Yoga reloaded

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Partner yoga is catching on globally as it injects fun and builds trust. In picture, fitness expert Deepika Mehta during a sessi

Born in Korea, Minhee Cha learnt traditional yoga in India. Later, when she went to the US for her research in sustainable clothing, she came into contact with the latest forms of yoga. A life-altering moment came during a yoga conference that she attended in San Francisco conducted by Jenny Sauer-Klein and Jason Nemer, co-founders of acro yoga, a form of yoga that two partners do, combining yoga and acrobatics.

“When you see acroyoga, you can see from the outside the playfulness but what you see inside is trust, support and connection. Through learning how to connect with people, I learned how to reconnect with myself.”
One of the ways she reconnected was by developing a clothing line called hanumanyogaclothing.com, which makes use of recycled plastic water bottles to develop make garments. “I saw a lot of people consuming water in plastic bottles while doing asanas. They don’t see the connection with yoga and a sustainable way of living,” she says.
Though she swears by acroyoga, she went on to learn other forms in other American cities like slackline yoga, which involves doing asanas on a piece of webbing tied between two trees or poles, and aerial yoga, where people do various poses even as they lie on a hammock that provides support to the spine. “When I did slackline yoga for the first time, it was a bit of a challenge for me to balance because of the fear that one would fall. But the founder, Jason Magness, guided me to let go of the fear and focus on the breath. Soon, I found myself meditating on the slackline with open eyes.” On the other hand, she says, aerial yoga is an easy practice that does not require any experience in yoga or acrobatics.

Yoga reloaded

It is the age of experimentation in yoga, which is no longer an esoteric Indian system but a global art that has been developing in a hundred different directions. In fact, each practitioner brings to the system that person’s unique style. Mumbai-based fitness instructor Hetal Madhiwalla has been teaching pilates and yoga for a decade but she now offers yogapilates, a combination of both. “It is a mix of everything including asanas, cardio exercises, Swiss ball,” she says. “Of course, asanas are the best. But I believe you can add additional benefits and techniques to increase the core strength of the body.”
Nuthan Manohar of Kochi, who gave up her corporate career to take up yoga full time, has been teaching different kinds of yoga in India and abroad. She draws heavily from the traditional ashtanga and Sivananda styles but is familiar with the new styles and offshoots. She is especially impressed with yin yoga, developed by a Kung Fu master called Paulie Zink, which combines Taoist practices with hatha yoga. “While doing each posture, you observe the various emotions before letting them go. The meditative aspect gets prominence,” she says.
Nuthan believes that a certain degree of ‘capsuling’ of yoga is unavoidable in the modern day. “Ultimately, yoga is a kind of prayer. Isn’t it ridiculous to say one form of prayer is better or the only kind that works?” she asks.
Minhee agrees, “All the different styles of yoga that I have tried have as their foundation the ancient yoga knowledge from India. The form may be change and styles may evolve. But the meaning of yoga will not change, which is union.”
What matters more than the style is how “compassionate, inspiring and experienced” the teacher is, says Ashtanga yoga teacher, global traveller and musician Danny Paradise, who has taught yoga to many a celebrity including Madonna, Sting and Paul Simon. “If the teacher recognises that yoga comes from the Spirit and is a journey back to the Spirit then he will be able to turn a student towards the deep evolutionary messages of yoga.”