About
Namaste!
Welcome — I'm so glad you're here. I'm Lipeng, also known as Vimala.
For over two decades I worked as an international architect, designing and shaping spaces for others. Until in my early thirties, a breast cancer diagnosis changed everything. That journey — difficult, humbling, and ultimately transformative — forced me to reshape and rebuild my life, and in a serendipitous event, led me to Yoga and meditation. I am a cancer survivor of over fifteen years, and I carry that experience with me into everything I teach.
Yoga healed my body, but what I didn't expect was the consistent practice unravelled the layers of who I thought I was. And in that unravelling, something essential and quiet within me emerged.
My deepest wish as a teacher is to offer that same unfolding to you — to share a practice that goes far beyond the physical, and opens a doorway to greater stillness, resilience, and inner peace. Because Yoga, as I have lived it, is not just putting your body into shapes. It is about what remains when everything else fades away.
Maybe you are recovering from a major health challenge, or breast cancer.
Maybe you have been cleared by your doctor but deep inside feeling more lost than before.
That place is real, and you are not alone in it. If you feel called to begin a recovery journey through Yoga, do reach out — I would love to walk alongside you.
My Yoga Journey
Although I started practising yoga asana since 2004, it was only in 2013 by coincidence that I learnt about Sivananda Yoga while living in Israel. Soon after relocating back to Singapore, I tracked down the Sivananda Yoga Affliated Centre in Singapore (now closed) and went for a trial class.
At that time I was going through a stressful period of relocation, a long relationship break-up and concurrently I was recovering from breast cancer. The gruelling treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation depleted my vital energy, changed my body structure and artificially induced menopause for close to 18 months. I was mildly depressed, my body was weak and I was at a very low point in my life.
After attending my first Sivananda Yoga class, I felt so at ease and peaceful that I decided to keep continuing practising three to four times a week. Gradually over a period of three months, I felt my body healing to a wholeness, and my mind experienced increased long moments of deep peace.
In 2015, I travelled to India to dive deeper into the yoga teachings, and learnt directly from Swami Govindananda, Mani Raman and Swami Nivedananda of Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham. Although becoming a teacher was not my goal of taking the teacher's training course, after being certified, I realised that the best way to be a student is for me to carry on sharing what I have learnt.
Since then, I have been fortunate to teach what I learnt in Singapore and India. In 2020, after a 6-months stay in India, I was lucky to return to Singapore just before the pandemic lock down, and like most yoga teachers, began to experiment teaching yoga asana online.
Looking back, I strongly believe the practice of yoga gave me back my confidence post-cancer and applying the principles of yoga in my daily life helped me deal with the stress of modern life.
To me, yoga is a lifelong journey to go within ourselves, back to our true nature of stillness and quiet joy. Even as I am teaching, my biggest teachers are always the students. I am grateful for the chance to learn, grow, refine and evolve. Currently I am deepening my yoga studies in Yoga Therapy with Dr. Ganesh Mohan from Svastha Yoga, and Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater to learn more about the therapeutic effects of yoga.
It's a privilege to share this ancient wisdom and I hope you will be inspired to deepen your practice, on and off the mat.
May you be well and happy!
xx
Bio
- Yoga Therapy with Svastha Yoga in Krishnamacharya Tradition (in training)
- Relax and Renew with Judith Lasater (in training)
- Yoga Sangraha in-person training with Eddie Stern, Robert Moses
- Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training with Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham (200hr)
- Yoga Sutra Intensive with Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham (200hr)
- The Four-fold path of Teaching with Christina Sell
- Masters of Architecture, National University of Singapore
What is Sivananda Yoga?
Sivananda Yoga asana practice, as taught by Swami Vishnudevananda, relies on a core sequence that includes a balanced set of 12 postures followed in a prescribed order, interspersed with periodic relaxation poses, such as Savasana (Corpse Pose).
Each asana either augments or counterbalances the preceding one. A Sivananda Yoga practice also includes pranayama and opening and closing relaxations.
The practice’s intention is to cultivate a meditative mental state that evolves into higher awareness and eventually to experience the innate truth of being.
What you can expect from a regular Sivananda Yoga class:
- Emphasis on breath
- Emphasis on the state of mind and relaxation
- Relaxation between postures
- Focus on holding the postures
- Sanskrit and mantra chanting led by the teacher
Read more about Sivananda Yoga here.The Sivananda Yoga Singapore centre was in service from 2007 to 2014, located at Bukit Pasoh. You can read more about the centre below:
