IT HAS been three years since I joined Ike Pono workshop with the prodding of some friends from the filmmaking community who have joined the workshop and the late Councilor Leo "Happy LA" Avila.
Ike Pono in Hawaii means to be "absolutely clear without a doubt who I really am."
Founded by a Hawaiian life coach Bruce Conching, Ike Pono is a self-discovery, self-empowerment and visioning workshops. These workshops are being held annually in the U.S., Japan and the Philippines.
In Ike Pono people are imparted to understand and embrace their greatness by practicing the values of love and respect. As what seminar founder Bruce Coching said Believing in oneself is a step towards the realization of the vision.
Our Ike Ponoohana (family) in the Philippines is a mix of young professionals, housewives, politicians, actors, beauty queens, businesspersons, civil society leaders, students who have attended the workshops held in Manila Baguio and Davao.
One of these ohanas is GawadKalinga founder Tony Meloto who joined Ike Pono in Boston. Another ohana is Presidential Spokesman Sec. Ernesto Abella who was my batchmate when I joined Ike Pono in 2014. Binibining Pilipinas International 2016 Kylie Versoza is another notable ohana.
The classes are a hodge-podge mixture of people. Sometimes the reason for joining serves also interesting life lessons like one of my friends who enrolled his daughter in ikepono as his debut gift to her.
"I could have given her material presents but this gift (the workshop) the lessons she will learn will last for a lifetime." My friend said to me.
This coming ike pono workshop in Davao will be held the weekends of October 20-22 and October 27-29 at the Ritz Hotel, Garden Oases in Obrero.
The workshops will be co-facilitated by Hawaiian David Hattori, who took up ike pono in Hawaii.
The workshop is dubbed as Ohana intensified and is an opportunity for people to discover themselves in a series of life-changing talks and experiential activities.
After joining in 2014, I became an active volunteer at Ike Pono, helping out the conduct of the workshops my friends and I believe that sharing that opportunity for that person to discover their selves is an advocacy worth the passion to pursue.