19 Jan One Yoga Wellness Studio: Fitness and Wellness as well as Balancing Body and Spiritual Healing, Happiness, Positive Energy, and Mindful Transformation
Kagay-anons are not that familiar yet with yoga and its benefits to the body and mind. Probably the closest experience people get to yoga is watching Yoda and other Jedi in Star Wars doing meditation in order to channel “the force” to their mind and body. Here in Cagayan de Oro it’s a good thing that there’s one studio that focuses only on yoga, and this is One Yoga Wellness. This yoga studio is manned by only the best instructors and are all certified in their fields.
How it all started
One Yoga Wellness officially opened in March 14, 2013 as Cagayan de Oro’s first yoga wellness studio. The proprietor, Ms. Julie Lim-Ang, admitted that when they were searching for a new yoga studio, they were often turned off by the cement or floor-tiled floors since these did not exude the proper “positive energies” for the human body.
One day as she drove past the Liong Tek Fraternal Association Building at the corner of Apolinar Velez and San Agustin Streets (beside radio station DXIM), she spied someone hanging a “For Rent” sign at the entrance.
When she inquired about the rental, she was shown the second floor and was told that the owners had some doubts about putting up the floor for lease because the whole floor was made of high quality wood, but wood, nonetheless, that didn’t sit well with those looking for office space.
However, for a yoga studio, it was perfect. Wooden floors seem to exude positive energies, calmness, and have a charm that is well suited for yoga studios because they are organic.
The wood floors are kept very clean and buffed-shined, especially in the studios themselves. The studio rooms are also well-ventilated with free-flowing air so no air-conditioning is needed.
She pioneered yoga in a city full of skeptics
Ms. Julie Lim-Ang can be called a pioneer in her own right. As a Kagay-anon she achieved being the first certified Philippine teacher of the Art of Living in 2008.
Ms. Julie Ang
Image Source | Facebook: Julie L. Ang
The Art of Living is a non-government organization involved in education and humanitarian projects with special focus on stress management through breathing techniques, yoga, and meditation. The organization operates in 152 countries and has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC).
The second person to the left is Ms. Julie Ang.
Image Source | Facebook: Julie L. Ang
Ms. Jules, as she is fondly called, is only one of four NIA-certified teachers in the whole Philippines, another being Tina Aboitiz-Juan. NIA is Neuromuscular Integrative Action, a new yoga trend in mind and body wellness that incorporates an advanced fusion of fitness, martial arts, healing arts, dance, and spiritual healing that provides a positive and synergistic workout that is far advanced over other traditional exercise techniques.
Admittedly, when Ms. Jules started her yoga studio, she knew that many Kagay-anons were skeptical with yoga and its benefits. By the 2000’s the proliferation of fitness gyms and studios in the city started a trend towards a more physically-focused fitness and wellness. In fact, Ms. Jules used to be the owner of Body Basics. After travelling to India and searched out and then learned about yoga, particularly The Art of Living, and getting trained and certified, she sold Body Basics and set up One Yoga.
Yoga is more than just “Find your center, inhale, exhale…”
Flow Yoga is also known as Vinyasa Yoga, and it is used to match and eventually synchronize your breathing and movement into different asanas or postures or poses. These postures are eventually connected together smoothly, and this makes the person feel like they are dancing.
Some people are surprised that even when they do yoga sitting down, lying down, or just doing the slow movements, after around 30 minutes (each session is usually an hour) they are bathed in sweat. This is the signal that not only is yoga good for fitness, but it also leaves the body healthy, and a positive energy permeates and stays in the mind.
As a way of life yoga can overcome daily problems like stress and anxiety because you always look at the more positive side of things.
Aside from Vinyasa Yoga, other yoga classes include Gentle Yoga, NIA, Art of Living, Yin Yoga, and Ashtanga.
They also offer Yoga for kids and Pre-Natal Yoga. They also have special instructors that offer Pilates and Tai Chi. The Art of Living is sometimes called Yoga for Happiness Living. It helps clear the mind so the energies in the mind can better focus by clearing out the toxins from the body.
NIA is usually divided into 4 phases: Breathing Techniques (to eliminate stress and negative emotions), Low Impact Yoga (to generate greater energy and good health), Meditation (for inner peace and relaxation), and Practical Wisdom (skills for improving relationships at home and at work).
That One Yoga experience
Today, One Yoga Wellness is located on the same floor at the same building that they discovered years before and remains the only yoga studio in the city. While other fitness studios offer yoga as one of their services, One Yoga focuses only on yoga.
Their normal monthly rate for all yoga, Pilates, and NIA at 10 sessions is P1,500. They have special rates for those who want to go 20 sessions and beyond.
Rates Image Source | Facebook: One Yoga Wellness Studio
They even have special “unlimited weekly” rates for those who want to go fast. Their normal drop-in rate is P250 for those who want to try it at first. Kids Yoga is 4 sessions at P500 per month. They also have special rates for personalized yoga instruction or for corporate sessions. Discounts for students and senior citizens are offered.
Upcoming events
“Revitalize Your Resolutions 2016” is a series of yoga workshops and sessions presented by Francesca Regala.
She is a U.S. based yoga instructor trained at Yoga Kula in Berkeley, California.
She has been teaching Tantric, Buddhist, Taoist, and Native American holistic modalities for yoga in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 10 years. Her health and wellness healing, transformation, awakening, and empowering workshops and sessions are divided into:
- Grounding – January 22, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
- Balance – January 23, 10:00 a.m.-12 noon.
- Freedom – January 23, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
- Crystal Bowl Sound Bath and Bhakti Yoga Chants (with Lee Grane) – January 23, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Each workshop or session is P1,000 while all 4 sessions is at P3,200.
Yoga may be a thousand years old, but all its techniques, teachings, and movements that aim for physical and mental fitness and wellness are never obsolete no matter what the century is. In today’s modernity, the teachings of yoga are still applicable, and will always be.
Contact Information and Location
For inquiries on the upcoming event or for the regular sessions, you can get in touch with One Yoga by calling or texting 09177061175 and 09173162633. You can also call (088)857-5416, or you can leave a message on Facebook at oneyogastudioCDO. You can even visit and take a tour of the yoga studio at the 2nd floor of Liong Tek Fraternal Association Building, corner of Apolinar Velez and San Agustin Streets.
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