Vegans can still have the buttery, cheesy, and creamy taste without exploiting any animals! The food are given to me in takeout containers by Marie of Kitchen Revolution (the best place to learn vegan cooking in Manila). All I had to do was reheat them and voila! Mini pancakes with Earth Balance and agave syrup, tortilla chips with nacho cheese sauce, whole wheat crepe with mushroom cream sauce (which I also used as pasta sauce)- they are all vegan!
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Gopal, the infant who had the universe inside his mouth, grew up to be a child who was at times naughty and challenged his mother the way many children would. Once, his mother wanted to tie him up to teach him a lesson, but he used his powers to make sure the rope was too short. His mother found another rope to tie to the first one, and he once again used his powers to keep the rope short. Seeing his mother tired, he felt compassion and let her tie him up. The story portrays the two sides of Gopal, the mischievous one who wanted to have his way and the divine one who knew that kindness is a greater power. YS IV.7 karma-aśukla-akrsnam yoginas tri-vidham itaresām The actions of ordinary people are good, bad or mixed, while the actions of a realized yogi are neither good nor bad nor mixed, for the selfless yogi has renounced the fruits of their actions and by doing so has realized God as the ultimate doer. The first part of the sutra explains that as a jiva or a soul still contained within the vessel and attachment of this body, our actions and our experiences have distinct characteristics: good or bad, or a mixture. That is not to say we will never be free. It merely points out where we are in this journey. It is interesting to see Gopal as a child having the good, bad, and mixture of these qualities because it reminds us that we are still growing in our spiritual quest. In other words, we may look like adults- this layer of a body looks grown up- but our souls are still children deciphering these human experiences. Children have little boundaries, and so we have to experience the range of duality before we can transcend it. We have to know what cold is to understand hot, light to understand heavy, big to understand small, masculine to understand feminine, hard to experience soft, and so on and so forth. The next step, once we understand duality, is to begin to grasp the idea that these polarities are not absolute. "Bad" actions are not entirely and purely 100% bad, and "good" actions are not entirely and purely 100% good. We begin to develop tolerance, or see that we cannot be so certain about our own opinions as to pretend we are absolutely right and that we know everything. Yes, we understand duality, but we also give space to understand that these dualities can merge, that it's not entirely black and white but rather we are playing with a very broad range of gray. For example, burglars were reported in the news to return the computers they stole from a sexual assault center. If we were stuck with our conventional understanding of good or bad, we would immediately judge them. They are thieves, hence they are bad, end of story. But by seeing the space in the situation, we understand that these thieves too have compassion. Like Gopal, they portrayed both the bad and the good side. Like Gopal, they found more power in kindness than manipulation. When we practice asana, we have a tendency to focus only on one thing that is happening in the body, the part that we are putting a lot of stress on. In a hanumanasa or split, we may think of nothing but that hamstring stretch, our world may be limited to just that hamstring stretch for those five breaths, forgetting that in the same pose, we can actually ease up tension on other parts and it will not affect the depth of the pose. So the practice is to see that there is more to consider than the most direct and obvious action. A tadasana or mountain pose is not just about grounding down, it's also about lifting up. Through witnessing the subtler movements in asana, we allow the direct experience of our body to bring us closer to understanding how polarities can and are part of the whole. When we start to blur the lines of good and bad, right and wrong, we begin to understand that every being is merely motivated by freedom and happiness. Another way we can draw inspiration from Gopal this month is to see that every being was once a child. People we don't get along with, people whose opinions and actions we find hard to accept, people who acted unkindly towards us- they were all once children. And they too, like us, may have already taken on the physical form of an adult, but are still spiritually growing. If we see others as children, how can we fault them? How can we stay mad at them? How can we blame them? They are exploring their range, still finding boundaries, and we happen to