May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (November 25th – December 10th) and on all the other days of your life.
“As for him who neither possesses nor can acquire them, let him take to heart the words of Hesiod; ‘He is the best of all who thinks for himself in all things. He, too, is good who takes advice from a wiser. But he who neither thinks for himself, nor lays to heart another’s wisdom, this is a useless man.’”
— quoted from “Book I, Chapter II” of The Ethics of Aristotle: Volume The First by Aristotle (London: Arthur L. Humphreys 1902, Revised from the translation by D. P. Chase, published at Oxford in 1847)
Everyone needs a moment (or two) of discernment; a moment (or two) to pause, reflect, and reevaluate. Part of me wishes I could say that that is all I did over this last week. However, I am very grateful to note that my week away from teaching include a lot of craic: good food, music, laughter, and stories (sometimes in the form of movies) with some of my chosen family, friends, and a couple of wonderful doggies.
There were also some unexpected complications and those, it turns out, led to quite a bit of insight. Some of which I will share with you at a later date. In the meantime, here are excerpts (and a video) from some of the blog posts related to the last week of classes.
THANKSGIVING
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
“Will Rogers, billed as the Oklahoma Cowboy, in a rope act is a feature at the Orpheum this week. He does wonders in rope spinning but you get so much interested in his ‘patter’ that you forget to watch the tricks, as he calls them. He is a monolinguist disguised in chaps, and one of the best ever….
PD. Printed in Kansas City Post and Journal, ca. 26 October 1914. Scrapbook 1914, CPpR”
— quoted from The Papers of Will Rogers: From Vaudeville to Broadway: Volume Three, September 1908 – August 1915 by Will Rogers, edited by Arthur Frank Wertheim and Barbara Bair
“The reader who finds these three episodes of no interest need read this book no further, for in a sense the central theme of my life is about nothing else. For those who are still disposed to proceed I will only underline the quality common to the three experiences; it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”
— quoted from Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by C. S. Lewis
“‘Mine was the first cry for justice, and a loud one. I made it so that our own adult leaders couldn’t just be nice anymore. Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don’t the adults around here just say something?’”
— quoted from Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
We shall breathe and break things down (i.e., metabolize things) during the First Friday Night Special on December 5th, 7:15 PM – 8:20 PM, CST)
&
I will offer in-person classes at the beginning of January 2026. (*DETAILS COMING SOON!*)
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
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.)
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone expressing friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.
Stay safe! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind. BREATHE!
This (short) “missing” compilation post, for Wednesday, November 12th, features previously posted content with a little something extra at the end (i.e., the coda). My apologies for not posting the music before the practices.You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
SUFFRAGE, noun [Latin, French > Late Middle English] — the right to vote in political elections.
“late Middle English (in the sense ‘“intercessory prayers”’, also ‘“assistance”’): from Latin suffragium, reinforced by French suffrage. The modern sense of ‘“right to vote”’ was originally US (dating from the late 18th century).”
— quoted from Oxford Languages
Who do you imagine when you imagine a suffragist? What do they look like to you? Who immediately comes up in your mind?
While the word “suffragist” literally means “a person advocating that the right to vote be extended to more people”, many people automatically associate the idea with the women’s suffrage movement. Odds are that, even though men can be — and, historically, have been — suffragists, the person you envisioned was a woman.
Normally (as noted in the excerpt below), this is where I start a practice on November 12th — with the question, “What is a woman”? Today, however, I want to jump forward (and back) to the question of how you imagine a suffragist. Because, while there were American suffragists — even in leadership roles — who looked like me and were interested in ensuring the suffrage (and citizenship) of people of various identities, the person you envisioned probably looked like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was born today in 1815, in Johnstown, New York.
“If I were to draw up a set of rules for the guidance of reformers, such as Franklin and other celebrities tell us they did for their own use, I should put at the head of the list: Do all you can, no matter what, to get people to think on your reform, and then, if your reform is good, it will come about in due season.”
— quoted from a diary entry dated “Cleveland, August 20 [1888]” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (as published in Elizabeth Cady Stanton As Revealed in Her Letterz, Diary and Reminiscences, Edited by Theodore Stanton and Harriot Stanton Blatch, Volume Two])
𝄌
“When a white member of the delegation said in ignorance, ‘If I were a colored woman, I should be willing to march with the other women of my race,’ it provoked a pointed response from [Ida B.] Wells-Barnett. ‘There is a difference… which you probably do not see. I shall not march with the colored women. Either I go with you or not at all. I am not taking this stand because I personally wish for recognition. I am doing it for the future benefit of my whole race.’
— quoted from the American Heritage (September 2020, Volume 65, Issue 5) essay, “Ida B. Wells Marches for Justice: The ex-slave and investigative journalist spent a lifetime fighting against lynching and segregation — but also for voting rights for African-American women.” by Susan Ware [adapted from Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (Harvard University Press) by Susan Ware]
Just as Elizabeth Cady Stanton referenced in her diary, the suffragists did “draw up a set of rules for the guidance of reformers….” Unfortunately, they did so in a very similar manner as the “celebrities” she mentioned: they advocated for “all women” while simultaneously leaving people out. Some of those people, were part of the movement. Some were even in leadership positions.
African-American suffragists like Mary Ann Shadd Cary (b. 10/09/1823), Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (b. 09/24/1825), Ida B. Wells (b. 07/16/1862), Mary Church Terrell (09/23/1863), and Nannie Helen Burroughs (b. 05/02/1879); as well as Native suffragists like Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin (b. 12/14/1863), Mexican-American suffragists like Nina Otero-Warren (b. 10/23/1881), and Chinese-American suffragists like Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (b. 10/07/1896) had to battle racism, as well as misogyny — inside and outside of the movement. To add insult to injury, they were not able to vote when the 19th Amendment was ratified and adopted. In fact, the American suffragists movement as it directly affected women of color, continued well into the 20th century, when it was advanced by people like Viola Jackson (b. ~1915), Debra Barnes Wilson, Juanita Craft (b. 02/09/1902), Amelia Boynton Robinson (b. 08/18/1905), Rosa Parks (b. 02/04/1913), Marie Foster (10/24/1913), Fannie Lou Hamer (b. 10/06/1917), and Viola Liuzzo (b. 04/11/1925) — whose race and ethnicity allowed her to vote in the 1960s. Even minors1 — like Julia Barnes, Rachel West Nelson and Sheyann Webb-Christburg — attended meetings and participated in marches during the Civil Rights Movement.
