate into notes on paper. Many notes are inferred by the rhythmic sense; others depend on the harmonics or attack of the previous note(or notes). So, writing down all the notes would give more of a false view of the sense of this section than selecting some notes. And yet, even this selection cannot reveal the real sense of this section as an improvisation, where listening is what determines the music’s strength.
So – we are at, let us say, a picture of an improvisation (sort of like a print of a painting). You cannot see the depth in it, only the surface.
As a result of all of this, I am recommending that any pianist who intends to play THE KÖLN CONCERT use the recording as the final-word reference.
Good luck!”
— quoted from the “Preface” to THE KÖLN CONCERT: Original Transcription, Piano by Keith Jarrett
Please join me today (Wednesday, January 24th) 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.
**HEADS UP: Houston is experiencing severe storms and power outages.**
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “0123-24/2022 Doing: Lessons in…”]
[NOTE: If it is accessible to you, please consider using the Spotify playlist (or this link with a Premium YouTube account) for the original music referenced in the practice. Even better, if you already have the album!
An authorized original recording is not available on YouTube (in the US) without a “Premium” membership and, after listening to several different “interpretations” — which do not / cannot include the vocalizations — I decided the Fausto Bongelli sounded the closest to the original. Sadly, one movement is missing and so I used a recording by Tomasz Trzcinkinski, who was the first person to record the music using the transcription. There are also now transcriptions for other instruments — which I didn’t sample, even though I think some of them would be lovely. There are also “covers” using electronic instruments, which I’m considering a hard pass (even if it seems contradictory to the theme), out of respect for the composer. ]
You can, as I did, also listen to the Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford episode entitled, “Bowie, Jazz and the Unplayable Piano” where ever you get your podcasts. My 2022 post includes a little information about how I came across the episode. NOTE: The related quote below is from a different episode of that same podcast.
“[Charles Lim is] a neuroscientist a surgeon a jazz saxophonist and one of very few people whose actually, studied the improvising brain. Lim researches people as they improvise inside brain scanners called FMRI machines…..
Through these experiments Lim and other neuroscientists have been discovering hints of what goes on in an improvising brain. There’s a distinctive pattern in the prefrontal cortex — which seems to be the seat of consciousness, memory, morality, humor, and even the sense of self. But, the pattern isn’t that the prefrontal cortex is lighting up during improvisation; on the contrary. Broad areas of it shutting down: the dorsolateral areas, either side of the top of your forehead, and the lateral orbital areas behind your eyes. Improvisers are escaping their internal restraints. They’re letting go.
Most of us go through our days holding back our mental impulses to swear or lash out. All this requires a degree of self-control; so that filtering is a good thing. But you can have too much of a good thing, says Charles Lim. Too much filtering can squash our creativity. Improvisers shut down their inner critics and allow new ideas to flow out. The improvising brain is disinhibited — although, not so crudely as the drunk brain. That is why improvisers can produce flashes of pure brilliance. It’s also why improvisation feels so risky….”
— quoted from the Cautionary Tales podcast episode “Martin Luther King Jr; the Jewelry Genius; and the Art of Public Speaking” by Tim Harford
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.)
### Play On! ###
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
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! ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Changing Perspectives, Food, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Music, New Year, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Twin Cities, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.
Tags: 612 Jungle, “Yoga Week”, Center for the Performing Arts, Constitution, David Bowie, Dr. Stephen Hawking, Elvis, Elvis Presley, Joe South, North Community High School, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, President Calvin Coolidge, Roosevelt High School, State of the Union, yoga
May your mind-body-spirit be well, be great, and be in harmony with your thoughts, words, and deeds.
This can be considered a “missing” and “long lost” post for Monday, January 8th (with one tiny reference to January 9th). Other than the Wednesday (7:15 PM, CST) practice, there are no Zoom practices until Saturday, January 13th. You can request an audio recording of previous practices via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
“He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…”
— quoted from “Article. II. Section. 3.” of the The Constitution of the United States
Any time we get on the mat (or the cushion) we scan our mind-body-spirit and get a sense of how things are (or are not) working and working together. In other words, we address the state of our “union.” I put that last part in quotes, because the Sanskrit word yoga translates into English as “union” — and, so, we get on the mat and spend a little time delivering our own personal State of the Union address (to ourselves).margin-top:
George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address to the joint sessions of Congress in New York City, the proposed capital of the fledgling United States of America, on January 8, 1790. His interpretation of “from time to time” was annually and other presidents followed suit. Up until Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the phrase “State of the Union,” in his 1934 address, it was called “the President’s Annual Message to Congress.” People often think presidents are required to deliver an oral speech, however, the State of the Union does not have to be spoken. In fact, Thomas Jefferson discontinued speeches in 1801, and the tradition of a U. S. president speaking in front of Congress was not re-established until Woodrow Wilson’s speech in 1913.
