There are so many benefits of yoga that it may even trump conventional exercise in term of benefits. Not only does it have a host of physical benefits, like toning your muscles and improving flexibility, yoga has been shown to improve other aspects of health as well, such as mental and emotional health. To make sure that you get all these benefits, why not try a class that caters to small groups? Here are few yoga studios that can assure you that you get their utmost attention for your wellbeing.

1. Tirisula Yoga
For those who would like a comprehensive approach to learning yoga, try out the courses offered by Tirisula Yoga. Because of their comprehensive teaching style, this studio is perfect for beginners; Tirisula’s teachers can help you understand the theories behind the poses, and guide you through the basics and foundation. It even offers a 200 hours yoga teacher training course for those interested, as well as retreats to Bali and India for a more immerse yoga experience.

2. Shiva Yoga Studio
Shiva Yoga Studio is a studio with classes smaller than your usual yoga classes, to ensure a quality learning experience. They offer classes for students at different experience levels, including hot and regular classes. Here at Shiva, you could put your trust in their talented and knowledgeable yoga instructors to guide you to better health and wellness.

3. Meraki Yoga
This studio gets its name from the Greek word meraki, which means ‘to do something with utmost care and love’. True to form, Meraki Yoga keeps its classes small to ensure that its students get the best care and attention. Meraki offers a large number of classes of varying levels, from beginner to intermediate levels, including classes for pregnant mothers.

4. Ziva Yoga
While most yoga studios focus on calmness and meditation, Ziva teaches yoga with a slight twist. This studio focuses on strength training through yoga classes to improve your upper-body strength, as well as tone the rest of your body. Ziva provides mats and towels, as well as lockers and shower facilities at their studio so that you wouldn’t have to bring your own materials.

5. COMO Shambhala
COMO Shambala ensures a personalized one-on-one experience with their private classes. Even without private coaching, you could still get a personalized class that is tailored to you, with your knowledge, progress, and needs considered and weighed by knowledgeable instructors. This studio mainly focuses on Vinsaya, which is a type of yoga that focuses on the way the breath flows throughout the body. This studio also offers massages and retreats, which promotes yoga-adjacent concepts, such as bodily awareness and self-love.

There is more to Singapore than the five iconic Merlion statues scattered across the city-state. As the old adage goes, there is always more than what meets the eye. While you can enjoy the magnificent view of highly urbanized skyscrapers and high towers with flickering lights in the night, exploring Singapore like a local is still undoubtedly an experience you wouldn’t want to miss!

Whoever said the mundane and the regular have to be boring? Here are some local activities and attractions you can enjoy during your next visit to the Merlion City.

1. Visit the HDB buildings
If you want to experience the city-state like a true local, one of your best shots is to visit the many Housing & Development Board (HDB) buildings around Singapore. These residential buildings are located in the heartlands and they represent the city’s diverse population in a way. As they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” and so you can visit a wet market, bargain at flea markets and thrift stores, play chess with locals at the void decks, or jog at the park on a sunny afternoon.

2. Enjoy Sentosa
Sentosa, Singapore’s most popular island, is considered a solace by lots of citizens as it offers them a haven in escaping the busy city life. Visiting the island can be an exciting weekend adventure for you! Take a cable car or a ferry to head over the island, and expect to be awestruck by the beautiful views the resort has. No wonder how it attracts millions of sightseers annually.

3. Eat at a Hawker center
You wouldn’t want to miss out on the rich Singaporean cuisine. It is considered a melting pot of diverse flavors, ranging from Indian, Malay, and Chinese influences. If you’re on tight budget, hawker centers offer meals which won’t drive you to break the bank without sacrificing the taste and the rich food quality.

Eating at a local hawker center, for one, can also be revered to as a sensory experience — with busy people bustling in the streets and different food items you can choose from. Local delicacies such as chili crabs, satay, fried carrot cake, roti prata, and Hokkien mee are a must-try for every tourist!