Grace Trout seemed swayed by these sentiments, and she agreed to take the matter up again with the national leaders, but to no avail. Although Trout personally disagreed, she said she would abide by their wishes. Wells-Barnett would have none of it. ‘When I was asked to come down here, I was asked to march with the other women of our state, and I intend to do so or not take part in the parade at all.’”
— quoted from the American Heritage (September 2020, Volume 65, Issue 5) essay, “Ida B. Wells Marches for Justice: The ex-slave and investigative journalist spent a lifetime fighting against lynching and segregation — but also for voting rights for African-American women.” by Susan Ware [adapted from Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (Harvard University Press) by Susan Ware]
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “11122025 Having A Say, redux III”]
NOTE: Since some Spotify tracks are shorter (than the YouTube videos), I have add (silent) filler tracks. YouTube features several extra videos that are not available on Spotify. Some are speeches worth hearing. Some are music videos worth seeing. To make up the difference, the Spotify playlist has its own Easter egg.
“We come now to the rescue…. Will you as a pastor and friend of missions help by not hindering these women when they come among you to speak and to enlist the women of your church?”
— quoted from the speech “How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping” by Nannie Helen Burroughs (delivered at the National Baptist Convention, in Richmond, Virginia, on September 13, 1900)
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
NOTE: 1Julia Barnes was eight years old (and with her maternal grandmother), while Rachel West Nelson and Sheyann Webb-Christburg were both nine years old, during the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. Ms. Nelson and Ms. Christburg became involved in the Civil Rights Movement after meeting Martin Luther King, Jr. During the attack on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Ms. Christburg was carried to safety by Reverend Hosea Williams (one of the march leaders).
“Nine days and nine nights of blessings and happiness if you are celebrating Magha Gupta Navaratri!” “Happy (Lunar) New Year!” and/or “Happy Carnival!” to those who are celebrating! Many blessings to everyone, and especially those observing Maha Kumbh Mela and/or Rosa Parks Day*.
Peace, ease, and contemplation throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!!!
This is the “missing” post for Tuesday, February 4th. It is a compilation post featuring some new material, previously posted content, and excerpts. You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra(at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“STAGE MANAGER….. – Now there are some things we all know but we don’t take’m out and look at’m very often. We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always letting go of that fact. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”
— quoted from Act III of Our Town by Thornton Wilder
“We find, in studying history, one fact held in common by all the great teachers of religion the world ever had. They all claim to have got their truths from beyond, only many of them did not know where they got them from.”
— quoted from “Chapter VII: Dhyana and Samadhi” in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 1, Raja-Yoga by Swami Vivekananda
In Our Town, which had it’s Broadway premiere at Henry Miller’s Theatre today in 1938, Thornton Wilder wrote a monologue (actually, a whole play) about something that — if not “unique to being human” — is at least an essential part of being human. In Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda wrote about people who had knowledge of something similar… maybe even the same thing. But, the Stage Manager doesn’t lay out what the thing is and Swami Vivekananda was focused on how we get knowledge and understanding of this universal truth.
So, on a certain level, we must turn inward and ask ourselves what it means to be human.
Or, better yet, you can ask yourself what you BELIEVE it means to be human. “Believing” is the “Season for Nonviolence” principle of the day and it highlights the fact that what we believe, in our heart of hearts, shapes our thoughts, words, and deeds — and, by extension, the world. Patanjali made this point in Yoga Sūtra 3.35 (which is 3.33 or 3.34 in some translations), when he indicated that “By practicing samyama (focus-concentration-meditation] on the heart, knowledge of the mind is attained.”
We see proof of this application when we look at the stories behind the beliefs related to rituals and traditions related to Carnival and Maha Kumbh Mela celebrations; this seventh day of the Lunar New Year/Spring Festival — which some consider to be the birthday of all humans — as well as the stories and beliefs related to Navaratri, the Hindu festival of “nine nights” celebrating divine feminine energy in various manifestations. This sixth day of Navaratri is dedicated to Katyayani, one of the fiercest (and most violent) ways that Durga shows up in the celebration. She rides a lion; is associated with red (as a color symbolizing courage); kills the biggest demon(s); and has multiple hands (4, 10, or 18, depending on the depiction). One of those hands is in the “stop the ignorance” mudra.
And, speaking of warrior goddesses who stop ignorance: We can apply Yoga Sūtra 3.35 to the beliefs of someone like Rosa Parks, who was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, today in 1913.
“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”
— Rosa Parks (b. 1913)
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE ABOUT ROSA PARKS.
“Nüwa could not stand seeing the decimation of the humans and other creatures she had created. She was determined to rescue them. Facing such a large-scale calamity, Nüwa did not panic. Instead, she prioritized what she was going to do. She decided that the damage to the sky was the cause of everything, so she took to the task of mending it. She collected a great number of mulitcolored stones from a riverbed, built a furnace in the Zhonghuang Mountain, and, after forty-nine days, melted the stones and created a huge piece of colorful slate. Embedding the slate in the hole, Nüwa managed to fix the leaking sky. Her action produced an unexpected side effect: the shining colors of the slate added to the sky a moon, a rainbow, and numerous stars.”
— quoted from “The Origin of Human Beings“ in The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese by Haiwang Yuan (with Forward by Michael Ann Williams)
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE ABOUT NÜWA THE 7th DAY OF THE LUNAR NEW YEAR (plus a preview of a weekend post).
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
— Rosa Parks
Tuesday’s (primary) playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02082022 Celebrating Being Humans”]
Tuesday’s (alternate) playlist is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02042024 Sitting, Breathing… on a Bus”]
NOTE: The before/after music (for the alternate playlist) is slightly different on each platform, as the YouTube playlist includes videos of some featured songs. Both playlists also include Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations and a podcast episode about the women who started the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; however, the Spotify playlist does not include the short from one of my favorite [haa-vahd] professors.
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.
*NOTE: Rosa Parks Day is currently celebrated today in Missouri and Massachusetts; on the first Monday after her birthday in Michigan and California; and on the anniversary of the day she was arrested (December 1, 1955) in Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oregon and several cities and counties.
### As they say in Zulu, “Sawubona!” [“I see you!”] and “Yebo, sawubona!” [“I see you seeing me.”] ###
“Nine days and nine nights of blessings and happiness if you are celebrating Magha Gupta Navaratri!” “Happy (Lunar) New Year!” and/or “Happy Carnival!” to those who are celebrating! Many blessings to everyone, and especially those observing Maha Kumbh Mela and/or Rosa Parks Day.*
Peace, ease, and contemplation throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!!!