Some presidents, like Jimmy Carter, delivered spoken and written addresses during their time in office. For instance, former President Carter’s last State of the Union address (in 1981) was the last written address, so far. Presidents have delivered written address for various reasons. Sometimes illness or political conflicts resulted in a written speech. At other times, there was a desire to provide clarification and nuance that they may have felt would be missed if a speech was delivered. In fact, the lengthiness of the address resulted in some being written — and some being written and partially delivered or summarized. President Richard Nixon (who celebrated his birthday on January 9th) gave Congress six (6) written State of the Union address in 1973, with each message being preceded by a radio address.
Former President Nixon was not, however, the first president to utilize media and technology in order to share the State of the Union with the entire Union. Nor was he the only president to submit a written address to Congress and broadcast a summary for the populace. Warren G. Harding was the first U. S. president to speak on the radio, in 1922, but he unexpectedly died in office, in 1923. Later that year, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to deliver a State of the Union on the radio and his first words were addressed the untimely death of his predecessor.
“Since the close of the last Congress the Nation has lost President Harding. The world knew his kindness and his humanity, his greatness and his character. He has left his mark upon history. He has made justice more certain and peace more secure. The surpassing tribute paid to his memory as he was borne across the continent to rest at last at home revealed the place lie held in the hearts of the American people. But this is not the occasion for extended reference to the man or his work. In this presence, among these who knew and loved him, that is unnecessary. But we who were associated with him could not resume together the functions of our office without pausing for a moment, and in his memory reconsecrating ourselves to the service of our country. He is gone. We remain. It is our duty, under the inspiration of his example, to take up the burdens which he was permitted to lay down, and to develop and support the wise principles of government which he represented.”
— quoted from the “First Annual Message,” delivered December 06, 1923 by President Calvin Coolidge
Just as radio changed the reach and impact of the State of the Union address, so too have television, the internet, and social media. Former President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised State of the Union, in 1947, and former President Lyndon B. Johnson set the precedent of delivering a televised speech during primetime (while using a teleprompter). In 1997, the first State of the Union on the internet was delivered by former President Bill Clinton — who also has the unfortunate distinction of being the first to deliver a State of the Union during an impeachment trial.
Of course, former President Clinton was not the first or the last president to deliver a State of the Union address during a time great tragedy and/or national embarrassment. Former President Ronald Reagan postponed his 1986 address because of the Challenger disaster and, in 2019, the then-sitting president was “disinvited” by the then Speaker of the House. Such events change our perspective of current events and, therefore, place the (actual) state of the Union in a certain context. In other words, what we are going through individually and collectively allows — and/or causes — us to see things in a certain way.
“My expectations were reduced to zero at twenty-one. Everything since then has been a bonus.
Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.”
— Dr. Stephen Hawking (CH CBE FRS FRSA)
When we practice on January 8th, I sometimes reference Stephen William Hawking, the theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and director of research, who was born January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England. When he was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease in his early 20’s, he was forced to take a daily accounting of his mind, body, and spirit — as well as how they were (or were not) working… let alone working together. For similar reasons, the playlist includes music by Elvis Aaron Presley, who was born January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and by David Bowie, who was born January 8, 1947, in London, England. I include the “King of Rock and Roll” and “Ziggy Stardust,” because they produced great music AND, also, because their music gives us a musical (and visual) picture of the state of society (in America and in the world) at various points in history. Additionally, moving to their music — mindfully and “in a special way” — can awaken our awareness of how our different parts are (or are not) working… let alone working together.
“If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way
To get inside each other’s mind, uh huh
If you could see you through my eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be, I believe you’d be
Surprised to see
That you’ve been blind, uh huh”
— quoted from the song “Walk A Mile In My Shoes” by Elvis Presley (written by Joe South)
“I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now”
— quoted from the song “Lazarus” by David Bowie
As established by Article II, Section 3 of the U. S. Constitution, the State of the Union address is a re-cap of and reflection on the recent past and a look forward with hope, expectation, and a plan. Since it generally happens as early as January 3rd and as late as February 12th
, it is pretty much the same thing individuals do at the beginning of the year — and, also, what we have the opportunity to do every time we step on the mat: look at what’s worked and what hasn’t worked in the past and propose on a way to move forward.
