Infiniti Yoga is a brand new yoga technique that involves walking while doing Asanas (yoga postures) and this is characterised by the seamless movement that traces an infinity pattern across the yoga studio. 

It had been carefully curated by Dada Premamayanandra, 57, a missionary and well loved yogi of Ananda Marga, who came up with the idea by accident, when he tried jogging inside his yoga studio.

Said Dada, “I had been on duty to take charge of the yoga centre, when I went jogging in the room, which is very small, at 52 square metres. I couldn’t go out for a jog because there could have been a phone call or someone may have dropped by. But because of the small room size, it was not easy to jog inside there.”

He added, “I kept running, then I thought, maybe I should incorporate some asanas that would be beneficial to the body and mind into this running. But running and holding positions had not been very comfortable.”

This experiment also caused Dada’s left tendon to become strained. He said, “And I know that when there is a tendon strain, it takes a long time to heal. So I slowed down but I still felt pain.”

One thing then led to another, and Dada tried to run infinity-style in the room in an attempt to cope with the pain but he found it even more complicated to hold asanas and run at the same time.

Eventually he slowed down completely and tried walking. Said Dada, “I then realised that it was very comfortable to walk slowly and hold asanas.”

That was when Infiniti Yoga had been born.

Continued Dada, “I then began to develop different positions and I started taking notes on the whiteboard. And I realised that if asanas and walking can be combined in one class, then you don’t need to be a professional yogi to reap all the benefits of yoga, which anyone can do.”

In 2016, Dada conducted his first Infiniti Yoga group class. Said Dada, “It felt very funny because it was the first time we were trying it in a group. But then I realised that this yoga is very beneficial.”

Today, Infiniti Yoga is conducted about five time a week, with sessions being conducted both indoors as well as outdoors, and this new type of yoga has attracted a dedicated following, for example, amongst the elderly members of the GoodLife Wellness Centre at Marine Parade.

Said Dada, “The feedback from the seniors there are that they can sleep better and feel more energy. I am not talking about them changing their diet or lifestyle or anything. I am just doing the yoga with them. I think that is good because if Infinity Yoga helps a senior person to sleep better and to become more energetic, that is definitely something.”

Due to the walking movements in Infiniti Yoga, it is also easy for senior citizens to do, as compared to traditional yoga.

Explained Shelley Lieu, 32, an ad-hoc teacher at the centre, “Seniors generally have difficulty sitting down and if you ask them to do traditional asanas, it is challenging and impossible.” 

She continued, “One of my colleagues, who is 65 years old, tried an Infiniti Yoga class and she said that it was really good because she did not need to sit down at all during the class. She has difficulty sitting down and feels sleepy whenever she does so, but with Infinity Yoga, she can walk and keep herself engaged.”

For senior citizens, Shelley also added that Infinity Yoga has helped them with their daily movements. She said, “If they want to perform well for their daily tasks, the elderly need enough lower body strength. All these postures have helped them with their daily activities like dressing and showering, and also reduces their fall risk too.”

But Dada however, had pointed out that Infiniti yoga is not only for the senior citizens though. Rather, it is suited to people of all ages.

Said Dada, “I envision that this will not only give benefits to seniors, but also young boys and girls, to harmonise the two hemispheres of their brain, to help them to improve memory and concentrate better, as well as to improve their artistic, creative, technical and scientific qualities.”

He added, “In fact, people of all ages have attended our Infiniti Yoga classes; some bring their kids who may be as young as nine to 12 years old, and the averages age of attendees at Infinity Yoga sessions is 30.”

Ananda Marga had invited me to try out an Infiniti Yoga class for myself yesterday afternoon at their Chai Chee studio. I attended the session together with a small group of seniors from the GoodLife Wellness Centre.

I had thought that the session had been quite eye opening and completely different to any yoga class that I had been to previously.

Depending on the age range and attention span of the participants, each session of Infiniti Yoga can last from 40 minutes to one and half hours. Yesterday’s class had been approximately 40 minutes long possibly because of the seniors present.

Through the class, we had been guided through poses specially chosen to build up the neck, torso and lower body, all whilst walking across the studio in a figure eight.

I found most of these poses to be rather basic and quite easy to achieve as they were mainly simple stretching movements. A few of these included the following:

• Right side neck extension – turning the head on the right side and looking to the extreme right, then with your left hand grabbing the right arm behind the back and keeping your body straight
• Frog style swimming – Stretching out your arms in front of you similar to swimming breast-stroke
• Inward hip rotation – lifting up the knee and rotating it inwardly

I admit that prior to the class, I had been worried that the postures would be hard to achieve, and that we may have been required to perform handstands.

Fortunately, there had been nothing that I could not do without much difficulty – and this certainly says something, because my muscles are not exactly the most flexible, because of all the marathon and triathlon training that I regularly do.

The hardest movement during the class was possibly the squats, but then again, squats are nothing new to me, because I do them as part of my marathon training in order to build up my core muscles.

As well, I observed that the senior citizens who were doing the class with me also did not have much issues following Dada’s movements and forming the postures, either.

Due to the constant engagement, walking, and the changing of movements ever so often, the class also kept me stimulated throughout the entire 40 minutes and I felt that the time had passed by much more quickly than I had earlier envisioned. 

Said Dada, “This class is basically good for lazy people too because they can get in some physical activity, yet they don’t realise that they are walking for 40 minutes because of the constant change of movements.”

Sometimes during a yoga class, I admit that the time can tick by very slowly and I get bored when I am having trouble holding a yoga pose, but this was not the case with the Infiniti Yoga session at all.

Each posture that we did during the class has a reason behind it, too. According to Dada, in every one of these postures, a range of deep stretches had been thoughtfully weaved in, to strengthen the central nervous system, leaving a lasting sense of relief. 

For example, the right side neck extension pose is supposed to train balance and synchronisation, as well as helping to strengthen the body’s central nervous system at the same time.

And with each step that forms a part of the infinity shaped trail, the left and right brain synchronises, harmonising the logical and artistic expressions in a person. 

The alternating of poses between the left and right sides of the body also bears the intention of subtly kindling brain simulation and training balance.

Added Dada, “In fact for myself, I find that Infiniti Yoga has helped to synchronise the two hemispheres of my brain. I was lying down one day and I wrote with my left hand spontaneously, without thinking. I was like, WOW, because I have always been right handed and have to think two to three times before doing anything with my left hand. Now this action has become a lot more spontaneous.”

Our Infiniti Yoga session had then ended with a few simple breathing exercises, followed by a self-massage session led by Dada, where we were tasked with massaging all parts of our body, from the neck all the way to the toes. 

The purpose of doing this, had been to help to relax the muscles and bring the body to a state of serenity, thus providing the perfect escape after a long day of work.

To find out more about Infiniti Yoga or else to book a class, head on to http://anandamarga.org.sg. Classes are priced at S$27 per session or S$160 for a package of 12 sessions.