60 Days to Liberation

I am flying and flying
On Immortality's Wings
In Infinity's Sky.

***

No mind, no form, I only exist;
Now ceased all will and thought.
The final end of Nature's dance,
I am It whom I have sought.

My spirit aware of all the heights,
I am mute in the core of the Sun.
I barter nothing with time and deeds;

My cosmic play is done.

***

The sky calls me.

The wind calls me.

The moon and stars call me.

The green and dense groves call me.

The dance of the fountain calls me.

Smiles call me, tears call me.

A faint melody calls me.

The morn, noon and eve call me.

Everyone is searching for a playmate.

Everyone is calling me, "Come, come!"

One voice, one sound, all around.

- Excerpts from Poetry by Sri Chinmoy

In the Mecca of Celebrity Yoga

A TIME article by Madhur Singh

Natascha, a French yoga teacher, is a type that could be found in any organic-vegetarian restaurant in any of the cosmopolitan cultural capitals of Europe and the Americas. She has studied with the glitterati of yoga masters, and is in town for a refresher course. "It's a dream life," she says, while munching an organic vegetable hotpot at a café catering exclusively to yoga enthusiasts. "You can practice yoga with the masters, eat organic food, and rent a bicycle to take you around this beautiful city!"

Read the full article here.

Tonalin

I went to buy laban at Othaim this morning after pranayama and saw this at the milk and yoghurt section. I thought, "hmnnn... mint and lime flavored laban, let me try this one". When I got home and after the asana practice, I took the mint and lime flavored laban saw the info on Tonalin. It claims to reduce body fat and maintain lean body mass.

Now, only if the Saudi Health Ministry can do something about the prevalence of physical inactivity in the Kingdom. A study conducted at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center actually showed that more than 30% of the Saudi population is overweight and obese.

Spaghetti with Veggieballs and an Arabic Dessert

Year-End Retreat at Yoga Philippines

Click here for further information.

Kit Kat Caramel Chunky

Just had one 65g Kit Kat Caramel Chunky. I wonder how my blood sugar would be like. I'm sure someone in the family got diabetes so there's a reason to be watchful of the sugar intake.

Ahhh... life is too short to be very stringent about every thing.

It's time to have a break... have a kit kat. ;-)

Ashtanga Opening Mantra

I bow to the feet of the Supreme Guru

The awakening happiness of one's own Self revealed

Beyond better, acting like the jungle physician,

Pacifying delusion, the poison of conditioned existence.

Taking the form of a man to the shoulders,

Holding a conch, a discus, and a sword,

One thousand heads white,

To Patanjali, I salute.

Om

Vegetarian Enchilada

What to do with leftover vegetarian chili and mexican rice? Grab some tortilla, put some of the leftover stuffs, add some fresh salsa and grated cheddar cheese... roll into a burrito, or arrange in an oven-proof dish, pour over some of pureed chili, top with cheese and bake until the cheese melts... and what do you have?

Vegetarian enchilada...

Practice was good... it was a "led"practice today. I woke up late from watching The Bourne Ultimatum and No Reservations last night. I felt sluggish and ready to skip asana practice this morning, then I remember it's Friday and traditionally, Friday is led-class day.

Thanks to technology, I played Sharath's primary series audio and practice was finished in less than 90 minutes. Whew!

Slow Practice

7th day of my home-retreat holiday. Practice was slow this morning as the body is still a bit sore from deep backbending two days ago.

Mind was somewhere else halfway through the seated poses and after doing bhujapidasana, I went straight to garbhapindasana. Realized the skip after kukkutasana so what do I do? Repeat from surya namaskar, LOL.

Duh, just repeat from the kurmasana dude.

Self Torture

We create our own suffering...
we torture ourselves again and again...
and for what purpose?

Like gold that is put into fire...
the Self shines brightly and reveals itself
once all the impurities have been removed.

Banana, Walnut & Caramel Pancake

Breakfast today? Nah, this was last night's dessert. ;-)

Mexican Dinner

Mexican Rice, vegetarian chili and mexican/taco salad

Mexican Rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green and red bell pepper
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup rice
1 cup diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 organic vegetable stock cube
2.5 cups water

Saute garlic, onion and bell pepper for about 60 seconds. Add everything in. Mix well and transfer into a rice cooker. Press "cook", sit back, relax or prepare the vegetarian chili if you haven't prepared it yet. ;-)

Another glass of NA beer on the side for this meal. Cheers.

Today's Breakfast

Pancakes with Blueberry topping, banana slices and walnuts

Boracay

Photos by Alric Mondragon

Alric is an alumnus of the UP Varsity Pep Squad and is now studying medicine at UP PGH. The team goes to Boracay every summer for fun, games and team building.

Here's the ABS-CBN Summer 2008 Station featuring the ABS-CBN Kapamilya Stars, the UP Pep Squad and many more.

Italian or American???

Today was supposed to be either Italian or Mexican but ended up with vegetarian cheesy crust pizza from Pizza Hut. The photo isn't very inviting, I know, but it was ok. Good enough for a starving vegetarian yogi in Riyadh.

