Hari Om

Today, we shift from contemplative thought to working in some active practice of breathwork. Bringing the work we are doing to open ourselves to the teaching of Love Everybody begins in the body. It is from this place that we grasp onto narratives that may inform our resistance to loving ourselves, which, of course, justifies our belief that we cannot possibly love everybody. To untie those knots, we need to be able to be with the stories that block us and to work through them.

Many of those stories contain shame and guilt around our bodies. This is a massive barrier to the joy of the body. To be in a body is an opportunity for joy! We must open ourselves to joy if we wish to engage fully with love.

So we breathe. And we breathe. And we breathe. Today we work with two pranayama practices, breathing practices from the Vedic traditions. Kapalabhati and Brhamari Pranayam.

This is a good short video from Bharti Yoga on the most fundemental aspects of Kapalbhati and Bhramari Pranayam. This video only shows the technique, and does not go into the rich history and inherent connections of this and other pranayama practices to the cultures which developed them, and I highly encourage anyone interested in this practice to begin to study and learn about these practices and their roots in communal health.

Enjoy these practices!

Our poem today is from William Carlos Williams, and for me, it personifies the personal that having a body can offer.

Danse Russe William Carlos Williams If I when my wife is sleeping and the baby and Kathleen are sleeping and the sun is a flame-white disc in silken mists above shining trees,— if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself: “I am lonely, lonely. I was born to be lonely, I am best so!” If I admire my arms, my face, my shoulders, flanks, buttocks against the yellow drawn shades,— Who shall say I am not the happy genius of my household?

To dance with your joy is genius, indeed, Mr. Williams.

We also spend another moment with bell hooks Appalachian Elegy 23.

Appalachian Elegy 23 bell hooks bring Buddha to rest home in Kentucky hills that outside each window a light may shine not a guilt teaching tradition be balanced know loving kindness end suffering rejoice in the oneness of life then let go carry nothing on your back travel empty as you climb steep mountain paths

Read it and read it and read it aloud. Thank you bell hooks. thank you thank you thank you.

All In Love,

Michael

Generate Generosity Here

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