April 5, 2008
by Yogajane
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This is just a heads-up.
Daughter C1 and I just came from her school today and were heading towards Megamall. We passed through White Plains and just before reaching the rows of garden landscapers on the right, I spotted a place which had a tarpaulin.
They were offering 12 yoga classes for P2,700. I had no time to jot down the place’s name (starts with an A), which looked like some sort of spa. But I plan to head back through that area next week and hopefully get more information.
April 3, 2008
by Yogajane
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My teacher Pio might caution me not to get too attached to a mat. But can this yogini help it if the Ferrari of all yoga mats is yours?
Yes, thanks to yogini mate Chona who lugged this all the way from the States, dragged it to Makati (hoping she could have my hubby get it — but didn’t due to a mobile signal glitch), and hauled it all the way back to my yoga center where she knew I was having classes. Chona my dear, you’re really the best! Good thing your arms are toned from all the yoga you’ve been doing! That mat is HEAVY!!! All 7 pounds of it!
I am now the proud owner of a Manduka mat!
So some may say, what the heck. A mat is a mat is a mat! Yes, that may be true. But after going through 2 generic mats and wearing out even the imported Gaiam mat that I have, this is the closest to mat heaven that I can get my hands on. First of all, it is eco-friendly (eKo brand). Manduka took 3 years to develop this mat which is made from non-amazon harvested tree rubber and is touted to decompose completely at the end of its useful life. Now THAT appeals to me a lot!
Second, while the mat feels smooth, once you plop your hands and feet on them, they have this awesome, non-skid grip that makes you want to do a headstand right on top of it (just joking!).
Third, the color I got turned out even better than its picture on the web. It says “Sand” but up close it is a deep golden brown.
Last but not least, Manduka mats are made for a lifetime. Well, that may be pushing it too far but tests have shown that this is indeed what one calls a high performance mat.
Woo-hoo! A lot of positive energy is definitely going to be soaked up by this mat.
Chona and I had a light dinner at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf after my class to chit-chat and catch up on her news. We had dumped all our stuff in my car but we had a good laugh when I changed my mind, opened the car again and took out the mat, carrying it all the way to Coffee Bean. As I told her: I don’t want anything to happen to this mat when I have not even used it yet! Yes, Pio, I remember what you say about detachment but indulge me this time, OK?
Can’t wait to try it out together with Chona (who has the moss Manduka) and Crissy (who got the aqua). Oh, and yogi buddy Jon has the lava mat. Looks like among us, we own all the available colors of eKO. Cool!
Earlier, Chona said: And it even smells like chocolate! I put it to my nose and yes, it DOES smell like chocolates! Eeks, tonight I have to store it out of reach of whatever crawls in the night looking for food!
Next, I read the instructions. That chocolate-y scent (which is actually its natural rubber scent) will go away if you leave the mat open for a week or so. Done! Plastic wrap is gone and it’s now lovingly draped over my computer chair and table.
Chona plans to leave the mat at the center. Too heavy to bring home, she says. Practical Chona! As for me, as long as I have a car, Sandy comes home with me.
🙂
March 26, 2008
by Yogajane
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Are you an active yoga blogger? Then come join the Manila bloggers’ summit on April 26!
Last year, about this time, I came across an announcement about iblog3. Imagine, it was already the 3rd year running and I never even heard of such a summit. So, curious me decided to go attend even if I knew absolutely no one in the crowd. My first blog was just weeks old then and I knew next to nothing about stuff they talked about (problogging, Google Adsense, SEO, podcasting — DUHHHH!!!)
By the end of the 2-day conference, I had a pile of business cards from bloggers: probloggers, media bloggers, personal bloggers, and even vloggers. Not only that, I came to know the faces behind the more famous blogs you come across, got more-than-I-could-digest blogging information and even won a raffle prize.
This year, it will just be a 1-day event but still packed with very useful topics you could bring back home for your own blogs. Best of all, it is FREE!!!
Date: April 26, 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 9am – 5pm thereabouts
Place: Malcolm Theater, College of Law, UP Diliman
It’s better to reserve early so that you are sure to get a kit with handouts and be enrolled in their mailing list.
Here are some useful links:
Since joining iblog3 laslt year, my blogging life has never been the same. I now have a public blog called Here’s To Life! as well as this yoga blog. IÂ joined several blogger events and now count some of these long-time bloggers as my good friends.
Hope to see you there!
March 23, 2008
by Yogajane
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This blog began as a simple diary of my own journey 2 years ago. In the process of building it, I met so many, many wonderful people in the blogosphere who share the same love of yoga as me. To you, I devote a post to show how much I appreciate your linking me up to you.
Some of you are my very own yoga mates (you know who you are!!!); some of you are yogis/yoginis I have met along my journey; many of you are simply names and thumbnails but nevertheless are special cyber friends with whom I share hi’s and hello’s sometimes and whom I would love to meet in person one day.
