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Yoga for Introverts

Introverts are often misunderstood as shy, soft-spoken, aloof, distant, anti-social, or even worse, arrogant. Introverted people do love to socialise with their tribe, and if they must, occasionally with people they are not very comfortable with. They do, however enjoy solitude, they love their alone time. Alone doesn’t mean lonely to them, it means, well, they are on their own, and sometimes they need it to recharge. I’m a proud introvert, and I relate so much to the definition above. 

Yoga asana practice, on it’s early days used to be a quiet space to recharge, a sanctuary. You have your own mat, your own little space, you walked into a quiet studio, you just simply smile and nod, practice, breathe, move, feel good, and you’re done. Nowadays, from what I’ve noticed, the trend have shifted a little bit (well, maybe a lot), the vibe of the space is less ‘quiet’ and more chatty, people are so busy on their phone 1 minute before the class started, (maybe making sure that they have “checked in” into the yoga studio), and maybe do selfies if there’s time. Are busy city life has seeped in into the yoga studio? I don’t know.. 

This phenomenon are seeping into the teaching style as well. During class, I noticed the pace of some classes I attended are quicker too, the teacher talks more, God forbid if there’s a gap more than 10 seconds. Breathing are more like panting, and some teachers sounds more like motivational speakers. In festivals, the most crowded classes are the ones with the words “handstands”, “inversions”, “core”, or “arm balance” in it, usually conducted by teachers with hundred thousands of Instagram followers. The actual ability of the participants who can actually do it, is irrelevant, there’s usually one or two people who could demo it, got a round of applause, while others took pictures. The most important is, they did the class, took some photos, hastag it, took selfies with the celebrity teacher, and voila! You’ll guarantee to have many likes. Maybe the rise of extroverted yoga classes has something to do with Social medias too? I suppose.. 

As an introvert, I don’t like being introduced against my will to strangers, or have people I don’t really know touching my body. Thats why I dreaded partner pose. I’m fine if the teacher do adjustments on me, because they know what to do, but fellow student’s, well not really. Especially in a festival setting, where some people have done 4 classes in a row, and they sweat heaps. Puh-lease don’t try and partner me up! That’s all I have to say about partner poses. I never do it in my class either, or if I do, I make sure that everyone knows everyone long enough that they are comfortable with each other’s sweaty body. 

Too much extraverted qualities has cost yoga to lost it’s sense of contemplative, and meditative qualities. Now, it’s more about who can do the craziest pose, the highest inversion, nailing the handstand challenge, who goes to what festivals. It’s more about projecting outside, not inside, which is the antithesis of yoga’s main goal; to study about the “self”. Projecting outside does nothing about self awareness, it just makes you feel more self conscious. I often found; mostly in bigger group settings that people are constantly looking around the class, checking other people’s poses, or (true story!) checking on his/her phone app what music was on the the teacher’s playlist. I think it’s time to really bring the “pratyahara” (directing the awareness internally), “dharana” (concentration) and “dhyana” (meditation) qualities back into our yoga practice. Especially if you are a teacher, you have more responsibility to carry on the legacy. 

However, it’s not all that bad though, the extraverted qualities connects people, bring a sense of community, fun, and warmth to the space too. Kind of reminded me not to take everything too seriously, and I can just laugh it off if I stumble on my words, or barf in my class (it happened, I was 2 months pregnant). It’s all about keeping the balance. 

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dharma yoga for Nepal, a Bogor Yoga Community event at Natura Yoga, in the end we raised 5,5 million rupiah, Namaste everyone 🙏🏼🙏🏼

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May timetable, afternoon class on Wednesday 5PM 💙💜

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Natura Yoga Timetable February - March 2015 

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If you don't have a yoga rope at home, you could use a strap and door knobs :) This version of downdog is good for students who have wrist issues; to lessen the pressure on the wrist and to rebuild the strength and flexibility. 1. Make a loop with your strap, make sure it's big enough to be wrapped around the door knobs, and you can step into it. 2. Test it out. Pull as hard as you can, use a door stopper if you have one so the door doesn't move when you step into it. 3. Step into the belt, and wear the belt on your hip crease, not around your tummy. 4. Go into a forward bend, bend the knees if you have too. 5. Place your hands on the floor, slowly making your way into downdog, walking your hands forward and your feet back. 6. Enjoy your downdog. You can play with how much weight you want to put on your hands by leaning slightly forward and backward.

