Greetings Reader, It was very nice to receive so many replies to last week’s email. Reading about the many songs that inspire happiness in so many of you made me . . . happy. I’m also glad so many readers took me up on the challenge to find all of the song titles and references I inserted into my email. The funniest thing was that someone (thank you, Cynthia) found a couple of song titles that I didn’t even intend to include! They were “I Want to be Happy” from the musical No, No, Nanette...
5 days ago • 2 min read
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the concept of upādhi — temporary material identities — in the context of marginalized social experiences. The liberal conception of identity gives names to marginalized groups of people —BIPOC, queer, Trans, neurodivergent, Autistic, disabled, etc. — and encourages marginalized people to find of wholeness and belonging by stepping into such identities. The yogic...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Greetings Reader - There must be something wrong with me. I just looked at a list of the top 50 happiest songs of all time . . . according to science. Yes, researchers have developed a way to analyze how elements of music—tempo, key, composition, lyrics, etc.—come together to produce songs that are scientifically guaranteed to induce the emotional response we call “happiness.” My response when I look at this list? Ugh. Pop songs, Rock songs, Dance, R&B, it doesn’t matter: Each category has...
12 days ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - Back in the thrilling days of yesteryear, I was a marketing consultant for a company that made 3-D graphics systems for creating virtual sets, the likes of which are now a regular feature of live TV. The company was based in France and I was hired to help the company make inroads into the U.S. market. The gig only lasted a year, but that was long enough for me to score a free trip to L'Hexagone. They flew me in for a meeting at their corporate offices in Paris to make plans...
19 days ago • 5 min read
Greetings Reader - Yesterday was an exceptionally beautiful day here in Washington, D.C.: mild temperatures, bright sunshine, balmy breezes—it was a perfect day for . . . a bake sale. When we arrived at our No Kings Day “visibility” spot on Connecticut Avenue, we were greeted by a group of kids excitedly promoting their bake sale to raise money for their local public school. And they were cleverly leveraging the fact that it was No Kings Day with their enthusiastic chants to draw attention to...
26 days ago • 4 min read
Greetings Reader, Some say that spirituality transcends politics. In one sense, this is true. At the same time, saying “spirituality transcends politics” is also a political statement. Everything is political, even things that transcend politics! Yoga is the art and science of transcendence, of developing spiritual consciousness. It’s also a moral philosophy that calls us not just to refrain from harming others but to act for the benefit of others as well: “This supreme liberation is attained...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Greetings Reader - Last Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem went to the city of Portland, Oregon to get a firsthand look at what President Trump called a “very serious left-wing terror threat in our country.” What she saw was a handful of non-violent protesters playing music from The Benny Hill Show to make the point that Trump’s characterization of the situation, and her appearance to survey it, was absurd and foolish. As Portland City Council member Angelita Morillo put...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - A lot of people are talking . . . a lot. People in power who are saying scary, weird, and wildly inappropriate things. People out of power (and past their expiration dates) who are trying to sound defiant yet reasonable. People talking about the what’s going to happen, what won't happen, what might happen, what should happen, . . . Talking heads talking about what all the talking means. Talk, talk, talk: is it only talk? A lot of it is, but not all of it. I'm hearing some...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the difference between being apolitical and being non-partisan. People sometimes say: “Religion and politics don’t mix.” But that’s never been true, and it's certainly not true right now: there has probably never been a time in American history when religion and politics have been so intertwined.. And it's not just a matter of religious or spiritual values informing...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read