I first started practising yoga in 2005 while I was still in university.  I was looking for a sport I am able to do to help me get in shape and relax from the stress of studying.  When I say a sport I am able to do, I mean nothing too fast, nothing that requires too much co-ordination, nothing that includes a lot of running around causing inability to breathe, nothing that, well, you get the drift.

Over the years though, yoga has become so much more to me than just a form of exercise.  Through yoga I have learnt many things about myself, and I believe that it has helped me to become a better person.  True story.  Yoga became my passion and is no longer just a form of exercise for me – it is simply a way of life.  Yoga has helped me dealt with personal problems, and it has helped improve my physical and mental health.

I want to help others with yoga – the way yoga has helped me.  That was the chief reason that motivated me to quit my career as an economist to pursue a life as a yoga teacher.  Through the years I have practised various styles of yoga.  I believe there are different aspects that you can get out of any style of yoga, and my personal practice is a mixture of that.  Over my years of this yoga love affair, I did a lot of ashtanga, a lot of power yoga, a lot of vinyasa flow classes, I did some bikram, some anusara, some iyengar, basically a lot of everything!

I did my teacher training at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, India, whilst I also studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India.  In addition, I regularly attend various workshops by some amazing teachers from different traditions of yoga to keep learning.

To combine a love of mine – massage – to the mix, I am also a Thai Yoga Massage practitioner.  A practice with Metta, loving kindness, provides amazing results to reduce stress, ease physical discomfort and create this profound feeling of relaxation.

My Favourite Yoga Pose?

The Wheel, or Urdhva Dhanurasana, is one of my all time favourite poses.  I love the wheel pose not because of my bendy back (okay, maybe a little bit because of my bendy back), but mostly because it is such an open pose where you find our shoulders, your heart, and hips are all wide open.  It is a posture where I feel so strong, yet so vulnerable at the same time.  That is two extreme opposite emotions that I have to work with while I’m in that posture, and for me, that is kind of what yoga is all about a lot of the time.  Finding peace amongst chaos.  Remembering to breathe in difficult poses (or at difficult times in life).  Balancing life.   So while in wheel pose, I have to learn to balance whilst upside down, stay strong to maintain the posture, embrace the vulnerability that is rushing over me, and all this time trying to have some fun as well while I’m here!  Um, I don’t know, kind of sounds like life to me.

Also check this post for an insight into the kind of attitude I have for Yogaland which also shows through in my style of teaching if you’ve ever been to my yoga classes!