And there is another group of you — yoga instructors in your own right — who grace covers of yoga magazines or serve as speakers at yoga conferences or are known podcasters. You inspire me to continue blogging and to continue doing yoga. You are the warm yoga teachers who find time to chat with me, email me from way across the globe and assure me that your years of yoga experience are just a comment or chat away.
To you all, my deepest and most humble gratitude. Namaste.
Jane
March 19, 2008
by Yogajane
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I am a Janey-come-lately when it comes to yoga. I took it up in 2006 and only because my brother had been nagging me no end. Actually, another incentive was the FREE class at my son’s school gym.
After that first class, I was hooked! It has been 2 years since I began March 2006 and I have all intentions of going at it for as long as I can.
You may find this funny but it was fear of what yoga was spiritually that kept me from even considering it. Once, many years ago, our office offered a yoga session as part of its human resources effort to cultivate the arts, music and fitness into the lives of the employees. They invited a singing celebrity who was then with the Ananda Marga group. When she started the OHM chants at the beginning of the exercises, it freaked me out. I thought, I’m out of here!!! And never again thought of trying yoga.
I have had the opportunity these past 2 years to reflect on my practice of yoga. I am grateful that my teacher, Pio, speaks of yogic philosophy in terms of my Catholic faith. He aligns discussions we sometimes have with the Holy Trinity, with Jesus’ teachings and the like. He makes me comfortable that I need not give up my own beliefs in order to practice yoga.
For sure there are still differences. In Pio’s faith, reincarnation happens to each being. In my Catholic faith, we only have one life to live. There are other things I have come across when reading yoga books that run counter to what I believe. But yogi friends who have been practising longer have said I could just choose the areas of yoga that are relevant to me.
The practice of yoga has also brought me benefits beyond just the physical. When brother-in-law Gilbert used to speak of “living in the moment”, I always wondered what it meant. But in yoga, as we learned to meditate and breathe properly, I slowly began to understand its meaning. I find that when confronted with stressful situations nowadays, I become conscious of how I breathe. When I find it becoming shallow and rapid, I consciously slow it down and take deep, lung-filling breaths. The meditation has helped me live in the present moment to ease my tendency to worry.
Pio also stresses that yoga is not just the fitness form. What he calls “karma yoga” is the equivalent of what we Christians call “service to the poorest of the poor”. In my sons’ school, it is called Magis (men for others). Pio has involved himself in feeding programs for children for years and continues to do so whenever he has time.
Pope John Paul II was (and still is) my idol. He always sought to look for what was common in all faiths rather than emphasize what was different. The concept of ecumenism flourished under his papal reign. This is why he was loved and respected by peoples of different faiths.
It used to bother me when some well-meaning Catholic friends raised the alarm after learning I am into yoga. Like me before, they equate yoga with being a cult or religion. But after experiencing yoga with my teacher Pio who allows me to be the best Christian I can be, I know that I can do yoga without need to compromise. Being in a Catholic charismatic community, with some sisters who likewise do yoga, I remain grounded and rooted in my faith.
March 15, 2008
by Yogajane
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(I met Jon quite by accident. I was blog hopping and came across his blog, became intrigued by his self portraits in various yoga poses, and began communicating with him across the miles. Some time after that I realized that he was actually at a yoga event several months before which I covered as a blogger and had taken videos of him without knowing who he was then. Last December 2007, Jon came home for a vacation and 3 of us (Trin, Chona and I) had lunch with him. It was Chona’s and my first time to meet him. As for Trin, it was amazing that she and Jon were already friends, having finished a 200-hour intensive, teacher training course in Bangkok together. Yes, the world is indeed small! Following is a virtual interview I did with Jon. He blogs at Mitahara.)
What got you into yoga?
Spirituality has always played a big role in my life. Growing up in a small town in the Southern part of the Philippines , my mother would frequently bring me to our local manghihilot to remove some knots or blockage in one of my shoulders. My mother would also tell me that I have actually healing hands because I was born upside down. It’s a local belief that people born this way have natural gifts in healing or bodywork.
My interest in yoga started a couple of years before I even took a formal class. I was doing an undergraduate study in sports science back in UP and naturally was into movement. I came across hatha yoga books at the college library and thought, “hmmm… this seems interesting.” Back then, it was somehow expected that CHK ( College of Human Kinetics ) students should be involved in at least one group, be it sports, martial arts or dance group.
I had wanted to be in a martial arts group because I watched a lot of shaolin and Jet Li movies when I was young. I was fascinated with the strength and flexibility of a martial artist. However, I found it too violent and aggressive. Then a new dance group was being formed and the next thing I knew, I was already performing on stage.
In one of our trainings, the teacher said that we’d be doing yoga instead. We did simple seated postures. I talked to her after and asked where I can take classes. She said she’s attending classes with Bela [Lipat] in Makati . There was no MRT back then so I thought, “hmmm… no way. Makati is too far for me.” I was already teaching PE then and still in the transition stage from being a college student to a college instructor.
