There’s no escaping stress and that’s where yoga comes in. And it’s not something you need to talk about only on International Day of Yoga. You don’t need any prior experience to benefit from its practice. Whether you are at home, work or somewhere in between, yoga can help you relax. It’s something yoga educator Samiksha Shetty can’t stop talking about. And she also can’t stop admiring how the Apple Watch can help.

“I’ve been using the Apple Watch generally for years; I think it’s been four or five years now. Initially, I was introduced to it with the mindset of counting steps. But the Watch evolved,” Samiksha told t2.

She is always excited to talk about the yoga mode on the Apple Watch because it’s not easy for a device to help when there are phases that involve fewer movements. “It is very tough usually. I’ve tried other watches, which, at times, don’t scan anything because there are no movements taking place. But the Apple Watch is different. It can track non-movements; yoga’s a lot about breathing. On many watches (from other brands), if I’m holding a pose for three minutes, it sends messages like should the workout be canncelled. The Apple Watch is aware of non-movements. As a teacher, this is important to me,” she said.

Apple Watch comes with an in-built feature to track yoga and also a Mindfulness feature to help perform breathing exercises. There are several other features that also keep her hooked to the device: “The stopwatch function helps. Since I am in my studio for long hours, I like the fact that calls get transferred to the Watch; I don’t have to disconnect and check my phone. I can teach without getting anxious.”

She takes a pause before talking about the Mindfulness app. “We check out so many times in life because so many things are happening around us. So when the notification arrives to simply breathe, it helps.”

Samiksha Shetty says yoga is something kids as well as adults can benefit from

Go with the flow

To get started, she advises those coming to her studio to at least keep moving through the day. “Keeping track of steps is important.”

“When it comes to yoga, it depends on each person. If I’m a highly-motivated person and if I’m a person who loves competition, I would check my calories, check my heart rate, try to get my heart rate up and try to extend my breath. But if a person is not highly motivated, I would just say consistently track each day of the week. Let’s not go too much into calorie burn. Let’s focus on heart rate. Let’s focus on trying to calm the breath down. I give people different goals but heart rate is important and in yoga, breathing is important.”

The mind-body connection created through yoga facilitates change at many levels. If you have a yoga mat, that’s great but it’s not necessary. A towel works as well or you can just sit on the floor. Find a comfortable spot where you can be alone. Unlike completing “rings” each day, yoga lets you approach fitness differently.

“What we don’t realise is though we are not working physically (all the time), our minds are always at work. Yoga is not only about asanas, it’s not only about sitting on a mat; it’s also the breath work that matters. So when you take a break from the physical aspect of it, you can always go to the other limbs of yoga. You can always go to the breath work, the calming of the mind, the meditation aspect of yoga,” said the 30-year-old yoga educator.

Samiksha was introduced to yoga when she was around 10 years old. She puts emphasis on the fact that yoga can be practiced by almost anyone. “Kids are the most flexible. I would say yoga can be done at any age because when you’re smaller, you’re more inclined towards asanas. Also, many are becoming injury-conscious. Many sports people come to me now. I also work with those who are 60-65 years old.”