The more things in progress, the more unavoidable things happening that impact our day and health, the more we need to cultivate awareness.
Quaker, George Fox famously called people to “walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.”
I have been thinking about that in the context of joy as part of the resistance. One might also think about it in the context of “right action” in the Bhagavad Gita.
It’s not just enjoying oneself however one might or having fun.
It’s finding and expressing joy in kindness, generosity, community care.
I wake each morning thinking not just how I can fight, but how can can spread comfort and safety so that those who are being threatened have some room to cheerful themselves.
As I was walking to work and passing through the park on the north side of the Capitol, I saw this young woman first doing pranayama and then settling into meditation.
I do not know whether this is her neighborhood or where she works or whether she is in town as a tourist or to petition her elected officials. What I do know is that whether this is home or a new and different place and whether she was pausing before play or work, her reactions to all around her will likely be deeper, steadier, and brighter for having paused to meditate.
If you have not yet sat for meditation today or otherwise practiced in a way that brought you to the center and essence of your being, I invite you to start or renew your practice today. You might not have a half hour or an hour, but no matter how busy you are, you have 10 minutes.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Looking in the opposite direction from yesterday.
The New York Times just published a lengthy article on “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” The response of one of my fellow certified Anusara yoga instructors was “duh!” This conversation greets me as I am about to offer a free gentle and therapeutic yoga class at Willow Street Yoga to invite new and continuing students to discover the power of the Anusara alignment principles to heal and transform challenges of embodiment. If I were not highly confident in the power of Anusara yoga to heal when practiced mindfully, I might be worried that the article would keep away potential students. Instead, I welcome the “news” as a way to broaden the invitation to discovery.
As I have blogged about before, at an intensive, John Friend once compared advanced asana to digitalis–depending on dosage and circumstances of the individual digitalis is at once the deadliest plant in the garden and one of the most powerful medications to heal the heart. We don’t read much about digitalis in the news, but we are constantly bombarded with contradictory news flashes about the health risks and benefits of lots of things — coffee, red wine, vitamins, running, anything that has been either held out as either a cure all or an evil that is ubiquitously practiced or imbibed. Why? I think it is because we in this society are hungry for panaceas, for effortless solutions, for the latest thing, for something to save us from emptiness and ill health, without actually having to work at it. It is newsworthy that yoga bears risks precisely because we (the general societal we) wanted it to be a perfect solution without actually requiring any change how we live the rest of our lives (including diet, exercise, relationship to others) and to bring to yoga the mindfulness, determination, and steadiness that it requires to bring the peace, harmony, and healing it offers.
Come join us. For details, click on the link above for “Classes.”
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
On Monday morning, I joined in the first two hours of the day of prayer (Shacharit are morning prayers) and action led by #RabbisForCeasefire on the National Mall. They gathered and prayed and then spoke to all their members of Congress know that their’s is a religion that privileges peace and freedom for all beings over retribution. I would have stayed longer—I felt right at home—and taking care of my biological needs took precedence.
They brought their own temple and articles of worship. Centuries of practice.
What do you see in your philosophies? Your holy works?