cross paths and be a witness to this growth. The second part of the sutra says that an enlightened soul, a jivan mukta, no longer identifies with these dualities. Wherever we are in our path towards liberation, we experience life as though living in front of a mirror. What we see is the projection of our image. If we feel we are broken, we see others as broken. While we are still on the path to liberation, our practice is to start seeing how there are no absolutes in terms of good and bad, and to start to see that we can merge these dualities and find the completeness instead. When we become enlightened and see ourselves as whole and part of everyone and everything else, then we see nothing else but wholeness in every single being we meet. The image of perfection projects from the perfect one. As the teacher of my teachers Sri Brahmananda Sarasvati said, that is the state in which we are missing nothing. And that is Yoga. As it happens when I go to Healthy Options, I end up getting more than I originally planned. I just wanted to get tortilla chips since Marie has generously given me vegan nacho cheese, but I couldn't resist the other goodies. From left to right: Alba Botanica Natural AcneDote Oill Control Lotion, Deep Clean Astringent, and Face and Body Scrub; Dr. Woods Pure Almond Castile Soap, Dr. Woods Tea Tree Facial Cleanser; Bearitos Tortilla Chips, Biscoff Cookies, Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave. Being vegan is a daily choice I make to reduce fear and suffering in the world. It means I believe animals deserve to be free and not to be slaves of my taste or convenience. All products shown here use 100% vegan ingredients and none were tested on animals. If you're interested to find out more about why I made the vegan shift, please watch Earthlings. It's true. I don't like exercise. If you ask me to go on a treadmill and run in place for thirty minutes, I'd feel like a hamster inside a wheel. I might build strength and muscles along the way, I might look cute to spectators, I might even amuse myself, but at the end of the day I would still be trapped and I would still be going nowhere. Yoga resonates with me because I get to go to the most challenging place there is- inside. And the path to inner peace, to self-transformation, and ultimately liberation is one that starts somewhere and has to end someplace else. It could be a roundtrip travel from self to Self, but movement along the way is necessary. The asanas give me a backdrop and my physical body a prop for me to safely experiment with my reactions and sensations. When I was in college, I thought I understood the concept of a life examined. I thought the intellectualization of my choices was it, the beginning and the end. Now I realize I had it wrong. A life examined means to me now that I go to the most molecular level, that I start with my breath and my body, that I examine this moment as it is, not the collective of moments after they are long gone. Jivamukti Yoga in particular is what I fell in love with because it taught me and continues to teach me to see all beings as whole. It means that as a practitioner, I connect to the light of others rather than the darkness that they may currently be trapped in. It means that I also keep my ego in check. Am I in this world to be in competition with other beings- to put them down, judge them, manipulate them, abuse them, or am I in this world to understand that I am amongst them? As a Jivamukti Yoga teacher, it means that I see students as infinite potential. As Sharon Gannon advised, the most important job of a teacher is to speak to the highest in each person. And it is from this place that I draw courage to talk about veganism, environmentalism, materialism, and all the other topics that are not exactly "fun". Some will not like it. Some will complain about it. And it is perfectly okay. Perhaps they have a different path, and it is a voice other than mine that will guide their growth in consciousness. It is from this same principle of seeing students at their highest that Jivamukti Yoga teachers are taught to give assists. When you give your time to help a student into a pose- any pose- it is a practice of the teacher to see where the student can go. It is a practice of understanding the growth process of the body as well as the spirit. If the teacher will just give up on a student because the student is "not ready", when will the student ever be? I feel that students of yoga, whether consciously or unconsciously, are all seekers. It is not my right as a teacher to say no, you do not deserve to seek. If you want to come to a wheel or a handstand or a twist, Jivamukti Yoga teachers will help you get there. You know why? Because we are activists. Because we believe in change. Because we are convinced that when students start to realize their power, they will use it for compassion. So we put