The Perfect Yoga Studio that faces the main road of Bandar Puteri, Puchong was hard to miss as I turned off the LDP. Located on the third floor of a row of shops, the studio sits directly above Ambank, which shines like a beacon with its trademark red logo. As I entered the premises of the studio, I was greeted by the warm smiles of Hoo Chee Heng, Director of Perfect Yoga, and Pradeep G Gowda, the master teacher of the yoga centre.
Joining us soon afterwards was Tracy Chaw, Founder and Director of the Perfect Yoga studios. She was friendly and unassuming; and hardly gave off airs that one might expect from an entrepreneur who had now expanded her business from a humble 2800 sq ft. studio in 2005 to the five studio yoga chain and spa facility today.
Initially focused on catering to students situated in the district of Puchong, she has now expanded her business to Kota Damansara with the opening of Prana Studio in July 2007.
Perfect Yoga Puchong (behind Krishna Curry House)
Perfect Yoga Puchong (above AmBank)
Perfect Yoga Kota Damansara
Yoga healed her body and mind
Tracy shared that she first started her career as an aerobics and fitness instructor. In the course of her work, she would frequently experience muscle aches and joint stiffness due to the rigorous nature of her job. When she started attending her friend’s yoga classes, she found that she developed greater flexibility and noticed a huge improvement in her physical condition.
During that time, she was also suffering from serious gastric problems and headache – two symptoms which according to Tracy were usually inter-linked.
Within one and a half years, her symptoms gradually disappeared with the constant practice of yoga…
Today she is happy to reveal that she no longer suffers from any of these problems. She adds that she has less emotional problems after picking up yoga.
After experiencing the health benefits of yoga, it naturally became her dream to spread the awareness of yoga so that others could also enrich their lives through its practice. It was thus that she started conducting yoga lessons for fitness centres and later, established her own studio, PerfectLine Yoga and Fitness City, in Puchong. To date, Tracy has been practising yoga for more than 8 years.
Yoga centre with a difference
When asked what sets her yoga centre apart from the rest, Tracy accredits Pradeep, the master teacher whom she met in 2006, as the source of keeping their yoga classes updated, authentic and holistic. According to Pradeep, one should not always only concentrate on textbook yoga; that is, simply performing yoga postures or Asanas while ignoring the mental and spiritual development that comes along with yoga.
And being a veteran in the art of yoga, Pradeep certainly knows what he is talking about. He was born and is still currently residing in Bangalore, India, where he started learning yoga from his father since he was 7 years old. To Pradeep, yoga was simply a part of his everyday life, an exercise he would practise in his spare time for health purposes.
The engineering graduate only decided to embark on a career in yoga after facing stagnation and lack of creativity in the course of his full-time job at that time. He took a 2 years break from work and pursued a master’s course in Yogic Sciences at the Bihar Yoga Bharathi University in India; graduating with a gold medal. Since then, Pradeep has co-founded Atmayaan, a centre that offers instructor training courses, where he is also head of training; and has been teaching yoga internationally in countries such as Bangalore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Colombo.
Pradeep conducting a retreat in Bukit Tinggi
According to Pradeep, it is highly important for yoga instructors to adopt a continuous learning mentality and consistently attend instructor’s courses to refresh their knowledge on the teachings of yoga. Budding instructors would be keen to know that the master teacher often makes trips to Kuala Lumpur to hold training courses and will begin the International Yoga Instructor Course at Perfect Yoga on the 21st of March 2009.
Classes in session at Perfect Yoga
The Future of Perfect Yoga
The team behind Perfect Yoga seems set to be in the yoga industry for years to come. Hoo says he will never stop practicing yoga as it is one of his great passions in life. The partner and director of Perfect Yoga shared that it was “love at first try” when he knew what he wanted to do with his life after his first trial lesson. Three years on, he has co-founded the Prana Yoga studio in Kota Damansara where he teaches yoga full-time.
Hoo, Tracy and Pradeep discussing schedules for the day
The team is hoping to establish Perfect Yoga not only as a leading yoga centre in the region, but as a yoga academy; a venue to impart authentic advanced yoga knowledge to aspiring yoga instructors or simply to spread awareness of the benefits of yoga to anybody who might be interested.