Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

By Willy Wilson

At 27, yoga instructor Ninie Ahmad is all set to take over the world. Turning her love for yoga into a money-making business is what she aims for and she may well be on her way to achieve great success.

There is something almost otherworldly about Ninie’s BE Yoga Studio in Damansara Perdana. Part of it could be due to its stunning design, while the other could be because of its enigmatic owner.

The opening of BE Yoga, in May 2009 marked Ninie’s journey as a business woman. Together with her business partners and three yoga instructors, the petite lass established an exclusive yoga centre located at Metropolitan Square in Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya.

Ninie has an impressive track record – an 8-year teaching experience and a cult following that include who’s who from the corporate world to the entertainment industry. Her glowing reputation, along with her tastefully-designed yoga studio, spells success.

Breathing space

BE Yoga has a cohesive concept and is well-structured. It is a spacious 6,000 sq ft studio that occupies two shop lots on the ground floor of Metropolitan Square.

There is a reception counter, two large sitting areas, three big yoga studios, a mezzanine floor, two locker rooms and an office under the same roof. The space does not – by any means – feel cramped. In fact, the studio has an airy and inviting feel to it…plus, it’s also visually arresting.

“It could be because of the high ceiling concept,” Ninie says of her stunning yoga studio. The concept usually encourages peace of mind. It works well with relaxing hues, which is how things are at BE Yoga. Earth tone shades are used for the floor, walls and lightings making it easy for one to relax.

Added to this harmony of colours and design is the use of the five earth elements namely wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

“I wanted to have the five earth elements incorporated to the design because I believe the harmony of these elements help sustain and renew the energy of the people around them,” explains Ninie.

Each element is well represented: teak wood strips in the yoga studios represent wood, flame-like lightings symbolise fire, concrete flooring signifies earth, a sleek bronze interior embodies metal while a mini water feature with the iconic yin-yang symbol represent water.

The awe-inspiring modern interior gives a clean and minimalist feel. It is hardly ostentatious but you could easily find yourself drawn to its pristine serenity.

The Zen-like concept at BE Yoga beautifully marries the philosophy of yoga and design innovation.

Damansara Perdana: A prime location

Such tranquility and beauty come with a price. According to Ninie, the total cost for the renovation amounted to almost RM500,000. Apart from that, the monthly rental for such a prime location is equivalent to the cost of renting at least seven shop lots on the 10th floor of the same building.

View from the mezzanine floor (left), modern sofa on the first floor (mid-top), rattan furniture from Barang Barang (mid-bottom), water feature and stairs (right)

But why would Ninie fork out so much money for the renovation and monthly rent?

“I would not have paid so much had I not believed it would be a worthwhile investment,” she says. Ninie maintains that what she offers at BE Yoga are not only yoga courses, but also a lifestyle service, especially for the yuppies who “are the ones with disposable income for lifestyle products and services.”

Ever the go-getter, Ninie is not one who does things without careful consideration. She’s done her homework and says that potential customers are typically young urban professionals who flock to the surrounding trendy neighbourhoods. Nope, she isn’t referring to Bangsar or Sri Hartamas.

“Thirty percent of my Facebook contacts, who fit my customer profile, live in Damansara Perdana,” she says. And what does that mean?

“Well Bangsar was the Beverly Hills of KL in the late 90s, as was Sri Hartamas in early 2000. But now it is Damansara Perdana that takes home the title.”

With the burgeoning responsibility of a yoga centre and million dollar investment, Ninie shows no signs of slowing down. She is already even planning for two new branches, one in Petronas Twin Towers and the other in Bangsar – to leverage on the professionals and old-moneyed market respectively. That’s not all. The industrious lady also wants own the BE Yoga shop lots. “I’m looking at buying the shop lots where BeYoga is now within the next two years.”

Great aspirations indeed.

( Source: Star Property )

Excerpt from SHAPE website.

For full interview, get your copy of Malaysia’s SHAPE November 2009 out in newsstands today.

Guess which footballer still rocks and scores at an impressive 36 years old?

Baddha Konasana?

Guess what is his secret to stretching the life of his career?

Yoga-ta check this out to believe me.

The hottest, fittest and most inspiring Brits that are rocking the field and stage have found their path to yoga – I hope ours will too.

Love and Malaysian (Footballers & Rockers) Boleh!

Those close to me will know that my car and iTunes only rotate Coldplay (and occasional Radiohead / Padi ) CDs and those who have visited BE Yoga’s website would have noticed I intentionally used Coldplay’s lyrics to introduce my beloved yoga teachers.

With MTV World Stage (Astro Channel 713) premiering Coldplay’s VIVA LA VIDA: Tokyo tour this week, it refreshes me of my day trip to Singapore in March this year solely to attend VIVA LA VIDA: Singapore.

During VIVA LA VIDA: Singapore, my jaw dropped when I witnessed Chris Martin dropped back to Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow pose) from standing! Only if you practice yoga, you will understand how preposterous this stunt can be unless you have perfect balance of lowest two chakras (feet and hips) strength, open back flexibility and of course, balance.

