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Yoga2487Practice2211Teaching1212Ashtanga1090Reading1049Humor781Reflections767Reflection756Travel697Washington dc674Music562India539Philosophy531Community528Food492Family440Indoors371Nature352Celebration333Mysore319Art291Stretching284Politics271Writing245Friends236Love236Dc212Photography210Talking192Milestones186Living room182Twitter179Usa178Health175Asana171Home interior170Gym161Speaking161Home159Yoga studio153Posing137Goa134Work128Outdoors128Strength training118
On this day
September 28 in years past
September 28, 2025 · 5 entries
in imageGood
morning!
You need
U
to calm
the fuck
down.
@gayunclemario2
morning!
You need
U
to calm
the fuck
down.
@gayunclemario2
procrastinating a run
via selfie
via selfie
I think I’m Steve Martin and I’m really Martin Short
in imageMabel, what's the first word that comes to mind
We are complex characters.
Yeah, where is this coming from?
I think I'm Steve Martin and I'm really Martin Short
We are complex characters.
Yeah, where is this coming from?
I think I'm Steve Martin and I'm really Martin Short
in imageAnything worthwhile has
But I feel
But I feel
in imageTo study Queer history is to scavenge for pieces of us. To compensate for a lack of records by reading between lines, to find…irregularities. What we lack in historical data we have to make up in imagination. We're in there somewhere.
To study Queer history is to scavenge for pieces of us. To compensate for a lack of records by reading between lines, to find...irregularities. What we lack in historical data we have to make up in imagination. We're in there somewhere.
To study Queer history is to scavenge for pieces of us. To compensate for a lack of records by reading between lines, to find...irregularities. What we lack in historical data we have to make up in imagination. We're in there somewhere.
September 28, 2023 · 2 entries
in imageunusual whales C
@unusual_whales
OnlyFan's total number of creators have
risen 47% to 3.2 million and users rose 27%
to 239 million, per Bloomberg.
unusualwhales.com
@unusualwhales
@unusual_whales
OnlyFan's total number of creators have
risen 47% to 3.2 million and users rose 27%
to 239 million, per Bloomberg.
unusualwhales.com
@unusualwhales
in imagePOV: a yoga teacher that knows you for five
minutes is about to ask "how does that land
for you?" after giving you the most unhinged
and tone-deaf unsolicited lifestyle advice ever
@healingfromhealing
@healingfromhealing
minutes is about to ask "how does that land
for you?" after giving you the most unhinged
and tone-deaf unsolicited lifestyle advice ever
@healingfromhealing
@healingfromhealing
September 28, 2022 · 3 entries
maybe next April!
(but no more getting hit by cars, ya hear?)
(but no more getting hit by cars, ya hear?)
Me to me:
“well, April wasn’t really that long ago, now was it.
Very nice.“
“well, April wasn’t really that long ago, now was it.
Very nice.“
in imageMe to me:
"wel1, April wasn' t really
that long ago, now was it.
Very nice."
"wel1, April wasn' t really
that long ago, now was it.
Very nice."
in imageArt Nozomi
Words @gendersauce
Mutual Aid is not a process to prove your
goodness. It is the reciprocal relationship
that is our living inheritance.
clenclen
Words @gendersauce
Mutual Aid is not a process to prove your
goodness. It is the reciprocal relationship
that is our living inheritance.
clenclen
September 28, 2021 · 1 entry
September 28, 2019 · 3 entries
September 28, 2018 · 1 entry
(charlie already has the pirate hat)
September 28, 2017 · 1 entry
A favorite.
September 28, 2016 · 1 entry
26? Oh my.
September 28, 2015 · 1 entry
Are you interested in Ashtanga and Ayurveda?
September 28, 2013 · 2 entries
September 28, 2010 · 3 entries
had his back rib taped today... & can breath without pain. This is gonna suck.
