The Way Of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1 - 3

The Way of Love 
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

The Architecture of Peace

Yoga, what a powerful thing indeed.

I visited Michael O'Neil's On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace at the Taschen gallery in West Hollywood.

Yoga is deep y'all. As I walked up, I felt excited to visit the gallery, almost giddy, like a child. Walking around, seeing all the imagery, I felt something deeply, I started crying! Just me, walking around this gallery on a Wednesday afternoon crying. I'm sensitive.

The images of people committing themselves to something greater than themselves, committed to a spiritual life, a life beyond this flesh. This body of ours, it is also fleeting, though we do use it as a means to practice and discover.  Seeing the portrait of "One Arm", a sadhu, had me mesmerized. He has one arm! And a ring around his penis! (Totally not for sexual pleasure.) He wears a crown of rudraskha beads (he strung together the beads with one hand and a stick), no clothes, instead, covers his body in ashes (a symbol of death and rebirth). I mean, come on, that's real dedication and some of us can't even commit to going to the gym. Some of us think our bodies or their parts define who we are as people. Let's look deeper.

What really got me as I walked around, was the mural of "The Roots of Yoga," as soon as I saw the names B.K.S Iyengar (illustrated hanging upside down), Geeta and Prashant, I lost it. It was right there on the wall that I'm part of something bigger than I could ever imagine. And yes, we know we are part of a very big universe, but when it's right in front of you like that, you feel things. I'm grateful to be part of this architecture of peace, this path that is infinite and I'm figuring my way along it.

There were so many beautiful portraits, some of yogis I've heard of before, and some not. It really opened my perspective of yoga and all the different ways it manifests.

Yoga is not about being physically flexible, touching your toes or contorting your body, it's about the union of your outer self to your inner self, renunciation of the material world. It's about connecting with each other and to something greater than ourselves and we do that through practice. Through earnest, honest practice.

Why do we practice? Why do we go to class? To say we go? To look good?  To bring a sense of closeness and intergration within ourselves and the world we live in? We go to class but are we practicing yoga? We must find out.

I am grateful to Yoga, I am a beginner in my studies and I look forward to whatever I find within.

Blessings to you and your practice.

Rap and Yoga: The truth of it

I practice a lot of yoga and I listen to a lot of rap.  Alot of people, mostly all people who know me, think that I'm a bit odd for this.  It doesn't make sense, how a little Asian gal can love rap music so much but also practice so much yoga.  I really do, from my soul love rap music and love yoga.  I guess if we are looking at these two things on the surface they seem very different.  Often times, yoga imagery is depicted as pretty girls who are flexible, wear colorful pants, flowers in their hair and live some sort of "holistic" "vegan" life style while images of rappers are of them flashing their hoes, money, cars, living life in the streets.  On the surface level, yoga and rap music appear to be worlds away from each other, but if we look deeper; the core of Yoga and the core of rap music is the same, it's truth.

Yoga is about living your true self, connecting yourself to who you really are and living from that space.  The path of yoga is shedding all the suffering, to discover who you really are.  It's about realness and honesty.  The goal of yoga is enligtenment but we cannot practice with the goal in mind, then you are not practicing yoga-but that's another topic to be discussed.  While rap music, is letting truths be known, it's a way to shed our suffering, through lyrics, through music.  And if we know anything about hip hop, it's for reals.  Keepin it 100. How many times have you heard a rapper say that?

So if we really know what Yoga is about and we really know what rap is about, it's not so odd that they are more similar in their core than they are different.  No wonder these two facets are a huge part of my life.  I've been listening to rap music since I was 8 years old, and I could not tell you what drew me to it in the first place. (My parents were definitely not listening to Biggie or TuPac around the house and they weren't too thrilled that I was either.) Since I discovered yoga, I have earnestly practiced. The more I practice, the more I can see. I never questioned why I like what I like and why I live how I live, I just do it and I'm gaining more clarity each day. The more I practice, the more parallels of rap music and of Yoga I find.  Still I think many people may disagree or find it odd but maybe it's because we are not used to looking at things for what they really are but instead making judgments when we can only see the surface. The surface is fleeting, it's ever changing, the core of us, the spirit of who we are, that doesn't change, and we should let that part of us shine.

This life can be hard to live and it takes a lot of courage to speak the truth and more courage to live it.  The power of yoga is to be comfortable with who you truly are and live from there.  The power of yoga is living your truth and not letting anyone tell you other wise.  Dr. Cornel West says, "The telling of truth allows suffering to speak." So continue to shed your suffering, whatever your practice may be, and allow your truth to shine. Don't let em kill yo shine, you betta live!!

David Brooks: Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy?

I just stumbled across this video, and it almost had me in tears.  Sometimes I feel a little sad and certainly a little crazy because I'm living differently from the people around me.  From the center of who I am I know that I am here to do good and be good.  I surrender to gain strength, and I'm living from my actual self.  The more I practice, the closer I get.
It's really hard to live from the center of ourselves when everything around us says we must live for success.  Sometimes living for that external success makes us cold and calculated, we give to get instead of give to give.  We must give without expectation, because from the center of ourselves we are here to do good.
I'm not saying that career is unimportant, because it is.  It is a big part of how we move along from day to day.  It provides us with the means to live but it does not define who we are.  I am grateful and blessed to do a job that I absolutely love and continues to thrill me each day.  But aside from being a costumer, I practice being a good human being. 
And through this life, let us be saved by hope, faith, love, and the ultimate love- forgiveness.

