Letting the Pandemic Become a Wish-granting Factory

Hi!

It’s Maya again from the do-business and be-event team. Since the COVID situation is still bad with the new variant in every country, hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy there.

The only thing that we can do is to keep being sane and follow the health protocols when we go outside.

Who knows this pandemic might happen this long. A lot has changed. From the regulation, working system, technology, to someone’s routine.

I wanted to share my new routine during the pandemic in this blog. This pandemic may be a disaster for someone’s life. But for me, this situation has changed me a lot. I believed you did so.

One thing that changed me is to restart practicing my old yoga skill. I was joining a yoga community in Jogja back in 2017. I learned from the very basic yoga to the advanced one. I practiced yoga twice a day every Monday to Friday, at 7 AM and 6 PM for 2 hours each. But, after I moved to Bali in 2019 until March 2021, I never practiced it again.

One day, my friend came to Bali and she wanted to experience yoga in Canggu but I did not know where is the best or recommend yoga place in Canggu. Then, I knew right away where should I ask for a recommendation. YES!! FABIAN!

I remembered that he joined a lot of yoga classes when he was an intern back in 2019.

He recommended my friend join a yoga class in Serenity Canggu, Bali. Other than that, he also suggested my friend join an aerial yoga class. That sounded interesting!

I have tried aerial yoga before back in Jogja but since I have never experienced any yoga classes in Bali, I thought I could give it a try. I also thought that was perfect timing to start and do an exercise as our CEO suggested all the gift makers at least having 2 hours of exercise a week to keep our health and immunity.

Finally, I tried aerial yoga. At the first meeting, I thought I had lost my flexibility. But I managed to adjust my body to the hammock and follow some poses and tricks. I also learned how to calm all of my fears. I tried to keep my balance while I was hanging to the hammock. The most important thing was that I had to put my trust in the hammock. One pose, two poses, I got used to it.

I have had a back pain problem since 2016 and I did not like consuming any medicines. I feel my back is getting better and better now after I joined aerial yoga. So, I committed to myself to practice and join the class weekly.

I have joined more than 5 classes in total up until now. I am always curious about what pose can I experience in the next class.

Until one day, I saw a post from Tirta's (a Green School student) Instagram story. Chloe, another Green School student that we interviewed last time at the office. She performed something unusual for me. Something that I rarely find around Indonesians. It was aerial silks. She was hanging in between two long fabrics and performed aerial acrobatics on top of spoken poetry about climate justice. Every single movement was beautiful.

Right away, I looked for information about aerial silk in Bali. Where can I try this skill? how long is one session? and how much do I have to pay? I found it and the place is close to my place. But, when I contacted them, they were still closed because of the Community Activities Restrictions Enforcement (PPKM) from the Indonesian Government.

Last Monday (07/26), they contacted me that they started to open again and I booked my space for Wednesday’s class. I finally joined.

Before I joined the class, I expected that I could climb and hang easily because I have an aerial yoga background. When I tried it at the first time, IT WAS CHALLENGING though when you watched some aerial silk artists’ video may look smooth, beautiful, and easy. When I still couldn't adjust my body to the silks. It was slippery and it kept moving. It took time to lock my feet into the silks. It was complicated -_-

Before I finally tried the silk, there was a warm-up that lasted more than 30 minutes. It was advanced yoga. The exercise mainly focused on the abs of the stomach, arm strength, and shoulder.

What I did not know was that the Wednesday class is for advanced aerialists!! They didn't tell me 😓 But there’s one Balinese trainer who patiently trained me from the really basic movement from climbing to some challenging poses. I was feeling motivated because I saw some of the members that can do difficult and challenging poses gracefully.

At my first meeting, I learned how to climb in the French and Russian ways. I also experienced a drop move, when you climb up to the mid of silk then you drop yourself down. Thanks to my basics of aerial yoga, so, I can do it bravely and smoothly. Sadly, I forgot to take any videos. I promise at my next meeting I will record it and share it with my other blog ^^.

That was my story. Even though the aerial silk is challenging, I think it encourages me to practice more to get arm strength and abs, so, I can climb the silk easily or even try a more challenging pose.

Pandemic has given me so many skills. So, what kind of challenging exercise or sport do you like the most? what kind of exercise do you do during this pandemic?

I want to hear about your experience!! I am open to learning a new experience, maybe one day you can be my trainer. Can’t wait!!