Travel in your clothes

Being a world traveler, one of the biggest draw and fascination for me is the cultural aspect. I love immersing myself in a culture. It is in a way like being an actor on a movie set, and it makes me realize how in fact the manifest world, and more specifically, the filters and codes of behavior of a culture are a big game we are all playing. Culture and its richness and unique flavor is naturally a reflection of the common values and attention we give the various aspects of life as a group. It is the way we people relate. It harmonizes us into a cohesive community, so we can share common humane experiences, and the rhythms of life. Ritualized points of weight in our life, from the mundane to the celebratory are the structure of our existence. The people in power to control the masses sometime manipulate culture.

When I travel, I love to immerse myself in the culture by wearing what the locals do. Eating the local food, learning some of the local language and local habits and gestures are very useful too, but it seems like magic, when you were the clothes, you are instantly in.

I was looking at my wardrobe the other day, staring at my vast, unique, and colorful assortment of outfits, wandering why nothing seems right today...realizing my clothes are like my travel! Perhaps, if my stars where aligned slightly differently I would have become a fashion designer, or at least a high fashion model, but as it is, I'm on my own, designing my own private show. If I had it my way, I would have traditional garbs of all cultures, and wear a different one every day. (I could probably get by doing so in Santa Cruz). I have a collection reserved for when in India, and another set of clothes that only feel right while in Israel, I have some funky west coast creative garbs, and more and more, random pieces of history and travel in my closet. I love to travel in my clothes. You can time travel wearing something from a time period you wish to experience. I become a different person, and even a different personality, wearing the garbs of a different culture. I'm one of these people my friends always come to when it is Halloween (or Purim) to find some dress up clothing, since my day to day clothes would be a costume to others:)! If you aren't already dressing up just because you fell like it, try it! It is great fun.

As I reflect deeper into 'cultural and historical fashion', I realize American culture, as I experience it, is all about 'casual' and 'functional', and so clothing are casual and functional. At least where I've lived, you can dress casually going to the theater, fancy dinner, or even some wedding parties! There are hardly ever any opportunities to dress up. Japanese culture emphasizes simple beauty and exquisite aesthetic, attention to details. Traditional Japanese garbs are not only comfortable and functional, they are simple, beautiful, attentive to details, and just so, perfect. Indian culture is colorful, overly ornate and rich, and also spontaneous and fluid. The clothing - simple flowing fabrics with outrages colors and designs wrapped around in numerous creative ways, jewelry of every kind decorating the ladies from head to toe. The way we dress tells so much about our culture. About what is important for us, and were do we place our attention. Dressing up, and undressing... can be a ritual in and of itself, every day. In fact, every moment and act of our day if goes by unnoticed, as a means to an end, is wasted, and if executed with care and attention, 'ritualized', is an opportunity to feel alive, and a source of infinite joy. Drinking Tea. Making Breakfast. Washing Dishes. Hanging Laundry. This is our daily life.

One of the things I love most about traveling is the internal travel that occurs while being placed out of my comfort zone, being placed in a new environment that forces me to PAY ATTENTION. The opportunity to re-set my 'view' is precious and allows inner growth and open mindedness. The need to increase my level of awareness, understanding and patience (all qualities I've been spending a life time to develop and yet far from mastered) is unavoidable.

You might be guessing, I'm planning another trip this winter back to India for a month, and I'm looking forward for the various projects and events awaiting me there. I hope to blog again before my departure, and if not, I will be sure to blog from India, sharing some of the mind opening, heart expanding, lively adventure I'm about to behold in December.

The secret of Youthful Radiance

I feel inspired to share this ideas with you readers, (especially women), since I live in the US, and work with soooo many women of all ages - teens to elderly, who struggle with their self-image and self-worth (=self love). I feel so strongly about my idea of 'healthy beauty', that I want to shout it out load to the all world, so I do. (Thank you blogspot!)

Well, this great 'beauty image' lie that glares at us from every magazine stand, billboard commercial and street corner, persistently demanding our attention, energy and money, insisting to argue: "I am real, chase me, pursue me, you must have me!", is in fact, a huge great cheater. Why is it there then, this glossy one-size beauty, permeating ever deeper into modern culture of every nation, persuading you incessantly to follow it and only it? How did we all end up giving obscene amount of power and money to build this huge, fake, useless, wasteful, and harmful industry? The story of modern culture, a mixture of control, ignorance and fear (maybe?). For now, if you are willing to let go of the WHY and the injustice and follow me with focusing on what we can do, and is in our power, then let's go, and you can decide for yourself where you stand with it.

