ABOUT
My name is Jasmine and I’ve always been a curious thinker.
Growing up I just loved trying to figure out how things worked, particularly people!
As a kid I loved art and science and you’d generally find me making crafts or science experiments that ended in big messes which I’d rarely clean up (sorry mum!). But eventually Asian practicality, financial insecurity and intellectual egotism caught up to me, and next thing I knew I was studying to get into medicine.
Being the perfectionist that I am, I had more mental breakdowns than I’d care to admit. I was terribly hard on myself to succeed and to fit trivial university marking criteria that I placed so much of my worth upon it, and as such, my health suffered. I no longer prioritised its wellbeing and unknowingly joined the matrix – the rat race.
From acne, to fitness, to weight and most importantly mental health, my entire being was in a state.
It wasn’t until I decided to take a risk (and believe me, as an Asian this was ballsy - travel before career? Grandma says no), and trekked out on my first solo backpacking trip to Japan that I finally caught a glimpse of a version of me I liked – my higher self. She was happy and courageous, she knew who she was and what was important, and she enjoyed the simple pleasures in life and lived in the moment. She wasn’t a nervous wreck constantly trying to ‘find herself’, wondering whether the stress was worth it.
She was just her.
Whatever that was,
because it didn’t matter.
She had found peace.
“After that first taste she sought far and wide for another, and without realising it it found her.”
I was introduced to spirituality and eastern philosophy by my ‘god’mother - haha what a coincidence! At first I was sceptical. I was a science nerd after all. But I’ve always strived to be open-minded, so I actively fought against my ‘logical’ inclinations and began to embrace aspects of the culture that appealed most to me – the wisdom teachings.
Next thing I knew I started attending local Mahayana Zen Buddhism classes and my mind was blown – like I was honestly mind f***ed after every class.
How could everything in the universe just make complete sense like that?
Everything in the teachings was logically presented and had completely resonated with me, and slowly, as I applied what I’d learnt, I felt my anxiety become easier to manage. Each lesson felt like gentle reminders of things I’d always known, common-sensical things. Is that a word? And eventually the things I’d heard in class became so ingrained in me that they became my own thoughts, and then behaviours.
So, by literally surrounding yourself with certain energies and environments, and then soaking up that knowledge and thinking about it, you eventually become it. That’s how contemplation and cultivation works! In psychology it’s called cognitive behavioural therapy, which works because the brain is plastic. The structure of your brain changes as your thoughts change, and then you can work to develop patterns of healthy behaviour and create a more pleasant mental scape.
Just as your thoughts change your mind, the body is also plastic, and your diet and physical activities affects your health.
And so, many simple, less drastic alterations can be more useful in the prevention and overall health of an individual. Making certain holistic lifestyle choices will see you visiting the doctor less often and increasing your quality of life in all aspects.
A lot of eastern practices lack western-medicine-approved logic, because western medicine likes to pin-point very few and specific causes to problems and then use harsh intervention to fix them. What this means is that whilst western practises are usually the best solution for more aggressive illnesses, western medicine can often neglect the bigger picture - that it’s the result of countless lifestyle choices which eventually lead to the disease.
Everything is interconnected and by beginning this journey of self-discovery and self-care you can take the wheel and create your own path to a more happy and healthy higher self.
You have the authority to change your life.
You just need the tools.
At Solflower Seeds we are here to learn how to landscape our mind garden and collect the tools to foster its growth.
Fertilised with seeds of eastern wisdom, join us on a journey to self-nurture through meditation, yoga, and holistic health & wellbeing practices as a conscious member of our planet earth.
You only reap what you sow, so start the journey to your highest self today.
Cultivating happiness starts with one seed.
Just as your thoughts change your mind, the body is also plastic, and your diet and physical activities affects your health.
And so, many simple, less drastic alterations can be more useful in the prevention and overall health of an individual. Making certain holistic lifestyle choices will see you visiting the doctor less often and increasing your quality of life in all aspects.
A lot of eastern practices lack western-medicine-approved logic, because western medicine likes to pin-point very few and specific causes to problems and then use harsh intervention to fix them. What this means is that whilst western practises are usually the best solution for more aggressive illnesses, western medicine can often neglect the bigger picture - that it’s the result of countless lifestyle choices which eventually lead to the disease.