A former accountancy clerk became a yoga instructor after discovering the physical and mental benefits of the art
When former accountancy clerk Shirley Tse Lai-fun became a yoga instructor, it was like emerging into the light after decades spent in a dark tunnel.
The 37-year-old gladly swapped her corporate attire for sleek figure-hugging yoga outfits. Her office was no longer a crammed cubicle but a state-of-the-art yoga studio inside the relaxing Japanese Zen-inspired garden interior of the health centre mYoga.
Lunch is no longer a rushed affair of ploughing through a rice box against project deadlines and juggling meeting times. She can choose from an array of fruit juices and healthy meals at the health centre's wellness cafe - and take her time.
Another large bonus is that she doesn't have to contend with the polluted fumes of the urban jungle any more, as the air at mYoga is purified.
For most of her 14-year accountancy career - an industry she chose only because she loved doing sums as a child - Ms Tse lived the treadmill existence of a typical Hongkonger: long working hours and consistent pressures of a job that resulted in ill health, exhaustion and stress.
'My health was very bad when I was working in the office. I suffered from bad neck, back and shoulder pain all the time and saw numerous doctors, none of whom could alleviate my pains,' she recalled.