Hokulani Wellness

COMMUNITY

In my previous blog post, I touched a bit on this subject. Today, I wanted to dive into what ‘community’ means to me and how my life has shifted in so many beautiful ways from being in communities that are conducive to my values and aspirations in life.

This year, I’ve truly experienced the feeling of community in several situations and I feel so called to share how each significant experience has impacted my mind, body, spirit and my life overall.

This time last year, I moved to the beautiful little island of Oahu. This island is known to be “the gathering place” and that rings so true to my experience there. I made so many incredible friends within my first month of living there who created a family-like community and even went on to live together. However, I lived on the other side of the island from these friends and was really missing my own friends and family back home. So, in January, I moved back home to Toronto. Regardless of the fact that I moved back home in the dead of winter (the season I had been trying to avoid when I first moved to Hawai’i), I was so happy to once again be surrounded by the people I love most. This was when I first became conscious of the beautiful impact of having a sense of belonging.

I was home for 2 months before I set off on my next adventure. I packed as many belongings as I could fit into a 70L backpack and made my way over to Australia. One of the first things that stood out to me about the land down under was my ability to connect with so many like-minded people. It felt as if everywhere I went, I met people who were on the same wavelength and could dive into deep conversations with, within minutes of meeting them. In my last couple of weeks bouncing around Australia, I planted myself in Byron Bay. The thought of leaving this little surf town tore my heart to pieces so much that I spent an hour on the phone crying to my parents trying to figure out a way to stay, knowing very well the responsibilities I had waiting for me back home. Now, the town itself is beautiful but what truly made me fall in love with Byron Bay was the community. Within the hostel I was staying at, I felt right at home with strangers. I looked forward to sharing dinners together, catching up on one another’s day adventures, and making plans for the nighttime. I had even moved to another hostel for a few days and witnessed that same sense of community in this entirely different hostel environment.

When I returned home after Australia, one of my main goals was to create this sense of community in my hometown. I knew that there were like-minded people around and took it upon myself to create a space to gather. My way of accomplishing this goal was by hosting donation-based workshops and free meditation circles bi-weekly. Creating this community was honestly not as easy as I had imagined it to be. Turns out, your mindset about the people in your physical environment plays a large role in what you attract. For the record, I always thought Toronto was filled with only business and party people who didn’t care for mindfulness or improving their health so, the Universe matched my vibration and delivered only a few people interested in my events. Since then, I’ve shifted my perspective and have come to really understand the phrase “what you seek is seeking you.”

Towards the end of my time at home, I started getting a bit more clear about the people I wanted to surround myself with and attract into my life. I also started getting a bit more clear on my goals and desires. I wrote down and pieced together photos of what I intended to call into my life and let the Universe get to work as I worked to raise my vibration. Now, if you haven’t read my blog post about living at an ashram, I highly suggest checking it out for a bit of a backstory. But, basically, I was living in a spiritual community for a month which fulfilled my desire to connect with more like-minded people. From thereon, I’ve only crossed paths with people I genuinely have enjoyed meeting and spending time with. Living in a community that emphasizes the importance of clear and honest communication, encourages you to look within yourself for answers, and nourishes your body with delicious, healthy and plant-based meals that are eaten in silence to encourage presence while eating, has changed my life in so many ways. Having lived in this community, I use it as a point of reference for what I want to create wherever I go and, luckily, this wasn’t even my last positive experience of community that I had.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a business- and self-development retreat on Maui. Over 150 of my 1000+ online co-workers gathered on this beautiful island to learn about ourselves through yoga, breath work, eye gazing, and the stories of some of the most successful, divine beings on our team. It was ineffable. Seriously, words cannot come close to describing what a pivotal experience this was for my life and business. However, I can say that it was beautiful to connect with an abundance of like-minded people, eating the most delicious, plant-based meals on an oceanfront property, learning about how we can all become our best selves while creating an abundant online stream of income. I was at this retreat for 4 days and there was not a single second that felt like this was about business or work. It felt like a 4-day conscious community gathering with family members from all over the world that also just happen to be my co-workers. I remember crying after our breath work practice in awe and appreciation; I felt so connected to every single person at this retreat and the love that we all share for one another. I still carry on this love and connection with these people as we continue on in our journeys and build our businesses together.

