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

Every Parent Should Be Like Sark!

As a hands-on-mum, there are times where I find myself becoming grouchy towards my very challenging toddler. Thanks to Sark, I am reminded of how Santi really is... my little guru!

Click on image to enlarge

Shivvers. Just checked my mail and how timely too that Daily Om's gem for today is:

April 21, 2010
Learning to Follow
Little Gurus

When we approach children with the awareness that they are our teachers, we become more present ourselves.

As grown-ups, we often approach children with ideas about what we can teach them about this life to which they have so recently arrived. It’s true that we have important information to convey, but children are here to teach us just as much as we are here to teach them. They are so new to the world and far less burdened with preconceived notions about the people, situations, and objects they encounter. They do not avoid people on the basis of appearance, nor do they regard shoes as having only one function. They can be fascinated for half an hour with a pot and a lid, and they are utterly unself-conscious in their emotional expressions. They live their lives fully immersed in the present moment, seeing everything with the open-mindedness born of unknowing. This enables them to inhabit a state of spontaneity, curiosity, and pure excitement about the world that we, as adults, have a hard time accessing. Yet almost every spiritual path calls us to rediscover this way of seeing. ! In this sense, children are truly our gurus.

When we approach children with the awareness that they are our teachers, we automatically become more present ourselves. We have to be more present when we follow, looking and listening, responding to their lead. We don’t lapse so easily into the role of the director of activities, surrendering instead to having no agenda at all. As we allow our children to determine the flow of play, they pull us deeper into the mystery of the present moment. In this magical place, we become innocent again, not knowing what will happen next and remembering how to let go and flow.

Since we must also embody the role of loving guide to our children, they teach us how to transition gracefully from following to leading and back again. In doing so, we learn to dance with our children in the present moment, shifting and adjusting as we direct the flow from pretending to be kittens wearing shoes on our heads to making sure everyone is fed and bathed.

Is it mere coincidence? I think not! Wonderful to tap into my inner divine intelligence :) OM

How do you FLOW?

Sorry for the silence once again readers. I've been really busy shuttling from Palawan-Manila-La Union and back for the 2nd FLOW Surf Yoga Samba Weekend Retreat. Below are some sneak peek photos from our event.

Surf

Yoga

Samba

And how about you... How do you FLOW?

Become a fan at www.facebook.com/flowsurfyogasamba for updates on our next weekend.

Puerto's Best Pizza

If you are looking for good pizzas in Puerto Princesa, Neva's is certainly the place! I found out about this place through one of my yoga students, Kat. She described the pizzas to be the best in Puerto...

Gener & Kat: local Puerto lovebirds

And so we gave it a shot, and then another the next night because we couldn't resist those thin crust garlic and cheese oven toasted pizzas!

Garlic & Cheese and Seafood Pizzas

They also deliver but too bad I don't live within the vicinity of their delivery map..which is downtown :P

Neva's Place
Tel. 048-4332575
48-A Taft St. Puerto Princesa, Palawan

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