A big dose of culture

My office is closed between Christmas & New Year!  This year, The Husband and I decided to stay home rather than travel overseas.  I am looking forward to my week off to recuperate and relax.  I already know how my week is going to shake out.  It's going to consist of bargain shopping, reading, bikram yoga, baking, and museum visits!  There are soooo many awesome exhibits in NYC right now (below is a list of what I want to see) and I'm excited to catch up on my culture.  Will let you know what I think from each visit.

American Museum of Natural History [AMNH]
Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World

Brooklyn Museum
James Tissot: 'The Life of Christ'

Guggenheim
Kandinsky

Morgan Library & Museum
A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life & Legacy

Museum of Modern Art [MOMA]
Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity
Monet's Water Lilies
Tim Burton

Whitney Museum of American Art
Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

May the joy of the season be present in your hearts and lives today and always!

Christmas with my sweet hubby & one of my presents: a plush sea otter!!

In the background is a parol, which represents the star of Bethlehem.

Parols are a staple decoration during the Christmas season in the Philippines.

There's a New Studio in Town!!!

OH. MY. GAWD.  My jaw dropped weeks ago when I saw a sign and banners come up out of nowhere in my neighborhood.  My neighborhood!  Hooray!!  There's a bikram studio is open in Astoria, Queens!  I couldn't believe it.  The studio is just a short walk from my house!!  Now I will know what it feels like to simply walk to my studio rather than commute to one via subway, which I do now.

I think the opening of this studio became a major reason for participating in the bikram 101 challenge.  While it is easy to get to my regular studio in Manhattan during the week because of work, it is a bit of a hassle on the weekends when I don't need to go into the city.  Now, I can easily practice on the weekends without having to worry about a 25 minute commute.  It is often longer on the weekends because the subways get re-routed or delayed.

I learned that the owner/director is Jim Kallet, a senior bikram instructor who owns a studio in San Diego.  From the online schedule, I saw that he was teaching the 10am class so I went.  He happened to be running late so class started with another instructor.  By time we reached awkward pose, he took over.  He was a great teacher; encouraging yet calm.  After eagle pose, he took the time to explain to us what it means to lock the knee.  He stuck out his right leg and straightened it while explaining that his leg was not locked because the muscles above his knee were slack.  Then he pointed to his kneecap and said, "Watch what happens to my kneecap when I lock my knee."  And ever so slowly, he tightened his quadricep and his knee cap rose as if in slow-motion.  His thigh muscle became more defined.  It was so beautiful watch as I have never seen a teacher so clearly demonstrate what it means to "lock the knee".

Jim giving a seminar.

Photo is courtesy of Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley in Pheonix, AZ.

By the time we got to the right side of triangle, he kept encouraging me to keep rotating my torso and my neck so that the profile of my face faced the mirror.  Afterwards, he asked if I had a tighter right side.  I nodded my head.  During the spine strengthening series' savasanas, my neck muscles always feel tighter when I put my right ear on the floor.  Left ear, no problem.  I guess he also heard from Nancy, the studio manager, that I was doing the 101 challenge and confirmed it during class.  Then he talked about the benefits of doing bikram for 100 days straight and how this yoga is the "Key to the Kingdom of Health".

You'll definitely be hearing more from me about this studio as I intend to practice here on the weekends!

Bikram Yoga in Astoria, Queens
32-03 Steinway Street (at Broadway)
Astoria, NY  11103
718-777-YOGA
http://www.bikramyogaqueensny.com/

Bikram 101 Challenge

The Husband thinks I'm insane. Mind you, he recently joined me and started doing bikram yoga. He's been at it for about 2 months, three days a week (he emphatically stated that 3 days a week was enough for him...and he doesn't want me blogging about his progress so I'm going to respect his wishes and restrain from commenting about his practice). As a married couple, we journey together in life and I was absolutely thrilled when he decided to join me in the sweat box and stick to it. But I'm on my own on this challenge. He will cheer and support me from the sidelines.

Since I started practicing back in March, I've been wanting to do a 30 day challenge, where one practices bikram once a day for 30 days straight. I never got around to committing and then through thedancingj's blog, I discovered she and a few other bikram yogis are organizing a Bikram 101 challenge. They are so inspiring and so on top of things! They have created a website, a facebook page, and a twitter account.

There is no way I would've embarked on this commitment alone. And even though I am fretting just a teensy weensy bit about going 101 days straight, I am comforted by the fact that so many others around the world will be doing this with me and that the cyberspace will house the community of participating yogis. 

