Rangi Fernando Seeking balance through movement

Rangi Fernando is a movement artist, yoga instructor, and meditation coach. She is also someone who is trying to figure out the ideal balancing formula for her life. “The work I do ideally revolves around impacting people’s lives through movement and adding a new perspective to movement in Sri Lanka,” she said. In this interview, she talks about movement, meditation and more. Following are excerpts:

Life as we know it has slowly disappeared. People are now with less ‘distractions’ and are left with their minds and their thoughts. This is an important, yet uncomfortable feeling and people seek tools to steer their way through it and they turn to practices such as yoga and meditation

By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya

Q: Where did you get your movement training and what kind of work have you done in this regard?

Music was part and parcel of my life growing up because of my father Chandimal Fernando and training in traditional dance came very naturally at a very young age. I started training in traditional dance with the Channa Upuli Performing Arts Foundation.

From there on, I continued dance in Latin American with Kevin Nugara, where I competed at an international level, Umeshi Rajeedra’s Mesh Academy of Dance for contemporary, and Sandarangi Perera at Vibe Dance Academy for hip-hop and commercial dance training.

I was also lucky enough to attend the American Dance Festival through Mesh Academy of Dance, which opened up new avenues and trainings for me. Thereafter, I became the first Sri Lankan to be a part of the GAGA dance intensive.

Following this I kept an open mind in terms of movement as I realised the application of it was more than what I learnt growing up. I then attended the somatic movement educator training modules of Body-Mind Centering in Australia and completed the foundation courses in Laban Bartenieff movement analysis. I also gained trainings with the Sydney Dance Company, Chunky Move, and Broadway Dance Center in New York.

Apart from the dance modalities, I ended up gaining my certification and registration as a yoga teacher 200 hour as yoga always remained a part and parcel of my movement practice and also became a certified meditation coach.

Q: In 2018, you formed Sync & Move. What programmes do you offer through Sync and Move? What are the benefits of such workshops and movement exploration?

I formed Sync & Move in 2018 with the genuine calling to help people, provide people with tools to unlock layers of themselves and open up new avenues in their minds through movement and meditation. I wanted to share the love for movement, yoga and meditation with many people as possible as I realised it could work for others if it worked for me.

Through Sync & Move, I host personal, group and also corporate guided movement sessions. The sessions are usually targeted and curated for specific themes, be it yoga, meditation, dance or combination sessions. The foundation of all the session is to access the mind through the physical body and moving with the breath. During the sessions, participants gain access to techniques of breathing and meditation and stretches and movement they could incorporate to their lifestyles.

As I am also a qualified accountant with 10 years’ experience mostly in PR and marketing at MAS Holdings, I realised the relationship movement had to life and also to my job. Just as much as movement helped heal and tackle mental knots, it also helped with many skills at the workplace. Over time, we have started living from the neck above and there is so much memory and learnings hidden in our bodies.

Just through attending the sessions, the participants open up new neural pathways by saying yes to a new experience and breaking the daily routine. The participants learn to trust the choices, commit to the choices fully, trust themselves and be non-judgmental. Finding your own voice and amplifying that through the movement.

Q: How have you carried out training during the pandemic and resulting lockdowns?

Lockdown was honestly one of the busiest times for Sync & Move as many people requested sessions. It was almost a calling and a duty of us in the wellness sector to serve the people during this time. It was an unusual time for almost everyone and people needed support to get through the time. As much as the digital platforms came with its challenges, we had no choice but to make the best out of it and I am thankful for the platforms enabling us to connect during the challenging times.

I amped up the sessions and offered more sessions for people. Sync & Move started regular classes for people to gain a more routine practice. The classes were almost always full and during the most recent lockdown and within the span of two months, we had over 100 people taking sessions with us. We had three programs; Movement dive, learn the routine, meditative flow and movement explorations.

Q: You say you followed “the formula for success” until 2021, when you re-evaluated your life. How did this moment come about and how did your interest in movement and meditation grow?

Growing up, I really thought that “the formula” for life meant studying hard, getting an academic qualification, landing a corporate job, and being settled and life beyond that is something that I did not really pay attention to. It is what we see growing up and it is what we know as success or just the way of life. According to this acceptable “formula”, I completed my degree in accounting and finance at Monash University, returned home, landed the corporate job. 

Flash forward to 2021, at a relatively steady place in my career working for MAS Holdings for almost a decade, I found myself evaluating how I wanted to organise my time. On one end, I had this passion for movement which was more than a hobby and on the other end, I had a brilliant job with mentors who always supported me and pushed me to follow my passion.

MAS Holdings paved the way and fuelled my passion. As I gained more training and knowledge in the space of movement, I realised I need to give myself the opportunity of time and mind space to dive further into it. It was a job I enjoyed and taking this break did not come as an easy decision, but it was a necessary decision for my personal journey. So, it is not that I am saying bye to the life as I know, it is that I am taking a step away from the known checklist for a bit. We never know what the future holds.

Q:You are a certified meditation coach. What made you turn to yoga and meditation?

Yoga has been a part of my life for many years as my mom Dilini Weerasena is a dedicated yogi for as long as I remember and she is also a certified yoga teacher. I gained my initial training in yoga with Anoja Weerasinghe. However, for a long time, I practiced yoga more on the lines of stretching as it benefited my dance. I did not understand the full benefit or the spiritual connection.

However, over time, through various experiences of life, I am so thankful for continuing the practice as it is such a key component of my life. There is a clear difference in me on the days I practice yoga versus the days I don’t. It is almost like how we brush our teeth for our physical wellbeing. Practices such as movement, yoga and meditation are for mental hygiene.

I started connecting to the spiritual aspect of yoga and experienced the body, mind and soul union and eventually became interested to learn it further through an in-depth practice and that is how I ended up becoming a yoga teacher. The meditation training was again a result of my curiosity to learn more on what it was all about and why I felt yoga and dance worked well for me in terms of meditation.

Q: Do you see an increase in interest in yoga and meditation during the past few months?

Yes, most definitely, especially during lockdown, with the increase in worries of COVID-19 and travel restrictions, people being asked to work from home, and there being fewer social gatherings. Life as we know it has slowly disappeared.

People are now with less “distractions” and are left with their minds and their thoughts. This is an important, yet uncomfortable feeling and people seek tools to steer their way through it and they turn to practices such as yoga and meditation. It is clearly evident in the increased demand for the yoga and movement classes even though it has been online.

People have also become more and more aware of the mental health aspect of their movement practices. They are more knowledgeable and aware than what they were a few years ago.

Q:Looking back at the past year and a half, how do you think movement and meditation helped you personally?

It has helped me to add colour to my life! Movement gives me the ability to dream. It keeps me driven, while meditation and yoga help me stay connected to myself and my intention. One of the best aspects of the journey has been that I have got to meet some amazing people from different walks of life. The practice has also helped me to get to know myself way better.

So far, it has worked well for me but I am excited to see what more gets added to the equation and I am always open to new experiences.

Pix courtesy Sanjeewa Weerasinghe and Malaka Mp Photography