From the pollution to the constant food safety scares to the endless temptations of excess calories, booze and sleep deprivation, Shanghai is a hot market for the health and wellness industry. In this series of profiles we introduce you to Shanghai’s various practitioners, proselytizers and entrepreneurs of health and wellness.
Polina Efremenko, Yoga Instructor
With ten years of regular yoga practice—receiving certification in 2016, Russian native Polina Efremenko’s body was healthy. Her mind, however, was not. Confronting negative thoughts, she searched for solutions. “I wanted to enhance my mood and deepen my knowledge of yoga philosophy.”Earlier this year, she discovered a yoga school specializing in energy awareness in Thailand. Since studying and earning certification in this style, Efremenko is able to stay positive. While she teaches energy yoga at FitFam classes, she employs a mix of styles at a local fitness studio, and privately for up to three students
What is Energy Awareness yoga?
Nowadays yoga is so widely commercialized that the essence of the practice is easily forgotten. “When we do Ashtanga or Hatha yoga, we don’t have time. It’s easy to approach yoga in the same distracted way that we go about our day. With energy yoga we stop, we focus, we consider the purpose of what we are doing”, explains Efremenko. Indeed, yoga is derived from Hindu and Vedic terminology conveying the “yoking” of mind and body with the intention of reaching moksha. However you refer to it—practicing yoga with energy awareness, chakra focus or mindfulness embodies the aligning of the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of practice with meditation at the core.
Practicing energy awareness in yoga has enabled Efremenko to stay focused and balanced—essential for the young entrepreneur who has recently co-founded a lingerie brand Fine d’Art. The philosophy behind the brand embodies the concept that beauty lies on the inside, empowering women through the personal experience of customized underwear. You can catch a display of her lingerie artwork at Glam, until mid September.
You can contact Polina about private yoga classes on WeChat: Polushka
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