A Co Down woman has been named as one of five yogis innovating and modernising the practice in the UK.
Sayon Cheung-Mulligan has studied and practiced yoga for over 20 years and is renowned for her private teaching practice, having helped many people manage injuries and health conditions.
She currently teaches general hatha, aerial, chair and restorative yoga in her Banbridge studio and across Co Down. She also often facilitates yoga and mindfulness for corporate events, workspaces and schools in Northern Ireland.
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After an injury, the 53-year-old used yoga therapy to recover before travelling the world to learn new techniques and movements. Sayon's family are Chinese and she was brought up learning Kung Fu and Tai Chi.
“I saw the link between Kung Fu and Tai Chi and I broke out into yoga as the movements were a lot more gentle than Kung Fu but faster than Tai Chi. Once I found that middle ground, I just fell in love with yoga,” she said.
“In my 20s, I had an accident while skiing and injured my knee. I was really into the gym and running at that age so I was very active and loved moving. But Tai Chi was too slow and Kung Fu too fast so someone suggested yoga.
“Back then it was very much a case of bringing your sleeping bag into the technical college and everybody snooze but I kept on going back as I felt I belonged.
"I discovered a different range of movements and the mindfulness aspect helped me to heal. Once I left Northern Ireland and travelled around, I realised there was more to yoga than lying inside a sleeping bag.”
After returning to Northern Ireland in 2000, she started training in vinyasa and hatha yoga and when she started teaching over ten years ago, she decided to introduce chair yoga for the many attendees with limitations.
Sayon's successful chair yoga classes are now getting more people involved in the discipline that provides many body and mind benefits through poses, breathing techniques and meditation. Her classes are suitable for beginners and improvers.
“I wanted to make yoga available for all abilities as a lot of the traditional techniques might not be possible for those with an injury in their back or knees,” she said.
“Instead we mimic the exact same movements but using the chair as a prop. I run a weekly, full to capacity class of up to 60 members, mostly around 50 to 90 years old, doing chair yoga.
“Some are younger and have tight backs from sitting at computers all day or maybe they’ve had a stroke or MS, but they get freedom from moving their body on and around the chair.
“For example, one client who had a severe back injury couldn’t move or put her shoes on for five or six years but she now walks three miles every day and can sit on a plane to visit family abroad.
“It’s given her back her strength, confidence and flexibility. Stories like that are extremely rewarding and that's why I do what I do.”
Sayon has just been named one of five yogis who are driving diversity in yoga in the UK.
Novel yoga formats on ticketing and event platform, Eventbrite, such as naked, laughter, goat, chair, puppy, queer and tantra yoga are gaining traction as innovative yogis bring the benefits of the ancient practice to whole new audiences.
In 2022, Eventbrite hosted yoga experiences in over 90 countries worldwide and over 10,000 yoga events in the UK alone and experimental yogis, like Sayon, are getting even more people interested in the ancient practice by giving it a new twist.
An analysis of thousands of yoga related experiences on Eventbrite found that UK practitioners continue to keep yoga fresh by experimenting with novel variations to suit a wide variety of tastes, lifestyles and personality types.
Eventbrite’s Sebastian Boppert said: “Some traditionalist yogis may sneer at the unorthodoxy of pig, puppy and goat yoga.
“But these alternative classes on Eventbrite can serve as a fun and approachable gateway to more serious practice, potentially attracting entirely new audiences to the global yoga community. And that can only be a good thing!”
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