It was not typical Saturday morning yoga practice with Master Deva on this early autumn day. Instead of teaching his normal classes at the Langham Place studio in Mong Kok, Master Deva taught a two-hour outdoor yoga camp to more than 30 students at Jordan Valley Park.
This park, which is up the hill from Choi Hung, occupies an area of about 6.3 hectares and is the largest park in Kuwn Tong District. Its spacious central lawn already serves as a perfect venue for outdoor yoga practice, and the greenery at the park also suits the theme of the event, which is “hugged by nature”. Although the weather forecast was not very promising, the sun did come out on this early September morning but without bringing the scorching heat with it. And the early autumn breeze also added to the enjoyment of this outdoor yoga practice.
The session began with some breathing exercise, Deva reminded students to open their chest and breathe in deeply in order to experience being “hugged by nature”. As this outdoor practice session was longer than a typical yoga class at the studio, Deva took the opportunity to explain in details about many of the postures in his signature Hatha 1 sequence. He not only pointed out the common mistakes in doing such poses, but also explained the benefits of practicing those postures. He said he would expect the students to correctly do those poses in classes back in the studio. While it was serious yoga practice, the session was actually full of fun, especially towards the end, when the students did some partner work to help each other deepen their shoulder and hip opening as well as their twists.
While Hong Kong is considered a concrete jungle, it doesn’t mean nature is hard to find. The students actually didn’t have to go very far to come to this park to take their practice outdoor in nature, and they certainly had a great time and left with new inspirations.
Louis Won
This park, which is up the hill from Choi Hung, occupies an area of about 6.3 hectares and is the largest park in Kuwn Tong District. Its spacious central lawn already serves as a perfect venue for outdoor yoga practice, and the greenery at the park also suits the theme of the event, which is “hugged by nature”. Although the weather forecast was not very promising, the sun did come out on this early September morning but without bringing the scorching heat with it. And the early autumn breeze also added to the enjoyment of this outdoor yoga practice.
The session began with some breathing exercise, Deva reminded students to open their chest and breathe in deeply in order to experience being “hugged by nature”. As this outdoor practice session was longer than a typical yoga class at the studio, Deva took the opportunity to explain in details about many of the postures in his signature Hatha 1 sequence. He not only pointed out the common mistakes in doing such poses, but also explained the benefits of practicing those postures. He said he would expect the students to correctly do those poses in classes back in the studio. While it was serious yoga practice, the session was actually full of fun, especially towards the end, when the students did some partner work to help each other deepen their shoulder and hip opening as well as their twists.
While Hong Kong is considered a concrete jungle, it doesn’t mean nature is hard to find. The students actually didn’t have to go very far to come to this park to take their practice outdoor in nature, and they certainly had a great time and left with new inspirations.
Louis Won
