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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.
- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
New Computer (and the benefits of practice)
My friend D the other week had been talking about how much longer every thing takes to get done in a new city and home (he just moved across country). I was thinking about that as I work to get up to speed on the replacement computer that came into my house yesterday afternoon. I can tell there is lots of extra functionality, but at first, I am slower than I was with my old computer (at least five generations old) because I need to learn some new commands and navigation tools, as well as recreate my old bookmarks and remembered passwords, etc.
To be able to cope with life, we need to be willing to go out and explore, try new things, to be willing to have the time and struggle to learn enough to feel comfortable with a new place or technique. To mature gracefully, we need to sometimes stay with the old (whatever choices led us there) and continue to refine so that we can go deeper and deeper into knowledge of what we have chosen.
Sometimes we have a real choice, sometimes we have no choice, sometimes we have an apparent choice, but only one sensible one. One of the beauties of steady yoga practice is that it prepares us both for the new and for repetition. It truly shows us the beauty and delight of revisiting, reexploring, and ever deepening our understanding of the complexities of what appears simple. It also cultivates the fortitude and openness to start anew when necessary.