“Nüwa could not stand seeing the decimation of the humans and other creatures she had created. She was determined to rescue them. Facing such a large-scale calamity, Nüwa did not panic. Instead, she prioritized what she was going to do. She decided that the damage to the sky was the cause of everything, so she took to the task of mending it. She collected a great number of mulitcolored stones from a riverbed, built a furnace in the Zhonghuang Mountain, and, after forty-nine days, melted the stones and created a huge piece of colorful slate. Embedding the slate in the hole, Nüwa managed to fix the leaking sky. Her action produced an unexpected side effect: the shining colors of the slate added to the sky a moon, a rainbow, and numerous stars.”
— quoted from “The Origin of Human Beings“ in The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese by Haiwang Yuan (with Forward by Michael Ann Williams)
Please join me today (Tuesday, February 4th) 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 (primary) playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02082022 Celebrating Being Humans”]
Tuesday’s (alternate) playlist is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02042024 Sitting, Breathing… on a Bus”]
NOTE: The before/after music (for the alternate playlist) is slightly different on each platform, as the YouTube playlist includes videos of some featured songs. Both playlists also include Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations and a podcast episode about the women who started the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; however, the Spotify playlist does not include the short from one of my favorite [haa-vahd] professors.
“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”
— Rosa Parks (b. 1913)
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.
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.)
*NOTE: Rosa Parks Day is currently celebrated today in Missouri and Massachusetts; on the first Monday after her birthday in Michigan and California; and on the anniversary of the day she was arrested (December 1, 1955) in Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oregon and several cities and counties.
Many blessings to everyone, especially those observing Maha Kumbh Mela. May everyone breathe deeply and savor the richness of having your dreams come true!
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy / May you be healthy and strong!
For Those Who Missed It: This is a repost.
Today we celebrate the birthday of a man who believed in angels and dreams. We know he believed in the latter, because he told us straight up, “I have a dream…” He was a man of faith, who believed he could hear God’s voice (when Mahalia Jackson sings). But did you know that Dr. Martin Luther King believed in living a three dimensional life?
— the beginning of my 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday class
Even though the United States will officially celebrate on Monday, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born today in 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends – ”
“Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream.”
[Clarence B. Jones to the person beside him: “These people out there, they don’t know it, but they’re about ready to go to church.”]
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
— words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Clarence B. Jones on Wednesday, August 28, 1963
Please join me today (Wednesday, January 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 “01152023 King’s Secret to Dreaming”]
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.
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.)
Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone expressing friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom.
Stay safe! Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind. BREATHE!
SUFFRAGE, noun [Latin, French > Late Middle English] — the right to vote in political elections.
“late Middle English (in the sense ‘“intercessory prayers”’, also ‘“assistance”’): from Latin suffragium, reinforced by French suffrage. The modern sense of ‘“right to vote”’ was originally US (dating from the late 18th century).”
— quoted from Oxford Languages
Who do you imagine when you imagine a suffragist? What do they look like to you? Who immediately comes up in your mind?
While the word “suffragist” literally means “a person advocating that the right to vote be extended to more people”, many people automatically associate the idea with the women’s suffrage movement. Odds are that, even though men can be — and, historically, have been — suffragists, the person you envisioned was a woman.
Normally, this is where I start a practice on November 12th — with the question, “What is a woman”? Today, however, I want to jump forward (and back) to the question of how you imagine a suffragist. Because, while there were American suffragists — even in leadership roles — who looked like me and were interested in ensuring the suffrage (and citizenship) of people of various identities, the person you envisioned probably looked like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was born today in 1815, in Johnstown, New York.
“If I were to draw up a set of rules for the guidance of reformers, such as Franklin and other celebrities tell us they did for their own use, I should put at the head of the list: Do all you can, no matter what, to get people to think on your reform, and then, if your reform is good, it will come about in due season.”
— quoted from a diary entry dated “Cleveland, August 20 [1888]” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (as published in Elizabeth Cady Stanton As Revealed in Her Letterz, Diary and Reminiscences, Edited by Theodore Stanton and Harriot Stanton Blatch, Volume Two])
Please join me today (Tuesday, November 12th) 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 “11122022 Having A Say, redux”]
NOTE: YouTube features several extra videos that are not available on Spotify. Some are speeches worth hearing. Some are music videos worth seeing. To make up the difference, the Spotify playlist has its own Easter egg.
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.
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.)
Happy Carnival (to those who are already celebrating)! Peace and ease to all during this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!! Believe in yourself & keep believing!!!
For Those Who Missed It: The following is the slightly abridged version of a 2023 post. Most of the information below was also posted in some way, shape, or form in 2022. This 2023 revision puts things in a special light. Class details, links, and an extra video have been added for 2024.
“I want to shake people up for a little bit. I want people to be surprised. I want to go back and play with the past, but I want to do it in a way that, hopefully, enlightens us. Ready?”
“Every week, I’m going to take you back into the past, to examine something that I think has been overlooked… or misunderstood.”
“You have to want me to tell you a story”
— quoted from Malcolm Gladwell’s 2016 Slate introduction to the “Revisionist History” podcast
A good story, a good practice, and a good celebration have several things in common — including a beginning, a middle, and an end. In all three, the beginning gets us ready for the middle, and the middle gets us ready for the end. Good writers (and their editors) “place things in a special way” — just as we do in a vinyasa practice — and Anton Chekov’s advice (that an element introduced in the first act must be used by the third) can also be very useful in any physical practice. Again, all of this is also true of a good celebration [or a good movement]: you want everything ready before (or just after) the guests arrive; you want things placed in a way allow an easy flow to mixing and mingling; you don’t want to run out of sustenance or entertainment — nor do you want “too many” leftovers; and you definitely want people to leave with a desire to come back for more.
Oh, yes, and if you promise people a sweet or savory treat, Chekov says that you must keep your promises.
“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
— Rosa Parks
A person’s life (as we know it here on Earth) also has a beginning, middle, and end. You could say people have lots of them — which is very true since the story of each person’s life is actually a lot of little stories. We can think of those “little stories” as short stories or chapters or we can think of them as defining moments; and we all have defining moments in our lives.
These may be moments that we use to describe the trajectory of our lives or maybe moments that we use to describe ourselves. Either way, when a single moment plays a big part in who we are and what’s important to us, we sometimes forget that that single moment — as important as it may be — is just a single part of our story. It’s part of a sequence of moments. It is the culmination of what’s happened before and the beginning of what happens next. It’s just preparation. Even when — or especially when — that moment is the story (that we tell), we have to be careful about how we frame it. It doesn’t matter if we are telling our story or someone else’s story; how we tell the story matters.
