Hey fellow yogis, my name is Tomas Hansson and I’m 26 years of age. I’m originally from from New Zealand but have now settled into Norwegian life and live in Oslo. I am a professional kayaking instructor and I currently run the Mad Goats Kajakkskole (link to page) with my partner. Before I was able to start my own company, I worked in some heavy laboring jobs. Yoga really helped to keep my body from wearing down during these years of repetitive movements.

 

History:

 

Yoga started for me when I was around 17 when my Mum (who was a yoga teacher) finally convinced me to attend an Iyengar Yoga class. Since I played Rugby my body was pretty tight and I couldn’t even touch my toes! After a few weeks of yoga this started to change and I knew that there was no looking back.

 

When I was around 20, my buddy asked me if I wanted to try hot yoga. My would have been something like this - “huh?! Hot yoga, mmmhh, I’m not so sure about this”. As you can see I was obviously very biased to Iyengar Yoga. I ended up thinking what the hell, and giving it a chance anyway. The first class was not exactly relaxing and I vowed that I would never go again - 7 years later and I’m still going to this day. Once you really start to feel and appreciate the benefits of yoga, it’s near impossible to stop going. Yoga is not only great for you physical fitness, but also very good for your mental wellbeing: providing focus, awareness, mindfulness and relaxation. All of these benefits can be transferred directly into your everyday life. I have found this helps with my motivation levels and in general, my all-round success in getting things done and achieving goals.

 

As an extreme sports athlete, yoga is very important for me. If your kayaking at a high level, you will at some stage be subjected to hard impacts of waterfalls and also the repetitiveness of paddling. Yoga has really helped to keep my body from deteriorating and falling apart while pushing my physical and mental limits.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

As an avid outdoors lover I love to go out into nature and feel at one with the universe. There is something about nature that just lets you live in the moment, slow down and find some inner peace. I believe that the practice of yoga gives you this same connection, allowing you to let go and stop worrying about your emails for a few moments!

 

 

Hot yoga is a fast track method if you’re looking for mental and a physical health today. I cannot rate it highly enough.

The studio is well maintained, has a tranquil atmosphere, and the teachers are highly skilled and professional. Also, I have felt like I could get down to a more buddy level and share some camaraderie with them.