By DENISE ROCOÂ
There is a way to undo the many tangles of the mind, body and spirit through one practice. At Urban Ashram Manila, let the practice of yoga on your mat be your magic carpet ride to a whole new world of living.
Not a day goes by without the necessity of travel — whether it’s from home to work, or work to home, or even as mundane as waking up in bed and having to walk out the bedroom. Traveling need not be a chore, but a respite. Traveling can be an escape in itself, especially in yoga.
Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word, “yuj†meaning “to join†or “to yoke.†The constant practice of yoga unites all aspects of the self (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) into a cohesive whole. In actuality, the effects of yoga asana (poses) go beyond the physical because yoga itself, based in sacred Indian tradition, rivets on a spiritual and meditative core (among other texts, read the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali). This physical practice of yoga invites one, in a sense, to become “one.” Urban Ashram ambassador Troy Bernardo elaborates on Urban Ashram’s new campaign — Becoming.Â
(The bridge)
“Becoming means becoming the best person we can possiblybe and yoga is part of that lifestyle. Yoga can get you to focus. It can calm you down. It has numerous benefits within the physical body, mental and emotional, if not spiritual, as well. So it’s a multi-faceted campaign. And you can choose any of those facets of life, and become that this year through yoga. For example, we launched the Urban Ashram boot camps. That’s becoming strength. We have couple’s yoga so that’s becoming love. We have becoming summer, but really it’s becoming sexy.â€
More often than not, people start doing yoga for the external benefits like reaching a certain weight to look good, to reduce in certain places. “But in the end,†explains Troy, “they get more than what they expected, ‘they get calmer, their diet) changes for the better, they respect the environment and other people and even themselves. It’s a different path. Yoga starts you on the path to becoming your best possible self.â€
(One-legged crane preparation)
Going back to the theme of traveling, he says that the basic premise of travel is that it opens up your eyes. “It makes you aware of cultures other than your own and spaces other than what you’re used to. It takes you out of your comfort zone. And that’s part of becoming. Yoga does that to you on the mat. When it’s traveling, it’s a physical going out.†To encourage you to spread the love of yoga, Urban Ashram’s “Practice in Paradise” promo rewards a lucky raffle winner with a weekend stay in Boracay or Baler if they get a non-member friend to sign up for a membership pass.
There’s no such thing as too old to do yoga. It’s never too late to start. Troy, who’s unabashed to say that he’s nearly 50 yet looks like he’s in his 30s, emphasizes one major benefit he can’t help but share.
(Prayer twist)
“Maybe the best thing is that it can reverse the aging process. If you want to maintain a healthy physique, a healthy posture, and if you want to delay the aging process and the ravages of time, yoga helps prevent that. It stretches you out. The backbends help prevent you from getting hunchback. When we age, we become kuba, so that reverses it. Inversions help bring blood back into your head, your face. It stimulates the brain, it keeps you from getting Dementia and Alzheimer’s. Plus, if you get your head underneath your waist in an inversion, you defy gravity, and your skin is taught to move up rather than sink. And that goes for all the other organs in the body.â€
Now, the question that begs to be answered is not, “Why do yoga?” but rather, “Why not?”
(TOP: Upward facing dog; BOTTOM: Easy staff)
(Photography by KURT ALVAREZ | Models: HIDEO MURAOKA and FATIMA RABAGO | Shot on location at URBAN ASHRAM MANILA – Makati studio)Â
