Pandoraspace

I was driving home from work at 6:00 p.m. last night.  It was raining and I realized I had ceased to believe.

Since Wednesday, government officials, CNN, ABS-CBN, family and and friends have sent warnings about Typhoon Parma, a.k.a. Pepeng.  Along with those warnings came requests to pray that that Category 5 Super Typhoon skip the Philippines.  We did not need anymore rain or wind after Typhoon Ondoy.

Although I said a short prayer for everyone’s safety, I lacked conviction that anything could be done to avert the storm.  The predictions about the path of Typhoon Parma and its strength seemed so definite that I actually wondered, while driving home, how any prayer could help us now.  I caught myself thinking this thought, and before I could even think beyond it, another thought came to mind.  I thought damage was inevitable in Metro Manila.  Ten minutes later, I heard a prayer for Typhoon Parma to be averted being said over the radio.  Again, I felt that such act was futile.

From the time I left the office until I slept at around 11:00 p.m., the rain did not stop.

I woke up with the same hopelessness I had when I went to bed. Then, I tuned in on CNN and was surprised to learn that Typhoon Ondoy was no longer the super typhoon we expected and that it is veering farther away from  Metro Manila.  On the social networking sites, friends were also reporting that the Typhoon will skip Metro Manila. I was stunned, grateful, and then, humbled.

Prayers work.  I do not know why I had forgotten that prayers do work since prayers have helped me many times in the past.  I am also reminded of a thought I had in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy.  The thought:  At the end of the day, one realizes that, no matter how many precautions we take, how we live our lives or how much we try to control what happens to us, we can never predict how and when we will die.  This is a reminder that our lives are not in our hands but in the hands of a greater being out there.

Asana

Perhaps I am one of those people who likes to do things with a purpose.  Perhaps this is why I took a liking to Yoga as each asana (pose) has a purpose.

When I execute an asana, I am aware that I am not merely moving my body but that I am also trying to make myself feel better or determine my state of mind.  I first came to know that each asana served a purpose when Rina told us that, after doing a proper salamba sirsasana (head stand), one can tell whether one is tired.  According to Rina, a salamba sirsasana could perk you up when you feel sluggish or lethargic but in reality have a lot of stored up energy.  A salamba sirsasana could also make an active you realize that you are tired and your body needs to rest.  A salamba sirsasana is also an instant cure to nasal congestion.  Having done salamba sirsasana on several occasions, I can attest that what Rina said is true.

In his book Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar says that the asanas that could provide relief for some ailments.  I was told by my other Yoga teachers that many people visit the Yoga center in Pune, India on Saturdays to get treatment for various ailments through execution of asanas.  Evidently, Yoga transcends mere physical activity.

In the CNN interview of B.K.S. Iyengar, I recall him saying something to the effect that, when one runs on a treadmill, the body does work but is abused because there is no real purpose to the activity. You keep running but you are going nowhere. In Yoga, the body works to get into the pose because it serves a particular purpose like curing a cold, stomachache or backache, or perhaps, even teaching one how to live.