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afield since 2003 · michael joel hall
Friday
August 7, 2026
lionsroar.comCelebrating an American BodhisattvaLion's Roar essay memorializing Robert A.F. Thurman, the pioneering American Buddhist scholar and Tibet advocate who died June 16, 2026, at 84. The author attended a memorial gathering at Menla Retreat in Phoenicia, NY, celebrating Thurman's life as an 'American bodhisattva' who bridged Tibetan Budd✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Megaprojects3D Printed Homes Were a Lie Anyway.A methodical takedown of 3D-printed construction hype, grounded in a rigorous 2024 cost study that exposes the full project economics — not just the flattering construction-phase numbers. The prefab comparison gives the argument real teeth.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Y CombinatorGarry Tan: “Personal AGI Is How You Stay Under Your Own Power”Garry Tan threads Spinoza's excommunication through a concrete personal-AGI architecture to argue that owning your skill files is the modern version of owning your tools — philosophy that lands as operational doctrine. The receipts are specific enough to act on tonight.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
TODAYNew ‘Gilmore Girls’ Doc to Feature Never-Before-Seen OuttakesQuick but concrete update on the Gilmore Girls documentary with real production details — format, perspective, platform, and archive material confirmed. Worth returning to as a source anchor when the doc drops.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Look up Greg Cooke Yoga Club's current membership plans and pricing on their website or Instagram.
Send Greg a quick note letting him know the membership is sorted.
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Threads
On this day
August 7 in years past
Me:
Me:
2000
2001
2010
2023
@evanrosskatz
Meu amor
@michaclioelhall
Casual Sundays.
Gjoeymillero
@michaelgeovann
@michaeljoelhall
Boat days are best days.
@gabriella.palmieri
Bjoeymillero
Bsmashigram
@xtinagram
Emichaeljoelhall
Bmichaelgeovanni
PRAIA DE ALBANDEIRA
6MICHAELJOELHALL
GXTINAGRAM @JEFFSTAGRAM128
GMICHAELGEOVANNI
away
об
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If you make it in this world long enough, it all looks the same. Harder, faster, more gives way to the "thank god I'm still alive and have lungs to breathe." The hard truth is that if you make it long enough, all your old friends will be dead.
You've got to be ready to give it all back, or you'll just cry and cry and cry. Your best friend, your beautiful face, your Instagram identity.
I'll tell you a secret: 12 years ago, thoroughly off the deep end of grief, at the bottom of a drug fueled haze, I saw that the universe was made of love. I had lost my best friend in a tragic accident. I couldn't hold that much pain in my heart.
That was a long time ago now, I reckon. Heartbreakingly, in that span of time, I had forgotten her exact voice
Not so long ago, on a shamanic journey, my dead best friend came to me and told me to let go of all this sadness and pain. "nothing ever really dies," she said. "That's not how it works." I had already learned that lesson once. I can hear hear her voice again. "I push myself up through the dirt and shake my petals free. I'm resolved to being born again, and so resigned to bravery." -- Dar Williams
http://www.mtv.com/news/2224189/bring-it-on-complete-oral-history/?xrs=_s.tw_main
By the numbers
Writing
- PracticeWaiting to Be Given the Next Pose: Reclaiming Authority Over My PracticeAug 4, 2026
- PracticeA Little Better: On Watching Your Mind Get You HurtAug 2, 2026
- PhilosophyNarayana and PracticeJul 31, 2026
- CultureThe Guilds of PracticeJul 29, 2026
- PracticeThe Intermediate TrapJul 27, 2026
- Yoga ProfessionalsTeaching a Lineage I Never Fact-CheckedJul 25, 2026
Digests
- Yoga Filter #1: Who Decides What’s RealAug 3, 2026
This is Yoga Filter!
- Passion Doesn’t Pay RentAug 3, 2026
Your 200-hour taught you to sequence a class. It never taught you to own the platform, the pricing, and the recurring income that outlast your knees.
- When Medication Was Not EnoughAug 2, 2026
People with treatment-resistant depression showed decreased depression and anxiety after practicing Sudarshan Kriya yoga, while those on medication alone saw no improvement.
- Yoga Broke the Pain-Depression Cycle in New StudyAug 1, 2026
A 2020 study found that yoga significantly improved pain levels, mood, and functional capacity in people living with both chronic pain and depression.
- Stating the ObviousJul 28, 2026
A blogger handed himself a permission slip I needed: blogging can just be stating the obvious.
- A Mood Is Not a PracticeJul 28, 2026
Thirteen six-week courses, seventy-eight guided sessions, eleven real techniques — the eighth limb engineered as a practice you can actually operate.
- Regenerating Trust in Local Communities After ToxicityJul 27, 2026
What happens when charismatic teachers extract value from communities and leave?
- Your Context Is Your DestinyJul 26, 2026
We love a genetic excuse. “Tight hips run in my family.” “I’m just not flexible.” It feels final, which is comforting, because final means off the hook.
