FAQ: Why "The Lotus Mouth"?

a friend of mine said that i speak like i have lotus flowers coming out of mouth... translation: me always saying something positive about any given situation.

of course, i laughed at the whole lotus flower comment actually vizualising lotus flowers coming from my mouth and the more i thought about it the more i thought "hmmmm... what if i could create this image as a tattoo piece?" a tattoo festival was coming up so i thought i would search for an artist to ocme up with the desig and below is what transpired.

my new tattoo created by chad newsom at the 1st annual va beach tattoo festival. a better photo of the tattoo will be posted once it's healed. translation of sankrit at the bottom of image: (patanjali's yoga sutra 1.2) yogas citta vritti nirodhah - "yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind."

i've been told frequently by others that i have a gift of seeing the positive in things. i never thought of it as a talent of sorts but in retrospect i feel it takes much practice to be able to change your perspective and attitude when you're experiencing negative emotions such as fear, hate, anger, frustration, etc. there's also a practice in not being attached to the outcome of any situation.

it's definitely a challenge to see the positive in every single experience. we've all been frustrated about someone or something that happened and may even go find someone to vomit all the emotions onto or keep them brewing inside. both scenarios result in disrupting your inner peace. it's energetically draining and unnecessary. so why not discover the positive and keep your peace? i forgot where i learned this from but these days to keep myself from spiraling down i ask myself, "will this even matter 20 years from now? no? ok. let it go." i also remind myself of of the impermanence of life much like the metaphor of the sand mandalas created by the tibetan monks.

i witnessed tibetan monks creating a sand mandala for mystical arts of tibet 2013 tour at the american theater in hampton,va.

so far...

it's been about a week since i decided to go vegan. the transition hasn't been difficult. it's just more food addictions i've been able to overcome. i also realized that my choice for restaurants to dine at have decreased. i spend a lot more time in the kitchen learning to make new types of dishes so my culinary skills have increased.(mom would be so proud!) i love the support i've been getting from friends and family. they tell me about new recipes they come across or if a restaurant they ate at has a vegetarian/vegan option. recently, a friend gave me some ichiban eggplants he grew in his garden and i can't wait to find a recipe to devour them (aside, from the ratatouille recipe i love.)

i'm really thankful that my 200 hour yoga teacher training has a strict vegetarian diet requirement. i've been pretty good about not defaulting to pastas and breads so much thanks to reading "eat to live" by dr. fuhrman, which is one of the many awesome books we have to read for YTT. quinoa, cassava and sweet potato are some of my new meal fillers. seriously, it can be difficult eating to live when you have a busy schedule. i really had to adjust my everyday schedule to make time to prepare my meals. it's worth spending less time in front of the television or computer to know that i'm making sure i'm maintaining my carcass vehicle. -love & light

happy new moon

new moon = new beginnings: a new blog and a new diet. this blog will serve as my yoga journal. i'll be sharing whatever insight comes my way as i go deeper into my yoga practice.

i have also decided to become vegan today.

more on all this later. the hard part is getting my first post up. so i'll end this post with a well known quote...

"it's about the journey, not the destination." - anonymous

true story.