The Yogini from Manila

When I landed an opportunity to return to the labor force as a consultant for a Makati firm, I initially hesitated. And it was not so much worrying about making a comeback after being away from work for several years. My reluctance stemmed more from the concern that it would suck me back into a rat race that would take me away from yoga and bring on once more the ill effects that stress does to one’s mind and body. I know. I have been in that rut and vowed to never allow myself to be in that situation again.

The last two weeks, however, seemed to affirm this fear. Except for one yoga class the other week, I basically missed all my yoga classes up to the present time.

However, firmly believing that nothing happens without a purpose, I am gradually seeing things beyond just my missing classes.

At a lunch reunion with 2 of my former colleagues from SGV (one of whom whom works in my present company where she is a top executive), both of them expressed a strong desire to try yoga.

At that same lunch, I learned that the wife of another consultant just a few desks away from me, is a full-time yoga teacher at Yoga Manila. And providentially, the Makati location of Yoga Manila is right behind my building! All I had to do was cross the street! A short chat with this consultant after lunch made me realize that rather than totally miss yoga on days when I could not get out of Makati early enough to beat the traffic to Ortigas, I had an alternative right at my office area. I could work and still work out!

Of course, my teacher Pio will always be my yogi of choice at the Vinyasa Yoga Center and I truly enjoy the company and energy of my yogini mates there. However, as my 2 friends prefer to do yoga closer to the office and want to do it with me, I am now beginning to wonder if indeed there is a higher purpose to this resurrected career. After all, where would yoga’s benefits redound the greatest but to people such as my friends and colleagues who are absorbed in work, take lunches at their desks and basically have a life that revolve around office and home.

In a recent Metro magazine, an article featured 3 women doing yoga. One of them was a manager in Accenture (which is now the name of a company I worked for in the 90s). This is such a paradigm shift since these types of activities were not available to overworked employees like me then and I had to buy a gym membership in order to get some form of exercise. Yoga is beginning to make its presence known among those who are looking for calm and tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle of the daily office grind.

As I walk the streets of Makati and meet people who scurry here and there, wearing a look that tells you they are harried and stressed out, I wonder if there are indeed opportunities to share what one has learned and continues to learn from one’s yoga practice. Can a student be a catalyst? Can an upstart yogini like me be a stone that starts a ripple in the workplace?

Pio used to tell us not to be content staying in one’s comfort zone. I tended to choose the same spot at every class and it did take some time before I allowed myself to transfer. I also noticed that I used to call my friends and check if they were attending class, as though my going was dependent on their being there. Slowly, I found I could go to classes on other days and time slots even if I knew no one. Or do self yoga even without the combined energy of my yogini friends. Now, am I being led to bring people to yoga even if it means I could not bring them all the way to Ortigas? Weaning, detaching, letting go…it can be uncomfortable, to tell the truth. And at the moment, given a choice, I would much rather continue my practice at Vinyasa and bring people there.

But again, when I recall some of what Pio has been trying to impart, I realize that in each and every one of us lies a mission. As Christians, we have the mission to spread the Good News of Christ to all those who need to hear His Word; likewise, yoga’s benefits are not for our selves alone. We must radiate it outwards to others. And it is only when we take ourselves out of the comfort which is our yogini circles that we can reach out to those who most need its healing effects.