Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

Found this on Postsecret today \0/.

So share with me, why do you Plow do yoga – aside from wanting

• to be healthy,
• to stay in shape and
• to be good in bed?

I forgive those who just don’t understand whilst,

most girls’ wish list & dreams are to have a walk-in wardrobe, another LV Speedy 25 and to have 3 kids & still have the body & style of Victoria Beckham,

and some boys’ work like no tomorrow to own VW Scirocco in Shadow Blue and to be financially independant to not have to work for someone else anymore,

.. MY short-term plan is to go to India further studying Ashtanga, Vedanta & Ayurveda, leaving no debts and no one depending on me back at home – hopefully before I hit 30,

and dare I say, my lifelong dream is to know exactly when I will leave my body and breathe my last breath – with no painful illness, no gory injury, absolute no hatred and no desire to want or feel anything anymore. Hopefully in a knowing sleep after having finished another round of chanting Holy Al’ Quran.

That is why everyday I wake up, everything I put in my body, every drop of sweat, every word I say to anyone, every affirmation I pray here – is heading to the way and to the dreams I live my life to realise.

So if my last day in this lifetime is tomorrow, I know I have no regret for I would have returned this body He lent me and have served Him with full responsibility.

God willing.

My oh my..

Most of us are still not over the unexpected collapse of Yoga Zone in August 2008, so I don’t think anyone (myself included) is prepared for another big yoga gossip I confirmed earlier last night.

Will it be unbecoming of a yogi me to have been slightly errr, happy if not relieved upon hearing the breaking news?

Or have I turned into a cold-blooded entrepreneur in this dog-eat-dog business world (if I can rephrase – ‘downward-dog-tergolek-upward-dog yoga business industry’)?

My oh my..

For my birthday last year, I bought myself this book amongst many (every birthday I’d buy myself books significant to my age, so 27 books last year) and found it to have been very helpful with my poor Sanskrit pronounciation and comprehension.

‘COMPLETE A TO Y GUIDE’ – how can I not buy that?

Anyone who’s been practicing yoga long enough would agree that – it is crucial to properly pronounce Sanskrit as it is the language of yoga.

Understanding the meaning and purpose of each yoga asana (pose) helps preserve the terms related to the science of yoga – an understanding that is lost when these asanas are known only by their English names.

Knowing the postures names in Sanskrit allows teachers and students to unambiguously refer to a posture as the same posture may have several different English names (and refer to my title, having joined two different Yoga TTC in China humbled me – when yoga poses were being translated from Sanskrit to Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghai-nese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Tagalog.. Why don’t just translate them to English, you asked? – because most Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Thai don’t even understand basic English! Aren’t we 1Malaysia lucky?)

adidas Ra’Yoka TTC (Shanghai March ‘08)

God knows I struggle with my basic Sanskrit pronounciation and I’d be happy to be able to name all poses in Ashtanga Primary & Second Series and to be able to count them without second guessing myself.

As a Muslim yoga practitioner, I also find it helpful to understand basic Sanskrit as I can differentiate basic words / actions / verbs with Gods from deities / goddesses’ from Sages names so that I have an option to not say them out loud when I chant / meditate / perform kirtans.

I keep stressing (in my blog) that anything Sanskrit doesn’t necessarily mean Hindu and I personally believe that, The Highest Above understands all languages before we even say it. Hence I make it a point to READ the translation of Al’ Quran as often as I can instead of blatantly singing my prayers in Arabic that I don’t understand (sitting for Arabic For Communication PMR paper evidently doesn’t help).

Back to Sanskrit (before I go ahead, do you know that 80% of Malay words were Sanskrit-based? What do you think ‘guru‘, ‘agama‘, ‘raja‘, ‘sakti‘, ‘sama‘ all came from?) – most yoga teachers instruct asanas in Sanskrit as they were taught, trained and encouraged to do so but in our effort of preserving the art and language of yoga, most students get literally lost in translation as most of them just understand basic Tadasana, Chaturanga, Balasana and Shavasana (err, you don’t get them either?).

So when one of my students shared this over our teh-tarik-post-yoga-class last week, Azmi (Samdjaga) & I can’t stop laughing for minutes!

She said, “I don’t know what exactly the pose name is but it sounds like ‘Pandang Straight Tapi Tengok Sana‘ (from Malay translation, ‘Look Straight But Turn Ahead‘) to me..”

I’m quite sure she meant this pose,

PADANGUSTHASANA

And she wasn’t finished.

She added, “I have one more pose I don’t know how to pronounce. That ‘La Bodega Padan Muka‘ pose itu“.

Azmi & I still can’t decipher that one though.

Love and light.

Lokha Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu.

Would you believe me if I say that it equally means Gong Xi Fai Chai and Assalamualaikum?

The keywords (you) people used to have searched my blog crack me up!

Search Terms for 7 days ending 2010-02-09: ninieahmad.com

Today

Yesterday

2010-02-07

2010-02-06

2010-02-05

2010-02-04

2010-02-03

I understand the lead of Henry Golding-s but ‘why Supertall broke up with Ninie Ahmad‘, really?

Search of the super crazy people: Supertall, Supershort, SuperTVstar & Superhairyhenry

I’m curious too you know, if you found out WHY – can you share your findings with me for the betterment of all mankind?

