FLOW: Farm, Yoga, Samba Weekend

September is a few days away and I'm so thrilled to be inviting you to our next FLOW event - A Farm, Yoga & Samba weekend retreat on September 22-23 at the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm in Bulacan, just 2 hours away from Manila!

The FLOW yummy mums have always wanted to hold a retreat in an organic farm because we love nature and expose our kids to natural surroundings as much as we can. Some of you know that I even moved to Palawan to start an organic farm with my family. Now that I'm back in Manila, I look forward to hosting events outside the city such as our next FLOW retreat :)

Some reasons why you should join our next retreat...

Bamboo Grass Palace for Sunrise Vinyasa Yoga

Meals will be served at the Grassroots Cafe

Interact with farm animals

Our retreats are kid-friendly!

Take a dip in the rain collected love pool

Walking Meditation

Natural green surroundings have the ability to relax our senses

Infinite possibilities for imagination, creativity

Learn how to make Theo & Philo chocolates

Wake up to greens and fresh air

Another shot of the Bamboo Grass Palace

Event Itinerary

Sept 22, Saturday

8-930am Arrival of guests at the GK Enchanted Farm

9:30am: Icebreakers
10-11am: Farm Tour
12nn: Lunch
2-3:30pm: Theo + Philo chocolate workshop
4:30pm: Yin Yoga
7pm: Dinner
8:30pm: Samba Bonfire

Sept 23, Sunday
6:30am -7:30am: Sunrise Yoga
8am: Green Smoothie workshop & Breakfast
10am-11am: Harvest time at Farm or other farm activities
12nn: Lunch
2-3pm: Back to Manila

Package rate per person is P5,500 which includes the following:

• Organic Farm Tour
• 1 Sunrise Vinyasa Yoga class
• 1 Sunset Yin Yoga session
• 1 Samba session with Escola de Samba de Manila
• Green Smoothie Workshop
• Theo & Philo Chocolate Workshop
• 2D/1N stay at the GK Enchanted Farm
• Meals & Snacks
• Flow Bag with freebies

Gather all your friends and join us for some nature fun! Register online here.

For more info on our retreats and events, check out www.flowsurfyogasamba.com, be our fan in Facebook, follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. 

Awaken The Healer Within

Come join us on our next exciting wellness retreat called "Awaken The Healer Within" with Yoga, Qi Gong, Kaikki Massage & Live Foods on July 15-17 and August 12-14, 2011 in Bahay Kalipay, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

An empowering wellness retreat to heal and transform yourself!

Learn different healing modalities in one supercharged weekend. Practice yoga to rejuvenate your body and mind, strengthen the immune system with the art of Qi Gong, relieve pain through Kaikki massage techniques and nourish your cells with live foods from the Raw Vegan Kitchen of Bahay Kalipay.

Package Inclusions:

-3 Yoga Classes
-2 Qi Gong Sessions
-3 Kaikki Massage Workshops
-An Introduction to Abhyanga Massage
-All Raw Food Meals
-Shared Accommodations
*airfare not included

Energy Exchange
Package Rate P8750

Retreat starts Friday 10am and ends on Sunday 4pm. Itinerary will be emailed upon registration.

Please email monica.eleazar@gmail.com if interested :)

Please click the like button on our facebook page Yoga Dance Retreats for more announcements on future events/workshops in Palawan :)

Abhyangaaah

Meet Tza. She is a friend and co-classmate from my Yoga Teacher Training last 2009 in Boracay. She recently completed an Ayurvedic Massage Course at the Sivananda Ashram in India. I am happy that she decided to come back to live in Bahay Kalipay to join the growing community of healers to practice her new healing modality- Abhyanga, the Ayurvedic Oil Massage :)

"It is nourishing, pacifies the doshas, relieves fatigue, provides stamina, pleasure and perfect sleep, enhances the complexion and the luster of the skin, promotes longevity and nourishes all parts of the body". 

I was one of her first bodies to work on with heated oil and all that jazz....and it was absolutely divine! I highly recommend her to all you massage junkies. Include a massage with Tza in your itinerary when you come to Puerto Princesa. To book, you may contact Daniw (0927-8786227) or Tza (0920396-8127).

Flowing River

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving through you

                                                     -Rumi

This photo was taken on one of the rivers of Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

The Bed

I have posted about the on-going construction and now I am about to show you the bedframe I commissioned my friend to make for our new home. Presenting the amazingly beautiful work by Gener Paduga, a Palawan native who is a furniture artist and a sail boat tour guide among many other things...and here is his exquisite creation made from ivory tiger kamagong wood which he dug up from under the ground. (an indication it will never be eaten by termites!)

