In typical stressful daily life, you can easily lose yourself in hectic responsibilities and forget about your health, fitness and inner peace. A specialized yoga center has recently opened its doors in Maadi to help you "attain well-being as their slogan reads. As you walk in, you are kindly asked to take your shoes off. The earth colored reception area smells of burning incense and the soft Far Eastern music plays in the background - by then you've already forgotten about the Cairo traffic you just left behind. There are two studios in the center, both dimly lit with small lights and candles. The floor is covered in yoga mats and appropriately soothing music plays in the background. "You need a special place for yoga so you can provide it for people regardless of their age or physical abilities, says one of the co-founders and Managing Director Noha Mustafa, who has been practicing yoga for seven years. She explains that there are classes for athletes, senior citizens, ladies and even children (coming soon). Beginner, intermediate and advanced levels are offered in Hatha (traditional), Ashtanga (dynamic), Pranayama (breathing techniques) and Raja (meditation). Finding good yoga instructors is tough, as not only should they be good teachers but they also have to be able to emit good energy to the rest of the class. So far, the center has hired two professional instructors. Mustafa feels that in Egypt people are not fully aware of what yoga involves. She says, "People still think its sitting and waiting for enlightenment or something, or that it has difficult techniques that they can't do even though there are different levels to suit all abilities. The physical benefits of yoga include increasing flexibility, lubrication of the joints, ligaments and tendons, massaging of all the internal organs of the body which helps keep diseases away, detoxification and excellent toning of the muscles. Last but not least is the state of relaxation you reach, which later reflects on your day-to-day life, giving you more emotional control over yourself and clearer decision making. Instructor Ibtihag El-Essawy, (aka Gigi), started yoga 20 years ago. After being an aerobics instructor for years, she faced physical problems in her back and knees that stopped her training, so she took up yoga. She says everything in yoga is beneficial. If you have a disease it will cure you, if you don't it will protect you. It gives good physical shape and it makes you calmer. "It's not a sport, its medicine, art, health . Yoga doesn't change you, it corrects you. If you have good features already, it uses them, says El-Essawy. She explains, if you can stretch and don't have muscles it will keep your stretch but give you muscles. If you're energetic and nervous you will stay energetic but not nervous. "The body organizes itself on it's own as long as you give it what it needs like correct breathing and posture. If you are a student you don't need to think, it's the instructor that needs to guide you correctly, she says. In the center the minimum membership is a month, walk-ins are not encouraged so that the students can really feel the benefit. After classes they organize lectures and workshops about yoga diets for example. Mustafa says, "People want to achieve many different things when they take up yoga, but they end up with more than what they hoped for. Yogi & Yogini24, Road 200, Digla, MaadiTel: (02) 516 6282, (016) 239 0303
