Class Schedule - starting April 9, 2018

Charity for Sanggar Akar - 16 December 2017

An honour to have Audrey with us in this charity session. Together, we collected a total donation of Rp 2.650.000 for children of Sanggar Akar. May we all be happy.

Yin Yoga Workshop

Pleased to be hosting Sebastian and Murielle again,

Book your mat, Early Bird ends Dec 15, 2017

Class Schedule - starting Oct 25, 2017

Yin-Yang Yoga Special Class

Mudra-Yin Yoga Special Class

Yoga Nidra Workshop

Class Schedule, starting May 27, 2017

Organik Yoga Teacher Training - batch 3

Join us for a training that will fill you holistically, both as practitioner and teacher of Yoga.

Class Schedule - starting December 01, 2016

Invitation to Silent Practice

“It is often in silence that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love “ ~ Pope Benedict XVI

We talk a lot, all the time. 

If not with others, we talk to ourselves. 

If not out loud, we chat incessantly in our heads. 

And if not face to face, thanks to technology, we communicate all the time by texts. 

Considering how speech makes a major part of our being, it is wise for us to have a look at how we do this and see whether we are doing it properly.

A scripture was recording conversation that took place between the Buddha and a prince named Abhaya. It was said that only words that are factual, true, beneficial, endearing and agreeable are worth saying. All these qualities are to be perfected by proper time of saying, in sympathy for living beings. Conventionally, this scripture has now become main reference for right speech in Buddhism. 

However, if we were to apply those qualities to filter our day to day conversation, it seems that we would end up with nothing or very few to say all day.

Is it best then for us to stay in silence most of the time?

The Trappist monks of Roman Catholic religious order have very inspiring practice on speech. They typically have only three motivations to speak to one another - to get a particular work project carried out efficiently, to engage in a community discussion, or to discuss one’s spiritual progress with a director or confessor. While few of them may take the vow of silence, in general, Trappist monasteries are very quiet as the monks stay in silence most of the time in adherence to the guideline for speech. So much so that it was common for people to get the wrong impression and think that all monks of the order take silent vow. I, for one, used to think so too.

“Silence enables us to be attentive to what is going on, to all the ups and downs” ~ Joseph Goldstein

I wonder if this is why the rule of Saint Benedict encompasses silence in the first place, so those who practice it are able to be fully attentive to what is going on. Then again, I could probably say with more certainty, that this is one of the reasons talking, including writing and reading, is generally not allowed in meditation retreats. I love the silence imposed during retreats. There is a lot happening as I listen  to my own internal chatters, that not having to talk to others is very restful. When the chatter in my head begins to cease as well, it is pleasantly and peacefully quiet.

Curiously, this seems to be rather challenging for many others. Of all other main rules in retreats, silence is something that people in general would eventually desert. I never really understand why.

It has been widely accepted that the practice of Yoga and Meditation go hand in hand. That is, if they are not actually the same thing. However, the modern practice of yoga currently revolves mainly around physical postures. With this alone, it appeared to me that a lot have been omitted tremendously from the original teaching, including guidelines for speech. Each time I inquired on this matter, most teachers would only refer to the well-known eight limbs from the renowned Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. The sutra laid guidelines for daily conducts such as ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truthfulness) and so generally, the modern yoga tradition would apply these guiding principles on speech.

While this is excellent, I could not dismiss this nagging feeling that there should be much more into it than merely the two principles. And I am happy to have discovered that there really is.

Few months back, I was introduced to the practice of Mouna (sometimes spelled Mauna) by Yogi Charu, a wonderful classic Hatha Yoga teacher. Back then, the practice was introduced as kriya or cleansing for the tongue, which is a smart introduction to those who are not used to silent practice.

So I looked it up and was amazed by this practice of Mouna. And I am even more amazed (but not surprised) that this practice did not get as much attention as other practices in this era of modern yoga.

“Spiritual aspirants must observe Mouna for some hours daily.” ~ Swami Sivananda

If we refer to the celebrated saying of Pattabhi Jois - “Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory”, how many of us, so-called yogi, would refer to the word ‘practice’ as anything other than the rigorous asana practice? But look, apparently Mouna or silence is to be observed daily. Moreover, it is for some hours, not 5 or 10 minutes.