all of our faith in that moment that we move as one unit, where you try your best and we also try our best, and we move a little closer to where we want to go. As I said, I don't like exercise and repetitive actions devoid of meaning. Life is full of meaning everywhere I look, so I refuse to settle for anything less than ecstatic growth. When I move my body, I want to do so because it also moves my spirit. When I come to a physical pose, I want to do so because it connects me to the struggles of all those who exist before me and with me, so that I may develop more compassion and understanding, so I may let go of my need to look good, so I may understand that yoga is not just about me, it is never about me, and that it is never ever static. Agico Vegetarian Cafe made it to the top three list of my favorite places to eat in Manila. As someone who eats a lot of good vegan food, I consider myself a credible source. This award-giving body rewards Agico not with recognition or a trophy but with my yoga-earned money and effort (since the place is not exactly conveniently located). I had the Pinoy Best Burger and Choco Macadamia Ice Blended Drink, both not readily vegan but made vegan upon request. No, I did not eat all the cupcakes in the picture. I ordered a walnut flavored one along with the "chicken" teriyakidon rice bowl for take out. Agico Vegetarian Cafe is located at 83 Araullo Street, San Juan. Open daily from 10am to 10pm. There is a story that when Gopal was an infant, his mother cradled him in her arms and he yawned. In the short moment that he had his mouth open, she saw the entire universe inside him. Ahhh, the idea that the universe is inside us. Beautiful concept, isn't it? The words are like poetry. But what does it mean? Does it mean anything or are we just attached to empty words? The universe is inside you- does it mean we are limitless potential? We certainly are. We have infinite potential to be kind and empathetic and strong and courageous. Does it refer to the idea that is pragmatic and romantic at the same time that we have the same atomic makeup as stars? How is the universe inside us? Perhaps we can be inquisitive, ask questions as children would, to find answers in our yoga asana practice. We often start the practice in tadasana or mountain pose. Asana means "to take the seat of". Why is it important to take on the form of a mountain, to be steady and strong and stable and secure of who we are? What about the mountain is like us and us like the mountain? We come into adho mukha svanasana or downward facing dog a lot. Why are we copying what dogs do? When we feel the stretch of our spine, can we also start to stretch our minds and consider the idea that our universe and the universe of a dog and all dogs and all animals for that matter are not so different, that our nature is to be wildly connected to who we are, that our desire is to be free to express that? This misguided human-centric idea that humans are more intelligent than animals- how can it be true when animals are wired to be in the moment at all moments and we struggle so much to achieve that even in a short meditation practice? We also come into many versions of virabadrasana or warrior. Can we see that as warriors, the world that we think is outside us is not our enemy? Can we start to feel grounded on the reality that we are courageous warriors who can defeat our own egos, that our most potent weapons are love, kindness and compassion to all? The different asanas allow us to take on the seat of another for a few breaths, as though we incarnate from one form to another. We find some poses or incarnations hard, some easy. We experience a broad range of sensations and emotions and reactions. We explore the range of who we were and who we are and who we might be. Yoga asana is very powerful because it connects us to the questions we ask in life. And these are the questions we used to ask as children. A few lines from The Song of Childhood by Peter Handke: When the child was a child, It was the time for these questions: Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Is life under the sun not just a dream? Is what I see and hear and smell not just an illusion of a world before the world? Given the facts of evil and people. does evil really exist? How can it be that I, who I am, didn’t exist before I came to be, and that, someday, I, who I am, will no longer be who I am? My teacher Sharon Gannon says yogis are radical. We get to the root of the problem. And so when we have the seed of these questions, we seek with our minds, our sensations, our bodies. We are drawn to yoga asana precisely because we put our bodies in positions that allow the answers to come. We ask these questions because we seek, because we ask many variations of the question who am I, because we hope to be able to find that. When we feel this strong desire to get some