Reunited and It Feels So Good

I am back! I am back, I am back, I AM BACK!  I am back from a two-three month hiatus figuring what I am going to do with my life (stepping up my game that is whilst in the city), landing a good (corporate--uh yes) job and settling in it. Most importantly I am back on my mat (figuratively--my trusty midnight blue manduka prolite still sits patiently in my bedroom as we speak) and in my yoga homebase--Bliss Yoga Manila, and I enrolled myself just yesterday kicking off with a much much much needed Vinyasa Flow class!

Needless to say, recently I have fallen in love and opened my heart up to an unexpected fellow from another  sandbox and lately have met a little roadbump on the way (now thats either another blog, blog entry or nothing at all!) Last week I was called back to the practice through my bestfriend to sign up for a one week trial at her studio.  Now dont get me wrong, it was happiness to be back on  adho mukha svasana  and still finding strength (and a little more of it) on my bakasana too! It was in that first class after months and months of yoga absence I experienced the pure sense of joy that yoga brings. the emotional quotient how it could bring you to tears (prior the personal mini chaos) i had never experienced so much loving emotions whilst in yoga that had nothing to do with my personal life radiate from me that i teared up admist the sweat from the hot flow class--it was like my anahata awakened! Such timing is this yoga eh?

Albeit yoga can be enjoyed and practiced anywhere, in any studio--there is that one place that a yogini calls home. And my home I believe is Bliss Yoga Manila. I admit to have been absent in many different ways, returning myself to the practice through another studio had made me love my YHB (yoga homebase) more. I love how it feels like you are not there just for the physical aspect alone (i have gained 2 inches on my waist and I am confident I will be back into shape through yoga again) but for the whole spiritual nourishment that only yoga can bring in cascades. Bliss Yoga Manila in Makati (the original studio) has a charming, homely, best kept yoga secret in Manila feel that is more personal, dedicated and (--lack for a better word) sincere than most studios I have ever been to in the city. Its younger sister in Ortigas has little more of that modern chic touch to it, but both siblings bear the same yogi vibe you could ask for in a yoga studio.

It was the last class of the night with teacher Bianca and it was my first time to attend a vinyasa class under her lead. Not only is she gorgeous,I have to say her teaching style is tops! I not only felt my yoga inside and out and I felt that the rest of the class and myself were guided for the right reasons and to the right outlook as yoga practitioners. Just the way I like it. Right from my first uttkatasana I couldnt stop myself from smiling most of my way throughout the class. At one point Bianca called out to the class "why the serious faces? Its supposed to be a happy thing". Vafan! If they only knew, I was just dying to scream with glee how much of a grand time it was flowing from asana to asana and preparing my best for each with much gusto.

And so I sing and dedicate (as crazy as it seems--but if you have fallen inlove with the practice just like me you'll know what I mean) the classic Peaches and Herb hit "Reunited" to my practice, my yoga homebase, my mat, my garb, myself and to anything that simply deserves to be in "yoga". Truly when home calls for all things, it calls at a right time.

A Day On My Mat - 1

Now I wish I had started this at the beginning of the year, but maybe a week shy wouldnt hurt..

Each class is different from the other, regardless if its the same vinyasa flow or whathaveyou on any given time. More often than not yogis encounter quite often a lot of familiarity. same routines, the same asanas, the same teachers and students and (hopefully i dread not that anybody does the) same yoga pants?... And tonight I had a wonderful Power Yoga session lead by the very inspiring Roland Dela Cruz founder of Bliss Yoga Manila in Greenhills (my homebase). And "today's lesson" (for me) in yoga was never give up on yourself  when the going gets tough, whether i'm solid as a rock or wobbling like a canoe in the eye of a storm. What? How did i? Oh yes let me tell you how a pro beginner gets it done. hehe. It just felt like i was in much much coordination to send energy to all parts of my body down to my fingernails to keep myself in strength and knocking over.  But even on moments I fell off a pose, i  imagine breathing into every part of the human anatomy to haul myself back into position, empty my mind and focus on creating deep ujayi breaths. Yes breathe-- strong and steady breathing while keeping in good form will help see one through (something i had to learn the hard way!).

now my first date with yoga in the city (since i got back from living and practicing yoga in boracay) was with bikram yoga eastwood for a trial week. since then i had NEVER stopped sweating like a bitch at every yoga session sans the heaters! in present time sometimes it still secretly embarrasses me (a tiny tiny molecular bit)  when my teachers align me with their guiding hands while i stand/sit/lie/bend/kneel/twist there flowing like a faucet of sweat. :D

todays class had me pouring it out more than any other i had since 2012  had broken out and truly this rivermouth glazing allover me wasnt just going to stop my yoga session. as i was all about sticking it out not just because i have to or yes i wanted to kick ass. but somehow in my aspiring yoga teacher/student extraordinaire wannabe head of mine was that i believed i was built for it. like what jubei kebagami said in the anime ninjas scroll, "dont think just do". regardless of the provocative swaying, the occasional vertigo from pose after pose, the quaking muscles, strands of hair from a then neatly tucked bun straying everywhere. i still felt that i could do it and there i was, i did.

but before i can go on with this newfound cockiness, i could also be wrong and all that magic happening in there was simply from the fountain of powerful energy of a teacher leading the class that really inspired me to do it and to do it for myself and that it wasnt just me! or maybe the energy vitamin drink i was chugging down before class started to kick in (hello 711!). but whatever it was it had embed in me a solid sense of self that each and every soul is born with. a spark that sleeps within for the most of us (quite often in mine) and is in dire need of ignition. cherish and hone it, baby y'all got it! now what was it? yes, there it is-- inner strength.