Grounding is often said to be one of the most important aspects of yoga. Finding that balance, calm, and peace is just as important, if not more so, than working on the headstand or perfecting the vrschikasana. It's not unusual for those struggling to find purpose and meaning to find yoga as a means of self-exploration and inner discovery.
While many may choose to take classes here and there and dabble in some meditation along the way, others take a step further and embrace their yoga journey in a way that leads to genuine, lasting transformation.
Still, for others, like Olmen Chu, the path isn't so straightforward. Chu, a Lululemon ambassador, first crossed paths with yoga not for her health or wellness but for a more practical and calculated purpose. "I started yoga when I was in university, and I needed one more credit to graduate, and there was a yoga class I could take," she jokingly recalls.
"At the time, I wasn't really interested in yoga, but I thought I could do some exercise and wouldn't have to study. I didn't really enjoy it; I found it quite boring, actually."
The psychology major went on to get her final credit and graduated, eventually landing her dream job as a flight attendant. For several years, she travelled the world and worked towards a promotion to purser.
After some time in the skies, she felt something was missing. "I didn't have any hobbies and wasn't doing anything besides work. I also felt I wasn't really living a healthy life," she said.
She contemplated different activities, giving running and the gym a go before giving yoga a second chance.
Little did she know that decision would lead her to replace air travel with another way to take to the skies. "I tried aerial yoga, and it was like flying around dancing in the sky, and I just felt it was really interesting."
Chu says she fell in love almost immediately and quickly tried her hands at other types of yoga in a thirsty attempt to seek a deeper understanding of the teachings behind yoga and of the human anatomy. "Every time I go to class, I want to learn more, but the teachers don't always have enough time to talk."
Chu decided the best way to learn more was from a teacher's perspective. "I took teacher training to try to find answers to my questions, and I didn't start thinking I would become a teacher."
"Yoga really changed my mind about how to balance my life, and my stress," she says. So after nine years as a flight attendant and at the brink of the promotion she's worked her entire career towards, Chu decided it was time to pivot and travel to new possibilities. She left her job to pursue yoga teaching full time.
As someone so open to pushing herself to the unknown, Chu's approach towards wellness and yoga is quite the opposite. "I always tell my friends and students that yoga is about wanting to be healthy, so I never push myself so hard that I end up with injuries." Instead, she's learned that patience is the key to sustainable personal growth.
Beyond her initial love for aerial yoga, Chu now teaches everything from Hatha to Vinyasa and has, in recent years, developed a particular fondness for deep stretching. Like that initial curiosity that inspired her journey, she continues to be curious about human anatomy. In an attempt to better understand and share with her students the reason why yoga is practised and what different poses can do to strengthen the body, she became a certified fitness instructor, too.
"I didn't get that information from my teachers when I was a student. So when I teach, instead of just showing my students how to do a pose, I like to explain to them the reason why we're doing it and how it can benefit our bodies."
Chu became an ambassador for Lululemon around the time the pandemic first hit Hong Kong. She took the opportunity to dig deep and reexamine what she wanted to achieve with her practice and teaching. She started a Cantonese YouTube channel, Yoga with Olmen, offering simple, easy-to-follow tutorials as a first step to engage a wider audience. For her, it's about strengthening the community by sharing the yoga experience with as many people as possible, and YouTube is the perfect platform for that.
"I always suggest to my students that they should find a yoga studio that's convenient for them and close to their home, and that's one way to help them stay committed to the practice," she says. With the channel, she's able to bringing the practice into people's homes.
On any particular day, Chu's rundown includes regular rounds of stretches, exercise and yoga routines, and heading to different clubs and studios to teach. Her active lifestyle sees her practically living in her Lululemon Align yoga apparel on the day-to-day. Recently, she hosted a stretch and meditation class as part of Lululemon's Get Into It campaign to spotlight the Align collection.
With its buttery soft fabric and minimal seams, the Align yoga pant and bras are explicitly designed to complement the movements of yoga. Chu put on her first pair of Align yoga pants eight years ago and hasn't looked back since. "I love how it feels like I'm not wearing anything when I'm in my Align pants; they don't limit my range of motion, and they still look brand new after many years of wear."
The Align leggings are available in an Asia Fit, with shorter inseams tailored specifically to the proportions of the Asian yogi.
With ease and feeling incredibly comfortable in her second skin, Chu dedicates her practice to spreading the yogic message to a broader audience. Be it those who are just trying to find a bit of quiet refuge or seniors in their 80s hoping to strengthen their bodies for a more fulfilling life, each interaction is one step closer towards Chu's goal of sharing wellness with more people.
Also see: Prediction sees half of global population overweight by 2035- here's how you can beat it
