“Jai means victory in Hindi,” says Prem Kaur, co-owner and co-founder (with husband Jai Singh) of Jai Yoga on Austin Avenue. “A lot of people want to overcome something when they practice yoga, and most people leave classes at Jai Yoga feeling victorious.”
The Coquitlam yoga studio first opened in Aug. 2019, with the couple excited about their new venture, only to shut their doors a few months later in March 2020 due to the pandemic.
“Our online classes are a direct result of this 2-year pandemic,” says Prem. “When the pandemic started early in 2020, most of us thought it would last a few weeks. But by the summer, we realized we had to be innovative in how we teach our classes, so we invested in state-of-the-art audio and video.”
Since then, those using our HD virtual platform enjoy it so much, they feel as if they're right here with us in the studio,” she adds. “Furthermore, all of our classes are broadcasted live and then added to our video library. Currently we have over 1000 classes available on our Jai Yoga On-Demand Video Library, so our members can enjoy classes anytime they want.”
With restrictions now easing up, in-person classes are also available again, with all provincial health orders being followed in their infrared heated studio.
“Our infrared heat is mild and very comfortable,” Prem explains. “The warmest it would go is 2-3 degrees above room temperature. The reason why we use infrared heat is that it mimics the warmth of the sun on a warm spring day. This makes practicing yoga in our warm infrared heated room such a pleasure all year round.”
People new to yoga, or perhaps ready to get back into their put-aside yoga practice, can take advantage of Jai Yoga's special introductory offer, where $59 gets you two weeks of unlimited classes, in-person, online or a combination of both. After the introductory offer, a variety of annual and monthly membership packages are available to suit one's schedule or lifestyle.
For the first time, Jai Yoga will be offering a part-time yoga teacher training program that runs Mar. 4 - July 17. This teacher training can be done in person or online, and there’s been plenty of interest already.
Prem and Jai, are both originally from India where yoga originated many years ago. When comparing the practice, they both noticed that in North America, yoga is seen as a primarily physical activity, whereas “we were raised to believe that yoga is a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of being,” Prem says.
Combining body, mind and spirit is key to yogic practice.
“Yoga has been around for more than 5,000 years,” Prem says. “Clearly, this is a practice that has stood the test of time,” she smiles.
Still, with India having been under British colonial rule for hundreds of years until 1947, during which practicing yoga was illegal, Prem is grateful that the west embraced it and “kept it alive.”
Jai Yoga focuses on a variety of authentic yoga styles including hatha, vinyasa, yin, restorative yoga, Iyengar, ashtanga and more. A body-positive studio, their philosophy is that yoga is for everybody, not just for the flexible and lean.
Jai Yoga believes that breath is at the core of personal transformation, and where personal transformation begins. A few of the many known benefits of yoga are stress reduction, boosting the immune system, improved circulation, increased lymphatic flow - the list goes on.
Follow Jai Yoga Studio on Instagram and Facebook for inspirational posts and videos along with updates about the studio.
