In reference to my recent post about my trip to Thailand, I now want to talk more about my yoga experience. My primary purpose was to attend an Ashtanga yoga workshop by Jon Cagas. He mentioned it to me months back and when I thought about it, the timing was good, I had never been to Phuket before, plus Phuket is just an hour away from KL. So I booked a flight immediately. You just gotta love low-cost airlines. Makes it possible for you to say, "Oh I think I'll fly over to Phuket to do some yoga".
The workshop was to be held at the Ganesha Yoga Shala, owned by Julie. Julie and Jon met in an advanced course in pranayama back in 2007. Julie opened the shala three or four years ago and have had regular students ever since. Most of her students signed up for Jon's workshop: Marieke, Andreas, Cindy, Margaret, and Sharrel(?). Jessica, who had been based in Pattaya due to her work in an NGO also signed up for the workshop. And me, of course. Not sure if I missed out anybody.
There were two classes, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. This was to make the workshop more available to everybody's schedule. I attended the morning classes so I was up and awake everyday by 6:00 AM getting ready for the Mysore style class, which I wasn't used to since I always attended Led classes.
It was really great to have attended this workshop. Definitely learned a lot out of it. Since I was attending mostly Led classes before this, I still didn't memorize the sequence of the primary series so I had to stop sometimes and ask Jon what was next. Now I guess I have most of it right. I also was able to go deeper in some of the poses I had trouble with such as supta kurmasana and marichyasana D. I still can't go into a bind all alone but at least, thanks to Jon's adjustments, my hands were able to touch. And in marichyasana D, my hands were bound together on one side. Yes! Those who are still learning these poses will understand how triumphant it can feel like when you get to go deeper into it. Then again, it was thanks mostly to Jon's phenomenal adjustments. To do it alone is a different story. Who knew I could twist and turn and bend that far until he adjusted me? Jon also worked on my backbends and dropbacks. Now I know exactly what to focus on when I need to stand up from a wheel posture. Thanks again Jon!
On the last day of the workshop, Luigi, a friend of Julie's, dropped by the shala to practice the primary series with Jon and Julie. Luigi has been practicing since forever and knew the series quite well. So I couldn't miss seeing that and made sure I had my camera ready. Good thing they allowed me to stay. How I wish I could finish the entire primary as well and live to tell the tale. Someday, maybe.
Attending this workshop was a great experience and I'll always be thankful that I didn't hesitate going there. I mean, think about it. I only knew Jon through this informal network of blogging yogis but never really knew him personally. I was going to travel alone and had never been to Phuket before. Plus, the expenses. I had good reasons to back out from the workshop. But I didn't. Some voice inside told me that I should go and I'm glad that I did because I had the greatest time in Phuket. I'll cherish this yoga experience and I can safely say that I have just begun a new stage in my yoga practice.
Namaste.
The workshop was to be held at the Ganesha Yoga Shala, owned by Julie. Julie and Jon met in an advanced course in pranayama back in 2007. Julie opened the shala three or four years ago and have had regular students ever since. Most of her students signed up for Jon's workshop: Marieke, Andreas, Cindy, Margaret, and Sharrel(?). Jessica, who had been based in Pattaya due to her work in an NGO also signed up for the workshop. And me, of course. Not sure if I missed out anybody.
There were two classes, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. This was to make the workshop more available to everybody's schedule. I attended the morning classes so I was up and awake everyday by 6:00 AM getting ready for the Mysore style class, which I wasn't used to since I always attended Led classes.
It was really great to have attended this workshop. Definitely learned a lot out of it. Since I was attending mostly Led classes before this, I still didn't memorize the sequence of the primary series so I had to stop sometimes and ask Jon what was next. Now I guess I have most of it right. I also was able to go deeper in some of the poses I had trouble with such as supta kurmasana and marichyasana D. I still can't go into a bind all alone but at least, thanks to Jon's adjustments, my hands were able to touch. And in marichyasana D, my hands were bound together on one side. Yes! Those who are still learning these poses will understand how triumphant it can feel like when you get to go deeper into it. Then again, it was thanks mostly to Jon's phenomenal adjustments. To do it alone is a different story. Who knew I could twist and turn and bend that far until he adjusted me? Jon also worked on my backbends and dropbacks. Now I know exactly what to focus on when I need to stand up from a wheel posture. Thanks again Jon!
On the last day of the workshop, Luigi, a friend of Julie's, dropped by the shala to practice the primary series with Jon and Julie. Luigi has been practicing since forever and knew the series quite well. So I couldn't miss seeing that and made sure I had my camera ready. Good thing they allowed me to stay. How I wish I could finish the entire primary as well and live to tell the tale. Someday, maybe.
Attending this workshop was a great experience and I'll always be thankful that I didn't hesitate going there. I mean, think about it. I only knew Jon through this informal network of blogging yogis but never really knew him personally. I was going to travel alone and had never been to Phuket before. Plus, the expenses. I had good reasons to back out from the workshop. But I didn't. Some voice inside told me that I should go and I'm glad that I did because I had the greatest time in Phuket. I'll cherish this yoga experience and I can safely say that I have just begun a new stage in my yoga practice.
Namaste.
Complete photos of Jon's workshop can be found on my Multiply.
2 comments:
Hey Ben, thanks for coming also. Was at Marieke and Bert's house this morning. Did massage on Bert and they gave me shopping money, yahoo!!! Can you send me the sailing photos via email? Yung web-size lang. Will just ask for the original size sa Manila. Thanks.
JON:
Sure no problem. I'll send them over within the week. Hahaha, pwede ka na mag tourist-mode sa Phuket! Bait talaga ni Marieke and Bert.
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