After I gave birth my 2 boys , I started to feel very sad about my body. I thought that my belly would be back to normal after the baby came out. But then it was not like what I expected . All the fat is still staying there started from 9 months I been eating non heathy food . it had been build up everyday . I used to be obsessed with my body. I wanted to have the body of a ballet dancer — not an inch of fat, ethereal, and skinny, with lots of bones showing. I starved myself and did everything I could to lose weight. 

Then I started to go back to yoga everyday to help me get back to my body and also helped to bring me out of my worries ,stressful mind and enjoy life with my family.

Yoga taught me to rethink how I approach what healthiness means, by helping me understand what true strength really means. Indeed, there is an intricate and sublime connection between strength and vulnerability .

After practicing yoga for a while , my body did not let me down after all, it had loved me back and supported me in my recovery .But this experience has been beyond physical, because yoga is also such a spiritual practice. I continue to learn to forgive the failure of plans, people, and processes. I learn to loved myself more ,enjoying my life with people around me . And the most important one is accepting myself as who I am .

When I first started yoga at 18 year’s old , I didn’t know anything about yoga, and also my physical body never been doing any work out regularly .

I stepped into a yoga class for intermediate yogis level , and I don’t even knew it was for people been practicing very often or many years. I just chose the class that fitted my time.

Dudes , yoga is totally a work- out . I didn’t really consider the expectations I had for yoga, but falling over because I couldn’t hold a pose as long as everyone else was definitely not one of them. I can certainly see how yoga can tone your body. If you happened to be like me and exercise about one a year, then it might be difficult for you too. 

But please don’t let it stop you ! One of the things I loved most about the class was that it was very focused on the fact that “ you’re exactly where you need to be’’. So , if you can’t hit the pose the teacher teaching you can also do an easier version ,it’s all good.

You’ll make it happen when you’re ready. 

It’s took me a few years later to bring yoga to my daily life. And from that I understand yoga is more than the poses, it’s the state of mind, learning to breathe , learning to be still, learning to be flexibility and strength .i

Yoga has never been just about loving your body. It’s learning to acceptance of body ,mind and soul .We all have issues that we struggle with self- acceptance . when we learn to see others as equal , we learn to love ourselves .

Hello everyone ,my name is Van . I am a mother of 3 beautiful kids , I had all my kids very cloes to each other , so almost every year I’m was carried a baby inside my belly .

And from being pregnant I get to know yoga and started to love yoga from there. During the first few months of my pregnancy ,I was plagued with morning sickness. I would stay in bed for few hours on end only to get up for a few moment to eat or walk outside . Yoga have been a lifesaver in my life in many ways . I started to took a few yoga classes per week, just to practice my physical body to keep my body strong and heathy . Yoga gives me quiet time to heal my body.in healing my body, I heal my soul, which heal my mind , which helps how I mother, which helps my marriage .

I still remember being in my 3^rdhours of contraction , the breathing was helping me so much to went through the pain . And yoga breathing was  key in focusing my pushing as he was being turned . I took a cleaning breath , and then a deep breath , as my baby came right out and was put on my chest .

He was so beautiful ,and those tears were streaming down on my face, I knew I would never forget those deep breath coming from so deep in my body and soul as I pushed with all my strength to bring a new life to my family , to the world .

Since I started yoga, I’ve been local studios the place I traveled. I think it is a unique way of enjoying the local yoga scene, place and people as well as releasing tensions from the flights.

Here are my tips to enjoy yoga on a journey.

1. Travel yoga mat is useful; travel yoga mat is much thinner than the normal yoga mat. It is light and easy to carry around. I prefer travel yoga mat than yoga towel for travel because it could be troublesome washing the yoga towel while travelling.
2. Research before you are on the road; you can find a local studio once you get to your destination, but enough research helps you to plan your travel and find the yoga place suits you or interesting to you. For example, when I was staying in London, I was able to find a popular meditation studio by researching in advance.
3. Self-practice in the hotel room with yoga lesson platform; when I go to business trip, it is hard to have a time to go to a studio. In such case I use a yoga lesson platform for self-practice. These days there are great yoga lesson platforms as well as Youtube. One of great self-practice I did was in Paris – my hotel room has a spacious balcony with the view of Paris city.
4. Have a open mind and be curious; every studio, teachers have their own yoga and teaching style and it could be very new to you. That’s the charm of practicing yoga in different places so be open – you will learn something new from your usual practices.

