Insights + interviews
In Conversation With Tara Stiles
We interview renowned celebrity yoga guide and creator of Strala Yoga, Tara Stiles, as she shares with us about her style of yoga and some healthy diet tips.
Creator of the unique free-flowing style of yoga, Strala, as well as author of Make Your Own Rules Diet, Tara Stiles (TS) has just launched her Strala Yoga Studio in Singapore. Strala was first established in New York City, USA in 2008 and has since expanded to many countries including France, Sydney, Seattle, and now Asia. We got her to share what Strala Yoga is all about and how she stays healthy.
AA: Hi Tara, firstly can you tell us more about Strala Yoga and how it’s different from traditional yoga?
TS: The class is all about knowing how good it feels to move. So the instruction is very internally focused. It’s based on the movement, and guiding people from movement to movement. The goal is essentially to feel very connected to yourself, so we’re going very easy with the postures. Whether the movement is simple or challenging, we’re approaching it in an easy-going way so it feels very soft even when things are hard. The philosophy of it is sort of far-eastern, and that’s very much what Strala Yoga is all about.
AA: What inspired you to create Strala Yoga and what do you hope your students can achieve from it?
TS: Honestly in the beginning, I only wanted to help my friends get into yoga. They weren’t doing yoga and were all like, “Oh I’m too sick, I’m you know _____” back in high school. And you know, high school’s over and we’re getting stressed over our jobs and none of my friends are doing yoga but I grew up doing yoga, so I started to show them how to do things (moves) in an easy-going way and it really helped them feel better with their bodies and their lives, and they actually do better things with their lives. So I was like, wow this is really awesome and it feels magical. I started leading small classes like these and people started going, “Wow what is this?”, it’s a different approach… So after a long time doing that, we started to decode what was happening and it just started spreading around the world.
AA: I understand that there are a few types of classes at Strala Yoga. Which would you recommend for active agers who are new to yoga?
TS: It all depends on what you’re looking for. If you want to move more and kind of get more physical, you can go for Strong or Energised, which works on more challenging movements like handstands, crow poses and strength building, and that’s really fun for people. And then we’ve got Relax which is a little more ‘chill’. It’s the same concept of moving with ease, but you go a little softer and easier. The pacing is pretty much the same for all the classes though, so the challenge for the Strong classes comes from doing movements that are a little bit more challenging.
AA: As the author of Make Your Own Rules Diet, can you tell us more about your book?
TS: It’s the same concept of helping people follow how they feel. The book is about taking what you can learn about yourself and practise easy-going yoga with Strala and meditation, in addition to how you treat yourself with food. So it’s all about eating things that make you feel really good and getting creative in your kitchen; using more natural products in your ingredients and also not sacrificing taste and your indulgences for being healthy. For all the recipes, the number one criteria for me is that it has to taste good – otherwise I’m just not going to eat it, and I’ll just eat junk food! And then the second priority obviously, is that it has to be healthy. Another thing would have to be that it’s inexpensive to make. You know how a lot of health foods are really expensive these days with a lot of tricky ingredients, protein powders and all that, so this is really about getting back to nature and finding your nutrients from the actual foods like plants, fruits and vegetables and making them taste really good.
AA: How has practising yoga and having a plant-based diet benefited you and your body?
TS: Well the main benefit is that I feel really good, so I think it helps with my energy levels. I have more energy and don’t get sick often. I do have a busy schedule just like everybody else, but I feel good pretty much all of the time. I also noticed that if I’m feeling a little worn down, I’d notice it faster and start slowing down and rest more… things like that. But I think it’s really how good I feel and the amazing benefit it has on energy levels, health and immunity as well as this awareness of how I feel and how to take care of myself.
AA: Can you recommend some healthy food ideas to eat before a Yoga session?
TS: I think the simplest thing I’ll love to have is what I’d call the Green Dream Smoothie. It tastes really good and is made of spinach, banana and almond milk – just three ingredients! Because there’s banana, it doesn’t taste like spinach at all. And almond milk is so creamy it tastes almost like a dessert. It’s satisfying as you feel like you’ve had some food and you don’t feel so weighed down like you would from big meals.
AA: How would you encourage more people to pick up Strala Yoga and lead a healthy lifestyle like yours?
TS: I mean the best thing about having the yoga studio here in Singapore is having a presence, so that people who are just walking around the neighbourhood and whom would like to de-stress and feel good can be in the physical studio here as well as in New York. You know, we are all connected online and there’s this girl from Malaysia who came and knows all about these guys through the internet. She had just met them and feels really connected to being easy on her body and her life. So we have a lot of tips online and in videos, but I think sometimes it starts with people from the online community where they can find their way to the studio here in Singapore or to the one at New York, and kind of go from there.
AA: Thanks so much for sharing, Tara!
TS: You’re welcome!
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Strala Yoga Singapore is located at 36 Armenian Street #01-04 and offers close to 60 classes a week with four different types of classes: Strong, Energize, Basics and Relax. The Strala Yoga guides are personally trained by Tara Stiles in Strala New York City.
