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My Ayurveda Experience – Day 4
Posted by Steven Russell
Today seemed to go very fast. We still took 90 minutes, it just flew by. I told the therapist that I woke up at 4 AM with my throat burning. I have had a sore throat off and on over the last month, and that was not unusual. He told me that after the ...
My Ayurveda Experience – Day 3
Posted by Steven Russell
I’m really enjoying this. I talked briefly with my therapist about my experience yesterday, then I asked him his name. He told me and tried to get me to pronounce it correctly. I think I did pretty well. There’s a vowel where you have to ...
My Ayurveda Experience – Day 2
Posted by Steven Russell
Today was my second day of therapies. They were the same six therapies, just stronger. It was with the same therapist. I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know his name. We have now spent three hours together with his hands pretty much ...
The last full week in July was an incredible week for transpeople in America
Posted by Barbra Casbar Siperstein
On Monday July 21, 2014 President Obama signed an executive order doing 2 things. First, it added “gender identity” an existing executive order protecting gay and lesbian federal workers from discrimination thus protecting transgender ...
My Ayurveda Experience – Day 1
Posted by Steven Russell
Ayurveda is a system of Hindu traditional medicine. Its roots are said to be over 4000 years old. The practice of Ayurveda seeks to bring the body’s biological setup into balance, thus bringing health. It is the sister science of yoga. I ...
My Gay Cousin's Advice
Posted by Cousin Butchie
Dear Cousin Butchie,
I have no real problem hooking up with another guy for a date. The problem is how the conversation goes when we're having dinner or coffee or whatever. I have noticed that most gay dudes will inevitably tell all or part of ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 24
Posted by Steven Russell
This week hasn't been too bad. I’ll say that about half the time I drive I start out breathing and can pretty much eliminate the distraction of other drivers annoying me, and the length of stoplights making me angry. I will consider this great ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 21
Posted by Steven Russell
You win a few, you lose a few. It only took 21 days, but today I was driving to the library to teach yoga, and I started breathing before anything distracted me and annoyed me. I did that for the whole 20 minute drive there. I couldn’t believe ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 20
Posted by Steven Russell
Saturday was a busy day. We took the dogs to the dog park. That was fun. Talk about distractions. Try finding your Corgi in a sea of 24 other Corgis. It was amazing that I could always recognize their barks even though it took me a while to pick ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 18
Posted by Steven Russell
I had a day off and it was a stunningly beautiful day. Last year I vowed to get to the beach before September, which was the first time I got there last year. So I went. Several things helped me be less distracted by annoying things. I wasn’t ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 17
Posted by Steven Russell
I seem to be developing a new habit, and that is good. The habit, however, is not the one I planned. I seem to get annoyed at pretty much anything, and then do the breathing exercise to undo the effects of getting annoyed. My plan was to do the ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 16
Posted by Steven Russell
My plan was delayed. Well, ok, I forgot about the planning ahead to stop the distractions before they happen until I was already on the road. And the distractions were the plagues that they usually are. There must be some way of reminding myself. ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 15
Posted by Steven Russell
Day 14 was a rather busy day. So I’m just going to combine it with Day 15. The TV is on. My husband is watching Judge Judy. Yes, it’s a distraction. I want to watch it, but I’m looking forward to finishing this post and going ...
The Times They Are A Changin'
Posted by Cousin Butchie
Dear Cousin Butchie,
I am in real predicament, and I might as well agree to let you settle it.
Two dudes who have been my friends for years are taking the big step and getting married in August. I am honestly closer to Mike than I am to Jim, but ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 13
Posted by Steven Russell
I took a couple of days off for my birthday. I didn’t turn on the TV. It was on in the diner we went to after bowling on Friday. I kept looking at it for no reason other than it was on. After a while I stopped and focused on enjoying my ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 10
Posted by Steven Russell
Plans can be a distraction. Yesterday I planned to head off distractions. That will have to wait for another, less distracting, day. I think I’m becoming attached to my sore throat. It’s been eight days. It’s finally letting up, ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 9
Posted by Steven Russell
So what were today’s distractions and how can I overcome them?
My throat is still sore. It’s been sore a week now. That’s a big distraction. Mainly because it hurts. How to overcome it? Trust that it will get better I suppose. But ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 8
Posted by Steven Russell
sa tu dīrghakāla nairantarya satkāra-ādara-āsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ
Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness.
I rode to work today with ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 7
Posted by Steven Russell
Tatra Sthitau Yatnah Abhyasa Of these, effort toward steadiness of mind is practice. So this isn’t just an experiment. If I’m going to achieve this less distracted mind, I’m going to have to stick with it. Train my mind. I ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 6
Posted by Steven Russell
Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tan nirodhah
These mental modifications are restrained by practice and non-attachment.
I made it a whole day yesterday without going on any of my chat apps. That took some practice. Actually I failed three times. I opened one ...
Uncle RJ Remembers He Has a Column/Blog Here!
Posted by Uncle RJ
Dearest Readers...About three years ago, when Bonnie was looking for a blogger, she was steered in my direction by my fabulous friend (H.L. from Westfield). The theme was generally supposed to be a blog on living on in the LGBT community once the ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 5
Posted by Steven Russell
pramāṇa viparyaya vikalpa nidrā smṛtayaḥ Insight, error, imaginings, deep sleep, and recollections. These are the five kinds of mental modifications mentioned in yesterday’s sutra. The mental modifications that ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 4
Posted by Steven Russell
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ There are five kinds of mental modifications which are either painful or painless. So these distractions can be painful. That’s pretty ...
Why do they all seem to disappear?
Posted by Cousin Butchie
Greetings to all of my countless readers and fans! I have taken a seemingly long hiatus from writing on this blog because I was waiting for questions and comments from readers. Now that a number of you have written to me at www.KippyNJ.com instead ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 3
Posted by Steven Russell
vṛtti sārūpyam-itaratra At other times the self assumes the forms of the mental modifications. I hear often that we are what we eat. I think more often it’s true that we become what we pay attention to. It would make sense ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 2
Posted by Steven Russell
tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe-'vasthānam
Then the Seer (the self) abides in his own nature.
Yoga Sutra number three. It’s at the beginning, so it must be important. Yesterday’s was number two.
I’m here in ...
A Month of Less Distraction – Day 1
Posted by Steven Russell
yogaḥ citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ
The ancient text, the Yoga Sutras, or threads about yoga, says that yoga is the restraint of the modifications of the mindstuff. For the sake of some simplicity, let’s say that yoga is lessening the ...
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