James Walsh Yoga

Wednesday, February 28, 2024, Simplicity (in almost all facets of one's life) should be strived for.  Simple relationships.  Simple approaches to problems. Simple ways to work and simple ways to enjoy leisure.  Simplicity towards one's health is, almost always, the way to go as well (mental health and physcial health, which we all have).   A simple way to improve one's mental health is to pause, catch one's breath (I.E.- Full even inhales and full even exhales), and then to start thinking of the good things, or blessings, one has in one's life.  Your car, your home/apartment, etc., your family, your fridge full of food, your job, your health (even if it fluctuates), etc.  It's irritating to many people that this simple approach to improving one's mental health is the equivalent of diet/exercise for one's physical (it works and its simple and it aligns ownership to you, the person in charge of your own physical and mental health); that's why it's ...

Tuesday, February 27, 2024, If one could write down in a series of bullet-points what is of the utmost importance in one's life, what would those bullet-points be? Money/security Family Job/career Health/appearance These are all important things in one's life, but they all eventually go away....they all eventually cease....like us, they all eventually disappear. Bleak as it sounds, much of what is deemed important and significant and worth worrying over disappears. Is there a part of us that doesn't disappear?  We hope so....we hope that a thinking/feelings/remembering part of our being continues on after death.  If there is a part of us that continues on after our death, then that part of us is the most important feature of our being, and should be nurtured first.  How does one nurture the part of one's being that continues on after death?  That all depends on who you ask but I can say that I nurture the part of me that continues on after death by incorporating pray...

Friday, February 23, 2024,  Control is actually a wonderful attribute and trait that Disney+ and a lot of other media outlets have passively spray-painted as something bad and negative; it's not.  Control, in many of its forms, is a wonderful skill to learn and know (especially self-control).  You could say that, on the other end of the spectrum, we have "release".  Is release better/worse, etc. than control?  In my humble opinion (that no one on asked for), you need to be able to release with the same ability that you need to have control (how's that for a wad of hippie-dippie mumbo jumbo...). It's 5:31am, and it's time to begin today's pratice...

Wednesday, February 21, 2024,  It's 5:35am as I type this, and today's posting will be brief so I can begin start my practice at a reasonable time but, I've often thought of how hopeless and despondent out world wants us to feel about everything (including ourselves).  As long as there is breath in your body, and you are alive, your fire is not out; ever.  It may be reduced down to embers, but it is not out and cannot be put out; some would argue that, even death, does not put out your fire, but moves your fire out of this world and onto the next.   Time to begin today's practice. Part II: Behind schedule, but an exceptional practice, the fire is never out.  Namaste

  Monday, February 19, 2024, A key to building happiness isn't the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them, and resolve them.  A powerful, and simple line that I read recently is today's title, " Fix Your Problems".  It got me thinking about the attractive and addictive nature of complaining about a problem, but not really doing anything to fix it (everyone, myself included, complains about problems at some point or another with no effort put forth into actually resolving the problem).  Altogether, our modern world, with its interconnectivity/social-media, now allows complainers to get together and ruminate and stew and do nothing other than.........complain.  Complain about the politics of the day, the amount of money they make, their living conditions, the cost of things, the weather, it's too hot, now it's too cold, now it's too mild, now it's too windy......  If one can A:) Pull oneself out of this din of noise and confusion and B:) ...

Friday, February 16, 2024, C.S. Lewis has an interesting line about the human spirit and, like a physical human body, how one's spirit will behave in certain situations.  A snippet of his famous quote is: "...Spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison..." It's an interesting and, somewhat, frightening thought to imagine a starved human body, being given something that they know to be bad for them but, in such a malnourished state, casting care and worry to the side and greedily shoveling handfuls of a poison down their throat if only to satiate their hunger for a period of time. The quote, as you can read, is more directly speaking about the spiritual side of one's being and, if our spiritual side is malnourished, not tended to, and cared for, it will ravenously consume anything it can to placate itself (regardless of how poisonous and deadly the thing might be to one's spirit/self).   I, like many of us, start...

Thursday, February 15, 2024,  All skills are perishable.  One doesn't always want to think this way, as this fact reminds you that maintenance and routine are key to obtaining and retaining any desire state or condition (be it mental or physical), but it is true just the same; all skills are perishable.  I'm on my mat for the first time in a good long while.  It's 5:34am, however, and it's time to begin today's practice.  I'm interested, if nothing else, if there's going to be an unadded benefit in the break....time to begin... Part II: As always, I write my initial post "cold" not having begun my practice yet and my Part II post after I've completed my practice (still on my mat, literally moments after coming out of Savasana/Corpose Post).   My countenance, perspective, etc. is always changed for the better after my practice (sometimes its changed a lot and sometimes only a little), but it's always changed for the better, and the version o...