Photo Shoot with Robert Sturman

So, I had an opportunity to work with nationally renowned photographer Robert Sturman on a yoga photo shoot, and the experience was a huge reality check for me.

I'm Asian. I love pictures. Selfies. Group shots. Profile pics. Close - ups. Full length shots. Pictures of my food. My shoes. My pedicures. Endless pictures of myself doing yoga anywhere and everywhere.

 

So this situation should have been a dream come true for me! But, frankly, it wasn't.

 

And here's the raw truth. Somehow, since switching from politics to a career as a professional yoga instructor, I have packed a whopping 30 pounds on my (once) petite 5'2" frame. It is entirely irrelevant to this post on HOW that actually even happens. The point is that it did.

 

So. I've come face to face with reality, exactly as it is, not how I like to pretend it still is or it once was. 

As a yoga instructor, I see beauty EVERY where and in every single person that unrolls their mat. I tell students - and I absolutely mean it - how beautiful and amazing they are. How they are perfect exactly how they arrive on their mats. Right here, right now. I remind them to love and honor the amazing body that has carried them through life until this moment. 

And yet ... I was reluctant to take advantage of this opportunity. I tried to cancel the day before. Why? Why is it so hard to love ourselves exactly as we are? Why is it so much easier to see the beauty and light in others and so easy to find fault and imperfection and darkness in ourselves?

As the day of my photo shoot continued to unfold, it became clear to me that I was squandering the beauty of the moment. Wishing it away. Thinking it would be better and more meaningful if I was 30 pounds lighter. And suddenly, I realized that THIS was THE moment. This was the day that I would pose for Robert Sturman. And that's our lives. We'll never quite find the perfect set of circumstances aligned in our minds, but we have to embrace life anyway. Find gratitude in what we DO have. Trust that life gives us exactly what we NEED. 

So when the time arrived, I had a great conversation with Robert, who immediately put me at ease. We walked the grounds and finally settled on this beautiful tree shaped like Natarajasana. The ground held a slight decline so I rolled over in the mud a few times before I finally stuck the pose. 

It's just an image, a frozen fragment in time. And that's life. Single, perfect moments in time that are strung together to form our lives. It's time that's the most precious currency of life. Each moment. Each breath. That's the gift and blessing. Our challenge is to recognize and appreciate all of it as it unfolds, exactly as it unfolds, with nothing but gratitude and acceptance. 

Annica! Annica! Annica! Be happy! Be happy! Be happy!