Friday reflection

 Friday Reflection.

Daily Reflection – Bringing the Mind Back

This morning I rose around 4:00, and by 4:15 I was already on the yoga mat. After yoga and push-ups, I felt something shift. I realized how easy it is to distract myself—looking at my phone, watching things I shouldn’t—but today I chose different. I chose to continue my jogging, meditation, and movement toward church.

When I got there, the message was about courage, suffering, and starting the race. They were literally speaking my lifestyle, and yet the people didn’t even realize I was sitting among them. That’s when it hit me: my yoga practice is opening up something inside me. A sense I cannot explain.

I see human behavior differently now. I can tell who is struggling, who is on the verge of relapse, and who is lost in comfort instead of transformation. And I realize—this is not judgment. This is clarity. Many people hold on to pleasure—food, cigarettes, endless talking—because they’ve never learned how to face pain. But yoga teaches you to sit with it. When you wake up early, stretch, breathe, and look at the sky, those emotions pass. You return to the present moment.

So my practice today reminded me: the real growth is not just about stopping a habit. It’s about bringing the mind back—back to gratitude, back to discipline, back to awareness. And that’s where true courage begins.

—Ade Olude | Yoruba Yogi

Daily Reflection – Healing Through Movement

This morning, while reading The Dharma Recovery, I realized I’ve already passed the stage that book is talking about. Not through theory, but through years of running, yoga, meditation, and silence. That has been my therapy.

Back in 2012, I had just gotten a job in Tallahassee. It was supposed to pay good money, but something in me knew it wasn’t my path. I went anyway, lost the job in less than a week, and carried the weight of debt because of it. The next morning, I went out and ran 62 miles. It took me the whole day, but that run changed my life.

During that run, I had an out-of-body experience. I saw the consequences of anger, and I realized what could happen if I let emotions control me. That was the day I decided never to go back to my ex-wife. Running saved me.

That’s when I learned something no book could teach me: real healing comes from movement. Trauma does not release by sitting still and talking—it releases by breathing, stretching, walking, jogging, running. By being alone with yourself and letting the body lead the spirit into peace.

I see now that true healing takes time, silence, and movement. It cannot be rushed, and it cannot be forced. I’ve lived it. And I’ve seen: healing is possible when you give yourself space to go within.

That is why I keep running, keep practicing yoga, keep breathing every morning. Because in the body is where the spirit reveals its freedom.

—Ade Olude | Yoruba Yogi

Daily Reflection – Lived Wisdom vs. Borrowed Knowledge

What surprises me in many places is how people who have never lived certain experiences talk about them as if they are experts. I sit and listen, and I can’t help but notice the difference between borrowed knowledge and lived wisdom.

I’ve endured homelessness, discipline, pain, running, fasting, yoga, meditation. My clarity didn’t come from comfort—it came from suffering and the discipline to rise above it. That pain has become my power. Yet every day, I hear people argue about things they’ve never lived, wearing titles and uniforms as if that gives them authority.

The truth is, you cannot build anything lasting on drugs, alcohol, or comfort. Without discipline, the vision fades. And I realize—I’m not meant to decorate a vision. I’m meant to lead with clarity, to bring a new standard.

Even when I walk into places, I notice how appearances control perception. If I showed up with a suit and a Mercedes, things would be different. But still, I laugh. Because my wealth is not in appearances—it is in my discipline, in my silence, in my practice.

This path has shown me something deeper: many want to act like a Buddha, but few want to suffer like one. I have lived outside of comfort for over ten years. I don’t even have a bank account. Yet I feel wealthy. Truly wealthy. Because the discipline of pain has become clarity, and that clarity has turned into power.

I am grateful. I am ready. I am walking in lived wisdom, not borrowed words.

—Ade Olude | Yoruba Yogi