How we tell the story is one of the treats, one of the promises of the story — and, how we tell the story shines a light on why the story is important.
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
— Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents, Leona (née Edwards) and James McCauley, were a teacher and a carpenter, respectively. When they separated, Rosa and her younger brother moved with their mother to a farm in Pine Level (or Pine Tucky), an unincorporated rural community about 25 miles outside of Montgomery, Alabama. The farm they moved to belonged to Mrs. McCauley’s parents and it was there that Rosa Parks learned to sew and quilt. Even though she went to school for a bit, even started her secondary education, she ended up dropping out of school to take care of her mother and grandmother.
So it was that she grew up to be a housekeeper and a seamstress. She married Raymond Parks, a Montgomery barber, when she was 19 years old (in 1932) and he encouraged her to get her high school diploma. It wasn’t something that very many African-Americans had at the time, but Mr. Parks was very active in the advancement of the people. In fact, he was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and, by 1943, she was too. Rosa Parks not only served as the NAACP secretary, she also worked with her husband on anti-rape campaigns and was a member of the League of Women Voters. She was determined to register to vote — which she finally did, on her third attempt. Although she attended Communist Party meetings with her husband, she was never a member. She did, however, practice haṭha yoga, the physical practice of yoga (as early as the 1960s).
A job at Maxwell Air Force Base exposed her to the possibilities of integration and then she started working for a liberal white couple, Clifford and Virginia Durr. The Durr’s were not only liberal leaning, they were also fairly well connected. Both the Durrs were Alabama born and bred, but ended up furthering their education outside of Alabama. Mr. Durr attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and then became a lawyer, whose income insulated the Durrs from some of the hardships others around them experienced during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, Mrs. Durr was essentially raised by Black women (as many children in well-to-do Southern homes were at the time). She then attended Wellesley College, where she regularly ate her meals with women of different races. Eventually, she befriend First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and become the sister-in-law of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Given their backgrounds, it is not surprising that the Durr’s encouraged (and even financially supported), Rosa Parks’s activism.
During the summer of 1955, just before the murder of Emmett Till, Mrs. Parks attended trainings at the Highlander Folk School (now known as the Highlander Research and Education Center). The training, led by Septima Clark (the “Queen mother” or “Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement), focused on civil disobedience, workers’ rights, and racial equity. The combination of the training, her previous life experience and activism, and the hot toddy of emotion bubbling up from the 1955 murders of Emmett Till and two Civil Rights activists (George W. Lee and Lamar “Ditney” Smith) proved to be a powerful force — a force, perhaps, that explains her hardened resolve on December 1, 1955.
It was a force — she became a force — that would not be moved; a force that led to progress.
“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free…so other people would also be free.”
— Rosa Parks
Samayama, comes from the root words meaning “holding together, tying up, binding.” It can also be translated as “integration.” In some traditions (e.g., religious law), it is defined as “self-restraint” or “self-control.” Patanjali used the term to describe the combined force of focus, concentration, and meditation — and he basically devoted a whole chapter of the Yoga Sūtras to the benefits of utilizing samyama. Interestingly, the chapter he devoted to the powers/abilities that come from applying samyama is called “Vibhūti Pada,” which is often translated into English as “Foundation (or Chapter) on Progressing.”
As I have previously mentioned, there are at least twenty different meanings of vibhūti, none of which appear to literally mean “progressing” in English. Instead, the Sanskrit word is most commonly associated with a name of a sage, sacred ashes, and/or great power that comes from great God-given (or God-related) powers. The word can also be translated into English as glory, majesty, and splendor — in the same way that Hod (Hebrew for “humility”) can also be observed as majesty, splendor, and glory in Kabbalism (Jewish mysticism). In this case, the “progressing” to which English translators refer is the process by which one accepts the invitation to a “high[er] location” or plane of existence.
According to yoga sūtra 3.53, applying samyama to a moment and it’s sequence (meaning the preceding and succeeding moments) leads to higher knowledge. This higher knowledge gives one a higher level of discernment; knowledge and discernment that transcends categories and fields of reference. It’s easy to look at what happened after Rosa Parks refused to move, but; to truly understand the power of that single moment, we have to also consider the moments that preceded it.
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
— Rosa Parks
In addition to some of what I’ve already referenced, it’s important to remember that December 1, 1955 wasn’t the first time that a Black person, let alone a Black woman, had defied the unjust laws and social conventions of the time. It wasn’t the first time it had happened that year. Remember, Claudette Colvin’s refusal to move and subsequent arrest happened in the spring of 1955. Furthermore, it wasn’t even the first time that Rosa Parks had been in that situation… with that particular bus driver. In fact, Mrs. Parks and that particular driver (James F. Blake) had had multiple conflicts over the years.
One incident that stands out (because it is often highlighted) was in 1943, when he told her that, after she paid her fair at the front, she had to re-enter at the back of the bus. This was a city ordinance, but some drivers didn’t enforce it. For whatever the reason, there was conflict and when she exited the bus, he drove away before she could re-enter. (Note: This would have been right around the time she started actively working with the NAACP.) While Rosa Parks reportedly decided not to ride with that driver again, the driver was (allegedly) in the habit of driving past her when she was at a stop. Bottom line, there was a lot of water under the bridge between 1943 and 1955. Some of that proverbial water included Mr. Blake’s ongoing conflict with at least one other Black woman, Mrs. Lucille Times.
Mrs. Times, who died in 2021, and her husband Charlie were active members of the NAACP, registered voters, and activists. According to various reports, Lucille Times and James F. Blake were involved in a road rage incident that led to a physical altercation. That physical altercation led to Lucille Times’s decision – during the summer of 1955 – to “disrupt” Mr. Blake’s route by offering African-Americans rides. She continued that practice all the way through the official end of the Montgomery bus boycotts in December of 1956.
Finally, there’s the issue of the seat. Rosa Parks sat down in the “Colored” section of the bus. Somewhere along the route, the bus driver decided to make room for more white passengers by telling Black passengers to move. Then, after some grumbling and resistance, he moved the sign so that anyone who didn’t move (i.e., Rosa Parks) would officially be breaking the law.
“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
— Rosa Parks
So, there was Rosa Parks: Tired after working all day and then shopping for Christmas presents. Tired of people in her community not being guaranteed the rights promised to them. Tired of people in her community being murdered when they worked to legally secure their rights. Tired.
And there was the bus driver, who called the police and filed a complaint.
