If you’re looking to improve your all-round health and learn how to live in the moment, hot yoga might just be the answer. And there’s no big secret to it. “Hot yoga is essentially Hatha yoga, which is the big umbrella; the physical form of yoga. Most other styles of yoga fall under Hatha. It’s just that hot yoga is practiced in a room that’s been heated up to temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celcius,” explains Diane Lee, founder of Bikram Yoga City Hall.

Heat For Life
Any person worth his or her kettle bells will know this universal rule of exercise: You must warm up before your session. But in an already heated room, your body quickly eases into exercise mode, reducing any chance of injury caused by exertion. The excessive sweating involved in practicing hot yoga is also a useful means of detoxification. As the sweat pours from your body, toxins are released through your skin. The environment in which you are practicing also trains you to breathe well, opening your lungs to their fullest capacity.

”With hot yoga, I don’t even have to follow a specific diet because it really speeds up my metabolism,” explains Tara Moralez, an experienced yogi. Fellow yogi Elaine Ee agrees. “Since I started practicing Bikram yoga, which is hot yoga with a systematic set of 26 postures, my metabolism has been like a furnace; it burns up everything I eat so I can eat pretty much what I want, whenever I want!” she tells us.

In such a challenging physical environment, you have no choice but to focus on the present moment. As you practice doing this regularly, you may find your mental stamina improving. For yoga teacher Alison Fisher from Hom Yoga, that means more willpower, patience and focus, all a huge help when dealing with daily life.

Where to Drop It Like It’s Hot

Bikram Yoga City Hall

The first authorized Bikram studio in Singapore, Bikram Yoga City Hall was founded by marketing consultant Diane Lee, who at the time was suffering from numerous ailments despite a rigorous gym routine. Inspired by the Bikram method of hot yoga, Lee decided to make a career out of it. The studio has even seen people suffering from slipped discs, chronic hepatitis and even Parkinson’s disease coming in for classes. “They all experience improvement in movement,” says Lee.
Where: #02-14 Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Rd., 6339-6639.
How much: A single drop-in class costs $43 while a one-week unlimited pass for beginners costs $100.

Hom Yoga

Offering a fresh and modern approach to the practice of hot yoga, Hom Yoga conducts its classes in spacious rooms bathed in natural light. State of the art heating systems are also fitted in the studios to draw fresh air from outside to heat the room to the specified temperature. Here, you can ease into a variety of hot yoga styles, including Hot Hom, Hot Hatha and Hot Flow, taught by experienced yoga instructors. Eco-conscious yogis will also appreciate the use of energy efficient lighting, a filtered water fountain and eco-friendly cleaning products in the studio.
Where: #02-01, 3 Canton St., 6438-0103.
How much: A single drop-in class costs $39 while a monthly membership will set you back $370.

Pure Yoga

Pure are one of the more prominent fitness brands in Asia, and their professionalism is undeniable. Despite their location in one of the busiest parts of town, Pure manage to create a calming, sanctuary-like ambiance and the facility is equipped with excellent shower and security facilities, a retail space and a lounge with day beds and Wi-Fi access. Pure offer a full range of programs, including hot Hatha and classic classes, which are perfect for beginners.
Where: #04-00 Chevron House, 30 Raffles Place., 6304-2257.
How much: A single drop-in class costs $50 while 10 classes will set you back $459.

Updog Studio

The newest addition to chef Emmanuel Stroobant’s empire is the Updog Studio, a joint effort with certified yoga teachers Betty Kong and Andrea Yeo. While the studio’s focus is on hot yoga, it also provides other types of classes. In addition, there’s an extensive range of yoga-related products on sale such as apparel, mats, books and DVDs.
Where: #02-05A Playground @ Big Splash, Blk. B 902 East Coast Parkway, 6440-0282.
How much: A one-month unlimited membership costs $299.

Porn Or Yoga Ad Answer Key

Porn: 1, 4, 6, 10
Yoga: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9

In case you don’t know, yoga is different from Pilates. While yoga seeks to fuse the physical, intellectual, mental and spiritual aspects of your body, Pilates actually combines precise movements to stretch muscles and improve the body alignment, breathing and general body movement. So in a nutshell, Pilates is a purely physical activity while yoga also focuses on your inner calm. Here’s our pick of some good Pilates places.

Ivana Daniell Studio

Camden Medical Centre, 1 Orchard Blvd., 6736-2991.
Ivana Daniell and her team of instructors have over 16 years’ experience under their belts. They teach Pilates and Gyrotonic classes, which are different movement systems that develop coordination. Pilates Classes are capped at eight students and three for Gyrotonic.

Pilates Bodyworks

#19-01 Commerce Point, 3 Philip St., 6538-8922.
This is the studio certified by Ron Fletcher—the protégé to Joseph Pilates, the founding father of Pilates (duh). It’s also Asia’s largest Pilates-only studio. Classes are pretty small, but there are one-on-one classes as well.

Sky Pilates

#05-03 Liat Towers, 541 Orchard Rd., 6100-7597.
“Strength, flexibility and posture”—that’s the guiding mantra of these guys who offer quality fitness. Get a great treetop view of Orchard Road as you work those limbs. They use only proper Pilates equipment and have fully-trained experts teaching more than 40 small classes every week.

Yoga Studios

Bikram Yoga City Hall

#02-14 Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Rd., 6339-6639.
This yoga studio has the official authorization of the Bikram Yoga College of India. It’s also the only yoga studio here to judiciously follow the original hot yoga practice. You’ll find 26 hatha yoga postures here, two breathing exercises and sessions with 40-degree temperatures. Sweat it out.