 We have a choice. There are layers of reality and non-reality we can subscribe to. We can subject ourselves to the horrifying terrors of surgeries, and the annoyance of medial appointment, that will equip us with balloon shaped boobs, and Barbie size noses, and many more variations of these questionable modification 'solutions', or we can take a deep breath, find out inner smile, look deeper, (maybe something meaningful we long forgot about is hiding deep down), and resist the default temptation to follow the lowest common denominator of our culture. Muster the courage to stand against that current, and develop healthy self-image and self-love. Live life empowered, with joy, inner glow, true beauty, and healthy radiance. Save your own sanity, and be an example of true grace and power to your children. Having talked with many who subjected themselves to these experiences, I'm certain all the surgeries and external modifications will make no difference. Apart from perhaps funneling you deeper into the subscription of chasing empty dreams. Nobody, including you, really cares about the size and shape of your boobs, hips or nose. However, if you radiate confidence, self-love and natural beauty, which are already yours to begin with, the all world is attracted to you, and you enjoy your own company too. The 'inner' approach is what does make a difference, infuses you with abundant energy, beauty, and joy that can be resurrected, maintained and developed at any time, and in turn radiates outwardly, naturally attracting love, magic, richness, and everything else you would want into your life.

 If you busy yourself chasing empty dreams when you are 20, you likely to be chasing the same empty dreams when you are 40 and beyond. The pattern of your early days will likely to intensify with age. (Especially the negative ones. Sorry.) The unconscious and careless 'wasteful' behavior of your youth that was forgiven by the 'greenness' of youth has long lost its charm. The desires of the past only multiply, unless, you decide one bright day to pause (today?), and embarked on a path of self-reflection and self-growth, and made, make, or will make the decision to not follow the lowest common denominator of our culture, but actually empower yourself to find out for yourself what is truly meaningful and worth chasing. Perhaps you will find chasing does not work, and being, feeling, and creating will fill in the spaces.

Along the way of inner cultivation, you will quickly find the source of your inner glow and youthful radiance. The basic premises is that you have to do something that makes you feel good every day, which usually distills into three areas: MIND CONTROL (through meditation / reflection / spiritual cultivation) so you could continuously choose the direction of your thoughts pattern, (positive? negative?) and develop calmness, clarity and focus. HEALTHY DIET, suitable to your body type and lifestyle requirements, to truly nourish you. Adequate EXERCISE regime, to suite your body type and personality needs, so you can 'charge your battery', detox, metabolize, and basically function according to nature design. Now, there is an extra special secret ingredient to the plan that will make a huge difference: SEX. Lots of positive sex. Inner cultivation, dual cultivation, meditation, internal massage and exercise, deep nourishment love, abundance of energy, radiant glow, all can be accomplished with sex. The 'good' kind that is free of negativity, abuse, or unconscious madness. All of the above align you into natural balance that harmonizes your emotions, nourish your body and spirit, and makes you glow like a star. 

If you feel like you are not tall enough (or too tall), not thin enough (or too...) you get the idea, or your breast size and shape is not 'perfect', then wake up from spiraling into negativity, wasting your life away. Get a good bra if you want to, and an admiring lover (!), and let it go baby. Focus on enjoying to its fullest what you do have, the magnificence of your nature. Nothing is wrong with beautifying yourself either. When you feel inspired, use as much make up as you like, fun clothing, accessorize, play the game, pamper yourself, enjoy the attention, but why suffer? Why beat yourself down with negativity and feed all of your power and money and energy to the system of control? Do not let some one else tell you what size and shape you ought to be! If you end up with criticizing lovers or other off-putting relations in your life, then chances it is one of two: you either convince yourself so fully of your inadequacy that you attract people who reflect your own beliefs to you, or you actually can use a little wake up call, and do something meaningful about reclaiming your life, power and inner radiance. (i.e. Healthy lifestyle - thought, food and exercise, and wholesome sex).

What's wrong with old age anyways? How about an old tree or your favorite old dress or old saree? An old (ancient) stone Temple? Do you hate them? Do you think they are ugly? well, eventually they will all die too. I think the time arrives in every one's life that one can say with confidence: 'I'm old and I feel old', and also 'I'm dying' same as 'I'm living' really. What we are afraid of has most control over us.

Your beauty becomes subtler, more refine, and less 'sexy' and out pouring with age. More fragile and delicate in away, nevertheless, magnificent. Let yourself transform. Surrender to the process of life, so you can enjoy and savor the subtle flavors. There is no remedy for aging really. We are all going to die. Face it. Live with it. There is no 'Ever lasting youth', even if Deepak Chopra says so.

As you grow older, you might have more money, name, fame, power. You also accumulate more wrinkles and white hairs. Se la vie. You have the potential of gaining wisdom, clarity, richness of relationships, unfathomed depth of joy, peace, and love, and refined skills. But sometimes all you end up with is more insecurities, more obsessions...deeper and stronger negativity. Do not let yourself run around trapped in the same old struggle, obsessing with trying to look what you are not, be who you never will. Letting un-needed worries and concerns eat away your original radiance, and hedge deeper lines into your face, hunch your back with defeat. Instead, stand upright, greet every day with wonder, curiosity, excitement, and commitment to fulfill yourself and live your truth in the face of declining cultural values, or modern foolishness. As Gandhi said and many repeated: Be the change you want to see in the world. Blaze your light, and begin accepting your self. As you are.

If you would like more guidance or support on embarking on a path of self-empowered and meaningful life, contact me in person for more information on how you can become the most radiant Goddess you truly are.