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New Moon Yoga

 (a.k.a first day period yoga when your tummy is super cramp, Bloated, and your back feels like it's about to break, but you have to teach yoga anyway J ) 

 1. Stretch - your legs and back, here I've done a full an hour and a half class, so I'm good to do full forward bend. But if you haven’t start slow, maybe start with a downdog, and slowly walk into forward bend.

 2. Open twist - do an easier version of twist, or the counter twist, skip deep twists. Gentle twist will release the back muscles, it also help to alleviate the sore back and the cramping.

 3. Restorative twist - Grab a bolster, sit on one side of your hip, and slowly walk over to your bolster and lie your chest down on the bolster, don’t forget to do the other side.

 4. Child's pose on the bolster - put a sandbag on your lower back, or better yet get someone to give you a back massage.

 5. Rest in supta badha konasana or reclined butterfly, lie your back down on the bolster, soles of the feet together, knees wide open. This pose will relax the hip, opens the chest area, and increase circulation to the hip and pelvis. 

 6. Make yourself a mug of hot chocolate it cures everything!

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What I learned after 28 days of Meditation Practice

Lately, I have become more conscious -and anxious, that there is one thing missing in my yoga practice. Meditation. I didn't do any of it on a daily basis, I only done a few on workshops, and I must admit, I wasn't embracing it. I only enjoyed a couple of guided meditation sessions with Swami Pujan from Byron Yoga Centre. So, this year, I resolved to do a challenge from wildmind, a year of going deeper, starting from 1 January 2015. Here's what I've learned after I meditate regularly for almost a month:

It ain't easy

It started out easy, with breathing awareness meditation, and quite short, to get used to sitting still. But once I get passed the 15 minutes mark, I started to get irritated, anxious for it to finish, and even peeked a little bit. (I saved it to iTunes, I peeked to see the bar). My back starts to slump, and my head nods a little. But sticking with it, I must! Some days are easier to concentrate than another.  

From 20+ days onwards, we continued with loving kindness meditation, where we wish happiness, wellness, and ease for ourselves and others (a friend, a neutral person, a person you dislike, and all beings in the whole universe). we did it in stages, day 1 we started with ourself; day 2 ourself,and a friend, etc. Hitting day 3, I started feeling nauseous, sick in my stomach. I was struggling to wish my "arch enemy" well and happiness. Apparently, this physical sensation is quite normal, the next day, we got an email, that the solar plexus/manipura chakra is the centre of likes and dislikes. 

It makes me more appreciative of silence

In this modern world, silence is a luxury. A space, a gap in conversation considered awkward. Social media, as much as they are very useful to connect people; makes us very hard to disconnect with others, and to connect with ourselves. The other day, when facebook, and instagram server broke down for an hour, it became a huge news online. The place I live now, unfortunately is super noisy, you can't hardly hear birds anymore in the morning, and when there is a rare silent moments, its like a sigh of relief. 

Just like yoga, don't expect instant results, in fact do it without any expectation

this poster says it all.. 

However, I started to see some result.. :)

The other day, someone walked in into the class when we're about to settle into savasana, she knocked on the door. I already told her to wait, but she told me off, and tell me I was rude, she was about to ask some information about yoga classes, and I run out of flyers. (note: print out some flyers). I was caught off guard, embarrassed as it happened in the class, and it kills the relax vibe I tried to built. I got so nervous, my voice tremble a bit as I guide my students into savasana, I tried to breathe into my stomach, like the breathing awareness meditation taught me, and send her a wish of peace, happiness, and ease. Its not smooth sailing, I grit my teeth at first, I was pissed for sure, but I tried not to refuel the anger, as my students didn't pay me to get angry energy from me. So, I thought whats the point? When I got out, she already left. Oh well. 

When I feel overwhelmed, stressed out, I'm not repressing it, I tried to stay and sit with it. I was feeling unwell, again, I catch another cold after cold, after a month, and I started the rumination in my brain. I did all the right thing, I ate my fruit and veggies, I meditate, which supposedly increase the immunity, and I do yoga. I deserve to be healthy, I, I.. I.. all the "I's" so self centred. At one point, I thought, stop being a victim, so I breathe, again, and did the loving kindness just for me, because I had to leave. I calmed down, and felt better. Because happiness, wellness, and ease are not always easy to achieve; despite all the efforts I did, sometimes life is just unfair. But, life is unfair to everyone, so it is kind of fair. ;)

looking forward to the second month..!