COMO Shambhala Urban Escape

#06-05 Forum The Shopping Mall, 583 Orchard Rd.,
6735-2163.
Run by the famed Club 21 boutique, this yoga studio allows fans to pick from hatha and ashtanga. This place is great for novices and experts as there are different levels available.

Gaia Yoga Centre

#03-01 Thongsia Building, 30 Bideford Rd., 6738-2028.
An extensive range of yoga is taught here—hatha, flow, pranayama, women’s health, and gentle yoga. People who like to go into Zen mode can also try the meditation classes. Gaia also organizes yoga retreats in Manado, Indonesia.

Pure Yoga

#18-00 Ngee Ann City Tower A, 319 Orchard Rd., 6733-8863.
This yoga studio hails from Hong Kong. They have five studios here and over 180 classes. You’ll find the works here—ashtanga, vinyasa yoga, hatha, power yoga and hot yoga for true-blue yoga fans. Classes have about 15 students in them.

True Yoga

4/F, Pacific Plaza, 9 Scotts Rd., 6733-9555
2/F, Ocean Towers, 20 Raffles Place, 6536-3390.
Classes are quite big but extremely varied. There are ashtanga, hatha, power yoga, hatha vinyasa and even yoga therapy classes available.

Whatever Yoga & Healing Space

20, 29A and 31 Keong Saik Rd., 6224-0300.
Big fans of ashtanga and hatha vinyasa yoga, mediation and homeopathy, intuitive massage, reiki and psychic readings will love this yoga hangout. In addition to classes, there are also workshops and talks you can attend.

Yogaffinity

2/F, 157A Telok Ayer St., 6223-8254.
This is the first hot yoga studio in Singapore, and a good place for beginners. About 25 classes of Bikram and power yoga are held weekly in a sweltering 37-degree room. Plus you can check out their range of pricey-but-nice-and-funky yoga togs.

The Yoga Place

King George’s Building, 328B King George’s Ave., 9270-2670.
Followers of ashtanga yoga flock here. The classes are capped at seven students, and are intimate instead of large and rowdy. Raj, the resident instructor, not only knows his stuff but also has a great sense of humor.

Fitness Centers/Gyms That Offer Yoga

Everyone loves a two-in-one, which comes in great use when you don’t even have time to wash your hair. Here are some nifty establishments that are both a gym and a yoga studio, so you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

California Fitness Jackie Chan Sport

3/F, Velocity @ Novena Square, 238 Thomson Rd., 6250-2345 and other outlets.
The big name in fitness has teamed up with Asia’s big name—Jackie Chan—of late, offering members a wide variety of fitness regimes. Classes can be rather big, but pretty much everything is under one roof. There’s boxercise, Bodyjam, hip hop, Fitball, Bodypump and tai chi. Hatha and basic yoga classes are on the yoga programs.

Fitness First

8/F, One Raffles Quay, 6327-5550 and other outlets.
This well-established gym has just opened a new outlet at One Raffles Quay, which boasts advanced gym equipments—like a kinesis studio, free-weight and strength equipment, Technogym cardio equipment (including the CardioWave), plus bikes and cross trainers. Yoga classes at this outlet include hatha and power yoga. The other outlets teach mostly hatha yoga.

Planet Fitness

#07-00 Caltex House, 30 Raffles Place, 6438-3000
#03-10 VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk, 6278-3000 and other outlets.
Another gym which has a large chain islandwide, Planet Fitness has its share of free weights, fitness cross trainers, treadmills and elliptical machines. Members are evaluated regularly over six months to gauge their progress. This outlet also has a hot yoga studio.

TRUE Yoga & Fitness Centre

#01-22 OUB Centre, 1 Raffles Place, 6536-7707.
This is the only TRUE outlet that integrates a gym with a yoga studio of sorts. The new outlet in Shenton Way has got hatha, hot, gentle, therapy and ashtanga yoga classes. The huge, funky gym is fitted with fibre optic lights and groovy disco balls.

PLUS: Who you might meet at the yoga center.

People laugh 300 to 400 times a day when they are children, but only about 16 times a day when they reach adulthood, according to laughter yoga instructor Avi Liran.

For the uninitiated, what is laughter yoga?
Laughter yoga is built on two elements. The laughter part is laughing exercises to bring out your inner child. The yoga part is breathing exercises that’ll teach you to calm down, meditate and recharge. Sometimes we bring music to the sessions and make people dance. Throughout the session, I’ll bring out the benefits of laughter to life. There’s a lot of spiritual wisdom that I can teach.

Cool. And how do you become a laughter yoga instructor?
Someone gave me this book A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Enlightenment by humor expert Lenny Ravich. Later, I saw an article that said Singaporeans are the least happy in Asia. So I asked Lenny, “Would you mind coming to Singapore?” He said, “I’d love to.” We started doing brochures and I was researching on the net when I found out about laughter yoga. I was so intrigued that I decided to go to Paris and meet the guru Madan Kataria who wrote the book Laugh for No Reason. And I became a teacher.

So what happened when you were in Paris?
It was a phenomenal five days and five nights. I laughed about nine hours a day and lost 1.5 kg. I got 30 new friends from all over the world. I found a lot of the benefits of laughing. The quest allows me to share my ability to laugh at life with others and make other people happy. And I’m one of the guys who also makes money out of it. You can say I literally “laugh my way to the bank!”

Haha. And what are your goals in the near future?
I’m going to teach a two-day course for people to become laughter leaders. I’m going to look for people to subscribe. The more the merrier. I have two dreams. One is to have 50,000 Singaporeans to go to the National Stadium or somewhere on Laughter Day, which occurs in May, and do laughing exercises. I’ll tell you my other dream after I’ve reached it!