Yoga @ Discovery Bay

It's been almost 2 years since I started teaching in DBay. It has been both rewarding and challenging. Funny how it all went by so fast....

My studio in Chianti, DBay

I remember holding free classes to the disfavor of my teacher. He thought I was doing myself a disservice. But I needed to get things rolling. I wanted to teach no matter what. So I tested the water in DBay by holding a couple of free classes. 


I posted on the forum and got some people in. I also got some nasty comments from people who were students of another teacher. Very mean. 


I also designed flyers using my very limited computer skills.

Circular Flyer

Anyway, I didn't care about the negative comments and just kept things going. 
I was scared but I just kept going.
After a while, I started regular classes, which became a 4 times a week thing. Of course I also started to charge money. 
I was finally making some money! 


Over the months I met a lot of people. Some stayed, some moved on. 

Teaching in DBay taught me a lot of things that I never learned in school or learned in my yoga training. It was not easy in the beginning because I treated everything so personally. In some ways the process was an awakening. You need to be business savvy to keep teaching. It wasn't all about chanting, breathing, lotus flowers, or putting yourself on sale. So I learned. I applied.

Uttanasana

I love sharing yoga to other people. And all these people who came to my class, I learned from them too. Good or bad. Now I understand that teaching isn't a one sided stage. Energy is shared both ways.

Since I moved out of Dbay to live in the city, I can only manage to hold classes there once a week. I have been renting space in the community center, and because of this, class time has become more precious. I make sure my students come and leave with a sense of achievement, glee and soaked in sweat. Heehee!

For my students in Discovery Bay, thank you and keep practicing!

Surprise Yourself

I'm having a great year so far. My family here in Hong Kong and in Cebu are all healthy, and when you are healthy you can do a lot of things! A lot of positive things!

This year, I decided to go back to school, and no, it's not a yoga school. Although I am still attending yoga workshops and retreats to hone my skill as a student and as a teacher, I felt it was time to move on and learn something completely new. I enrolled in an interior design course. 

I am loving it! Even though in the first few weeks of the course, I was so lost and confused, having nightmares and losing sleep, I managed to find my footing. 

Baby steps. 

It's like attending my first yoga teacher training. I was sooooo lost. I just sat there, mouth hanging open and wondering what the hell the teacher was talking about??? 

Vatta, pitta, yama, samadhi, 8 limbs (I thought we only have 4!).... It was just too much. 

Baby steps. No shortcuts. 

I know it's still too early since the course is 2 years long. But hey, I am open to learning. Like anything else , I need to put in a lot of time. And look at this!!!

Who knew I can draw?!

Not me. That's for sure. I seriously surprised myself by drawing this vase. It took more than 5 hours in 2 separate sessions to finish it. But I finished it! 

It gave me back pain. But I finished it. 

I drew a freaking vase! 

Booyah!

I am busier than ever balancing teaching, practicing and completing assignments. But I know I can do it.

 

Surprise yourself. Do something that scares you.

The Pom Mobile

Pom Pom has been with us for 7 months now. He has grown significantly and so has his attitude. He's very frisky, zipping around the house with his feline brother, Jack. I sometimes forget that he only has 3 working legs. He's really fast!

He gets his strange behavior mostly from emulating his big doggie brother, Barney. One thing's for sure, they both love food.

One thing that I find very problematic about Pomster is that he is still not housebroken. We walk him 3-4 times a day and use positive reinforcement, and even the odd slap on the butt, and still!!!
He's a fast shitter. Sneaks a shit when you turn your back even for just a second. 


Then one day Larry did something fantastic! 

Bucket + Pom = Pom Mobile!

So simple, it works. 


Now first thing in the morning, we put Pom Pom in the bucket so he can't sneak a shit while we get ready for work. 


He quietly stays in the Pom Mobile and holds his pee and shit until Ludy arrives to walk him. 


Holy jumping jellyfish Pomster!

Happy New Year

2010 went by so fast like it was on speed. So many things happened yet I am still where I'm supposed to be - writing this blog. Heehee. 


In 2010...

I learned a long kept secret about my dad. 

We moved to the city. 

My cat Frodo died after a 10 month battle with kidney failure. 

Went to Saigon for a retreat.

We adopted Pom Pom. 

We adopted Jack.

Started building a house in Cebu. 

Sold our flat in Tung Chung. 

Enrolled in a course about design. As you can see I have no photo to prove this. 

Kept teaching and practicing yoga. 

Completed the house in Cebu. 

Went to New York. 

And now it's 2011. 

And I just came back from teaching my first yoga class this year.

I enumerated all of these things down like it was so easy. Like it was a montage. When you look back, life is indeed a montage. You piece memories that are wonderful, hurtful or plain mundane into a file where you can easily pick and dissect life lessons, gossip, happy or sad memories. Life is wonderful if you allow it to be. 