So I was looking forward to see the same pose from him as I immensely enjoyed MTV World Stage – Coldplay: Tokyo. To my surprise, he didn’t drop back in Tokyo (or I could have missed it / maybe he did but the clip was just for an hour) but – to my very eyes, I caught him rolling back to Chakrasana (Rolling Wheel posture) in between the finishing of Viva La Vida and to start Lost! Only if you practice yoga Ashtanga, you will have an idea how almost impossible it is to perform this Chakrasana vinyasa gracefully let alone onstage with concert costume and in front of twenty thousand people.

I know Gywneth practices yoga since she used to be bestie with Third Series Ashtanga practitioner, Madonna so I googled Chris Martin and yoga. And found out, Chris Martin not only does practice yoga (I have had enough of “I do yoga but the my last class was three years ago and I was doing it like once a month for a couple of months”, right..) but he practices Ashtanga at least an hour everyday for the past five years, a vegetarian (and vegansexual!) and for the world’s biggest if not coolest rockstar, HE DOES NOT DRINK ALCOHOL AND COFFEE EITHER!

Among my favourite online findings of Chris Martin and yoga is this article whose first paragraph ends with “.. but Coldplay’s Chris Martin is too nice.”

(FIONA) APPLE Hi, Chris. God, I’m depressed. I’m at the top of all these critics’ best-of-2005 lists. If only those old creeps bought records.

(CHRIS) MARTIN I wish I could be so fucking depressed! Maybe my lyrics would improve. Just turn that frown upside down, Fiona. Don’t you know Apples are my favorite fruit?

APPLE Hey, you stepped on my granny-apple-doll wood-carvings!

MARTIN Have you ever tried piyoga for that bad attitude?

APPLE I hate you.

I stand by my review of X/Y last year: The trouble with Coldplay is that, despite the calming, balanced, almost Enya-esque beauty of their music, they’re so denuded of danger, risk, grit, rebellion, and sexuality (apart from Martin’s ADD-style hip-thrusts behind his piano) that they threaten to become the musical equivalent of St. John’s wort.

So what is at play with Coldplay? What drives the music, the vision, and, oh, those much-maligned words?

I believe it’s yoga, and Martin’s ashtanga teacher Anthony Carlisi can confirm. Shortly after Coldplay’s Shoreline date, I tracked down Carlisi via e-mail and asked him if he believed the practice leads to good music and, really, decent rock ‘n’ roll — which most would probably associate with unhealthy and downright antisocial antics like rolling around in broken glass and doing lines of coke off speaker cabinets.

He replied: “Absolutely !!!!!!!!!!! (sic) In fact I just saw Chris in Phoenix before the concert there. He has been practicing now for several years. I visit and teach him and Gwyneth when I am in London. He was telling me that he loves how it has enhanced everything he does. His energy was electric at the concert…………….Great Show!!!!!!!!!!!!”

See? It’s not rock, after all, but yoga. All of which probably explains Martin’s greatest feat at the Oakland appearance: bending over backward while playing keyboards and touching the ground with the top of his noggin. Brings a whole new meaning to the lyric ‘rush of blood to the head.’

I don’t need to look elsewhere for a yoga rockstar inspiration when I can find one in form of Brit rockGod with yoga master’s mind and words (it doesn’t hurt that he definitely has a yoga body too).

I am praying with my fingers and lotus feet crossed to be able to live long enough to witness Coldplay live in more concerts, continue seeing lights / hearing enlightenments in their future albums (“Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones, I will try to fix you”) and hopefully practice with Chris Martin in Mysore (the Mecca for aspiring Ashtangis) in the future if not in my nearest yoga nidra.

See You Soon.

I might be the last person in the world to have only started reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling and much talked-about memoir Eat Pray Love last week (I got it for my birthday from the fabulous Joseph Teoh), but really – how did you guys manage to read it without wanting to pick up / start / do YOGA immediately as you flip the pages?

I laughed so hard at the ninth page as I read this,

I am alone, I am all alone, I am completely alone.

Grasping this reality, I let go of my bag, drop to my knees and press my forehead against the floor. There, I offer up to the universe a fervent prayer of  thanks.

First in English.

Then in Italian.

And then – just to get the point across – in Sanskrit.

..until I teared up and had to stop reading for a good couple of minutes for my stomach hurts from laughing so hard.

For a yoga teacher who has been trying to grasp as much Sanskrit (albeit, mostly of yoga poses) as I can, how can anything else be funnier than that?

And this book got me, when I got to page 27 (can you imagine my excitement, PAGE 27 on the book I got and read on MY 27th BIRTHDAY?) and I don’t think I breathed blinked at all as I read this,

..the old man asked me in person what I really wanted, I found other, truer words.

“I want to have a lasting experience of God,” I told him. “Sometimes I feel like I understand the divinity of this world, but then I lose it because I get distracted by my petty desires and fears. I want to be with God all the time. But I don’t want to be a monk or totally give up worldly pleasures. I guess what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights but also devote myself to God.“

Ketut said he could answer my question with a picture. He showed me a sketch he’d drawn once during meditation. It was an androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. Where the head should have been, there was only a wild foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart.

“To find the balance you want,” Ketut spoke through his translator, “this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it’s like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead. That way, you will know God.”

Within those lines in this Book, what I have been feeling all my life – is worded almost perfectly.

With this gift of Yoga, what I have been wanting in my life – is achieved closer everyday.

I eat generously, I pray wholeheartedly, I love honestly, I yoga purely to prolong my life and extend the happiness I get to experience and give others – for as long as I live.

Love and prayers.