There are a trillion stars in the night sky
Yet each is unique
Why compare yourself to others?
You were born with your own unique strengths
You are blessed with your own mystique
–– Pardesi Pyara
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PHOTO: Love working with Sheerle. She glows with a natural beauty that springs from complete self acceptance. This photo is from a shoot when we were both in California.
IG: @sheerle....
2021-04-11 04:47:51 +0000 UTC View Post
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Be grateful for whatever comes.
Because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
– Rumi
2021-04-11 04:45:56 +0000 UTC View Post
People obsess about their abs and pecs. Some worry about their glutes and hamstrings. But, according to yoga, the key to our health lies in our spine.
It is the foundation of everything. Forward bends, backbends, side bends, and twists are all designed to create a healthy spine. It gets us through our day, doings tasks with energy and without pain. A strong spine allows us to sit in meditation comfortably for long periods of time. The seven chakras, the locus of our spiritual energy, ar...
2021-04-11 04:44:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Should sorrow cloud thy coming years,
And bathe thy happiness in tears,
Remember, though we’re doom’d to part,
There lives one fond and faithful heart,
That will forget thee not.
– from a poem by Ann Plato (1841)
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PHOTO: This is a photo I took of yoga teacher, and close friend, Heidi, more than a decade ago when she was visiting California. I find sometimes getting into a yoga pose is a more interesting photograph than the finished...
2021-04-11 04:42:23 +0000 UTC View Post
“Souls learn from other souls, not from books or lectures.”—Rumi, Masnavi
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PHOTO: Crystal and her friend, Caroline doing acro yoga at my studio.
IG: @mustbecrystal
2021-04-11 04:39:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Sometimes the best discoveries are serendipitous.
Last summer I went for a walk on Venice Beach (the one in Southern California), to clear my head. Rounding a life guard tower I came upon Brooklyn doing her yoga practice next to the breaking waves.
I loved her form, and decided to introduced myself. It turned out she knew some of the yogis who had done shoots with me. I did not want to interrupt her flow, so I asked her to continue. With her permission I took out my camera and too...
2021-04-11 02:55:27 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
– Shakespeare (Sonnet 18)
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PHOTO: Another couple photos of Cole hanging out while visiting me in Houston, Texas.
POETRY:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
– Shakespeare (Sonnet 18)
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PHOTO: Cole is the first friend from California to come visit me in Texas. She is so multi-talented: yogi, musician, DJ, and an amazing chef.
I am working on a digital magazine (which I plan to publish soon as I get enough followe...
2021-04-04 05:05:55 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
Let your heart lead you
It will transcend time
and defy fate
to drop you where you belong
–– Pardesi Pyara
2021-04-04 05:02:57 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
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)
POET more people should know about:
Paul Laurence Dunbar, born to parents that were freed slaves, was one of the first important Black poets and writers in this country. Astonishingly, he wrote his first poem at age 6, and had his first published poem by just age 16! Though, sadly, ...
2021-04-04 05:00:34 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
And when the spotlight comes your way
as it will eventually
rise up to the occasion
rise up and shine
You are perfect as you are
you were born a star
– Pardesi Pyara
2021-04-04 04:57:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Stefanie is an athlete from Germany. She had seen my photography in several international magazines and wanted to shoot with me. But it was hard for her to budget the cost of a flight to Los Angeles, and hotel costs, just for a shoot.
About a year after we first talked, she called and informed me she had a vacation planned for Hawaii. The airline had given her a connecting flight through Los Angles airport, and she had a 6 hour layover. She wondered if we could sneak in a shoot in that ...
2021-04-04 04:54:52 +0000 UTC View Post
"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." – Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
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PHOTO: Dear friend Caley from one of our earliest shoots. A superb yoga and meditation teacher, she is a soon to be mama now!
IG: @caleyalyssa
2021-04-04 04:53:27 +0000 UTC View Post
I met Caroline when she tagged along with my friend Crystal for a shoot we had planned. Caroline had just come back from traveling around India and Crystal thought we would enjoy sharing stories. She was right. India is a deliriously chaotic and unpredictable place to travel in. We were soon swapping adventure tales and she was laughing so much it was hard to get a shot of her looking serious.
