Just came back from an one-week work trip where I didn’t manage to practice at all and this was a wonderful little “re-introduction” or “re-acclimatization” to remind me of the most fundamental element of yoga. It is amazing how the back to basics often makes me realize I haven’t got the basics completely down yet even though I’ve been practicing for a while! For example my inhales tend to be shorter than my exhales and the matching of breath to movement can be tricky sometimes…but I did fall into a meditative state in the last three cycles of the sequence and all I could hear was the sound of the waves of my own breath. It was magic 💖

Happy to report I have managed to move to Manila (my cat in tow) in one piece! Thanks Olga for the kind wishes :) Didn’t manage to practice at all until today with all the craziness but super happy to be back on the mat with this slightly more chilled practice hehe. Some moments of self-doubt and panic, particularly as I initially failed to hold a crow which had been firmly in my repertoire, but sometimes it just takes a few tries and a playful heart! The crow came back quick and strong 😅 Today just reminded me how happy yoga makes me feel 💖 I hope I could still keep practicing often despite the back to physical office!

My last practice before I move back to Manila (where my job is) after more than two years of working from home in Spain (thanks to Covid?), and it couldn’t be more fitting - there has been quite a bit of apprehension and anxiety about this move, and how I needed to simply get immersed and lost in the physical sensations…being present with my body somehow got all my emotions and mental clatter cleared up at the same time. Feeling a little more ready to take over what I have to face now 💚 P.S. legs are getting more steady (though still a little shaky at times) compared to at the beginning of the week right after the Camino 😅 and I enjoyed the balancing play very much tonight 💖

I absolutely ADORE this class 💚 so much so that I did the last little “rinse cycle” one more time on my own staying more than a breath in each movement relishing that most joyful sensation of my body opening up on it own. And I love your killer cues too! There have been so much “lightbulb” moments on this studio for me, whether it’s achieving a pose that I had been trying to crack for a long time or deepening a pose / sensation and feeling a blossoming of my body like never before, all thanks to your magical cues that almost have a picturesque quality that I could really picture in my mind what to do with my body 🧚‍♀️

It’s such a unique practice that is so distinct from any of the other classes of Meghan! So full of unexpected and fun transitions :) but at the same time it was such a humiliating learning experience for me as my body still hasn’t fully recovered from the 10-day trek I just did and many of the poses I used to be able to do with ease (like rolling up from a squat) I couldn’t do today - well exactly what Meghan said about “non-linear” experiences at the beginning! The journey is never A to B in a straight line and we accept and embrace what each day throws at us and keep moving ☺️

I came back alive from the Camino de Santiago! Walked some 250km over 9 days through mountains, coastal cliffs and city streets carrying a 6kg backpack 🥵 And I knew my cranky body needed some Meghan-nourishment today! It is such a soothing practice that it felt like my body got pulled apart, massaged deeply and put back together into a brand new one. My legs and hip are especially grateful for the long calming holds focusing on the exhale to ground 🥰 thank you for creating this yummy practice!

DAY 22 - heheh I’m kidding! Actually this would be my last yoga practice in almost two weeks as I’m going on Camino de Santiago (a walking pilgrimage of 25-35km per day in the north of Spain) in two days. Which is why I really treasured the practice today and it felt amazing and so in tune with my body. My Vasisthasana has never been too bad, but today I got a little closer to the fullest expression with the supporting leg barely bent thanks to a little incremental - expanding the back body like in wild thing - and suddenly it felt so much more expansive! I really loved the theme of letting go of destination and focusing on the incrementals - when I was little, my dad used to tell me not to compare myself with others, but rather the me yesterday, and as long as I’m a little better than that me, I’m goooood. Somewhere along the way I lost it, and I get upset with myself if I didn’t achieve something within an entirely arbitrary timeframe, but now I’m re-learning it. Just one small step at the time and enjoy the walk 🥳

Dear Olga thank you for being with us throughout this journey, cheering us on every step along the way and so patiently replying to each of us! 💕 I wouldn’t have made it to the end without your sweet support 🥰 The last two days of the challenge had indeed been a challenge for me, as on Day 20 I had an argument with a loved one about something I had been so consciously aware of but so unconsciously keen to avoid all this time, and while the argument itself was short and almost subtle, the (quiet) emotional outburst that followed was so intense that I couldn’t possibly bring myself to the mat after. I just marinated in the emotions, or “after effects”, and acknowledged them as they were, raw, powerful, all-engulfing. The curious thing is that once you acknowledge a fearsome thing as it is, they lose their power over you. Suddenly I could face it all. Suddenly I could accept and forgive myself. And after a while I could even think positively how to resolve it. I don’t know, but I genuinely think some of this perspective shift really came from the little wisdom whispers Meghan drops here and there in all the practices which I guess I absorbed without even realizing it. DAY 21 and I was back on the mat for the yummiest Hip Eclipse, which just felt divine after the emotional roller coaster the day before. I am really proud of myself that I made it to the end, despite the ups and downs, or rather, particularly because of the ups and downs, because one of the biggest learnings of this journey was to let go of any expectations, of having to achieve a pose, of having to feel amazing in each practice, or even having to actually “physically” move every day…and just to ride the wave as you change everyday. It is so much more important for me, I realize, to shut down my mental chatter, really look inward to feel what my body and mind are asking for and give them just that. And movement can perfectly happen in stillness, in focused reflection, or in a dance with breath, as energy still shifts and flows even then. Excited to continue on this journey of learning with Meghan in hopefully the years to come! Maybe one day in person 💖

DAY 18 - did Reset & Recharge and to be honest a little bit of an ambitious choice for the day right following a long trek haha. Interestingly realized what felt stiff was not my legs, but my back! 🤔 But the most refreshing discovery was that I might be getting the hang of meditation, as at the end of practice, when Meghan guided us to root both sit bones evenly (and joked about tippy tables) and root the crown to the sky, which I never paid much attention to before, I really felt an intense and firm grounding sensation I had never experienced 💚 DAY 19 - given yesterday’s first discovery, I went back to probably my favorite practice here ever, Softened Spine. It took me a little while to get into the groove of it, but it always does the trick for me! My spine, and my whole body for that effect, felt fluid, supple and completely renewed. And I’m really feeling, probably for the first time, the thoracic spine sprouting towards the sky in the various modified lunges and side planks. Pure magic 🪄

Thank you Olga for being there every step along the way in this challenge! Somehow your previous comment didn’t come through until now, and I hope your move was as smooth as a move could be! ☺️😅 DAY 16 - I shifted classes in the list around a bit as I had a little more time and did Rooted Dancer. There were some moments of magic when I felt so intimately the breath dance even in the long hold of the Dancer pose, where with every inhale my crown and heart grew a little more upward and with every exhale my floating leg kicks a little more into my hand. It was such a dynamic process in stillness. Of course whether my Dancer was firmly rooted or not was an entirely different matter 😂 DAY 17 - nature and trekking day. I am blessed to live (for now) really close to some expansive hills and went for a 3-hour trek in the magical summer evening light. Watched the sun set at the end of the trek with cool breezes brushing my face and felt so grateful for being wrapped in nature’s embrace. Did that count as meditation? Maybe yes and maybe no, but what matters is that I moved my body in the way that my body asked for 🥰