Good Vibes
"It's a part of me that I never really talked about that much," offers Timmy as she smiles modestly about the thought of reminiscing the sport she grew up with. She continues, "I rode for about 13 to 15 years. I went to school for that until I reached the jumping level. I would wake up early in the morning and ride for two to three hours and then lessons for another two to three hours. In the evening, I would still ride until night time because there's light in the ring. I did that from grade school to high school."
In college, Timmy got into running. It started from five kilometers to 10, to 20 until she did 42 for the Manila International Marathon. She did that for about five to seven years along with swimming and weight lifiting.
"I consider all of them disciplines. It was a way of life for me that I never got to expand because of show business. During interviews it was always about singing and acting but there's so many sides of me [that people don't really know about] and one of that is being a health nut," says Timmy.
These days though, Timmy no longer does such physical activities except for swimming, which she describes as a gentle kind of sport. What she really does and has been doing for quite some time now is Hatha Yoga and Meditation, for 11 and eight years respectively.
A different journey
"Hatha Yoga or Body Yoga is the usual yoga. The meditation is the mind yoga which is what I am doing and has been studying for years," explains Timmy.
Everything started with an invitation she received that says, "Mindfulness is paying attention to everything that is happening in your life. Even if you think that whatever is happing in your life has no purpose at that time, eventually, you'll find out that that moment has a purpose in your life."
"Whoa! Mindfullness! I never heard it before. I've heard people say never mind but never mindfulness. I never paid attention to being mindful," says Timmy. She elaborates, "You know how moments pass and you're only focusing on the goal? I wasn't so keen on the process. Like I wanted to be a singer. I just wanted to get there. The whole process was just a process which to me wasn't important as the goal. But there, in that invitation, it said everything is important."
Out of curiosity, Timmy went to a beautiful house in Forbes as indicated on the invite. She was given a very warm reception by people she never met in her life. They were all smiling and greeting and looked genuinely happy, which gave Timmy a strange feeling. At one point, she even thought them weird. She couldn't imagine her surprise when she saw her mother in the crowd.
"We were invited separately but since we don't really talk about schedules and stuff, I just told her that I was going somewhere and she also told me that she was going somewhere. [But] we were happy to see each other there and then we mingled around and had a beautiful vegetarian lunch," says Timmy who is a strict vegitarian herself.
"And then someone said somebody will talk. I sat at the front row because I was excited about the topic. A small Hindu lady stood in front and then she looked at us, at everybody, with a look na parang it's just for you and then she started to talk about peace. She said 'peace is not outside of you, it's inside of you'. And I never heard it before. I would hear about peace of mind and my equation of it were: life is good, that's peace of mind; family is healthy, that's peace of mind; career is okay, that's peace of mind.
"She also said that 'there's a whole ocean of peace inside of you that you can tap into and that you can use. You can also accumulate back the peace of mind and you can have a reservoir.' Those terms reservoir, ocean, tap into - whole new world."
Finding the connection
Timmy's amazement led her to embark on an adventure, one that allowed her to marry the western discipline she's been raised with and the eastern practice that piqued her curiosity.
"When I started doing Yoga, everything that I felt during years of training, people call it 'second wind', I felt all of it in 30 minutes... I felt at home with it," she says while adding, "Yoga literally means connection. So when you say body yoga, you're having union or connection with your body. When you say mind yoga, you're having connection with your mind. People say that the mind is a grey area but with mind yoga you are able to stay peaceful, positive, powerful even, by constantly using your mind."
In Timmy's studies, she learned that the mind works like a fast turning book. "As you become a meditator, you are able to slow it down. The thought becomes slow-paced and the purpose is for you to become the master of your mind, the master of your destiny and the master of all the changes that can happen to you."
Timmy also talks about the practical application that meditation teaches her. "If there's somebody in your life with whom you have a relationship that is sometimes brushing with your character, no fighting, but there seems to be friction, [how do you mend that]? Western practice taught me that everyone is different and you can't please them all. But in this perspective, I can send you good wishes so that in your own life, you will be pleased and you will no longer look at the bad side or the negative side of another person. Then hopefully, you might become pleased with me. Just by sending good wishes."
According to her, visualization is one of the keys to meditation but the most important ones are creating nice thoughts and remembering happy moments.
"You train your mind in the same way that you're training your body. Like for example, when you wanna run a race, you are obviously using your mind to achieve that goal. In this way naman, you're taking care of your thoughts. You have a thought life, there's emotions, there's feelings, there's vibratrions, and then there's thoughts. Hindi ba all good things happen with an idea? So if your mind is trained to have good ideas, then the result will also be good no matter what...because the mind is that strong."
As for her work as an artist in the entertainment industry, (she just finished doing afternoon drama series for GMA-7 "Sinner or Saint) Timmy acknowledges how meditation helps her in her craft. "It's so easy when you know the method and you've been practicing it for eight, 11 years. There's something about it, it's a lifestyle, it's not a choice anymore. It's just natural."
She continues, "For example, on set, magulo! Pagpasok there's about a hundred people. What I do is, I sit first, identify my space. I plant myself there and then before I start talking to anyone, I stay silent for maybe 10 to 15 minutes and feel the energy of everybody. Tinitingnan ko muna silang lahat and then after a while meron ng flow. I didn't know that before. Dati beso-beso kaagad, puro outward. And I felt it's an obligation to do that. Ngayon hindi na."
Sect, Not!
Meanwhile, Timmy is quick to dispel ideas that Brahma Kumaris, the organization she's connected with, is a religious sect. It is a non-sectarian, non-governmental organizaiton that offers meditation in over 8000 centers across 130 countries. It is in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, in consultative status with the UNICEF, and affiliated with the UN Department of Public Information. In the Philippines, the Brahma Kumaris is a recipient of the Peace Messenger Award for its concrete contribution to the United Nation's International Year of Peace of program.
"It's a peace organization...I am a Christian, I practice Christianity. If you see it that way, you'll appreciate it that way, then life becomes quicker because I can serve the universe as opposed to I can serve the Christian community which is not even half of the world's population. But of course I respect all religion, more now than ever. I respect them so much that when they invite me, I go." - Article courtesy of Manila Bulletin.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