4. Shop like a local
Allow yourself to enjoy a little retail therapy. It doesn’t necessarily have to cost you thousands of dollars just as long as you know where to shop. Thrift shops, as was mentioned earlier, are considered a popular shopping destination by a lot of practical and savvy Singaporeans. Shopping districts such as Bugis Street, Haji Lane, and Joo Chiat have stores which you can score a great bargain. They have everything you’re looking for in a souvenir, from antiques to trendy clothes.

Singapore is known to be one of the richest countries in the world. It boasts of tall skylines and modernization of its own kind, of undisputed success by which even foreign nationals can attest to. From what used to be a swampland, it now became a leading city-state in Asia and across the globe.

The Legatum Prosperity Index, which gives rankings on affluent countries based on income and wellbeing, placed Singapore in the 17th spot. Numerous factors suggest why the city-state is successful; it has a strong economy, workers’ wages are stable, and probably one of the most defining factors is that the government truly cares about the people.

The government has formulated various ways to help the citizens. Though other countries generally do so, Singapore seems to have taken the game on a different, much more serious level. In their efforts, they have committed to establish programs that encourage people’s stability and improvement.

Education
Citizens in Singapore has significantly lower tuition fees compared to foreign students and special permanent residents, whether at a private or government-funded institution. A government initiative known as Edusave Scheme maximizes the citizen’s opportunities that includes the following such as: a pupils fund for primary or secondary level students and various scholarships for students who excel in academics and non-academics endeavors.

Health Care
The city-state is known to put their people first. Health care is one of the top priorities of the government and gives out assistance in many forms. One is the Medifund, which is an endowment fund available to Singapore citizens who are having difficulties paying for their medical expenses. Another is the Medisave, a form of account savings, which can be used to pay the hospital bills of the holder and immediate members of the family in case of need.

Leave Benefits
Filing leave of absences at work is eligible for different situations in Singapore. Citizens are entitled to qualify for taking a maternity leave; for pregnant mothers, paternity leave; which is usually a week-long per year, and childcare and infant care leave; for tending after newborn and little children.

Parenthood Incentives
Singapore citizens who are parents of newborns receive 6,000 SGD for the first two children, and it only gets higher for the succeeding births. Each newborn also immediately gets a Medisave account with grant upon birth. Married citizens, as well as working mothers, enjoy tax relief off their incomes. This is because of a government initiative which encourages couples to bear more children.

Housing
Singapore citizens who are over and above 21 years old are already qualified to purchase flats from the Housing and Development Board. They can also avail the government’s housing loans and grants with a concessionary interest rate.

If you travel in and out of the city, you should know that Singapore is the most connected (among its 10 member grouping) in terms of air links. There are about one hundred twenty flights that depart from Changi Airport heading for other ASEAN capitals every day.

Kuala Lumpur is the second with ninety one daily flights followed by Jakarta that offers about seventy flights every day. This data is given by Sabre, a consultancy company. Here are other details of the data given by Sabre:

• Factor leading to the success of Singapore: Traffic liberalization lead to the success of the city-state. Traffic liberalization means giving the countries access to new markets and extra flights. As the region pushes for traffic liberalization, experts say that there will be more opportunities. Ultimately, the success of traffic liberalization is not only for the benefit of carriers but also for the consumers. Think of it this way – the liberalization will lead to more flights especially with budget carriers in the picture. With this, consumers can enjoy cheap fares.
• Looking at the future: Indonesia finally signed a deal to permit other ASEAN airlines to make unrestricted flights to Jakarta. The “yes” of Indonesia is a positive thing after years of being reluctant. To date, Manila is the only ASEAN capital who has yet to join the campaign of removing air restrictions in support of traffic liberalization.

Travelling will be more attractive this time. You deserve to enjoy the world as it is and the airlines are helping you realize you dream of seeing the world.

Malaysia is the host of the International Crashworthiness Conference 2014 (ICRASH 2014) which is a first. Previous hosts were Melbourne, London and Kyoto. The conference tackled road accident and road safety in the region. The conference commenced on August 25 and culminated on 28 August 28 2014. The venue is in Riverside Majestic Hotel.