I went to PSU after the morning practice to follow up on my ticket request for this June and when I decided to go home, I was craving for pizza! Pizza is supposed to be an Italian food, I texted Maria, so I'm still keeping up with today's theme. Just ignore the "hut" or it will become an American Fastfood.

Got 3 more slices left so that will be dinner later. Cheers.

Mildly Spiced Indian

This was late lunch-early dinner yesterday. Rice with Cashews and Peas and Healthy Vegetable Samosas (oven toasted not fried) with Geeta's Tamarind and Papaya & Orange Chutneys.

Plus 3 of this...

Do remember though that I am in Saudi Arabia... so it's a non-alcoholic beer, what a loser!

Rice with Cashews and Peas
1/2 cup green peas
1 cup rice
1 cup roasted cashews
pinch of turmeric
ghee
salt to taste
dash of hing
3.5 cups water

Heat ghee in a small saucepan. Add hing and turmeric, then quickly saute the green peas and cashews for about 60 seconds, add the rice and mix well. Add water and transfer to the rice cooker and let it do the rest.

Healthy Vegetable Samosa
2 medium size potatoes, sliced into small cubes and nuked for 90 seconds
1 medium size carrots, sliced into small cubes and nuked on high for 60 seconds
1/2 cup green peas, no nuking necessary if using canned peas ;-)
2 cups cauliflower cut into small pieces, nuked for 60 seconds
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups water
spring roll wrapper, 20 pcs, 4 in x 4 in.

Heat the ghee in a saucepan. Reduce heat or remove from heat if the ghee is too hot, then add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow to pop. Be careful not to burn the spices. Add the ground cumin, turmeric and ginger. Saute for about 60 seconds, then add all the vegetables and mix well. Add water and cook until the vegetables are soft and a little mushy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it cool for a while before wrapping 1-1.5 tbsps in the spring roll wrapper. Cook in the oven toaster for 5-8 minutes until brown. Serve with chutney of your choice.

Sarangani's Munato Festival

Why am I posting this? Hmnnn... maybe because I want to visit Sarangani one of these days. I grew up in Koronadal, South Cotabato, and Sarangani is just a couple of hours away from there. I've been to that area only once in high school during a scouting trip.

Thai Carbo-Load

Vegetable Tom Yum Soup, Pad See Eiw and Steamed rice. Yesterday's lunch and dinner.

Tom Yum
5 baby corn, cut diagonally
1 carrot cut diagonally
2 cups sliced cabbage
5 shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
750ml water
1 pack Lobo tom yum paste
1 tamarind stock cube

Add the paste to boiling water. Add everything in and wait until all the vetables are soft and tender.

Pad See Eiw
500 g flat thai noodles
6 tbsp sweet soy sauce + 2 tbsp white vinegar
1 mushroom stock cube, dissolved in 1-2 tbsp hot water
black pepper to taste
1/2 cup green peas
1 small carrots sliced thinly
2-3 cups shredded cabbage
2-3 cups torn spinach leaves
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

Cook noodles as directed in the package. Set aside.

In a medium pan, stir fry all the vegetables for 1-2 minutes. Add the soy sauce-vinegar mixture and dissolved stock cube. Mix well. Combine with the noodles and serve.

Middle Eastern Treat

This was lunch yesterday. Lentil rice, garlicky spinach salad and felafel. I even got Macky to eat it. He doesn't like anything with curry or anything that doesn't taste Filipino.

Lentil Rice
1/4 cup brown lentils soaked in 1 cup water for at least 30 minutes
3/4 cup Thai jasmine rice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
dash of salt to taste
1 tsp vegetable oil
1-2 tbsp minced onion
3-3.5 cups water

Saute the onion in oil. Add the spices and mix well. Add the lentils and rice. Mix well. Add water and salt to taste. Transfer in a rice cooker and let it do the rest.

Garlicky Spinach Salad
A handful of spinach leaves, torn into small pieces
1 large tomato cut into small cubes
1 small cucumber cut into small cubes
about 1 tbsp minced onion

Garlic Sauce: 1 clove garlic, 1 cup yoghurt, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, black pepper to taste, put everything in a blender. Mix it with the above ingredients and it's ready to serve.

Felafel
Ok, I cheated on this one as I used an instant felafel mix :-p

Arrange the three in a plate and serve with Budweiser non-alcoholic beer. Enjoy!

A Poor Pinoy's Food

The news last night said there's rice shortage in the Philippines and that the price of processed foods will increase by 20%. If only my poor countrymen start to appreciate monggo, kangkong and kalabasa (mung bean, water spinach and squash/pumpkin), and believe that processed foods are not "proper" foods, life would be much easier.

Of course, this is an oversimplification. There's a lot of factors why Filipinos, in general, believe that processed foods should be part of one's daily diet. I'm not in a position to discuss this as I am, most of the time, apathetic about issues.

So let me just share with you this poor Pinoy's food - monggo with kalabasa and spinach (okay, I'm in Saudi Arabia and I cannot get malunggay here. Spinach is also cheaper than kangkong so this version actually sounds more sophisticated than its original counterpart.)

