It’s hard to believe there is anyone else based in the UAE with more experience and knowledge in teaching yoga than Sumit Manav.
About to embark on his PhD later this year – one of the subjects he’s considering exploring is how affirmations can change the brain – the 37-year-old has amassed six years of education in sport science, yoga and human consciousness and 10,000 hours of teacher training.
That’s why classes at one of his four Lifestyle Yoga studios in Dubai are an entirely different experience than many of the city’s enthusiasts might be used to. First-timers go to the beginner class for a few weeks, to prepare. There is always a meditation session, because, as Manav puts it: “there is no yoga without meditation”.
“We also give them the work, what you have to do when you leave for home, what to do when you leave for work,” he says. “It’s a whole lifestyle, not just yoga, that can bring a transformation.”
Advanced students can experience Manav’s Yogina class, which combines stamina, mindfulness and a mind-boggling 99 postures in one very sweaty hour. As one of his students writes on his studio’s website: “Lifestyle yoga is different from those classes I have attended before. They are making sure you actually do yoga.”
Manav, who will expand the concept he brought from India to the UAE when he opens studios in the United Kingdom and Germany next year, was introduced to yoga when his mother sent him to a month-long camp at an ashram when he was 14.
With so much experience under his belt, Manav struggles to understand something that is increasingly common in the yoga industry: graduates from just one 200-hour training, setting up as teachers. “[In those] 200 hours, you’re only learning that one style – 200 hours are surely not enough to understand the body.”
Each yoga pose has a science behind it and each posture plays with a certain part of the body, explains Manav, who hopes teachers understand that properly teaching yoga requires continuous training and a career-long dedication.
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Read more:
Hot stuff: Natasha Rudatsenko on Bikram and her new Dubai studio
Andrea Marcum: Yoga is a party everyone is invited to
On fermented food in the UAE: Where to find it and why you should eat it
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Match info
Arsenal 0
Manchester City 2
Sterling (14'), Bernardo Silva (64')
MATCH INFO
West Ham United 2 (Antonio 73', Ogbonna 90 5')
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 36', Moura 42', Kane 49')
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52
Jigra
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Starfield
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
PSG's line up
GK: Alphonse Areola (youth academy)
Defence - RB: Dani Alves (free transfer); CB: Marquinhos (€31.4 million); CB: Thiago Silva (€42m); LB: Layvin Kurzawa (€23m)
Midfield - Angel di Maria (€47m); Adrien Rabiot (youth academy); Marco Verratti (€12m)
Forwards - Neymar (€222m); Edinson Cavani (€63m); Kylian Mbappe (initial: loan; to buy: €180m)
Total cost: €440.4m (€620.4m if Mbappe makes permanent move)
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
On Women's Day
Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?
Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality
The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?
Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'
While you're here
Kareem Shaheen: Lebanon is being forced to relive its traumas
Michael Young: How did Saad Hariri end up back in the running?
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.