Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Changing Perspectives, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Marian Anderson, Music, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, William Wordsworth, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: 988, Alan Bergman, Appomattox, Civil Rights, Civil Rights Act of 1866, Civil War, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Santayana, Gregory Allen Kurstin, history, John Legend, John Roger Stephens, Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, Lincoln Memorial, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, Marilyn Bergman, Martin Luther King Jr, Marvin Hamlisch, Mind Body Solutions, Robert E. Lee, Sarah Aaron, Ulysses S. Grant, William Shakespeare, Yoga Sutra 4.9, Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.11
Peace and many blessings to everyone and especially to those celebrating and/or observing Lent & Great Lent!
This is the “missing” post for Wednesday, April 9th. The practice and the excerpted post include references to the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. The excerpted post also includes a little something extra. 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.
“Continuity necessary to progress.
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.”
— quoted from “Chapter XII — Flux and Constancy in Human Nature” The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906) — Vol. I, Reason in Common Sense by George Santayana
Memories are funny things. They always “Light the corners of [our] mind” — whether we realize it or not. They also inform and motivate our thoughts, words, and deeds — whether we realize it or not. They are the “retentiveness” of which people speak when they quote (or paraphrase) George Santayana — and they are big part of how we make history.
In the Yoga Sūtras, Patanjali identified memory as one the five types of thoughts patterns (along with correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, imagination/fantasy, and dreamless sleep) which can manifest as afflicted or not afflicted, functional or dysfunctional. (YS 1.5-1.6) Remember, the afflicted/dysfunctional thoughts patterns are the ones that lead to suffering.
After defining each of the five thought patterns (YS 1.7-1.11) — and after breaking down the practice of yoga — Patanjali outlined siddhis or “powers” that come from the practice. Some of these abilities are related to cause-and-effect, including the ability to understand consequences based on past outcomes (i.e., knowing history.) According to Yoga Sūtra 4.9, “Because memory (smriti) and the deep habit patterns (samskaras) are the same in appearance, the chain of cause and effect is not broken, even though there might be a gap in species [or state of life], location, or time.” Which means, there is power in seeing patterns and understanding [our] history, individually and collectively.
Today, April 9th, is one of those days rich with history — and, in particular, history related to the progress and maturity of a nation. There are some moments that happened today in United States history that, if I removed the names and year, sound like they happened this year! There are also some full circle moments, lessons in persistence, and examples of people who were committed to being changemakers.
“You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed.”
— quoted from a Daughters of the American Revolution resignation letter written by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the Spring of 1939
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
NEVERTHELESS, SHE SANG: 2019 Kiss My Asana Offering #9
“Everybody’s talking
Nothing real is happening,
’Cause nothing is new
Now when all is tragic
And I just feel sedated
Why do I feel numb?
Is that all I can do?
Yeah
And heaven knows
I’m not helpless, yeah
But I’m only human
I can’t see the use in me crying
If I’m not even trying to
Make the change I wanna see”
— quoted from the song “Preach” by John Legend [Written by John Roger Stephens, Gregory Allen Kurstin, Sarah Aaron]
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04092022 Memories”]
NOTE: I completely remixed this playlist [in 2022], because while I own a copy of the Marian Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial concert with the speeches, it was not available on YouTube. It is available on Spotify; search for “Marian Anderson Let Freedom Ring.”
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).
“We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.”
— Antonio, Prospero’s brother, the usurping Duke of Milan, in Act I, Scene i of The Tempest by William Shakespeare
### PERSIST & SING! ###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Music, Pain, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Vairagya, Wisdom, Yoga.
Tags: Epictetus, Paul Tillich, Seneca, Stoicism, Yoga Sutra 1.12, Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.11, Yoga Sutras 2.3-2.11
Be well. Be great. Be hydrated.
“What conflicts with the courage of wisdom is desires and fears. The Stoics developed a profound doctrine of anxiety which also reminds us of recent analyses. They discovered that the object of fear is fear itself. ‘Nothing,’ says Seneca, ‘is terrible in things except fear itself.’ And Epictetus says, ‘For it is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of death and hardship.’ Our anxiety puts frightening masks over all men and things. If we strip them of these masks their own countenance appears and the fear they produce disappears. This is true even of death. Since every day a little of our life is taken from us–since we are dying every day–the final hour when we cease to exist does not itself bring death; merely completes the death process. The horrors connected with it are a matter of imagination. They vanish when the mask is taken from the image of death.”
– quoted from “Chapter 1. Being and Courage – Courage and Wisdom: The Stoics” in The Courage To Be by Paul Tillich (b. 08/20/1886)
Please join me for a 65-minute virtual yoga practice on Zoom today (Sunday, August 20th) at 2:30 PM. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “10272021 Another Appointment EVE”]
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.)
### BE Fearless & PLAY, LIVE, LOVE.###
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Meditation, Music, Philosophy, Shavuot, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.
Tags: awareness, freedom, gunas, T. K. V. Desikachar, throat chakra, will and determination, Yoga Sutra 1.39, Yoga Sutra 4.17, Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.11, Yoga Sutras 2.18-2.20, Yoga Sutras 4.1-4.17
Many blessings to all and especially to those celebrating Shavuot!
This is just a note related to the Saturday, June 4th practice (since I didn’t post the music beforehand). At some point I hope to catch back up on the “missing” Saturday posts, but it may be a while. My apologies for the delay. You can request an audio recording of the Saturday practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.)
“The object must exist. It must be observable and it must motivate the observer and stimulate a desire to see it.”
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– commentary on Yoga Sūtra 4.17 from The Heart of Yoga: Developing A Personal Practice by T. K. V. Desikachar
Saturday’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. If you are using a recording of Saturday’s practice, please note that I remixed the playlist after the Zoom practice, but it should still time out appropriately.
Click here to read a little bit about the throat chakra, how it relates to one of the aforementioned events, and to check out an instrumental playlist connected to this theme.
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### Be nobly noble. ###
A Joyful Practice 