Category Archives: Blog

I moved to China a few months before COVID-19 emerged to study tai chi (sword & fan included) with China’s leading kung fu masters (while teaching university students and staging history-making events). I was so fortunate to meet, study with, and perform with the real Kung Fu Panda (whose moves the film animation is based on) and to train nightly with my women’s tai chi team on the river.

Tai chi has radically transformed my life on all levels — on the physical plane, its given me independence from my motorized wheelchair, and on the spiritual plane, it’s helped me completely re-orient my being to incorporate balance, harmony, and flow into my life and lifestyle. These days, I love practicing tai chi (barehand, sword, and fan) on the beach here in California — especially at sunset.

Overall, I’ve spent the last five years enjoying diverse and epic adventures across Asia, including studying Taoism in China, Buddhism in Tibet (talk about the Himalayan writing retreat of a lifetime), and shamanism in Mongolia, while teaching holistic well-being (tai chi included) in China and eastern philosophy (Taoism and tai chi included) in war-torn Myanmar. Now that I’m settled back in America, my new mission is to share the transformative healing power of tai chi and the wisdom of Taoism with others, so they might also enjoy its many health benefits in mind, body, and spirit and cultivate a life rooted in peace and harmony, flowing with whatever is arising.

Looking forward to sharing with you on my blog and my new lnstagram the joys and benefits of tai chi and a Taoist-inspired lifestyle to inspire you to nourish relaxation, tranquility, and spontaneity in your being and daily life — looking forward to seeing where the flow leads us…

Abu and I like to spend our mornings having coffee outside while keeping an eye on those pesky squirrels — before getting active and relaxing into the day with qigong, tai chi, and a beach stroll.

Abu even insists on patrolling squirrels outside when it’s overcast, foggy, or a little chilly — he spent his boyhood hiking the Himalayas in Tibet, so he really loves being outside all day (and cannot stand squirrels in his yard lol). He’s a little chihuahua cop.

At sunset, after my capoeira class, ocean swim, and Burmese class are all wrapped up, Abu likes to snuggle outside (close to my belly) for round two of coffee — which I need to power me through the evening after a full day of being physically active and intellectually engaged. As you can, he really loves the taste of coffee in the air — day and night!

Recently, my my Columbia thesis advisee picked me up from the dentist (where I had just finished the last stage of a root canal, fun!) to take me to Urth Cafe in Beverly Hills to celebrate my book with their “Rumi Latte.” He sweetly brought my Rumi book, The Gift of Rumi: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Sufi Master (St. Martin’s Press), with him for a photo op — which also came in handy when we passed by many “Rumi” storefronts for antiques, jewelry, and furniture.

I followed his advice and ordered a Rumi Latte which consists of organic turmeric, pistachio butter, pistachio milk, & ceylon cinnamon. In addition to being delicious, it’s also visually appealing, so we took a photo of it with the cover of my book.

I continue to be so impressed with the cover that St. Martin’s Press gave my book (isn’t it gorgeous!?!) and the lovely landing page they created too.

The Gift of Rumi is available for purchase at Macmillan, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, and other stores. The audio book is available on Spotify and at Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Scribd, Chirp, Libro, and 40+ retail and library distribution partners.

From Beverly Hills to the beach and Bosphorus and beyond, I’m always whirling in ecstasy at this bewildering experience of being alive — and the miracle of experiencing love from all directions and with each breath!

I was so honored to be invited by my brilliant Burmese students in war torn Myanmar to be a judge of their TedTalk competition (at 6 am my time, omg!). Their herculean dedication to their studies (and to constantly improving their abilities) in the midst of a civil war is so inspiring — and their riveting TedTalks were very inspiring too! Congrats to the winners and to all those who participated and remain — determined to succeed despite the incredible challenges unjustly place in their path! Would you, dear reader, continue your university studies in the midst of a civil war into which you could be drafted at any moment to murder your fellow citizens?