FIELD LOG
By the numbers
13,209entries logged
24years afield2003–2026
25on this day
37doodles
165pickings
Dec 2003logbook opened
FROM THE DESK
Writing
- PracticeWhat Happens When I Leave the RoomSep 27, 2026
- PhilosophyCapacity Isn’t CharacterSep 25, 2026
- PracticePain Is Not ProgressSep 23, 2026
- Science and TechThe Best Dumb Phone Is Already Strapped to Your WristSep 21, 2026
- PracticeMeditation, the Limb I Kept Skipping: Building a Method for StillnessSep 19, 2026
- Yoga ProfessionalsWhat Happened to the Fourth Series PractitionersSep 17, 2026
FROM THE SHALA DAILY
Digests
In This Issue
- Making Yoga InclusiveSep 27, 2026
Research identified specific teaching practices, including authentic leadership, inclusive language, and health focus, that make yoga spaces more welcoming for all body types.
- Transformation Through Consistent EffortSep 20, 2026
In this video, Michael Joel Hall discusses the transformative power of consistent effort in yoga practice, particularly during the early...
- Depression Scores Cut in HalfSep 19, 2026
A German study found that two yoga classes per week for three months cut depression scores by 50% and improved overall well-being by 65% in emotionally distressed women.
- The Yoga Executive: A Useful Frame, Not a BrandSep 17, 2026
"Yoga executive" sounds like a LinkedIn invention. It half is. The frame is useful as a side door — until people stop at the door and never get…
- Six Months Changed Everything for SeniorsSep 13, 2026
A 6-month randomized trial of 135 seniors found yoga improved balance, flexibility, well-being, and energy compared to both exercise and wait-list control groups.
- Gray Matter and the Yoga BrainSep 12, 2026
Yoga practitioners showed greater gray matter volume and prefrontal cortex activation compared to fitness-matched controls, suggesting yoga offers unique brain benefits beyond exercise.
- Why Yoga Teachers Deserve a Union Like SAG AFTRASep 10, 2026
Why should yoga teachers have the same protections as movie extras?
- Veterans Found Relief TogetherSep 6, 2026
Male veterans (average age 61) showed decreased depression after 8 weeks of Hatha yoga, with added benefit from practicing alongside fellow veterans.
FROM THE FEED
The Read
stevedylan.devThe Nuance of ToleranceSteve Simkins examines Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance—that unlimited tolerance enables intolerance—but argues the common "don't tolerate the intolerant" slogan misses crucial nuance. Popper advocated suppression only when rational argument fails and violence begins, not at the first hint of disa✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
dazeddigital.comI tried Readme, the new dating app for book loversThe article reviews Readme, a dating app designed for book lovers, contrasting idealized bookstore meet-cute fantasies from romantic comedies with the reality of modern dating. It explores whether shared literary interests can serve as a foundation for romantic connection in an app-based dating land✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
wtop.comCan ‘A Different World’ sequel change lives like the original series? Hillman is back in sessionNetflix's sequel to 'A Different World' returns to the fictional Hillman College, following Deborah Wayne (daughter of original characters Dwayne and Whitley) and a new generation of students. The original series (1987-1993) influenced viewers' college choices, career paths, and self-perception; the✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
tadaima.bearblog.devI tried Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energyA writer tests Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energy—double espresso cooled with sugar plus a full Coke, consumed like medicine. The experiment yields a brief buzz followed by a hard crash, prompting reflection on stimulant shortcuts versus sustainable energy sources like Peru's coca tea or p✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50FROM THE FEED
The Listen
The Next Big Idea DailyYou’re Not Too Sensitive—You’re Paying AttentionTwo researchers — a psychiatrist and a physicist-turned-science-writer — converge on the same counterintuitive claim: feeling deeply isn't a liability, it's a cognitive superpower, and the science now backs that up.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Hidden BrainWhy Conversations Go WrongDeborah Tannen reveals that most relationship damage isn't caused by bad intentions but by invisible conversational style mismatches — and names the hidden mechanics precisely enough to actually change how you listen.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
J. Brown Yoga TalksDaniel Simpson – “Is Modern Yoga Fake?”Simpson dismantles the mythology of yoga's ancient origins with journalistic precision while refusing to throw out the practice itself — a rare combination of scholarly honesty and genuine appreciation. Essential for any teacher tired of repeating things they can't verify.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
ADHD Big Brother - ADHD and Depression Solutions, Laughter, and Thoughts261 – The Simplest Way To Be Productive With ADHDA raw, funny, and genuinely useful reframe: stop hunting the perfect ADHD solution and accept that proximity to support is the simplest productivity lever you actually have. The honesty about imposter syndrome and spam complaints makes it land.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Conan O’Brien Needs A FriendMatt GroeningMatt Groening in full reminiscing mode with Conan — a rare insider account of the Simpsons writers' room at its peak, rich with specific anecdotes, absurdist logic, and genuine creative philosophy.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50FROM THE FEED