I will resist assigning any emotional underpinnings to his decisions. I haven’t found any quotes from him that would humanize him and make him more than a stereotype. But, then again, I don’t need to do that. Just as we can put ourselves in the shoes of 15-year old Claudette Colvin or Lucille Times or Rosa Parks, we could put ourselves in his shoes. We can, if it is in our practice, apply samyama to his thoughts (as reflected by his words, deeds, and physical expressions) to know his state of mind, as described in yoga sūtra 3.19. Similarly, we could apply samyama to his heart to deepen that understanding (see yoga sūtras 3.20 and 3.35). Remember, however, that this is not where the practice begins. Additionally, we would only apply samyama in this way to gain a deeper understanding of our own hearts and minds.
“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”
— Rosa Parks
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, February 4th) at 2:30 PM.Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
NOTE: The before/after music is slightly different on each platform, as the YouTube playlist includes videos of some featured songs. Both playlists also include Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations and a podcast episode about the women who started the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; however, the Spotify playlist does not include the short (below) from one of my favorite [haa-vahd] professors.
2023 PRACTICE NOTES: There is a bit of balance, in the form of symbolic marching, in most of the practices I lead that are related to the Civil Rights Movement. A practice dedicated to Rosa Parks, however, requires us to sit and focus on our roots.
To do what she did, Rosa Parks had to be rooted, grounded, and centered in her practice. She was also prepared and understood the significance of what she was doing – which is why I would typically highlight the literal meaning of vinyāsa (“to place in a special way”); how vinyāsa krama (“to place things in a special way” for a “step-by-step progression”) shows up in all good practices, regardless of the style or tradition; and why certain key/defining moments are in the practice. Finally, I might (as indicated above) place a little extra focus on the power of samyama.
### “In this undiscovered moment / Lift your head up above the crowd / We could shake this world / If you would only show us how / Your life is now” JM ###
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (November 25th – December 10th) and on all the other days of your life.
This “missing” post for Sunday, December 3rd (2023) includes information related to the 2022 practice on this date and a 2021 excerpt (as well as some information from 2014). You can request an audio recording of a related practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
— James Baldwin (as quoted from the movie I Am Not Your Negro, directed by Raoul Peck)
Part of what appeals to me about the Yoga Philosophy is that I find it very practical: there are steps and step-by-step progressions. Another thing that has always resonated with me about the Yoga Philosophy is the idea that we all have an inner light and that we can tap into that inner light or (as Patanjali put it in Yoga Sūtra 2.52) uncover the light in a way that removes obstacles. In fact, according to Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtras, focusing on our inner light clears the mind and enables us to utilize the tool of samyama (the combined effort of focus, concentration, and meditation), which leads to all sorts of supernormal abilities. These siddhis (“accomplishments”) or powers include the ability to make oneself invisible (YS 3.21); the ability to see really small things, obstructed things, and things that are far away (YS 3.26); the ability to see those who have reached a higher plane of awareness (YS 3.33); and the ability to know… anything and everything (YS 3.34).
Keep in mind that those are just some of the abilities associated with light!
But, before we go any further into the light, I want to back up a little (as we did in 2022) — in order to better understand what comes next.
Yoga Sūtra 3.19: pratyayasya paracittajñānam
— “By making samyama on the distinguishing marks of another’s body, one obtains knowledge of the nature of the other’s mind.”
Yoga Sūtra 3.20: na ca tatsālambanaṃ tasyāviṣayãbhūtatvāt
— “But not of its contents, because that is not being the object of the samyama.”
Yoga Sūtra 3.35: hṛdaye cittasaṃvit
— “By making samyama on the heart, one gains knowledge of the content of the mind.”
Now, I’m not going to get into the physics, metaphysics, and logistics of the aforementioned supernormal abilities associated with light. Instead, let’s turn our awareness to something we can all do right now: Pay attention to our thoughts, words, and deeds — as well as the thoughts, words, and deeds of others. Because, as I often say, what is in the heart will be in the mind; what is in your mind (your thoughts) will become your words; and your words will precede your actions… which reflect what is in your heart.
Having said all that, again and again, it is really easy to look at what’s happening in the world and see more darkness than light. It’s really easy to think a lot of people are just running around with hearts of darkness — which is a really, super scary thought. However, I don’t completely believe that. Neither do I believe that most people are all sunshine and light. I believe we all have both light and darkness in our hearts.
I also believe that it is important to gaze into the places inside of ourselves where the light becomes the darkness… and the darkness becomes the light. I think that doing so allows us to engage our own light (more than our own darkness) and, also, to better help others engage their own light. Or, at the very least, this practice allows us to better understand why some people seem to consistently engage their shadow selves instead of the brighter parts of themselves.
Of course, we have to do this light (and dark) work mindfully, because…
“146. Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
— quoted from “Fourth Chapter. Apophthegms and Interludes” in Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future by Friedrich Nietzsche
“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.”
— Anna Freud, psychoanalyst and teacher
Many people might think of Anna Freud (born December 3, 1895) as living in her father’s shadow. Really, as the youngest of six, some might think that she lived in her whole family’s shadow. It’s possible that being in everyone’s shadow gave her the perspective needed to see possibilities for other children. Either way, she didn’t stay in the shadows for long. She made a name for herself — first as a primary (or elementary) school teacher and then as a psychoanalyst. Her work as a psychoanalyst was slightly different from that of her illustrious father. She focused on the functions and benefits of a healthy ego and was able to parlay her experience in as an educator to become one of the pioneers of child psychology.
In her late twenties, Anna Freud presented a paper to the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society and then became a member. Within a year of joining the society, she was serving as its chairperson and had established her own practice (for children). In 1925, she started teaching her techniques and approach at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute. In 1927, she published her system. She spent nine years as the Secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute and then, ten years after she started teaching, she became the institute’s director. A year later, in 1936, she published her groundbreaking study, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence, which postulated the ways by which humans protect themselves. Her ideas around these methods — including repression (which she said develop naturally and unconsciously in children); projection (of one’s own feelings onto another); directing aggressive behavior towards one’s self; identification with an overpowering aggressor; and divorcing ideas from feelings — became one of the cornerstones of adolescent psychology.
After the Nazi’s annexed Austria in March of 1938, Anna Freud was interrogated by the Gestapo. Being a Jewish woman and an intellectual, she had good reason to fear the worst and was prepared to protect herself using one of the same methods she had described in her work. She was eventually allowed to return home and, when her father was offered a way out of Vienna, she organized the Freud family’s immigration to London. In England, she not only continued her work, she broadened it. First she focused on the effects of war on children and their development. Later, after she had spent some time traveling and lecturing in the United States, she broadened her horizons and began studying the effects of being emotionally and/or social deprived and/or disadvantaged. She also did some work around how crime affected children’s development and published her collaborations with regard to laws and policies that could help children thrive.