Happy New Year everyone!
Keep living!

Jump!

Been practicing on finding lightness on the mat and in my life for as long as I can remember, especially for the latter. Lightness on the mat means I need to get in touch with my bandhas more. Lightness in my life is the opposite, I have to let go. 


When I was younger I remember that I loved collecting emotional baggage, wallowing in my own whiny world with a bottle of red or whatever bottle I can find that'll give me a temporary buzz and an interim amnesia. Being an "emo" made me look mature and cool - or so I thought. 

Getting in touch with my uddiyana bandha as I practice jumping back. As you can see my gut is still hanging-heehee!

As I got older, I had glimpses of undefinable brightness in my mind and heart, and whenever I feel this, I feel "light".
The more I let go, the lighter I feel.
The happier I become.
Joy.

The quiet, light feeling that I had before jumping out of the plane was unfathomable.

In my yoga journey, I tend to get frustrated and impatient when things don't go the way I want to. Then I self doubt. Then I tighten my bandhas like a crazy woman. If there is a bandah in the mind, believe me I've tightened that one too until the circulation in my brain ceased.
Then I stop practicing.


Lately though I've learned to love myself and others more. Then the joy returned. I applied it in my life and brought it on the mat with me. 
Lightness followed.


It's not easy being a good person. Not easy to be a devoted, hardcore yogi. 
I'm trying everyday.
Bringing joy to both my life and my yoga journey sure does make it easier, lighter.


Makes it easier to jump.

Goating Around

Goats are cute. They're even cuter when they are still babies. They run towards you like dogs and ask to be carried. They nibble on your fingers and chew strands of your hair. They bleat the cutest bleat, and hop the cutest hop. 

These two goats here are just two weeks old. Lotte and I were trying to make them kiss!

Then there's Uno.....
Uno is the alpha male. He's the billie buck of the farm. He is larger than the rest of the goats with an attitude to match! That is why he is tethered on a fence. 

Then he did something very peculiar... He peed on his face!!!
WTF!
How did he do it, you may ask? Well, here is the photo.

The funny thing was after the peeing on the face thing, Jessie went over to Uno to touch his head, and he was like, "How come your head is wet?"
Hahahaha!


Uno's gross!

Concrete Love

Playing with concrete is fun, but not to people who actually needs to make a living building houses. That's why when I asked the man working on this piece of wall if I could borrow his tools and started splattering wet cement on his piece of wall, he wasn't too thrilled. Heehee.

But I can't help myself. It looks like great fun.

I gave it a go. Feeling so proud of myself slathering wet cement and smoothing it out on the wall. It takes  technique with a certain flick of the wrist to get the wet cement stick on the wall, which obviously I don't have. Most of the wet cement ended up on the ground....

After a while I realized that this was hard work. Not fun at all - duh!

But I have to keep going because I started already with such glee and enthusiasm. 

Slather.

Smooth. 

Slather.

Smooth.

Uummm....Is it okay I give this back to you? My arms and shoulders are quite tired. *Sheepish smile*

Where most of the wet cement ended up - the ground and my feet.

I'm not sure what these are, but I thought it was a good contrast with all these grayness. 

Come to think of it, it's probably an ingredient for some kind of soup the workers are making.

END!

One of Those Days

Woke up today feeling blah. Felt out of sync and full of inertia. Got my ass out of bed and made me a cup of Nespresso and peanut butter jelly toast. Sat myself on my new spot and wondered whether I should practice.
So I checked my emails. Emails galore!
Facebook galore!
Reply.
Post.
Comment.
Asked myself again whether I should practice.
So I played with my pets.
Heehee.
Hahahaha.
So cute!
Cuddle, cuddle....
Throw ball.
Asked myself again whether I should practice.
Finally I took my mat out and grudgingly changed into my yoga gear.
Okay, let's start with Sun salutations.... Damn so stiff.
Now let's do sun salutation B...... OMG, I feel so heavy.
Flowed like a semi-stagnant river until I managed to finish the standing sequence and from there my practice took off.
Since I had a punishing start I told myself to practice things that are punishing, asanas that I really, really, really don't like.

And so I did Vasisthasana variations 'till my arms trembled.

Then I did Urdhva Danurasana until my back yelled at me.

And more.

Afterwards I felt good. Happy that I decided to practice. Then it was time to focus on my tummy. I was hungry. Gobbled down a bowl of nice cold soba.


Yeah, it's one of those days.

Cootie

We have a new member in our recently diminishing family. 
He's white and fluffy and hops around on three legs. 
He's sweet and soft and loves to be cuddled. 
He swims in his water bowl and shreds paper to bits. 
He loves food and always over eat 'till his tummy hurts. 
He's the new cootie in Barney's life.....