Why 101 days?  Read all about the reasons here.  I could definitely use physical and emotional healing and I think it's a great way to start the new year!  I look forward to the commitment and the discipline it will take to fulfill this challenge.  By the time the challenge will be done, I would've celebrated another birthday.  It would be a great gift to myself and I was inspired by Charlie, another bikram yogi who did a 60 day challenge that ended right on his 60th birthday.

In typical Aries fashion, as if 101 straight days of bikram isn't enough, I've decided to blog about it and do something akin to Flickr's 365Days Project, where you take a self-portrait every day for 365 days straight.  Instead of 365 days, I'm going to only do 101 days, in conjunction with the bikram challenge.  I was inspired to do this by i love sweat's blog who always starts his posts with a picture.

So wish me luck folks!  I will need it as well as your encouragement, your support, and good cheer!

Yoga Youth Day

One of my teachers organized a "Yoga Youth Day" two Saturdays ago and I haven't had a chance to blog about it.  In its original concept, the day was to involve several bikram studios in the tri-state area and invite low income kids from the community to take a class with the hope that these kids could somehow continue practicing through some kind of financial assistance program.

Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 studios originally intending to participate had to back out.  But my studio remained.  Weeks ago, my teacher invited me to join the event and asked if I could be one of the adults standing in the front row to be an example for the kids to mimic.  I was honored at the invitation and I was excited to participate!

Although the intention was to have boys and girls participate, the school assigned to our studio happened to be The Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem (cool little tidbit:  this all-girl's public school has been so successful in preparing low-income girls of color for college that the school has been and is being replicated throughout NYC and the country).  We had 20 sweet girls between the ages of 14-17 practice today with 6 adults in the front, two of them teachers at my studio.  We had a blast!  My teacher managed to get new mats and t-shirts with the "Yoga Youth Day" logo donated for the girls and Vita Coco and electrolyte water donated for the class.

It really is amazing to practice with youth -- the energy in the room was powerful and positive.  Here's what the young women taught me that day:

Lightheartedness
When some of my teachers notice a lot of us adults getting frustrated, they'll say, "Smile!  It's only yoga."  During warm up, in the first set of backbend, the girls after trying a few seconds just busted out laughing and then the whole room was giggling even the adults.  My sense is that none of them had ever done a backbend before.  Unlike the adults who huff and puff and muscle their way through a backbend, the girls just laughed.  Laughed.  When was the last time you smiled in the mirror after a you fall out of a tough pose?

Fearlessness
As my teacher delivered the dialogue for toe stand, those girls were down and in the pose faster than you can say "bikram".  No hesitation.  No fear.  I was in serious awe.  A lot of newbies in my studio can't go into toe stand.  The physical act is so foreign to them that my teachers always keep encouraging newbies to try it step by step.  And even regulars like me hesitate with toe stand.  I can go into toe stand just fine on the left side.  But the right side, with my "bad" right knee?  Not so much.  And I will admit that sometimes it is physical pain that holds me back but most of the time, it is mental.  I anticipate that I will feel pain and because I don't want to feel pain, I am afraid to try.  It's something I work on every day.  Those girls were an inspiration.

Faith
Every single one of those girls was in camel.  I know because I stayed in camel and I was in the front row and could see and feel stillness in the room.  Nobody came out early.  Nobody turned around and went into savasana.  Those girls tilted their head back, pushed their hips forward, and reached for their heels, trusting they were there.  They breathed and they stayed.  Beautiful. 

Lead by Example
In my studio, those in the front row serve as the leaders and role models for the class.  During class, when the teacher thinks the front row isn't working hard enough or is sloppy, (s)he will say, "Front row:  be the role models!" and everyone straightens up.  Practicing in front of those girls, I was focused and solid yet still lighthearted.  I worked harder for them so they could see, learn, and perhaps be inspired.  In turn, they taught me so much.

I never had so much fun doing bikram until today!  And those 90 minutes just flew by.  Wouldn't it be cool if our regular practice could fly by in the same way?

Whoa Camel!

There have been some crazy cool things that my body experienced this week during bikram practice.  Last Tuesday, in final savasana, I felt a vibration going up and down my body.  The feeling was more like little zings akin to a taught guitar string being plucked.  The zings happened first in my hands.  Then at my elbows, shoulders, chest, stomach, legs, feet.  Kinda cool.

