Hom Yoga

Six floors above the sale racks, the only thing on offer is a longer pigeon pose.

Hom Yoga is the studio for anyone who works or shops around Orchard and wants a yoga habit that sticks: a design-led space on the sixth floor of Orchard Central, a timetable broad enough to try several styles, and a newcomers' trial week that lets you find out before you commit. The compromise is that it is a yoga studio, not a gym, so the full-sweat crowd will want something harder. Start with the trial.

Orchard Road is where Singapore goes to spend energy. Hom, which calls itself a contemporary yoga studio, is where you go to get some back, and its second home in Valley Point on River Valley Road covers the quieter streets behind the shopping strip.

What it does well is range without fuss. The timetable mixes traditional, classical and more contemporary styles, which in practice means vinyasa for the sweaty, hatha for the steady and yin for the stiff, and classes are pitched at all levels. The studio's own site talks up an "organic space" rooted in nature and sustainability, which is a welcome thing to read after walking through three air-conditioned malls to get there.

It has a softer side too. Proceeds from Hom's community classes have gone to UN Women Singapore, the studio runs Mini Glow Yoga Club for children, and there is a teacher-training academy for anyone who wants to take it further.

The practical bit, which matters more than any mood board: Hom publishes its prices, with single classes, packs of five and ten, and weekly and monthly memberships alongside the trial. Buy the trial first. A week of unlimited classes is the most honest way to find out whether you are a yoga person, and which kind, without signing up for a year, and a single drop-in costs most of what the whole trial week does.

How to do it well: Somerset MRT is the nearest station. Book an early-evening class on a weekday, let the rush hour drain away while you are on the mat, then come down to Orchard Road once the crowds have thinned and the lights are on. In your trial week, try three different styles and keep the one you look forward to; that, not the one you think you ought to like, is the one you will still be doing in March.

Good to know Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road, #06-12/13 (Somerset MRT); also at Valley Point, River Valley Road. Book classes and the introductory trial through the official site.

Hom Yoga | 181 Orchard Road, #06-12/13 Orchard Central, Singapore 238896 | Nearest MRT: Somerset