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- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Advice from a Spammer (and Niralamba?)
“Write more, that’s all I have to say.” There were several more lines of text, but none so coherent or compelling as this.
Yes, spammer, I would like to be writing more imaginatively and more about the yoga here and elsewhere. I am fully occupied, though, with a technical writing of quite some magnitude if magnitude were to be measured only by the number of words and ideas included. With the social and substantive complexity relating to the project and how it fits within the fabric of creating the rules that govern our society, it is a creative in its own way, but it is more draining than inspiring.
The exercise involves many drafters who come from a wide range of perspectives, training and background, and who have different responsibilities and senses of responsibility. Most everyone is feeling stressed and under-supported in their own way and acting in the multifarious ways people act when that’s how they are experiencing things. I am struggling to stay compassionately present for myself and all who are engaged in the endeavor.
Reminding myself of reasons to be grateful always helps. The yoga and meditation practices, in addition to my creative pursuits, are at the top of the list. The practices are the only truly steady back up that I have. Perhaps that is true for everyone to a greater or lesser degree. The philosophies that inform the practices–whether renunciate or tantra–ultimately would not, I think, disagree.
Altar for Dia de Los Muertos

National Museum of the American Indian (just across the Mall from my workplace)
What I’ll Be Reading This Session
You may have noticed that I do not say what I will be teaching. In my blogs and classes, when referring to the philosophy that inspires me, I speak of what I will be reading, what I will be contemplating, and what I will be exploring. It is not false humility. It is a recognition that reading and contemplating a work even several times over a few years is not enough to be “teaching” it. My teaching can, however, authentically be inspired by that level of exploration. I make offerings of what sparks me to think, to practice, and to want to continue to delve ever more deeply into the yoga practices.
This session, I will be reading, contemplating, and inspiring my own practices and my class plans from the Pratyabhijnahrdayam.
Pratyabhijnahrdayam: The Secret of Self-Recognition, J. Singh (Motalal Banarsidass Publishers, Reprinted 2008)
The Splendor of Recognition: An Exploration of the Pratyabhijna-hrdayam, Swami Shantananda with Peggy Bendet (SYDA Foundation, 2003)
Watching Water Go Down the Drain
I went for a walk with a neighbor–all the way remaining 6+feet apart and changing course to give others that we encountered at least that much space. It’s been a while since I’ve talked while I walked.
Then I washed with requisite attention and enthusiasm when I came back home.