And then there was last night's class.  Whoa.  Remember how I posted an article earlier about yoga making you horny?  Before you get your mind in the gutter, this post is not about my getting horny last night.  When I read first read that article, I asked myself how it is possible to feel moments of ecstasy when all I feel during my practice is the opposite?

But something cool and yes, admittedly kinda freaky (I'm not gonna be all zen about it and lie) happened during camel.  In the first set, I got into it fine and by the middle of it, I started getting nauseous.  I kept my breathing steady and my pinpoint focus.  Thankfully, my teacher called out "change" and I quickly went into savasana and just kept breathing, allowing my queasy feelings to go.  I forced myself to do a sit up and as I set up for second set, the wave of nausea hit me again and my teacher's voice sounded distant.  My mind panicked and screamed, "You're going to faint!"  I looked straight into my eyes in the mirror and remembered what my teacher once told me, "Your mind will quit before your body will."  As I finished this thought and searched for my strength somewhere deep inside, my teacher said, "I want all of us to commit to staying in this posture the whole time.  If you come out early, I guarantee you are not getting 100% of the emotional benefits." 

Somehow, that was exactly what I needed to hear.  Emotional benefits?  Reaping 100% of them?  Yes, sign me up please!  And besides, this bout of nausea during camel came last week with the same teacher and when I just knelt with my hands at the back of my hips in second set, she called me out!  I definitely didn't want her calling me out this week.

Despite the nausea and a fear of fainting, I set my hands to the back of my hips, pushed them forward and tilted my head back.  I hit my wall but I forced myself to push, push, push past the nausea with my mantra, "BREATHE."  I saw the ceiling...where the ceiling met the wall...where the wall met the floor...and then the front of someone's mat in the third row.  I was in the middle of whatever it was.  Suddenly, I felt as if someone stabbed me in my pubic bone and then heat was radiating out of that point.  As my mind screamed "BREATHE!!!!!" the heat kept coming.  When I came out of it, the heat stopped and I was completely spent.

Later, I described what happened to my teacher and she said, "That's awesome!!!"  You are opening up a chakra!"  As soon as I got home, I tried to identify which chakra it could be and I believe it is the first one, the root chakra or muladhara.  Here's what this website says about the root chakra:

When the root chakra is balanced you feel grounded, centered, and able to live in the here and now effortlessly. You feel alive with a strong connection to yourself and those around you. Your life is working on all levels, but even if there are areas that are not working you are confident that they will work out. You are healthy and want to take care of yourself, usually manifesting as an interest in your nutritional intake and physical exercise.

Hmmm...interesting.  During my practice, when I need to find my pinpoint focus, I look to my belly button not to the spot between my two eyes.  The navel, or the piko according to Hawaiians, is the center.  It connects us to the source of life. 

Without going into terribly boring details, all my life growing up bicultural, I never felt rooted.  I always felt like a drifter with one foot in Filipino culture and the other foot in American culture.  Two years ago, The Healer said that I needed to go back to the Philippines and feel the place of my birth with my bare feet.  I heeded his advice and it was a beautiful trip.  I brought my husband and introduced him to all those who I loved and loved me.  They loved him.  My family treated me differently, as if I had credibility now as a married woman.  And most importantly, it allowed my dad and I to show affection to each other.  In the last two months, MoJo and I have discussed buying a home and we are currently house hunting.  This self-proclaimed nomad want to put down roots.

Being Present

I got hooked after regularly taking a few bikram yoga classes last spring.  I immediately canceled my gym membership to join a studio.  Weeks after canceling my gym membership, I canceled my trainer who I worked with for five years.  Thank goodness he didn’t take it personally, for which I was grateful.

After seven months of a regular practice, I can finally articulate why I feel so committed to bikram and why this yoga is my only form of exercise.

I am present in the moment.

There are days when this practice kicks my ass and I feel like jelly and can't seem to hold any posture or run out of the room screaming as if I was on fire.  There are days when my knee is does not cooperate and screams out in pain during a pose and I have to back off with a wince and an irregular breath.  There are days when I feel strong and solid yet supple.  There are days when my body opens and goes further than it ever did even if it is only a quarter of an inch.  Regardless of what my practice is that day, I remain present in that moment.

