Workouts and diets have played an important part of my life. You probably have heard many success stories of fat people becoming skinny through some form of diet and workout plans / routines. I am one of them. Well not exactly, because I would not call or label myself skinny. On a scientific basis, the weighing scale does not lie, and I am definitely well within the range of what is considered the "healthy weight".

My story that I hope to share today aims to kickstart the documentation of my yoga journey, which I hope to now make a sustainable part of my workout routine.

In our most recent travels to Bali, D managed to join a morning beginners' yoga class,
which I continued thereafter with more poses in our pool villa whilst he started taking photos!

My first encounter with yoga started when I was about 14 years old. I can't believe that's more than a decade ago! More specifically, Hatha Yoga. It was not by personal choice, but as a part of a wider cross training routine that my school's tennis team was made to participate in. The other cross trainings that I participated in include pilates and a variety of static workouts done circuit training style. It certainly helped in my initial stamina build up and more importantly, resilience and focus which I take with me in the many things that I now embark on.

With the wind-down of tennis trainings when preparing for the GCE "O" levels examinations, I decided to pursue yoga as a form of relaxation and mini workout. I started to participate religiously in weekly beginner Hatha Yoga classes at a yoga studio near my house. Being one of the youngest in the class back then, I enjoyed being able to keep up with the postures that demanded some flexibility. That motivated me to continue on into the beginner-advance class. However, my enthusiasm and interest died down after I got into junior college, where I decided to focus more on running, which I started to do on a daily basis.

During my university days, I kept up with a regular run routine and occasionally mixed it up with static workouts. All these in the hope of maintaining my weight and keeping the fats that I had lost at bay. I also tried to keep up with some yoga videos, mainly for stretching purposes, but nothing got too serious.

After I started working about 3 years ago, "tennis" came back to find me through what I would possibly would call it as fate and coincidence. I started to play tennis regularly with my best friend recreationally. At work, I found a few colleagues who were extremely passionate about the sport and I began joining them for more regular sessions.

This year, I am in Europe for an international assignment as part of my job. In the midst of figuring out what would possibly work for me as a workout routine, I found a yoga school just a stone's throw away from my apartment and this got me started on yoga once again. I got more serious approximately 3 months ago, and I definitely hope to be good at it one day! The yoga that I am currently practising is called Ashtanga Vinyasa - which focuses on the breathing and synchronisation of breaths through a series of structured and progressive yoga flow postures.

Slowly but surely, practice makes perfect.
PS: Baby abs in the making. ;)

I particularly enjoy how yoga has a strong focuses on the "you". For me, it has challenged me to take the battle against flexibility, balance and stamina / cardio limitations to the next level. I am also starting to examine my lifestyle choices - specifically my diet, which I intend to share in a future post. Hopefully at some point, I will also start to appreciate the beauty of meditation.

Morning yoga routine in Kamandalu Ubud in Bali

Till the next time!

xx,
L