My interest in fascia started from a myofascial release workshop I happened to join a year ago. Since I’ve enjoyed several physical exercises (weight training, yoga, cycling and climbing), sometimes I had a pain in different parts of body and I wanted to know what ways to ease those pains.

So what is fascia? Fascia is the body’s connective tissue. It’s a head-to-toe, inside-to-out, all-encompassing, and interwoven system of fibrous connective tissue found throughout the body. It provides a framework that helps support and protect individual muscle groups, organs, and the entire body.

Myo refers to muscle; myofascia is the network of fascia involved in musculoskeletal functions and health and it influences how signals of sensation (like pain) travel from your body to your brain. Fascia becomes sticky, clumpy, tight, and flaky and forms restrictions, adhesions, and distortions by bad postures, overusing or injury of muscle or unhealthy diets and it creates pain in the body.

Yoga asanas can help releasing and strengthening fascia and we can design a fascia release yoga class with tennis balls or massage balls. Some of effective asanas releasing fasica are Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose), Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose), Ardha Bhekasana (Half Frog Pose), Ardha Matsyendrasana variation.

I saw some teachers use aroma oils for students and I found that aromatherapy is complementary to yoga; it helped relaxation in Yin yoga and at the end of asana practice as well as boosting energy. From my research, historically and scientifically aromatherapy makes synergy with asana practices and brings mental & physical benefits.

In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian healing system, one way to balance and the body’s chakras is using essential oils and asana. Also, modern science says
using essential oils for asana practice balances the autonomic nervous system and help reach hormonal homeostasis.

For yoga teachers, there are several ways to apply aromatherapy and it’s recommended to be aware of characteristic and benefits of each aroma oil.

• Ask students if anyone is allergic to the oils. Pass oils around at the beginning of class and have students rub them on their feet, temples, or the backs of their necks.
• Spritz an essential oil blend throughout the space at the beginning and end of class
• Diffuse oils in the space throughout class
• Rub oils on students’ feet or temples during savasana
• Create a purifying oil blend for students to spray on their mats after classs

<5 types of aroma oils>
1. Stabilizing, meditative, and centering: Sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, and cedarwood
2. Detoxing and breathing: Peppermint, eucalyptus, and rosemary
3. Calming and relaxing: Lavender, geranium, and chamomile
4. Positivity and joy: Bergamot, lemon, and orange
5. Promoting transcendence, connection to others: Neroli, jasmine, ylang-ylang, and rose

In 2015 Autumn, I left Korea and started my life in Singapore. Without my family and friends, everything was new to me and it was not easy to fit myself into a new life. After work, I din’t want to talk to my flatmates because I felt so tired of speaking in English. At that time I went to a gym every day and that’s the way I managed my stress. It helped, but I felt I need more than a physical exercise.

I was lucky to find the teachers that I connected to quickly. They taught me how mind is important in yoga practice, not just physical practices and fancy poses. Also they gave me a constant reminder that the ego to become better than others and excel in physical practice needs to be dropped. It is not aligned with true yoga. I was hooked by the fact that there is no competition in yoga. There is no point to push yourself too hard to get stressed out – If you feel good about yourself and content with the moment, that’s enough. One of the reason I decided to pursue the yoga teacher training is to help others to understand yoga like the way I did.

It’s becoming 3 years since I started yoga practice and I’ve enjoyed understanding different types of yoga and teachers in the world. There is no goal or end point, certain types of people allowed to do yoga – everyone can enjoy their own yoga and its benefits. That’s what yoga means to me.

In my last 2 posts, I explored the topics of why i started yoga and how yoga fits into my lifestyle. In this post, I hope to reflect a little more on my journey thus far. Specifically, what I have learnt from Yoga.

Firstly, I am blessed to have embarked on this yoga journey. Through yoga, I have built connections with people and more importantly, a stronger body and mind. In part, my personality / character is one that when I am truly interested and passionate about a topic, I drill deep and I drill hard. What this means is, developing a strong understanding through personal experience. Basically, I want to try it all, learn it all and do it well.

