Do you sometimes feel like you’re operating at half-speed? Are you stressed out? Or perhaps you’re feeling like you just don’t get enough exercise, but the thought of working out at a gym utterly bores you to tears. Practising the ancient art of yoga can not only help with various health problems, it can also…
Read moreAre skin whiteners safe?
It’s difficult to avoid seeing those advertisements for skin whiteners plastered across billboards, those images of smiling Thai women with snow-white skin shown on TV and in cinemas, in magazines and newspapers. In western countries, there’s little demand for whiteners; but in Asian countries, they’re big business. According to the Thai Farmers Research Centre, in…
Read moreSoothe away stress with a bath
You’re home. It’s been a long and hectic week, or just a stressful, never-ending day. The last thing you feel like doing is heading outside your sanctuary again to get a treatment. Why not treat yourself to a luxurious bath in the comfort of your own home to help you unwind? Chrissie Davis, spa manager…
Read moreA breath of fresh air: Yoga for expatriate women
The air might usually be filled with thick traffic fumes in Bangkok, but that doesn’t mean you should hold your breath. In fact, you’d be doing your body and your mind a great service if you were to learn to breathe properly in Bangkok – or anywhere else. Practising the ancient art of yoga can…
Read moreJust breathe
Canadian Lesley Hogya, an Iyengar yoga instructor currently teaching pre-natal classes in Bangkok, certainly makes yoga during pregnancy sound like a treat. "It’s a special time in your life, especially if it’s your first pregnancy, so you should indulge and take care of yourself. Yoga poses can nurture the pregnant woman in a way that…
Read morePre-natal poses
“Yoga poses can nurture the pregnant woman in a way that other forms of exercise won’t. Lying on bolsters and having pillows and blankets all around you – I mean, how luxurious!. And then being told to just lie there and breath…” Canadian Leslie Hogya, an Iyengar yoga instructor currently teaching pre-natal yoga classes at…
Read moreWalking tall
Around the globe there are a whole lot of fitness-freaks slowly coming to their senses. These are the people who maybe started aerobics in the ‘80s but have now had it with jumping around interminably on carpets stinking of sweat; or they’re the joggers of the ‘90s who are tired of being injured or just…
Read moreSpiritual moves
Yoga has been around for longer than any archaeological records; by its very nature, it leaves nothing behind to point to its existence except for tales of the amazing powers possessed by some of the best yogis. In Bangkok, yoga has been taught formally for only around 40 years – which is rather surprising if…
Read moreFinding balance
Petcharapan Sangsawang used to suffer from allergies. Nearly every morning, her nose ran, she would sneeze and her head would be uncomfortably congested. “Now I know how to breathe,” she says. “My lungs are healthier and stronger, so they can cope with the allergies.” What did she do to alleviate her problems? She studied Iyengar…
Read moreYoga bare
Want to learn how to stand on your head? Maybe your shoulders? No, not for a party trick, but to improve both your physical health and that of your mind as well? American Justin Herold has been teaching Iyengar yoga around the traps in Bangok since 1992, but last October became more accessible to everyone…
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