My Urban Ashram Manila Experience

My visit: January 25, 2012

Urban Ashram Manila

Suite 302, 3rd Level, 3 Brixton Street

Kapitolyo, Pasig

377 YOGA/ 661 YOGA/ 0917881 YOGA

Mon- Fri: 6:30 am - 9:00 pm

Sat         : 8:00 am - 5:30 pm

I was invited by Bheng & Michelle to try Flexibility Not Required (FNR), one of the four yoga classes taught in Urban Ashram Manila. The other three are Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga and Hatha.  

Urban Ashram Manila is a full service center with a pool of highly-qualified Yoga Alliance- registered teachers offering a wide variety of yoga classes on regular schedules.

Since I have stopped practicing yoga a long time ago, I was ecstatic to try out this newly- opened studio. It was far from my place so I just went and hitched a ride with Michelle. We were only asked to bring a towel. I asked "No mat?" Soon, I learned that everything is provided for including towel- of course, for a small fee of PhP40. 

my triangle pose; photo credit: MyMom-Friday

Flexibility Not Required is a yoga revolution and Ashram's Signature. Developed by Marc Macadaeg, FNR classes teach the basics and foundations of yoga. Class sequencing is built around the sun salutations and is geared towards building internal heat to warm up your body and gradually and intelligently opening your body up in order to make more challenging poses easier to understand and more accessible, building a lot of cardiovascular endurance, strength and increasing your range of motion.

We had a short introduction and briefing before we took the class. There were only four of us in this special class. I learned that I am the only one who has practiced yoga before. All three were beginners.

“There is a misperception that only flexible people can do yoga when in fact, they can build their flexibility through the regular practice of yoga,” says Dr. Ngo. “The flipside to that is, of course, strength. A well-balanced practice should make you both more flexible and stronger than ever before.”

Day 2: Yoga at 8 a.m. in Anvaya Cove

I woke up the next day hoping for a sunny day! Well, it was not exactly sunny but it did not rain as much as the day before. My friends were able to frolic on the sand, swim in the pool and eat, eat, eat!

 Anvaya Cove Tower Bar and Pool

The pool area is really big. I was not able to count how many swimming pools connected to each other. Even though there were plenty of people swimming, there was room for everybody. 

Can you see the tower bar on the background? We climbed the stairs up to the fifth floor the night before and could see nothing hahaha All those steps for nothing because it was raining. I am sure, on normal days, you can see a lot of stars at night. 

Lululemon= Yoga

Since I got into yoga, I often see cute little tag on some yoga attire of students especially the good, old *ahem* advance ones. Later on, I learned that Lululemon is the adidas in yoga hehe

So, when I went to Canada, I thought I could have one of those cute attires. Lululemon incidentally is a product of Canada. Sad to say, I couldn't afford the outfits *geez* even those that are on sale. I saw cute tops on sale but most are broken sizes and priced at USD 30 and above. Needless to say, crop pants were also out of the question because crop pant's price scare the hell out of me haha with price ranging from USD 40 and above. Discounts given were minimal (only a few dollars). And from what I'vve read in forums., when they conduct a once a year sale, lines where as far as the eyes can see. Lululemon sure have a huge fan base and have the money to splurge for its product.