Many in the Hong Kong 'in' crowd might remember Tiana Harilela, 36, from her spell working at a luxury champagne company and frequent appearances in social columns.
Dressed in her designer gear and blinged out, she was by no means unfit, but she's now in the best shape of her life, and she attributes it to yoga.
Her first experience of physical or hatha yoga was with her late grandfather, businessman George N. Harilela. 'He taught me my first ever yoga pose. He was also the first person to introduce me to the yogic kriyas [cleansing rituals] at a young age. But his biggest influence on me was his subtle teachings of the 'true self' and the inner aspects of yoga. He is still in my heart as my first teacher.'
While among the glitterati, she says she was far from a spiritual being. Up until her early 20s, she kept a distance from everything spiritual and Indian.
'I knew I needed a practice with a challenge, so I turned to Ashtanga Vinyasa as taught by the late Sri K Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. This was one of the most powerful yoga practices I had ever seen and tried. I was hooked.'
Frequent trips to Mysore have followed. She cites Paul Dallaghan, who runs the beautiful Samahita Yoga Thailand retreat in Koh Samui, as one of her biggest influences. Dallaghan's master, Sri O.P. Tiwari, is the head of the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute in Lonavala, near Mumbai. Through their guidance, Harilela is now an Ashtanga yoga teacher teaching simple pranayama, a special form of breathing exercises.