Anne's Philosophy Blog

  One of the nice things about being back in Pacific Time Zone is that Christina's Yoga Classes fit my schedule better. Today,  I went into her yoga lair just in time to hear that the class was working toward Tittibasana.   Now, it has been well over two years, maybe three, since I have even attempted anything in the ball park  and so my immediate thought was,  "Well, maybe I'll just leave the lair and go hang out with Jeff."   But, I thought Jeff was fishing and I  was there, so the next step is to stay, and I said,  "Well,  we will see what I can do."   I could do way, way more than I thought possible.  Some of the best malasana work in a very long time, even parsvakonasana felt better than it did the day before.  I even got into some approximation of the pose, by sitting on the backward bender, putting my feet up on tall blocks, and reaching my hands down the rungs of the backbender to the floor eventually....

  “We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.” ―  Dietrich Bonhoeffer,  Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community Jeff and I went to see Bonhoeffer yesterday afternoon.  We were so busy working on cleaning out the kitchen that we almost forgot to go.  Though I think the movie had some flaws, mostly stereotypical movie tropes, and a bit heavy-handed thematically at times,  I still thought it was very good and worth seeing. The historical parallels are obvious and timely, but even more  I was impressed by a popular movie that did convey the life and struggles of an intellectually-oriented person in "difficult" social political times.  I also was impressed with how it portrayed various modes of lives of faith and ways in which people did and did not hold fast to their principles.   Here's a thoughtful review of it  by Myles Werntz who took a grad cl...

 Well,  I've been going to bed at 9:30 and waking up at  3:30.  Often, I go back to sleep, but right now  it is not happening.  So  I thought I'd blog.   First,  for your visual pleasure: Some Scenes from Padden Lake.  Second, I present to you the sutras on  non-violence  (ahimsa).   And, third,   my  favorite  benediction.  "Go out into the world in peace. Have courage. Hold on to what is good. Return no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, and help the suffering. Honor all people. Love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit." Christina and I were having an election "debrief the debacle" conversation and then we moved onto other topics like her writing group and I asked what she was working on. We then moved on to the topic of "writing prompts." I am of mixed feelings about writing prompts. From the teacher/student perspective: on th...

Here are a few final images from our last week in Bellingham.  A walk around Lake Padden. Last Sunset from balcony and one of many scenes from the long drive home.  Apparently, we left just as the Fall rainy season started in earnest. So  good timing.  I've been meaning to start back with daily blogging for awhile now. Definitely feeling the pull, but have not recommitted.  I think when I enjoyed blogging the most was during the days of  going through the various levels of Iyengar Assessment and attending numerous workshops and writing about them and yoga philosophy more generally.  I am not so intensely into that aspect of Iyengarland these days, so I've been thinking about what I want to write about.   Well,  life being what it is, and political life being what it is, a new guiding thread has emerged. Surviving a new world order.  Its a difficult thing we are all going through together.  I have several posts forming in my min...