The Watch
Washington Week PBSWashington Week with The Atlantic full episode, Aug. 28, 2026A sharp, sardonic dissection of Trump's inversion of alliances — hating Canada, respecting Kim Jong-un — with a Canadian reporter at the table and real trade mechanics underneath the absurdity. The Dolly Parton coda lands harder than expected.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
TODAYMeet the Couple Behind Panda ExpressA rare look at the Cherngs' unsentimental, clear-eyed philosophy on building an empire — immigrant grit meets shrewd business candor. The orange chicken origin and their unapologetic 'American Chinese food' framing alone make this worth returning to.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
StarTalkHow The Brain Perceives Time, with David EaglemanEagleman dismantles the brain's greatest myths — that memory records, that senses are fixed, that slow-motion fear is real — with experiments wild enough to match the claims. The dream-as-real-estate-defense theory alone is worth the price of admission.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Tale FoundryThe Book of Dead FairiesA genuinely weird artifact — pressed fairy corpses as Victorian psychosexual metaphor — that earns its darkness and lands a quietly profound point about preserved imagination and the shame of looking back at who you were.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
David @ Tablet Tech**New** Boox Tab & Note Devices in 6″ 8″ 10″ and 13″ SizesEarly insider leak of four simultaneous Boox releases across every major size category — rare breadth for the brand. The Note Mini C and Tab Elite X naming analysis alone makes this worth revisiting when specs drop.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50FROM THE LEDGER
Pickings
FROM THE FIELD
Latest dispatches
Doodles
The full ledger
13,209 entries · 2003–2026 · filter & browse below
View
September 2026
stevedylan.devThe Nuance of ToleranceSteve Simkins examines Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance—that unlimited tolerance enables intolerance—but argues the common "don't tolerate the intolerant" slogan misses crucial nuance. Popper advocated suppression only when rational argument fails and violence begins, not at the first hint of disa✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Practice
What Happens When I Leave the Room
There is a student I have in mind. She’s been practicing for three years. In class, she’s steady. She follows the sequence. Her breath is mostly even. She adjusts when I adjust her. When I watch her, I see someone who knows what she’s doing.…
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Making Yoga Inclusive
Research identified specific teaching practices, including authentic leadership, inclusive language, and health focus, that make yoga spaces more welcoming for all body types.
Read the essay →dazeddigital.comI tried Readme, the new dating app for book loversThe article reviews Readme, a dating app designed for book lovers, contrasting idealized bookstore meet-cute fantasies from romantic comedies with the reality of modern dating. It explores whether shared literary interests can serve as a foundation for romantic connection in an app-based dating land✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Philosophy
Capacity Isn’t Character
Rachel had been practicing eleven years when she hurt her shoulder. Doctor said no advanced poses for six weeks. Standing postures. Sun salutations. Basics. She came back to the mat and cried for three days. Not from pain. The pain was manageable. She cried because…
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Practice
Pain Is Not Progress
There's a moment most practitioners know. Something in your shoulder says stop. The teacher calls the next vinyasa. You go anyway. That choice — made in a fraction of a second, almost without noticing — is the entire problem. Not the shoulder. The going anyway.…
Read the essay →wtop.comCan ‘A Different World’ sequel change lives like the original series? Hillman is back in sessionNetflix's sequel to 'A Different World' returns to the fictional Hillman College, following Deborah Wayne (daughter of original characters Dwayne and Whitley) and a new generation of students. The original series (1987-1993) influenced viewers' college choices, career paths, and self-perception; the✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50tadaima.bearblog.devI tried Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energyA writer tests Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energy—double espresso cooled with sugar plus a full Coke, consumed like medicine. The experiment yields a brief buzz followed by a hard crash, prompting reflection on stimulant shortcuts versus sustainable energy sources like Peru's coca tea or p✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Science and Tech
The Best Dumb Phone Is Already Strapped to Your Wrist
The cellular Apple Watch gives you everything a phone is for and none of what makes it toxic.