“When she was eighty-five, a depressed young man sent her a lament about the chaotic state of the world, and she sent him a succinct statement of her credo: ‘I agree with you wholeheartedly that things are not as we would like them to be. However, my feeling is that there is only one way to deal with it, namely to try and be all right oneself, and to create around one at least a small circle where matters are arranged as one wants them to be.’”
— quoted from “Preface to the First Edition” of Anna Freud: A Biography (second edition) by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
Just as was the case during Anna Freud’s lifetime, the world is in a chaotic state and “‘…things are not as we would like them to be.’” While many have created the small circle she suggested, it gets harder and harder as people get more and more isolated, siloed, and marginalized. In some ways, taking her suggestion begins to highlight the edge of the light… which is also the edge of the darkness. It does not, in and of itself, however, spread the light — neither does it prevent the darkness from spreading. For that we have to look at cause and effect.
We can absolutely look back and see how we got here. However, I think it is also important (and necessary) to look at where we are in order to see where we are going — especially when we find ourselves heading into the darkness. Maybe we find ourselves engaging our shadow self and the darkness inside of our own heart and mind, because someone pushes our buttons (and/or physically pushes us) and we feel like we must defend ourselves. Maybe, instead of fear or anger, it is doubt or grief that distracts us from our own light.
Either way, there are a lot of situations (and people) in the world that activate our sympathetic nervous system, compelling us to fight, flee, or freeze/collapse. One of the things of which we must be mindful is when we go from instinctual actions related to survival — including those highlighted by Anna Freud — to actions that are more related to our darkness than our light.
“Darkness. Few things frighten us more. The fear it creates is a constant in our existence: The living darkness of our bedrooms after our parents turn out the lights. The pregnant darkness beyond the glow of the bonfire as we listen to ‘spooky’ stories. The ancient darkness of the forest as we walk past deep shadows between trees. The shivering darkness of our own home when we step inside wondering if we’re alone.
Darkness is a fundamental, existential fear because it contains all the fears that we carry with us in our brains — fears both real and imagined, engendered from living life and from the life lived in stories, from culture, from fairytales.”
— quoted from “Chapter 9. Celebrate Doubt” in Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently by Beau Lotto
As you consider your light — and what it symbolizes — you must also consider the dark. After all, we don’t really appreciate the light, until we contrast it with the dark. During a 2021 class I shared a little fear I experienced driving my old truck in the city (where there were so many bright lights that I couldn’t see my own headlights) and how that fear was, ironically, alleviated, when I was driving in the country where there were less cars and street lights. It’s a weird scenario, I know; but in the latter case I had a better understanding of my reference points, a better (and more consistent) understanding of where the light ended and the darkness began. You can think of it as a better understanding of the safety of what is known/seen versus the danger of what is unknown/unseen.
This holds true with all the different paradigms: good and evil, life and death, love and hate, knowledge and ignorance, kindness and anger/frustration, hope and despair, wisdom and fear; etc. We appreciate what we have more when there is the possibility of not having it. However, we can’t truly appreciate what we don’t have (or can’t see ourselves having).
Another way to look at this idea is vis-à-vis proprioception. Remember, when the “brain finds the body in space” and realizes it has more room, it stretches out. When the mind-body bumps into an obstacle, it pulls back. Similar to the defense mechanisms described by Anna Freud, when we are faced with the danger that we perceive as failure (or other people’s judgements), we pull back.
When we feel safe, we shine. However, when we only feel safe in a small sphere, our understanding of ourselves and our light (including our potential) changes. So, too, does that narrow frame change our understanding of others (and their light).
“‘Destiny. My destiny! Droll thing life is – that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself – that comes too late – a crop of inextinguishable regrets. I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable greyness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamour, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat, in a sickly atmosphere of tepid scepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary. If such is the form of ultimate wisdom, then life is a greater riddle than some of us think it to be.’”
— the character Charles Marlow speaking of Kurtz’s death in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Berdychiv, Russian Empire (in what is now Ukraine, but was originally part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland) in 1857, Joseph Conrad was known as “Konrad” by his Polish family. If you look at his family history, you might think that he was fated (or destined) to be a writer. Given the cultural interactions and socio-political clashes that he experienced growing up, perhaps he was even destined to write the dark plots and twisted characters that are found in his novellas. His dark plots and twisted characters are often the subject of criticism and debate* and sometimes analyzed through a (Sigmund) Freudian lens. Personally, I wonder what Anna Freud might have said about how his experiences informed his topics; but she was only three when the Heart of Darkness was serialized in Blackwood’s Magazine (February, March, and April of 1899) and only five when the last portion of Lord Jim appeared in the same magazine.
When Anna Freud said, “Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training,”she could have easily been talking about the “Prince of Darkness,” John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne. Born in December 3, 1948, the lead singer of Black Sabbath has a reading disorder, was abused as a child, dropped out of school at 15, spent some prison (as a young man), and discovered late in life that he was suffering from an undiagnosed central nervous system disorder. He worked at a variety of trades, but was inspired to be a singer at a very young age. Despite (or maybe because of) his childhood trauma, he persevered. But, there was a cost and a toll and a lot of darkness that played out in the music and on the stage. That cost, toll, and darkness have included years of substance abuse, mixed in with periods of sobriety, and criticism about how his music and behavior have (negatively) impacted young people. That criticism has included him being banned from certain cities and several lawsuits related to death and violence that people have attributed to his music.
“People look to me and say Is the end near, when is the final day? What’s the future of mankind? How do I know, I got left behind
Everyone goes through changes Looking to find the truth Don’t look at me for answers Don’t ask me, I don’t know”
— quoted from the song “I Don’t Know” by Ozzy Osbourne
At the end of the day, each of us to focus on our own inner light; figure out how we show up shine in the world; notice the situations that enable us to shine our brightest; and also notices “what’s at the edge of [our] light.” There are a few more questions in this rubric, but consider how the answers start pointing you in certain directions. Notice how the questions and their answers can start opening up your field of possibilities.
Sometimes it may seem like you are wearing a head lamp (or heart lamp) and you’re moving in a way that changes your field of awareness. And that’s fine, that happens — it’s part of life and part of the practice. But, sometimes, we experience a brightening and a widening of our field. Sometimes we find that what we couldn’t imagine was actually just outside our field of vision: It was always there, waiting for us.
