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!

List of Philippine holidays for 2015

Happy new year!  Here's my annual list of Philippine holidays. It's good to start the year right by writing down your resolutions, goals for the year and even plan out your 'rest' breaks by taking a vacation. Yes, plan your holidays. Even the famous Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci, recommends to take a break. He said "Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to work and your judgement will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen." 

The list of nationwide holidays was announced by the government as early as July 23, 2014 via Proclamation No. 831. I'm posting the dates today to include all recently announced holidays like for example, the five-day holiday to give way to Pope Francis' visit. 

For this year, there are five 3-day weekends and two 4-day weekends plus next week's 5-day weekend. I'm a fan of Pope Francis so I'll be sticking around next week.

Here's the regular and special holidays for 2015:

January 1 (Thu)  - New Year's Day
January 2 (Fri)  -  Additional special non-working day
January 9 (Fri) - Feast of the Black Nazarene (Manila only) 
January 15, 16 and 19 (Thu-Fri, Mon) -  Special non-working days to give way to the visit of Pope Francis

February 19 (Thu) - Chinese New Year (special non-working day)
February 25 (Wed) - EDSA Revolutionary anniversary (special holiday)

April 2 (Thu) - Maundy Thursday 
April 3 (Fri)  - Good Friday
April 4 (Sat) - Black Saturday
April 9 (Thu) - Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor)

May 1 (Fri) - Labor Day

June 12 (Fri) - Independence Day

August 21 (Fri) - Ninoy Aquino Day
August 31 (Mon) - National Heroes Day

November 1 (Sun) - All Saint's Day
November 30 (Mon) - Bonifacio Day

December 24 (Thu) - Additional special non-working day
December 25 (Fri) - Christmas Day
December 30 (Wed) - Rizal Day
December 31 (Thu) - Last Day of the year

The national holidays for the observance of Eid'l Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast or end of Ramadan) and Ediul Adha (Feast of Sacrifce) shall be announced after the approximate dates of the Islamic holidays have been determined with the Islamic calendar (Hijira) or the lunar calendar. So far, the estimated dates are: Eid'l Fitr on July 17 (Fri) and Ediul Adha on September 23 (Wed).

Hong Kong's #OccupyCentral with Love and Peace

at the financial district of Hong Kong

"I must be getting really old,"said the big milestone celebrant Chiqui as we were finishing our drinks and heading out on foot to Central on foot. And she ended "...because my idea of fun is no longer to booze all night but to visit the protesters."

It was almost midnight when we reached Connaught Road and there were hundreds of people, mostly students, camped on the streets. We caught some sleeping on plastic sheets and cardboards, a few were sleeping in hammocks and others were actually set up in tents. There were different sections such as a study area offering tutorials in math and science, a speaker's corner, concert area and even an area to charge mobile phones and tablets.

This is now the scene at the business district in Hong Kong. The protesters call themselves "Occupy Central with Love and Peace," a civil disobedience movement initiated by a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, Benny Tai Yiu-ting.

Early in January 2013, Tai demanded universal suffrage for the 2017 Chief Executive elections; this is, the right to nominate and directly elect the head of the Hong Kong government in reaction to the decision of China to screen candidates.  Apparently, his January 16, 2013 column in the Hong Kong Economic Journal entitled "Civil disobedience is the most powerful weapon" became the blueprint for Occupy Central. He wrote that the best way to protest is to mobilize 10,000 people to block the roads in the financial capital should the government screen candidates.

pro-democracy messages on the 'Lennon Wall"

For this year, Tai initially wanted to stage a three day sit in starting on October 1, but decided to stage it earlier on September 28, when students were pepper-sprayed and arrested.

The movement is now called "umbrella revolution' for the umbrellas used by the students to protect
themselves from police pepper spray.

I'm not sure how how long the protesters will last. As of today, I spotted in the news that the police will start clearing the barricades and tents to open a key road to traffic. I'm sure this won't be another Tianamen Square incident in 1986 and a peaceful solution will come out.

I'm glad that for Chiqui's birthday, we were able to experience this and show our support. We ended up writing a note and posted it on the "Lennon Wall," a colorful patchwork of thousands of sticky notes.

some sleeping on plastic sheets 

spotted one lying in a hammock

protesters camping out

area cordoned off to allow students to study

area set up to charge phones and tablets

Umbrella Man covered with colorful post-it notes with messages of support and solidarity 

it's all about Fascia!

Meet Dr. Adolf Brown. He is an applied kinesiologist based in Ubud, Bali and so far, one of the best anatomy teachers that I've ever met.

I've heard of 'fascia' before but this is the first time I've understood its importance and the relation between the physical and energetic bodies.  He defined fascia as connective tissues composed of microtubules containing fluid that is electrolytic. Fascia is the ground substance of the energy body. Another concept of how yoga, the physical body and energy body interact. The physical body is the vehicle for the energy body.

Yoga is really about awareness including body awareness, the ability to connect with the body. Dr. Brown said that 'the more we can see within the body, the more we understand the body, the deeper our yoga practice can be."

And to me, the most important thing right now for me in anatomy is fascia, the connective tissues that surrounds the bones, muscles, blood vessels, digestive track, organs and nerves which serves as an energetic communication system. What fascia does is measure electrical circuity to allow the prana, our energy life force to flow through our body.

The Spiritual Energy System by Alex Grey

To illustrate the importance of fascia, let me use Dr. Brown's example. He said that our bones are surrounded by fascia like, shirt sleeves surrounding our arm. The fascia condenses down and becomes ligaments which then connects to the fascia of the next bone. The muscles are surrounded by fascia that condenses down and becomes tendons and connects to the fascia of the bones. The organs are surrounded by fascia and held by ligaments onto the skeletal, and continues to the bones. The brains cerebral cortex is surrounded by fascia and blood vessels.

Part of what Yoga does is it reorganizes the fascia, it moves the fascia restrictions to allow the energy to flow. Unresolved emotional trauma can get stuck in the fascia and creates fluidic restriction which can then blocks the energy and can cause emotional breakdowns. One of the purpose of yoga is to mobilize spinal joints, open the fascia and process an energetic charge release.

The physical body is the vehicle for the energy body. The physical aspect of yoga is to create alignment in the body through the postures to open the energetic channels so that this energy can flow freely. Ultimately, the purpose of yoga is to develop alignment of our energetic body to get to higher states of consciousness and meditation.

And I say amen to Dr. Brown when he emphasized that "The most important issue in yoga is not flexibility and ability to do difficult postures but awareness. Awareness of the body and of the breath and awareness of the anatomical and physiological principles that underlie each posture. From awareness comes control, from control comes grace and ease."