So, clearly, my understanding of and mindset toward ‘community’ have evolved greatly throughout this year. I started the year feeling lonely and needing to belong, to now being a conscious creator of my reality where fulfillment comes from within and I have a sense of belonging thanks to my business and spiritual development. I went from a feeling of lack to a feeling of abundance in regards to the amount of like-minded people in my life. And, overall, I have so much gratitude for the several experiences that have led me to where I am, the people I’ve connected with, and the people I continue to attract into my life and online “work” (I use this term lightly) community.

I have a few more months of travelling planned ahead and I am so beyond stoked to carry this newfound meaning of ‘community’ with me. I know that there is an abundance of like-minded individuals anywhere I go and that I can attract more of these amazing people into my life and business at any given moment. What I believe is most important when aiming to attract the right person/community, is to raise your vibration to match that of what you’re looking to attract. Some examples of how to do this in tangible ways: if you want to attract a partner who is a good communicator, work on your own communication skills; if you want to attract a friend who you can do healthy activities with, get your ass to a yoga or fitness class; if you want to attract a community of earth-loving individuals, start participating in park/beach clean-ups, etc.
Other advice for manifesting the aforementioned: Keep an open mind, be receptive, and always stay true to yourself (if you’re not being authentic, your connections aren’t going to be authentic either).

Moral of the story: I love the communities I have become a part of and wish this beautiful sense of belonging and love for everyone else on this planet.

If you feel intrigued at all to learn more about the business opportunity and online “work” community I discussed about in this post, feel free to browse through this page, this page, and this page

reach out to me via this form:

One month of Karma Yoga

I got home from a 2-month trip in Australia on June 12th planning to stay home and focus solely on building my business until early October, before travelling to Maui for a business retreat. However, this changed very suddenly.

Originally, I was going to title this post “So… I moved to an ashram.” This title no longer resonated with me when I posted a video on Instagram detailing my story of what lead me to the ashram. You can watch that video HERE.

Since that story has already been said and done, and I’ve just left the ashram a week ago, I figured I could give you a bit more detail on what my life was like there for a month.

I’ll give you the basic rundown of a typical day there:
6:50 am – Hatha class
8 am – Breakfast
8:30 am-12:30 pm – Karma Yoga
12:30 pm – Lunch
1:30-3:30 pm – Karma Yoga
3:30-4 pm – Reflection Break
6 pm – Dinner
*Occasional 4:30-6 pm or 6:30-7:15 pm – Karma Yoga (dishwashing shifts)*
7:30 pm – Satsang

We had half days on Wednesdays to attend workshops and women’s circles/workshops every Thursday. I also had a “reflection day” (day off) every Saturday.

In case you’re wondering what Satsang is, it means “in company of the wise.” Every evening, the community gathers in a beautiful building called the Temple of Light and we hold space to sing, chant, pray, and learn from one another.

I’ve gotta be honest and say that the first time I attended Satsang, I thought to myself “what the f*ck am I doing here? is this a cult?” But, I very quickly warmed up to the nightly ceremony and got very into the chanting and singing portions of it.

Also, if you don’t know what Karma Yoga is, it means ‘selfless service.’ Doing whatever task you’re asked to do simply because it is what needs to be done and doing it to your satisfaction. That’s right – YOUR satisfaction. Not the satisfaction of the person who asked you to do the task or aiming for an unattainable level of perfection.

Let me quickly explain a synchronicity I experienced with a book that I highly recommend reading to truly understand what Karma Yoga means:
The morning I was heading to the ashram, I was in a used book store in a little funky town called Nelson. I was drawn to the second aisle and soon understood why… it was on spirituality. I noticed a small book on the floor with a title I recognized from a friend’s shelf that he had recommended me to read while I was in Australia: The Bhagavad Gita. The first day my program started, the coordinator mentioned this book and recommended to all the participants to read it – especially the first 6-8 chapters because it really explains what Karma Yoga is. Soon enough, I learned that a lot of the teachings at the ashram are based on the teachings of this book.
If that’s not the Universe working magic, I don’t know what is.

