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On Honoring & Loving I'm looking out from the hei

On Honoring & Loving

I'm looking out from the heights of a towering rollercoaster, certain to bring new opportunities & adventures as I pack for Maui once more. After a morning meditation, my heart is calling me to begin again in this new year by practicing honoring & loving;

I honor my friends, past and present--kindred spirits, confidants, cherished chosen-family; brothers and sisters from other mothers and misters. Your love, laughter, lessons, and leadership mean everything to me. A simple caption, let alone chapters in a book, cannot do you justice. All the same: thank you. So much love to y’all!

I honor the many wise teachers, mentors, role-models, and inspiring, generous souls who have guided me on my journey over the years. From the depths of my heart: thank you. I would surely be lost without the vision which standing on your shoulders has given me.

I honor my ancestors and family: though we’ve had our share of adversity, you support and nourish me with your love, care, and presence in my life, my dreams, and my bones. I appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made to give me the opportunities I have today; I honor and love you in all your humanness. I’ll do my best to make you proud while also staying true to myself.

Finally, to my past lovers; I hold our memories of adventure, joy, passion, healing, and heartache with so much tenderness and appreciation for the laughter shared and lessons learned! I’m truly a better man for knowing you, and you’ve set the bar high. When the time is right, I feel more prepared than ever to show up fully in the dance of partnership because of you. For this and so much more, I honor and love you.

And so I begin again. 2021, let’s have some fucking fun! 🥂❤️

Fewwf, what a wild ride 2020 has been, y’all! I’ve got a few bullet point life updates for ya, with deeper shares coming soon. Words are inadequate to capture the indescribable and vast nature of my experiences this year, but I’m not letting that stop me from trying.

First of all: my heart is OVERFLOWING with gratitude for all the expressions of birthday love. Deep, deep thanks, and I love y’all right back! I'm thirty one now, folks--it's all downhill from here; my cataracting eyes squint to see electric scooters (or maybe a futuristic hover chair if I’m lucky), adult diapers, viagra, dentures, and bingo clubs on the distant horizon. That is, if we can make it out of 2020 before a giant meteor adds a darkly comedic punchline to the cosmic joke that has been this year! Hah!

I write to you from my heart-home Maui, overlooking a gusty-radiant-luscious panorama in constant motion with rain and rainbows, framed by white-capped azure ocean and cotton candy clouds, having just returned after a whirlwind seven months into the fray of 2020 mainland life. I’ve finished two semesters of grad school virtually now: one in the Master of Arts in Counseling at St. Edward’s University (Austin), and one in Somatic Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (SF). It’s been a delicious crucible of psychospiritual growth, and I can’t wait to share more about what I’ve been sinking my head and heart into. Stay tuned for that.

The Pacific Northwest is stunning in the summertime, and I was blessed with many’a epic adventure with many’a beautiful friends. I bought an upgraded Chevy Explorer van (“Van Damme”) and in-between classes and coursework spent my long days floating rivers, swimming under mountain-runoff waterfalls, playing with big rowdy puppies at the Oregon coast, yachting in the Puget Sound, and on and on. So many beautiful, life-affirming memories were made; I loved and was loved; and although I still haven’t found “The One,” I absolutely cherish the heights and depths I explored romantically.

After being in the thick of BLM protests in Portland, getting tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed...

(continued in comments) ⤵️

Heads up, SF Bay Fam ☝🏽 I'm flying into SF t

Heads up, SF Bay Fam ☝🏽

I'm flying into SF this Sunday, July 14th for a week to feel out grad school programs and decide whether to start the Somatic Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (Mission District) in late August. Seeking couches upon which to crash & looking to connect with good peoples✨ Mahalo nui for introductions and recommendations on fun shit to do while I'm there 🙏🏽🤟🏾
//🎥 credit :: @caitdown at Red Sand Beach last weekend in Hana, on my island home for the last five years, Maui. Maui No Ka Oi... It's gonna be hard to say aloha, ohana ♥️

Handstands above the clouds in the Haleakala crate

Handstands above the clouds in the Haleakala crater ⛰️ Stoked to have my handstand practice progressing again after a plateau! I've always been lower body dominant, so the handstand journey is teaching good lessons in the rewards of consistently, perseverance, and hard work 🙏🏽 The micro muscle movements and subtle body awareness required to find and keep my bones stacked and muscles balanced are feeling more intuitive and automatic as I spend more time inverted, and the forward momentum is motivating me to train harder 💪🏽 #cantstopwontstop #yogaeverydamnday #inversions

// Under this pressure Under this weight We are al

//
Under this pressure
Under this weight
We are all diamonds
Taking shape //
📷 :: @_journeyingjess

I just enjoy life now. I just enjoy every morning

I just enjoy life now. I just enjoy every morning I get to wake up. -Nas

Love is the answer, at least for most of the quest

Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

The first time I tried to jump on one of these sla

The first time I tried to jump on one of these slacklines in college I flew right off. The second, third, fourth... 44th times weren't all that different. But slowly and surely I would be able to walk a little farther each time without falling, and my falls would become more controlled, less chaotic. I learned to balance and focus my mind in order to balance and focus my body. I willed myself not to groan or grimace or get frustrated as much when I fell. As the cliche goes, you must always get back up after you fall-get back on the horse, etc. Not only has learning to walk across slacklines been a perfect living metaphor of this principle in my life, but the subtle body control and fine motor balance skills have had cross applicability into every other physical pursuit I do, from kickboxing to acro yoga to bouldering. And of course, when it comes down to it, slacking is just f****** fun!

