Happy Rizal birth anniversary!

[“… nor does she spend her time on her knees…”. there are  no ashtanga poses on one’s knees, or kneeling down,  except as preparatory to a full pose but kneeling on just one knee;  even if these yoga poses were originally “worship” and “healing” poses 2,000 years ago. Why no knelt poses?  — maybe it’s bad for your bones? i don’t know, you tell me.  vira parampara 1 pose. vira means warrior, parampara means series, there are ten vira poses in this series (not part of the ashtanga set). Shot today after work, this would have been better if shot outdoors, but  wanted to play with the colors of the room and the prints of the shirt — nobody wears prints for ashtanga yoga — nobody has a room with these colors!)

Text from the photo, in case it’s too blurry to read: To the Women of Malolos by Jose Rizal.  translation by Zaide. On December 12, 1888,  20  women of Malolos petitioned the governor- general to allow them to study the lingua franca, then,  Spanish,  in a night school. The Spanish parish priest objected and the  governor-general turned down the petition. The  women waged a campaign for the school – amid threats of punishment for expressing themselves. Finally, the  government approved the  project  on condition that the Spanish authorities chose the teacher. This incident became known far and wide and inspired many. Rizal wrote in pure Tagalog (Filipino) to the women of Malolos:  “(W)hen the news of what happened at Malolos reached us (in Europe) great was my rejoicing… Now that you have responded to our first appeal in the interest of the welfare of the people; now that you have set an example to those who, like you, long to have their eyes opened and be delivered from servitude, new hopes are awakened in us and we now even dare to face adversity, because we have you for our allies and are confident of victory.  No longer does the Filipino woman stand with her head bowed nor does  she spend her time on her knees, because she is quickened by hope in the future…” – Jose Rizal