Now that you know my schedule and routine for the month there, and what Karma Yoga is all about, we can dive a bit deeper into what the experience was truly like.

It was an emotional roller coaster. It was a beautiful experience full of ups and downs. It was the occasional questioning of “wait, what am I doing here?” It was the sigh of relief when I looked at the glacier lake I was jumping into.

Honestly, living in a community or an ashram is not for everybody. You’re pretty much constantly around people and participating in activities. You have to really know how to stay centered and grounded or you will find yourself too caught up in others’ energies. You have to prioritize the rare alone time that you do get to make sure you’re doing things that actually make you feel good in that time. You have to be willing to communicate effectively and work through conflicts with people, rather than bottling up emotions and holding grudges/resentments.

Luckily for me, I didn’t have too much of a problem with it. I’d say that, for the most part, I crushed community/ashram living. The only thing I had to keep working on was prioritizing what made me feel good when I had free time because often times I found myself on my phone trying to catch up with the “outside world.”

What did I love about spending a month at the ashram?

Everything. All the good and all the relatively bad. I loved waking up early and going to the most relaxing and nurturing yoga class that often included reflection time in it. I loved having 3 nourishing, fresh, and delicious meals cooked for me every day. I loved eating these amazing meals in silence. I loved reflecting at the end of the ‘work’ day. I loved doing the ‘work’ because I knew it benefited everyone in the community in one way or another. I loved connecting with so many like-minded people who are passionate about their health, personal development, and the earth. I loved learning new things in all areas of ‘work.’ I loved washing the dishes (as many as there were to wash) because it allowed me to get into a deep meditative state for a few hours. I loved gathering every evening as a community to chant and sing and pray and learn. I loved jumping in a glacier lake almost every day and reconnecting with myself. I loved making my healing and self-development a priority every single day while contributing to the community that provided the space for me to do so. I just loved being there.

Would I recommend this experience?

If after reading the whole ‘living in a community is not for everyone’ spiel you’re still intrigued by it all, then YES. Abso-f*cking-lutely. It has changed my life in so many positive ways and I’m certain it will change yours too. I learned so much about myself and the way I communicate, my work ethic, my strengths and weaknesses, and my ability to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty for the greater good. Also, the food was just out of this world delicious and nutritious every time lol.

Why Yasodhara?

Honestly, intuition. If you watched my IGTV on the story of how I ended up there, you’ll understand why my answer is so simple. I didn’t know it when I decided it to go but, Yasodhara Ashram was the first ashram founded by a woman and its principles are built on honoring the Divine Feminine. About a year ago, while I was living in Hawai’i, I met a man who photographs women in beautiful, empowering costumes. He explained to me the importance of honoring the Divine Feminine and how doing so will help heal our planet. This moment and thought set the wheels in motion for a lot of my healing this past year in regards to self-love and holding space for the Divine Feminine to shine within and through me. So, I find it funny that it has now come full circle almost exactly a year later and living in a community that holds this belief was quite eye-opening and healing for me personally. And, if this belief resonates with you as well, I think that should answer the question of ‘why’… along with the aforementioned amazing and delicious food lol.

This is all I feel called to share about my ashram experience right now; however, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

All my love,

Patty xx

LISTEN.

Detox Smoothie

This smoothie is designed to aid in the process of ridding your liver and body of heavy metals and toxins. It contains 3 main ingredients for this purpose: wild blueberries, milk thistle powder, and spirulina powder.