Follow your bliss, and the universe will open door

Follow your bliss, and the universe will open doors for you that you thought were only walls. Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. Happiness is absorption. - T.E. Lawrence

Just beyond the horizon of the so-called impossibl

Just beyond the horizon of the so-called impossible is INFINITE possibility. -Bryant McGill

In the book The Little Prince, the pilot says to t

In the book The Little Prince, the pilot says to the prince: "When you tell grown-ups about a new friend they never ask ‘What games does he like?
Does he collect butterflies?
What does his voice sound like?’ They ask: “How much money does his father make?
How old is he? 'How much does he weigh?'"—
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In my mind, this scene illustrates the age-old theme that ‘Grown-ups’ are more concerned with ‘matters of consequence,’ like the businessman on the fourth planet who thinks he owns all the stars he can count and is too busy to stop and appreciate their beauty.
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Acro yoga is not one of your traditional "matters of consequence." But a growing tribe of us on Maui now do it week after week, not taking holidays off but rather taking them as an opportunity to do MORE ACRO (!) We "play" as much as we can, and as often as we can get away with. We do it for the pure unadulterated passion & beauty of this interactive human art form, and we do it because it's just f****** fun.
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Moral of the story? Measure friends and experiences by the heights and depths of the passion and love they evoke, the frequency with which they force the corners of your mouth to rise uncontrollably, and the number of times they pull through for you when you need them most.

How we talk to ourselves in moments of extreme psy

How we talk to ourselves in moments of extreme psychological or physiological challenge shapes our experience and our performance when it matters most 💗
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.💎 What do you tell yourself when the "frigid" voices of fear, uncertainty, doubt and darkness are creeping in? If you feel inspired, share in the comments and tag a friend who inspires you to flex your positivity muscles in high stress environments! @________ 🙏

Thank you @pandjromero for hosting this transformational @iceman_hof event at the best CrossFit on Maui. You inspire me, brother 🙌 with teamwork Anything is Possible!

🎙️Episode 3 of The Maui HI Life Podcast is he

The wait is (finally) over! . . 🎙️Episode 3 o

Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. K

Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile. - Mark Twain

Beautiful people, beautiful places ❤️ I spent

Beautiful people, beautiful places ❤️ I spent the weekend with some Maui Acro Tribe climbing through freezing spring water pitch black caves, grilling salmon under the stars, playing a game curiously centered around Butt Stuff, lounging in the sun on rocks like lazy lizards, unpeeling layers of depth and truth with my amazing friends, and of course playing hours and hours of acro. Through my own personal imperfections, insecurities, obstacles and setbacks, acro is always here to remind me how blessed I truly am to be living this life.

Daniel-san… [taps head] Karate here. [Taps heart

Daniel-san… [taps head] Karate here.
[Taps heart] Karate here. [Points to his belt] Karate never here.
Understand? —Mr. Miyagi

#karatekid

I've been up all night watching the most epic mete

I've been up all night watching the most epic meteor shower of my life--bluish red space rocks cut across the nightscape with surreal speed and beauty and I sip whiskey by the open flame with an unlikely tribe of new friends to keep the fire in our bellies stoked. The time comes and we race the rising sun to Haleakala Mountain's summit.

It's 5 am and 40 degrees at 11, 000 ft.
I haven't had breakfast,
but I eat the fire ball in the sky.
It's the best meal I've had in ages.

This week’s podcast guest is David "The Elvis of

This week’s podcast guest is David "The Elvis of podcasting hair" Bruce Leonard, a good friend and mentor of mine, and the author of two books, How To Worship The Goddess and Keep Your Balls: A Man’s Guide to Sacred Sex, and Medicine At Our Feet: Healing Plants of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He founded the Earth Medicine Institute and currently lives on Maui teaching Rivers of Love, a Sacred Sexuality course for couples, and is also a women’s self defense instructor through the FAST system. Recently he was on staff leading weekly men’s groups in the Maui County Jail through the ManKind Project. In this episode we get very very juicy and talk about the hummingbird technique, sexual enhancement plants, self defense legalities, and much much more! Check out the link in my bio for iTunes, Google Play, and castbox podcast links. Please enjoy this episode with David as much as we enjoyed having the conversation, and let me know what you think.

It is with much stoke and aloha that I publish the

It is with much stoke and aloha that I publish the first episode of the Maui HI Life Podcast with guests Mark Freeman (@freemantechnique), a division 1 gymnastics coach at UC Berkeley, and Alex Golombeck (@mindmassage_), a cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapist who is also the founder of an app called MindMassage. The show link is in my bio, and the podcast is available in all the finest podcast locations near you. Thanks for all of your support fam, and I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as I enjoyed recording and editing it! I will have another fresh episode for you soon, so stay tuned for more delicious content!

#luckywelivehawaii #mauinokaoi #hawaii #gymnastics

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