Rooted in thirty-five years of experience, Dennis Dean has shared the practice of yoga nationally and internationally, founding and guiding four yoga shalas along the way. A lifelong reader and writer, he has been publishing newsletters since 1994, offering reflections that weave together philosophy, practice, and lived experience. At 65, he remains passionately committed to cultivating his pedagogical skills and continuing the growth that has shaped his decades of practice—even when it requires shedding the skin of ingrained or indoctrinated perceptions to fully embrace new ones.
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The Sunday Pranasphere: December 28, 2025
Published about 1 month ago • 4 min read
The Sunday Pranasphere
Omo Valley Tribe | The Sleeping Giant
The Sleeping Giant by Florence Quinn
Featured Lesson: The Sleeping Giant - PDF Download The Hard Wired: The Omo Valley Tribe Between the Covers: The Golden Spruce update.. The Pranasphere Merch: Is now here This Week’s Sponsor: Florence Quinn
The Sleeping Giant speaks to the breath as an innate intelligence that has been with us since the beginning. Our breathing carries the imprint of every movement, experience, and adaptation—quietly recording joy, strain, resilience, and trauma through the way the body has learned to move and respond. Yet this intelligence often remains dormant, a sleeping giant, until we begin the practice of listening. Through attentive, non-manipulative awareness, the breath reveals itself as a living language, offering insight into who we are and how life is moving through us in this moment.
In Zen Meditation, as taught by figures such as Thích Nhất Hạnh, the breath is not manipulated, improved, or directed—it is simply observed. When we learn to listen in this way, the breath begins to speak for itself, revealing how life has moved through the body and how it continues to express itself now. For this reason, simple breath awareness is regarded at Pranayama.com as the most essential starting point in our teachings, and one of the first three breathing practices we introduce.
Get the download, PDF style: Breath Awareness Lesson: The Sleeping Giant Enjoy, Dennis p.s We have a Live-In Person weekly class, where we practice these breathing techniques and associated somatic embodied movement. Contact us here if you are interested.
The Hard Wired is a term I use to represent people (authors, thought leaders...), subjects, places etc. that I tap into on a regular basis and most likely will go to see in person or already have...
Ethiopia's Omo Tribe & Pepper McKay
Pepper McKay is a documentary and fine-art photographer known for long-form, immersive work with Indigenous cultures, including extensive time spent with communities in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. Her approach differs from quick, extractive photography; she is recognized for building relationships over time, returning repeatedly, and allowing images to emerge from trust rather than spectacle.
In the Omo Valley, McKay has photographed tribes such as the Hamar, Karo, and Suri, focusing on daily life, adornment, ritual, and the subtle expressions of identity that arise through posture, breath, movement, and presence. Her images often feel quiet and embodied—less about dramatic ceremony and more about how culture lives in the body.
For our work here at Pranayama.com, McKay’s photography aligns with a pranic lens: culture as lived energy, creativity as survival intelligence, and the body as a primary language. Her work resonates not because it explains these cultures, but because it lets them be seen breathing, standing, and relating within their own rhythm—which fits naturally with The Pranasphere’s values of observation, respect, and listening before interpretation.
Wicked weekly picks from my personal collection—from ancient texts to contemporary journalism, classical literature to obscure discoveries.
Update on "The Golden Spruce" from last week: This book has been a little difficult for me to get through. Not because it's been challenging as a read but I've been diving into a little research about various aspects of the book as I read through it. Something I've found fascinating is how at the beginning of the book there is a massive movement to kill sea otters.. to be resold to the Chinese. If any of you are following me with this book, you might also find this extremely interesting. It's a modern version of what's happening with the killing of sea otters in Alaska. I find it very fascinating. It's a YouTube video but leads to many other shorts and videos on the Tlingit Tribe and Heather Douville in particular. An Alaskan Native on Hunting Sea Otters and Honoring Her Culture | MeatEater Video Podcast Also this is a helpful You Tube short about Heather Douvillehere:
Get it here: The Pranasphere Vintage Hat I've seen this symbol welcome thousands of students through my studio doors over the years. Three Aum symbols together in the Enso (円相) fashion—has a special place in my heart. A north star through transitions, through changes, through growth. If you've been part of this journey, you know what it means. If you're just finding us, welcome. The Triple Aum: The Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha. Enso (円相): The Zen Circle
The Pranasphere Vintage Hat
Special Products by Dennis Dean
Dennis is master craftsman and a true entrepreneur. Many of his products are handmade by him or he has provided direct stewardship in the design & manufacturing of the product.. Enjoy
Past Newsletters to review & share...
Know you are the light, Dennis
About The Sunday Pranasphere newsletter: You are receiving a newsletter that is part of an ecosystem called The Pranasphere at Pranayama.com. All modalities within The Pranasphere, including this newsletter, are designed to deepen our understanding of how we are inherently connected. Rather than emphasizing difference, we focus on shared patterns of experience, with the intention of counter balancing modern media’s aggressive narratives that often amplify fear and separation.
Though the subjects may differ—culture, science, nature, philosophy, literature, lived experience, and the ways in which they are delivered (i.e., newsletter, podcast, visual arts, listening practices, embodied somatic movement, Metta Meditation)—they are gathered to deepen our shared understanding of life-force literacy, and how becoming educated in the language of the breath reveals how a lifetime of experience is held in the body and expressed in the present moment.
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Dennis Dean
Senior teacher, Author.
Rooted in thirty-five years of experience, Dennis Dean has shared the practice of yoga nationally and internationally, founding and guiding four yoga shalas along the way. A lifelong reader and writer, he has been publishing newsletters since 1994, offering reflections that weave together philosophy, practice, and lived experience. At 65, he remains passionately committed to cultivating his pedagogical skills and continuing the growth that has shaped his decades of practice—even when it requires shedding the skin of ingrained or indoctrinated perceptions to fully embrace new ones.
The Sunday Pranasphere Robyn Barron | Cultural Homeostasis Robyn Barron, The Art of Balance Featured Lesson: Cultural Homeostasis Between the Covers: One Sitting Books PDF↓The Hard Wired: Robyn Barron Hi Friend, I often teach a class for my students on Sundays, 9:00–10:45am. Before, during, and after class there is a wonderful mixture of insightful, playful, and endearing conversation that often informs The Sunday Pranasphere. Today we had quite the mixture of personal anatomical analysis,...
The Sunday Pranasphere Mark Jacques | A false sense of "control." Summer Dayzzz by Rosie Karel Featured Lesson: A false sense of "control." PDF↓The Hard Wired: Mark Warren JacquesBetween the Covers: Emotional Anatomy PDF↓ Hi Friend, These are extremely troublesome times we're living in, globally and locally. In addition to the rapid addiction to screen scrolling we have political unrest that seems to be reaching all corners of the earth. It's very easy to feel angry...I know that I most...
The Sunday Pranasphere Robert Sapolsky | Sentient History Featured Lesson: Sentient History - The Hard Wired: Robert Sapolsky Between the Covers: The Fire of LoveThe Pranasphere Merch: Is now here Hi Friend,Get the download, PDF style:Global Evolution of Animal Sentience in LawFrom Property to Presence:How Law Is Beginning to Acknowledge Animal Experience Across cultures and centuries, the question of who—or what—counts has quietly shaped our laws, our ethics, and our sense of belonging in...