Zumba with my 83-year old mom

One of my mother’s great loves is tennis. Growing up, my memories are of her always being involved in one sport or the other. First it was golf. Then she got into diving. When she moved to the US, it was snow skiing. The sport that lasted the longest was tennis. She played tennis five times a week until she was 82 years old (last year). Due to an injury she finally had to hang up her tennis rackets. The schedule that replaced the tennis is varied and full.

I spent almost a week with my mother in San Francisco. We started the week with a Zumba class which I thoroughly enjoyed. The instructor Jackie Weiss was a treat. She has a playful, sexy quality about her that makes the class lots of fun. It was mostly women but there were two men. One man in particular, upon feeling the zest of the movement, was making playful sounds, which added more fun to the class.

The next day we went to an Iyengar Yoga class. This was the first time I ever attended an Iyengar Yoga class. It was great having props to help us get into the positions thereby enjoying the benefits of the position despite beginner’s inflexibility. It’s so exact, my goodness — up to what you should feel inside the joint and whether it’s the left or the right part of the joint. After each position I would feel an internal surge of energy — a release that felt to me like a strengthening of consciousness. I am not flexible but I thoroughly enjoyed the class. I went to the Senior Gentle Class with my mom. Two days later I attended a more engaged class. Both were good.

Every Tuesday evening, for 19 years now, a group converges in my mom’s house for Christian meditation. This is a system of meditation started by a Benedictine monk Fr. John Main in England who has since passed away and is now carried out by Father Lawrence. The group in my mother’s house sings psalms, reads liturgy. The main segment is a 25-minute sit in silence, repeating the words “Maranatha” over and over internally like a mantra. This means “Come, Lord.” Isn’t that beautiful? The language is Aramaic, which is the language Jesus spoke. One can go quite deep. I find it refreshing that instead of limiting the Catholic or Christian exercise to external things, they go deep into the feeling of the Divine. Another highlight is when everyone cites their intentions for the day. Each member says what is close to his or her heart or cites anyone they feel needs some prayer support. I like the feeling of community this gives.

On another day I went with my mother to Hesed. Hesed is a movement started by Sister Barbara who later joined the Benedictine order and started this prayer group. Hesed stands for God’s Loving Kindness. It’s an offshoot of the World Community for Christian Meditation. On this day my mom was “officiating.” I loved the “mass.” I especially liked it when she called everyone to the “altar” and we held hands and said “The Lord’s Prayer”: even this was done differently. Instead of “Our Father who art it Heaven,” they said “Our God who is like Mother and Father to us...” Isn’t that so enlightened? Who said God is just a “Father”? And instead of “The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit,” they say “The Redeemer, the Creator, and the Sanctifier.” This is because “Father, Son…” sounds so “male.” I appreciate the care taken in the use of words. When there is a conscious effort to be more universal about the meaning, there is an effect on consciousness. I asked my mother what is the difference between this and a Catholic Mass; she said they have no power to consecrate. Well, I have attended many masses in my life... I liked the feel this “mass” gave me. It was deeply spiritual as opposed to the “mechanical” feeling I experience at many masses. It is the feeling one brings to the mass that makes it special.

Even the host bread looked “organic.” It wasn’t the pure white one. It was light brown and looked more like wheat flour. Instead of wine, they had grape juice. We were only seven in the group. After each one sipped, they would turn to the person beside them and say the name of the person and “cup of blessings” and then hand over the chalice to be sipped. The proceeding had such a good feel. I truly felt I was taking Christ’s essence in me. In the end everyone was asked to give reflections on life. Sister Barbara talked about Malala, an amazing 14-year-old in Pakistan who had been shot by the Taliban because of her advocacy on girls’ education. This girl said that if her killer were placed in front of her, she would look him in the eye and offer her love to him. That is so very beautiful. I shared reflections of my mother, and how on one side there are so many beautiful things coming up in today’s human society, but on the other hand there are also many abhorrent perversities. I shared how meditation, and keeping in touch with the inner light, will give us the skills to be able to navigate what my meditation teacher calls the “tessellated pavement.”

Other meditators reflected on their lives. The sharing was beautiful.

Later that evening we had a family dinner at a Greek restaurant. I have two brothers in San Francisco. Raffy heads ABS-CBN Global. Mon Mon, the youngest in the family, has now excitingly put up a medical marijuana dispensary. It’s legal in San Francisco. You need a prescription to get anything, of course. The most ardent promoter is my mother. She even uses some of the stuff. The sprays and gummy bears are excellent for getting rid of aches and pains. They have very good quality. It is called SFFOGG for San Francisco Foundation for Going Green. Look it up on the net.

I love my family. The energy around the table that night was very upbeat and light. I was surprised that throughout the whole dinner, Zoe (Raffy’s dog) was inside a bag at our feet! She was quiet the whole time and was still sweet natured when she was let out at the end of dinner.

On two separate days we had a massage from Annie Upthagrove. She took away layers of tension that had accrued from my work in Manila. Her specialty is that it’s not just massage; she can “see” so she can touch those parts that need healing. She also does ISIS, which is Inner Space Interactive Sourcing.

The end of the week had me giving me a talk on the Green Initiative. There were about 35 community leaders who attended. I invited them all to come and visit our ecotourism sites in the Philippines and encouraged them to donate to a San Francisco Green Fund, which would invest in our “islands” to protect the environment and get our people out of poverty.

The energy of my mother is something else. Just look at her schedule! I need to say something about Dick as well. Dick Taylor is my mom’s husband. He is 84 years old. He swims, plays golf, is learning Japanese and has personal outreach programs. He once took care of children from Tonga. He corrects papers of non-English-speaking students just to help. He boxes and works out, but the quality that endears him most to our family is that he takes such good care of my mom! He serves her breakfast in bed. He cooks. She washes the dishes. They have no help, just someone who comes to the house every other week. But the house is spic and span. Dick was the marketing manager of Time magazine in Asia. A significant feature of Dick is his creativity. His answering machine recorded messages are something else! They never fail to leave me in stitches! It’s just too funny. I teased him that he needs to collate all of that material, and we can sell it at a fundraiser. Sometimes I call them up from Manila and there is someone speaking in gibberish or singing on the other side of the line.           

Another thing I did in San Francisco was immerse myself in You Tube videos of Malala. My mother was effusive about her speech at the United Nations where she got a standing ovation. I watched the video and it had me teary-eyed. That led me to watch all the other videos. Malala is such a special soul. You should look at the string of videos on her — especially the one in the United Nations. Angelie Jolie did a spiel for her. Even Madonna stripped for her. One night I slept at 1 a.m. just watching her videos. Her fearlessness, and her confidence — even after she was shot, and her face disfigured — has ignited a fire in hearts all throughout Asia.

I don’t like writing about things without giving the reader a way to access the experience should they be interested, so here goes.

• For Zumba classes (free): Golden Gate Senior Center, 3 p.m. on Tuesdays

• For Iyengar Yoga Classes in San Francisco ($17 a session): Monterey Blvd. San Francisco

• Annie Upthagrove, the best healing masseuse ever: Call (267)357-2406. If she doesn’t answer leave a message. I know she will be on retreat until the end of August so September will be a good time to reach her.

• If you want to get involved in the ABS-CBN Foundation International call Jo Ann Kyle, managing director at (650) 508-6117. Her e-mail is joann_kyle@abs-cbn.com. She was the first Asian head of Sales and Marketing of Mead Johnsons USA. Rather than work for the corporate sector, she decided to give back to the country. I am so glad that she now heads the Foundation.

The world is what we make it to be. Keep the light shining.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.