Despite how hard bikram can be, I still look forward to going.  I never EVER felt that way about going to the gym or seeing my trainer and now I know why.  Every time I ran on a treadmill, pedaled on a bike, or climbed stairs to nowhere, I tried to forget what I was doing.  I watched TV, listened to my ipod, read a book/magazine/newspaper, attempted to solve a puzzle.  I didn’t want to focus on the monotony of movement so I diverted my attention to something else.  My mind and body were disconnected and I was bored and uninspired.

It is impossible to be disconnected during my practice.  My mind is aware but does not think.  It listens to the teacher and heeds my body.  My body moves with intention and purpose.  I exhibit faith, compassion, openness, listening, forgiveness, and fortitude.  This must be why we call this practice a moving meditation.  It requires that we dig deep into ourselves, in a place that houses our spirit, our strength, our divinity.

I can never go back to a gym and I can never again exercise in a cold room.

DWTS's Tribute to Patrick Swayze

I thought it was so awesome that Dancing With the Stars did a tribute to Patrick Swayze last night.

Every time I watch awesome ballroom dancing, it inspires me to take lessons. Unfortunately, MoJo dislikes dancing although he does it sometimes at weddings to make me happy. I am grateful that I don't have to drag him kicking and screaming to the dance floor. But boy, how I wish we ballroom danced together for fun. :-/

Bikram Yoga East Harlem

Yesterday, I decided to practice at Bikram East Harlem because I've heard so many wonderful things about the place from fellow bikram yogis at my studio.  I planned to take the 11am class with teacher and studio owner Stephanie Pope Caffey.  It was a bit of a schlep from my apartment but it was worth the trip and I'm happy I went.  Besides, I love checking out different studios.

First, the studio is beautiful, clean, and not smelly (I won't mention any names but there are definitely some studios here in the city that have some serious funk going on and it smacks your olfactory nerve as soon as you open the front door, which is a real shame).  The color palette of the studio is brown and ochre yellow with lots of wood (hardwood floors, bath mats, doors, blinds) and candles.  The studio occupies the upper two floors of a three-story walk-up.  The first floor is the lobby, men and women's locker rooms, a small waiting area, and a small studio for private sessions.  The main studio on the second floor is bright with windows that allow lots of natural light and high ceilings.  Right outside the hot room, is a small waiting area that houses a rotating art gallery of work from local artists.

I was greeted by a sweet, older woman at the desk.  Later, I find out it is Stephanie's mom (Stephanie's sister is the studio's operations manager) who was so sweet that I wanted to take her home!  She got me registered, checked me in, and pointed out the lay of the land.  From the moment I entered the lobby, I was struck by the fact that the studio truly served the community.  Most of the peoople milling about the studio were African-American and in my class at 11am, the majority of the students were multicultural in background. I had never practiced in a US yoga studio where this was the case.  In fact, Stephanie is the first black yoga teacher I've ever had.  So cool!  I set myself up and when Stephanie walked in, she asked me to identify myself.  "Welcome to the studio," she said warmly.  "Thank you," I replied.  And then we began our 90-minute moving meditation.  She was a great teacher:  stuck to the dialogue, was encouraging and compassionate, called out corrections to students, and reminded us to practice our stillness in between postures.  At some point during the class, Stephanie said to a student, "You are in a safe place here.  As teachers, we do a lot of talking.  If you listen carefully and follow our instructions, you will be okay.  I am here to help you so let yourself try.  (pause)  Outside this studio, well, that's different!"  Another time, she really encouraged us to go for it in each and every pose and asked us to consider this:  "Instead of anticipating the end of the posture and waiting to hear 'change', you hear 'change' and then give it one last push and go for your best before you come out."  Hmmm...never thought of it that way.

After my shower, Stephanie and I chatted a bit.  She offered to give me back my money and I looked at her quizically. 

Me:  Really?!  My class is free? 
Stephanie:  Yes, teachers are free.
Me:  Oh!!!  I'm not a teacher! 
Stephanie:  Really?!  Ok, then you don't get your money back.  (laughs)  I totally mistook you for a teacher!  You have such a beautiful practice.
Me:  Awwww...thank you so much!!  You know, you're not the first person who has said that to me.
Stephanie:  Have you thought about becoming one?
Me:  Definitely.

I've considered teaching, yes.  And I've even considered becoming a studio owner.  But there's something in my heart that tells me to wait.  Now doesn't seem to be the right time.

