Finding that stillpoint

Stillpoint  a word that encompass the whole experience of timeless being. A point of no motion. A point that unites movements forward or backward motion, upward or downward action. A moment where all sound disappears into nothingness. It is also the point where one’s breath can be held, between the inhale and the exhale, the in-breathing and the out-breathing. It is also a place where everything is held in abeyance. A split second where thoughts disappear or move off into the periphery of our minds, and we come into a space of spacious awareness. Just awareness.

To be still is to just “Be.” So, I had to run away from it all, let down my hair, stare into the horizon of the sea and move into my stillpoint. I ran away with a whole group of ashtanga vinyasa yoga practitioners who attended a workshop given by John and Lucy Scott. The Scotts are international yoga teachers based in New Zealand and John is one of the few teachers worldwide certified by Sri Pattabhi Jois, the teacher who taught the ashtanga vinyasa style of yoga (or the eight limbs of yoga). “Stillpoint” is the place that John and Lucy call their shala or yoga studio in New Zealand. It’s a beautiful word that John reminded us during times we prepared to do yoga asanas or postures. We would stand quietly, bringing our inner and outer worlds together, bringing the part of us that was feminine/passive with the masculine/dynamic together in this quiet stance, the stillpoint. We would return to it even during dynamic yoga postures as we held poses and breathed into them, finding that stillpoint  between steadiness and relaxation.

Participants of the Ashtanga Vinyasa workshop held at the Asya Premier Suites in Boracay.

This simple word is what I brought out of this workshop. I brought it into my daily life as some kind of an “invocation.” When I would bring the word to mind, my whole body and breath would assume this balancing quietness. I tested it at various points of the day, when the word “stillpoint” would come to mind, my body would relax, my breath softened, and a sense of trust in the Universal Plan envelops me.

We can all reflect on the stillpoint of our lives. This can also mean the point of quiet waiting for the next experience to come about. The next stage of growth. But what makes stillpoint different from limbo-land is that the waiting in the stillpoint has a sense of wholeness, of trust, or relaxation. It doesn’t have the anxieties or fears of limbo. Understanding the stillpoint is also meeting the process of meditation. Usually, meditators practice the extension of the pause between the inhale and the exhale and allow their consciousness to enter this space. Here, the paradox of emptiness and potent possibilities are met. The mere awareness of this space brings one into meditation.

The Ashtanga Vinyasa workshop was held in a new sanctuary-beach resort in Boracay, which is itself, a stillpoint. Asya Boracay Premier Suites in Bulabog Beach, Balabag Station 3 is hidden from the general public  being the last resort development in Station 3. Approached from its own jetty from Caticlan, the whole Asya Premier experience is a class act on its own. The 20 first-class huge casitas have luxurious bathrooms and terraces that look out into the eternal view of the sea’s horizon. The structures are minimalist Filipino-inspired in design that shows off top quality materials. The place oozes with class refinement and understated elegance in its simplicity. An expansive central pool plays host at the center of the property. The isolated and secluded beach, pampering attendants, the feeling that one was just at home on one’s estate  all these combined to bring one into a state of just enjoying life and being.

And such a place is perfect for stillpoints of life: weddings, honeymoons, healing rests and vacations and yes, yoga workshops, too. For these are the times of our lives we step back in joy, in relaxation, unafraid, just surrendering to the beauty of the place, to the moment of life that comes to a balance.

(Check out the new stillpoint I experienced: www.Asyapremierboracay.com)