What do you think? I absolutely love it. :)

Frank Chester in Manila

Thanks to Waldorf Mom, who just e-mailed me about this very interesting event by Frank Chester. At first, I declined because I thought I wasn't going to be in Manila. Then the universe paved some ways for me! A series of (un)fortunate events led me to fly in that very week.

 Click here for more info if the text of this poster is not visible.

God truly provides if intentions are good. I feel a wave of gratefulness :)

Earthly Pleasures

I am grounded.

Seedy Surprise!

I received a huge package today in the mail. I felt giddy, like a child opening a present from Santa Claus on Christmas day. But instead of getting toys...

...I get packets of seeds! Oh, what joy! Thanks to my new friend Beth who was generous enough to send them in from Manila for the Bahay Kalipay community and myself.

How I met Beth is an interesting story in itself. One weekend, I received a text from someone who wasn't registered in my phone's memory. She introduced herself to me, saying the following things:

A. She is a fan of my blog
B. She has a daughter about the same age as Santi
C. Is really stressed and needs a weekend getaway
D. Is on the airport en route to Puerto Princesa in an hour and hopes to meet me and my family

I thought to myself..."WHAT THE ?!"

Letter 'D' got me nervous because I'll have to meet a complete stranger. I wasn't even sure about this person's identity...was she for real? Is this a joke? A male stalker pretending to be a female?

After minutes of getting sucked in paranoia, I pushed all my worries aside and just went with the flow. Later that day, we met in Bahay Kalipay and I found out that she was a genuine person after all! Although we didn't grow up in the same social circles, we exchanged stories about our lives and saw that we had a lot in common. What I found most interesting is that she actually works for a seed company! Just when I decide to move to Palawan in pursuit of a greener life, I meet someone who actually deals with seeds for a living. Talk about the law of attraction!

Beth--Thanks again, sweetie! I promise to plant all the seeds in the farm with love and take pictures of the organic produce for you. Why, you can even have the fresh crops when you come over! ;) Here's a photo of us having lunch after our yoga class when you came to visit. I hope to see you in September for our birthday retreat!

XOXO,

Monica

A Crash Course on Soil

Day 1 of our much-awaited course in Natural Farming of Bountiful Harvest is over. Today, Simon Gill focused and lectured on Soil Management which is top priority when starting out on a farm or even a personal vegetable and herb garden. 

We all know that the SOIL cares for PLANT which cares for YOU....But who cares for the SOIL? Aha!

Current soil status all over Palawan (and other parts of the Philippines & the world I can imagine!) is acidic. He explains that people have been mining on the soil, depleting soil of their trace minerals through wrong practices like chemical fertilizers, wrong practices of slash & burn, etc. This results to having mineral deficiency in the crops, the food on our plates. 

 Simon is proud of his healthy organic corn crops

It's simple to remember this...when minerals in the soil goes down, diseases in humans and animals rises. Studies have also been made on nutrient content of our foods today- to get the same nutritional value of an apple back in 1940's, you will need to consume 4-5 apples. Hmm..I would've used a local fruit like saba (banana) or camote (sweet potato) as an example but maybe the study he was referring to was from the US.

Since we are on the topic of food, here's our nutritionally dense food for a day's work- A variety of delicious vegetarian dishes by Jinky Gill, Simon's wife. There was brown rice, a spicy kang kong dish, bean soup, veggie rolls, eggplant and okra. All came with their own yoghurt based dips which were all very tasty and good.

She also served us snacks like fresh coconut, mango shake and fried bananas throughout the day. 

 Mango shake with a lovely edible flower from their garden

Most of the ingredients used in all their home-cooked meals are from their farm, of course! Nothing but fresh produce. I look forward to next week's class because she promised us Indian curry dishes, oooh yummy! :)

Some scenes from the farm---

 One of their local farmers on siesta break from 1pm to 3pm

And we proceed to make the carbonized rice hull for soil conditioner

 

  

And some magic soil mix

I found natural LOVE formations on the soil, too!

M and I have agreed to make this our weekly bonding activity. Something we could do together without Santi. Think of it like a special eco-date :)

 Cheers to the future food farmers!

It's another affirmation and physical manifestation of our green intentions for our family and more importantly the next generation's future. Like Simon says... when the oil, rice and vegetable prices sky-rocket (and you know they eventually will!), you're food farm will be a gold mine!

Now, can you digest that? ;)

Bountiful Harvest
Brgy. Sicsican, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
Jinky Gill 0917-8492911

Full Moon Nesting

The energy of the full moon tonight is pulling me to make an inspiration board for our future home. As mentioned in a previous post, M and I will be making our biggest investment of our lives by purchasing land property here in Palawan. Finally, huge spaces & fertile soil to cultivate and create into a farm & home. It's nesting time once again!

Here are some images- design pegs & DIY projects that are on my to-do list for this nesting project.

I love these affirmations/inspiration found in Etsy. Hang these notes anywhere in the house or at your work space to gently remind you of what your real priorities are in life.