This year, my personal State of the Union finds me back in Minnesota simultaneously looking forward and back, reflecting on what worked (or didn’t work) over the last 15+ years, the last almost 4 years, and the last week. Like the presidents of yesteryear, I am not going to spend a bunch of time recounting the negative stuff, I am just going to use it to provide a little context for the good stuff.
“A tranquil and one-pointed mind is purposefully creative. With such a mind you get more done in less time, and what is more, because it is done with clarity and purpose, the work you undertake is not a burden and does not become a source of misery.
A confused mind is not fit to follow any path. It is not even in a position to tell the body and senses what is good for them and what is not. That is why we go on complying with the urges of the body and senses, even when these urges serve no useful purpose. Such a mind has no way of deciding what it should unite with or what it should separate from; this confusion is what causes a person to live a purposeless, meaningless life.”
— quoted from “Yoga: Union with What?” (a Q&A response) by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
When my “hostess with the most-est” first suggested the idea of me returning to Minnesota for a couple of weeks, she had said that she had (and I quote), That could be considered “no expectations” and, also, could be a way to describe the practice of non-attachment in the modern world: speak a plan into exist, do some work to make it happen, and be open to the way it unfolds.
I, however, had a bit of an agenda and some expectations — if only because I normally offer some special practices on New Year’s Day and on the First Friday Night of each month. I also had some hopes and desires about reconnecting — uniting, if you will — with some people I had seen in awhile. Then, too, I had the awareness that it had been a long time since most of us had practiced together (let alone together-together) and that some things about each and everyone of us are different. My desires, hopes, agendas, expectations, and even fears could all be considered forms of attachment and afflicted/dysfunctional thinking. In other words, they could all lead to suffering… and, on a certain level they did.
I had moments of frustration and disappointment. I know others also had similar moments (for different reasons). However, when everything is said and done, I am overwhelmed by gratitude. After almost four years of practicing together-while-apart, I am so very grateful that so many people were able to join in “Yoga Week” (as some of you were calling the first week of January 2024). I appreciated the presence of everyone who physically practiced in our four (4) studios — as well as to those who Zoomed in from as far away as Portland and the Middle East and those who did their best and could only make it in spirit.
I am forever grateful to my hostess for planting the seed, nourishing that seed and, doing so much to make it happen (including sharing her family and her practice). Similarly, I am grateful for the people who suggested possible spaces and the four lovely lovelies who connected me and helped me get situated in our “pop up” studios. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you to the staff members at Center for the Performing Arts, Gabrielle and the teachers at 612 Jungle, and the teachers and staff at Roosevelt High School and North Community High School. Thank you for those who offered technical support (even before I arrived) and thank you to everyone who offered me a ride (even if I didn’t take it), fed me, offered to feed me, and/or made a donation (so I can feed myself when I get back to Texas)! Thank you, in advance, for those who will make it to the Open House on Thursday and thank you to JK who is opening her heart, home, and hearth to us exactly four years (to the date) from the last time we gathered together.
Looking forward, I hope this week has reignited you and your practice. I hope it has given you some insight into what comes next for you. I hope it has allowed you to let go of some things that no longer serve you, so that you can move it the new year with a little more unencumbered purpose and determination. I hope that purpose and determination inspires you to plan… something. I hope you are safe and protected, peaceful and happy, healthy and strong, and that you have ease and well being from this day forward.
As for me: I am open to coming back… for a visit. Maybe it will be another New Year Yoga Week; maybe it will be a series of workshops and/or a retreat. Maybe it will be in another place all together, but we will be back — together — again.
“In contrast, a peaceful, one-pointed mind has a natural ability to see itself, its role, and its place in relation to both body and soul. This ability allows the mind to command the body to discharge its duty to hear and heed the voice of the soul. The practices that help us acquire a one-pointed mind are called yoga. Reaching that state is the goal of yoga.”
— quoted from “Yoga: Union with What?” (a Q&A response) by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
The 2022 playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for 01082022 State of the “Union”]
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.)