2021-04-04 04:52:00 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
Not all bravery is public for everyone to see
A thousand battles are waged
in the privacy of four walls
just to get through the day
– Pardesi Pyara
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PHOTO: From one of the first shoots I did with the incredibly talented yogi, Maria. She was on the cover of one of my Body as Temple calendars, and we have done shoots for dozens of magazine ads. Such a talent!
POETRY:
As if you were on fire from within,
the moon lives in the lining of your skin
–– Pablo Neruda
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PHOTO: Crystal is a dear friend and close collaborator who is always eager to create beautiful images. Her enthusiasm is matched by her poise and grace in front of the camera.
IG: @mustbecrystal
2021-04-04 04:47:07 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
We are no other than a moving row
Of magic shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the sun-illumined lantern held
In midnight by the master of the show
–– Omar Khayyam
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PHOTO: Time flies. Laura Jane dancing a decade ago when she visited my studio. She is an amazing dancer from Australia who has performed in top rated shows around the world.
POETRY:
Your task is not to seek love
but to seek all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it
– Rumi
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PHOTO: Long time friend Katrina from one of my first shoots in Venice Beach, California.
IG: @nourish.and.be
2021-04-04 04:42:51 +0000 UTC View Post
POETRY:
The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.
– James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
_________________
PHOTO: Looking through shoots from a decade ago I found this image of Shantia dancing in my Venice Beach studio. Amazing how an image takes me back in time, remembering it like yesterday; like hearing a melody from an old song,...
2021-04-04 04:39:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Thank you for joining me on my journey. I am learning as I go here on Patreon, so please feel free to send me messages with suggestions or questions. I generally reply to all emails within 48 hours.
I have been delving deep into my "The Body as Temple" archives and am preparing lots of cool images to share here in April.
🙏
2021-04-01 06:12:31 +0000 UTC View Post
The longer I live and the more I see
Of the struggle of souls towards the heights above,
The stronger this truth comes home to me
That the Universe rests on the shoulders of love
– from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
2021-04-01 03:23:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Even during the fiercest gales there is place
deep within
where shelter awaits
.
a place to catch your breath
a place to start believing in yourself again
.
before re-emerging stronger
.
– Pardesi Pyara
2021-04-01 03:13:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Don’t need a sword
for I’m blessed with strength
Strength in my mind
measured by my perseverance
Strength in my heart
measured by my compassion
Strength in my love
measured by my tears
–– Pardesi Pyara
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_
PHOTO: Photo of my friend Kristin, from when she was teaching yoga in Santa Monica, California, many years ago. One could feel her strength in every pose she got into. Such su...
2021-04-01 03:10:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
– Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)
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PHOTO: From my first shoot with dear friend Hallie, back in California. She is truly one of the sweetest souls I have worked with.
Your task is not to seek love
but to seek all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it
.
– Rumi
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_
PHOTO: Verronica from her first shoot with me some years ago.
verronicakirei.com
2021-03-29 11:47:06 +0000 UTC View Post
It comes
Unadorned
Like a phrase
Strong enough to cast a spell;
It comes
Unbidden,
Like the turn of sun through hills
Or stars in wheel of song.
The jeweled feet of women dance the earth
Arousing it to spring.
Shoulders broad as a road bend to share the weight of years.
Profiles breach the distance and lean
Toward an ordinary kiss.
Bliss.
It comes naked into the world like a charm.
–– Toni...
2021-03-29 11:45:29 +0000 UTC View Post
It can be hard to get up once you fall
But not as hard
as when you have to get up the hundredth time
Take a deep breath,
think of the sun
Rise again
as the sun does each morning
– Pardesi Pyara
2021-03-29 11:44:15 +0000 UTC View Post
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
– Maya Angelou (1928–2014)
2021-03-29 11:43:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Tides follow the invisible pull of the moon
shaping coastlines
Let compassion’s gentle pull
shape our daily actions
–– Pardesi Pyara⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2021-03-29 11:41:49 +0000 UTC View Post
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” – Rumi
2021-03-27 04:17:50 +0000 UTC View Post