mOmentOm yOga. . . steady, cOmfy, happy, yOga. . .

Great news, we can look forward to the new year with yoga classes starting out again next week.
Thanks for patiently waiting!

. . . Existing mOmentOm yOgis (formerly known as "Om Improvement yogis") are
welcome to drop in on Monday 2 Jan (which is a public holiday) from around 3pm to 6pm for a PREVIEW of the facilities and a new year get together and an introduction to the new yoga class plan.

. . . OUR OFFICIAL OPENING IS ON 10 JAN 2006 (Public Holiday). ALL ARE INVITED!
Opening programme will be announced soon.

. . . From Tuesday onwards, our old time tabled classes are revived.
If it has been THAT long for you, here's the schedule:

Tue: 6-7pm, 7pm-8.30pm, 8.30-10pm
Wed: 12.30-1.30pm, 7.15-8.45pm
Thu: 8.30-10pm
Fri: 12.30-1.30pm, 7.15-8.45pm
Sat: 6-7.30pm

This is the interim timetable. . . just to get you started again on familiar ground.
We will be revising the timetable soon, adding new classes as the yoga programme offered at mOmentOm yOga will be further developed. Our yogis can look forward to more options for classes at new timeslots and conducted by new instructors.

Details are akan datang ('coming soon')! Keep checking here for updates.

See you all in mOmentOm yOga in new year! Have a steady, comfy, happy start to 2006!

We are now the proud owner of a hosereel,
3 emergency lights,
an exit sign
and 3 8A grade fire extinguishers. You will be glad to know that these have been fitted for your safety at our new yoga studio. The good people of Safi Equipment and Services took a record time of half a day yesterday to install all the fittings which are required by the authorities.

Good news yoga fans! We have electricity running! This means that if the the fire safety equipment gets installed today without a hitch, we can start yoga classes next week. We'll have our phoneline working on 3 Jan so our beloved 63344100 will be 'live' again.

Meanwhile, we need to appeal to all you caring yogis: we need more egg trays. This is for our DIY sound-proofing for some windows of the studio. We need the old fashioned cardboard type not plastic. Ask the uncle selling chai tau kuey at the hawker centre if you can help him dispose of some of these chances are he'll give let you have a dozen. . . Quality control is necessary -- no egg bits stuck ones please. See the pictures below if you are wondering what egg trays are. sms me when you want to unload these at the studio. Thank you all!

Festive crowd at Bugis viewed from our balcony on Chrismas Eve:



Merry Christmas everyone! And thanks for tuning in again to our updates.

It was the strangest Christmas Eve I had. Me and my mom spent yesterday afternoon and evening cleaning the studio to the tune of Christmas carols coming from the street below. My mom helped to clean out the bathrooms yesterday. So everytime you flush, do remember her efforts in gratitude. And I learnt that ammonia is an excellent cleaner for glass. EVERYTHING comes off!

One more day of clean up to go today. I'll be trying to reach the higher panes of glass of the partitions and my mom will help with the rest of the window. Then when we have electricity running, we can try some yoga classes!

The studio lights up like a lantern at night. The "BUGIS STREET" sign downstairs and the floodlights illuminating the exterior walls casts a soft warm glow in our studio. I may get one or two floor lamps or wall uplights and not switch on the flourescent ceiling lights to keep the "soft glow" in our "lantern". Considering painting the reception area. I wonder if paint shops are open on Christmas Day. . .

Latest updates on the renovations of our new studio space:

-- The floor has been completed last night as guaranteed by the contractor. "If not finished on time, you don't pay me, I do for you free!" he had said 2 days ago. Too bad his men got it done on time.

-- The workmen will be putting the finishing touches on the partitions tomorrow.

-- We have flushing toilets and water running from the taps! BIG thank you to Mr Loo and Raji and the good people at SP Services for speeding me through the bureaucratic process.

-- We hope to have the electricity turned on this Friday, if not, then it would be after Christmas. . . we await response from the electric company with bated breath . . . .

-- We hope to do a massive clean up over the Christmas weekend: clean toilets, mop floors, maybe paint some walls, paint the main door, seal up some windows . . . . install some mood lighting. May move some furniture in on Boxing Day. Then we can try some yoga classes.

-- Will be putting up the signage and installing phone and fire fighting equipment next week.

Here's a picture taken of our floor materials just after delivery:

And that material became this: A balance of yin dark wood floor and yang sunlight bouncing off pure white walls. Viewed from the main door:

View of the new floor from the interior with Cheng Aluminium people installing the glass today.


If everything goes smoothly, we'll be having yoga classes next week!

Watch this space for news!

. . . with faith, courage, heroic effort and an unshakeable resolve.

Yesterday, the partition walls were ready and we began the renovations at our new yoga studio.

Sneak previews of a dream in the making:
Frames for the partitions going up.





The floor is uneven, the ceiling is not level, the pillars are leaning slightly, but the good people of Cheng Aluminium were undetered from getting things set up upright. Using spirit levels, a plumbline and loads of patience, these men worked hard to strive for perfection despite the circumstances, they were the yogis of the aluminium trade!
A big thanks to Tony and his men. That's him in the picture asking me if I'm taking a picture of him or the partitions. I think that's the same thing, the partitions and him are part of each other because his work is an expression of his self.

bronze & celadon
wood & leaf
sand & sea
earth & sprout
copper & jade
canyon & river
shit & mould


Life isn't always peaches and cream, nor chocolate and mint for that matter. That's what I learnt after a month in India and Nepal. Shit happens. . . a lot. You got to drive your trusty TATA car around giant piles of it on the highway, avoid stepping on it when trekking up the Himalayas (how do the cows get up there?!). It's just a packaged deal: you take the magnificent mountains, you gotta take the shit too. So something softened inside me, and then sitting in a meditation room in Lumbini, I shifted mentally into another space -- finding a place for shit and mould AND chocolate and mint. In essence, there really isn't much difference between them. Food becomes waste, desire becomes decay. Everything changes -- all the time -- and that's OK. I let go of some kind of clinging and felt a wave of freedom wash over me. . . like a deep, deep sigh of relief. Then it just became more steady, comfy and happy.

It is hard to sum up what all that amounts to. Like all experiences in yoga practice, it's very personal and can only be fully appreciated through direct experience. All I know is that I'm returning to my yoga practice with a greater sense of purpose and clarity:

We need to help each other find awareness and tranquillity in the present moment. This is the key to real happiness in our lives.

And hence the name, mOmentOm yOga. . . What's the difference between mOmentOm yOga and Om Improvement? We will continue to share a steady, comfy, happy, yoga. We will continue to be the cosy place where you practice yoga together with friends. We will continue to have only small intimate classes where the practice can be tailored to individuals' needs. We will continue to have fun as we stumble our way to enlightenment together. Only now, we focus very closely on developing moment-to-moment awareness and tranquillity in our practice, we also need to focus on keeping up the practice, creating a momemtum for real change. This is because we are not in the business of "teaching yoga poses", rather we are interested in helping you deal with the real challenges of life in the immediate, medium and long term.

So here we are back in Singapore again and a brand new yoga studio space is being prepared for all our yogis right now. We received the keys on 1st December and renovations will start in the next 2 weeks so we'll have classes soon. Look out for our announcement on the commencement of yoga classes on this site and in your emails. We will also provide the details of our new yoga programme soon.

Our Official Opening will be on 2 January 2006 which is a public holiday so mark your diaries!

See you in class again soon.

Namaste
Sau Fen