Eeeewww..... GROSS! Don't touch me you little cootie!

Well, we can't have everything.
We can't always be the baby in the house.
Barney's learning how get along with Pom Pom, and it's not easy. Kudos for Barney for being tolerant! Love is back in the house!
Gotta love the new cootie!

Funny...

Funny where life take us. 
Life took me to many places and now I am in Hong Kong. 


Funny how our jobs consume us and how we identify with it. I used to be a flight attendant and when I quit that job I was lost...
Now I'm teaching yoga and wearing lycra everyday.

Funny how I used to love the sun and not be bothered by it, to the point that even the back of ears got sun burned.
Now I slather SPF on my face and hide under patches of shade.

Funny how I love getting wasted.
Well, sometimes I still do.

Funny how I used to love the feeling of having my SCUBA gear hug my body.
Last time I went diving, I felt claustrophobic wearing it. 

Oh, just funny.... 

Goodbye Frodo

It's been three weeks since Frodo passed away. I finally had the courage to write a little about it here in my blog without being too sad. 

My baby boy died after a long battle with chronic renal failure. He was put to sleep on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The weather that day reflected my feelings and more. It was difficult to get through the day. I was difficult that day, and Frodo was in a lot of pain. I don't even remember how I managed. 


He was only 4 and half years old. I miss him terribly....

Okay, I thought I wouldn't be too sad. I lied. I can't even see the screen as I'm typing this. He was the sweetest cat... 

Frodo, you'll be missed. I love you.

Banana Thief

Our adorable dog did it again. He stole, more like grabbed a banana, skin and all, during breakfast. And I have to say he was fast! 

You see that this is his favorite fruit. He will zone in and block out all things around him, so he can have a glimpse of the most precious yellow fruit god has ever created, and hopefully have a morsel of it too.


Beware. The images you are about to see are quite graphic. Please brace yourself.

The thief was caught red-handed! 

The thief vehemently struggled for freedom with his plunder.

The thief resigned to the fact that he was in BIG trouble.

Yep, he got spanked and detained in the bathroom for a couple of minutes after the last shot was taken. And my dog being an asshole, shitted in retaliation to his uncompromising owners. 

Oh, how I love my dog!

House Warming

Oh, the city! Oh, the beautiful city! I'm finally here and I'm loving it! 


A couple of days before Chinese New Year, kindred spirits flocked to Wan Chai, preferably to my new digs in the city for a house warming party. And boy was it warm! Just look at what I was wearing!

Winky feeding me with her giant chopsticks.

The ladies came prepared and brought a lot of yummy food. This was after experiencing being fed by yours truly canned artichoke and bottled pesto at a certain birthday party not long ago.

My make shift dining table was brimming with beautiful fruits, scrumptious cold cuts, bubbling cheese and chocolate fondue, divine croissants, and exquisite red wine. I was pretty much eating non-stop for several hours, oh and drinking as well. More on that later!

Proud, shiny faces! Winky hoovering non-yogic food!

It was a great afternoon, thanks to the never-ending chatter these girls were making. The stories were endless!  But the story that stole the show was....... 

Listen! 

The tale of the yogini who wanted her money back

Wendell and Lizzie came around dinner time, after which the house warming was taken to the street and onto a bar for bar warming, where we consumed more intoxicating drinks and danced, more like hopped to band's energetic songs. Too bad Wendy and Lizzie went home early.

Wendell and Lizzie. Love hunters.

Ah yes, life is good. 

Even better with good friends, yummy food and firewater!

The Move

For the longest time I have always wanted to move to the city, to Wan Chai specifically. Now we are finally here! It took 5 years, two homes in Lantau, many animals and tons of accumulated furniture before the fortuitous event finally happened.

My parents were in town when the move took place. They were very helpful, but at the same time drove me crazy. The other already crazy family member, Barney, was on the other hand quite happy. Food was falling from the heaven and my mom was  his God. Barney relished all the attention and the food so much that he started having that crazed look in his eyes and started misbehaving... again! Barney! OFF!

He peed and pooped in the house because he was literally full of food. Mama thought he's such a poor thing and that he's always starving. Mother! OFF!

The over-feeders and the dragon dog.

On the day of the move, amidst all the spectacle, poop and pee, Frodo was quite relaxed. Sita on the other hand was M.I.A. The movers swooped in with their brawn and bubble wrap, and commenced dismantling our worldly possessions and carted all the boxes which contained pieces of stuff that represent our material life.

I love boxes!

It's been 6 days and my helpful parents flew back home. The apartment in the city is finally quiet and feels settled. The cats all adjusted quite nicely and Barney has been spanked and put back to his place in the hierarchy - bottom. 

New adventures are looming. Now to get back into the groove.....