This is a modern DIY woven lamp from Poppytalk, one of my fave sites ever for all things beautiful & handmade. I've already challenged M to make some because the materials are all very simple and available at the hardware store.

[Going a little offtrack here, but...] Did you know that M makes the yummiest homemade peanut butter? "Better than Skippy!", he says. He's taken a liking into DIY projects too, and I want to package it just like these below for gifts or orders. Imagine all the products we can make from farm produce? Endless possibilities!

It would be nice to have some artworks all over the place. I must convince my older brother- contemporary artist, Gino Tioseco, to make more works for me! He was recently commissioned by the H20 Boutique Hotel to paint 40 pieces adorned all over their walls. Then again, Santi and I can always paint them myself.

I've always wanted a blue-hued spacious bathroom with my most coveted bathtub. So, here's one lovely photo of my dream come alive...

 And tiles made from this healing mandala pattern!

What crazy things do you do when the moon is full?

Tomorrow I shall post about our family's Full Moon Dinner and Moonbathing. For now, I need to sleep :P

Goodnight, Moon!

Nature's Alarm Clock

Choosing to live amidst a natural setting gives you delightful surprises each day. Here was mine one fine, chirpy morning...



This is the red-tailed squirrel, endemic to Palawan. There are sightings of them everywhere here especially during the early hours of the morning. According to my nanny, this is the female squirrel looking for a mate and communicating by its loud distinctive chirps. I hear that loud and clear!

The bantay (houseguard) of our landlady caught 2 of these creatures and caged them by his little kubo (hut). I take pity in them and a little voice in me wants to set them free. I read, after all, that they are already in the endangered species list. A clearer, close up photo with more info on their species here and here.

Living Green

One of the reasons why we moved to Puerto Princesa was so that my family can live healthier, gearing towards a more sustainable life. Quite a goal, but doable if you ask me. So many people have done it. Why can't we? Living away from the city chaos makes it so much easier. No traffic in the city saves you time. Almost no shopping saves you money. We have drastically decreased our shopping here because there really are no malls. Less shopping = less junk = less trash. That is environment-friendly too!

So, by living here in Palawan, we are saving time, money, the earth and our health. We live in one of the greenest places in the world. When it rains here, there is no flooding. All the trees and mangroves help suck the rainwater. Singapore maybe a first-world country but they recently got hit by the floods just like how Manila was when Ondoy happened. Makes you think twice about where to live, doesn't it?

And to make our lives even greener, M and I want to do organic farming. We are in the process of acquiring land in Bacungan which is 25 minutes north of Puerto Princesa city. The plan is to turn that place into our very own farm, eventually live there, eat our own produce and possibly supply neighbors too. But first, we need to educate ourselves and will start a customized 8-week course at Bountiful Harvest soon.


Meet Jinky & Simon Gill of Bountiful Harvest. They are one of the pioneers of organic farming here in Puerto Princesa. Simon of Bountiful Harvest was the consultant of Aloha House when they first started their operations. Both organic farms have been supplying the city (restaurants and individual homes) with their fresh organic produce every week. What I particularly like about Bountiful Harvest is that they deliver if your place is within their route. Another cookie point for the couple is that they are so friendly and very easy to talk to.

M and I are looking forward to get our hands dirty. We will be working on the farm all day from 9 am to 5 pm for 8 consecutive Saturdays. We have requested for a customized schedule because M has work during the week. The course fee is P800 per day per person which includes lunch and 2 snacks. You can imagine the meals to be healthy fresh from their farm. I have requested for raw vegetarian cuisine while M wants that organic pork on his plate! The course fee is very reasonable considering you will be learning survival skills that will be useful for a lifetime (and help the next generations too!)

This is where we will get our hands on training

The organic pigs M is dying to eat!

Goats raised up high so they can collect their manure for fertilizer

Stay tuned for more stories on the farm.

Bountiful Harvest
Brgy. Sicsican, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
Jinky Gill 0917-8492911

Yoga in Palawan

Click photo to enlarge

Finally, private yoga classes in Puerto Princesa, Palawan :) Practice yoga under the blue skies around my lush green garden. Hear the birds chirping & squirrels scurry about as we salute the sun together! OM Shanti

Oct 10, 2011 Update 
Sorry but I will be Manila-based again starting this month. If you happen to be in Manila, please check out the classes at Beyond Yoga in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

I hope to see you on the mat! Peace xoxo

Oil Pulling Therapy

Have you dared tried it? I've read up on this Ayurvedic practice long ago but the thought of gargling oil in my mouth did not sit right with me, let alone swallowing it. (This is why I never continued drinking VCO, I just couldn't swallow oil!) It turns out that you only swish the oil in your mouth and do not gargle at all.