Love and optimism this Valentine’s.

And so I had the busiest week (if not – I was the busiest person) at BE Yoga the other Saturday and Sunday.

(Photo thanks to Jojo Struys)

Imagine this, from 18th to 24th January, in a week I participated / organized

Monday : ntv’s The Breakfast Show interview + FIVE yoga classes to teach

Tuesday : ASTRO’s AWANI Pagi interview

Wednesday : Two yoga classes to teach

Thursday : STARBUCKS’ Live & Inspire featuring Ninie Ahmad

Friday : adidas Stella McCartney event

Saturday & Sunday : BE Yoga Open Day

all in between of running a yoga centre and I had 11 camera crews and make-up team following me around the whole week for Project Alpha Season 2.

• BE Yoga Open Day

Saturday, 23 January 2010 (coincidentally, 23 January is World Yoga Day, y’all!)

For the first time, I was made-up to teach a Hot Yoga class!

This is how I look without eyebrows..

Partner Yoga performance by my BE Yoga partner and I

Full classes of beloved members and newbies

The much anticipated Yoga-ta Limbo contest whom lowest record could win 1-Year Unlimited BE Yoga Membership worth RM1,988. We had phenomenal fun limbo-rocking yoga style (drop backs and all!) especially when BE Yoga teachers (Yours Truly included) joined in the challenge!

Initially, I wanted to organize a Limbo Rock session to break the lowest Limbo Rock record in Malaysia until I found out how low the record is – 20cm! Madness. Yet, interesting

Jojo Struys also tried albeit with her own style..

Other Project Alpha Season 2 bloggers (Niki Cheong & KY) also dropped by BE Yoga to support and break a spine(?).

Limbo Rock is one of my favourite sports (?). When I was in Sekolah Tun Fatimah (STF) from 1995 to 1999, I remember winning annual Limbo Rock competition during Sumbangsih year 1998. Before yoga at that time,  think I did very well so I really anticipated this Yoga-ta Limbo during BE Yoga Open Day to validate how much my strength and flexibility had improved with yoga.

Seeing other BE Yoga teachers dropped / disqualified earlier did scare me in the midst of competing. And beyond anyone’s expectation, this boy from A’ Cut Above hair & make-up team was my biggest competition!

Until he succumbed at 0.51metre..

Check out his washboard abs! He promised me a free haircut at A’ Cut Above if I defeated him. Well..

For an A’ Cut Above haircut, I didn’t mind splitting..

Going low..

And lower..

And even lower..

And even lower..

Until my thighs (contrary to popular belief, Limbo Rock requires exceptional thighs strength instead of openness in the spine. It ain’t easy walking and supporting your whole body weight on your thights! Although of course, having an open back helps a lot too) gave in at 0.48metre low.

If you asked me, what was my secret weapon, I think it’s my shiny adidas Techfit Powerweb pants that helped snug my quads muscle tight. Really!

Sunday, 24 January 2010

The highlight for Sunday if not the Open Day was BE Yoga’s attempt to get the most people in a room standing, or Headstanding for one full minute. At first I planned for it to set an entry for Malaysia Book Of Records but their impossible minimum number of getting at least 1000 people for a record put me off.

First and foremost, I honestly think there are less than 100 people that can even stand of their heads (even for a couple of seconds) in KL let alone 1000 people for ONE MINUTE!

So we decided that the show must go on and let it be a BE Yoga record that we are going to keep breaking every year. So yes, a record was set. Out of 21 participants, 18 successfully stood on their heads for at least 60 seconds and won 1-Month Unlimited Membership at BE Yoga worth RM288 each.

For those who missed this and would like to help us break our own record, you have exactly one year to practice!

After a full weekend of shooting me at adidas Stella McCartney event and BE Yoga Open Day, Jojo Struys and Project Alpha camera crews followed me home and I showed them where I always do my Ashtanga practice every morning.

Beside my swimming pool..

They even followed me to my bathroom (door) as they refused to believe in the beginning that – not only I have a wardrobe and three shoeracks full of adidas clothes & shoes, I also have shower with adidas in my bathroom!

They even interviewed my former housemate, Henry Golding (it’s his birthday today, say Happy Birthday Henry!).

Twitter had it (yes, my housemates and I communicate via Twitter), he’s flying to Madrid this Monday to interview Cristiano Ronaldo. I pray he’d bring home Ronaldo for me and Anna

(Most photos are from Huey Yoong and Jojo Struys)

So that was the busiest week in my life so far.

For more updates of Project Alpha Season 2, be a fan of Project Alpha Facebook Page and follow Project Alpha at @ProjectAlphaMY. Project Alpha is a reality TV show that uncovers the life of Malaysia’s Top 7 Bloggers. Project Alpha is scheduled to be aired at Hitz. tv (ASTRO CH705) in April 2010.

Can’t wait for what else 2010 has in store for me, although I know in my guts – I have everything I ever wished for in life lined up for me this year . I keep writing, saying and repeating what I want in my life as my affirmations of doing so are my own calling to my own destiny. You should (believe you deserve what you get, change instead of complain) too.

To an anticipated holiday this coming Chinese New Year so that I can recharge and execute my year, in full gear..

Love, light and prosperity.