insight arising

Hi friends and family,  I am super excited to announce the launch of a new podcast called Asian Heart Mind Body Collective ! In collaboration with my dear friend, Adele Ray , a fellow Vietnamese sister and filmmaker, we’re creating a space for Asian sisters and brothers to come as they are to share their healing stories and experiences. Recognizing the harm and violence occurring right now within our communities, we’re taking action in a way that may compassionately bring light to our collective pain, yet also celebrate our beautiful joys and triumphs without apology.  We release Episode 1 today, on the 46th Anniversary of Black April commemorating an important time in history for many in our community. If you’re curious, please listen here ! You can also find it on Spotify and Amazon Music . It will be available soon on Apple Podcasts .  If you could consider passing along this message and flyer today to five or more of your friends, we’d be so grateful! Also, if you have any id

Receiving this sweet gift from a dear friend that made my heart somersault  I LOVE MAPS! Last week, I reached the one year milestone of A Year of Dana  since I left my job.   Today, I am a very different person. In many ways, I am unrecognizable to myself, yet I know I'm on the path of returning home.  I attribute a large part of this transformation to the practice of dana.  Dana (pronounced dah-nah), is a Pali word for generosity, which is the foundation upon which other important qualities like patience and wisdom are built. From my intentional practice of generosity, I realize, I want to live a life of dana , not just a brief year. I want the practice of generosity to be fully integrated into the way I experience life everyday. Generosity is a way of being through the acts of giving and receiving. It is not a one way practice. It can be learned and trained over time with intentionality. Here are 5 ways to make generosity a lifelong practice.  1. Give fully to yourself without

When people walk away from you, let them walk. Let them go.  Bishop T.D. Jakes speaks this wisdom during an electrifying sermon that has gone viral for good reason. His guidance is real, grounded, and truthful.   When I recall moments of being abandoned whether emotionally or physically by my family, ex-partner,  or other beloveds in my life, I close my eyes and can feel instantly, the sensation of trauma spinning circles within my abdomen, as if my insides are being wrung like a towel. It doesn't feel good, yet at this point, I know it's momentary so I stay with it, breathe deeply, and then it passes, like all things in life.  As I grow intimate with my own body, I become more amazed by her and what she teaches me. My body is no longer this thing I have to just feed and train and make fit. Western society socializes us to identify "the self" as our minds primarily - our personalities, values, beliefs, and ideas. Thus, our body becomes this separate thing that we hav