In terms of learnings, I have 2 key takeaways – consciousness about the “now” and detachment.

Through Yoga, I have learnt about the importance of being conscious. Specifically, being conscious about the “now”, in the present moment. I don’t know how many categories or types of people there are out there, but I am a thinker. I think and I wonder. But at the same time, my thoughts could float from one topic to another easily. Something can happen during the day and I would reflect on it later at night. I recall in my earlier days of practice, contrary to how yoga should be practiced, I find my thoughts lingering from a mix of important tasks to do after practice to reflecting on a particular moment that had happened recently in my life. By shifting this focus now more onto my practice, I find that it has helped with my focus in my tasks and my thought process. Not to let clutter find its way into my brain and to focus on living in the now.

Through Yoga, I have also learnt about detachment. I find this learning particularly useful when I detach from things that are not within my control. I used to be very hung up on negative experiences. In part, I dislike saying no. When things do not fall in place, I get upset or angry. However, I start to experience a shift in my perspective of things as my Yoga practice deepens. There are always things that will not be in one’s control. I still feel some emotions whenever things do not go according to plans. However, I find myself being able to get out of these situations a lot faster now than before.

Ask me 1.5 years ago and I would possibly never have thought that I would be doing Yoga.

Fast forward 1.5 years later, I am committed to a physical practice of 5 – 6 times a week and am currently enrolled into a 200-hour YTT course. In my previous post, I have shared the Why into my yoga journey. In this post, I would like to share about how Yoga fits into my lifestyle.

There are a few things that I spend most of my time on, which truly matters to me. Yoga, work, family / friends. My life as a whole works on a pretty dynamic pace, with deadlines, stresses and a particular routine, given that I hold a corporate office job. I enjoy it but I feel that I need some “grounding” or stability too, something that I can find meaning beyond short term goals or targets, something that I feel that I am personally working on for the longer term.

My almost daily morning yoga practice (almost daily because it is important to have 1 rest day as well) helps me develop discipline, which I have always believed in. Ashtanga is my primary practice, which I love its routine-like nature and the focus on working on each pose. In addition, I enjoy how this practice has allowed me to take my mind off its constant thinking mode – from tasks to to-do lists, it allows the mind to quieten down, which is a great complement to my hectic lifestyle.

There are however, still things that I want to work on – the physical practice should extend beyond the mat. Besides turning up (almost) every morning to practice, there are some things I hope to slowly integrate into my lifestyle to busk in the full benefits of Yoga, which I truly believe in – meditation and having a better diet.

This post is about my personal yoga journey, documenting why I started Yoga.

Possibly similar to many, my yoga journey started as a fitness regime. About 1.5 years ago, I was based in Krakow, Poland on an international work assignment. I enjoy having an active lifestyle and running outdoors was not just my go-to workout, I really enjoyed it as it took my mind off whatever stresses I had in life. However, running was not possible when winter started to creep in. I started to research on alternative workout options – gyms, climbing etc.

Coincidentally, I found a yoga studio just a stone throw away (literally 3 minutes if I had walked slowly) from my apartment. I registered for a class that suited my work schedule, which turned out to be an ashtanga primary series led class. What are the chances that the first yoga class that I had signed up for being so tough and challenging? Just to share, the last time I tried yoga was a good 10+ years ago when I was still a teenager. I was warned at the registration counter that it was a tough class, and I thought to myself, GREAT! Exactly what I was looking for, right?

The class turned out to be REALLY challenging both in terms of my strength and flexibility. As a runner, I was very used to working on the lower half of my body. For those of you who have tried Ashtanga yoga (and for those of you who have not), there are COUNTLESS of chaturangas, whereby the strength of the upper body was key. And not forgetting, the number of jump backs and jump throughs as transitions between the seated postures, that focused strongly on the core.

If I recall correctly, it was this feeling of being so beaten that made me want to visit the studio to better my practice, over and over again.

The yoga studio was also a place that I had forged deep friendships with the locals, which made my life in Krakow feel like my second home. What can I say besides, I feel really lucky and blessed to have found yoga. It is a journey that started on fitness but has now developed into a deeper interest and I hope to learn more about yoga, how to apply it to my daily life and hopefully, one day, will be able to enrich the lives of people around me.