

Location : Cebu City, Philippines
On the Go for 9 Months
While backbacking Southeast Asia for 9 months with no reprieve, all I wanted was for time to stop so I could take a pause - perhaps catch up on things and regain perspective. I thought that was wishful thinking until I came upon Cebu. I could have, and I should have stopped. But I simply couldn't. My mind was constantly racing and I had to keep moving. There was always something to be done - a new yoga sequence to be developed, a new business proposal for a bicycle, for a hotel, for a resto, someone to meet, etc. I was still a hamster on a wheel.
Getting Sick
Since I couldn't get myself to stop, my body took matters in its own hands. It made me sick. And it did so just when I thought I was on top of my game...when I had fully regained my fitness and strength back...when I thought I was impervious to desease. I was knocked out by nothing more than the common cold which left me debilitated for a good 10 days. Yoga classes were cancelled. I could not even write a blog or pursue proposals. The things in my routine were no longer do-able.
Lee Kuan Yew
I got glued on YouTube, leisurely watching interviews on Lee Kuan Yew. Every global bigwig is in agreement that Lee has this uncanny ability to see where the world is going. He sees global dynamics between countries and almost predicts how things will take shape. World leaders take and seek his counsel. He predicts China's increasing dominance in global affairs, the emergence of India, and the continuing decline of the US. He threads at the highest level of geopolitics - making a quick stopover in the US to meet with Henry Kissinger, Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve and Robert Zoellick of the World Bank. His passing is a tragic loss to humanity.
Yoga Masters
Again in Youtube, I watched interviews by Stu Girling of iconic yoga masters - John Scott, Richard Freeman, Kino McGregor, Maty Ezraty, etc. I saw interviews and biographies of Iyengar, Krishnamacharya, etc. All these helped me understand the humanity of yoga - that it is not a divine gift of the gods but simply a cumulative human effort by wise men from a much earlier era and tradition. I further appreciated that yoga was never meant to be static, dogmatic or even ritualistic (let alone a religion), but a living discipline that evolves to meet the ever changing needs of people who wish to get established in the practice. I have a more rounded perspective of yoga now and even see how I can blueprint my yogic path given the visible landscape.
String Theory and the Multiverse
With time on my hands, I got to immerse myself more on my favorite subject matter - quantum mechanics, string theory, the Large Hadron Particle Collider and our multiverse. On TED Talks, I've listened to Brian Green, Sean Carroll, Gian Giudice - all of them taking me to the edge of my seat as they peel the layers of our reality into quantum bytes. What I find extremely fascinating is that the elegant mathematical equation they arrived at in explaining the universe, as the unified theory of everything, does not make sense in a 4-dimensional reality as we know it. It only makes sense on a reality with 11 dimensions! And with that, it implies that our universe is only one of a billion universe that's out there! Indeed, these are exciting times.
Archimedes and The Method
I kept stumbling from one interesting documentary to the next. Archimedes is known as the guy who exclaimed, "Eureka!" after finding out how to calculate the volume of a golden crown. But his real contribution is in the lost manuscript he wrote that was genius even by our present day standard. He pre-dated Calculus by 1800 years. It is widely established that if his manuscript was discovered during the Renaissance period (instead of the the 20th century), we as a race would have reached staggering heights with our accomplishments.
Ending Thoughts
I could have gone on indefinitely with this wealth of knowledge that was by the tips of my fingers but something happened. I got well. Back to my usual routine. Now, I realize that by stopping time (either the body makes you sick or you simply decide to drop everything down), you open up doors to a whole new world that was not even on your looming horizon when you're too busy to squeeze 25 hours in a day. Yes, rest is golden. Better yet, rest is actually very productive.
--- Gigit (TheLoneRider)
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Handstand Clinic at Surya Nanda Yoga Studio
(Aug 23, 2015) a detailed pose-by-pose articulation of a 2-hour handstand workshop handstand workshop....more »»
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More on Cebu City:
Cebu City to Camotes Islands
Camotes Islands to Cebu City
Cebu City to Dumaguete by Boat
Cebu City to Dumaguete via Liloan (bus, boat, jeep, tricycle)
Cebu City to Tagbilaran, Bohol
Cebu City to Siquijor, via Tagbilaran
Sugbo Urban
There is only one bus plying this route - Sugbo Urban. Tourist class coach, a/c, comfortable, Sun-Fri (these dates keep changing). P420 for bus, P275 for ferry to Liloan. Leaves Cebu City (South Bus Terminal) at 8 pm (Sundays 1 am), heads south to Liloan (Santander), takes the ferry to Larena Port, Siquijor, docks around 5 am, makes a clockwise roundtrip around Siquijor Island - Larena, Enrique Villanueva, Maria, Lazi (stops at Lazi market for breakfast and leaves 6:50 am), San Juan, Siquijor (arrives 8am, P50 from Lazi to Siquijor Poblacion) and catches the 1pm ferry at Larena Port for Liloan, Cebu and resumes its land route. Arrives Cebu City 10 pm.
Sugbo Urban is the cheapest and most convenient way because when it reaches Larena Port (Siquijor), it continues its trip around the island (clockwise) along the circumferential road, passing through - Enrique Villanueva, Maria, Lazi, San Juan, Siquijor...and back to Larena. It spares you the cost of hiring a tricycle or habal-habal which charges exhorbitant fares. Besides, it's a long trip to the other side of the island to be taking by tricycle.
More on Cebu Province:
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