Rani Kamaruddin. I’m of mixed Asian origins and was born and raised in the Netherlands where I lived most of my life and attended 8 ½ years of Chinese school for 4 hours every Saturday. To advance my career beyond glass ceilings, I moved to Hong Kong 6 years ago. Previously a lawyer, I had a career that led me through various interesting positions in private law practice, multinational corporations and banking. Now I am a Forrest Yoga teacher and teach one-on-one, private groups and give wellness and health workshops to corporations under the umbrella of Breathe UN Limited. Inspired by six courageous women around me, I teach yoga to breast cancer patients and survivors as part of my intent to do my part in mending the hoop of the people. Next to teaching, I am also growing a cross-border consultancy practice offering practical and cost-efficient legal and business management services to corporations. Other than that, I like spending my time traveling whenever I can. My new found territory for exploration is funny enough the country of my maternal roots: China. My best trip ever made was to Kenya, I’d go again. My biggest dream is for every one of my student 1. to learn to breathe and by doing so 2. not to waste a single breath but to maximize their breath (life force) and 3. breathe the change they wish to see in the world – for themselves and for others. And oh yes, I dream about publishing one book, maybe two :) My biggest fear is to have regrets so I close every day in love of every one and every thing that has appeared in my life.
林文雪 M.S. Lam is a pseudonym I have most recently adopted for my writings online. The name was a creation inspired my finding my spirit twin sister; I was duped 林文雪 (Man Shuet Lam) and she 林文靜 (Man Ching Lam).
Writing. Becoming a writer was one of my dreams in high school, probably because the mountains of literature I needed to read for the final examinations which definitely put me in the right spirits. With two classical and four modern languages in high school, I had a pile of twelve books per semester to plow through, an equal number of essays to write and about twice as much of ancient texts to translate. However, the more I read, the deeper I settled into my writing. It became the way to express the thoughts and feelings I could not speak and an avenue to refine expressions, making use of words as a form of art.
I would fill many notebooks with scribbles; thoughts that dropped from my mind onto the paper… but really publishing I only does occasionally, when spirit meets with the topic and triggers a spontaneous outpour of words.
I think that written words transmit energy in the same way as spoken words. yes, you can edit a text and revise it to your liking before publishing and it can be factually correct and logical but I find a text without spirit to just be a deliberate presentation and you can edit what you want, but it’s not going to change the energy. a text with spirit usually doesn’t need editing at all or if it is needed, it’s just to make the spirit shine through brighter.
I have written a variety of topics that have been published in newspapers (Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad) and magazines for Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders and the Foundation for people with Eating Disorders. In Asia, you may see me appearing in Namaskar (Asia’s yoga magazine) from time to time.
I have helped Ana T. Forrest edit her book Fierce Medicine (3 May 2011, HarperOne) and I’m currently working on an autobiography of an inspiring breast cancer survivor.
This blog is what I committed to for my spirit: writing freely and letting the words flow from my keyboard is what delights my spirit. it’s my yoga as I journey through my thoughts, my dreams, my intentions, I want to share what I have learned. And that is what it is, a journal of my journey called life that I’m eager to share with you through these scribbles.