Yes, eventually, what is waiting for us all is Death. But, prior to that, there is an opportunity, “one tiny moment in time / For life to shine to shine / Burn away the darkness /”
“An old woman living in a nightmare, an old woman who has fought a thousand battles with death and always won. Now she’s faced with a grim decision—whether or not to open a door. And in some strange and frightening way she knows that this seemingly ordinary door leads to the Twilight Zone.”
“There was an old woman who lived in a room. And, like all of us, was frightened of the dark. But who discovered in a minute last fragment of her life that there was nothing in the dark that wasn’t there when the lights were on. Object lesson for the more frightened amongst us in, or out of, the Twilight Zone.”
— “Opening” and “Closing” narrations, quoted from “Episode 81 (3.16) — ‘Nothing in the Dark’” of The Twilight Zone (premiered January 5, 1962)
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “12032022 Gazing into the Heart, redux”]
*NOTE: As I mentioned in 2014 (see asterisked link above), Joseph Conrad wrote his short novel after his own experiences in Africa in the late 1800’s and while his own words best describe the world he sees, I think the world he sees is the world in his own heart.
I initially resisted the book and the birthday, in part because literary greats like Chinua Achebe criticize Conrad and his work as racist and xenophobic — and I don’t think there’s any way to get around that. Neither did I want to seem to celebrate a depiction of racism given currents events in Ferguson, Missouri and around the United States in 2014. However, Dr. Peter Mwikisa said Heart of Darkness can be “…the great lost opportunity to depict dialogue between Africa and Europe…” and that made me wonder: Are we, right now, losing an opportunity for dialogue in the U. S.? As I asked in 2014, are we just not ready for dialogue?
Or, is it possible that we have made our circles too small to dialogue?
“‘Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, some vision – he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:
“‘” The horror! The horror!’
“I blew the candle out and left the cabin….”
— the character Charles Marlow describing Kurtz’s death in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Happy Spring Festival! Happy Carnival! Peace and ease to all during this “Season of Non-violence” and all other seasons!
This is a special post for Saturday, February 4th, which is also the 14th day of the Lunar New Year and the penultimate day of the Spring Festival. Most of the information below was posted in some way, shape, or form in 2022. This slight revision puts things in a special light. NOTE: There was no ZOOM practice today; however, you can still request a related recording via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
“I want to shake people up for a little bit. I want people to be surprised. I want to go back and play with the past, but I want to do it in a way that, hopefully, enlightens us. Ready?”
“Every week, I’m going to take you back into the past, to examine something that I think has been overlooked… or misunderstood.”
“You have to want me to tell you a story”
– quoted from Malcolm Gladwell’s 2016 Slate introduction to the “Revisionist History” podcast
A good story, a good practice, and a good celebration have several things in common – including a beginning, a middle, and an end. In all three, the beginning gets us ready for the middle, and the middle gets us ready for the end. Good writers (and their editors) “place things in a special way” – just as we do in a vinyasa practice – and Anton Chekov’s advice (that an element introduced in the first act must be used by the third) can also be very useful in any physical practice. Again, all of this is also true of a good celebration: you want everything ready before (or just after) the guests arrive; you want things placed in a way allow an easy flow to mixing and mingling; you don’t want to run out of sustenance or entertainment – nor do you want “too many” leftovers; and you definitely want people to leave with a desire to come back for more.
Oh, yes, and if you promise people a sweet or savory treat, Chekov says that you must keep your promises.
For most people who celebrate the 15-day Spring Festival, the 14th day of the Lunar New Year is the penultimate day of the festival and a day of preparation for the Lantern Festival. People put the finishing touches on their lanterns and some present them for competitions. Feasts are being prepared, riddles are being written, and oranges are being signed – all with the hope that the rest of the year will be full of good fortune, good health, and good love: all the things that make for a good life.
“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
– Rosa Parks
A person’s life (as we know it here on Earth) also has a beginning, middle, and end. You could say people have lots of them – which is very true since the story of each person’s life is actually a lot of little stories. We can think of those “little stories” as short stories or chapters or we can think of them as defining moments; and we all have defining moments in our lives.
These may be moments that we use to describe the trajectory of our lives or maybe moments that we use to describe ourselves. Either way, when a single moment plays a big part in who we are and what’s important to us, we sometimes forget that that single moment – as important as it may be – is just a single part of our story. It’s part of a sequence of moments. It is the culmination of what’s happened before and the beginning of what happens next. It’s just preparation. Even when – or especially when – that moment is the story (that we tell), we have to be careful about how we frame it. It doesn’t matter if we are telling our story or someone else’s story; how we tell the story matters.
How we tell the story is one of the treats, one of the promises of the story – and, how we tell the story shines a light on why the story is important.
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
– Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents, Leona (née Edwards) and James McCauley, were a teacher and a carpenter, respectively. When they separated, Rosa and her younger brother moved with their mother to a farm in Pine Level (or Pine Tucky), an unincorporated rural community about 25 miles outside of Montgomery, Alabama. The farm they moved to belonged to Mrs. McCauley’s parents and it was there that Rosa Parks learned to sew and quilt. Even though she went to school for a bit, even started her secondary education, she ended up dropping out of school to take care of her mother and grandmother.
So it was that she grew up to be a housekeeper and a seamstress. She married Raymond Parks, a Montgomery barber, when she was 19 years old (in 1932) and he encouraged her to get her high school diploma. It wasn’t something that very many African-Americans had at the time, but Mr. Parks was very active in the advancement of the people. In fact, he was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and, by 1943, she was too. Rosa Parks not only served as the NAACP secretary, she also worked with her husband on anti-rape campaigns and was a member of the League of Women Voters. She was determined to register to vote – which she finally did, on her third attempt. Although she attended Communist Party meetings with her husband, she was never a member. She did, however, practice haṭha yoga, the physical practice of yoga (as early as the 1960s).
A job at Maxwell Air Force Base exposed her to the possibilities of integration and then she started working for a liberal white couple, Clifford and Virginia Durr. The Durr’s were not only liberal leaning, they were also fairly well connected. Both the Durrs were Alabama born and bred, but ended up furthering their education outside of Alabama. Mr. Durr attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and then became a lawyer, whose income insulated the Durrs from some of the hardships others around them experienced during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, Mrs. Durr was essentially raised by Black women (as many children in well-to-do Southern homes were at the time). She then attended Wellesley College, where she regularly ate her meals with women of different races. Eventually, she befriend First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and become the sister-in-law of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Given their backgrounds, it is not surprising that the Durr’s encouraged (and even financially supported), Rosa Parks’s activism.