### YOGA ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Mantra, Meditation, Music, New Year, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: 2021, 2024, Dr. Oliver Sacks, Fernando Pagés Ruiz, Jhumpa Lahiri, Johannes Mercurius, King Athalaric, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Pope John II, pratyahara, Pratyāhāra, Sri T. Krishnamacharya, The Acts of the Apostles, The Book of Acts, William Shakespeare, yoga sutra 1.34, Yoga Sutra 2.54, yoga sutras, Yoga Sutras 2.47-2.51
Happy 2024 to Everyone!
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2021. Click here if you are interested in the follow-up post from 2022. Class details have been added.
“Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet….
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;”
— Juliet (on the balcony) in Act II, scene I of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Here we are, a New Year and a new beginning — but we still have a big mess leftover from before. The world has been here before. In fact, Johannes Mercurius found himself here in 533 AD. He was a native of Rome, who became a priest at the Basilica of Saint Clement (Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano) on Caelian Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome. The basilica has an interesting history — not the least of which is that contains memorials and references to “Johannes surnamed Mercurius” and “Presbyter Mercurius.” I might dive into that rabbit hole one day, but I mention all this today, because Johannes made quite a name for himself in the church.
Quite literally, he made a name for himself: Today in 533, he was elected pope and decided to change his name to Pope John II. Nowadays, someone changing their name when they are elevated to the Papacy is the ruler rather than the exception. However, Pope John II was the first pontiff to take a new name to mark the beginning of his Papacy and he did it for two reasons. First, he was named after the Roman (and therefore “pagan”) god Mercury; which made his birth name highly inappropriate. Second, he wanted to send a message to the Church and the world about his intention and expectations as Pope.
Pope John II started his Papacy during a time when everything and anything within the Church was for sale. “Simony,” named for a Simon who is associated with sorcery in The Acts of the Apostles, is the practice of purchasing or selling religious appointments, offices, and positions. According to The Catholic Catholic Encyclopedia: Infamy-Lapparent (as published in 1910), the Church’s highest office was unfilled for two months and, during that time, people were very openly, and “shameless[ly] trafficking in sacred things…. Even sacred vessels were exposed for sale.” Given that the position was ultimately filled by a man bearing a Roman god’s name, who had given the Church quite a few “gifts,” one can’t help but wonder how Pope John II came into his position. Either way, simony was outlawed by the Church and the teenage king, Athalaric, right around the time the new pontiff was elevated.
“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”
— The Acts of the Apostles (8:18 – 8:22, KJV)
The 533 decree outlawing simony is interesting in that this rule banning bribery required that whenever there was a disputed election, the Church had to pay the poor three thousand pieces of silver. King Althalaric gave Pope John II the responsibility of overseeing the collection and distribution of such penalties. At the same time, the new pontiff had to deal with an adulterous bishop and also decide whether or not to reinstate bishops in Africa who had started teaching and practicing a form of Christianity that rejected the theology of the Holy Trinity. Clearly, he had a lot on his plate and he wanted — nay, needed — a name that sent a very definitive statement about his intentions moving forward. He needed a name that held some esteem, especially as it related to the bishops in Africa. Ultimately, he choose to name himself after Pope John I, who had been beatified and venerated as a martyr after establishing a precedent in relation to Christians who denied the divinity of Jesus in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire.
Pope John II did not have a chance to make a ruling on the issue of bishops in Africa, as the controversy was brought to him shortly before his death on May 8, 535. But the practice of changing one’s name had been established. It didn’t take right away. In fact, it would be 450 years after Pope John II changed his name before another pontiff (this time, birth name Pietro Canepanova — a very good Catholic name, as he was named after the first Pope) would change his name: also to John. This Pope John (XIV) would immediately be followed by a “John” who actually kept his birth name, Pope John XV (born Giovanni di Gallina Aba), who would be followed by a series of pontiffs who would change their names. Thus far, Pope John is the most popular papal name, with 23 (excluding the ones known as John Paul).
“In Bengali the word for pet name is daknam, meaning, literally, the name by which one is called , by friends, family, and other intimates, at home and in other private, unguarded moments. Pet names are a persistent remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.”
— quoted from The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
There is something to be said for naming things, and people — even, maybe especially, ourselves. January 2nd is a day when I usually ask people to consider what name they would use to indicate how they would like to move through the new year. The name would be something positive and active — something from the heart — that can serve as a message to others and a reminder to one’s self: something to bring the awareness back to your purpose, mission, or guiding principle. Something to keep you focused.
