T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.

The Hate U Give Little Infants 5*#%$

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Hate,

Stems from Fear. 

I believe Fear to be the absence of understanding, mindfulness, and patience. 

These are the tools I teach to practice Love for ourselves and then for those we wish to impact.

Fear, is an emotion we experience when there is lack of love. 

We transmit emotion. 

Most, are transmitting emotion from a place of fear. 

Because of this our realities are shaped by fear. If fear is the frame of your experience it will continue to be your reality until you can become aware and then mindful enough to reframe it. 

Now Think:

Fear, is an irrational state of being that restricts our thoughts, and therefore our actions, habits and characteristics to survival.

If we can focus only on surviving we cannot thrive. 

When we shift our focus from fear to love then we shift the focus to being our greatest selves. When we can be aware of ourselves in most moments then we can begin to choose our greatest self in more moments. 

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Now Ask: 

Are you surviving, or thriving? 

This is one of question that birthed @prescription.forlife 

The most important being, what is love and how an I become my version of it?

Which is your reality? 

Once I found a why that was big enough to push me when I had nothing left, I needed to find away to maintain that light. 

I needed to find a way to live again that unboxed me from the reality that was killing me. In order to truly Live, I needed to move past simply surviving and learn to thrive.

I did this by finding my balance in mind, body, and soul outside of what I could do. In this l learned to value myself outside of my ability. I learned I was valuable. The simple fact that I am alive means I have purpose, y only job is to figure out how to walk in that light. I was able to ground that balance by connecting it to my understanding of love.

My greatest evolution came when I was able to take my understanding of connecting my mind to my body and paralleling that journey to one of awareness of my greatest self and how close or far from that greatest self I was in the moments. That greatest self is embodied in my expression of that love and 

That love is my neutral.

That love is expressed through the things I wish to embody.

This, is a Prescription For Life
Nuff Love,

Zoya Yaseka

Queendom

We are all, different expressions of the same light trying to find our way back to love.

First for ourselves, then for one another, then for the world.

Everyone of us is always seeking to find, be, or give love unconditionally. The issue is most of us don't live in the current of this flow. Even fewer of us know what that really means and yet, this is our most fundamental conditioning. When we realize love is the answer to most of our wonderings it also becomes clear that we have to figure out how we love instead of how we have been conditioned to receive love in order to give that substance and receive the sustenance in the pursuit of it. Being aware of the disconnect in the two can help us understand ourselves and our needs as well as what makes us feel empowered and nurtured.

As I reflect on this I also reflect on my personal journey from empowerment to love and my truest self, as well as the lessons that rediscovering my light have revealed. The most exciting of which has been the realization that who I became and who I am when I feel my best are now one in the same. The pain of the life I lived created a super hero persona that had to be better and stronger for everyone she loved in order to feel loved. Because my identity was then rooted in my abilities and not who I innately was, when lost my ability to do gymnastics at an Elite level and then when I felt I lost my intelligence due to concussive trauma felt I’d lost everything. 

The truth is, I was shedding the layer of me that boxed me in, and gaining a mindset that freed me to be everything I am in the eyes of God, and not man. I had to let go of most of my programming and all of my boxes in order to heal myself and start truly LIVING as my best self. This version of Zoya cannot be boxed in. In fact, this Zoya, the Zoya who walks like she knows her name literally means LIFE loves to take the box and use it to form the foundation for something new. 

The boxes of my experience were shame, a victim mindset, fear of failure, and insecurity. All of my boxes were mindsets brought on by my experiences and thus in order to deprogram them I had to start immersing myself in experiences that healed and challenged me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I had to start surrounding myself with people I saw myself in who came from different experiences and thus responded and reacted in ways that challenged what I'd known. While I navigated all of this I also had to become patient, understanding and loving of myself and these were the keys that unlocked it all. I call these the tools of becoming because they truly were the keys to becoming the love I was seeking. 