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Sometimes, when disasters, tragedies happening around us, every day, it can feel overwhelming. Suffering in the world seems.. endless.

You might feel a little bit down, helpless, depressed, confused, and sad for those people affected. You wanted to help comfort the children who lost their houses, yet at the same time you have commitments, your own children who needs your presence, for example. 

And then you pray, you hope and wish for their suffering to lessen, so they can find happiness again in their life. But then you asked, is it enough?

So then you give a little to charities, or you go to a charity events like "108 sun salutations yoga" or "yoga mala" and you asked again, will it make a difference?

Well, look at the number of teachers who joined the cause, and the number of participants who came (despite the rain ;)  )

We're very proud to report that we raised more than we expected, we donated the money to a school on Banjarnegara to build a library that ruined, its a pleasure to hear as library is my favourite place :)

I can proudly say to you now, that yes, you can make difference

Thanks to yoga Mix, Bogor Yoga community, Komunitas yoga gembira, Yoga tree Sentul, all the teachers, all the participants, and everyone involved.

"May all beings be happy and free of suffering" 

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November, epilepsy awareness month.

This post is dedicated to epilepsy patients around the world. Keep on fighting, don’t lose hope.

It all started around May last year, I was in backseat of a car, waiting, suddenly I hear a loud ringing noise in my ear, I rested my back on the seat, I...

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Random Things From the Mat, Scorpion Pose

I’ve been so scared of scorpion pose, because in the past, when I was still practising ashtanga yoga, I would do a handstand, and the teacher would flip me over into a wheel / backbend. It didn't hurt, but the sensation I get, the tingling feeling; like pins and needles all over my body, and the disorientation, the rough landing, was something I really hate.

Last weekend I went to a workshop with Sianna sherman, and the last pose, of the last day was none other than this particular one, scorpion pose. Yikes.. i thought, "I’m sooo not doing it..!" glancing over to my partner in the class that doesn't seemed to be excited about it as well. But then I looked around.. some people are doing it against the wall, in the middle of the room, with all the energy they have left, I'm thinking, well, I’m feeling very safe and comfortable in a handstand with my partner, so today might be the best day to try. So I did. I went upside down, claw my fingers, and bend over backward, trying to bring my feet closer to my head. I didnt know how far down I got, I couldn't feel my feet on my head, but it felt okay, I didn't fell over backward. At least the fear is gone, which is the most important thing. Yesterday, I gave it another attempt, by myself, against the wall. Still a long way to go from free balancing, and touching my toes to my head, but I’m enjoying the journey.

XO Amanda

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Another Event By Bogor Yoga Community, Yoga Medicine Workshop

I can testify for myself, that yoga has a great healing potential, more than any other exercise. Yoga helped me deal better with my illness, epilepsy.

Mentally, it helped me come to term, and accept my diagnosis more easily. it still hard, but it soften the impact. Because of yoga, I can turn it into something positive, instead of dwelling in negativity and self-pity, I decided to pick myself up, and rise, slowly. 

Physically, yoga helped me to stay fit, increase my lung capacity; which increased oxygen level to my brain. I recovered quicker after a seizure, and bounced back to work the next day. I believed yoga and breathing exercise has helped me to prevent aura turned into full blown seizure too. 

I can go on and on, but I wont bore you out. Find out how yoga can heal. register yourself to yoga as medicine workshop. You can register at Martasya Yoga, Natura Yoga, or to bogoryogacommunity@gmail.com.

XO Amanda

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I just realised that I haven't posted photos from Bogor Yoga Fair here..!!

that is not on. here they are :)

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The Many Benefits of Kids Yoga

Every Sunday morning, around 10.30AM, there’s a loud music coming from the studio. Unlike the usual soft, relaxing new agey stuff, it’s the kind of music that makes you want to dance. No, we don’t have an after yoga party; although that would be a great idea, there’s actually a kids yoga class running.

