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Sat Nam, e-yogi friends...

 

I'm back from my lovely Mexico vacation and have a lot of catching up to do,

but thought I'd say hello with an interesting item from my overflowing

Inbox(es) until then...

 

The Word of the Day for December 7 is:

 

omphaloskepsis \ahm-fuh-loh-SKEP-sis\ (noun)

: contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation; also :

indisposition to motion, exertion, or change

 

Example sentence:

Mystics of the Middle Ages practiced omphaloskepsis, believing that

concentrating on a single focal point such as the navel would help them

experience divine light and glory.

 

Did you know?

Greek mythology holds that Zeus released two eagles, one from the east

and one from the west, and made them fly toward each other. They met at

Delphi, and the spot was marked with a stone in the temple of the oracle

there, a stone they named "omphalos," Greek for "navel" (it supposedly

marked the center of the world). Mystics have been practicing omphaloskepsis

for centuries, but it wasn't until the early 1920s that English speakers

combined "omphalos" with another Greek term, "skepsis" (which means

"examination," not "skepticism"), to create a word for studying one's own

middle and thinking deeply.

 

Sat Nam!

Ranjit Kaur

 

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