Short & Sweet Yoga Flow in Filipino ~ Yoga sa Wikang Filipino
Enjoy this short, simple yoga flow in the Filipino language. Yoga sequence and practice by Joana Medina, words & voice by Celesdina Reyes. A first attempt at decolonizing my own practice.
Emerging from Hawai’i farm life into the sadness of COVID reality
Living in community on a farm in Hawai’i completely sheltered me from COVID fear. Now I feel slightly like an alien from another planet, an alien to be feared. Friends, we are in uncharted times which call for even greater remembering – remembering that behind our viewpoints we are all human and we are actually, all in this together.
Experiencing the sweaty, tear-filled Mayan Medicine that is the Temazcal
If the cure for everything is salt water, sweat, and tears, then Mayans truly have something to teach us about healing.
Getting evicted in the Wild, Wild West that is the Mexican Jungle
Whenever I travel, I have always asked to live as people normally live. I have asked for initiations into the land so I could enter with humility, respect, and with my eyes wide open. The jungle sure did give me what I asked for.
Healing my UTI with a 92-hour fast and finally letting myself be angry
A burning vagina as if my pee is corrosive acid. Suddenly having to go to the bathroom with such urgency that if I don’t go, I might pee my pants – then finding out there was nothing to pee much at all, and the little that there was to urinate is liquid fire as it goes down the most sensitive part of my body. Ah, Urinary Tract Infection. My old friend.
This is my personal experiences of healing myself with fasting and inner work.
Community VS Capitalism: Where I grew up has made generosity so hard for me
While I’m without an income stream, I find myself beginning to lose the sense of generosity I gained when I lived in community. Why is that? This is my take, based purely on my experience, as a Filipina who grew up in Manila: Unhealthy capitalism doesn’t want us to share. And individualism wants us to believe that without our own individual resources, we will die. Is that the truth? Perhaps in community it doesn’t have to be.
Best Job Title for the Coming Years? Community Creator, Steward & Cradler
Community is possible. Village life is possible. Earnest connection with each other? It’s possible. Being invited to take care of blessed land – possible. Sacredness everyday, even in our exchanges is possible. All of this beautifully together, it’s possible. And doesn’t it sound great?
I am so devoted to these beliefs that I’ve risked stability in the desire to make community my next life’s work.
Why risk the monetary security I had built for myself in the paradise of Hawai’i? Because I want to create something better, to be part of what I feel is the best way for all of us moving forward.
Here’s my vision for community. May it inspire you to dream.
Going up solo to share in the sacred magic of Mauna Kea and its Kia’i
“One of the world’s largest telescopes is being proposed for the top of Hawai’i’s most sacred mountain, Mauna Kea.” The beginning line from this beautiful …
Learning the Hanuman Chalisa and finding my voice
To begin with, the Hanuman Chalisa is a 40-verse hymn that describes the life, adventures, and wonders of the monkey god, Hanuman. I first encountered …
How my guru, Maharaj-ji, found me
If you had told me just a couple of years ago that I would call someone my guru, leave an old life and go to his ashram, bow to his image feeling like crying, and call someone Baba — well I really, really wouldn’t have been able to imagine it. I considered myself spiritual but with enough “muggle” inside me to be skeptical of unexplainable devotion and strong emotion. And yet, here I am.