If you take a peek inside, the class taught differently from the regular yoga class, the mats are arrange in circles, and the kids are encourage to bark during the dog pose, hiss in cobra pose, and roar loudly in lion’s pose.  Sometimes, they also run around, dance to a song, sing, and instead of sun salutations, they have a sun dance. When adults or parents see the class they might have think that they’re not doing yoga, but they actually are, and there are so many benefits practicing yoga regularly for our children.

Benefits of yoga for every age group, in a nutshell

Yoga offers so many benefits to children of every age group. For the little ones (4-6 years old), they are already naturally flexible, they engage well with storytelling. Here, yoga improves gross motor development, and they also learn about different types of animals, since many yoga poses are named after an animal. They can also learn about the habitat of the animals, and how we should take care of the nature. The older children (7-9 years old) are usually fare better in following instruction, they physically benefited from yoga in strength, endurance, agility, and cooperation. Entering teenage years, when their body continues to grow, yoga creates a safe place to thrive, while connecting to their peers. Mentally, yoga also buffers teenage years, that can be rough for some, it allow children for self-study, improve their intrapersonal skills, and communication skills.

  Yoga improves children skills holistically

 Kids yoga are taught differently to honor the way children learn. Children’s brain is still developing, and they want to explore, and soak up as much information as possible with all their senses, that’s why they are so active. Kids yoga class helps children to improve their 8-intelligence skills; linguistic, logical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skill.

Yoga reduces stress level

Kids’ world can be as busy and stressful as adult’s world; pressure from school, friends, competitive sports, after school activities, homework, last minute dinner, sleep deprivation, etc. This can lead to increased stress level, overactive sympathetic nervous system, and lowered immune system. Children can get sick easily, and miss school days, which leads to more stress, because they fall behind their lessons, and then they have to study harder; this can be a vicious cycle. Research shown that schools that included stress management program in their curriculums performed better compared to schools that doesn’t. Yoga is a holistic approach to manage stress by providing students skills to manage stress using physical postures (asanas), relaxation, and breathing techniques (pranayama).   A non-competitive vibe of a yoga class also offers a sanctuary to play, and experience without worrying about winning, losing, or being wrong. 

Yoga Increases self-esteem

Again, the non-competitive nature of yoga class encourages children who are usually shy, or picked last in sports team play to be more active. Kids yoga class is not about doing a pose perfectly, and children are often done asanas in groups or pairs to connect with each other. If they done a pose or finished a class, it will give them a sense of accomplishment, and a boost to their self-esteem, and it will carry on outside the studio, into real life. After the class finishes, the kids are told to pat their friend’s back, and also their own back, to show love, respect, and compassion.

  Yoga develops focus and concentration           

The simple act of holding a pose, encourages the kids to stay focus, and trained their concentration. Research has shown that regular yoga practice helped children to concentrate better in class. ��Balancing poses such as tree pose trained mental and physical poise. Even if the kids have difficulty standing on one foot. Kids learn to improve, when they’re fall they just need to get up and try again. What a great skill to have in real life.

  Yoga and Obesity

Technology and our modern lifestyle unfortunately leave us with very little real outdoor playtime for our little ones. Video games, tablets, more time spent in cars, or in front of television, bad eating habits, all contributes to childhood obesity. Yoga is often perceived as passive activity, however actually it is actually the opposite, especially with kids’ yoga class. Yoga also promotes healthy lifestyle, healthy eating habit, thus regular yoga practice may reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

  Last but not least, Kids Yoga is Fun...!!! :)

  Source:

Henningsen K, 2011, The Benefits of Yoga for Children, Kaplan University, Centre for Health and Welness, http://healthandwellness.kaplan.edu/articles/yoga/The%20Benefits%20of%20Yoga%20for%20Children.html

  PBS Parents, Why Yoga and Kids Go Together, http://www.pbs.org/parents/food-and-fitness/sport-and-fitness/why-yoga-and-kids-go-together/

  Tilak, V, The Benefits of Yoga for Kids, http://www.yogajournal.com/article/family/yoga-kids/

  Wenig M, 2007, The Benefits of Yoga for Kids, http://www.yogajournal.com/article/family/yoga-kids/

  Yaffe, GA, Why Yoga for Kids? Rainbow Kids Yoga, http://rainbowkidsyoga.net/articles/why_yoga_kids.html

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Yoga and weight loss

  If only I get a dollar every time a person asked me “could I lose weight with yoga?” I would be totally rich, especially now with the Rupiah currency is really bad. My short answer to that question is yes you could, if you practice regularly, and my long answer is this blog post. Enjoy!