Once I was able to give myself the love I was seeking I became more able to pour what others needed and not force what I thought I was supposed to give them. I learned this passively through coaching and then as I continued to mature in the concept I solidified this in the building of my spiritual family. Those who have become my sisters and brothers in the family I've been able to choose became my friends and loved ones because I saw myself in them. I saw parts of myself that I wanted to encourage and help amplify and I saw pieces that I wanted to encourage them to heal because I knew they could and I now had an ability to help them to.  

This love reshaped the way I formed all of my relationships and allowed me to respond from a place of Love, first for myself, and then for them. Learning this with my gym babies first fast tracked it everywhere else because it forced me to set a standard  for the reciprocation it took to maintain a healthy dynamic teacher student relationship. A relationship that understands its role is multidimensional and must adapt based on the circumstances and situations it is placed in. I realized that if I could set a standard of reciprocation for 4-18 year olds and college aged young adults, I better be willing to set standards for the people who were supposed to be helping me be my best self in order to do that. 

The self love that came with patience, understanding, and mindfulness of myself empowered me to LIVE my dreams out loud despite fear of how others would respond to my vulnerability and that vulnerability opened  the very people I was trying to reach up to receive the love they needed and I could now give. The pain that I experienced was pain they or someone they knew knew. It was pain they knew from the outside looking or vice versa.

As I continue to grow into myself I know my story is one that needs to be told not because my journey has been so grand or out of the ordinary but because it was so relatable and connecting. The premise of my story being that we all have the ability to live above our traumas and turn our lessons into weapons against our fears, we simply need to be the love we needed in order to become the love the world needs. 

All of this is to say I entitled this piece "Queendom" not because I am renouncing my Kings, but because I am making a declaration that I want my Kings to stand beside me and all the Queens I am surrounded by. I want us to do this intentionally and joyously because in this union is everything we need and more, not only for ourselves, but for the world and the generations to come. 

This is how we sustain ourselves, this is how we replenish ourselves, this is how we build Empires that understand that the lighting of another's flame does not take away from our own, instead it gives it true purpose by connecting it to more than the self. 

That my friend, is a Prescription For Life! To Journey from Empowerment, to Love. First within and then without

To choose to Live!

To elevate above a Life where we simply Survive

By Choosing to THRIVE <3

Know that I See YOU!

Nuff Love, 

Zoya Yaseka 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCwX6UUuP-A

Dawn your Capes and Crowns

There is
Within us all
The Fire of a Warrior. 
The fire presents when it is time to dawn our capes,
And it
Evolves when it is time to dawn our crowns.
Both the cape and the crown give us the tools to lead,
But it is
Who we truly are that makes us able. 
It is our
Spirit and our connection to Love as the ultimate source that sustains our ability.

- Zoya Yaseka

What does this piece say to you?

To me it says that we all have within us the potential for greatness. After writing it I was prompted to ask, 
”What if we ceased to teach our heros as larger than life?
What if we took the time to teach our students that our heroes were not super human but that they were humans who superseded their perceived humanity by discovering their purpose and pouring all of themselves into it.”

The fact is, our heroes are set apart from the masses by nothing more than complete and utter faith in their purpose and their gifts. 
Lets start teaching that!

Lets teach the fact that all heroes are simply people who dedicate themselves to their highest selves. 

This, is the Prescription For Life : Fitness Programming that encourages a mind, body, and soul connection. Based in gymnastics and my balance basics courses Prescription for life is programming that changes your entire life by acknowledging your ability to establish and return to neutral both within yourself and without. 

It is a process, not a quick fix or an overnight success. It is a journey, to our best selves. And as a result, our best lives. This platform strives to motivate and inspire by sharing my story of empowerment as well as those of aligned partners. Showing the "how" of Empowerment and as a result the first step to becoming our wildest dreams. It helps us to be mindful of fear, and understanding of what holds us back. Prescription for Life programs mindfulness and awareness of ourselves, leaving room for the embrace of true self and love.

Simply put, this is a platform for walking in your light through physical, mental, and spiritual healing. 

I wear my cape and my crown as an example of empowerment, what will make you dawn yours?

Not all super heroes wear capes, but acknowledging our part in healing the world is, a Prescription for Life.

This, is how we can choose to Live, Survive, and then THRIVE.

