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- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Your Grief and Anxiety Are Valid
Yesterday, in response to the question, how was I doing, I responded that though I was personally fine, I was mourning deeply those suffering from the wars and disasters around the world and anxious about the state of this country and what was to come. I feel most ok when I am making efforts to make things better and to contribute less to future harm.
I was told I was being unreasonable; real grief was only if one has just lost a relative or a close friend. This might have had something to do with the fact that this person believes in Israel’s unconscionable aggression and needed to justify their position.
I’m here to tell you that it is nonsense to say that grief is only real if so narrowly circumscribed. It was not as though I said my grief and anxiety were keeping me from helping; to the contrary, they inspire me to give more of myself.
Everyone’s grief is valid, including grief for the climate and society and our ideals. And grief does not have an expiration date.
Meditation and yoga may help you stay with the full range of human experience and better see and appreciate what joy is there is to be had. It has for me, but I already have my basic needs covered.
May you be happy and safe and healthy.
Heat Advisory (and Gratitude)
It was already hot when I went out into the garden after I sat for meditation. I try only to water every third day it does not rain and have used soil supplements such as “soil moist” to make that possible, but it was critical that I water so that the plants survive today’s blazing heat.
Before I went out, while listening to the weather forecast, I drank my second glass of filtered tap water. I thought how lucky I am to have fresh drinking water from the tap, shelter from the heat, ice if I want it, and water for the garden. All those warnings to stay inside, keep cool, and drink plenty of liquids are meaningless unless one has access to those things.
I am grateful, too, for my practice. I know that a slow, quiet practice helps keep me cool and rested, and that I can get extra enjoyment from the way the heat warms my muscles without any effort at all on my part. In the heat, stillness is so welcome that sitting is as sweet an activity as I could know.