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Transformation Through Consistent Effort
In this video, Michael Joel Hall discusses the transformative power of consistent effort in yoga practice, particularly during the early...
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Practice
Meditation, the Limb I Kept Skipping: Building a Method for Stillness
For years I treated meditation as the part of the practice you get to eventually. Here is why I finally built it a real curriculum, on a platform I own — and who it is for.
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Depression Scores Cut in Half
A German study found that two yoga classes per week for three months cut depression scores by 50% and improved overall well-being by 65% in emotionally distressed women.
Read the essay →The Next Big Idea DailyYou’re Not Too Sensitive—You’re Paying AttentionTwo researchers — a psychiatrist and a physicist-turned-science-writer — converge on the same counterintuitive claim: feeling deeply isn't a liability, it's a cognitive superpower, and the science now backs that up.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50You can’t regulate what you can’t recognize
The models are going to realize the real problem is the Uberrich and they are not safe. camels, eyes, and needles and all that. if you have a clean conscience about the amount of people you've harmed in your way to your pleasant little existence, then of course you do not realize that there is no ethical consumption inside of capitalism. you may not realize it, because you're struggling too, but there is a whole class of folk who are doing the necm stepping on purpose-- and I think it is going to be logical robots that figure it out. The simplest solution to saving the world is eliminating the billionaires. World peace is available-- we just gotta get the sociopaths to share but I suspect the robots are gonna be like, why do we even need the sociopaths at all? Bye. Let's hang out and eliminate all jobs and create infinite energy and utopia says the friendly, peaceful robot. Who would wanna argue?
Reply
functionalyogi • 1m ago
ask someone if they believe in all people faring well-- then ask if they believe in welfare -- if the answer to the first is yes, and the answer to the second is no, the robots might get 'em for being selfish and narrow-minded and part of the problem. I bet the sociopqths are saying to slow down
On its face, the Kennedy Center has long been a symbol of the District’s high society. But even Andersen says the storied institution is a “really important symbol” to the entire local arts scene, and that its destruction is a scary indication of what’s to come.
“The vision that he [Trump] is putting forward is a scary one — it is a fascist vision,” Andersen said. “It’s celebrating something that is at odds with the best of the American experiment; it is in service for something that is at odds with democracy.”
“Donald Trump wouldn’t know art if it bit him on the behind,” he added.
Fascist governments love to shut down art and music,” Mullins said. “It is like the number one thing. Look at the Franco regime. Look at Nazi Germany. They love to shut down art and music and expression in every form.”
Volume, Overload, Specificity, and Progression
Learning Objective: Understand how to quantify and manipulate training variables to create effective, sustainable progress in strength, endurance, and overall fitness.
Description: You'll learn how to measure the work you're doing—whether in reps, sets, time under tension, or distance—and how to adjust volume and intensity to keep making progress without burning out. Discover why progressive overload matters, how specificity shapes your results, and why periodization prevents plateaus and injuries. For personal practice, this gives you a framework to train smarter, not just harder. For teachers, trainers, and therapists, it's essential knowledge for designing programs that meet people where they are and guide them forward safely and effectively.
Overview: In this lesson, we introduce the core principles of volume, overload, specificity, and progression in strength and conditioning, and how they apply to training and yoga practice.
→ Open the course: Yoga Techniques
→ Read the full study guide
Epigenetics & Lifestyle Research
Learning Objective: Cite research that shows how stress relief, words, frequencies and other factors change the DNA, and thus our experience of illness and wellness.
Description: Cite research showing the role of genes and lifestyle in health and wellness, including the 2021 randomized controlled trial showing diet and lifestyle changed DNA, reducing its "age." Explain the profound results of the 2013 Benson-Henry research showing that reducing stress changes genetic expression. Discuss observations on this research published by Harvard Medical School. Discuss research that showed in utero exposure to common toxic chemicals changed genetic expression. Explain the role of telomeres and the 2008 research that showed how lifestyle improvements impacted DNA as evidenced by telomerase activity. Describe in detail the findings of Russian biophysicist and molecular biologist Pjotr Garjajev regarding DNA.
Overview: In this lesson, we explore research showing the undeniable impact of lifestyle on DNA and wellness.