During the summer of 1955, just before the murder of Emmett Till, Mrs. Parks attended trainings at the Highlander Folk School (now known as the Highlander Research and Education Center). The training, led by Septima Clark (the “Queen mother” or “Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement), focused on civil disobedience, workers’ rights, and racial equity. The combination of the training, her previous life experience and activism, and the hot toddy of emotion bubbling up from the 1955 murders of Emmett Till and two Civil Rights activists (George W. Lee and Lamar “Ditney” Smith) proved to be a powerful force – a force, perhaps, that explains her hardened resolve on December 1, 1955.
It was a force – she became a force – that would not be moved; a force that led to progress.
“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free…so other people would also be free.”
– Rosa Parks
Samayama, comes from the root words meaning “holding together, tying up, binding.” It can also be translated as “integration.” In some traditions (e.g., religious law), it is defined as “self-restraint” or “self-control.” Patanjali used the term to describe the combined force of focus, concentration, and meditation – and he basically devoted a whole chapter of the Yoga Sūtras to the benefits of utilizing samyama. Interestingly, the chapter he devoted to the powers/abilities that come from applying samyama is called “Vibhūti Pada,” which is often translated into English as “Foundation (or Chapter) on Progressing.”
As I have previously mentioned, there are at least twenty different meanings of vibhūti, none of which appear to literally mean “progressing” in English. Instead, the Sanskrit word is most commonly associated with a name of a sage, sacred ashes, and/or great power that comes from great God-given (or God-related) powers. The word can also be translated into English as glory, majesty, and splendor – in the same way that Hod (Hebrew for “humility”) can also be observed as majesty, splendor, and glory in Kabbalism (Jewish mysticism). In this case, the “progressing” to which English translators refer is the process by which one accepts the invitation to a “high[er] location” or plane of existence.
According to yoga sūtra 3.53, applying samyama to a moment and it’s sequence (meaning the preceding and succeeding moments) leads to higher knowledge. This higher knowledge gives one a higher level of discernment; knowledge and discernment that transcends categories and fields of reference. It’s easy to look at what happened after Rosa Parks refused to move, but; to truly understand the power of that single moment, we have to also consider the moments that preceded it.
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
– Rosa Parks
In addition to some of what I’ve already referenced, it’s important to remember that December 1, 1955 wasn’t the first time that a Black person, let alone a Black woman, had defied the unjust laws and social conventions of the time. It wasn’t the first time it had happened that year. Remember, Claudette Colvin’s refusal to move and subsequent arrest happened in the spring of 1955. Furthermore, it wasn’t even the first time that Rosa Parks had been in that situation… with that particular bus driver. In fact, Mrs. Parks and that particular driver (James F. Blake) had had multiple conflicts over the years.
One incident that stands out (because it is often highlighted) was in 1943, when he told her that, after she paid her fair at the front, she had to re-enter at the back of the bus. This was a city ordinance, but some drivers didn’t enforce it. For whatever the reason, there was conflict and when she exited the bus, he drove away before she could re-enter. (Note: This would have been right around the time she started actively working with the NAACP.) While Rosa Parks reportedly decided not to ride with that driver again, the driver was (allegedly) in the habit of driving past her when she was at a stop. Bottom line, there was a lot of water under the bridge between 1943 and 1955. Some of that proverbial water included Mr. Blake’s ongoing conflict with at least one other Black woman, Mrs. Lucille Times.
Mrs. Times, who died in 2021, and her husband Charlie were active members of the NAACP, registered voters, and activists. According to various reports, Lucille Times and James F. Blake were involved in a road rage incident that led to a physical altercation. That physical altercation led to Lucille Times’s decision – during the summer of 1955 – to “disrupt” Mr. Blake’s route by offering African-Americans rides. She continued that practice all the way through the official end of the Montgomery bus boycotts in December of 1956.
Finally, there’s the issue of the seat. Rosa Parks sat down in the “Colored” section of the bus. Somewhere along the route, the bus driver decided to make room for more white passengers by telling Black passengers to move. Then, after some grumbling and resistance, he moved the sign so that anyone who didn’t move (i.e., Rosa Parks) would officially be breaking the law.
“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
– Rosa Parks
So, there was Rosa Parks: Tired after working all day and then shopping for Christmas presents. Tired of people in her community not being guaranteed the rights promised to them. Tired of people in her community being murdered when they worked to legally secure their rights. Tired.
And there was the bus driver, who called the police and filed a complaint.
I will resist assigning any emotional underpinnings to his decisions. I haven’t found any quotes from him that would humanize him and make him more than a stereotype. But, then again, I don’t need to do that. Just as we can put ourselves in the shoes of 15-year old Claudette Colvin or Lucille Times or Rosa Parks, we could put ourselves in his shoes. We can, if it is in our practice, apply samyama to his thoughts (as reflected by his words, deeds, and physical expressions) to know his state of mind, as described in yoga sūtra 3.19. Similarly, we could apply samyama to his heart to deepen that understanding (see yoga sūtras 3.20 and 3.35). Remember, however, that this is not where the practice begins. Additionally, we would only apply samyama in this way to gain a deeper understanding of our own hearts and minds.
“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”
– Rosa Parks
PRACTICE NOTES: There is a bit of balance, in the form of symbolic marching, in most of the practices I lead that are related to the Civil Rights Movement. A practice dedicated to Rosa Parks, however, requires us to sit and focus on our roots.
To do what she did, Rosa Parks had to be rooted, grounded, and centered in her practice. She was also prepared and understood the significance of what she was doing – which is why I would typically highlight the literal meaning of vinyāsa (“to place in a special way”); how vinyāsa krama (“to place things in a special way” for a “step-by-step progression”) shows up in all good practices, regardless of the style or tradition; and why certain key/defining moments are in the practice. Finally, I might (as indicated above) place a little extra focus on the power of samyama.
### “In this undiscovered moment / Lift your head up above the crowd / We could shake this world / If you would only show us how / Your life is now” JM ###
“When she was eighty-five, a depressed young man sent her a lament about the chaotic state of the world, and she sent him a succinct statement of her credo: ‘I agree with you wholeheartedly that things are not as we would like them to be. However, my feeling is that there is only one way to deal with it, namely to try and be all right oneself, and to create around one at least a small circle where matters are arranged as one wants them to be.’”
– quoted from “Preface to the First Edition” of Anna Freud: A Biography (second edition) by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
Please join me for a 90-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Saturday, December 3rd) at 12:00 PM.Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
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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.)
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A Joyful Practice 