Well, this is absolutely wild. I had to go for a root canal (of all things, ugh!) in Beverly Hills with Abu, and on our walk afterwards, Abu led me on a truly mystical and bewildering adventure!

Abu was a very good boy during my root canal (sitting in my lap the whole time and even letting us know when we hit the infection site). Abu has accompanied me to dentist appointments in China and America, so he knows the drill (pun intended, sorry). In the photo above, you can see Abu’s empathetic concern right after my root canal — coupled with his discernment as to whether or not I was up for an adventure (always!).

First things first, Beverly Hills chihuahua Abu attended to his business on this lovely street lined with hot pink flowers. Then, to my shock and amazement, he led me to a restaurant set back from the street in a parking lot with a sign that read: “chaikhona” (“teahouse” in Tajik).

I could not believe it — what in the world is a Tajik teahouse doing in Beverly Hills?!? I honestly thought I was hallucinating on anesthesia. For some background, I lived and studied in Tajikistan on a U.S. State Department Critical Language Fellowship to study Persian and Tajik — and I also did field-research there later as an Edward A. Hewett Policy Fellow. So to have Abu lead me to a Tajik teahouse in Beverly Hills of all places was otherworldly — but it gets even weirder!

In the courtyard, I found the Tajik owner having his lunch — and spoke with him in Tajik, Uzbek & Russian to get the scoop on this new Silk Road cafe in Beverly Hills that had just opened! He was like: “Where are you from?” “America,” I said. “But I don’t understand — how can you speak these languages!?!” he replied. We were both bewildered!

And here’s where it gets really crazy. I stepped inside the restaurant and found two of my favorite objects on the walls. First, my favorite wall textile (you can see it hanging in my Yale apartment — I bought in a dusty corner of a mosque in Bukhara that has since kicked out all the textile sellers) — never seen another like it in all my years of wandering the Silk Road and looking for its twin! 

Though the owner said they serve Tajik and Uzbek food, it was a Tajik flag I noticed hanging in the restaurant, which filled me with vicarious pride!

My Tajik nationalism was hard to contain, and I flashed back to seeing this giant Tajik flag drape in a museum in Dushanbe while living there.

Now, for the second favorite object I found hanging on the walls of this Tajik cafe in Beverly Hills: my favorite Tajik hat which I’ve worn all over the world! Here I am wearing it in a beautiful Persian garden in Shiraz in Iran! I’ve also never found that hat anywhere else on the Silk Road — was too uncanny to find it hanging in the restaurant! Even the owner was shocked!

I also admired the other Tajik and Uzbek textile patterns on the wall and showed the owner (who has a cafe in Samarkand) some of the dresses I wore in Tajikistan when I arrived and my luggage from America didn’t!

Sadly, because I had just had a root canal when Abu let me to this Tajik/Uzbek cafe in Beverly Hills, I wasn’t able to try any of the food yet, but he told me that I have to come back and try it — my friend and I have a plan to do so this week and I can’t wait to feel like I’ve been transported back to the Silk Road. The Google reviews for Chaikhona Lazzat Grill (https://www.yelp.com/biz/chaihona-lazzat-beverly-hills) so far are great: “Very cozy atmosphere with great food and service! It makes you feel like in Tajikistan 🇹🇯 or any other Central Asian country! They got the best plov in town!” Go and show this new and very unique Central Asian cafe some love — happy plov to you all!

Brown mafia in the house! I recently attended a short film festival presented by Brown alumni in Hollywood with a keynote speech by producer and Brown alum Janet Yang, President of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Of course, I wore my shredded vintage-style Brown University hoodie for the film festival to wear and share my school spirit with pride (I did get four degrees from there, after all). I think my favorite short film was A Cow in the Sky — which had us all in tears. Below is the film’s blurb from the Tribeca Film Festival.

A COW IN THE SKY

C. Fraser Press and Darren Press, USA 2023

In a matter of 12 minutes, the directors creatively unpack a very tragic story that results into one of triumph and hope based on true events in A COW IN THE SKY. Their usage of beautiful animation along with archival material gives credence to an amazing narrative.

