Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

Her daily AFFIRMATIONS of staying optimistic especially when she's (upside) down.

Archive for the ‘Natural Parenting’ Category

ARTICLE: ‘It took me a decade of practising physical yoga (asanas) daily to realise that it’s not all about the poses.’ (MALAY MAIL, Oct 3rd 2013)

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Ninie Ahmad balances motherhood and helping others discover their inner yogis with perfect poise.
(Picture by Choo Choy May)

YOGA MAMA

By Kenny Mah

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — There’s something about Ninie Ahmad: this petite, bubbly yoga instructor will make you smile within seconds of meeting her. She has taught yoga full-time for more than 10 years but still remembers what it’s like to be a beginner so her students feel safe and happy with her guiding them.

From starting her own yoga studio and yoga magazine to becoming the Malaysian yoga ambassador for an international fitness apparel brand, Ninie seems to have done it all. Yet her happiest experience may be giving birth to her baby girl in February this year, after teaching yoga during most of her pregnancy.

What’s life like now for this yoga mama?

What was teaching yoga during your pregnancy like?

Believe it or not, aside from not being physically able to demonstrate yoga poses that involve twists, nothing really changed about my teaching when I was pregnant.

Yoga is one of the rare exercises that are proven helpful for expecting mothers because of its relaxing, opening, strengthening and de-stressing properties. As for teaching yoga while pregnant, I was definitely more compassionate to my students and somehow blessed with greater intuition to feel “within” when my students needed gentler adjustments or healing touches.

Furthermore, I believe my baby girl Pincha is the calm, healthy and strong baby she is thanks to the hundreds of hours I spent practising asanas, stillness and meditation when I was pregnant.

In fact, I named her Pincha after my favourite peacock feather pose. It’s a very difficult balancing pose but I could perform it effortlessly when pregnant. So I believe she chose her own name!

Tell us more about how you’ve changed after having Pincha.

Honestly, I thought I was the most peaceful person I knew until I had a baby. I didn’t know that I could be more humble. You see, I always had what I wanted with my yoga journey. I like being in control about everything; not only my breath but my poses too.

But after giving birth, I realise now I have something I can’t control and I have to slow down. That there’s now a life that grew inside of me but I can’t control her always now that I’ve given birth to her – this humbles me greatly.

I used to tell people who say they had no time to do yoga that they can always wake up a little earlier to exercise; I would wake at 4am to do my Ashtanga practice. But now I allow myself to sleep in a bit more because I want to spend more time with my daughter when she is awake.

Thanks to Pincha, I’ve changed my perception about how to become a better yoga practitioner. It’s about being in the moment, and being compassionate. I think now that is my yoga. This is my new challenge, being a mother.

You were very athletic even before practising yoga. What is your definition of fitness?

I started doing yoga because I thought I was very fit when I was younger – I was playing hockey, rock-climbing, and even running marathons – but I knew I was not flexible. For me, back then, a fit person is someone who is strong, flexible and has endurance.

It was only after practising yoga that I realised a fit person also needs to be able to keep their centre of gravity whatever position they’re in, and to be healthy. For example, I know many gym-goers who can perform perfect handstands but if you remove the wall they are leaning against, they’ll fall down. Some can work out for hours but afterwards they still eat junk food and smoke. That’s not healthy.

As a mother, I have to watch what I eat, how much I sleep and keep healthy for my daughter. Staying fit is my responsibility.

You conceptualised Upward Yoga to be a yoga studio with no mirrors. Why?

All the yoga studios that I have taught at in Kuala Lumpur were mirrored. Most gym-oriented yoga practitioners prefer that. Being a perfectionist and a pretty vain person, I used to find myself adjusting my hair or my clothes unnecessarily, getting distracted by other people’s movements in trying to maintain my stillness, and judging myself (and sadly others) by the reflections I saw in the mirrors.

In 2010, I took a year break from teaching and travelled for a bit. My idea of a vacation is being able to wake every morning not having to teach and getting to practise at different yoga studios in my favourite cities in the world.

I had an epiphany in New York City where I noticed a significant difference in my practice. There, all of the studios were not mirrored. Inspired by the Kula Yoga Project and Dharma Mittra Yoga Centre in New York City, I vowed that my next yoga studio would not be mirrored. The less we see with our eyes, the more awareness we gain within.

In July 2011, Upward Yoga was born. My students here also find the non-mirrored practice space a breath of fresh air, with our open windows and trees outside as the background instead of superficial mirrors.

What is your biggest insight from your years of practising and teaching yoga?

It took me a decade of practising physical yoga (asanas) daily to realise that it’s not all about the poses. While I truly vouch for practising yoga as often as you can with experienced teachers to maintain general health and to keep fit,  I have also come to terms with acceptance and realisation that being kind to others through our actions is actually more “yoga” than the complicated yoga poses most of the time.

