Amy Ho is a registered yoga teacher, who has been teaching for five years at South Arm Community Centre in Richmond, United States. Aside from yoga, she also actively participates in running, strength training and boxing. This provides her the added advantage of customising classes to the needs of various students. Regardless of what sport an athletic may be in, she believes that yoga’s physical and mental benefits will still be able to boost one’s abilities.
Amy believes that yoga is a good cross trainer for runners as it provides them with multiple benefits. “Runners are doing Yoga to release their tight muscles from repetitive use, create flexibility in their bodies, for improved breathing, and to dedicate more time to truly stretch and elongate their muscles. Yoga builds mind strength with the guidance of our breath. It also builds muscular strength in our whole body where traditional cardiovascular and weight training cannot,” she explained.
For beginners who have never tried out yoga before, Amy recommends trying either a Hatha style or Yin style. “Yoga teaches us to breathe fully, deeply and slowly. This breath awareness enables us to bring calmness to our busy minds and our central nervous system to make peace with the intensity and discomfort felt when we are faced with challenges. Yoga poses can strengthen our central core muscles, and the groups of muscles in the upper and lower body and feet. Yoga releases tightness and lengthens our muscles from repetitive use. The combination of breath and movement promotes blood circulation to our joints and ligaments, enabling them to be healthy and well nourished and to prevent injuries. It is your trump card in building your endurance, preventing injuries and increasing your speed in your races. More importantly, it quiets your busy mind to find calmness from within, allowing you to tap into your inner strength to open up many possibilities,” she adds.
The best part of it all is that yoga is suitable for everyone, regardless of age and physical conditions. “Everyone can practice Yoga from kids to seniors. There are many styles of Yoga for different age groups and fitness levels. Regardless of age, we all have limitations in our bodies from our genetics, lifestyle, or injuries. We practice Yoga to discover our strengths and limitations, while putting our egos aside to connect with our true being,” said Amy. For the full story, it can be seen here.
At OMG Yoga Singapore, we offer private classes that can be specially tailored towards each individual’s needs. For more information on our yoga class, be sure to refer to our main site.