If I lived in the neighborhood, I would totally support Stephanie's studio, because who doesn't want to support a business that is a total asset to the local community?!  If you are a regular bikram yogi in the city or simply visiting the city, consider checking out her studio.  It is a family-run business that is warm, welcoming, and captures the heart and soul of yoga.


This is Stephanie teaching.  Look how pumped she is.  You go girl!



All photos are courtesy of Bikram Yoga East Harlem.

Bikram Yoga East Harlem
4 East 116th Street
New York, NY  10029
(b/w Fifth & Madison Avenues)
212-369-1830 (Phone)
212-369-1824 (Fax)
www.bikramyogaeastharlem.com

RIP Patrick Swayze

As a teenager, I fondly looked back at the 80s and divided the decade into two distinct periods: pre-Dirty Dancing & post-Dirty Dancing. I still divide the 80s that way today.

Yes. The release of Dirty Dancing in 1987 opened up my innocent 11-year-old eyes and mind. You could say that it was a coming of age for me as the movie introduced me to issues of class, women's rights, and charged sexuality. I had to sneak into the theater to watch Dirty Dancing because it was rated PG-13. Immediately, I related to Baby Houseman whose jaw you see drop in the following scene when introduced to something she had never been exposed to. I understood her rapidly changing emotions from discomfort to embarrassment to curiosity as she watched what has happening in front of her. When Johnny beckons Baby with his finger, she goes from being a voyuer to a participant. And just when she's just about getting the hang of it and she begins to enjoy herself, she is spun around and is left wanting more.

Dirty Dancing - Baby Meets Johnny

Like Baby, my jaw dropped watching everything I was being exposed to. I especially couldn't help but be mesmerized by the undulation of Patrick Swayze's hips. Like the generations before me who went gaga for Elvis Presley and John Travolta, there is just something captivating and incredibly sexy about a man who has the ability to move his hips with such suave grace. I was hooked. He was my biggest crush in the 6th grade.

When Patrick Swayze was promoting the movie, he was a guest on Z100, the local radio station. I was one of the lucky call-in winners that won an autographed copy of the soundtrack on cassette tape (which I still own)! I also asked my friend to tape the movie on VHS when it aired on HBO since we didn't have cable. When the tape was ready, I rode my bike to her house without telling my mother. I kept watching it and watching it to the point that I even memorized Baby's steps in their dance number.

Dirty Dancing - Final Dance Scene

Little did I know that this movie would capture my heart again in seven years when I enrolled at the very college that Baby was going to attend to study economics. Lines like, "Baby's going to Mount Holyoke in the Fall" and "[My name is]Frances...after the first woman in the Cabinet" suddenly had extra special meaning.

So thank you Patrick Swayze for your movies and your dance moves. Thank you for inspiring me to shake my own hips on the dance floor and to fall in love with ballroom dancing. Thank you for teaching us how to live with courage in the final chapter of our lives. And thank you for being a Hollywood anamoly: a devoted husband to your wife of 34 years.

Oh yeah, and thanks for teaching us about humility and the ability to mock yourself.

Patrick Swayze & Chris Farley - Chippendale SNL Skit

For a real in-depth analysis of Dirty Dancing check out this blog.

Steamy Poll for Bikram Yogis

Here's the link to the article on lemondrop.com but I figured I would just paste it below to save you the click!

As for moi? Nope, never happend to me...even in camel. The best I've ever felt in camel is peace and contentment but never euphoria and certainly not arousal! How about you fellow Bikram yogis?

Jul 2nd 2009 By Erin Donnelly

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Can Hot Yoga Make You Horny?

• Sex
• Health
• Orgasm of the Week

2 Comments

I'm in a darkened room with a couple dozen other people, all of us dripping in sweat, pushing our lithe (OK, mostly lithe) bodies to the limit and breathing heavily. The room grows dimmer, the heat grows more palpable, and as we flop down to the floor, a warm, euphoric rush courses through our bodies.

One word: Yogasm.

I can't speak for everyone in myBikram yoga class -- a 90-minute, 26-posture Hatha Yoga practice in which the room is heated to a minimum of 105 degrees -- but let's just say I don't show up to class just to get frizzy hair and see how long I can balance on one foot before toppling into the person next to me.

Judging by the contented smiles and satisfied groans at the end of class, I can only assume I'm not the only one who finds that bending it like Bikram is pretty handy at hitting the G-spot.

Read how Erin flexed her sex life after the jump.

Certified Bikram yoga instructor Jessica Loera agrees. "It's more than just the heat that our students are addicted to," she confides.

