Wednesday, July 8, 2009

No yoga for me

I tried Yoga when I was back in Singapore. My gf has been into it for months now. She would hit the gym for the lunch and morning classes before she head to work.

She asked if I was interested to join her for the 7am yoga. Hell no! Much that I want to keep fit, waking up at crack of dawn for exercise is too much of a stretch for me. I was joking with her that if I wont even wake up at 6am to have fornicate, she can forget about me travelling to gym for workout with a sweaty class of at least 10 others.

So in the end, we went for another Dynamic Yoga class in the eve. While I was impressed with the instructor out of this world snaking of limbs all over her torso, yet Honestly, I dont really quite like it. Not for the fact that I couldnt complete half of those twisting poses and stances, but rather I find those poses if done incorrectly will cause more damages to your neck and lower backs since there are alot of repetitive actions and requires very specific postures. Of course I admire those young ladies who seemed to have no problems stretching their limbs to the limit. I have a super lazy ham string and in no way, I would split my legs and body apart like the instructor.

Unlike in all the yoga classes I have tried where very little warning or focus was placed on how to align your weight properly; in my pilate classes, we learn about correct postures, about aligning your spinebones, and restacking them correctly everytime you lay down and get up. We learn to control excessive hips movements and more cautiously aware about the weight one puts on your back without pushing all the weight on your lower back muscles. There are great varieties in footworks and overall stretches and building of the core muscles. I'm not sure how the mat pilates goes but I sure love my reformer allergro equip pilates.

Maybe the yoga class in singapore I went to wasnt the best or most condusive for beginners. Afterall its yoga class conducted in a gym, not a proper yoga house. The indian instructor was too fast in her instructions, and I doubt she seriously had time to focus on the correct postures of each students in a class of over 15 people in an hour. Then again, I have already tried out 3 different yoga in different countries and each time I wasnt wow by it while in comparison, I love pilates the first time I tried it in Sydney.

When I was back in pilates yesterday, my pilates instructor was sharing her first time experience with Hot Yoga.

She told us she was horrified by the experience, the fact it was so hot and hard to breathe and the class was crammed with 30 over other sweaty people. She had thought she would try it as her best friend loved it to bits and dragged her along. My instructor too shared the same views, that Yoga is not ideal for people with neck, shoulder or back problems because done wrongly, one can incur more damages due to the repeated actions required and incorrectly placed stress. (So maybe one on one may be better or at least a really small class) One of another girl also shared her distaste for large yoga class and made me laugh so hard when she said, this guy next to her in Hot Yoga class was "spraying" all his sweat all over her and it was disgusting!!

Well, I guess yoga or pilates is a personal thing and preference. Though I realise Pilates in Singapore is much more expensive than the one in HK. I checked sky pilates located in town, its at least SG$10 more ex per lesson than my Hk lesson for package of 10 as a comparison. Then again if its a small class, I wont mind signing up if I ever get back.

Sigh. Everything in SG is getting more expensive.
Thankfully the Sg haircut and clinic visit are still cheaper than HK.

No comments: