When you feel great, your mind is clear and everything follows
– Joy Geronca
I want something – to do what I really love to do (so my life would be great) – and its seems the universe conspire to make it happen. The very same line Paulo Coelho said in his 1988 now world-famous “The Alchemist.”
After that inspiring meeting with Toby Claudio, this mother met another equally beautiful soul. She exudes inner peace and grace. Her eyes smile and it looks like her skin and everything in her glow. She is Joy Geronca of Bikram Yoga Eastwood.
Joy Geronca of Bikram Yoga Eastwood.
Joy moved to the United States to further enhance her career in jewelry design only to discover a new interest – Bikram Yoga. She practiced Bikram yoga for three years, and seeing the mind and body change, decided to bring the same system in the Philippines. Thus the birth of Bikram Yoga Eastwood two and a half years ago.
Bikram yoga, as Joy toured us around her studio, is done in a heated room. The heated room, with a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius, can accommodate at the most, 40 persons. And a session takes about 90 minutes of stretching, balancing and yes – sweating.
Each yoga instructor peps up the session with witty lines because Bikram yoga is a dialogue driven class. And Joy, being an instructor herself, appears to enjoy talking. She also shared with us —
3 REASONS TO PRACTICE BIKRAM YOGA
First, Bikram yoga may be considered a vitamin. Though one doesn’t take it orally, the regular detoxifying helps the body system function effectively. Joy attests that most friends practicing it report relief from migraine and insomnia. Another friend had a terrible car accident and can’t walk. But after a number of Bikram yoga classes, his discomfort eases and can now “live a normal life”. He now walks.
Often misunderstood as hot yoga, Bikram yoga is a style developed by yogi raj Bikram Choudhury, born in Calcutta in 1946. It is composed of 26 ‘asanas’ or postures and two breathing exercises. Unlike the common yoga I once experienced, Bikram yoga requires one to sweat a lot. The sweat helps flush body toxins while the stretching and balancing help in blood circulation and internal body healing. Thus drives to Joy’s second point. Bikram yoga brings both physical and mental results. That further explains the inner glow I noticed the first time I met her.
Third. The inner glow then helps improve skills of concentration, patience, increasing mental clarity and eventually reduces stress. This then explains that despite being late for more than 35 minutes, Joy accommodated us and happily answered all our questions –petty or too demanding to answer.
Truly interested, I googled Bikram yoga and learned that celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, Richard Nixon and Brooke Shields practice it. Quite convinced to try it myself, I asked Joy how she encourages students having difficulty to reach their toes, for instance, during a regular session. (giving her the idea as well that I do have that problem).
She all the more inspired me.
“Being flexible isn’t the end goal of Bikram yoga. yes true indeed, there are students who can reach their toes in just a few sessions but others took them months. But then, again, it’s not about being flexible. It is how you feel. After each session, you feel great. And when you feel great, your mind is clear. And when your mind is clear, you can think and decide easily. You worry less. It is a total body and mind wellness.”
I want to try Bikram yoga. Not today, though. Nor in the near future. Just like Bikram founder Bikram Choudhury and Bikram yoga Eastwood owner Joy Geronca, I will bring inner peace within me. My Bikram yoga would be me using my energy positively. I can start with praying honestly. And with every challenge that comes my way, I will remind myself I am not alone but I have Him to go with me. With that, I guess, I will have inner peace I obviously cannot get from the outside but from within. If Bikram yoga has instructors giving dialogues, it would be Him giving me the talk.
I learned that at the end of each Bikram yoga session, while participants are still in the dead posture, the instructor opens the door and a slight gust of cool air comes into contact with the sweaty body thus an amazing calm seeps in, giving the mind and body a positive feel for the rest of the day. That is exactly what I have just experienced from my recent own Bikram yoga session.
Momi Berlin’s Directory
Bikram Yoga Eastwood
Joy Geronca
632 972 1838
www.bikramyogaeastwood.com
I’ve heard of bikram yoga from eloi. Nagyoyoga sya sa makati but I don’t think it’s bikram. Niyayaya nya ko dati pero namamahalan ako sa 500 per session. Hehe.
the usual yoga makes you sleep after the session. bikram yoga makes you sweat a lot and when we tried the heat room, parang nakakahimatay sa init. ihihihi.
yung yoga classes namin dati is with sharon tan, the daughter of lucio tan. nasa kanya pa nga until today ang aking yoga mat. di ko na nakuha. hiniram kasi nya before dahil meron daw silang event something na parang iviview yung eclipse ang drama.
Enjoy ba yung yoga? Kasi parang ang hirap! May dance yoga pa nga yata. Iyun mukhang enjoy.
ung normal yoga, nagenjoy ako kasi parang u never imagine you can bend or reach your toes, for instance, but then dahil sa encouragement and music, parang ang dalidaling gawin. magandang malapit lang ang bahay mo sa yoga class para tulog ka agad kasi masarap matulog pagkatapos ng session.
yung bikram yoga naman, di ka aantukin. u feel energized. as in parang ang sarap magisip at tumakbo at magkutingting after the session. kasi pinawisan ka mabuti tapos sarap magshower.
pero between runnning and yoga, mas nakakafeel ako ng inner peace (ehehe, medyo senti at maemo ako ngayon e) sa running. mas mura pa.
Must be because you’re an outdoor person. Parang masarap kasi yung may nakikitang mga puno and ulap habang tumatakbo. 😉
oo nga. at siguro malaking factor din yung kasama ko mga bata habang tumatakbo. sila naman naglalaro sa may playground. may playground area kasi sa marikina sports park.