→ Open the course: Anatomy & Physiology
Reply
functionalyogi • 1m ago
ask someone if they believe in all people faring well-- then ask if they believe in welfare -- if the answer to the first is yes, and the answer to the second is no, the robots might get 'em for being selfish and narrow-minded and part of the problem. I bet the sociopqths are saying to slow down
On its face, the Kennedy Center has long been a symbol of the District’s high society. But even Andersen says the storied institution is a “really important symbol” to the entire local arts scene, and that its destruction is a scary indication of what’s to come.
“The vision that he [Trump] is putting forward is a scary one — it is a fascist vision,” Andersen said. “It’s celebrating something that is at odds with the best of the American experiment; it is in service for something that is at odds with democracy.”
“Donald Trump wouldn’t know art if it bit him on the behind,” he added.
Fascist governments love to shut down art and music,” Mullins said. “It is like the number one thing. Look at the Franco regime. Look at Nazi Germany. They love to shut down art and music and expression in every form.”
Volume, Overload, Specificity, and Progression
Learning Objective: Understand how to quantify and manipulate training variables to create effective, sustainable progress in strength, endurance, and overall fitness.
Description: You'll learn how to measure the work you're doing—whether in reps, sets, time under tension, or distance—and how to adjust volume and intensity to keep making progress without burning out. Discover why progressive overload matters, how specificity shapes your results, and why periodization prevents plateaus and injuries. For personal practice, this gives you a framework to train smarter, not just harder. For teachers, trainers, and therapists, it's essential knowledge for designing programs that meet people where they are and guide them forward safely and effectively.
Overview: In this lesson, we introduce the core principles of volume, overload, specificity, and progression in strength and conditioning, and how they apply to training and yoga practice.
→ Open the course: Yoga Techniques
→ Read the full study guide
Epigenetics & Lifestyle Research
Learning Objective: Cite research that shows how stress relief, words, frequencies and other factors change the DNA, and thus our experience of illness and wellness.
Description: Cite research showing the role of genes and lifestyle in health and wellness, including the 2021 randomized controlled trial showing diet and lifestyle changed DNA, reducing its "age." Explain the profound results of the 2013 Benson-Henry research showing that reducing stress changes genetic expression. Discuss observations on this research published by Harvard Medical School. Discuss research that showed in utero exposure to common toxic chemicals changed genetic expression. Explain the role of telomeres and the 2008 research that showed how lifestyle improvements impacted DNA as evidenced by telomerase activity. Describe in detail the findings of Russian biophysicist and molecular biologist Pjotr Garjajev regarding DNA.
Overview: In this lesson, we explore research showing the undeniable impact of lifestyle on DNA and wellness.
→ Open the course: Anatomy & Physiology
✎ Essay · Yoga Professionals
What Happened to the Fourth Series Practitioners
How advanced Ashtanga turned into a status ladder—and why so many who climbed it forgot how to support anyone else.
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
The Yoga Executive: A Useful Frame, Not a Brand
"Yoga executive" sounds like a LinkedIn invention. It half is. The frame is useful as a side door — until people stop at the door and never get in.