Yoga, Buddhism, and even modern Psychology all have practices centered around the naming of things. The naming, or sometimes labeling, of an object (even a non-tangible object) is a way of bringing awareness to awareness and also to one’s understanding (or lack of understanding) about the nature of things. This practice can be a vital aspect of practicing non-attachment. It can also help someone stay focused, in particular by continuously turning the awareness back to a single point and/or away from that which may be distracting.
You can try this by doing “that 90-second thing” with the intention of focusing on your breath and anytime your mind drifts away bring it back by thinking, “Inhale. Exhale,” along with the breath. Alternately, you can think there word, “Thinking,” or some combination thereof. There more you do this the less you may need to do this in order to stay focused, but never forget that there is merit/benefit to doing this type of practice every time you sit (if that’s what the mind-body needs).
“‘Every act of perception,’ [Dr. Gerald] Edelman writes, ‘is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.’”
“Many composers, indeed, do not compose initially or entirely at an instrument but in their minds. There is no more extraordinary example of this than Beethoven, who continued to compose (and whose compositions rose to greater and greater heights) years after he had become totally deaf. It is possible that his musical imagery was even intensified by deafness…. There is an analogous phenomenon in those who lose their sight; some people who become blind may have, paradoxically, heightened visually imagery.”
— quoted from Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Dr. Oliver Sacks
Pratyāhāra, the fifth limb of the 8-limbed Yoga Philosophy, is often defined as sense withdrawal. People may think of it as suppressing the senses or ignoring sensation, but in fact the practice is more about acknowledging all that is and choosing on what to focus the mind. Additionally, the yoga tradition understands the experience of sensation as being an engagement of the sense organs and also the mind. So there is internal and external action, which makes the practice two-fold and as much, if not more, about turning inward as about turning away from something outward.
In the commentary for this week’s sūtra, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, explains that, “Following the grammatical rules of Sanskrit, it is translated from back to front: hāra means ‘to pull, to withdraw, to bring, to carry’; ā means ‘from every direction in every respect’; and prati means ‘toward.’ Thus pratyāhāra means ‘pulling the mind from every direction and in every respect to a focal point.’” The Yoga Sūtras of Patanjali not only defines and lays out a path towards the practice; it also offers instruction on some beneficial focal points.
One point that consistently stands out as beneficial is the practice of drawing all awareness to the breath and the experience of breathing. (YS 1.34) Remember, however, that before one can really focus all awareness on the breath and the experience of breathing one’s mind-body has to stable and comfortable, steady and at ease, balanced between effort and relaxation. (YS 2.47) Even then, one has to be aware of all the parts of the breath and the different experiences of breathing in order to transcend the experiences of the various parts. (YS 2.49 – 2.51) Even then, one has to be willing to put in the time and effort… especially the time, because there is a bit of math related to the practice.
Yoga Sūtra 2.54: svaişayāsamprayoge cittasyasvarūpānukāra ivendriyāņām pratyāhārah
— “Withdrawing from every direction toward a focal point, the sense organs and actions cease engaging with the [corresponding] sense objects and become like the true nature of the mind.
“A minimum of 48 seconds is required for the bonding between prana and mind to fully mature. Thus pranayama is not defined by how long we hold the breath but rather by how long we hold our mind on the subtle movement of prana in the pranic field.
When mental concentration is 12 times longer than the period of concentration defining pranayama, it is pratyahara…. Dharana, concentration, is 12 times longer than pratyahara. Our capacity to concentrate increases with practice, allowing dharana to mature into dhyana and Samadhi.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.54 from The Practice of the Yoga Sūtra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
Please join me today (Tuesday, January 2nd) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a (virtual or in-person) yoga practice. You must be registered to attend in person. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems logging into Zoom for 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 “10202020 Pratyahara”]
NOTE: The YouTube playlist has been updated for more consistent timing and additional music has been added to the before/after practice music.
“[T. K. V.] Desikachar realized that his father felt that every action should be an act of devotion, that every asana should lead toward inner calm. Similarly, [Sri. T.] Krishnamacharya’s emphasis on the breath was meant to convey spiritual implications along with psychological benefits. According to Desikachar, Krishnamacharya described the cycle of breath as an act of surrender: ‘Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.’”
— quoted from the May/June 2001 Yoga Journal article entitled “Krishnamacharya’s Legacy” by Fernando Pagés Ruiz
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.)
