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NAMASKAR - OCTOBER <strong>2015</strong> LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The Universe gives us what we need, not what we want. I experienced this recently on a flight back from Scotland. An hour-long flight delay resulted in my missing my connection to Hong Kong. Overbooked flights meant I had to stay overnight in London, then take a flight to Paris the next morning to catch another home. Definitely not what I wanted! However on the trip to France I happened to sit next to a spiritual teacher, Ernesto Ortiz, who spends over 200 days a year on the road. This just as our dristi for this issue is The Travelling Yogi! Surely this was the flight I needed to be on! Three contributors share their experiences and suggestions. Very different perspectives: Ana gives her tips for staying healthy and grounded while travelling away from home; Liza shares her thoughts on how yoga connects us and; Inna offers a student’s perspective. Special features herein are diverse: Donald writes about the similarity between yoga and scuba diving; Chloe finds out how yoga and Steve Jobs inspired a Hong Kong director to produce a play about contemplation and personal growth; Clayton introduces us to the tireless work of one dedicated yogini bringing yoga and much-needed aid to a small Philippine town and; Gaelle interviews senior Iyengar teacher Carrie Owerko about the importance of play in our practice. We welcome a new contributor to <strong>Namaskar</strong>, Dr Harsh, an Ayurvedic doctor in India. He talks about a possible cause of depression being the build up of ama (mucous) in our systems. Thanks as always to the contributors of our regular features, and to <strong>Namaskar</strong>’s tireless volunteers Wai-Ling, Carol and Angela for this issue and this year. As distribution is our largest cost, next year <strong>Namaskar</strong> advertising rates will increase to keep pace with the 6.5% increase in postage announced by Hongkong Post recently. We hope individual teachers and smaller studios will still find <strong>Namaskar</strong> a competitive option for your communication needs. And I hope even more of you will make time to share your yogic experiences and observations through these pages in 2016. I know I’ve learned as much from my friends on the yogic path as I have from teachers. If you have learned something, if you have grown as a result, chances are someone else out there can too. Finally, I wish you all very happy end to <strong>2015</strong> and look forward to connecting with you again in the new year. On the cover - Slackline & AcroYoga teachers Raquel Hernández-Cruz (top) and Sam Salwei (above) are coming to Flex Hong Kong in November. In This Issue DRISTI - TRAVELLING YOGI ON THE ROAD AGAIN 32 Taking care of yourself while travelling INSTANT CONNECTION 35 Yoga unites travellers PROS & CONS 36 What does it mean for the student of the travelling yoga teacher SPECIAL FEATURES POST-TYPHOON PHILIPPINES 17 One yoga teacher’s efforts to keep helping a small Philippine community PLAY FOR TAPAS 19 Iyengar teacher Carrie Owerko talks about the importance of play in yoga YOGA & DIVING 23 More similar than different WHY AREN’T YOU STEVE JOBS? 25 Hong Kong theatre performance inspired by yoga and Apple’s founder REGULAR CONTRIBUTIONS KULA UPDATES, WORKSHOPS, RETREATS, TEACHER TRAININGS 6 PHOTO ESSAY 14 AYURVEDA 28 MUDRAS IN BRIEF 39 MYTHOLOGY 39 BOOK REVIEW 40 RETREAT REVIEW 43 RECIPE 47 DIRECTORY 48 ABOUT NAMASKAR ADMINISTRATION Carol Adams, carol@caroladams.hk NEWS EDITOR Wai-Ling Tse, wailing.tse@gmail.com CIRCULATION Angela Sun, angela.sun@gmail.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Frances Gairns, fgairns@netvigator.com <strong>Namaskar</strong> provides a voice for the yoga community in Asia and around the world. The publication is an opportunity for practitioners on a yogic path to selflessly offer their knowledge, learnings and experiences with others. We welcome unsolicited submissions, therefore the opinions expressed within these pages are not necessarily those of <strong>Namaskar</strong> or its volunteers. Articles and photographs in <strong>Namaskar</strong> are contributed at no charge. Advertising income covers production, distribution, administrative costs and discretionary contributions to selected charities and causes. <strong>Namaskar</strong>, is published quarterly in January, April, July and <strong>Oct</strong>ober. About 5,000 copies are printed and distributed for free to yoga studios, teachers, fitness centres, retail outlets, cafes and yogafriendly outlets. Mostly distributed in Hong Kong, with 1,500 copies mailed to readers in 32 other countries. <strong>Oct</strong>ober <strong>2015</strong> 3