The Read
lionsroar.comCelebrating an American BodhisattvaLion's Roar essay memorializing Robert A.F. Thurman, the pioneering American Buddhist scholar and Tibet advocate who died June 16, 2026, at 84. The author attended a memorial gathering at Menla Retreat in Phoenicia, NY, celebrating Thurman's life as an 'American bodhisattva' who bridged Tibetan Budd✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
theguardian.comNational Gallery security staff segregated like ‘second-class citizens’, curator claimsThe National Gallery faces allegations that its outsourced security staff—predominantly from minority ethnic backgrounds—are segregated from the institution's mainly white employees. While permanent staff access a subsidized hub with natural light and quality facilities, security guards are confined✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The Listen
The Watch
Megaprojects3D Printed Homes Were a Lie Anyway.A methodical takedown of 3D-printed construction hype, grounded in a rigorous 2024 cost study that exposes the full project economics — not just the flattering construction-phase numbers. The prefab comparison gives the argument real teeth.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Y CombinatorGarry Tan: “Personal AGI Is How You Stay Under Your Own Power”Garry Tan threads Spinoza's excommunication through a concrete personal-AGI architecture to argue that owning your skill files is the modern version of owning your tools — philosophy that lands as operational doctrine. The receipts are specific enough to act on tonight.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
TODAYNew ‘Gilmore Girls’ Doc to Feature Never-Before-Seen OuttakesQuick but concrete update on the Gilmore Girls documentary with real production details — format, perspective, platform, and archive material confirmed. Worth returning to as a source anchor when the doc drops.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Jregso what if It’s conscious?Jreg performs an absurdist reductio ad absurdum on AI consciousness discourse, exposing the stakes of the rights debate by escalating to a deliberately monstrous fourth position — useful for anyone thinking about where AI moral patienthood arguments actually lead.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
VoxHow Google broke the internet | The Gray AreaRyan Brick makes a genuinely counterintuitive case that Google Zero could be liberation rather than collapse — and his diagnosis of how Google warped internet culture from the inside out is precise and damning. Worth returning to for the architecture-of-the-internet framing alone.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Pickings
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Michelle Goldchain | michelle.goldchain@wtop.com
September 14, 2023, 6:52 AM
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The full ledger
13,081 entries · 2003–2026 · filter & browse below
lionsroar.comCelebrating an American BodhisattvaLion's Roar essay memorializing Robert A.F. Thurman, the pioneering American Buddhist scholar and Tibet advocate who died June 16, 2026, at 84. The author attended a memorial gathering at Menla Retreat in Phoenicia, NY, celebrating Thurman's life as an 'American bodhisattva' who bridged Tibetan Budd✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Look up Greg Cooke Yoga Club's current membership plans and pricing on their website or Instagram.
Send Greg a quick note letting him know the membership is sorted.
Fw: Quick video (Re: 5:30 Choir - July 26 (Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary Time)
↳ Add a closing line/CTA
Edit and proofread
↳ Check for typos
↳ Trim for length/clarity
Megaprojects3D Printed Homes Were a Lie Anyway.A methodical takedown of 3D-printed construction hype, grounded in a rigorous 2024 cost study that exposes the full project economics — not just the flattering construction-phase numbers. The prefab comparison gives the argument real teeth.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Y CombinatorGarry Tan: “Personal AGI Is How You Stay Under Your Own Power”Garry Tan threads Spinoza's excommunication through a concrete personal-AGI architecture to argue that owning your skill files is the modern version of owning your tools — philosophy that lands as operational doctrine. The receipts are specific enough to act on tonight.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
TODAYNew ‘Gilmore Girls’ Doc to Feature Never-Before-Seen OuttakesQuick but concrete update on the Gilmore Girls documentary with real production details — format, perspective, platform, and archive material confirmed. Worth returning to as a source anchor when the doc drops.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Look up Greg Cooke Yoga Club's current membership plans and pricing on their website or Instagram.
Send Greg a quick note letting him know the membership is sorted.
Fw: Quick video (Re: 5:30 Choir - July 26 (Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary Time)
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The Harms Are Specific, the Gains Are Vague
I was half-listening to an AI regulation podcast when the pattern landed. Not a new podcast — there are a thousand of them now, all saying roughly the same things with different levels of alarm. This one had someone who had actually read the filings,…
Read the essay →Look up Greg Cooke Yoga Club's current membership plans and pricing on their website or Instagram.
Send Greg a quick note letting him know the membership is sorted.
Fw: Quick video (Re: 5:30 Choir - July 26 (Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary Time)
↳ Add a closing line/CTA
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Look up Greg Cooke Yoga Club's current membership plans and pricing on their website or Instagram.
Send Greg a quick note letting him know the membership is sorted.
