Love is my religion ♥

Love is my religion, Love is my religion, Love is my religion

hey you can take it or leave it, and you don't have to believe it

I don't want to fight, hey let's go fly a kite 

♥ there's nothing that we can't cure, and I'll keep you in my arms for sure ♥

so don't let nobody stop us, free spirits have to soar
with you I share the gift, the gift that we now know 

The other night in wisdom circle, we all joined hands and said in our own language "may all beings everywhere be happy and free". i think there were about 15 different languages spoken. and each were so beautiful. then we sang "we are one. under the moon and under the sun. we are one." all in our own languages. it was so beautiful and somehow in harmony although not in the same language. i looked across the room and truly have never seen such beautiful faces in all my life. and it wasn't their features, it was what they were saying, what their spirits were saying. and i felt beautifully vulnerable. ♥ this whole time here, i have felt broken, in a painfully peaceful way. I looked around the room and I felt love for each person. I don't know all their names, or where they're from, but i feel love for them. 

is it weird to love strangers? is it weird to look at a photo of a child in need, and feel love for that little one, and ache for his freedom the way i would a loved one in a hospital bed? i have an ex-boyfriend, who did not understand this. he didnt want me to tell him i loved him, because i told so many people this. but i love everyone, people i havent even met. thats just how my heart works. i was born with an enormous need to love. what he didnt realize maybe, is that i loved his love most. but i never got him to understand this, this love i have for others, and especially this love i have for him. and now he's gone. with my broken pieces in his hands.

but still i dance.

and i have fallen in love with this foreign love here in Brazil by the way ♥ everyone runs into each others arms here the way as a child i ran into my...sandbox(?)...they pick flowers and play with each others hair. It is rare to see love like i see in guru lurey and mirjam. she walks up to him and says, "hi, can i hold you for a little while?" and he answers, "you can hold me for a long time". he has his crazy crazy hair. and he asks her if it looks ok and she answers, "yes, and this one here, this is my favorite curl" ♥ ive never seen them look at each other with out smiling. I asked her, how this happened, and she answered, "sometimes you just have to let go of your fears and let love happen".  such a simple answer, one sentence. yet so complex to grasp. to just let go. 

one night after yin yoga mirjam sang sanskrit mantra. it seemed like the rain & insects in the rainforest were her instruments. it was the most beautiful thing i've ever heard. like lil joshua's voice in uganda. lurey started to sing w/her. their voices were in such harmony, just like their spirits. ive honestly never heard such beauty. my tears covered my mat. best valentines gift ever. i wont let this memory fade. ♥

oh, and i had my palm read.....

"oh you have a cool palm. you are so persistent. and sensitive. there are a lot of negative influences that have come against you in your life. you must not forget to meditate because you are very sensitive and have lots of emotion and you can become burdened. but you are rational and this will help you. you are going to travel very much. really. maybe so not attached, but here there is a positive attachment. you will have good life with this partner. very positive you two. but after some negative ones. 3 children, but one is not the same. maybe adopted, maybe not born. if you want maybe you can have 4 but i dont think so. you will always have 3-4 professions, wow. but they all tie into your spirituality and your destiny. your life is so long, and is better than what most thought it would be. you will die in a different place than expected, i think in another country. you are not an angry person, never you get angry really. people carry anger in their hips. but you for 3 days i have felt i must push with my feet on your shoulder blades because here is hurt and fear, this you have, not anger, from the negative influences."

kind of a cool reading :) i do have 3-4 professions all the time, haha. but i dont think ill have so many kiddos. i think it might just be me and my backpack. maybe one kid. maybe no guy. 

i shared this with a friend and he reminded me that my God is a jealous God, and that he doesnt want me putting faith in mans words for my future. this meant so much to me, and made me appreciate this person so much more :) the cool thing about yoga, is that its intention is to bring you even closer to your beliefs, whatever they are. so if Jesus is your savior, you will end up embracing him even more. at wisdom circle, as they sing to shiva, i am singing to my Jesus. ♥ a different ex boyfriend once told me i only love God so much because i am "so uneducated". me and him never saw eye to eye anyways, but why do i have to be "so educated" when love is my religion? i am always being educated on love. always. 

♥ Ahimsa means peaceful action. It is the first yama that we as yogis have to develop in our practice. 

this is my own interpretation of Ahimsa. I have dwelled on it a lot and this is what it means to me. 

It is living in love. it is about seeing into someone's intentions and not just their actions. seeing why they do the things they do. when someone is mean to you, it is because someone has been mean to them. if someone has hurt you, it is because someone has hurt them. when i am feeling hurt towards someone, i often play the song "long time sun" and think of that person, and focus the words of that song on them, letting it be my prayer for them. i truly feel lighter by the end of the song. offer those who have hurt you love. you dont know what causes them to be this way. cure it with compassion. if you live this way, you will empower others to live this way surely. (and think of the opposite effect) you are always influencing someone for the positive or the negative. so many times we say we have compassion on the suffering, but we forget that those who hurt us, are suffering. we each suffer, we all just want to be happy. 

the italian maxim spread came out in this months issue and the headline of the spread read, 

"jade bryce, beautiful, generous, texan, a girl that travels the world with a backpack full of humor"

i'd like that to be me. i want to be generous. and i want to travel the world with humor in my backpack. like dora the explorer. just me and my goofy monkey!! :)

♥ I love you, but Jesus loves you best, and i bid you a goodnight, now wont you lay your head on your savior's chest ♥

My favorite place so far in Brazil, this little waterfall where I feel....love :)

Murchison Falls in Uganda, very liberating :)

Nile River, right next to where they spread Gandhi's ashes ♥

p.s. this blog goes out to the fan that always sends me such beautiful emails as if they are his journal entry. he has inspired me by all his reminders of how i inspire him ♥ you know who you are, and you are about to have a big break through :)