The practice of Mouna can initiates simply as control of speech. At its highest form, referred to as maha mouna, the silence reaches the mind and all thoughts are completely annihilated. I suppose this is the very silence that embraces all our beings, which is usually still beyond our limited minds. 

Unfortunately, humans nowadays are conditioned talk all the time. So, to stay really silent would actually be a hard work. I suppose that is why Swami Sivananda also pointed out that Mouna is tapas (discipline) of speech. For most of us, Mouna as discipline of speech alone is a good starting point.

At our own stage, it is possible to integrate the practice as much as we can. Stay clear from our not-so-smart phones, relax and enjoy the sky, or perhaps, sit still and watch our breathes. Invite the practice of silence, discover the sound of silence. Thus hopefully, comes peace, with-in and with-out.

“Silence is ever speaking.” ~ Sri Raman Maharshi

Class schedule - starting October 10, 2016

Organic Yoga Teacher Training

Our batch 2 participants, immersed in philosophy and asanas, back to basic, building foundation.

Indra's beautiful session for Taman Bacaan Pelangi

"Liberating"
      "Beautiful"
           "Touching"
                  "Different"

That is how Yoga with Indra is ...

Pleased to see happy faces afterwards, and hope the contributions light up many happy faces of beloved young ones who are supported by Taman Bacaan Pelangi.

And it was Kalyana's belated birthday celebration too, so enjoy the cupcakes :)

Class schedule - starting September 5, 2016

New class with Akhlis starting this Thursday, a good release after office hours...

Sharing with Indrawati Widjanarko for Taman Bacaan Pelangi

Save the date! ~ 25th August 2016, 6:30pm

Sharing session for Taman Bacaan Pelangi by Indrawati Widjanarko

also with Decky Karunia

More about Indra

A loving and compassionate yoga teacher, Indra has been teaching yoga for 17 years. She found her style of teaching from the heart, leading others to get in touch with body, breath and inner energy. Thus, her yoga practice is joyful as she incorporates movements, mudras, energy practice, healing sounds and mantras as well as other visualization meditation.

Indra has been sharing in workshops and retreats in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as festivals such as Bali Spirit Festival, Xiamen Yoga Festival, Women’s Yoga Festival, Woodford Folk Festival.

More about Taman Bacaan Pelangi

Taman Bacaan Pelangi (The Rainbow Reading Garden) is an Indonesia-based foundation that establishes community libraries in the remote areas of the eastern regions of Indonesia, with the aim to increase the interest in reading among children in the eastern regions of Indonesia and open their access to storybooks.

Founded in 2009, TB Pelangi now manages 39 community libraries in 15 islands in east Indonesia, distributing more than 85,000 children storybooks, and touching the life of more than 12,000 children of the age 5-13 years old.

TB Pelangi’s vision is east Indonesian children who are intelligent, dare to dream, and are able to realize their potentials, for their own sake and the sake of the surrounding community at large.

~ Be Kind, Be Joyful, Be You ~ 

Meditation, a journey home

https://id.pinterest.com/pin/99219998015288830/
picture: Buddhist Boot Camp

“Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected.” ~ World Health Organization Fact Sheet, April 2016

Over the years, studies have been conducted over benefits of meditation and how it works. Most often cited benefits are related to the areas of stress management, self control and concentration. There is an article in Forbes by Alice Walton (2015), which neatly summarized various distinct researches on how meditation affects our brain. There listed a few interesting conclusions from the studies. Meditation was said to help preserve the aging brain, has effects rival antidepressants for depression, decrease volume of brain cells known to be responsible for fear, anxiety and stress, can help with addiction, and it helps kids in school. These well meaning publications benefit many by raising their awareness and interests in the practice. But as wisely concluded in the article, meditation is not panacea.

This is an important statement for two main reasons. One of the reasons being, meditation is a long journey. It is not something that we practice overnight and then it washes all our stresses away. In the world where people expect everything to be straight forward and instant, this can be disappointing. Then, all the appealing benefits are not the utmost outcome of meditation. While it is a simple practice, how it works is never that straight forward.

