Conquer your Anger and Fear Kundalini Yoga at Yoga+ on February 20

Do you experience butterflies in your stomach, jitters, heebie-jeebies? Are you gritting your teeth? Are you feeling like you can't move forward and something's holding you back?

There are certain emotions that can hold one back. These are anger and fear.  Anger that is not expressed stays in the body and becomes ingrained in the psyche as neuroses which become habitual reaction patterns.  Fear, on the other hand, is an instinctual reaction to avoid harm and remain safe. The sensations are tangible - the butterfiles in the stomach, shakes, jitters. Fear manifests doubt, suspicion and ultimately, non-action.

Next Saturday, on February 20, I'll be conducting two feature Kundalini Yoga classes in Manila specifically to "Let Go of Inner Anger" at 10am and "Shift from Fear to Love" at 2pm. The kriyas and meditations will help channel inner anger and fear to break these habitual patterns and to consciously act instead of unconsciously react to the challenges of life.

I'll be giving a gong bath at the end of each class to release any remaining stagnant energy and blocks. The sound vibrations will repair the body at the cellular level and allow deep healing to take place.

If you want to conquer your anger and fear and welcome more loving relationships into your life, the classes will be held at Yoga+ Makati located at the 3/F Cambridge Center, Tordesillas St. Salcedo Village, Makati.  The rate is P799 per class or P1,499 for both classes. For info, contact (+632) 847-0697 or (+63-927) 558-1829.

Sama Sama Seva @ Yoga+ during International Yoga Day

I'm grateful that a lot of yogis from all over Metro Manila turned up today at Yoga+'s "Sama Sama Seva for Nepal" in Makati. It's a full day event of various yoga classes, meditation and talks from 6:30am to 8:00pm.

The proceeds of the event was earmarked for the earthquake relief effort in Nepal, specifically, to the Laksmi Orphanage and Bdhanikantha Model Community Academy.

The timing was perfect because today,  June 21 was declared the International Day of Yoga, the first ever celebration and an acknowledgement of the benefits of this over 6,000 year old practice.

I taught a Kundalini Yoga set to relieve stress and increase vitality. The first part was a powerful and energetic kriya to tune up the nervous system and the second part was a meditation to create sensitivity within, a calm and cozy effect to be able to withstand the pressures of the mind and other perceived fears.

Full house at the Kundalini Yoga class

I was surprised to have 52 yogis in the class. Since I've started with Kundalini Yoga in 2013, this practice has not really picked up yet in Manila. This made me reminisce  my ashtanga days in the early 2000s when it was just a handful of us doing the class at Bela Lipat's place.

I'm happy that the yogis who joined the class were open, stayed for the 90-minute duration of the class and were beaming when they stepped out. Here are some photos taken by Yoga+ during the event:

I know this is shameless plugging, but for those who'd like to try Kundalini Yoga, I teach every Monday night from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Romulo Peace Center located at the top floor of Century Plaza, 120 Perea St., Legazpi Village, Makati. Satnam!

First #HYTTManila Hot Yoga Treacher Training

first #HYTTManila teachers and students 

"Trust the Process" that's what Dinah Salonga kept telling us throughout the ten weeks of the first Hot Yoga Teacher Training (#HYTT) program in the Absolute Yoga Series in Manila.

I must admit that I wasn't too sure if I would've lasted the training program - i.e. commit to attend all ten weekends plus keep up with my co-TTs who are younger :-).

Well, I'm happy to write that all twelve of us - Anne, Anthony, Bot, Carina, Chi (the youngest at 22), Edel, Ian, Janina, Jayme, Michelle, Sheila - survived! That's a total of 200-hours training from February 1 to April 6.

trying to complete the required 40-classes before graduation

Mind you, it wasn't easy. We were weekend warriors, up early to make the 6:30 am morning practice. The studio doors were shut at exactly 6:30am. Not to mention, we lost weight doing doubles per day just to complete the required 40 hot classes outside the weekend training (left photo). In fact, Anthony resorted to doing triples since he was migrating to Canada after graduation.

Amazingly, we managed to juggle our time between our work load, studying and practicing. Hats off especially to Jayme who was nursing her 4-month old baby and working at the same time.  And thankfully, we all passed the written exam and the peer class which served as our oral exam.

Anatomy class with Dr. JP Prado

Coming from someone who used to practice Bikram Yoga and Ashtanga, I find the Absolute Yoga series sort of a hybrid. It is similar to Bikram where the room is heated up to 39 to 40 degrees Celsius. However, there are more postures in the series, a total of 50 postures compared to Bikram's 26 postures.  There are also some ashtanga poses incorporated in the series.

The practice was founded in 2002 by Benjaporn Karoon Kornsakul. The philosophy is simple - according to Lucas Rockwood, one of the major proponents of Absolute, "Absolute teaches yoga as a form of mind-body fitness as a way to get in great shape and practice moving meditation."

Ryan, Dinah and Aisa

Looking back, I remember my lunch with Dinah in January. She sat me down and spelled out why I shouldn't miss the first TT program in Manila. This made me think of the time I first stepped on a mat which was way way back in 1995 in New York. After that lunch, I asked myself maybe it's about time to teach. I've been doing yoga for some time already. What really propelled me to commit was the quote from Yogi Bhajan "if you want to learn something, read about it; if you want to understand something, write about it; if you want to master something teach it."