### CONTROL YOUR OWN MIND ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Abhyasa, Books, Fitness, Health, Life, Meditation, Philosophy, Science, Vairagya, Yoga.
Tags: asana, Franz Xaver Kappus, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, pranayama, Rainer Maria Rilke, Swami Jnaneshvara, Walt Whitman, Yoga Sutra 2.48, Yoga Sutra 2.49, Yoga Sutra 2.50, Yoga Sutra 3.15
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy (and curious about all the ways you can breathe), during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (November 25th – December 10th) and on all the other days of your life.
“Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs.”
— Walt Whitman writing about the new game, baseball, in the Brooklyn Eagle (07/23/1846)
Today‘s practice begins with the question at the end of yesterday‘s blog post — “What Helps You Breathe Deeply In and Breathe Deeply Out?” — and it becomes another opportunity to live, breathe, and explore questions about how we breathe and what helps us breathe deeply, every time we inhale and every time we exhale. It is, also, another opportunity to consider the situations when we shallow breathe and/or hold our breath due to situational or chronic stress, trauma, and grief (or even breathtaking beauty); to notice when those little moments become conditioned habits; and to begin playing around with different ways to break bad habits and/or change habitual patterns that no longer serve us. Finally, it is part of the process that allows each of us to more fully engage the vitality of our mind-body and the wisdom of our heart and spirit.
While we can do this together, it is very much an individual practice. Each of us has to acknowledge our own history and sore spots; each of us has to figure out what works for us based on what we have experienced in the past; and each of us has to put on our own (metaphorical) oxygen mask.
For Those Who Missed It: The following is a slightly revised version of a post from Saturday, December 5, 2020. The playlist has been updated with more “air” (so that the timing is the same, but it may feel different). Some embedded links will direct you to another site.
“There are thousands of postures. In order to heal our physical and psychological injuries we must learn to select the postures suitable to our specific needs and arrange them in the proper sequence. Sequencing of asana is crucial because, as with anything else, a change in sequence drastically changes the result. (YS 3:15). Next, we have to practice these properly sequenced postures while staying within the boundaries of our comfort. Then, we must take our practice to the point where we are able to feel and touch the threshold of our discomfort. We refine our practices as we apply the principle of effortless effort described in the previous sutra.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.48 from The Practice of the Yoga Sūtra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
All the cues on moving into and activating a pose can be really overwhelming. It can seem constant and continuous… because it is. I often tell beginners not to worry about doing what they don’t understand — or even, to an extent, what doesn’t make sense. Do what you can do, as much as you can do it, for as long as you can do it (to paraphrase a very wise man) and eventually things start falling into place. Literally, the more you practice, the more parts of you start aligning. Yes, it’s true, that you can practice incorrectly — and you can do it for a really long time. It’s also true that when doing something wrong becomes the habit (and the practice) things don’t fall into place… things fall apart. We see that in our mind-bodies and we see it in the world.
Do you ever wonder where all this information came from? Do you every think about that first yogi, Adiyoga, and those first seven students? Initially, no one told anyone how to do anything. The first seven were inspired by seeing someone else do something they thought had value — and then they listened to their own mind-body! The question is always: How can I breathe deeply here? Or, what can I do to breathe more deeply here? And the answer is already inside of us. We just have to “listen,” which in the case of our mind-body requires paying attention to sensation, to how we’re feeling and how we are responding to what’s happening inside of us and all around us. That’s the practice.
“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
Being human, we have the ability to play, explore, and experiment; to see what works, when and where it works; and to notice for how long something works. Thus, someone started moving their body into different shapes and then breathing into those different shapes, which had different effects. Then they would move into the shapes in a different way, breathe into that different way, and noticed the different effects. Then they saw other people could do the same and experience similar effects. Then people, like Patanjali and Vyasa, started to codify the practice by writing it down. And this whole process and practice comes back to the breath, the spirit, the life force — and different ways to breathe, engage the spirit, and expand life.
Yoga Sūtra 2.49: tasminsati śvāsapraśvāsayorgativicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmahaḥ
— “Prāṇāyāma, which is expanding the life force by controlling the movement of the inhalation and exhalation, can be practiced after completely mastering [the seat or pose].”
Yoga Sūtra 2.50: bāhyābhyantarastambhavṛttirdeśakālasasaṃkhyābhiḥ paridṛṣṭo dīrghasūkṣmaḥ
— “The breath may be stopped externally, internally, or checked in mid-motion, and regulated according to place, time and a fixed number of moments, so that the [pause] is either protracted or brief.”