It is perhaps acceptable to assume that most people relate the word meditate to an image of someone sitting crossed legged with eyes closed in deep concentration. This image is often used to represent peace and calm. So much so that recently I was informed of a newly open premium resort and spa with cozy meditation room as part of the facility. There was a person sitting crossed legged depicted in their communication materials. In other words, peace and calm equals meditation equals sitting cross legged.

Meanwhile, the same practice has also been introduced into corporations as an aid to perform your duties more efficiently with less stress, perhaps your key to success. Busy and ambitious corporate world, peace and relaxing calm of resort and spa, seemingly rather on one end to another of a spectrum, both claim to practice and benefit from meditation. Can it be so? Yes, perhaps. Maybe not.

The thing is, meditation has become a word very loosely applied everywhere. The meditation practice a hermit does in the Himalayan mountains can be very much different from the short session offered in a cozy set up with soft comfortable cushion, soothing smell of incense and calming music in the background. The well intended spirit of bringing the practice into daily life, or the so-called “off the cushion” practice, has turned almost literally everything into meditation. While it truly is, and we shall talk a bit more on this some other time, the idea can be a little confusing.

So what IS meditation? One of the most amusing questions that not only a few people ask when I told them I just returned from one week meditation retreat (or that I practice Yoga) is - “SO, you can levitate?” What and how exactly I was expected to respond is still a mystery to me. Maybe I should seriously confirm so and see what happens.

“I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul.” ~ Rumi

This is how I would define meditation, regardless of the actual actions that are referred to as meditation; the art of listening to ourselves, to the incessant chatter in our heads, drowning waves of emotions and somewhere some time, the peaceful silence within. Being able to listen to ourselves is a useful skill, from which we would understand what is happening within this existence we casually refer to as ourselves.

“Meditation is putting aside altogether everything that man has conceived of himself and the world.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

In listening to myself, I discovered that everything I see, I see it through frames. These frames were planted in our minds through our ability to perceive and remember. All our previous experiences, habits and norms imposed on us, all these forms solid frames. Trouble is, more often than not, the lenses were either distorted or unclean so we do not see things the way they are. And that includes the way we see others and ourselves. How often do we take ourselves as the wrecked person inside our heads, which we relentlessly try to get rid of? Are we really all that noise in our heads? Or are we really the exterior that we see, nurture and entertain all the time? What about the idea that we are neither?

“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” ~ Bell Hooks

Habits are usually acted upon without us being aware that we are doing it. It becomes natural and it has become natural for us to distract ourselves all the time. Our gadgets and other electronic devices certainly play a big part in this habit. What happen when we disconnect ourselves from everything and everyone to simply be with ourselves? We start listening to the voices within and learn to be in peace with it. This is the first step in alleviating ourselves from the subtle constant unease of wanting to be anywhere but here, to be with anyone else but oneself. We learn to be content and cease looking outwards to escape from our very selves, from whatever is at any given moment.

There is a saying that I really like:

“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour” ~ old Zen saying

Seriously, 20 minutes? Surely, in the beginning it can be very challenging to this mind to sit still with something as boring as breaths. A widely used term to describe this restless nature of mind is ‘monkey mind’, indicating how the mind incessantly jumps from one thing to another, all the time. An old friend of mine prefers to see it as puppies instead of monkey. With no particular reasons, I am with him. It is easier to see the mind as restless puppies (than monkey), which just need a bit of watching until they get tired and then decide to rest.

That is exactly why the Zen saying proposed an hour if we are too busy. The busier we are, the more excited the mind become, the more restless the puppies are. It would take longer for the mind to finally give it a rest and begin to settle into the moment.

As the mind settles, perhaps, we would stumble into something grander than the mundane, something unknown to this busy limited mind. Otherwise, it is a beautiful practice nonetheless.

A pleasant walk, a journey home….

“The birds have vanished down the sky.

Now the last cloud drains away

We sit together, the mountain and I,

Until only the mountain remains.”

~ Li Po

Organik Yoga Teacher Training - starting September 3, 2016

Class Schedule - starting June 6, 2016

Give Love

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

~ Mother Teresa

From Graduation to Continuation - from the mat to prisons, Non-profit organisations for street children and school for children with special needs

It is only our greatest pleasure to see Organik Yoga TT graduates spreading love everywhere. That IS Yoga practice, off the mat. Looking forward to see you all flourishing in kindness, immersed in goodness.

Give love, give only love.....