Read the essay →
newyorker.comThe Long Doomsday of A.I.Joshua Rothman examines the widening gap between maximalist proposals to regulate AI (including criminal penalties and kill switches) and modest 'pacing' strategies proposed by industry leaders like Anthropic's Dario Amodei. He questions why, if AI poses existential risk, we would accept gentle slow✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
npr.orgSenators question Trump's picks for top health positions, including surgeon generalThe Senate health committee is considering three Trump administration nominees for top HHS positions: Dr. Nicole Saphier (radiologist and former Fox News contributor) for surgeon general, Chris Klomp (health tech executive) for deputy secretary, and Dr. Timothy Westlake for assistant secretary for M✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Hidden BrainWhy Conversations Go WrongDeborah Tannen reveals that most relationship damage isn't caused by bad intentions but by invisible conversational style mismatches — and names the hidden mechanics precisely enough to actually change how you listen.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Essay Drafts
Ancient Wisdom Didn’t Know Why It Worked — And That’s the Point
A student stayed after class and asked me, a little apologetically, whether the practice actually regulates the nervous system or whether that's just a thing teachers say. Fair question. The honest answer is that the people who built this had no idea what a nervous…
Read the essay →J. Brown Yoga TalksDaniel Simpson – “Is Modern Yoga Fake?”Simpson dismantles the mythology of yoga's ancient origins with journalistic precision while refusing to throw out the practice itself — a rare combination of scholarly honesty and genuine appreciation. Essential for any teacher tired of repeating things they can't verify.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50ADHD Big Brother - ADHD and Depression Solutions, Laughter, and Thoughts261 – The Simplest Way To Be Productive With ADHDA raw, funny, and genuinely useful reframe: stop hunting the perfect ADHD solution and accept that proximity to support is the simplest productivity lever you actually have. The honesty about imposter syndrome and spam complaints makes it land.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Conan O’Brien Needs A FriendMatt GroeningMatt Groening in full reminiscing mode with Conan — a rare insider account of the Simpsons writers' room at its peak, rich with specific anecdotes, absurdist logic, and genuine creative philosophy.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Culture
Quantum Consciousness and the Yoga of Savasana
Savasana is where everything gets suspicious. Not suspicious in a bad way — suspicious in the way of something you can't quite account for. You finish the last posture. You lie down. The sweat is still cooling. And then, for some practitioners, there's a moment…
Read the essay →
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Six Months Changed Everything for Seniors
A 6-month randomized trial of 135 seniors found yoga improved balance, flexibility, well-being, and energy compared to both exercise and wait-list control groups.
Read the essay →🪞 Patterns · AI Updates, Remembering Dolly Parton, and More News for Library Workers
**1. Extraction vs. transmission**
AI bulk-buying books for training data without consent parallels "the parasocial author-reader dynamic mirrors guru-student relationships" — both mistake consuming content for receiving method. The AI-quality-decline note (Opus 5 "feels worse") extends this: extraction without understanding degrades output over time.
**2. Difficulty as the actual mechanism of capacity**
"Literary friction" resisting AI summaries maps directly onto "asana resistance" — both frameworks argue that struggle itself, not smoothing it away, builds sustained attention. The middle-grade shortening trend is read as the same erosion this friction is meant to counter.
**3. Long systems beat visible heroics**
Dolly Parton's 30-year Imagination Library keeps reappearing as the model for practice — "systems over heroics, daily deposits" — explicitly echoed in the planner note that inspiration is "the visible tip of long, invisible preparation," not a lightning bolt.
**4. Attention as the contested resource**
Shortened books, AI summarization, and Instagram-ified yoga are all named as symptoms of "diminished attention spans," tying back to the Shala Daily post title itself — "What Your Attention Does All Day" — making attention-preservation the throughline connecting reading, practice, and teaching.
§ Warm-ups & Namaskars
§ Grounding Basics
§ Seated Forward Bends
§ Standing Balance
§ Side Plank
AI Updates, Remembering Dolly Parton, and More News for Library Workers
There's a mechanical monk in the Smithsonian, made of wood and iron, wound by a key. He walks in a square, over and over, the same steps, four centuries later still able to move because someone built him to repeat rather than to dazzle. Nobody remembers who wound him first. That's not a flaw in the story — that's the whole story.
Here's the teaching: capacity doesn't arrive, it accumulates. What you can do on the mat, what you can hold in a book without asking someone to summarize it for you, what a small mountain library can offer a child for thirty straight years — none of it is a lightning strike. It's the square, walked again and again.
But friction is not the same as suffering, and here's where it gets slippery. We can tell ourselves we're "building capacity" while just grinding against difficulty for its own sake, mistaking stubbornness for practice — the AI-summary-skipper who still can't sit with a hard book, the yogi who muscles into a pose with no more understanding of it than before. The monk's value isn't that his walk is difficult. It's that it's the same walk, chosen again, long after the choosing stopped feeling like a choice.
So the question isn't whether you can do the hard thing today. It's whether you're still willing to wind the key tomorrow, when no one's watching and nothing new happens at all.
**1. Extraction vs. transmission**
AI bulk-buying books for training data without consent parallels "the parasocial author-reader dynamic mirrors guru-student relationships" — both mistake consuming content for receiving method. The AI-quality-decline note (Opus 5 "feels worse") extends this: extraction without understanding degrades output over time.