The lead teachers of the first #HYTT were Dinah (head), Aisa Locsin-Winternitz and Ryan Chester. And the subject matter experts were Lucas (who via Skype), Pio Baquiran and Dr. JP Prado.

lab work updates on instagram

Our training sessions typically looked like this:

6:30 - 8:30 Morning Practice
8:30 - 9:30  Breakfast Break
9:30 - 12:30 Module /  PT
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch Break
1:30 - 3:30  Module / Lab
3:30 - 4:00  Break
400 - 6:00   Module / Afternoon Practice

The sessions focused on practice teaching (PT) and clinics to discuss each of the poses in the series. The subject matter experts - History, Philosophy, Ethics, Nutrition, Anatomy were included in between modules.

Potluck lunches

Group shot (photo credit: Edelweiss Tubog)

all twelve of us with our certificates

I am so grateful to teachers who drilled on us the importance of the dialogue to keep the class flowing and to relate to the students. And most especially grateful to my co-TTs, now co-Teachers and friends who I looked forward to being with every weekend. I'm going to miss our early morning yoga, the laughter during breaks, our lunches together and catch-up practices.

Right now, we're all slotted in the current class offerings at Yoga+.   I'm teaching at Yoga+'s Ortigas Branch every Tuesdays at 6:30am and do private classes as well. Here's a compilation of the photos I took throughout the 10 weeks. Click here to view. Happy viewing!

Kundalini Yoga treat in Yoga Plus

I love sharing what I'm currently into and so, after coming back home from the yoga retreat, I invited a bunch of friends to join me in a kundalini class at the sprawling new studio of Yoga Plus in Salcedo Village in Makati.

I have to hand it to kundalini teacher Marisa HardNah, not only was she happy to oblige, she even came up with a poster (right photo) indicating that "the path to higher consciousness begins when our head learns how to bow to our heart."

Well, my friends were in for a surprise. Kundalini is different from any of the mainstream yoga practiced in Manila. Instead of a standard set of asanas, kundalini focuses on kriyas to address a health concern or emotional issue. The kriya is designed to work on a specific organ through elimination, purification, etc and heal  at the cellular level. For example, to address anger, the liver or the third chakra is most likely unbalanced and thus, the kriya to bring new circulation to the liver, spleen and adrenals may help.

Each kriya varies and as Marisa emphasized, there are over a thousand different kriyas.  A kriya is a set of asanas combined with breathing techniques (such as the breath of fire), body locks, mantras, hand mudras and the length of time for each kriya may be as short as 15 minutes to as long as 40 minutes.

Annie and Tessa with Marisa 

The class normally starts by tuning-in. The Adi mantra which goes "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo" is recited three times. The translation is I bow to the subtle divine wisdom, I bow to the divine teacher within. This is an ancient mantra as taught by Yogi Bhajan, to center to the higher self and to spiritually guide both the teacher and the students during the class.

Actually, tuning-in before the class is not new. In ashtanga for instance, the opening mantra is "Vande Gurunam Charanaravinde..." The difference is, in Kundalini, the mantra is recited while sitting in an easy pose, with straight spine, the palms are placed together in a prayer mudura at the heart center with fingers pointed up at 60 degrees with the base of thumbs pressing against the sternum.

After tuning-in, the sequence in kundalini usually starts with spinal warm ups and stretching, then the kriya (may be more than one),  then meditation. The closing sequence  includes a cat stretch, spine roll, rubbing of the hands and feet together, singling in english "May the long time sun shine upon you" and reciting Sat Nam three times.

with Yoga Plus Neil, Dina and Dinah 

For this special class, Marisa wanted it to be extra special and thus, found three kriyas that would [as she indicated in the poster] "release tension, re-vibrate your life, kiss depression and fear goodbye and be you."

The kriyas that she chose and its benefits were: (1) Elimination and circulation kriya - to drain lymph glands in the groin and thighs, maintain potency, stimulate the sex nerve, regenerate the nervous system, improve digestion and elimination and release toxin from the throat glands;  (2) Commanding the Command Center of Glandular system kriya - to clean the subconscious mind and bring clarity in times of chaos. Stimulates the pituitary glands to strengthen intuition; and (3) Pitta kriya - to destress, stabilize mood, conquer depression and strengthen resolve.

Unfortunately [for me], we never made it to Pitta kriya.  Mind you, the sets were not easy and my friends were already grunting 'happy birthday Rosan' in between poses. Despite the fact that Marisa halved the timing of the sets, we still ended past ten o'clock. We didn't mind not finishing the last kriya to destress since most were already starving and tired.

with Shakti Kitchen chef Madonna English

Dinner was a healthy healing treat from Madonna's new "Shakti Kitchen" vegetarian catering. She served quinoa salad and fresh spring rolls. Luckily, Yoga Plus' Salcedo branch had a lounge area to set up the buffet spread which was complimented by Corner Tree's organic red and white wines and my favorite salted caramel chocolate torte.

Marisa wanted to impart to us that kundalini is a science and as such, there are specific lengths of time needed to obtain certain desired effects. She shared this information:
3 min - affects circulation (blood) and electromagnetic field
7 min - causes brain patterns to begin to shift and the magnetic field surrounding the body to increase in strength
11 min - changes glandular system and nerves
22 min - balance and coordinates the three minds - the negative, positive and neutral. The subconscious mind begins to clear.
31 min - affects the cells and rhythms of the body and all layers of the mind's projection
62 min - changes the gray matter of the brain, integrates the subconscious shadow mind and the outer projection
2 1/2 hours - holds the new pattern in the subconscious mind by the surrounding universal mind

Yogi Bhajan said that it takes 40 days to change a habit. He recommended to practice a particular kriya or meditation everyday straight, consistently for a number of days: 40 days will break the habit; 90 days will confirm the new habit; 120 days will make the new habit your identity and 1,000 days is requited to master the new habit.

I'm not sure if my friends would come back and practice this esoteric form of yoga but I'm happy that they showed up and endured the class. Satnam!  :-)

after class with the birthday crew, thanks guys for coming!!