Friday 29 January 2016

Partner Yoga at LiFE on February 13

If you're looking for something different this Valentine weekend, why not try yoga with a partner? You don't have to bring a significant other to do this class. Any partner that you want to create a strong bond with will do - it may be your spouse, friend or family member - - this may be your sibling, your child or even your parent.

I will be teaching a partner yoga class called "Power of Two"  on February 13 at 10 a.m. at LiFE Yoga in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. It will be a fun, light-hearted two-hour class designed to blend and balance the energies between you and your partner with specific yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing), mudras (hand gestures) and meditation. The focus stays on the heart, to project love and caring, with the highest good for both.

I'll be giving a gong bath at the end of the class to generate sound healing. The sound will clear energetic and emotional blockages to return you to state of harmony and balance.

There is an early bird rate of P1,500 for two people until February 3 (the regular rate is P1,800 for two).

Energize your relationship this Valentine. LiFE Yoga is located at the 2nd floor of Forebestown Center, 8 Forbestown Road, Bonifacio Global City Taguig.  For info, call +632 886-7500.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Sound Healing with Gongs

Martha explains the different sound instruments
I was in Hong Kong for a weekend of sound healing in a Gong Workshop including a 9-hour all-night full moon Puja-rama.

The two-day workshop was led by Martha Collard, a student of 81-year old gong master Don Conreaux. She is an amazing teacher who has evolved from being a marine biologist, management consultant to a full-time holistic wellness advocate and practitioner. She was the vice president for Corporate Wellness at the Lane Crawford Joyce Group before setting up her Red Doors Studio at Wong Chuck in the south side of Hong Kong island.

The studio, dubbed ''ancient healing for modern man', is home to her extensive paiste gong collection and serves as a platform for other modalities such as labyrinths and therapeutic kundalini yoga.

Joanna, kidney transplant receiver 
Most of my classmates in the workshop were into the healing arts. Joanna a kidney transplant receiver for the last five years, told me that she tried everything from medicines, alternative healing therapies and even the meditation bowl. It was only after her first Puja-rama that she felt peaceful, strong and energized. She wants to heal herself that's why she doesn't mind the 2.5-hours commute from Sai Kung just to attend Martha's monthly gong baths and workshops. 

Martha hands my certificate
In the workshop, we learned the basic history and myth of the gong, the different ways to play the strokes,  the different types of gong, its frequencies and characteristics and how to take care of the gong. The fun part was that we were able to practice and tune in with the gong and even tune in with the group.  We played all her 15 gongs with sizes ranging from 24 inches (moon gong) to 38 inches (symphonic and planetary gongs) using different size mallets. We also played her other sound instruments - the tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, conch, happi drum, an assortment of bells, etc.

I kept going back playing her 38-in Sedna planetary gong. Sedna tuned to 128.1 Hz (C2 pitch) and creates a sound that expands and challenges ideas and assumptions about the very nature of the cosmos, opening up to new paradigms and non duality. I must be wanting to heal Hong Kong or maybe prepare for the polar vortex. Apparently, the sound Sedna produces, provides access to the deep layers of the personal and collective unconscious, super conscious and Universal intelligences. 

The gong is a spiritual instrument and recognized as having the most impact on a person after the human voice - such is its range of vibrations and energy levels. She emphasized that the gong must be played 'free of all ego' and intuitively with the person or people in place at the same time. 

Preparing for the Puja-rama
The culminating part was the Puja-rama a special event where all those who join are bathed in the soothing sounds of the gongs for eight hours of continous play. Well, since sunrise in Hong Kong in January is later; this is,  at 7 am, we played for nine hours instead of eight. We [the students] took turns playing for an allotted time. My time was before the ambrosial hours from  2:15 to 2:45 am. Aside from us, there were cancer survivors who took part in the puja. 

The sound of the gong is healing in all aspects. It reaches the body on a cellular level, encouraging integrated healing of body, mind and spirit. 

Kundalini Yoga master teacher Harijiwan explained: "The Universe is powered by sound. The gong is the basic creative sound. Out of the gong comes all music, all sounds, all words. The sound of the gong is the nucleus of the Word. Think of the human body as a divine instrument with strings. We are composed of 72 strings. The crown chakra - the thousand petal lotus - impacts each of these strings with a thousand-fold vibration. So there are 72,000 vibratory impacts that send energy throughout our system and these vibrations shape us physically, emotionally and mentally. When the gong is played, the vibration of the string causes all thirty trillion cells of the body to resonate, to dance - forming patterns that release blockages that have prevented the cosmic pulsation to flow freely through our being. Within this creative cosmic flow, we find fulfillment, harmony and love."
with my Kundalini Yoga students

Back in Manila the next day, I surprised the students of my Kundalini Yoga class with a 20-minutes gong bath.  I'm happy to read the comment of one student on Facebook who hasn't been sleeping well. She wrote  "After the gong bath, I was floating! The effect was great. I was able to sleep soundly. My cat too! Thank you." If you want to try the healing sound of the gong, contact me or join one of my kundalini yoga classes. :-)





Friday 1 January 2016

New Year, New You Yoga Detox at Life Yoga Center

Happy new year everyone! If you're like me who gained two kilos from indulging during the holidays, then it's time to clean up your system with a yoga detox workshop. I"m facilitating this workshop next weekend on January 8, 9 and 10 at Life Yoga Center at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Food indulgence, weight gain and all night revelry with the company of kith and kin are practically toxins that can catch up with you, as they lower your immunity and make you prone to general aches and pains.

The "New Year, New You Yoga Detox" is a weekend yoga detox designed to shed off the toxins accumulated through kundalini yoga and meditation and a two 'detox-in-a-bottle' cleansing kit formulated by fitness nutritionist-chef and weight loss specialist Nadine Tengco. The kit consists of six bottled detox juices, a cleansing soup, a digestive enzyme bottle and 5 grams ground fiber taken every two hours starting at 8am.

Yogi Bhajan said "Juices must not be drunk, but 'eaten' thoroughly, 'chewed' and mixed with saliva. Vegetable juice fasts are good for losing weight, detoxification and cleansing the organs, cells and tissues of the body."

If you want to detox your body, mind and spirit,  the schedule begins on January 8 (Friday) at 6pm with a kundalini yoga and meditation set. The six juice bottles will be distributed that evening for consumption at night. The workshop and cleansing program continues on January 9 and 10 from 10 am to 3:30pm.

To prepare for the juice fast, take plenty of raw vegetables and fruits in your diet at least two days before this weekend to minimize shocking your system. While on the cleanse consume 2-3 liters of distilled water per day and to include peppermint tea which is good for its calming and strengthening effect on the nerves and for indigestion, nausea and flatulence.

Start the new year right and choose to set your year with a cleaner and healthier you. Life Yoga is located at the 2nd floor of 8 Forbestown Town Center, Burgo Circle, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The earl bird rate of P7,359 is until January 3 (regular rate is P7,650) which includes the yoga and meditation and the two-day juice fasting pack. To register, call 886-7500.