How does yoga help me lose weight? Here’s how:

  Yoga as an exercise

Just like any other type of exercise, yoga moves your body, and burn calories, especially the strong, dynamic styles of yoga; such as power yoga, vinyasa, or ashtanga yoga. It’s not rocket science, the more calories you burn compare to the calories you take, et voila, you lose weight.

However, the dynamic types of yoga might not be suitable for everyone, especially if the person is severely overweight, or obese. They might feel overwhelmed, embarrassed, or self-conscious coming to power yoga class, huffing and puffing next to the lithe yogis sliding gracefully through vinyasa. Also, the dynamic style of yoga with lots of arm balances, inversions, and jumping forward – and back, might not be safe for the joints too. Slower type, such as hatha yoga, is much more suitable for an obese person. Yoga is a safe way for someone who is inactive to start moving his or her body again. In time, as they become stronger, their muscle mass will increase, and muscle tissue helps burn fat.

Yoga practiced viewed as an exercise, also releases endorphin, a happy hormone that counter stress. Chronic stress has been linked to weight gain, full explanation below.

  Yoga reduces stress level

What does stress has to do with body weight? I heard you saying/thinking. Well, quite a lot actually. Ever heard of stress eating? Some people eat when they stress, they find their comfort in food. Yoga has been proven to reduce stress level; therefore, the frequency of stress eating will also lessen.

When you are stress, it affects the whole body system, the fight or flight response is a fast acting response to stress, your body releases hormones adrenaline, and noradrenaline. This hormone increases blood sugar level, gets your heart rate up, and increases your breathing rate; practically preparing the body to fight of the stress. However, this hormone is designed for a short term only, when the stress continues, our body releases the next hormone, cortisol. This hormone releases fatty acids into the blood, lowers your immune system, and if the fat doesn’t get used up into energy, it will be stored into the body; usually around the abdominal area. If this chronic stress cycle continues to happen, your weight will surely go up, and abdominal fat continue to increases. In summary, managing your stress level can potentially reduce your waistline, and your weight. Even gentle hatha yoga session practice regularly can reduce your weight, of course it will take time compared to conventional methods, but the result will last longer than any fad diets.

  Yoga promotes mindful eating

In the yoga class, you might hear your teacher says over and over again breathe, breathe, and breatheeeee….! It’s not like we’re teaching you how to breathe, you breathe since you were born, but to be mindful of the breathing, sometimes, in challenging asana, you unconsciously hold your breath. You can apply the same technique outside the studio, or you might already have, but you might not notice it. you chew your food slower than usual, you eat without checking our phone, and hopefully you become more conscious of the food we choose to eat. That’s what we call mindful eating. Mindful eating is the opposite of mindless eating (that often lead to weight gain); such as eating in front of the TV, or computer, and you wonder how on earth you finished those bag of potato chips.

  Yoga environment is non- competitive and promotes positive body image

Proper yoga environment should exude positive energy, and friendliness. Yoga is non competitive, and the practice can be different from one person to another. In the class, you should not compare yourself to other, as everybody is different. Body comes in all shapes and sizes, a good studio and teacher should be able to provide alternative to challenging poses, and always reminds the students to enjoy the process, instead of focusing too much to the outcome. Yoga also teaches you to love yourself, yoga teacher might often say that in the class, and it could ingrain in the brain, and get carried out outside the studio after the session finishes. If you have learned to love and accept yourself, the negative self-talk will dissipate, and your self-esteem will increase. When your self esteem increase, the lifestyle and dietary changes will come from a place of wanting to take care of the body, and having a healthier body; instead of hating the body, and wanting to lose a number of Kg, our ugly belly, or wanting to look like somebody else.

  Yoga increases awareness

As you practiced more regularly, you might notice something started to shift in your awareness. In the yoga class, you are taught to be aware all the time, your mind doesn’t allow wandering away, your teacher tells you to be aware of you’re your breath, your alignment, and you have to be present during the class. Outside the class, you also become more aware of your posture, your breath, and you might also experience it at a subtler and deeper level as well. You become more connected to your body, you know how to differentiate when your body is really hungry, or you just bored. Your body will respond from the inside as well, if you are used to eat healthy fresh whole food, your body will reject processed unhealthy food. Your body might react in different ways; you could get a headache, diarrhea, and rashes on your skin, or the food will simply doesn’t taste as good as you remembered it. You will naturally chose healthy food over sugary processed food that often causes weight gain. 

