Birthday happiness and Kundalini Yoga in Siargao

Double happiness!! I'm so happy to be back in my favorite destination in the Philippines to celebrate my birthday and happy to share my current love which is Kundalini Yoga with special friends living in the island of Siargao. 

It was a perfect holiday! We started the day early with a two-hour kundalini yoga and meditation session led by yours truly and our host BFF Gai Olivares served raw food breakfast as we soaked up some prana. 

The theme of the three-day Kundalini Yoga workshop was to release inner anger.  The sets were quite intense and I was amazed that everyone was able to keep up. The workshop was designed to restore personal power and move through blocks to hopefully create some shifts in the short time that we were together. At the end of the workshop, they can speak from the heart with less fear and begin to forgive themselves for the past and look to the future with hope and positive energy. 

Susan, Aileen, moi, Feilani, Joie and our host Gai

I asked for some feedback and Susan B. wrote "Over the three days, Rosan took us through a process of acknowledging the emotion, ones that we all have repressed and provided us with a safe place to bring things to the surface. It was challenging at times but the release was very clear. We worked on opening the heart chakra and after the third class, I was able to openly communicate things to my partner that I had held back from sharing. I'm grateful to have had this opportunity and look forward to attending more classes with Rosan." 

Do you understand why I was so happy on my birthday? I'm finally being of service to others, elevating others. I've set this intention in the beginning of the year and I am grateful to be guided and witness my intentions come to fruition. 

Marcela, moi, Aileen, Caroline, Joie, Gai and Susan

Breakfast view

Ricky, TonTon, moi, Kitty, Gai, Lee and Malu

Of course the trip wouldn't have been a birthday fete without some R&R. Malu, Kitty, Jomi, Tonton and Ricky flew in to join. We went around Siargao and Malu and Nicolas played a round of golf.

The highlight was the boat trip to Dako Island onboard Lee's boat called the Galatea. Dako means 'big' in Visayan. The island is the biggest of the three islands in Siargao.

We were the only tourists on the island that day. Lee grilled some fresh caught fish and chicken and served salad, vegetables, pasta and fruits for lunch.

The trip was definitely special filled with laughter and joy. Happiness indeed and grateful to everyone especially Gai!

Onboard the Galatea

Naked Island

happy revelers

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