I See You,

Nuff Love,

Zoya Yaseka

Willing Culture Creates Winning Culture

I say openly that it is WILLING culture, that creates WINNING Culture.

I say this because I am a product of gymnastics culture like this. It made me seek progress instead of outcome. That mindset made achievement and success an on going and very rewarding journey instead of just a destination.

The gymnastics culture I grew up in turned my dreams into tangible goals, and made me crazy enough to believe that I can in fact accomplish anything I see in my minds eye. It was a blessing both to witness and behold the culture I grew up in, and as a product of that culture I also know the areas in which it lacked.

When I became a coach, I sought to maximize the training I received and pass it on to my gymnasts. I wanted to find a way to teach my students the things I realized gymnastics had opened my mind up to as they were learning from me, instead of waiting for them to come to an understanding of their power later in life.

This was what was missing from my training, simply being blatant in applying physical manifestation to manifesting our greatest lives. This, is RxTHRIVE. Programming that facilitates whole, healed, and solution based culture that also serves as a solid foundation for LASTING LEGACY. 

This, is the type of culture that feels like you are winning even when you don’t get a medal. It leads to medals because wining is not the focus but a product of the pursuit to becoming the best version of one's self. This is the type of culture that celebrates progress in ways that deliberately focuses on the journey to becoming a champion, rather than simply creating one. RxTHRIVE facilitates culture concerned with who the athlete is as a PERSON and using that to nurture the champion within their purest self. 

This, is a culture that facilitates wins as a BYPRODUCT of that pursuit, instead of a focus on it. 

RxTHRIVE programming creates Amazing people who go onto make the WORLD a better place. The people birthed from culture like this go out seeking to shine their light not for personal gain, but because they know the impact a great person once made in their lives and thus they seek to do that for others. 

This, Is the type of culture I seek to facilitate. 

A generation of children who understand their power. People who understand that their greatness is linked to the greatness they will see reflected in the world as a result of being whole and healed in themselves. RxTHRIVE has the potential to facilitate a generation that seeks to be the best version of themselves in order to see a better world. 

Most programs fail to create legacy because they neglect to connect their students to the fullest potential of their being. Instead of fortifying their students mentally, physically and spiritually they seek only to teach them their programs. The simple fix is mindfulness of the programming it may or may not be instilling in them . 

While this is not necessarily a good or a bad thing, it has the potential to be. The difference is mindfulness. As such, as we move into an age of great technical understanding of the potential of our bodies, it is important that we fortify the minds and souls of the people attached to them. The healthy wholeness that RxTHRIVE instills in its programming is an opportunity for progress in the field of coaching, being an athlete, as well as in living one's best life. By failing to fortify students in their ability to connect not only their mind to the bodies, but their experiences with their emotions and souls we are failing to prepare our students to the fullest potential of their purpose.

When the trinity of mind, body, and soul are connected to how a student learns as well as what they are motivated by, their potential is not only maximized their ability to discover their why and thus overcome is also heightened because they have a greater reason to be their best selves. This is how RxTHRIVE instills EMPOWERMENT in the shelves of those it touches.

By nurturing and healing the self before seeking to become more you can maximize and then acknowledge the power of one. It is in this understanding that RxTHRIVE programming harnesses the fullest potential of many. I believe that by uniting these students in the pursuit of their truest selves and then connecting that pursuit to what they come to know as love we can heal the world. 

Can you imagine a team of children like this? A camp full? A school full? A village full? A generation full!?

This, is the root of the legacy I hope to leave behind. Grounded in healthy wholeness, or “whollyness,” I seek to bring a generation into this world that will be the CURE for generations to come. By simply seeking to be the greatest version of themselves students of RxTHRIVE programming understand the power of one who is convicted to their purpose. These students understand their ability to cultivate and spread light because they are first confident and healed within themselves.  

What legacy do you hope to manifest? Who do you need to become to do so? How often are you mindful of the lessons you are learning to become that person? 

Nuff Love, 

Zoya Yaseka 

Rx 2018: Focus on now

"Forever is composed of Nows"

- Emily Dickinson

This is the year of ABUNDANCE.

The prescription for this is to be mindful in the moments so that you can consistently choose your happiness and act out of love.

