“Yoga” has become a trendy term due to people’s blind pursuit of the “fashionable.”  It has certain become one of the biggest buzz in Taipei city today.  However, the depth of Yoga is far beyond what the ad people advocate.  The abusive use of the term Yoga has almost made it seemingly meaningless.  Yoga is a life journey that requires one’s personal experience; it is a never ending one.  There is no such a thing as perfection when it comes to the practice or yoga, but only modesty, effort, compassion, and dedication.  There is only challenge but not competition.  We are the only knowers of where and what are we.  We are the best companions to ourselves in this life-long lesson.

I came to yoga because of knee injuries, a result from15 year of Aerobics.  At its worst, I couldn’t even climb stairs.  At first I was hoping to stay in shape through Yoga (a superficial wish that many others probably have), but soon I discovered its greatest draw to me – the challenge to our will power.  “Emptiness” of the mind is the most difficult, as we are constantly haunted by fleeting thoughts of work, people, what to eat after class, etc.  It is as if our mind has gone around the world during the 1.5 hour of class.  Our mind plays a pivotal role in union with the Divine.

Be it Asana, Pranayama, or meditation, they are all ways of training our will power.  Besides challenging ourselves, we also enhance our resistance to stress.  When we know our bodies better, we know our souls better.  Hot yoga is, for me, the best practice to reinforce will power.  It is very challenging to have a tug of war with the mind with the room temperature at 40 degrees.  You’ll feel a great sense of achievement when you hear the sweat drop onto the mat.  If you have not tried Hot Yoga, you must come to Joanna’s boot camp-like classes.  You’ll feel more motivated to challenge yourself further as you feel the sweat collect around your belly.  When it comes to Flow Yoga, don’t miss Felina’s in-depth and professional classes.  Expect break-throughs and experience being calm, content and joyful afterwards.

I choose SPACE because it has exactly what I need—intimate contact with teachers and the overall environment make me feel at home.  I feel that it’s my good karma that brought me to SPACE.  I will continue my practice in SPACE on this life journey.  Namaste.