  Sources:

 Martini F.H., 2006, Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology, 7th Edition, the hormonal response to stress, chapter 18, page 626 – 628

 Isaac N., Yoga Journal Magazine, July 2014, Love your Body, pp. 109 – 113

 Moyer AE, May 1994, Rodin J, Grilo CM, Cummings N, Larson LM, Rebuffe-Scrive M., Stress Induced Cortisol Response and Fat Distribution in Women, Pubmed, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16353426

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Bogor Yoga Fair 2014

11 October 2014, at Plasa Telkom

Jl. Raya Pajajaran No. 37 Bogor

Get the ticket now, peeps!! check out the poster, call/email/fb msg us for more info! :)

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What You Learned When You're Stuck In Car for 9 Hours (Ied Holiday Edition) If you live in Indonesia, you'll know, and probably experienced Ied holiday excitement and mudik (going home to your hometown) frenzy. Its the busiest time of the year. Of course, since I just moved back here last year, I didn't want to miss out on the experience. See, the thing is, me and my husband like to do our own thing little bit differently than what most people do. So, on the first day of Ied, instead of immersing ourselves in the holiday spirit, and mingle with the relatives, we worked on the studio renovation, we went to ACE hardaware store, and put skirting board on. We thought, its better to work today, we didnt know most of the relatives anyway, so tomorrow we could start enjoying the holiday. The next day, we packed up, and ready for mudik, instead of taking the normal route, like most people did, we took the further route, for some silly reason. The normal route, even its packed, and slow, it was still straight up freeway, the route we took was more...complicated, we had to ask around, see the road signs, and hope to God that we're headed the right way. The scenery was beautiful though, however, after we passed this small town called Cianjur, we started to see a looooooong line of cars. wow!!! I was in awe, we were stuck. My Ipad is dead, my phone too, (who needs gadgets to keep you busy, its sooo 2013 ;)..! ) and I needed to pee! Long story short, here's the list of what I learned in the whole 9 hrs journey from Bogor to Bandung: 1. If you're about to lose it, think again, will it make the situation better or worse? I was so close of losing it, and my hubby too, from the look of his face. Thats when I saw A guy walked out of his car, slammed the door, yelling at another guy in another car. It escalated into this huge fight, it attracted people from the other car, and soon everybody was trying to separate/fight with this guy. It was scary. I think its the deep long held frustration, that caused it, still, its not worth it. If anything, it only hold him back from his journey home. His wife didnt seem to pleased either with his macho act. 2.If you have to "let go" of something of your chest, sing it and dance it all out We had our own karaoke session, when we were fully charged, we danced a little, well mostly just bobbing our head. Turn your negative energy into a positive one. 3. Laugh it all off, yes you made stupid decision, but theres no point in blaming, laugh together to your stupidity That is exactly what we did, in the past, I would've blame him, but whats the point, we're already stuck anyway. Laugh it of, life is not about winning or losing an argument. Instead of blaming each other we talked about anything else besides the fact that "we shouldve took the usual route!!!" we enjoyed the scenery, talked about 4. Be kind than you're expected to be, sometime On the last hour of the journey, I can see the weariness started to seep in, my poor hubby/driver was exhausted as hell, he went a bit quiet. I'm tired too, but i cheered him, cmooooonnn we're neaaaarlly thereee, hun!! I was rubbing his back a little, just so he didnt lose it. 5. You can actually finish a novel in one sitting, and you can find some inspiration too In between our karaoke, talking, munching session, I was reading a book, and yep I finished it all in one go. My hubby is a designer, and he always carry little notebook everywhere, when the traffic totally stopped, he would sketch something on his little notepad while I'm reading my novel. 6. Yoga keeps me sane All this yoga stuff i kept telling my student, you know the one "breatheeeee...." Has helped me A LOT. When i feel an anger started to sneak in, i breathe slower and deeper. Of course, the philosophy lessons helped too. Oh yeah, without yoga, it wont be possible to lift both of my legs up, and strecth them straight up when I'm feeling a little bit stiff on my legs. There you go, hows your holiday? I hope you had a lot of fun with your friends and family too. Cheers! Xx Amanda Ps. The journey home, we took the normal route, it was an easy 2.5 hours journey, with a starbuck pitstop. The 9 hours stuck in traffic jam mudik journey had brought us closer than ever, and made us super grateful of the easy 2,5hrs journey ;)