H.S Arun visits LA

H. S Arun recently taught a weekend workshop at the LA Iyengar Institute; I attended 2 of the 3 days.  I am currently exploring different teachers and styles (all within the Iyengar umbrella) and have been greatly enjoying what I'm discovering! The paths of Yoga are many and I'm glad to be embarking on mine the way I am. =)
Arun lead class as I've never experienced: he would do a demonstration, the students would do, then he would walk around and make corrections per student, no instructions. Amazing! The practice of yoga is deeply personal, every body is different, and it changes from moment to moment, so to experience such precise and personal adjustments is a true gift.
An endearing moment among many, to me was when he asked my name and he responded with "Vinessa like Vinyasa." Along with adjustments, he came over said "Vinessa!" and would give me two thumbs. At one point, I was hanging off a chair, one leg in the air, arms over head, trying to lift my head to see him because I think I need to change something but he was just giving positive reinforcement.  It makes the practice more enjoyable and is just as important as correcting students.
After Sunday class, I and a few other students had the honor of sharing a meal with Arun.  I listened to him share stories of his family, Indian traditions and societal views, Yoga, and of Guruji B.K.S Iyengar.  I'm so grateful!  This Yoga life is treating me so well and I am not asking for anything different.
He recently celebrated his 60th birthday and his students created a short film about his life, watch it below!  Also, here's a link to his website, Yogashraya.

To the Ones Who Leave Us

Never in my life have I felt so much pain, yet also so much love.  The feelings are unfathomable.  I didn't know I had the capacity to feel everything I felt.  This little body of mine has been through much these past few weeks but I would not have it any other way.  I have laid to rest too many people the past weeks and through all the pain, I find myself living in more love. I'm reaffirmed that love is the energy that holds us together.

I knew my grandmother only 27 of the 90 something years she lived but we were old friends.  If she was around, I was always close by. It's that soul connection you have with people, it exists before you meet and I'm so grateful to share that with her.  I'm grateful to have said my I love you's and my goodbye's every time I departed. We don't know when people will leave us and I much rather leave in love than anything else.

My grandmother along with her husband and children got in a boat to escape Vietnam in 1979; they didn't know where they were going, or if they would even survive out at sea.  They took the chance  and embarked on their journey with faith, optimism and good intention, drifting to shore in Malaysia, on to Italy for a year, finally to arrive and reside in California. My grandmother had to bury many of her children and her husband but she kept on living.  She is the most beautiful being I've ever known, inside and out.  Her kind loving spirit gave life to us.  Her hair and nails were always done, I mean, ALWAYS.  Can't forget that she had the smoothest fairest skin of anyone even at the age of 90. She'd been through a lot but she never let her past pains keep her from living a full life and for that I am inspired.  Life is for living.  

Love, real love, never dies, it never leaves us, it loves you whether you are near or far, short or tall, big or small, young or old.  Of course we want to hold our loved ones close, laugh and look into their eyes, but part of love, the hardest part, is letting go.  Letting people continue on their journey, but the love never ceases.  It uplifts them and keeps them safe when we are not around.  Knowing that I'll never paint her nails or share a meal with her hurts me to my core but in love we let go. So I love you, go. I am hopeful I will see her again, until then I will keep the memories safe.

Maybe sometimes we must wash our eyes with tears so that we can see more clearly.  And oh have I cried my little eyes out.  I have never seen more clearly than I do now.  I am grateful for the pain.  I am grateful for the love.  The paradox is that if you love until it hurts, there isn't any more hurt, only love.  I'm working through the hurt so there is only love.  I know that I must live from love, through love, to love. And that's what I shall do.

Life is for living, yes there will be a bit of pain and problems along the way, but we can navigate through it.  If my grandma can do it, you can too.

Let's not let the circumstances of our lives harden us that we become resentful and afraid. Let the circumstances soften us and make us courageous, kind and loving.  We have the choice.  I wish you the courage to choose kindness and love.

Always,
V

Love Liberates-Maya Angelou

I write down a lot of quotes and things I find along my way, and Dr. Maya Angelou has written and said many great things.  I came across the video to a quote I had written down a while back "Love liberates, it does not hold-that's ego," and it reminded me of what love does, and how it acts.  Sharing this with you as it has touched my spirit in a deep way and as a little reminder on how we love.  

B.K.S Iyengar

Discovering Iyengar yoga and having it become an essential part of my life has transformed me.  It has helped me through the most difficult times of my life; it has healed me from so many ailments of my body, heart, and mind.  I am so grateful for yoga and I am so grateful for Guriji B.K.S Iyengar.  (You can learn more about his story, here.)

Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility and joy. -B.K.S Iyengar

Here's to a person I never met, but has helped me bring me to my truest self.  When I found out that Guruji had passed, a surge of overwhelming sadness came into my soul.  I guess just knowing that such an incredible human being is no longer with us on this earth, hurts a little.  He has influenced my life in the greatest way possible; his teachings are bringing me to my best self, reaffirms the path I've chosen to live and I am so grateful.

I recently applied for Geeta's (his daughter) 70th birthday celebration in Pune, India which will be happening in December.  Fingers crossed that I make it there and back, so I can share everything I learn with you all!

You are dearly missed Guruji, your legacy lives on through all of us every time we practice.

Namaste.