Calaguas Island: Yoga for Soul.

I became an Instant Yogi in Calaguas Island when James Betia, shares his expertise about yoga during the travel. Eight in the morning, after we went back from the sunset watching, we just quickly grabbed our breakfast – coffee with kakanin prepared by chief Arvin. When everyone was ok - after the meal, James gathered us for a Yoga session. At first I was hesitant to join because I can’t really get the point of that activity- corny. So, what I did, I just joined them for picture taking only. Until when I started to stretch my arms, synchronized my core and expanded my legs – I felt something strange.

James taught us the proper breathing -With those few inhales and exhales, I felt eased deep within. Unconsciously, I enjoyed now the activity and I continued joining them when I felt the sweat from my body. “Sige na nga , tuloy ko nalang to”, I said. It was my first time to practice it and it gives me the impression that Yoga is fun (but on the beginning, I thought it’s a kinda corny stuff).

In Yoga, you should harmonize your physical, mental and spiritual being to reach your aim – that is body and mind transformation. Meditation is one way, but sometimes it is necessary to prepare the body for meditation by stretching and building strength. As Yoga becomes increasingly diffuse, diverse and popular, there are now innumerable establishments (e.g. fitness gym) that offer YOGA class.

The word yoga comes from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. It is a derivation of the word yuj, which means yoking, as in a team of oxen.

The chanting at the beginning was a great way to get into the mindset of what the next 90 minutes will require of you.  There was a solid warm up and then some fast paced flows to get you sweating, and then it slows down for some balancing and more challenging poses which always satisfied my explorative and playful side.  At the end, before Shavasana, they sometimes do a brief guided meditation which is really nice.

What I love the most of all those poses was the tree pose – because it taught me how to balance. Just like how we need to balance in our life to avoid failures. We need to balance the pros and cons in decision making. Moreover, a tree-pose can be executed with partner. And I noticed that the tree-pose with a partner is easier compared in doing it alone – just like in real life – it is easier in a journey with a partner in life.

More Yoga .. More learnings . More fun in the Ph.

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