The Shala Daily

Karma Yoga is the Yoga of Action

How often have you heard me say that? It’s an aphorism I like to trot out whenever I notice a certain amount of abherance in stated desired outcomes of change and the measure of perceived effort on my end as a teacher. All talkie-talkie, no walkie-walkie.

Big talk when it’s yalls. Quite another when it’s mine. The thing about noticing someone else’s patterns is that it’s easier than spotting our own. It’s that whole puruṣa and prakṛti thing again. But, I digress.

I’ve been helping to support my parents, as most of you know, and so it’s a lot of Halls under one roof these days. I’ve been a little overstimulated — which feels like an understatement, but I still feel good and strong. Having purpose feels very familiar and good to me, so I have a ton of gratitude in my heart to get a chance to experience this kind of responsibility as a single gay man– I feel like its something my straight friends with kids fully reckon with, and I’m glad to have some extra layers of compassion with which to work.

I need it, I think, for the kind of work that I do. A couple times a week, I teach a breath and movement practice at a central building that supports a few NGOs. Not that I’m the MOST compassionate Mysore teacher in the morning, but I do care a ton about you all, and so the opportunity to practice compassion in a manner that lifts us all feels super. It is an honor to get to be a part of you all’s team.

I know I tell you stuff like that all the time, but it feels particularly important right now. I was struck by how few colleagues I have that are working like we do. I’m going to go out and find them in a more direct way, but the realization that the folks with these big ol’ platforms were all hat and no cattle when it came to supporting their local communities and I was just oh-so-gutted. I love being the friendly neighborhood yoga teacher, and after a few weeks of playing internet games, I was worried that there may not be a future for many full-time yoga teachers. (See also: facing imperfection / feeding your passion.)

And in the words of Jocko– good. More yoga is good. But less yoga is good, too. What’s not good? Delusion and ignorance and suffering. And, its not like social media had to be that way– no, that’s what the world of social media was made into– instead of citizen journalism and a global village of blogs… we decided to do Addictive Slop via Capitalistic Enshittification.

And yet, I was using it. I was using it even though I thought I could avoid its toxicity by monetizing it for work. It wasn’t until I found myself believing other people’s curations and realizing that there was a game afoot of deceit making that I decided I had had enough.

I’m a little over two weeks off of Social Media ™. I’ve decided to stop using google news completely. I don’t want any more brain rot from algorithms. No, no, no. My hubris came and got me once again. I’m not able to swallow the venom like Śiva.

No, for me, it’s gonna have to just be some light redditing when I want to talk about a super niche hobby (I recommend e-ink devices). I’m going to keep reading my wiiiiide assortment of periodicals.

But, as I’ve quickly discovered… I still desperately want to share. And I want to try something different. So, here it is. The Shala Daily. I’m gonna share something here every day, and maybe you’ll read it instead of doom scrolling. Because I made it for you special.

I don’t want Bezos to own my ideas or your ideas. I don’t want Zuckerberg to lock me into the metaverse. And I don’t want Mr. Musk to neuro-link me. Because they’re all just deciding to take the most awesome technology and do THIS with it.

Gosh, what a waste. But, whatever. I’m gonna just share with people who chose to be here. And I’m not going to give Substack a cut.

xoxo

MJH

P.S. If you want to think more about mission and how this sharing practice sits with your larger aims, you might like this on self-inquiry and vision.