Ugnayan

Maligayang pandaigdigang araw ng yoga. In english, Happy International Yoga Day! 21st of June, summer solstice, such a special day. This year I got to be part of Sanatana Yoga series of videos from forty people from different parts of the world to say what yoga means to us in our mother tongue. You can view this videos on their instagram page. I feel honoured to be part of this. 

In Filipino, I said Para sa akin ang yoga ay nagbibigay ng kalusugan sa katawan at nagpapalaya at nagpapalawak ng kaisipan. Tinutulungan ako nitong maging tunay sa aking sarili at mapagkalinga sa aking kapwa tao. Got that? Probably not. For me yoga gives vitality to the body and frees and broadens the mind. It helps me become real to myself and be considerate to my fellow humans. 

Yoga gives me that and a lot more. But with a 30 seconds allowance and knowing that there would be others I thought to keep it as short and sweet as I can. For me yoga has become and still is a healing practice. Healing of the body, the mind, the heart and the spirit. And it continues to help me grow as a person. I am forever grateful for those who have pursued this study which in turn also allows it to be available to me today. Like many, I started to practice yoga as a physical exercise, maybe not even that, it was more of a hobby or a distraction not to feel the pain of loneliness. And from teacher to teacher, I learned so much that I still use to my everyday life. I had very good teachers who in their best intentions wanted to impart to me that this could be so much. They showed me how to face my fears, they showed me how to breathe and how to notice my breath. They showed me the patterns that I wasn't even aware of and they showed me the patterns that I was aware of that I didn't want to admit. It was a very confronting journey and everyday it still is. It still hasn't been boring ever since. There is still plenty to work on. Sometimes it is scary work but it is also work I love doing because I know I feel better, I become better. I get closer to that something. Whatever that something is. 

Through and with yoga I learn so much, about myself, about others, about the infinite. Yoga to me has become more than just a physical practice. It helps me be kinder to myself and be more human. It helps me accept my human-ness. And it makes me want to be the best of what I can be. Of course I am not perfect. I am far from that. I get moody, I get angry, I get sad, I feel frustration. But I also feel happiness and lightness, I feel kindness radiating. Not all the time. But in these moments of clarity and simplicity, there is so much beauty. I also learned to take things more lighter and more than ever to laugh at my human frailty and enjoy that. 

It also shows me how much same we all are, same but also very different. But in a way, we feel the same happiness, we feel the same pain, possibly in different ways. But we all are human. Ugnayan. Yoga. Connection. We are all connected. In this connectedness we feel the same emotions. In this connectedness we can also be strong or weak.

I wish you all the happiness and health this world has to offer. May we all be happy and healthy and blessed. Thank you for sharing this yoga journey with me.

Love Always,
J