It finally happened. An event unlike any other that bloggers have ever done.
Bloggers came together at the Vinyasa Yoga Center (where I practice) and did yoga for an hour and a half, followed by a vegetarian dinner cooked by my own yoga teacher, Pio Baquiran, who is not only a great yogi teacher but a fantastic chef as well.
PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING
Chona and I were there early. Actually, Chona did yoga at noontime while I had to bring over to the center all the donated items from the sponsors. We ate a leisurely lunch at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, then went back to the center where we packed the media kits and the other donations together with 3 lovely ladies from the ad agency, Aspac/Law (Ria, Kathy and Mia).
(Mia, Kathy and Ria of Aspac/Law)
Some bloggers came in early so we had a chance to chat and get to know those whose names were familiar to me but who I had never met yet, like Francis, Melanie, Janine, and Carl. I was particularly interested in chatting with Francis, who, it turns out, already practises yoga at Fitness First (my thought bubble: this is the perfect endorser for yoga for men!!!). Melanie, too, it turns out, has been doing yoga for some time now and in fact, took yoga lessons that same morning with Chona’s and my good yogi friend fresh from Riyadh, Jon Cagas! What a small world indeed!
Later, a whole bunch of bloggers came in: Poyt, Fritz, Arpee, Noreen and my mommy bloggers Chats, Cookie and Dine.
Juned of Blog and Soul came by a little later from another “shoot” and became the event’s volunteer photographer.
Yogini mates Minna (also the VYC directress), her sister Therese and Trin Custodio dropped by to support the event and practice together with Chona and I. All in all, the shala was filled and energies were strong!
THE CLASS — ENERGY TO THE MAX
Pio informed us that he had designed a special sequence just for bloggers. Now that caught everyone’s interest. He began with a short meditation, taught the bloggers the proper way to breathe, then followed it up with eye exercises, rotation of the hands, fingers and shoulders, and shorter variations of the sun salutations.
Pio also made us go through simple forward bends, side bends and wide angle bends to stretch the spine (good for sedentary bloggers, right?). We also did leg raises for the abs as well as the Bridge and Fish poses.
Class ended with everyone sweaty but feeling good. We had a class picture and naturally with everyone being bloggers, we had a whole slew of cameras and smiling to get through before we could call it a night!
THE HEALTHY DINNER!
Pio’s dinner consisted of pasta, burgers (using vegetarian patties) and his eggless leche flan. Arpee had the time of his life trying to guess the ingredients of this one!
(vegetarian pasta)
(burger with vegepatties)
***realization*** – I just realized I forgot to take a pic of the eggless leche flan! Chona, help!
Each blogger came away from the event fully worked out, fed with healthy vegetarian food, armed with a bag of items from sponsors like Coke, RFM, Nestle and VYC. And also special thanks to a yogini mate, Lomen, for the iced tea donations (yes, we chilled them and drank them during dinner!!!).
NEXT: THE CONTEST!
Blog and Soul has also announced a contest where bloggers who did yoga could compose a blog, photo gallery, vlog or any other form of post about the event. Prizes up for grabs consist of a 1 liter aluminum bottle from Swiss company, SIGG. In addition, there are 3 yoga outfits (jacket and pants) for girls from Aura Athletica Rockwell. Judging will be done by Blog and Soul together with VYC and the winners will be announced soon. For mechanics of the contest, go to Blog and Soul’s website.
I did a random, ambush interview of some bloggers (including Francis who did a fantastic spiel on yoga for men — yey!).
And as I find blog entries on the event, I will post these below.
2. Chona: Bloggers @VYC: An Evening of Fitness, Food and Fun!
3. Janine: 10 Things I Know About Yoga
5. Melanie: Yoga for Bloggers at Vinyasa Yoga Center
6. Dine: Yoga for Fitness, Good Health and Relaxation
7. Arpee: Yoga goes the foodie
Wow oh noes, I see my big booty there. Hehe. Thank you so much for making this event possible. I loved the whole session especially the poses made especially for bloggers. Plus, oh my God, the food! Okay, will elaborate more on my post.
Jane: And…believe it or not, that food is not just food. Pio prays over that food pa so that people who eat it will be blessed. Sige, give me URL of your post when you get it done.
hi Jane, thanks for the invite–i have actually read a lot about yoga for a while now, but really did not have the time to go for some sessions. now, i am seriously thinking of going into it. 🙂
yey! more pics! i love the session. i wish lang there’s one much closer to us people in the south.
Hi Jane! Finally my post on the yoga class is up. My PC had another conk-out attack. Haaay…
I truly enjoyed the class, Jane. Hope to see you soon. Will use my VYC GC with Cookie and Dine. 🙂
That looks like fun but when I saw the poses, oh my!
I hope there will be another event soon like this!
From the pics, the participants looked like it wasn’t their first yoga session! The food was healthy – am partial to veggie burgers myself! Thanks for your interesting blog.