my raw vegan yoga cult

Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Circa 2019

A month after returning to the Philippines from LA, I found myself teaching yoga at a raw food retreat center in Palawan. We ate only raw foods and fasted with buko juice every Wednesday. I had already spent a year as a raw vegan, so I didn’t view this as a dietary punishment.

Everyone, like myself, was just passing through. The people I met were some of the most interesting characters I’ve encountered. There were shamans, artists, psychics, healers, and travelers from around the world who seemed to be experiencing various forms of spiritual crisis.

We were living in a commune. I slept in a Bahay Kubo with a kulambo attached to my bed. We all shared a bathroom and ate together when the gong hit. I also attempted to do my laundry by hand in the beginning, but there was a laundry service nearby, so why would I put myself through that?

This was also where I met Carien, an astrologer and Kundalini yoga teacher who became like a big sister to me. She was the first person who encouraged my interest in astrology and chart reading.

The retreat offered cacao ceremonies, innerdance healing sessions, sound baths, ecstatic dance, and other experiences I struggle to explain to my friends and family back at home. At one point, I found myself lying on a table with acupuncture needles sticking out of my face while the acupuncturist tried to heal my childhood wounds. In the healing dance sessions, people would be screaming, making animal sounds, and talking alien language for a whole week.

It was a strange trip. Part love and light, part Manson family cult. Definitely my thing.

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