Oh My God! According to BikramYoga.com, by warming and stretching the body, the exercises "systematically move fresh oxygenated blood to 100 percent of your body, to each organ [Editor's note: ahem] and fiber." When stretching and balancing (say, standing in a wide-open stance with your body twisted and your arms stretched to the ceiling), you build pressure and cut off blood supply. But when the pressure is released, it creates a "lock-gate effect," and the blood comes rushing back.

Or, as Loera puts it, "It's all in the circulation, baby!"

Though I've never actually had the big O in a yoga class, there's definitely been some strong stirrings of arousal, usually when the sit-down exercises start towards the end of class.

Remember the rope in gym class? It's like that. One well-positioned cobra pose and I'm ready to grab the six-pack-blessed guy to my left (or at least my guy as soon as I get home) and bring this baby to a climax.

Sexyasana If you're not up to committing 90 minutes to a full class (it's an intensive workout), you can crank up the heat at home and try a feel-sexy pose that Loera swears by: the camel pose (pictured, right).

Says Loera, "The camel pose is well known in the industry for inducing some very particular feelings that many students describe as 'near-orgasmic.' From the looks on the faces of some of my students, I'd say that's a fair assessment. Imagine 300 Bikram yoga-teacher trainees collectively feigning climax during camel pose after nine weeks of intensive Bikram yoga training!"

We're sold. Here's how to pull it off.

Camel pose: -Stand up on your knees with 6 inches between your knees and feet. -Place hands on hips, thumbs on the outside, fingers pointing down. -Relax head all the way back and look at the floor behind you. -Inhale and lift chest up towards the ceiling; exhale and push hips all the way forward, then come back halfway. -Bring hands one at a time to the heels, thumbs outside, fingers inside (without dropping hips back). -Keep head relaxed and breathe in through the nose. Inhale chest up, exhale through the nose and push hips forward. Keep the eyes open and keep breathing.

So ... was it good for you?

Tell Us: Have you ever come close to having the big O while exercising?

Recycle Your Old Sneakers

Just dropped off our ratty, old sneakers at my local Niketown. Nike has a great program called "Reuse A Shoe" that accepts any brand of athletic shoes and recycles them to create raw materials for new basketball and tennis courts, and running tracks. Check out their website for a local drop-off station near you or ship your shoes to their recycling center in Oregon. Pretty cool, eh?

6am Bikram classes: the struggle & the payoff

Now that the days are getting shorter, I wake up at 4:50 am to find it dark outside. What was once a 30-minute battle (some have lasted up to an hour!) with the snooze button in my pre-Bikram days, has now decreased to a 5-minute battle. Here's the dialogue that usually runs through my head the moment I hear the alarm and slap it off:

Thank you God for giving me another day of life to serve you!

Hope MoJo didn't hear my alarm and wake up...

It's really 4:52. Ok, I'm not dreaming.

If I'm getting to yoga today, I need to get on that 5:15 train.

Well...if I don't make it...I can still go tonight...

Hmm...If I go tonight, I won't be home till 8:30. Dinner at 9.

Ugh. I don't want to deal with the after-work crowd at the studio and the jostling in the locker room!

15 students in the morning versus 70 students in the evening?

Duh. That's a no brainer. Ok fine, I'm up.

That's my internal morning struggle.

But the BIG payoff is two and half hours later in final savasana or corpse pose. I liken final savasana to getting into the jacuzzi after swimming laps in the pool. After working hard for 90 minutes, I look to final savasana as my reward especially when I don't need to rush out. I can just lie there and bliss out. This is why 6am classes twice a week are worth it. By the time we're done at 7:30, I still have another 1.5 hours before needing to get to work. With the pressure of needing to be somewhere gone, I'm fully relaxed and I find myself falling into a light sleep. Sometimes I even dream. This time, I don't need an alarm. I wake up naturally & look around to an empty, quiet hot room. With a calm mind, a relaxed body, and an open heart, I love being the last one out.

Chopped!!!

I was so sick of the long hair, which I've had for years so I decided to chop 10 inches off. The last time I cut my hair short was in 1999. It was even shorter than this, a pixie cut. I would say this is a Katie Holmes-inspired bob.

When the hairdresser was done, my head felt lighter. And on a hot, humid day like today, the back of my neck and shoulders feel bare and cool. I kept the hair and plan to donate it to a charity like Locks of Love. Pantene has a program that accepts hair donations too.

