I am the Mad Hattee.: November 2011

This is my third week of Yoga practice and so far I am loving it. I enrolled myself in a month-long Yoga project with my good friend, Shiela, in the beautiful and quaint "wellness capital" of Oahu--Kailua. Not only is this place brimming with peace, it's literally very spiritual as almost every corner of the village has either a Yoga, Capoeira, Tai Chi and other martial arts/spiritual practice center designed for self-renewal and improvement. Kailua welcomes you to a picturesque, quiet little town with the most pristine beaches you may ever see in your lifetime, from Kailua Beach to Lanikai Beach--which are both constantly recognized among the ranks of the Best, Most Beautiful Beaches in the World found in the South Pacific.

The beautiful beaches of Lanikai and Kailua (Google Images)

By this natural occurrence, it only follows that people come here for their personal practices aligned with Nature and the Divine--that including Yoga, or in more specific terms, Beach Yoga.

My early commitment to Yoga was warmly introduced to me by the passionate people and spiritual conductors of the Mindful Matters Wellness Clinic (more popularly known as a Yoga center in Kailua) conveniently located inside the Kailua Medical arts Building. I was lucky enough to enjoy the benefits of Yin and Vinyasa Yoga, as well as the Yang Yoga--all of these in smooth, transitory variations that relaxed my mind and body while I focused on my breathing, bringing at the end of the day, an overwhelming sense of gratitude, of simplicity, or appreciation, for the Divinity that made me, as well as the connecting elements that complete me--the earth below, the air around, the sky above, and the water that quenches.

I love doing Yoga because it creates a complete attunement of my senses with essential points of my body without the complications of an overload of academic proportions and jargons only a medical degree could suffice for. It also tunes out all the negativity, tension, stress I have succumbed to at work, (I AM a workaholic) or have experienced across the inevitable occurrences between daily relationships.

I enjoy doing both Vinyasa Yoga and Yin Yoga, particularly because the former makes you do effortful exercises almost slowly and effortlessly, while the latter normally restores your strength from the strain of these exertions through relaxation. It is by far the most relaxing thing I have ever done in my life--with a purpose. I feel like a CLOUD! (Seriously, it tops any kind of pool wading, stargazing, or even 401 activities!--well, at least from my experience. Haha! )

Vinyasa is mainly composed of breath-synchronised movements that aligns your thoughts, spiritual release and physical body exertions in one whole cohesive effort that comes full circle with your focal point--the mantra that ties these all together. (my mantra was "love")--walang maisip! Bahaaa.

This technique can also be referred to as Vinyasa Flow, or Flow attributed to the smooth way that transitions the poses into a fluidity that almost resembles a dance.More commonly used movements herewith are Sun Salutations, Warrior poses, Planks, Chaturanga, and the Upward Facing Dog. And these we did, among others. In addition, most Yoga styles that employ the Vinyasa is the Ashtanga and Power Yoga.

What I loved the most about doing Vinyasa is the fact that I feel my poor posture corrected. In essence, the base component of Vinyasa is always alignment--there are main points in your body to check alignments with and all these are supposed to be intact--making sure your poses are correctly symmetrical with such points--and these help stretch my body in a healthy way, making sure my posture stands straight, corrected and at the same time it allows me to move gracefully into the right balance of the pose and be able to sustain it for the provided time frame. Endurance is also the key here, which I find as the factor mostly contributing to my sweating.

The very first session of Vinyasa Yoga I had was with my brilliant trainer, Heather Martz. (Oo, as in "Anuna, Martz?) Hahaha, cornyyy! But seriously, this chick is awesome. (wow, Tung moment) The first thing I noticed about her is that she has an incredibly cute tattoo on her right foot that spans just the top of her ankle to the beginning of her toes--and man, was I jealous. If my memory serves me right, it was of a fairly-sized paisley print, with an Aum inside it, with which the whole design was made up of bright, neon colors of floral and sun prints. Huhu, I only have one tattoo of an Aum on the upper part of my back, and already I thought it was "profound" enough, speaking of various faces of Divinity. Haha! but this one, man, is probably the most beautiful tat I have ever admired. :)

Heather Martz, Vinyasa Yoga
(www.mindfulmatterskailua.com)

Aside from her ink, Heather has an amazing story to tell of her journey through Yoga. As a native from Idaho, she started her commitment to Yoga after an unfortunate running injury that left damage enough to make her discontinue the sport once and for all. While no longer able to run, she found Yoga as a gentler exercise that helped restore and heal that damage that her previous accident had caused.

Come '08, Heather flew to The Bahamas to live on an Ashram for a month and learn the ways of Sivananda Yoga. Sivananda is a traditional yoga that makes use of lot of breath work (Pranayama) and chanting into its Asana classes. Shortly after her certification, she then began her career as a yoga instructor. In '10, she moved here in Hawaii and received a second certificate in yoga which gave her a stronger focus on alignment and adjustments, that which also was an integration of Iyengar and Vinyasa styles of yoga.

In our Yoga studios, different Yoga and relaxation practices bring balance of the mind, body and spirit

(www.mindfulmatterskailua.com)

Yin Yoga on the other hand, balances and neutralizes the tension within muscles from the daily grind of work, strenuous workouts and other powered movements. True to its name, Yin is what I call that white cloud of gentle relaxation that balances the Yang, which is its other Yoga counterpart that characterizes more exertions in movements--thus affirming the infamous balance of the Yin and Yang forces.

I love Yin Yoga because it reminds me that there is a time and space to relax the mind. As opposed to Vinyasa, Yin is all about gentle, slow, healing movements that justify for Yin's pseudonym, "Restorative Yoga." Restorative/Yin yoga is essentially practiced by people who have been through physical injuries, as it helps renew and restore muscle movement, and heals previous joint and ligament damage, if any. I am thankful for Yin Yoga because it makes me feel endowed with such a magnificent presence of relaxation, making you feel like you are a person very much deserving of a certain, precious space in time to reward your body with the rest, healing and peace it deserves. I literally feel my body stretch in impossible angles, but at the same time feel all my joints, ligaments and muscles lengthen in a way that I know is healthy for me.

During this practice, we normally do simple Inversions, Tree poses, Sleeping Swan and Crane poses.Yin employs poses that are held for a longer time frame (5 mins) compared to Vinyasa poses which can last at most, until a 45-second stretch. But all things kept in balance, Yin Yoga has less exertion and muscle strain that Vinyasa.

Overall, I love how Yoga is an exercise that inspires you rather than discourages you or strains you to move and exert too much pain for something that feels so unnatural. It's nice to know you're putting work into something that is actually purposeful beneficial, and spiritual, unlike the mundane, monotonous task of running on a Stairmaster everyday without your room changing views, except of the views you see upon surfing the telly while at it. While I find this too boring and unnatural, Yoga is nothing but natural and healthy, and it employs no expensive exercise machines that require regular preventive maintenance and replacement, but rather easy, useful props of light bricks, bolsters, blankets and a yoga mat. How low-maint could that be?

Yoga is all about attunement. Of life and the spiritual healing of breath, the art of bodily praise, the awareness of nature and the alignment of the consciousness to the Universe. When used with the right passion, these are devices for self-renewal, for spiritual enrichment, and ultimately--for PEACE.

I can't wait for my next session.

Upper left: Dr. Thomas Cummings, founder of the Mindful Matters Wellness Clinic, along with other instructors; Upper right: Dr. Cummings and his Tai Chi class; Lower left: Kids Yoga; Lower Left: Dr, Cummings, Yoga instructors and kids who practice Yoga. (www.mindfulmatterskailua.com)

Namaste for Yoga. Namaste to Nature.