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- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc)
Ignorance is Bliss Only If You Do Not Care What Happens the Welfare of All Beings (Do You Know How Your Tax $$ Are Spent?)
If you are a true renunciate yogi, then the horsemen of the apocolypse don’t phase you. The ultimate bliss is leaving your body anyway. For those of us who are engaged in the world, care about what we eat, care where we live, care about the well-being of family and friends, then learning, understanding, and acting — knowing of course that we can control that and how we act, but not the outcome — is a critical part of a tantric yoga life.
It’s great to know how to place one’s hands for optimal alignment in downward-facing dog, but do you know how your tax dollars are spent? Here’s a little overview worth sharing widely. And perhaps it will make all that noise in Washington about the budget and the debt ceiling seem a little more important. Check out the “People’s Budget,” which enhances domestic programs, increases participation in paying for our society by the rich, and decreases defense spending and military action.
And then I highly recommend standing on your head or balancing on your hands or otherwise going upside-down, getting twisted, and knowing that the practice will help you stay sane and steady and able to act.
Different Ways of Turning Your World Upside Down
Yesterday at the William Penn House class, we were emphasizing strong working of our tailbones. One of the regular students came to class even though she was still exhausted from recent and sudden major loss and upheaval in her life. She wanted to be with the spirit of the class even if she would not be able to do everything.
When we went to the wall to work on half and full arm balance, I advised her to give it a try if she felt up to it and then said to do legs up the wall if she knew trying to hold the arm balance would be too much. After all, I pointed out, legs up the wall (vipariti karani) is just half handstand upside down. And what is awesome about both the poses is that the both turn us upside down (albeit in energetically different ways) and can thus help give us a fresh perspective on how we are in our bodies and minds.
Walking Barefoot on the Beach
Walking on the beach is a wonderful way, not only to work your feet in a way that is not possible in the confinement of shoes, but also to witness the tendencies of your gait.
After years of paying attention, my feet are fairly straight, and my weight is reasonably distributed. I tend to turn out a bit, especially with my left foot and when walking is more challenging (here, in soft sand on an incline).
Do your feet turn in or out in a way that increases stress on all the joints above your feet?