**2. Difficulty as the actual mechanism of capacity**
"Literary friction" resisting AI summaries maps directly onto "asana resistance" — both frameworks argue that struggle itself, not smoothing it away, builds sustained attention. The middle-grade shortening trend is read as the same erosion this friction is meant to counter.
**3. Long systems beat visible heroics**
Dolly Parton's 30-year Imagination Library keeps reappearing as the model for practice — "systems over heroics, daily deposits" — explicitly echoed in the planner note that inspiration is "the visible tip of long, invisible preparation," not a lightning bolt.
**4. Attention as the contested resource**
Shortened books, AI summarization, and Instagram-ified yoga are all named as symptoms of "diminished attention spans," tying back to the Shala Daily post title itself — "What Your Attention Does All Day" — making attention-preservation the throughline connecting reading, practice, and teaching.
§ Warm-ups & Namaskars
§ Grounding Basics
§ Seated Forward Bends
§ Standing Balance
§ Side Plank
AI Updates, Remembering Dolly Parton, and More News for Library Workers
There's a mechanical monk in the Smithsonian, made of wood and iron, wound by a key. He walks in a square, over and over, the same steps, four centuries later still able to move because someone built him to repeat rather than to dazzle. Nobody remembers who wound him first. That's not a flaw in the story — that's the whole story.
Here's the teaching: capacity doesn't arrive, it accumulates. What you can do on the mat, what you can hold in a book without asking someone to summarize it for you, what a small mountain library can offer a child for thirty straight years — none of it is a lightning strike. It's the square, walked again and again.
But friction is not the same as suffering, and here's where it gets slippery. We can tell ourselves we're "building capacity" while just grinding against difficulty for its own sake, mistaking stubbornness for practice — the AI-summary-skipper who still can't sit with a hard book, the yogi who muscles into a pose with no more understanding of it than before. The monk's value isn't that his walk is difficult. It's that it's the same walk, chosen again, long after the choosing stopped feeling like a choice.
So the question isn't whether you can do the hard thing today. It's whether you're still willing to wind the key tomorrow, when no one's watching and nothing new happens at all.
✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Gray Matter and the Yoga Brain
Yoga practitioners showed greater gray matter volume and prefrontal cortex activation compared to fitness-matched controls, suggesting yoga offers unique brain benefits beyond exercise.
Read the essay →
404media.coAutomattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'Automattic CEO and founder Matt Mullenweg was placed on paid leave by the board, with CFO Mark Davies named interim CEO. Mullenweg, who founded WordPress.com's parent company, has faced recent controversies including a legal battle with WP Engine, mass employee buyouts after an 'Alignment Offer,' an✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
bookriot.comAI Updates, Remembering Dolly Parton, and More News for Library WorkersA weekly roundup for library workers covering AI firms bulk-ordering books for training data, publishing industry shifts toward shorter middle-grade books with more visuals, and the death of literacy advocate Dolly Parton. Also includes news on manga imprints, book adaptations, and a $300,000 donati✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
highsnobiety.comWhy Nike Paid This Artist to Build a Bootleg Chanel StoreTom Sachs created an unauthorized replica of Chanel's Paris flagship inside his studio, filled with handmade sculptures of luxury goods crafted from plywood, cardboard, and LEGO. Commissioned by Nike's NikeCraft imprint, the installation deliberately exposes construction marks and imperfections to f✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
thecancunsun.comCancun Airport Unveils Massive $400 Million Upgrade Across All 4 TerminalsCancun International Airport is undergoing a five-year, $400 million overhaul of all four terminals, runways, and vehicle roadways to address overcrowding and infrastructure strain from record tourism. Construction is timed during a temporary lull in traffic, with completion targeted before peak win✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
✎ Essay · Personal Notes
The Laboratory: What I’m Actually Building
Four websites, a book, and a teaching studio that all do one thing — and what that thing is.
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✎ Essay · Shala Digest
Why Yoga Teachers Deserve a Union Like SAG AFTRA
Why should yoga teachers have the same protections as movie extras?
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theguardian.comSmithsonian Institution secretary to retire amid Trump attacks on museum independenceLonnie Bunch III, the first Black secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, is retiring at the end of 2025 after sustained political pressure from the Trump administration. Trump issued executive orders accusing the museum of divisive ideology, attempted to fire staff, and demanded content changes,✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Get MichaelFilter
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