Mother of four shares her perspectives on why she decided to cross train on her journey into Yoga
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Having always been a competitive athlete since her childhood, it was only an injury that forced Dawn Sim to wein away from her sport of swimming and turn her attentions to Yoga.
Even then, Sim recounts how she hated her first experience with Yoga, and it was only from subsequent sessions that her curiosity peaked.
"My coach back then encouraged me to try Yoga because he did it himself, and it was helping him with pain management," she shared.
"I tried my first class at a community centre with my aunt and I hated it," she continued. "Of course there are many different styles of yoga, which I didn't know yet at that point."
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The first class she attended was a hatha yoga class, a style that did not resonate as well with her being the super active person that she is. She didn't want to attend another Yoga class after that, but when another aunt asked her for accompaniment to another Yoga session, Sim reluctantly agreed.
She recalls: "When we went this time, I totally enjoyed it and she hated it. This one was more Flow. It was a style I enjoyed as it was more cardiovascular, but to her it was a killer."
From then on Sim decided to learn more about Yoga. She took up a teacher training course from United States, and later on pursued more traditional training from India, and thus have influences from both sides in her style today.
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"I am a very curious person, and I also explored Pilates very shortly after. I realised various disciplines have very unique teachings that other ones kind of miss out, but all of them having something unique to teach me," she added.
"Through pilates I get to train my core a lot more, through Yoga I work on my flexibility, and both help me with my breath work."
She may be trained in many different disciplines but all of them have come together to help her become a more holistic coach and instructor today.
Dawn believes that cross training is a very natural thing to do, and that one should not be too stuck on just working their bodies in any one way. She encourages everyone to step out of their comfort zones to try new ways of training.
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"Our bodies are meant to train in many different ways, we can't just train on flexibility, or just train on mobility, or just on cardiovascular fitness, we need strength and all that as well."
As a co-founder of Trium Fitness, but the only one among the gym's founding partners who is a teacher, Sim reasoned that it was her desire to have a place of her own that made her step out and start her own practise.
"I wanted my own space, which was to build a community and have a supportive environment - something I felt was lacking in a bigger commercial gym environment."
"In a smaller setting here we are easy going, we take time to get to know the people who come in, and are better able to recommend them to the kind of classes they should be taking."
If you are looking to find out more about Trium Fitness, don't forget to read up on our article under Yoga Studios!
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