Simplified instructions of this easy & cheap natural home remedy:
*Do this first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
* Use one tablespoon of any edible oil, preferably cold pressed VCO, and rinse in your mouth for at least 20 minutes. Sip, suck & pull through the teeth slowly.
*Make sure not to swallow any of the oil because this has already been contaminated with your body's toxins which you should NOT consume.
*The oil will turn from clear to yellow to white. If your oil did not turn white in color, that only means you didn't do it long enough.
*Wash mouth thouroughly after

Daniw and other residents of Bahay Kalipay swear by it so I was curious enough to try it for myself. Last week, I bought a bottle of local Palawan VCO (Virgin Coconut Oil) and started oil pulling everyday since. I only skipped those days I was in El Nido because I didn't want to bring the VCO bottle with me. Maybe if I continue doing this daily, I'll see results faster. For now, I can't really tell. But I'm sticking out with this because of all the health benefits listed below.

Dr. Karach lists these ailments which are alleviated by oil pulling:

* head-aches
* bronchitis
* tooth pain
* thrombosis
* eczema
* ulcers. (I do get some tummy pains so I'll watch out for this one!)
* diseases of stomach, intestines, heart, blood, kidney, liver, and lungs.
* cancer
* diseases of nerves
* paralysis
* prevents the growth of malignant tumors, cuts and heals them. (I've had surgery to remove a benign tumor before so I'm all for this benefit!)
* chronic sleeplessness

Now you might be wondering, HOW does it do that? Smart question, I've asked the same thing. After doing my research I found out that the tongue is mapped by organ-locations — that is, each section of the tongue is connected to the kidneys, lungs, spleen, liver, heart, pancreas, small intestines, stomach, colon, and spine. Thus, an oil-mouth-massage soothes and stimulates the key meridians where taste meets organ. It has an effect on our body's eliminatory system.

So, what do you think? Wanna give it a try? I'm continuing my oil swishing in the mornings while I check my emails for another 5 months before I give you a status report. By then, I expect to be in the pink of health!

photo credit: The Hindu Business Line

El Nido Escape

After a few weeks of living in Puerto Princesa, we finally took a much needed vacation to one of my dream destinations---El Nido! I finally can check this out of my MUST-see places before I die. We thought to ourselves, "We're already in Palawan, let's EXPLORE this magical island!" So, with the spirit of adventure, we reserved 2 slots in one of the public shuttles at P600 per pax for a one way trip. (Sonny 0920-5025797) They surely try to squeeze as many people there, up to 12-14 in a van! The 6-hour uncomfortable, bumpy

and dusty ride...

...is certainly worth all the dust in your throat & lungs and all other body pains in the end!
Santi sets foot on El Nido beach

Because of the good reviews on Tripadvisor, we first stayed in Marina Garden Resort which is conveniently located nearby all the restaurants and stores in town.

They only had one deluxe room available at P2,250 per night with breakfast for 2. This was an aircon room but then we realized that electricity on El Nido shuts off daily from 6am to 2pm. So much for noontime mango shakes!

For the next days we stayed in Makulay Lodge which we discovered right at the next cove, maybe a 10-minute walk from the center. This place is far more peaceful & private, away from the noisy bars at night with less people on the beachfront. Another PLUS is that the few rooms they have are cheap. Non-aircon rooms starts at P800 but we got the 2nd level room at P1,200 per night. This had its own balcony with a nice view of Cadlao island. Their restaurant recently opened too, serving fresh seafood set meals for lunch & dinner. Makulay is owned and operated by Englishman Del and wife Rose with their son, Likha. They live 200 steps on top of the hill. You can tell this place built with pure love :)
We really liked the ambiance at this place and I'm sure to be back again soon, maybe rent their hillside villa next time (P3,000 per night good up to 5pax) with a more stunning view of Cadlao island and Bacuit Bay. Likha tells me that the full moon and sunsets are best seen during the months of April and May. Hmmm...how about another trip then?
Since we are El Nido newbies, we opted to chose the 'Tour A' with Sea Slugs, the famous tour operator found at Sea Slugs Bar & Restaurant by the main beach. Our tour itinerary was Big & Small Lagoons, 7 Commandos Beach & Entalula Island. It costs P600 per head which includes lunch on the beach cooked by the boatmen. Menu: Grilled Chicken, Pork & Fish with vegetables & fruit. I loved our grilled lunch at Entalula beach & the fresh buko (coconut) at 7 Commandos. Montri and I didn't get to appreciate the lagoons much because we couldn't leave Santi on the boat alone. We took him with us in the water with much difficulty swimming with a toddler grabbing you for fear of drowning, hence no pictures from those spots with us :(

Santi, however, enjoyed the boat ride and the engine lulled him to sleep.








Of course, beach-side yoga make my trip complete!




I'm all beached-out & burnt now. How was your weekend? ;)