[naturayogastudio-blog]

Can I start this post with a rant? Okay, I assumed you all say yes, I will rant a little bit. I'm sick and tired of reading news about violence to students. Students from as young as 5 years old who were sexually abused, STIP student who were died beaten up to death by his seniors, and the last one was 11 years old elementary school boy who were beaten up by his seniors just because he accidentally bumped him and dropped his soft drink. Has the value of life become so cheap nowadays? What I hate about all this is, media will blew this up, fingers are being pointed to the schools / Uni involved, but then something else hapenned, and suddenly its all forgotten. Fast forward few years later, its happen again, and whoops, nothing has been done. It goes on and on and on. Really, it angers me. I'm no stranger to bullying, I was bullied by seniors in high school, and at Uni in Bandung, just because "I don't smile to them whenever I walk past them, therefore I don't show respect to them." Strange theory, right? I just ignore them, I knew their only weapons are their words, and if I just ignore it, they can't hurt me. I didn't apologise, or showed that I care either. I was lucky enough to know how to deal with it, and they didn't abuse me physically, but what about the others, those who didn't make it? I don't get seniority, they just hapennned to be one or two years older, but they act like they own the world. I think its a perfect moment to share, and campaign about ahimsa, the first Yama (moral conduct) in 8 limbs / steps of yoga. So, yoga is not all about physical exercise, doing fancy poses, arm balances, inversions in colorful tights, its a path, its a way of life; and asana (physical practice) is actually the 3rd step. The first step is yama, or moral conduct, and the first point in moral conduct is none other than Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-violence, or compassion to all living beings, including ourselves. Throughout this month, lets become more aware of our thoughts, speech and act. Let them be kind as often as possible, its easy when life is fun, and easy, but when we face some challenges, try to stay kind. You dont have to turn into q vegetarian on one night, you can if you want of course, but there are ways of practicing ahimsa in your life, and in your asana practice. In term of yoga practice, try not to push yourself too hard. Try to enjoy and feel the pose. Breathe and enjoy the pose, when you try soooooo hard that you can't even breathe, you're not practicing ahimsa anymore. Try not to get too hung up on the final pose, enjoy the process, the journey, not just the destination. You might get there today, or not, it doesn't really matter as long as you enjoy the practice. Dont compare yourself to other people, we have different types of body, we had different injuries, limitations, strengths, and weaknesses. Also, dont compare yourself, to....yourself in the past. If you nailed pose, and you tried it again the next day you flopped, just accept it, maybe you're a little bit off balance today, or maybe you're not feeling well. Your body now, is different from yesterday's. Don't take it too seriously, at the end of the day, is just a yoga pose. If you fall out, laugh it off, and try again, maybe the next day. :) Extend your yoga practice into your life. After a blissful savasana at the studio, try to stay calm and blisfull throughout the rest of the day. If you almost flare up in rage because a motorcycle cuts you off, try to take a deep breath, and be grateful that its a near-miss, and wish him a safe trip home. I know, its hard, but try, if you flare up in rage, he escapes, so whats the point anyway? Its just a waste of energy, pick your battle. Be aware of your thoughts, in the class usually I started with some concentration and breathing exercise. I told my students to be aware of any random thoughts that might pop in your mind out of nowhere. You can do this in your daily life as well. Be aware of your thoughts, especially any unkind mean thoughts, and replace them with nicer ones. I recently finished a book called how to have a stress free live. I found a really nice quote to live by. "Before you speak, ask yourself these three questions, is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary?" Words can damage and hurt a person deeply, so kind words are necessary. Pass it forward, let your thoughts reflects on your act. Practice it, pass it on to your children, teach your kids to be kind to others. If some people are harder to please, and always ticks you off, don't take it personally. Often it's their own issues not yours, maybe they're fighting something inside that makes them super sensitive. Last but not least, love yourself. Be kind to yourself, and remember to protect yourself. Practicing ahimsa doesnt mean that we let people treat us badly. Practice ahimsa, but take no shit. XxAmanda