Shri: Living from Beauty, Even in Difficult Times

May 1
2 min read

Close-up of a purple flower with yellow stamens on a dark background. The petals have a textured, soft appearance.

Shri is an empowering Sanskrit word that points to divine beauty, auspiciousness, and goodness. It’s not just an idea—it’s a way of seeing, a state of consciousness, and a lived experience rooted in wholeness, compassion, and goodness.

To me, Shri means embracing the full spectrum of life—light and shadow, success and failure—and meeting it all with an open heart.

But let’s be real: in today’s world, that’s not easy. With so much pain, division, and uncertainty around us, it takes strength to stay centered. It’s easy to get pulled into fear, stress, and despair. We could shut down. We could give up.

Ashaya is the yoga of the heart—and it asks something more of us. It asks for courage. It asks us to stay present, to feel deeply without losing hope, and to transform what we experience rather than turn away from it. We are here to transform pain into beauty.

So what gets in the way of living in Shri?

In yogic mythology, there’s the story of the churning of the ocean. When poison emerges from the depths of the ocean, Shiva swallows it—but doesn’t digest it. He holds it in his throat, neutralizing its power and transforming it. This is why he is called Neelakantha, the blue-throated one.

Stone sculpture of a deity (Shiva) with serene expression, intricate patterns, snakes, and crescent details. Background has faded orange spots.

Yoga, for me, is how I meet life. It’s what keeps me grounded, steady, and connected to my heart. But the path of the heart isn’t comfortable. It requires us to feel what we’d rather avoid, to look honestly at what’s beneath the surface, and to stay with ourselves in the unknown. It asks us to do the deep inner work—to understand the roots of our suffering and to consciously shape something meaningful from it.

At its core, yoga is the transformation of poison into beauty.

This month in the membership, we’ll explore what supports that transformation—and what blocks it.

The primary obstacle? Fear. Fear shows up in many forms, and often in ways we don’t even recognize. It can quietly drive our choices, limit our expression, and keep us stuck.

Through the lens of the five elements, we’ll explore how fear operates and how we sometimes get in our own way. Because here’s the truth: fear only has power when it goes unseen. When we face it—when we’re willing to feel it, understand it, and stay present with it—it begins to lose its grip. The goal isn’t to eliminate fear, but to change our relationship to it. We learn to respect it without letting it control us. We set boundaries with it. We stand in something deeper.