Revolved Chair pose (Parivrtta Utkatasana)
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” – Rumi
2023-04-22 23:06:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Jasper Johal posts
Mermaid pose
Before death takes away what you are given
give away what there is to give
Raise your words, not voice
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder
– Rumi
PHOTO: In yoga, mermaid pose, a variation of the king pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana), combines a twisting heart opener with a hip stretch. Some believe tight hips are associated with suppressed feelings, which lead to a heart that is closed off, and afraid of love.
Yoga’s physical prac...
2023-04-22 23:05:10 +0000 UTC View PostSea of Love
Thou wast that all to me love
For which my soul did pine
A green isle in the sea love
A fountain and a shrine
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers
And all the flowers were mine.
And all my days are trances
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances
And where thy footstep gleams
In what ethereal dances
By what eternal streams.
– from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe
2023-04-22 23:03:12 +0000 UTC View PostLove arrives
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
– from a poem by Maya Angelou
PHOTO: Luna is a circus performer and aerialist that visited my California studio some years ago. Loved working with her.
2023-04-22 23:01:25 +0000 UTC View PostVitiglio
PHOTO: Vitiglio is an auto immune condition that causes depigmentation of the skin. It can be the cause of much anxiety and depression in those suffering from it. In an effort to educate the general public about this and other conditions that affect mental health, I try and include it in my photos when possible, instead of hiding it with makeup.
2023-04-22 23:00:25 +0000 UTC View PostMingle
THE fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle
Why not I with thine
– Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
PHOTO: When reading about the human form, much has been written about the beauty of a face, or breasts, or legs. But it is the strength and muscles of the back that appeal to ...
2023-04-22 22:59:13 +0000 UTC View PostWild Rose-briar
Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
– Emily Bronte
PHOTO: Pilates floor exercises have some interesting moves. This one involves holding one's ankles and rolling like a ball.
2023-04-22 22:57:31 +0000 UTC View PostPhantom of Delight
She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment's torment
– from a poem by William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
PHOTO: Getting ready for a yoga shoot, Silvia doing an updog pose. Combined with a down dog pose, this is the most common warm up sequence in yoga.
2023-04-22 22:55:54 +0000 UTC View PostI would be true
I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare;
I would be friend of all—the foe, the friendless;
I would be giving, and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up, and laugh, and love and lift.
– hymn by Howard A. Walter (1883–1918)
2023-03-30 06:41:56 +0000 UTC View PostLike a little prayer
Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home
When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there
– lyrics by Madonna and Leonard Patrick Raymond
2023-03-30 06:40:34 +0000 UTC View PostJoin the dance
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
― Alan W. Watts (1915-1973)
2023-03-30 06:38:57 +0000 UTC View PostSkin
As if you were on fire from within,
the moon lives in the lining of your skin
–– Pablo Neruda
2023-03-30 06:37:51 +0000 UTC View PostCome, my love
Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or come when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene’er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.
– from a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
_
PHOTO: Sometime in the 1960s the western world became obsessed with tan skin...
2023-03-19 09:32:12 +0000 UTC View PostSerenity
“Be willing to trade expectations for acceptance. That is the path to serenity.” – Buddha
2023-03-19 09:28:06 +0000 UTC View PostA Play of Passion
What is our life? A play of passion;
Our mirth the music of division;
Our mothers’ wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss;
Our graves that hide us from the searching sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest – that’s no jest.
– fr...
2023-03-19 09:25:14 +0000 UTC View PostWings to your feet
I remember I never could catch you,
For no one could match you,
You had wonderful, luminous, fleet,
Little wings to your feet.
You were always afraid of a shower,
Just like a flower:
I remember you started and ran
When the rain began.
And your mouth, it would never smile
For a long, long while,
Then it rippled all over with laughter
Five minutes after.
And your eyes, they were green and grey
Like an April day,
Upside down eagle pose
Your task is not to seek love
but to seek all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it
– Rumi
2022-05-02 10:05:19 +0000 UTC View PostAffection's tale upon the cheek
There is a face whose blushes tell
Affection's tale upon the cheek,
But pallid at our fond farewell,
Proclaims more love than words can speak.
There is a bosom all my own,
Has pillow'd oft this aching head,
A mouth which smiles on me alone,
An eye, whose tears with mine are shed.
There are two hearts whose movements thrill,
In unison so closely sweet,
That pulse to pulse responsive still
They both must heave, or cease to beat.
–– Lord Byron...
2022-05-02 10:03:46 +0000 UTC View PostForward bend
From the wreck of the past, which hath perish’d,
Thus much I at least may recall,
It hath taught me that what I most cherish’d
Deserved to be dearest of all:
In the desert a fountain is springing,
In the wide waste there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing,
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.
— Lord Byron (1788—1824)
2022-05-02 10:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostLounging
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent
– f...
2022-05-02 09:59:14 +0000 UTC View PostInk Mistress
For some artists, their own skin is the canvas for their art. Dorian has one of the most unique collections of ink all over her body. It serves to accentuate the perfection of her torso and limbs. When we started shooting I turned on the music. Her slow sinuous movements added yet another spectacular dimension to the art she creates for my lens.
2022-05-02 09:55:37 +0000 UTC View PostFreeform dancing
Betcee was always such a delight to hang out with! She would drop by my studio from time to time and her radiant spirit just lit up the place. My camera loved her too; I couldn’t take a bad picture of her.
2022-04-28 20:04:23 +0000 UTC View PostWalking on air
My Venice Beach studio had a high enough ceiling to hang a trapeze in there. Add some cool lighting, a skilled aerialist and viola! we were all set to create cool images.
2022-04-28 20:03:06 +0000 UTC View PostLazy afternoon
Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do. Liz reclining in her backyard pool’s shallow end.
2022-04-28 20:01:33 +0000 UTC View PostSweet serenity
Serenity and happiness
flow from a heart full of compassion
As sweet sap flows from a maple tree
– Pardesi Pyara
PHOTO: I am sometimes struck by how a camera, an instrument designed to record the physical world, manages to capture and show us a person’s spirit, their inner beauty.
2022-04-26 04:30:13 +0000 UTC View PostLiving Yoga
And
For no reason
A thousand birds
Choose my head for a conference table,
Start passing their
Cups of wine
And their wild songbooks all around.
– from the poetry of Hafez (1315–1390)
PHOTO: My dear friend Hallie is a true yogi, who doesn’t just do the moves, but lives by the philosophy. She has learned to let the hard knocks of life soften her, not harden her.
Instagram: 2022-04-26 04:27:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Aspire
“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.” – Rumi
2022-04-26 04:24:21 +0000 UTC View PostRaven tresses
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
– from a po...
2022-04-25 10:36:51 +0000 UTC View PostCounting our tears
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
— Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
2022-04-25 10:07:53 +0000 UTC View PostMidnight Dancer
Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home
When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there
– lyrics by Madonna and Leonard Patrick Raymond
2022-04-25 10:01:49 +0000 UTC View Post