Feeling mentally polluted by the hustle of city life? We chat with Clare Lim of pioneering movement studio SharedSpace as she introduces us to a new approach that increases strength and flexibility in both body and mind.
Tucked away in Causeway Bay’s streets of frantic shoppers, Clare Lim and Aaron Martin have established an oasis of calm with their new Yoga+Movement studio SharedSpace. “We all have bodies that are supposed to move. At SharedSpace we are creating an energy and a space where they are empowered to do so,” explains Clare. With a diverse approach that enlists the power of climbing, bending, lifting and even backflipping to nourish your body and mind, she sat down with Hive Life to tell us why movement can bring about so many different things.
In light of the ever-evolving awareness of mental health in today’s society, Clare reflects back on the Hong Kong she grew up in, where that conversation had not yet started and her only safe haven was the art of dance and yoga. “When I was 14, I started suffering from depression. I was in a very academic school and felt the need to keep pushing for excellence. I came to a mental fog, which is when I began to practise yoga. At the time, I didn’t think of it as a career, it was just self-help.” That led to her to pursue dance as a career, and then on to her training to teach. “Performance is beautiful, but it wasn’t as empowering for me as going into education and passing knowledge to people through a transferral of skills.”
It was in 2017 that she co-founded SharedSpace with her boyfriend Aaron. Whilst they first saw their business concept as a traditional studio with daily classes, they quickly became aware of the potential a more diverse approach. Today, they have classes ranging from parkour to strength training and dance, they also host performances and workshops – think a three-hour backflip teaching session. “We want to encourage people to come to class and become aware of themselves,” says Clare. “A lot of the time, people go to fitness classes and switch off, they just want to feel the burn. At SharedSpace, that burn can still come, but with more awareness.”
Whilst keen to spread this bliss throughout Hong Kong’s stressed climate, the two co-founders are also set on spreading their message wider with a pioneering, 15-hour teacher training course in movement, as well as a podcast. “We decided to call it Move because we’re not only teaching movement, we’re also interested in the movement of millennials as a generation becoming empowered. We believe that open source information is so important. What people should pay us for in our classes and workshops is our time. We thought we might as well share what we know so everyone can improve.”
Free movement class for readers to try out SharedSpace
15 hour Movement Training: November 30th – December 2nd
Discount for HiveLife readers
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