In the commentary for Yoga Sūtra 2.50, Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati is quick to point out that while stambha (“cessation” or “transition”) is often translated into English as retention and therefore equated with kumbhaka (which is retention), there is a subtle difference in the usage here. First, the practice involves awareness of three parts of the breath: inhalation, exhalation, and the transition (or pause) between the first two parts — which is repeated twice. Next, there is the slowing or expansion of the breath (as described in YS. 2.49). Finally, there is awareness and regulation of the breath in different places in the body — even directing it to those places; controlling the time (or length and duration of the breath); and counting (or numbering) each part of the breath.
Breath regulation in place, time, and by numbering can involve the practice of kumbhaka, which is breath retention achieved by holding the breath on the inhalation or exhalation, and/or stambha vŗitti kumbhaka, which is breath retention achieved in the middle of an inhalation or exhalation. Notice that the breath retention highlights transition.
Any breath retention is considered an advanced practice and, just as is instructed with more “basic” types of prāņāyāma, should only be practiced after mastering previous elements. Some teachers advise only practicing kumbhaka after it naturally arises in your practice. This does not mean that you are ready to practice breath retention when you finding yourself holding your breath or shallow breathing because you are overly challenged in a pose or sequence. In fact, it means quite the opposite.
“Patanjali assumes that aspirants who reached this level of yoga sadhana are familiar wth the practice of the seven pranayamas, which together constitute the practice of prana anusandhana. Therefore, these aspirants have built a strong foundation for practicing the three advanced pranayama techniques he is presenting here.”
— commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.48 from The Practice of the Yoga Sūtra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
The practicing of connecting the breath — and connecting to the breath — is broken down into the following seven steps:
- Aharana prāņāyāma – which is “to bring back” and revolves around awareness of the breath and how it feels in the body, as well as positioning the body so there is no shakiness, interruption, or abnormal breathing.
- Samikarana prāņāyāma – which is “to equalize,” and involves maintaining an equal calmness in the breathing and in the mind-body. There is also focus on certain areas of the mind-body.
- Dirge-prashvasa prāņāyāma – which is “long exhalation,” and involves focus on certain areas of the mind-body.
- Nadi shodhana prāņāyāma – which is alternate energy channel or alternate nasal breathing, and involves alternating the exhale and inhale between nostrils.
- Anuloma prāņāyāma – which is “to follow the same path,” and involves rapidly inhaling and exhaling through only one nostril.
- Viloma prāņāyāma – which is “to follow the reverse path,” and involves exhaling through one nostril and then inhaling through the other.
- Pratlioma prāņāyāma – which is “to switch paths back and forth,” and is only practiced after the previous two are mastered.
Note that the last three are practices only intended for people who are healthy and have no underlying conditions. Additionally, please note that these terms are also sometimes used when referring to a specific pattern of breathing related to length and duration of each part of the breath.
Please join me today (Tuesday, December 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 (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “10272020 Pranayama II”]
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.)
### To live is to breathe. To breathe with intention is the practice. To live with intention is the goal. ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Changing Perspectives, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: Immanuel Kant, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Peace of the Pyrenees
May we all be safe and protected / May we all be peaceful and happy
“In the conventional practice of non-violence we are not led to entertain a stream of structured, organized non-violent thoughts. For example, when someone slaps us on the right cheek, we are told to offer the left one also—this is said to be practicing non-violence. But this approach to non-violence does not free us from pain, nor does it purify our mind. According to Vyasa, we must design a system of practice that neutralizes the force of violence, step-by-step and point-by-point.”
— quoted from the commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.33 from The Practice of the Yoga Sutra: Sadhana Pada by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD
Please join me today (Tuesday, November 7th) 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 “11072020 Finding A Peaceful Seat”]
“SECTION I
CONTAINING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES FOR PERPETUAL PEACE AMONG STATES
1. ‘No Treaty of Peace Shall Be Held Valid in Which There Is Tacitly Reserved Matter for a Future War’
Otherwise a treaty would be only a truce, a suspension of hostilities but not peace, which means the end of all hostilities–so much so that even to attach the word “perpetual” to it is a dubious pleonasm.
— quoted from the 1795 essay “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” by Immanuel Kant
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.)
### OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI AUM ###
A Joyful Practice 