Ingredients
1/2 cup mung bean, soaked in 1.5 cups water for at least 30 minutes.
2 cups butternut squash cut into 1 inch cubes
a handful of spinach leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp finely chopped onions
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 vegetable stock cube
3-5 cups water
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
a dash or two of hing powder

Method
Cook the mung beans in 3 cups fresh water (by this I meant discarding the soaking water and use a fresh one to cook the monggo) for 20-25 minutes over low heat. Mash with a spoon or fork and set aside.

In a small saucepan, saute garlic, onions and ginger in the vegetable oil. Add a dash or two of hing powder (I read somewhere that it actually decreases the gas from the beans/lentils), mix well and add the cooked mung beans. Add the butternut squash, cover and let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the squash is soft. Stir in the vegetable stock, add the spinach, mix well until the leaves are wilted. Cover. Turn off the heat and let it stand for a while before serving over steamed rice. Top it with crunchy fried onion. Should serve 2 but good only for one serving for a 5'6 Asian guy like me :-p

Cheers.

A Sattvic Brunch

Full pranayama practice this morning (pranayama preps and the prescribed ones) after kriyas. I woke up a little unwell (weather is changing) so I decided to skip the asanas. I can do it later in the afternoon if I feel better.

Had some left over steamed rice in the fridge thus the rice milk.

Ingredients
2 cups leftover steamed rice
500 ml low fat milk
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp golden raisins (I thought of adding this to the recipe at the last minute so didn't had the time to soak it in water to decrease its acidity)
Some walnuts for garnish

Method
Heat the milk in a small saucepan. Keep the heat low. Once the milk is boiling, dump everything in and simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture stand for 5-10 minutes.It's 12:15pm already so that's brunch today. Also had it with mint tea. Bought a huge bunch for only 95 halalas (1 SAR = 100 halalas; 1 SAR = 3.75 USD).

Cheers.

Temporary Freedom

It's the weekend in this part of the world (Thursday and Friday are weekends in Saudi) and got a one week mid-semester break so I have 9 days of temporary freedom. The original plan was to go to Jeddah and take a diving certification exam but that was canceled. The alternative plan was to go to Dubai, spend time with friends who work there, and take yoga classes at Zen but decided to just stay and save the dosh as I'll be traveling for the rest of the year.

So here I am, spending some time in cyberspace before I start practice. I'll just pretend I'm in Samui or Goa doing a 9-day yoga retreat... kriyas, pranayama and asanas in the morning, nice vegetarian meals, lazy afternoons, and even lazier evenings.

I'll have more time to spare in the kitchen so food photos will flood this blog for 9 straight days. Let's just hope that laziness, one of the obstacles in the path, does not set in.

Here's a video of us chanting Om Sahana Bhavatu during our teacher training graduation last summer. Thanks Jasmine.



Okay, it's vaman time. Cheers.

Butternut Squash with Coconut Milk

Ingredients
Butternut squash cut into 1-inch cubes, about 3 cups
1 cup green peas
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tbsp sliced ginger
1 vegetable stock cube
black pepper
red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp minced onion
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method
Heat oil in a small saucepan and saute garlic, onion and ginger. Add the butternut squash, water, ginger powder and stock cube. Allow to boil and then simmer for a while before adding the green peas and coconut milk. Add black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Serve over steamed rice and top with crispy fried onions.

Omit the garlic and onions if you prefer a sattvic dish.

Cheers.

Yoga, Diet and Philippine Tourism

Balut Island Hot Spring, Sarangani Province

When I posted the video on Carabao Island in Romblon, Jane asked me what is it doing in my yoga food blog? I told her that this blog started out as a way to chronicle my diet and how it is affecting my practice and day-to-day living, then slowly another idea came up, "why not promote the Philippines as well?" So I guess this blog is really about yoga, moderate eating and Philippine Tourism.

I've been convincing M to visit the Philippines the next time she's in Southeast Asia and "bombarding" her with photos and websites of beautiful white sand beaches in the Philippines. Hopefully, with Bela's retreat center in Samar, more adventurous beach-loving Ashtangis will come and visit the Philippines.

Our government sucks and we don't have beautiful airports such as those in Thailand but we have equally stunning beaches. As one of the Philippine tourism ads says, "If you don't like this one (referring to Boracay Island), we have 7000 more to choose from."

Enlighten Up! Trailer

Received this video from the ashtanga yahoo egroup. Very interesting.



Video posted by youtube user enlightenupthefilm

12 Weeks to Liberation

The person whose mind is always free from attachment,
Who has subdued the mind and senses,
And who is free from desires, attains
The supreme perfection of freedom
From Karma through renunciation.

Bhagavad Gita XVII:49

Carabao Island, Philippines

Originally posted by youtube user Bualaw08.

Visit these sites also:
www.enjoyphilippines.com
www.carabaobeach.com
The Next Boracay

For Surfing in the Philippines:
www.liquid-body.com