In 1988, an Ethiopian college student, Mulugeta Seraw was beaten to death by a group of skinheads in Portland, Oregon. The group was influenced heavily by notorious white supremacists, Tom Metzger and his organization WAR—White Aryan Resistance.”

The murder of Mulugeta left his young son, Amine, back in Ethiopia, fatherless. The painful loss was devastating for the whole family. A life cut too short made way for Mulugeta’s father to become a surrogate parent to his grandson.

Justice prevailed with criminal convictions and a historical civil trial. Filmmakers C. Fraser and Darren share, “Led by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the trial became a blueprint for fighting hate groups and led to the current system of tracking hate crimes in America.”

Janet Yang, President of the Academy of Motion Pictures, was very frank about the sorry state of Hollywood today and the challenges ahead with AI in the mix. On my way out the theatre door to have drinks with producers (and talented young filmmakers: https://youtu.be/6d4wfNkaPv4?si=6p5FGeNFX_Vx7NMV), I ran into my brilliant and beautiful Malian l’il sister.

To catch up on our latest ventures in Hollywood, I invited her to join Abu and me for brunch at Great White in Venice and a relaxing day at Abu’s beach house to reminisce about our Malian dance and drumming adventures in Bamako and her visit to my Brown archaeological site at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt. Loved hearing about the film she’s dreaming up and hope I’m in Bamako (staying at her house) when she’s filming it!

To mark the execution anniversary of Lin Zhao (modern Chinese poet, democracy icon, and Christian martyr whose sister lives in America), my Burmese students in Myanmar performed my new play about her life, imprisonment, and death (and the 100 Flowers Movement at Peking University).  It felt very special to have my students in civil war-torn Myanmar (whose military junta is backed by China) perform my new play on his important day for Chinese lovers of freedom around the world — and process how it mirrors their own lives as young democracy student activists being repressed. Looking forward to sharing dates and times of upcoming readings and productions soon!

Happy Year of the Wood Dragon! I was so grateful to be invited to a festive Bhutanese gathering at a horse ranch overlooking the ocean in Malibu where Abu benefitted from some equine therapy.

Since Abu spent his boyhood hiking the Himalayas in Tibet (horses included), he felt right at home, and the Bhutanese could tell he was recognizing some of their words, too funny! My new Tibetan tattoo was a hit too…

We feasted on a colorful potluck overflowing with yummy Bhutanese food while the men competed in a spirited traditional dart competition (singing included) — it brought back fond memories for me of doing archery in Bhutan aka Land of the Thunder Dragon.

While relaxing on the Malibu ranch (where Claudette Colbert, Elizabeth Taylor, Lawerence Olivier, and even Reagan trained), Abu was riveted watching the horsies eat and get groomed.

One half-American half-Bhutanese young man who’s a sometimes medic in Bhutan told me he’s seen *many* dart and archery injuries while on the job in the isolated Himalayan kingdom!

After the dart competition (the winners took home $500 & bragging rights), we all did a circle dance together at sunset and that was really special. I loved doing that with Chengdu’s Tibetan community when living in Sichuan & to do it overlooking the Pacific in such peace and tranquility with my tiny Himalayan hound was really magical…

Abu’s equine therapy made him feel noticeably calmer and more confident — instant results after we left to head home to the beach.

Not long after our festive ranch adventure, we were invited to another incredible Bhutanese gathering off of Mulholland Drive in a lovely gated community. It was so fun! Bhutanese singing, dancing, food, a movie, the works! 

The hosts flew in famous singers from Bhutan, and one of them was wearing a pin with the first letter of my favorite Tibetan mantra (he was so surprised that I knew the Tara mantra lol!). 

It was really lovely and healing to speak with members of the Bhutanese and Tibetan communities out here in America’s wild, wild west. I also relished having a chance to practice speaking Tibetan and Dzongkha.

