(Lessons from my dirty dishes) I found myself with a little extra time this morning. My “ladies holiday” interrupted my morning Ashtanga practice, so after my spiritual reading and pranayama, I found myself washing the dishes left in the sink from last night — nothing glamorous, just the ordinary rhythm of caring for my family. Along with several plates and cutlery, there was one bowl with the remnants of a frozen watermelon-and-mint treat I had enjoyed the previous evening.

Valentine’s Day, for some, means flowers and romance. For me, it’s a quiet ache that returns each year like a familiar tide. Valentine’s Day typically sells romantic love as the main course—loving couples, roses, reservations, a celebration of love, but also the idea that love is something we prove to others in a commercialized and materialistic way. I believe loving ourselves is like a seed, the quiet beginning where all love can bloom from—wether for partners, friends, fam

The Realms as Metaphors for Inner Experience Imagine your inner world as a vast landscape—sometimes sunlit and peaceful, other times stormy or tangled. Buddhist philosophy calls these inner worlds the 31 planes of existence—not distant or geographical locations, but reflections of our inner landscape. We journey through these planes many times in a single day—this journey is often referred to as samsara. It's important to note that it is our own thoughts, feelings, and action