Troy Cox Artist

12/25/2025

In Japan, refusing a gift is considered deeply disrespectful. It dismisses the giver's expression of your value in their life. When someone offers you a gift—especially an unsolicited one—the response is simple: "Thank you." That's it. No guilt. No "Oh, I didn't get you anything!" Just gracious receiving.

This holiday season, I'm reflecting on how this wisdom connects to yoga's core teaching: *Yoga is for everyone.* You don't have to be Hindu to practice yoga. You don't have to share someone's beliefs to honor their traditions.

I'm agnostic. I grew up experiencing different cultures and celebrations. I don't identify as Christian—and I absolutely love Christmas. The joy, the generosity, the community, the lights, the warmth. Celebrating WITH people who hold these traditions dear? That costs nothing. It honors everything.

So here's my invitation: Receive gifts (of time, presence, things) without shame. Celebrate across traditions without requiring shared belief. Practice *ahimsa*—non-harm—by showing up with open hands and an open heart.

Happy Holidays to all. And if Christmas is your celebration? Merry Christmas. 🎁✨

May your season be filled with connection, no matter how you celebrate.

09/04/2025

https://open.substack.com/pub/trainertroy/p/feeling-energy-my-introduction-to?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ax5dj
✨ Feeling Energy: My First Clue I Was an Emotional Intuitive

Have you ever felt something before you could explain it? As a kid, I didn’t know I was an emotional intuitive. I just knew I could feel things others couldn’t—especially from animals.
🐦 A bird beneath a canopy in Japan
🐄 A cow’s electric gaze at a dairy farm
🐈 The green eyes of a rescue cat who found me at just the right time
These weren’t just moments—they were introductions to a truth I didn’t yet have language for. That life… pulses. And sometimes we’re wired to feel it all.
Read the full story on the blog and discover how animals became my first teachers in energy, intuition, and deep feeling.
🔗 [Insert Substack or blog link here]
💬 Do you feel deeply too? Let me know in the comments—or share this with someone who understands what it means to be an emotional intuitive.
Troy Cox
Founder, Safe Yoga School | LGBTQ-Owned Business
Yoga Instructor | Author | Trainer
📍 Florida, USA
🌐 dot.cards/trainertroy
🌐 www.trainertroy.com
✉️ [email protected]
📞 (407) 285-8719
🧡 "Training Safe Yoga Teachers Since 2011"
💸 Donations welcome:
Venmo (preferred):
PayPal: [email protected]

Feeling Energy: My Introduction to Being an Emotional Intuitive

02/09/2025

Jedi Masters trained one-on-one—because true mastery requires personalized guidance. Yoga should be the same. If group training doesn’t work for you, Solo Yogi Teacher Training is your path. No distractions, just focused mentorship built around YOU.

08/20/2021

08/17/2021

Once a month I would have an art show of local artist at my yoga studio. It was such a great time seeing artist and Yogi's mingling. I've never found something like this again.

08/17/2021

Masculinity can be divinely feminine and calm within at the same time. I did a whole series of Buddha paintings. Bodhisattva the enlightened one.

08/17/2021

Environmental art is important to me. Creating a sacred space around me wherever I am or reside. I don't remember what happened to my prayer hand painting but it used to always hang above my altar. That's the problem with moving so much you lose things all around the country.

08/17/2021

Power comes in many forms. The powerful side of me is the artist that comes out when I'm drawing, painting, storytelling or just being creative in general. This is my vision of me as an artist.

08/17/2021

The creative process is really what fascinates me more than the finished product. Getting an idea and then figuring out how to bring it into reality. I've always said I'm really a sculptor and love the act of carving out, layering paint and the feeling of building something.

08/17/2021

Yoga has made my heart expand in ways I never knew possible. This quick stretch was done after listening to my guru talk. This is how my heart feels when I am doing or teaching yoga.

08/17/2021

Art is a huge part of the India tradition. I was so thrilled to find out that my guru was a painter and his guru was an artist and theater lover.