Best of the Maldives: Yoga – Taj Exotica

My first ever outdoor yoga session in my life was in the Maldives. I had been introduced to the discipline back during my West Africa travels with one lesson in Togo, but then it was 25 years later when Lori and I did the sunrise yoga at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa. I’m not quite an avid practitioner though Lori and I have a weekly lesson. Lori is well into it, has done some special yoga retreats and did several yoga sessions during our last Maldives tour. I always check out the resort spa and scan the treatments and classes on offer in every visit. And I have never come across the range of yoga sessions offered by Taj Exotica.

Taj features and over water yoga and meditation pavilion (see photo above) as well as two breath-taking over-water couple spa suites and the Heat, Hydro and Relaxation Pavilion, with its welcoming sauna, generous relaxation deck and waterbeds.

We have been studying yoga for over a year now and no two sessions are the same. I’m regularly surprised by the entirely new collection of poses that our teacher Vivian Campbell introduces to us each week. Yoga seems to have no end to the variety of not just poses, but also different styles and technique variations. Taj reflects the diversity of this ancient art with its own equally diverse menu of sessions…

• Asana, Prananyama, Mudara, Banda
• Balanced – 90 minutes
• Advanced – 90 minutes
• Abhilaya – 60 minutes
• Advanced Surya Namaskar – 60 minute
• Gentle – 60 minutes
• Dynamic – 60 minutes
• Pranayama – 60 minutes
• ·Shatkarma
• Laghoo Shankhaprakshalana – 90 minutes
• Kunjal Kriya – 55 minutes
• Jala Neti – 45 minutes
• Meditation
• Yoga Nidra – 25 minutes
• Yoga Nidra Advanced – 50 minutes
• Hirdayakasha Dharana – 50 minutes
• Ajapa Japa – 50 minutes
• Antar Mouna – 40 minutes

“Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.” – Sting