Yoga on a climbing wall – exercise reaches new heights in Myanmar
Hanging upside down on the end of a rope can be risky, and takes more strength than yoga on a mat, but participants are hooked – and their revealing sportswear is fuelling a fashion trend in once buttoned-down Yangon
First there was beer and paddleboard yoga. Then someone added goats to the mix. Now fitness buffs in Myanmar are taking the latest body-bending trend to whole new heights – pulling off yoga poses on a climbing wall.
Instructor Khin Myat Thu Zar easily zips to the top of a wall at a newly opened climbing centre in Yangon. But her climb isn’t finished yet.
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With the support of a rope partner she flips upside down, her feet gripping two climbing wall holds in an inverted split that would make couch potatoes wince.
“Much more strength is needed to do this kind of yoga and the mind has to be entirely stable,” she says, after a climb intermixed with elaborate poses.
“You need to be courageous,” she adds.