Fw: Quick video (Re: 5:30 Choir - July 26 (Seventeenth Sunday Ordinary Time)
↳ Add a closing line/CTA
Edit and proofread
↳ Check for typos
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Waiting to Be Given the Next Pose: Reclaiming Authority Over My Practice
The method saved my body and my attention. The power structure around it nearly cost me both. I could have written a post about it. I built a platform instead.
Read the essay →Get Json
mporked, Pashed

Yoga Filter #1: Who Decides What’s Real
This is Yoga Filter!
Read the essay →
Passion Doesn’t Pay Rent
Your 200-hour taught you to sequence a class. It never taught you to own the platform, the pricing, and the recurring income that outlast your knees.
Read the essay →
Jregso what if It’s conscious?Jreg performs an absurdist reductio ad absurdum on AI consciousness discourse, exposing the stakes of the rights debate by escalating to a deliberately monstrous fourth position — useful for anyone thinking about where AI moral patienthood arguments actually lead.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
theguardian.comNational Gallery security staff segregated like ‘second-class citizens’, curator claimsThe National Gallery faces allegations that its outsourced security staff—predominantly from minority ethnic backgrounds—are segregated from the institution's mainly white employees. While permanent staff access a subsidized hub with natural light and quality facilities, security guards are confined✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50You wake to find a single word written on your wrist in handwriting that isn't yours—just "Inspo," nothing else—and by noon you realize everyone you pass has the same word inked in the same place. No one else seems to notice theirs, or perhaps they simply won't say, and when you catch your reflection in a shop window, the letters have started, very slowly, to rearrange themselves into something else.
≡ Essay Outline
Finding the Spark: Tracing Where Inspiration Comes From
The Myth of the Lightning Bolt
Inspiration rarely arrives as a single flash of genius; it is usually the visible tip of long, invisible preparation.
Environments That Invite Ideas
Certain places, routines, and sensory conditions consistently make people more receptive to new thoughts, and identifying them can be a practical tool.
Borrowing from Others
Much of what feels original is really a remix of influences absorbed from books, conversations, and art, and tracing these debts can deepen creative honesty.
The Role of Constraint
Limitations in time, resources, or form often sharpen inspiration rather than smother it, forcing unexpected solutions to the surface.
When Inspiration Runs Dry
Understanding the common blocks to inspiration, from fear to fatigue, helps explain why creative output fluctuates and how to work through the lulls.
Turning Inspiration into Action
The final test of inspiration is not the feeling itself but whether it can be translated into sustained, disciplined work.
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R. tuelstic
practise to
eyrelde enlightenment
via family and
and reasons
a best seller -
woah.
ALL THE DUCKS ARE swimming
IN THE WATER. FaLaLaLaita
The system
tells you what
it thinks of
you. Pro-rated Kit
Kats in the
vending machine
as an amenity to be
celebrated ... hmm...

A Little Better: On Watching Your Mind Get You Hurt
Knowing what your mind does won't stop it—but practice shortens the gap between recognition and reaction.
Read the essay →
When Medication Was Not Enough
People with treatment-resistant depression showed decreased depression and anxiety after practicing Sudarshan Kriya yoga, while those on medication alone saw no improvement.
Read the essay →↳ Propose 2-3 time slots
↳ Add calendar invite once confirmed
Share onboarding info / next steps
↳ Send member guide or resources
↳ Confirm access to relevant channels or tools
Venue Hire last min offer
New member: Maia Wagner — needs follow-up
Send Maia a personal welcome message
↳ Thank her for joining
VoxHow Google broke the internet | The Gray AreaRyan Brick makes a genuinely counterintuitive case that Google Zero could be liberation rather than collapse — and his diagnosis of how Google warped internet culture from the inside out is precise and damning. Worth returning to for the architecture-of-the-internet framing alone.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Essentia FoundationCan We Get Back To The Golden Age Of Meaning? | John VervaekeVervaeke traces the full arc of humanity's psycho-technologies — from shamanic soul-flight to Socratic metacognition to Christian agape — as a single cognitive story about how meaning was built, and how we lost the thread. Dense, generative, worth returning to.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
ESOTERICAWhat is Theosophy? How a Shoemaker Invented Modern EsotericismA rare accessible entry point into one of Western esotericism's most impenetrable thinkers, tracing Böhme's theosophical system from the divine abyss through Sophia, the fall of Lucifer, and the practical cure for melancholy. Essential orientation before reading *The Way to Christ*.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
Yoga Broke the Pain-Depression Cycle in New Study
A 2020 study found that yoga significantly improved pain levels, mood, and functional capacity in people living with both chronic pain and depression.
Read the essay →
highsnobiety.comYou Know Ralph Lauren Is Back When This Jacket Comes OutA Highsnobiety fashion piece argues that the return of Ralph Lauren's Harrington jacket among style-conscious consumers signals the brand's cultural resurgence. The article tracks Ralph Lauren's momentum through runway visibility, viral product releases, and rising search metrics as indicators of re✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Mike Minded Daily — July 28, 2026
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