This morning I decided to teach my online Hatha Yoga class on our deck rather than inside our house like I usually do. Like my recent encounter with geese while teaching yoga at the Minnesota Arboretum, this class featured a visit from the local wildlife.
Since my incident with the geese, and again today, I have been contemplating the topic of equanimity.
Every year since 2007 the American Psychological Association (APA) has commissioned a nationwide survey to examine levels of stress across the United States. When they conducted their study this year — one year after the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic — they found stress levels have risen considerably. Some of the statistics are staggering.
After seeing that report, I feel like now is a good time to mention that in addition to the gentle yoga classes I teach on Monday and Wednesday mornings, I teach strength-focused Hatha Yoga classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:30am Central through Spirit of the Lake. Not only do these classes provide an opportunity to practice breath awareness and mindfulness that can reduce mental stress and chatter, but these Hatha classes can help you build muscle, flexibility, stability, and endurance.
Last week, when I renewed my yoga teaching credentials through the Yoga Alliance, I was required to agree to an "Ethical Commitment" based on values intrinsic to the practice of yoga, such as ahiṃsā (nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (not stealing), aparigraha (non-possessiveness), and santoṣa (contentment). While it might seem like such an agreement would be limited to my role as a yoga teacher, these same principles inform decisions that I make in all aspects of my life, including how I build my website.
The values and principles of the Drupal community align well with the Ethical Commitment to which all yoga teachers certified by the Yoga Alliance must agree. This article explains why I use Drupal as the ethical base of my online presence.
To this day, I've never used WhatsApp on my phone. On the topic of security and privacy, WhatsApp has a long and checkered history, worthy of a special page on Wikipedia. For instance, earlier this year the company found themselves in the news again when they gave their users an ultimatum: hand over your data to Facebook or stop using WhatsApp. That's the kind of demand that sends people running. Nevertheless, people around the world continue to use WhatsApp.
In this tutorial, I explain how to install WhatsApp in Anbox on Debian 10 (Buster).
On Thursday I had the pleasure to lead a "Yoga in the Gardens" class at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It had been raining much of the day, and the possibility of rain continued during the class. In spite of that, nearly 50 people showed up.
The highlight of the evening occurred just a few minutes after I started teaching when a family of geese showed up and started walking toward me. Luckily, just before they got to me, they turned right into the marsh. One of the students in the class was kind enough to share her picture of that moment.
Tomorrow, Thursday, May 20, I will be offering a yoga class through the "Yoga in the Gardens" program at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Classes are FREE for members of the Arboretum and Spirit of the Lake. This class is sure to be enjoyable for beginners or experienced yogis. If the weather is nice we'll be in the Iris Garden and masks will not be required, but if the class moves indoors due to rain then masks must be worn for the entire indoor practice. Be sure to bring your yoga mat!
Despite the growing popularity of mindfulness programs in the workplace, it can still feel a little weird to start a meeting at work with a meditation. Mindfulness is not for everyone. Nevertheless, scientists continue to amass evidence — intended to persuade rational Western minds — detailing the benefits of taking pauses during our days, including our workdays. Now we are learning that with regular practice our well-being can be cultivated.
During COVID I have been creating slideshows with audio to send to meditation groups in my local prison system. I have developed a process that I find to be quick, useful, and reliable. Nearly all of it happens on the GNU/Linux command line. It's not fancy, and this kind of thing certainly is not for everyone, but I thought at least a few others might find it helpful.
Breath is an ever-present aspect of life, which is part of the reason why "mindfulness of breathing," or ānāpānasati in Pāli, is probably the most common form (object) of meditation. Typically, the practice involves focusing attention on the physical sensations caused by the movement of the breath, the in-breaths and the out-breaths. Mindfulness of breathing is a feeling practice, not a thinking practice. It's so profoundly simple that we can do it at any time, whether seated in meditation, holding a yoga posture, or picking up after the dog.
Yogis, meditators, mindfulness coaches, Christians, and countless other spiritual seekers commonly employ the metaphor of the garden to represent stewardship. To view the mind as a garden is to view it as a place with potential value and commit to cultivating it. One must locate the space and make effort, which can take a variety of forms. One can tend to the garden of the mind while doing yoga, meditation, or any other activity in life.