I was inspired to create this smoothie on a day that I felt I needed to cleanse, but didn’t feel like fasting for that whole day felt right for my body. I gave my digestive system a break in the morning and then had this smoothie – it was a pretty intuitive process and I’m grateful to be able to tap into my body’s needs like this. So, with that being said, I encourage you give this smoothie a try; but, I also encourage you to listen to your body – if it doesn’t resonate with you and your body, that’s okay. There are plenty of other smoothie recipes to try.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen wild blueberries (organic, if possible)

1 handful fresh or frozen kale (organic, if possible)

50-200mg milk thistle powder

1 tbsp spirulina powder

1 cup 9.5 pH Kangen water / filtered water

*if you’d like to sweeten it a bit, add 1 medjool date*

Directions:

Place all ingredients in high-powered blender. Blend and enjoy!

Consistency is a b*tch.

But I’m determined to make it my bitch.

Two things I’ve always struggled with are discipline and consistency. So, I’ve decided that in the last bit of 2019, I’m going to turn that around. It’s going to take a lot of focus and energy, but I am determined to release these struggles because I know so many areas of my life – and myself as an individual – will benefit from more discipline and consistency.

I’ve always been a pretty free-spirited person and it was hard to control me growing up (and even now) – not in a sense that I was/am rebellious, but I’m not one to allow others to kill my vibe.

I’m also way too easygoing that I let a lot slide by – especially when it comes to myself. Oh, didn’t get to work out today? That’s fine, there’s always tomorrow! Didn’t do what I needed to do today? That’s okay, I wasn’t feeling well enough and tomorrow is a new day!
You get the idea. Nothing ever actually gets done. I get stuck in these unproductive cycles till I feel randomly motivated again to follow a good regimen for a couple of weeks before dropping everything and doing nothing once again.

I guess the only thing I’ve ever really been consistent with over the years has been my ability to make excuses for myself… just kidding, there’s plenty of good stuff I’ve been consistent with too, I swear.

The point is, the inconsistency stops here – which means, the unproductive cycle breaks here. This is where a new chapter begins. A disciplined and consistent chapter that will hopefully be naturally integrated into further chapters of my life.

In my journal, last month, I wrote as an affirmation: “I choose discipline because it is outside my comfort zone.”

Anyone who knows me personally, or takes the time to read my IG captions (thank you), knows that I am always seeking experiences to push my growth – mental, emotional, and spiritual (although I sometimes wish also physical when I can’t reach top shelves).
And, in case you weren’t aware, growth happens outside your comfort zone.

So, with that statement being written in my journal, I began the 75 Hard challenge. Yet, just over 2 weeks later, I found myself losing this challenge. But, in doing so, I realized how much I loved having this consistency and discipline in my life. It pushed my mental and physical limits to new extremes and I fell in love with having a set of non-negotiable personal development activities to complete each day. It became fun checking each item off my list. In hindsight, I wouldn’t actually consider this as a “loss” – sure, I lost the challenge (which I could technically just start over), but I gained a lot of mental insight, clarity and strength (and even some booty gainz lol).

So, I decided this is where I draw the line for myself – the starting line. I choose discipline and consistency because these concepts are outside my comfort zone. Today, I compile a set of non-negotiable personal development activities and, from this day forward, I will hold myself accountable for completing them daily, for at least 30 days (although, I hope to continue for life). And, quite honestly, I don’t really need to add a punishment for skipping out on them because the benefits I’d miss out on by skipping activities is a punishment in and of itself, as I’ve experienced when I started messing up on the 75 hard challenge.

From this day forward, I am committing myself to:

10 min meditation
30 min workout
15 min outdoor time
reading 10 pages of a personal development book
more whole, plant-based & less processed foods
1 gallon of water

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I encourage you to join me in this personal development challenge. Make it personal to you and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Think of 5-7 activities that make you feel good when you do them. Commit to completing these activities for a certain period of time (over 21 days is recommended, as it takes 21 days to build or break a habit).

I wish you luck on your personal development journey.

If you’re ever seeking support and accountability in building a healthier lifestyle, please do not hesitate to contact me to book a free holistic health coaching consultation.

All my love,

Patty xx

What did I love about spending a month at the ashram?

Would I recommend this experience?

Why Yasodhara?

Abraham Hicks Meditations & Rampages:

Affirmations

Meditation & Frequencies

Podcasts

High-Vibe Music

Ingredients:

Directions: