Yoga teacher Rita launches a studio of her own: ‘Om is where her heart is’

Do you know the McDonald’s building in Senado Square? Most of Macau has probably walked inside it at one time or another to get their fast food fix, but Rita Gonçalves is looking to change all of that – by getting people to look upwards instead. Located on the 5th floor above its historic yellow facade is her new yoga studio, Yoga Loft Macau.
Inaugurated in October last year and now entering its full opening phase, one of the studio’s main draws is of course the location; but for Portuguese teacher Rita, the desire to create a space of her own to run classes the way she wanted was a major motivation behind the project. “Basically, I opened the studio because actually I was already teaching in Macau … but I never felt I had the privacy and the authority to run classes like I wanted, so I really wanted my own space”, she explained.
Having taught in Portugal, France and Macau, Rita speaks fluent English and did her yoga teacher training courses in both India and Thailand. “Previously I worked in other people’s studios – they would rent me out [their studios] – in Portugal, in Lisbon – I had that. An old lady had her own yoga classes and I had some rosters for myself. Previously I had worked in several gyms in France, several yoga spaces, local associations, but it never really felt like my own project, my own place”, she revealed. “So I really needed to have that experience professionally to be my own, to run the show by myself. So that’s how this came to be”.
Moreover, for the enthusiastic teacher, her Yoga Loft venture is “much more than a yoga studio.” Featuring a variety of yoga styles, therapies, workshops and lectures, the instructor intends her space to be a sort of holistic getaway from the stresses and strains of modern life, but also a place for self-improvement. “We live in an extremely consumerist, hectic and polluted city, and we need to find balance, to bring quality of life and a deeper sense of self into our lives”, she says. It was this lack of a versatile place for sharing common views on holistic health, spirituality and personal development in Macau that was similarly a motivating factor leading her to set up her own studio.

For yoga-lover Rita, the sport is a “fun challenge”, but she stresses that it shouldn’t be taken lightly. As a teacher, she’s very meticulous in making sure that her students execute yoga poses correctly so they improve their posture but also don’t injure themselves in the process. “It’s a big responsibility, to make sure these practices are safe, and it is our duty as teachers to be accurate”, she states. Likewise, she follows two main schools of yoga that offer two contrasting perspectives. “I see my two main practices like my mother and my father”, she says. “The Shivananda practice, that is my first original training, that is a more feminine and more delicate, more relaxing, gentle energy to it, so that is one of my main lineages that I follow”, she explains. “Then there’s the Ashtanga, which is the male, powerful energy, the warrior practice, and that’s also one of my favorite practices”.
Yet aside from the physical side of yoga there’s also a complementary rehabilitative side to the practice for Rita. “But then there’s also things that have come into my life that are very important which is Yoga Therapy, seeing the therapeutic, the physiotherapy side of the yoga practice, the realignment. So I’m very into that also. Those are my three main things”, she lists, adding, “And relaxation. Relaxation is also a very important thing for me in yoga practice”.
Stemming from her contrasting practices, the youthful yogi’s classes cater to a variety of levels and tastes, from beginners looking for a gentle form of exercise to those who love an intense workout. Her weekly class timetables vary between Sivananda, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Yoga Therapy and Yogalates (a mix of yoga and Pilates) classes. However one thing she’s noticed in her years of living and teaching abroad is the difference in attitude between West and East when it comes to yoga. “It’s very funny here in Macau, in China, it’s very different from Europe. I think in Europe there’s much more of an idea of yoga as something that is relaxing and very much connected to the meditation tradition”, she explains. “And here in Macau, people really see yoga on the physical, very active, very demanding, challenging poses, almost circus contortionism kind of things”.
As a result, Rita sees more students in Macau looking to work out in her classes: “So I have people that come here, they all definitely come looking for the workout; which is very curious, because when I was working in France and Portugal, people would come to me and say ‘I really need to relax’”, she reveals. “It’s not that people here in Macau don’t say that, but most people come with a specific mindset of, ‘I need to do something with my body, I need to do yoga’; which is good, because my yoga can be very demanding physically, so at least they won’t be disappointed or surprised!” she says, laughing.
Yet for those students who look to push themselves hard physically, according to the instructor, the relaxation side of yoga also benefits them. “But on the other hand I’ve found that it comes as a blessing for them when they see that they are able also to relax so much and get in touch with the deep relationship with themselves and going to that quiet space”, she declares. “So I’m really happy I can give that to people in Macau. Because I think that’s what people need, more than a workout, they really need to get out of all the stimuli, the life we have in the city, and just be with themselves”.

Rita Gonçalves

Aside from her regular students and those who are physically active, Rita is also looking to reach out to a wider audience and help those who might not necessarily have ever thought about doing yoga before. “One of my big causes, one of the things that I fight for, is people that are over 50”, she explains. “People especially from – maybe not the English-speaking community – but for example the Portuguese community. Unfortunately they’ve been brought up in a society and a mindset where people don’t do sports; it’s not like in the States or the UK, but in Portugal, women and men, especially men, don’t do sports. And yoga has that possibility”.
Likewise, since yoga is often seen as a more female-
oriented activity, Rita is especially keen on reaching out to men. “Another of my struggles I believe in and I fight for is men. I really want them to come. And they have been coming – it’s always the most modern-thinking type of guys – they go to football, and I’m glad they’re doing something, at least. So bringing men to yoga is one of my dreams”, she declares.
Equally, speaking of her goals, interestingly for Rita the chance to teach yoga was in a way a natural progression stemming from her desire to connect with others. Formerly a journalist, she felt disconnected from the social aspect of her career and the chance to reach out to people. “It’s this moment in your life where a hobby takes over. That’s what happened to me, it gets to a point”, she stresses. “I was working as a copywriter and it was that moment at the end of the day. And then it was just a click where I was in class one day and I was thinking, ‘You know this thing of being a yoga teacher is just actually something that I should explore’. Because something that journalism and yoga have in common is the connecting to people”, she explains. “I felt that I was disconnected from that. I was too much in an assembly line kind of thing, far away from people, and I needed to go back to that feeling. It was just something that happened naturally”.
Classes at Yoga Loft Macau are already running. More information is available online at www.yogaloftmacau.com and on Facebook: yogaloftmacau.

A view from the studio