answers, why not be inspired by the story of Gopal? He was a baby then. He did not have to do much. But when he opened his mouth, his mother saw the entire universe inside him. Why not see the power that the universe is inside you, that it is your birth right? Be love. Be light. Be compassion. Be peace. Be yoga. The universe is inside you. Namaste. Gopal or Gopala is the nickname of Hindu God Krishna as a child. Practicing yoga does not mean that we have to convert to Hinduism to reap the benefits of the practice. But because Hinduism and Yoga have similar influences, it helps that we open our minds to the inspiration that Hinduism provides us. Gopal was quite a naughty and mischievous child. Perhaps those qualities are not normally associated with the Divine. When we think of religion or God or what is holy and Divine, we think we must act a certain way, speak a certain way, follow this decorum and that decorum. In other words, many of us think holy qualities exist only when we are serious. And yet Gopal shows otherwise. In the stories about Gopal, he often pulls pranks. When girls who like him went to the river to bathe, he even took their clothes to tease and taunt them. He is being playful and well, he is being a child. All of us were once children too. Back then, we played as a way to explore our bodies, our consciousness, and the world around us. Perhaps as children, some of us looked at the ceiling while spinning around to make ourselves dizzy, then we lay down and looked at the spinning world around us. Perhaps some of us realized, by accident at first, that we liked the sensation of peeling off dried glue from our hands, and then we started doing it intentionally. Perhaps we stared at clouds and saw shapes of animals and fruits and things we knew. We once did these things not because we would get rich or become popular. We did these because we were just having fun. We knew then how to stay in the present moment. We were very much like Gopal. It is that authenticity and uninhibitedness that makes us Divine. And yet we have somehow forgotten that we still are that child, that this child can come out and play, especially during asana practice. Gopal would imitate animals, just as we do when we come to our downward facing dogs, our cats snd cows, our eagles, our locusts, our pigeons, our frogs etc. We are in essence just playing. And because our yoga asana is just play, there is no right or wrong. If there is a very distinct memory in our childhood of us being completely happy and free, then let us reconnect to that child. Let that child do the practice and we can see what difference it makes. If in an inversion, we find ourselves falling, fall. Roll into a somersault. Be that child who is unafraid. When we were children, we were content and happy to be falling, it was our parents who told us-out of concern- not to fall. But now, let us relearn to fall. It doesn't have to be graceful. It just has to be safe- and fun! Gopal reminds us that there is Divinity in all, yes, even in the playfulness with which we look at life. If growing up means we become serious because we "have responsibilities" and we live in the "real world" now, if it means we forget how to laugh and play and explore, why grow up at all? The child that we were who knew to take things lightly- we are still that child, that child is still within us. Reconnect to this child. Be divinely child-like! Disclaimer: A proper vegan would know that the protein bit is an inside joke- an inside joke where all vegans are in on the joke! We need our B12 from donuts too! This is an inside joke for a smaller group of vegans! :) Thank you to Marie for the pizzas (you can learn how to cook vegan by checking out Kitchen Revolution's recipes). Thank you to Howard for the jerky. Thank you to Edwina for the kebabs. A great benefit of being vegan is finding amazing vegan friends to share good food with! Being the only Jivamukti Yoga teacher based in Manila, I try as much as I can to cover as many studios as possible. Because, well, Jivamukti has given me so much and I would like to be able to share it with anyone who is open to it. Since I live in Makati, I teach mostly in the area (10 classes in Makati/BGC) but I do have a few classes outside of it. And oh, since I'm on the subject of yoga studios, I can't help but post pictures of Yogi Yoga's hip graffiti wall and chalkboard frames! I can actually cue instructions with "Now face the wall that reminds you to believe in yourself"! Here's my schedule of classes in the Ortigas/San Juan/Quezon City area: Wednesday 1230-130pm Yoga Plus (Ortigas branch) Thursday 1100-1220pm Yogi Yoga (Greenhills) Thursday 700-830pm White Space (Katipunan) For the complete and updated schedule of Jivamukti Classes in Manila including subs, you can check out my public teaching calendar here. |
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