Turn up the heat
By Urban Escape
Daily Xpress
Published on May 3, 2008
Promote health, eliminate toxins and find balance with India's bikram yoga
Sittipong Rattanapong knows yoga. For the last four years, he's won the annual Regional Yoga Asana Championship. This year he won the International Yoga Asana Championship Bishun Charan Ghosh Cup 2008 in Los Angeles. "I love to move and get sweaty," said Sittipong, or "Ball", in an interview with Daily Xpress, a few days before he flew to the US to oversee a one-year roadshow for Bikram hot yoga centres. A former professional dancer and dance instructor, Ball has tried many yoga styles, including asthanga and hatha. Then, four years ago, he found Bikram yoga. He has been hooked ever since. So great was his passion that he was soon teaching Bikram yoga in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Seoul. Developed by the Calcutta-born Bikram Choudhury, a Bikram yoga class is a vigorous workout comprising 26 asana poses performed in sequence in a hot room. Adherents say it rids the body of toxins and promotes muscle flexibility. Representing Thailand in 2005, Ball entered the International Yoga Asana Championship Bishu Charan Ghosh Cup and ranked eighth in the world. This year he competed again, beating 20 of the world's top practitioners. Each contestant had to perform seven poses within three minutes. "The key is just to go inwards, competing against yourself," says Ball. Yoga is one of hottest exercise trends in Bangkok and around Asia, and Ball doesn't see any problem in treating it as a competitive sport. "In fact yoga contests have been held in India for the past 2,000 years," he says.
Ball's yoga tips
>> Be open-minded. Each yoga style has its own beauty. Try as many styles as you can to find the one that suits you best.
>> Don't just turn a hot yoga session into a sauna. Done properly, hot yoga develops muscle flexibility, blood circulation and the cardiovascular system.
>> There are no miracles in yoga. Whether you use it to get a good figure or good health, it's a matter of continued and determined effort.
>> Yoga instructors are not doctors. Some back-pain or knee-pain sufferers recover after yoga practises but some don't. Do combine yoga exercise with other medical treatments.
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