Cheekiemonkies: Singapore Parenting & Lifestyle Blog: The Day I Did Yoga for the First Time (and almost broke my back) Cheekie Monkies

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Last Sunday, the biggest yoga event in Singpore - MARIGOLD HL Yoga Singapore 2014 - was held at the Padang and boy, was it a complete sell-out.

We were there at the unearthly hour of 7am (and on a Sunday I must add!), so I cannot deny that it was quite the chore dragging the entire family down to the event. Luckily for me, the monkies love drinking milk which made them perk right up at the mere mention of MARIGOLD HL Milk. Even better if it came in chocolate flavour!

Okay, so the cow mascot helped too.

Even MediaCorp Artiste Belinda Lee, who is also MARIGOLD HL Milk's Ambassador, was present bright and early at the Padang.

All because of the one-hour long mass yoga event. And when I mentioned it was THE largest yoga event in Singapore, I was not kidding. Just check out the crowd, all 1,000 strong of them.

The thing is, did you know that when it comes to our children's health, building healthy bones by adopting healthy nutritional and lifestyle habits early in childhood is important to help prevent osteoporosis and fractures later in life?

The bone mass attained in childhood and adolescence is an important determinant of lifelong skeletal health. So it is important to form good bone health habits from a young age. And the two most important lifelong bone health habits to encourage now are proper nutrition and plenty of physical activity.

And speaking of physical activity, yoga has been widely accepted as an exercise that can build bone health and increase one's bone mineral density.

Truth be told, I have NEVER done yoga in my entire life. So I was not quite sure how my stiff body was going to take it. It was different for the boys though. Led by Monika, an experienced Yoga Therapist who is under training from famous and experienced Yoga Master, Master Yograttan Dev Kapil, they were all raring to go when the warm-up stretches got underway.

Me? I really had a tough time contorting my body. If you need proof, just look at the photo below.

Belinda, who was just beside me, effortlessly arched backwards. As for me, I could have sworn I heard my back threatening to break up with me had I arched a millimetre more. Yes, it was that bad.

It took more than a few minutes before my rigid barrel of a body gradually warm up to the demands of the yoga moves.

Surprisingly, Ale who was disinterested initially, started mimicking the yoga moves too.

See what I mean?

In fact, she totally nailed some of the yoga moves. Hmph, showoff.

By the end of the hour long session, I guess this photo of Ayd sums up everything rather aptly.

I was completely bushed! Never did it ever cross my mind that yoga was going to be this tiring and perspiration-inducing. So it was a welcome relief as all of us were then treated to a mesmerizing yoga dance by the true professionals from One Wellness Fitness Club.

Oh, and treating ourselves to some cold MARIGOLD HL Milk too.

Because eating for healthy bones means getting plenty of foods that are rich in calcium and vitamin D, milk is one such food that is a good source of calcium. Drinking one 200ml glass of Marigold HL Milk provides 400mg of calcium, which is more than half of the recommended calcium intake for younger children.

For those who were concerned about their bone health, the Osteoporosis Society (Singapore) were down to offer free bone-health screening to participants. Ditto for the free on-site body fat analysis and consultation too.

For the monkies, there was only one fringe activity that would perk them up after a morning of exercise.

Photo Booth madness!

All in all, a great event accompanied by a great workout. For one, it made me better appreciate yoga as a proper form of exercise more... so yes, we will definitely look forward to MARIGOLD HL Yoga Singapore 2015 come next year!