Now is your only guarantee outside of what you can do, and when it comes to what you can expect . Now, is all there is in order to walk as your best self. 

Now is your only guaranteed chance to take actions and consistently move yourself closer to the person you wish to be. This is one of the truest truths there is. But, like every double edged sword,You must also consider the other side of things. 

Sometimes, what you need over all the actions you can take to move forward is to let go and sit in a moment. 

Sometimes, what you really need is rest. 

More often than not we forget that these moments are not all for working.

Some are for understanding.

Some are for reflection of our actions and the actions of our peers. 

In order to maintain our homeostasis we have to acknowledge when any facet of ourselves starts to be overwhelmed by our routine actions. 

We have to be mindful enough to acknowledge when enough is sufficient and it is time to work on something within ourselves in order to attract the best outside of ourselves. 

This New Year is about that acknowledgement.

As an entrepreneur and world changer I struggle more with this side of things.

I struggle with taking time for myself and slowing it down. 

Or rather I will say I struggled with this because I know the issue and I know how to fix it and in that I know I can also make this the year of ABUNDANCE. In order to live this out I know I cannot afford not to be mindful of the things I am in control of in order to bring my dreams to fruition. 

It is one thing to know your shortcomings and another completely to acknowledge them with action, and change. 

I will always seek to do that which prospers me and I thank God I’m surrounded by Queens and Kings who encourage that level of mindfulness. 

In 2018 I will hold myself and my circle to a higher standard of balance.

I will remind myself and my circle that it is just as important to celebrate the small victories as it is to allow ourselves to enjoy the bliss of the now. It is important to do these things in order to encourage habits of progress not just achievement of lofty goals. This, is how you program greatness. 

Little adjustments and consistency in that which prospers you

Live, Survive, THRIVE

This, is the prescription for LIFE

Nuff Love,

Zoya Yaseka 

Where do I start?

Where do I start?

Maybe by solidifying the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing but that I am confident in my purpose. After all I've been though It seems fitting to finally start to share my story. So here we are. I'm twenty seven and all I know for sure is after 20 plus years, I'm still in the gym and probably always be connected to it in some capacity because of the impact Gymnastics has had in my life thus far. Initially, I thought gymnastics would simply be the stepping stone that I left behind once my career was over. However, as the pieces fall into place it seems more and more that my passion for the sport is in fact tied to my purpose, and thus it will always be a part of my life. 

What ties me most to this sport is its ability to cultivate so much in a person at such a young age. It takes heart, strength, grace, and pretty much every deep and admirable human emotion to be the best. I love the fact that not many of us make it to the top because of that and yet so many of us start out in it. It may sound self righteous but knowing not everyone can do what you can and still seeing the value another individual can present you with regardless is something all women, and men for that matter, need to cultivate in their lives. The sport teaches you humility on a daily basis while also teaching you to seek fulfillment in the small triumphs and not just the material rewards. The real winners realize they don't have to search for acknowledgment from anyone but themselves and thus they receive the most. 

I think that is important in a world filled with instant gratification and constant false affirmation. Coaching, and my transition from elite athlete to coaching is what really put this all into perspective for me. It keeps me grounded when my endeavors and pursuits outside of the gym become overwhelming. It reminds me that my existence is not solely about my success but how my success will impact, fuel, or ignite the success of those around me.

Mirrors

When I was still in elementary school, and before gymnastics got serious I was an angry child. I was angry at everything and I didn't know why, I just knew I felt nothing was in my control. Looking back I realized my mother recognized this in me. That recognition coupled with a desire to know I could protect myself encouraged her to enrolled me in After School Karate.

I loved the outlet but what really kept me coming back was the understanding and self help it brought me before I could seek it out consciously myself. At the end of every class we were sent home with excerpts that taught us about looking within and being mindful. Karate was the first time I was introduced to the concepts of mindfulness and how your mentality ultimately shapes your reality. 

One of my favorite readings was one that talked about acknowledging ourselves as mirrors. Back then I felt the statements gravity but did not really realize how deeply understanding that concept could affect me. As I mature and grow in self love I realize just how true the concept really is in crafting your existence. When you realize that what you project determines what you attract, you also realize that you can teach the world through example.

