Modern Buddhist practitioner sharing her lived experience of the Buddhist path and Buddhist practice

Liz

Los Angles, CA

Liz's journey into Tibetan Buddhism began during one of the most difficult periods of her life, when illness, heartbreak, and personal loss led her to seek a deeper understanding of suffering and impermanence. Today, she integrates the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage, Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine), Tibetan yoga, and Ngöndro practice into every aspect of her life—including her meditation cushion company, Samaya. Drawing from her background in fashion design, Liz transformed a simple desire for a beautiful meditation cushion into a mission-driven business rooted in ethics, compassion, and authentic practice. In this interview, she shares how Vajrayana Buddhism, Tibetan medicine, and Guru Yoga helped heal trauma, cultivate self-worth, and redefine success as an expression of bodhicitta. Her story explores the intersection of spirituality, creativity, entrepreneurship, and healing, offering a deeply personal look at living the Dharma beyond the meditation cushion.

Experience

0-15 Years XP

Tradition

Vajrayana

Background

Liz is a Korean American who was born and raised in New York City, living bicostally between New York and LA for much of her life after the age of 15, and is now based in LA. Her parents are from South Korea, where Mahayana Buddhism has been a significant part of the culture for many centuries, although Christianity has become more prevalent in modern times. Despite her mother’s later conversion to Catholicism, which influenced Liz’s early education and religious practices, Liz never fully subscribed to the Catholic faith. Instead, she appreciated certain aspects of it and was later drawn to Hatha Yoga and Hindu culture.

Liz’s spiritual journey took a pivotal turn when she encountered Tibetan Buddhism, which resonated with her deeply. This interest grew more formal during a challenging period in her life marked by personal and friends’ struggles, highlighting themes of impermanence and loss. Attending Dharma teachings at a Center, she met Thupten Phuntsok, a former monk and her first Dharma teacher. Despite the Gelug lineage’s conservative reputation, Phuntsok’s heartfelt and sincere teaching style profoundly impacted Liz, laying a solid foundation for her spiritual path.

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Liz’s journey shows how Buddhist practice can move far beyond meditation itself—into the body, our relationships, our work, and the way we understand who we are. Her path weaves together Tibetan Buddhism, Sowa Rigpa, Tibetan yoga, creativity, and entrepreneurship, revealing a practice that continues to evolve through the circumstances of everyday life.

Her story opens into many of the questions at the heart of Beyond the Cushion: how we discover a spiritual path, what it means to develop a committed practice, and how our experiences of personal challenges can become part of that path rather than something separate from it.

Liz also speaks deeply about the role of teachers, the importance of lineage, and the ways traditional practices can remain alive within a modern Western life. Her experience with Tibetan yoga and Sowa Rigpa offers another perspective on Buddhism and yoga, while her work with Samaya explores what it can mean to bring practice into creativity, livelihood, and daily life.

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