I can't wait to hear what my colleagues in the office will say when I walk in tomorrow!

Where the name comes from

Ever wonder why I call myself "ActionJoJo"?

In college, everyone called me "Jo" and my best friend called me "JoJo". During our senior year, my friend Katie, who had just returned from a junior year abroad in Germany saw me and shouted out "JoJoAction!" Huh? She never called me that before. She explained it like this:

When I was in Germany, there was this hit song called "Jojo Action" by a group called Mr. President. Every time they played it, I thought of you! ::starts singing::

Listen JoJo Action

Gimme satisfaction

JoJo c'est la vie

Well, needless to say, she called me that ever since then. When I created this blog, I tried to use "jojoaction" but it was taken. So "ActionJoJo" was born!

And for a real treat, here's the music video to the song!

Update! Read all about it.

I notice that I'm the kind of blogger who pauses and stops writing for a long time for a variety of reasons. Then, I somehow get inspired and I pick it up again. So here I am. Back. Almost one and half years later. Lots have happened since March 08.

Celebrated my 10 year college reunion. The weekend was amazing and it made me realize how much I missed my 4 years at school.

Barack was elected president! Woot! I still love me some Hillary and was disappointed when she lost to Obama. Nevertheless, I'm happy with how things turned out.

I became an official TripVlogger for a travelsite called TripFilms and I'll be posting some of the videos I made for them on our trip to Hong Kong. We owe them videos on the Philippines so I'll be posting those soon too. In the meantime, you can check out my videos at Tripfilms here.

MoJo and I went to Hong Kong for New Year 2009 and then on to the Philippines for two weeks to visit my family.

I started practicing Bikram yoga in mid-March and I am an official Bikram junkie!!! I was inspired to try it because of the inspiring healing story of the creator of this yoga, Bikram Choudhury. He crushed his knee in a weightlifting accident as a young adult and Western doctors proclaimed he would never walk again. He proved them wrong. This practice has healed countless people physically, mentally, & emotionally including myself.

I had arthroscopic surgery back in 1991 and my knee was never the same. I always likened my knee to a shattered vase pieced together. Over the years, it would lock out, feel tight, feel like there were air bubbles in. I didn't have any strength in it nor flexibility. In March 09, I was leaning heavily on a banister to go down stairs because my knee didn't feel strong enough. I've been an active person despite working out at the gym, running, power walking, hiring a trainer. But over the years, my knee just weakened. Besides the knee, I had other joint/muscle issues: I pulled my back out several times, the tendons in my shoulder were starting to fray causing severe paine, my wrists hurt (I thought I had carpel tunnel), my ankles were starting to hurt. In fact, you can read me blog about it back in 2005. I felt like I was a 30 year old living in a 60 year old body. It was depressing to say the least. One acupuncturist friend who treated me told me that my body has a tendency to produce high levels of acid (caused mainly by stress, anger, and the food I eat) that is causing my joint pain/injury. She recommended that I sweat the acid out. Enter Bikram yoga and the inspiring story of healing by Bikram himself. I made a commitment to practicing 5-6 days a week and after 5 months I am so happy to say that all my joint paint has virtually disappeared. I say virtually because my knee pain has decreased tremendously and is on its way to healing fully. I feel like I've been given a new body with my regular practice. In addition to all the physical benefits (did I mention that I've lost weight), emotionally and mentally I'm also a different person. I am happier, more centered and at peace, and most importantly, I've been able to manage the stress in my daily life so well. Things that would make me fly off the handle before, don't bother me anymore. It's been an amazing and transformative experience. But I had to earn it. Healing on any level is not passive; it is an active engagement of your mind, body, and spirit. It takes commitment, hard work, discipline, and yes, sometimes pain to achieve breakthroughs. There's a time and place for medicine. Yes. However, I feel our society has become so dependent on pills to solve our issues when in fact pills just treat the symptom (and create more problems with side effects) and don't target the cause.

And most recently, we just came back from vacation. We went on a 9-day cruise to the Caribbean. Let's just say I'm not running to sign up for my next cruise. It was good to spend time with MoJo's family and not have to work for 9 days. The best part was sitting on a deck chair, facing the horizon and reading a book. Other than that, I can do without the overconsumption of food, alcohol, and goods. I'll stick to off-the-beaten path traveling unless it's a cruise to the Galapagos or the South Pacific!