And, as always, the food did not disappoint — we were so grateful to be treated to such a delicious feast (and to dine outside next to the pool for COVID-19 prevention). I have been so touched by and grateful for the warm Bhutanese hospitality I’ve received both in Bhutan and here in Los Angeles — and I’m yearning to return soon to the Himalayas of the Land of the Thunder Dragon!

 ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ  ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ

I haven’t ridden a bicycle since I was hit by a bus in Harlem on my bike over a decade ago, but recently I’ve been tempted to try riding a tricycle, as I’ve seen many on the beach and the design is well-suited to accommodate my hip-related injuries.

I started doing research on different types of tricycles, which I figured would be ideal because I wouldn’t have to lift my leg over a high bar or risk falling off and injuring myself (as I can’t have surgery unless it’s for life-saving purposes).  At a nearby Open House a few weeks ago, a guy pulled up in a recumbent tricycle, and I asked him some questions about it to see how he likes it. He raved about it and insisted that I try his out. To my surprise, I didn’t like how low to the ground it felt — such a vulnerable position, especially in traffic.

So I asked my mom for a standing tricycle for my birthday (lol!), and she delivered. It has been SUCH A JOY to ride it on the beach with Abu in the basket in his favorite blankie.  On our first ride, we rode to our usual haunts so Abu’s fans could see him taking a ride in the basket.

After our first beach ride, which was fortunately a success, I realized we would need more air in our tires, so I took Abu to fill up ’em up.

I peddled Abu in his blankie basket to American Beauty for lunch, and when I locked the bike to the bicycle stand, he refused to get out of his basket lol! He was so happy in the basket that he would not come out! So I had to wheel the whole tricycle into the restaurant’s courtyard to place our order and dine.

Then we locked up the bike to run some errands — it blew Abu’s mind that we could ride the bike places, lock it up, run errands, and then GET BACK IN THE BIKE OMG! He was so happy learning about tricycle life on the road.

I CANNOT recommend a tricycle enough — it’s SO FUN, like being a kid again, and Abu is SO OBSESSED too.  Now several of my older neighbors have suddenly got one too (too funny!). I saw one of them trying out her new tricycle with her butch trainer, and the woman (who was about 70 or so) was screaming: “I FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN WHEEEE!”)

Usually, I take Abu for a ride after my ocean swim and capoeira class, when it’s a bit cooler out and the day is winding down. My capoeira pants are lightweight and very stretchy, so they’re good for cruising.

He really seems like he’s in heaven when he’s riding on the beach’s bike path — the ocean breeze and other scents must be thrilling as they whiz by, in addition to all the sights to take in: dogs walking, people playing paddle tennis and basketball, the waves roaring and crashing, the chaotic crowds strolling the boardwalk…

These last two photos we took today as we ran errands after capoeira class and his morning beach stroll. He lets me know when he’s game for a ride, and I was so happy that today was one of those days (if he doesn’t want to do something, he growls when I propose it — he’s too smart and very communicative!). He also loves stopping for a photo and showing off his tricycle bliss for all to see!

Abu was so lucky to meet the *real* Kung Fu Panda in China when he was just a baby — my tai chi teacher, the Kung Fu Grandmaster of Qingcheng Shan (animation of the film is based on his moves). I was extremely fortunate to study tai chi with him and appear with him on stage and screen.

As you can see, training in tai chihuahua with the real Kung Fu Panda in his native China had a lasting impact on Abu, because now he insists on literally dressing up as Kung Fu Panda in California. He is staying so true to his roots (he also still prefers Chinese to English)!

You can check out our new tai chi IG with morsels of Taoist wisdom shared each day: https://www.instagram.com/taichibeing.

Out of deep devotion to my tai chihuahua master, I got this new t-shirt to share with the world my enormous gratitude for all he has taught me.

My tai chihuahua master also got a new tai chi outfit of his own — straight from China! With a dragon on it, so cool! He really knows how to act and dress the part.

