Hysterical: Snowball the dancing bird

This is not peace oriented but thought you'd like to see a dancing bird - with better rhythm than most people I know....
Scroll until you see "Snowball dances to "Another one bites the dust"

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/

For Everyone

You may wonder why I am adding a yoga posture, but I am a firm believer that yoga promotes peace not only externally but internally. It is also a therapy. This time of year I have heard a lot of complaints of sinus issues and headaches - so, here is Downward Dog. Please note contradictions before trying this.
Men - you will have a harder time with this posture as even if you don't work out to build muscle you still have more muscle mass - so, you'll be a little tighter.

Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, index fingers parallel or slightly turned out, and turn your toes under.

Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press it lightly toward the pubis. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling, and from your inner ankles draw the inner legs up into the groins.

Then with an exhalation, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels onto or down toward the floor. Straighten your knees but be sure not to lock them. Firm the outer thighs and roll the upper thighs inward slightly. Narrow the front of the pelvis.

Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. From these two points lift along your inner arms from the wrists to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the head between the upper arms; don't let it hang.

Adho Mukha Svanasana is one of the poses in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. It's also an excellent yoga asana all on its own. Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.

CONTRADICTIONS: Carpel Tunnel, Diarrhea, pregnancy (last term), High blood pressure (not regulated), macular degeneration.

BENEFITS: Calms, relieves stress and mild depression, energizes, stretches much of body while strengthening, relieves symptoms of menopause and PMS for women, helps prevent osteoporosis, improves digestion, improves prostate health for men, relieves headache, insomnia, back pain and fatigue, and under care is a therapy for high blood pressure. Is also a therapy for asthma and sciatica pain. Most back weakness responds well to this posture.

An Invite

Anyone who has time, this three day event looks very worthwhile and illuminating-
......
I’m writing to invite you and others in the Tikkun Philadelphia community to a three-day conference coming up on Jan. 21-23 here at the Church of the Good Shepherd. Beginning on the afternoon and evening of Martin Luther King Day, we will be a regional host via a live webcast of “Religion and Violence: Untangling the Roots of Conflict—An Interfaith Dialogue,” a conference originating at Trinity Church Wall Street. While conferees gather in New York City a few blocks from the fallen World Trade Center towers, we will gather in our Parish Hall, as one of about thirty other sites around the country, to listen to eminent Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars and thinkers discuss the links between violence and religion and what faith can contribute to lessening violence in the world.

Details about the conference are available at www.trinitywallstreet.org/institute. Speakers include James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword; Jewish biblical scholar Susannah Heschel; James H. Cone, author of Malcolm and Martin and America: A Dream or a Nightmare; and Tariq Ramadan, a preeminent Muslim scholar in the West. The conference itself includes several opportunities for guided reflection groups, and includes lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday. We keeping the conference cost purposely low, at $25, in order to encourage participation.

Probably many will have other commitments on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day (the conference begins at 4:30), but I’m sure that the following two days offer opportunities for hearing presentations followed by small-group discussions. Even if those interested couldn’t participate in most or all of the two days, the schedule would allow “dropping in,” say, for one speaker and the discussion that followed. (A schedule of speakers and discussions is attached.)

The people of Good Shepherd are excited about this chance to participate in a dialogue with others in faith communities around the country. I hope you’ll consider joining us.
Warm regards,
Bob Smith


The Rev. Robert C. Smith
Rector, Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd

About me: Michele Paiva

I have been involved in peace as a way of life (internal and external) for most of my adult life. I am a former news reporter and anchor, and former news writer and editor; I have owned a yoga studio for 15+ years, recently moving to my home with yoga therapy clients, to allow me to write more. My books upcoming deal with energy (physics) and ethnobotany - and how they relate to our bodies and our surroundings.
I have a background in education, law, and wellness. For "fun" given my experiences in media and telesales, I have a boutique (ie, just myself with family & freelancers) marketing and pr agency. I have since also cut down on this as well for writing.

Part of my intuitive purpose is to promote peace and fairness through advocacy; this has been the one common thread in all of the seemingly different careers I have been honored to have worked within - thus, taking on this position with Tikkun, seemed a natural.
I saw a few names on the list that I recognized and feel that we are all among some wonderful people "here".

Namaste -
Michele Paiva

Welcome

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