If an extreme yogi goes too far in their stretching, they are risking the danger of over-stretching their fascia — and that wrong effort will endanger their physical health later in life. Right Effort, like so much in a mindful practice, is making our lives balanced.

The creative impulse sometimes is so strong … erupting from deep within … that it blocks out the naysayers, the truth-sharers, the thought-catchers. The critics, and the finger-pointers, too. I love this creative impulse! I want to always be courageous and follow it! I shout that loudly right here, right now!

It’s each our own decision, to remain open to grace or closed to it. I think the very best way to start, if any of you are still skeptical, is to start asking for something. And watch what happens. Don’t get obsessed about it. Just whenever you get a negative thought in your mind, replace it with a positive thought. That’s “asking” to be relieved of negative thinking. This is asking for grace to fill our lives. Try it!

With Elaine deKooning—at whose doorstep I arrived a complete unknown, working by her side for the last year of her life, cataloging her art and artifacts, her so-called Inadvertent Collection of known and never-to-be-known artists, all of it, junk or treasure, treated in the same respectful, curiosity-fed manner—I grew stronger of heart.