I also got two new tai chi uniforms from China — in white and baby blue. Fortunately, they fit perfectly — as do the tai chi sneakers I ordered from China too (I won’t have to bother with returns, phew!).

Looking forward to sharing more tai chi news soon! In the meantime, check out our new tai chi IG with morsels of Taoist wisdom shared each day: https://www.instagram.com/taichibeing.

I was so delighted to return home from my daily ocean swim and find an unexpected package waiting for me at my door. To my surprise, it was the rad new book in which my book chapter on punk rock, punk film, and eco-anarchism in Wuhan (for which I interviewed China’s founder of punk, Wu Wei from the punk band SMZB) was just published. I was so excited I had to take a photo with it right away.

DIY or Die! brings together a diverse collection of punks, scholars and activists to explore Do-It-Yourself and Do-It-Together production of punk culture and punk spaces. A DIY/DIT ethic has animated a wide range of punk-associated anarchist activisms, and this extensive influence is on display in this book. The relationship between anarchism and punk is explored through numerous intersecting themes, starting from the tangible anarchisms found in punk spaces, squats and social centres, and extending to a range of DIY/DIT cultural production including: films, records, and fanzines; performance art; sports clubs; and other anarchistic sites of resistance. Across the chapters, the DIY OR DIE! attitude of anarchist punks across the globe is critically examined and celebrated.

The book was created and produced by the Anarchism and Punk Rock Project (https://anarchismandpunk.noblogs.org), and I am so grateful to be included in this impressive and important volume.

Here’s a link with the Table of Contents: https://anarchismandpunk.noblogs.org/book-2-diy-or-die/

And you can purchase the book at this link: https://pmpress.org.uk/product/diy-or-die-do-it-yourself-do-it-together-punk-anarchism/

If you want to hear from some punk from Wuhan, here’s a link to Wu Wei’s song: “Wuhan, Wuhan” (aka “Great Wuhan”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2L2tDzpOg

And here’s a link to his song “Ten Thousand Ways to Rebel”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk4EspwLpzc

Rock ON and UP the PUNX!

While living in China for three years during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the only food I craved from America was movie theatre popcorn doused with butter, as they don’t serve butter popcorn in Chinese movie theatres (only sweet popcorn — caramel — talk about a crime against humanity, my GOD).  When I was dreaming about it in China, it was like the holy grail to me!

Even though I’ve been back for a while in America, I still hadn’t gotten any movie popcorn as of a few weeks ago. So on my birthday, I had Ubereats deliver movie theatre popcorn (butter included) straight from the cinema to my house lol!  As you can see, little Abu was very intrigued (Ubereats will only deliver a large, and the large bucket was bigger than Abu!). After I devoured the whole bucket like it was an Olympic sport, it was back to playing with Abu so he could have HIS treats hidden in his magical treat ball. We all just want a treat, man…

Abu and I went to Cafe Gratitude in Larchmont with a friend for some yummy vegan food. I kicked off brunch with an “I AM RESTORED” adrenal latte with ashwaganda, pine pollen, cordyceps, maca, and raw honey. It was good, but I forgot that my adrenal system is already sped up, so, well, oh boy, look out! Talk about waking up with coffee, yowsirs!

For grub, I ordered an “I AM WHOLE” 🥬 bowl based on the recommendation of my friend, and it did not disappoint. This macrobiotic bowl has it all: braised butternut squash, stewed adzuki beans, kimchee, sea vegetables, sautéed kale, garlic tahini, and toasted tamari almonds on top of a mix of brown rice and quinoa (feel free to add an avocado 🥑 if you have extra dough to spare!).

The I AM WHOLE bowl is so good that I’ve since ordered it a few times to my house, because I just can’t live without it. After brunch, Abu wanted to check out Jeni’s Ice Cream, so we strolled over there for dessert.

Though I’d been to Jeni’s before, I didn’t realize they have a little yard out back, so we sat back there to snack on Jeni’s Brown Butter Almond Brittle in peace in the shade with little Abu.