Over the years, I’ve explored and greatly benefitted from a variety of body-cultivation traditions—the majority of which have their roots in India or China. Iyengar Yoga The first was Iyengar yoga, which I was drawn to for its therapeutic applications. I was in my early 20’s and still recovering from a serious ankle injury, which had been creating all kinds of problems, also, in my hips and …
Yoga
Practice Notes: At the Gym
One of the things that I missed the most, during the early months of the pandemic, was going to the gym. For many years I’ve enjoyed an ever-evolving form of weight-training that typically interweaves a bit of qigong, some yoga asana, some spontaneous dancing ~ with the actual free-weight or circuit training. So, when suddenly all the gyms and recreation centers closed, this was a sad moment. …
Taking The Red Pill: Free Will, Nihilism & True Freedom
Very nuanced analysis here via Christopher Hareesh Wallis, on the "near enemy" of believing that while we can't choose what happens to us, we can choose how we respond. He shows how this really is not ultimately true—and how we can accept this truth without collapsing into nihilism. The most obvious evidence for the lack of free will is the simple fact that you don’t exist in a state of blissful …
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Q & A
Lal Dĕd Goes Riding The following two verses--a question and its answer--are excerpted from I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd. This collection of Lalla's poems--translated beautifully by Ranjit Hoskote--is one of my favorites: for its informative and insight notes, as much as for the poems themselves. 78 Shiva's the horse and Vishnu's the saddle, Brahma's cheering at the stirrup. Only the …
Tying Up Loose Ends: Topology Swallows Quantum Computing
The central visual image representing the art & science of Alchemy is the Ouroboros: a dragon or snake swallowing its own tail. This symbol deftly reflects the totality of the alchemical process: the great circulation of Nature, by which, as described by the hermetic alchemist Peter Murien: what was above as the very subtle spirit descends and becomes … the below, the earthy and fixed; then …
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Practice Notes: So Beautiful!
Toggling Was in the weight-room the other day, enjoying my usual combination of strength training and yoga asana: toggling back and forth between sets with dumbbells or on a Universal circuit-training machine – and poses designed to lengthen the same muscle groups. Dropping Afterwards, I moved into the hallway immediately outside the weight-room, sat down near the wall, then swung my legs up …