The conference started by highlighting number of road deaths in Southeast Asia. According to the World Health Organization, Thailand has the highest number of road deaths gathering 38.1 deaths out of 100,000. Thailand is followed by Malaysia with 25 deaths out of 100,000. In the region, Singapore is the safest road use nation.

Singapore only recorded 5.1 deaths out of 100,000 people. The efforts of the government to keep road users safe paid off. Going back to the ICRASH 2014, the regional average of road deaths is 17.91 out of 100,000. The figures were alarming so the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) gave a statement saying that road accidents are more of attitude than infrastructure.

The director general of MIROS Professor Wong Shaw Voon said that many road victims were men than women. Road users would break the law and if accidents happen, they blame it on the environment or the infrastructure. There are even others who think that road accidents or deaths are destined. This kind of thinking or attitude is wrong.

The point here is safety. Road users should practice and observe preventive measures to be safe. If you are on the road, it pays to be vigilant and slow down. Remember that the faster you travel, the higher the risk of accident.

Every year, thousands of graduates flood the industry to look for a job. Here in Singapore, fresh graduates will see small rise in their starting salary. This is good news for graduates this year. This is revealed by Hay Group, a management firm, on August 26, 2014.

Hay Group recently concluded its annual pay survey. The group presented the average monthly starting salaries for fresh graduates. Here are the starting salaries for fresh graduates:

• Second upper honours: For fresh graduates who garnered second upper honours, they should expect S$2,939 per month. This is 1.6% higher compared in 2013.
• Second lower honours: For fresh graduates who garnered second lower honours, they should expect S$2,852 per month. This is 2% higher compared in 2013.
• Without honours: For fresh graduates without honours, they can expect S$2,741 per month. This is 2% higher compared in 2013.

You should know that the top-paying sector is in the field of engineering. Engineering offers regular pay of S$2,888 per month. Engineering is followed by Legal (with S$2,856), Information Technology (with S$2,816), Project Management (with S$2,813), Production (with S$2,767), Finance and Accounting (with S$2,765), Corporate Affairs (with S$2,755), Property Management (with S$2,750), Research and Development (with S$2,738), Quality Assurance (with S$2,708), Logistics/Supply Chain (with S$2,703), Health and Environment (with S$2,694), Human Resources (with S$2,689), Marketing (with S$2,685), Administration/Support/Service (with S$2,685), Product Development (with S$2,677), Sales (with S$2,658), Customer Service (with S$2,637), Management Trainee (with S$2,605) and Call Centre (with S$2,602).

Additionally, according to the survey conducted by Hay Group, 1 out of 5 employers put a monthly premium (of S$214) for university graduates. This will surely inspire the fresh graduates.

We subscribe to a telecommunications company to ensure an undisrupted service. We pay for that service but unfortunately, these companies are not perfect. The truth is that early on February 05, 2014, SingTel subscribers endured intermittent troubles which was due to a server anomaly. The services were restored after twenty minutes though.

The SingTel problem was not the beginning. On February 04, 2014, reports said that M1 subscribers also endured disruptions. Subscribers cannot send/receive text messages. As if it was not enough, subscribers cannot make calls and even surf the internet in the morning.

The disruptions were recognized by the Minister of Communications and Information. On February 5, 2014, Minister Yaacob Ibrahim issued a statement that telecommunications companies should improve how they assist and update their customers should there be disruptions.

Singaporeans are expecting better service from telecommunications companies. Twenty minutes of service disruption can paralyze the whole country. Transactions will be put on hold and many things will be incomplete. To compensate the flaws of M1, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Ms Karen Kooi sent an apology through text. In the text message, she said that they will deal with the disruption services seriously.

She also said that the company is doing its best to further improve the network. In fact, she told the subscribers that they can enjoy free text messages, MMS and mobile calls on February 9, 2014. Subscribers gave feedbacks saying that M1 could do so much better in terms of giving updates; communicating to subscribers about the restored or resumed service should be thought about. The Minster assures the public that IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore) will look into the disruption to ensure that their network run flawlessly.