Then in 2001, I saw a red-haired lady being interviewed in a morning show and they were doing yoga in the park. It was Sandy [Carmona], promoting the Yoga Foundation of the Philippines’ Team Yoga project. Posters of the project were also posted at CHK so I, together with 2 other friends, decided to join the free Sunday classes in Cubao.
March 14, 2008
by Yogajane
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HAVE YOU NOTICED ????
I’ve got a new tab up there! Announcing — UPCOMING EVENTS !!!
It seemed like more and more yoga events were cropping up and it was getting a bit disorganized to blog about it here and there. So I decided to create a new page with all the upcoming local events that I come across which are related to yoga. I will also include international events that celebrate yoga, like the upcoming Yoga Month 09.2008.
When I do get to join an event, I may blog about the experience. But in general, postings can be found on that page.
If you are organizing a yoga-related event in the Philippines and want me to post it, drop me a line in the comment section and include any URL to your event.
Namaste.
March 10, 2008
by Yogajane
0 comments
March 10, 2008
by Yogajane
0 comments
I never thought I would mention “Dow Jones” in this yoga blog. After all, that name is usually associated with business-speak. But just this once, I have to.
In step with its reputation for product innovation, Dow Jones created dharma indexes — a “family of faith-based equity market indexes that screen companies for compliance with Dharmic religious traditions.” This was done in cooperation with Dharma Investments, launched only last January 2008, to provide Hindu and Buddhist faith-based investing.
Dharma is a spiritual concept central to many religions originating in South Asia, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. About.com states that “Hinduism describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save himself from degradation and suffering. Dharma is the moral law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one’s life. Hindus consider dharma the very foundation of life.
The Dow Jones site further describes dharma:
“Dharma has a range of meanings that include ‘duty’, ‘law’, ‘ethics’, and ‘fundamental principle’ in Hindu traditions, and ‘teaching’ or ‘reality’ or ‘truth’ in Buddhism.
Two ethical principles relevant to the context of Dharma and crucial to the formation of the indexes include:
- Ahimsa/Karuna or non-violence
- Loka-samgraha/Metta or the concept of stewardship”
The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes then are the world’s very first indexes that aim to track the financial performance of companies all over the world that conform to dharmic principles. Aside from a global index, there will eventually be indexes for U.S., UK, Japan, India and China.
Over 3,000 companies worldwide will be tracked and screened for compliance. An advisory committee composed of religious leaders and scholars will observe these companies’ core values and mission, corporate governance, human rights, labor relations, socio-economic involvement and many other standards that conform to dharma. I guess on the top of the criteria list would be companies that encourage protection of the environment as well as non-violence towards animals. Sectors that would be considered “unacceptable” would be those engaged in tobacco, alcohol, gaming, casinos, defense, adult entertainment, and even pharmaceutical companies that use animals for their tests. Even mining and logging industries may be taboo since they affect the environment.
Yoga purists probably would never think of delving into investments. Would my yoga teacher/s make such investments?
But with such strict screening for dharma-compliance, one now gets a chance to invest in companies which are in accordance with one’s personal and religious beliefs.
I wonder how long it would be before we see a Philippine dharma index. Just looking at the unacceptables in the list above, you can almost imagine how many locally listed companies will be eliminated from the dharma list straight off!
Ever since quitting work years ago, I stayed away from playing the stock market (which I did quite actively and heavily when I was earning relatively well). Instead, I played safe with the family’s savings, knowing that resources would be limited and the kids were growing up with growing needs.
But if ever the time will come and a dharma list of Philippine companies gets drawn up, I will seriously look into investing once again.
March 7, 2008
by Yogajane
0 comments
If you love reading free ebooks online or have been wanting to find a way to publish your written works and still retain copyright over them, I just discovered Scribd from reading Daily Cup of Yoga‘s post.
This is how Scribd folks describe themselves:
Scribd is a Silicon Valley startup creating technology that makes it easy to share documents online. You can think of Scribd as a big online library where everyone can publish original content, including you!
The FAQ section of Scrib (pronounced by them as one syllable with the short i sound: “skr’bb’d) shows the many features of Scribd. But what I discovered to my delight was that it had some yoga ebooks which I could download in PDF format into one’s laptop for reading offline or even on a handy PDA.
One great book on Scribd is Yoga for Men.
Surprisingly, despite its title, it has several chapters which appeal even to yoginis like me. To give you a foretaste, here are its main chapters:
Part I – Overview – Yoga as a Living Tree
Part II – Hatha Yoga – The Main Traditions
Part III – Contemporary Adaptations of Yoga
Part IV – Yoga for a Man’s Special Needs
Part V – The Yoga Lifestyle
Part VI – Supplemental Resource Information
Afterword – The Yoga Puzzle -Putting the Pieces Together
Another discovery is the Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka.
And lastly, I found Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi which was first published in 1946.
According to an entry in Wikipedia: “In 1999, it was designated one of the “100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century” by a panel of theologians and luminaries convened by HarperCollins publishers”
There are many other ebooks which you can readily preview, not just on yoga but on a whole spectrum of topics.
Check it out! 🙂