I rested this concept in the back of my mind for most of my life, getting hints of it here and there, but when I moved to Los Angeles I had no choice but to face it. I came to LA knowing my purpose and asking God to help me remain true to it. What God did was make 2017 the year I truly and deeply looked into myself in order to better understand myself and then become my best self.  The people I met forced me to look in the mirror literally and figuratively. In all of my genuine connections I had to be  mindful of who these people were inately and what that meant for the how they navigated the world. Though my first few meaningful connections would become some of my best friends I was also confronted with pieces of myself that I was not aware had not completely healed.  

My mirrors, even the ones who cannot articulate it consicely are moving towards their "why" on a daily basis. I see myself in them as the pieces of myself I both I love and hate. I see my potential and I see my light when they confront me. 

Knowing this, and knowing my propensity for connection I have begun to be more mindful of the things my mirrors are constantly showing me. I learned the most last year from the mirrors who showed me pieces of myself I do not want to project, mainly the victim mind and the fearful mind. I learned the repercussions of not properly navigating being confronted with these mentalities in the mirrors who'd succumbed to the dark side of themselves. I looked into these mirrors and saw their light dying to shine but overshadowed by all the things they themselves could not face. This confrontation caused me to speak out, and take action to demand change. The result was change, but it was dramatic and drastic. Most of all it was something those around me were not ready for.

In this, I learned that there are times when your presence and actions are more beneficial for those around you than immediate action or even words. Though I was not wrong for standing up for those who could not, I also know that I am not to actively seek to save but instead to empower.  Those mirrors taught me more with their dark side than I have learned about myself ever. For that I am thankful, but those mirror also emphasized for me how important balance is to my mental health. I was wrapped in them when I began molding myself to their needs and neglecting my purpose. In trying to be everything for them I was creating with all the right intention but not the right connections. I kept excusing their faults and dragging them to higher plains but the issue with that is I was fighting battles they needed to fight for themselves. Being wrapped up in those connections was debilitating. It forced me to look inwardly for the energy they depleted daily. I would not have made it through the experience had I not already known and come back to my why and purpose. Realizing that we simply were not in alignment allowed be to not only step away form these people but it also allowed me see the situations with clear eyes and reminded me that my "why" gave me strength greater than anything they could throw at me.

These mirrors reemphasized why empowering with my existence is so important to who I am. The legacy I plan to leave behind is one filled with leaders driven by purpose, progress, and love, not ones who cannot look past their pain long enough to recognize the destruction it causes. Ultimately, I cannot expect to be a leader in this sense if I do not LIVE what I preach.

"Hurt people hurt people," This  is a simple complexity that everyone should face. I hope to help raise a generation who feels empowered to rise above their pain with an understanding that who they wish to be is exactly who the world needs and the only way to achieve that is to become the best version of yourself, unhindered by where they've been only driven by it. 

It is simple complexities like this that keep it all in perspective and keep me on my toes. 

Nuff Love,

Zoya Yaseka 

My Why X Ethika

 I know my purpose is to empower those who see themselves in me by simply being myself.

Growing up I felt encourage not to love my features. Mentally, I lived in a space of objectification due to damaging experiences of being desired physically but not valued. All of this made it hard to let go of society's standards of beauty. Becoming a big sister forced me to reframe that mentality because I never want my siblings to doubt that they are anything less than amazing. They have always looked up to me, thus I make it a point to give them something to look up to. Embracing my body, my brains, my skin, and everything that makes me unique is important to me because I want them to be able to do the same. I carry that mentality into my coaching and my brand in order to spread a message of self love and healthy wholeness. Ethika is a brand I enjoy slipping into because it has become synonymous with that embrace. When I first learned of the brand I became intrigued because of its aim to highlight personal identity and go against the grain. It's what keeps me coming back as they push the envelope with their comfortable, versatile, and even sexy designs. That encouragement of self love is exactly what I hope people see in me because the world needs more love, but we cannot achieve that without first loving ourselves. 

Nuff Love, 

Zoya Yaseka