When was the last time you felt at peace despite the worries that you have? When was the last time you felt calm detached from the noise caused by your surroundings? When was the last time you felt positive carrying a light feeling amidst the daily chaos of the city?
At peace. Calm. Positive.
This was how I felt yesterday after having spent the entire day at the Global Mala Project Manila 2010 in Rockwell. And I'm quite sure the other participants of the awesome event share the same feeling, if not better.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the tweet of Teresa Herrera about the Global Mala Project. I clicked on the hyperlink on her tweet and that brought me to the ClicktheCity page, which had more details about the event.
After reading about the event and watching some event videos on Youtube, I knew that I was definitely going to attend the gathering. Yoga buddy Allen was supposed to go with me, but work came up. JB wanted to go, but the class he wanted to attend was the same time as Xanadu. Carlo V. wanted to attend but it slipped my mind until he reminded me.
So I ended up going by myself.
Always the early bird, I arrived at Rockwell a couple of minutes before 9. The event was scheduled to start at 10, but I wanted to be there early to register already and to get the vibe. And yes, I was just plain excited.
When I walked up to the registration, there was already a small group of people by the registration. The lovely Teresa Herrera was right behind the registration and welcomed guests. It was my first time to meet her and positive energy is flowing right out of her.
At 10AM, the doors to the Tent opened. The event followed the schedule and I thought that was just really, really fantastic. The organizers did a wonderful job in transforming the venue into a place conducive for yoga practice.
After Teresa welcomed the participants, the whole day affair began. Participants formed a circle around a group of four people sat in the middle of the room that was going to lead 108 rounds of Gayatri Mantra. From what I read Gayatri is one of the most known mantras. The purpose of the mantra for the event was to purify the place and to prepare it for the practice.
Following immediately was the 108 rounds of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) led by a group of yoga teachers. I thought this was really awesome. Rebecca, the lead teacher demonstrated one round of the sun salutation, and then we started. I couldn’t tell who the long-time practitioners were from the newbies and the intermediates. I don’t know who was familiar with the whole round of Surya Namaskar, who was learning it completely for the first time. What I found really amazing though was seeing how we all began to move as one united by our breathing and our movements. It was an experience. I have to be honest, By the time we reached the 80th round, I had to take short breaks. My arms started to feel sore that I couldn’t do the chaturanga properly. Plus, I wanted to take photos of the wonderful movement. I did join the group in finishing the last few rounds.
There were different yoga classes the entire day. I chose to attend Hatha Yoga by Corey Wills ad the Bhakti Urban Flow by Roland Dela Cruz. I would have wanted to attend the Bikram Yoga by Tristan Choa, but it was the same time as Jeanie Javelosa’s talk on Chakras. I chose to attend the latter.
This was one of the other good things about the event. In addition to the classes, there were also talks. Among the talks mentioned in the program were Healthy Living by Arthur Tanco, Art of Living by Denise Celdran and the Chakra Workshop of Jeanie Javelosa.
I thought this was really good because it gave non-yoga studio practitioners like me an opportunity to learn more about yoga.
One of the key messages I learned was yoga is not just about doing the asanas. The asanas are a way of preparing the mind, the heart, the body, the spirit for something higher.
It’s the Chakra Workshop by Jeannie Javelosa that I have to thank for that. Another example, only then did I learn that the corpse pose wasn’t really about resting the body after an hour of yoga practice. It was really about bringing everything back to your center. I definitely wished our yoga teacher at the gym (who I’m sure is certified) would share these kind of info while we practiced. (Or maybe I can go grab a book and do some own reading?)
The Chakra Workshop was the only talk I got to attend but I learned a lot from Jeanie. She spoke beautifully about the chakras and other related aspects. There were about us 7 of us, which made the activity very intimate. I loved it that Jeanie said she would still have given the talk even if just 1 person came, because it was an opportunity to share and because that person had a reason to be there.
Then it was time to head back to the Tent for Hatha Yoga led by Corey Wills. I was interested to see Corey again because I met him during his modeling days when we got him for a fashion shoot. The Corey I saw that afternoon was quite different. I saw a yoga teacher and not the model I remember. But it still is Corey because he was still as calm and as focused just like I remember him from the photo shoot.
Still feeling energized from Hatha, I decided to attend Bhakti Urban Flow by Roland De la Cruz. I was interested to see the different classes. Roland’s class was pretty familiar. It was similar to the class I attend at the gym. I would’ve wanted to take a photo of the class but I was too absorbed in the flow. I hope photos of the event would be uploaded somewhere.
I thought of checking out the other classes like the Anusara Inspired Yoga and Yoga Trance Dance by Teresa, but I had to leave early to meet up with Carlo.
I left just after Trees for the Future finished their talk on their project in the country. Proceeds of the event were to be given to the said NGO. This was also one of the reasons why I wanted to join the event. Because there was a cause it was supporting. I got to practice yoga. I learned more about it. And I even get to help a bit for the environment. Is that great or is that great?!
I've been attending yoga classes at the gym for more than a year now, and I want to have further understanding. The Global Mala Project gave me that, or at the very least, it opened the doors to having that understanding. And what I saw beyond the door was a bigger body of knowledge to be learned.
Though it was only for a day, I definitely, definitely left the event with a lot of learning.
When I was reading the details of the Global Mala Project, it said that all the participants bring was a yoga mat, a towel and a spirit of peace. I came with those, and I left the event with so much more - a spirit of peace, a new perspective on certain things, a light heart, and some new friendships. I know it doesn’t end there. Practice is needed. Discipline is needed. And I think I will check out one of the yoga studios in Makati. Who knows? I might even go crazy and just quit the gym to pursue yoga.
For now, I’m sure that I’m definitely going to join next year’s Global Mala Project. Congrats Teresa and the rest of the team for a successful event!
Om shanti shanty shanti. :)
P.S. It would have been really, really awesome if my friend Bernice was there. We all have someone or something that led us to the yoga mat. For me, Bernice was the one who got me interested in yoga. Before she left for the Netherlands to pursue further studies, we would talk about her yoga class whenever we meet up. When I finally decided to sign up for the gym, I was extremely happy to have found a yoga class that was perfect for my schedule. The funny thing is we’ve never gotten to attend a class together. That we must do.
No comments:
Post a Comment