Text by Ines Somellera and Felia Salim

Photography by Desi Harahap

Mizan (Oct. 9, 2008)

117 pages, full-color paperback

Two cover versions

Once in a while, a gem of a book insinuates itself into one's dominion, a book which effortlessly and unobtrusively -- and with the kindest touch -- helps a reader turn their gaze toward a mirror that becomes a window for self-reflection.

Hints, by Ines Somellera and Felia Salim, and featuring the work of noted photographer Desiree (Desi) Harahap, is one such gem.

Just like its main creator Ines -- dancer, stage actress, director, yoga instructor and now author -- Hints does not fall into any one category. A bookstore could classify it under memoir, spirituality, travel diary, poetry or photo essay.

"When we took the book to Gramedia, they couldn't decide where to put it," said Felia laughing, during a phone interview on Dec. 9, a day before the Jakarta launch at Aksara Kemang. (Hints was first launched in Bali at the 2008 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.)

"They were like, *It could go here, but no, that's not ... Or perhaps there, but that's not exactly right.' In the end, I don't know where they placed it," she said.

This reviewer found her copy of Hints at the Aksara outlet in Cilandak Town Square mall on the new releases island among a couple of Coelho titles, some memoirs and world literature by women authors.

The 117-page book, published by Mizan, has two main parts. "Eleven Hints" by Ines offers snapshots into her life and the insights she gained through those experiences. "Other Hints" by Ines and Felia is a collection of wise musings in the form of tantric poetry -- "yoga aphorisms", as Ines calls them. Desi's photographs of several key locations from Yogyakarta to West Sumba illustrate this second part. Most feature Ines executing a yoga pose, but several show panoramic views of the natural landscape.

"It started out as a yoga book," admitted Felia, who also edited Hints and came up with the initial outline -- which turned out to be "more Beshara-esque" than their original concept.

"I watched Ines carefully as she conducted her yoga classes. I noticed she focused on the inner dimension of yoga, not just the physical aspects like the poses, and I started to draw parallels between yoga and Beshara readings." Felia had began studying Beshara about two years prior, around the same time the "yoga book" idea arose.

Put simply, Beshara is a school of thought that takes a holistic approach to spirituality, assuming a universal perspective without denominational bias and considers the underlying elements of all faiths and spiritual thinking from a secular stance that is more akin to philosophy.

"Anyone can express their spirituality now, not just the masters," said Felia. "With such a focus on differences today, a universal spirituality is needed; this is the psyche of the world today. Anyway, that's how I see it."

However, neither the creators of Hints nor the book itself posit any religio-spiritual declaration: it contains no "recipe" -- to borrow from Ines -- for attaining worldly contentment or spiritual enlightenment; it does not point towards an immovable path of self-reflection for discovering personal wisdom.

"We were not in control of the book", said Felia. "It really took on a life of is own. That's why it took so long to make it, as though we allowed the book to emerge," she said.

Hints is "a sharing, an awareness", Ines said, a way to express in another medium much of what she already shares through teaching yoga.

"You see, the body is a window -- to the mind, towards unity, to the soul. Today, so much emphasis is placed on the mind that most of us have forgotten how to listen to our bodies, to see our bodies as a map of who we are," she said. Yoga, meanwhile, shows us how to become comfortable with ourselves through an awareness of our bodies.

Ines has been teaching yoga for more than 25 years. She began by starting the first yoga center in her hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. Ines founded her work on the belief that, "Yoga is about working with opposites, but also with limitations and obstacles. including the physiology of the bodies we were born with."

Even though the discipline is a thematic thread running through the book, Hints is not an esoteric work about yoga or yogic thinking, and it is not the source for learning yogic poses. The term "yoga" in "Other Hints" can actually be replaced with any other subject to which the readers feels a close, personal tie. The authors rely on yoga as a broad allegorical medium, drawn from Ines' personal and professional experience.

"I can tell you, yoga worked for me from day one, and this is truly a gift.... I'm so touched that when I'm teaching I'm able to give this gift to others," she said.

Ines teaches within the subdiscipline of Vinyasa yoga. She tailors each class according to its mood and to the needs or capabilities of the individual students.

"As a teacher, you have to be able to adapt to different types of bodies, different physicalities, even to how a particular class is feeling that day. Teaching is about trying to guide students, but you don't want to be intrusive, because it's really all about what they want to get from the class."

Her approach to teaching best explains the tenor of Hints. Though it contains a brief account of Ines' journey through the secular to the spiritual -- often humorous, sometimes sad and embarrassing (I imagine she left out quite a bit so as not to distract us!) -- Hints is written so that it leaves the reader to discover what they will gain from it for themselves.

In a market already saturated with spiritual memoirs of a personal (and self-centered) approach and with how-to formulaic books trying to lead readers toward higher spiritual awareness, Hints stands out for its directed look at the potential for humanity we each possess, as well as for its humility and subtle generosity.

"I think it's a timeless book," said Felia. "When you read it today, you'll read it one way; when you read it a little later, it'll read it another way. It all depends on the state of the reader's receptivity."

As the 11th hint says, "It is only through the opening of the heart when the real journey begins and the process of unveiling the possible"; and the first of the other hints, "Self-knowledge is made through conscious decisions based on desire, born of yearning". Taken together, it is as though Ines is showing a mirror reflecting her personal journey; a mirror that opens a window into our own spirituality.

Hints is like a hug: It is a gift in the truest sense, given freely for the receiver to take from it what they need at that particular moment in their lives.

Hints is available at Aksara, Gramedia, Gunung Agung and Kinokuniya outlets in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta, as well as Mizan's MP Bookstore in Cipete, South Jakarta, and Wardah Bookstore in Singapore.

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