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| FLOW goes Raw! |
I learned about the FLOW: Surf, Yoga, Samba event way back in 2009 from one of the community posters in Starbucks. Two years (and four FLOW events later), I was finally able to sign up for the event. It was somewhere where I could do three things that I wanted to try out: surf (my new life’s calling), yoga, and samba. When I learned that there was going to be one FLOW weekend in August, I decided to sign-up, never mind if the posters said that it was only serving raw vegan food for the entire weekend.
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| FLOW baby Benny |
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| All smiles for one great weekend! |
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| We don't need the sun to shine to make us smile and have a good time! |
At first, it seemed that the odds were against us: typhoon Mina suddenly hit that weekend and the roads to La Union became impassable. But the team did not give up and after some 12 hours on the road, we finally made it to the San Juan Surf School in La Union. We were not able to follow the day’s itinerary since everybody was so tired from the long journey, so the organizers decided to give everybody the day off and moved all the activities on the second day. During dinner, I was introduced to raw vegan food prepared by Bali-certified chef Asha Peri. Surprisingly, I loved the raw vegan dishes prepared and it eating it was not as “scary” as it seemed.
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| A raw, vegan buffet |
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| My favorite meal for the weekend: zuchini lasagna, "pizza", and a chocolate and almond butter cup. |
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Although the breakfast of chia champorado and banana pancakes were just as divine.
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| Spirulina green smoothies with our chef Asha Peri (in brown). |
It was my first time to do all three activities and I was hyped to start my day, even waking up early at 6 to make it to the 7 AM Yoga class (there were six of us in a room). After a Yin yoga session with Monica Eleazar-Manzano, we had another hearty raw vegan breakfast and spent the [rainy!] morning at the beach, before having lunch and heading off to surfing lessons given by Luke Landrigan in the afternoon.
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| Getting our surfing lessons from Luke Landrigan |
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| Trying the fundamentals on the board |
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| Danielle practices her stance |
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| Mike takes on the waves like a pro |
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| My very first time to ride a wave! |
At night, we gathered for lessons on Samba dancing and Samba instruments with Escola de Samba de Manila. It was a good way to end the eventful day.
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| Just dance! |
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| Getting our samba on with Denise |
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| With the director of Escola de Samba de Manila, Toni Bernardo |
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| Benny shows us how it's done |
On the last day, we had an early morning Vinyasa yoga class, with an introduction to acro yoga. After breakfast, we spent morning surfing again, before gathering to eat lunch and then say our goodbyes to new friends and one wet but fun-filled weekend. I will definitely head out to another FLOW weekend, if the circumstances allow me. Where else can I detox not only my body but my mind and soul as well and still have the time of my life?
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| Another first: my very first yoga class |
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| These yoginis show us Acro Yoga |
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| And I wonder if I'll ever be that flexible... |
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| Showing off our loot from the FLOW goodie bags |
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| Mike of Para'Kito provided us with our mosquito-repellent bands |
FLOW: Surf, Yoga, Samba is organized by three of the coolest people on the planet: Noelle Hilario (surf siren), Monica Eleazar-Manzano (yoga goddess) and Denise Gonzales-Bernardo (samba queen).
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| One Happy Bunch of FLOWers! |
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