These actions can include being respectful to our own bodies by feeding ourselves with only clean and nutritious food, and simply being content and grateful with what we already have. Signalling that you’re about to change lanes while driving also counts!

This story was first published in Crave in the print edition
of The Malay Mail on October 3, 2023.

Written by Ninie

October 4th, 2013 at 8:59 pm

I am happy, strong, informed, confident, brave and compassionate therefore my child is one.

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WHAT?!
It’s already October?
Where did 2013 go?

It felt like it was only yesterday I celebrated my 3oth birthday last October and I gave birth to the sweetest baby ever.

I still can’t believe my bundle of blessings has already been climbing up the stairs, drinking from a straw and READING?

My sweet angel baby, please don’t grow up so fast..

Written by Ninie

October 2nd, 2013 at 10:50 pm

Posted in Natural Parenting, PJ

Tagged with

I have enough time in 24 hours a day to take perfect care of my family and my body.

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And so a couple of weeks ago, I have resumed my Ashtanga practice since I left it when I found I got pregnant last year.

It might not be a full blown six-days-a-week 90 minutes Full Primary or Intermediate Series practice but for now, I take whatever I get to make me feel energized, refreshed and strong again without being unfair to PJ.

I understand that many Stay-At-Home-Moms (SAHM) would call me either lucky or crazy as most of them can’t even seem to find time to eat or shower let alone exercise with a (or two or many!) constant attention-and-affection seeker(s) at home.

I always find myself wasting less precious minutes and a little bit more motivated to squeeze in my practice in between taking care of PJ (I do not have a babysitter / nanny / stay-in helper), making my home, preparing fresh meals for all of us and doing some Upward’s work on the computer if I am ALREADY READY in my yoga pants and breastfeeding-friendly yoga tanks when I first get up in the morning.

See if that works for you too?

So whenever and anytime PJ seems settled or dozes off,
if I’m already ‘dressed’ up (or down?),
I can quickly do my yoga pick-me-up

even if 15-minutes is all I got.

(Never underestimate the entertaining power a pink balloon has.)

For other SAHMs, let’s try our very best not find more excuses to let our health slide down the hill when we have an additional blessing in our home, heart and life.

I love yoga for it does not have to be  for an hour, it does not have to only happen at a designated studio, it does not need shoes, it does not require weights or machines and that it reminds me that simply breathing in and out can make us feel good and at peace even if it’s just for that couple of minutes before our bundle of joy expresses their needs of our presence and warmth again.

To take care of others,
we have to take better care of ourselves first.

Let’s be the change and idea of health we wish to see in our children.

‘You’re just like an angel, your skin makes me cry, you float like a feather..’

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I don’t know what’s gone into me but I have another song reworded :)
But first, watch our YouTube uploaded yesterday!

“But this is my crib!
My Mommy chose to ‘tido’,
What the heck is she doing here?
She doesn’t belong here!”

We practice Attachment Parenting but we do not co-sleep anymore since PJ was only 5-weeks old.

Evidently we are too noisy for her at night and the first night we put her in her own crib in March, she slept from 8pm and only woke up 6 in the morning (we did install a noise-sensitive and night vision video monitor in her room hence we would know if she woke up but she just doesn’t)!

My husband and I were surprised and beyond grateful yet wondered why she sleeps so much better in her room. First we thought it was the yoga music I have been playing during my classes in Upward but then I lost Upward’s iPod so I just played some mellow Radiohead and Coldplay songs on my iPhone (before I found out and bought babies version of Radiohead and Coldplay) and she still STTN!

Now I am pretty convinced it’s the darkness and quietness in her room as she did not sleep as well when we had our little Mother’s Day trip to Pangkor Laut Resort and when she slept together with us in our not-so-dark room in Canada last June.

Before I put PJ to bed every night, I also whisper to her ears this “Good night, my angel. When the sun no longer shines, you need sleep more than you need play, milk and Mommy. Come in my dream and let’s do together things you wish to do soon. The longer you sleep, the faster you’ll grow and we can do more things together. You wake me up when the sun starts to rise ya? Good night, my angel.”

Err, no wonder she doesn’t sleep 8 to 6 in Canada, the sun sets at 10pm and rises at 4am in the summer! My ’spell’ seems to only work near the equator, tsk tsk..

Since she’s (ahem.. 20 metres) away from me at night for almost 10 hours, I miss her so much it hurts so I try to nap IN her creep crib at noons like in YouTube above, even if 10 minutes sleep is all I’ve got.

That and - now that she’s got standing figured out, I can’t really leave her on her own outside of her crib especially when I’m napping (nap is required since my 4am Ashtanga practice has resumed, woot woot)!

All hail yoga rock bands Coldplay, Radiohead and 90’s rockabyes!

I am a healthy and able female mammal. If I don’t let unnecessary medical interventions and rich pharmaseutical / formula-making companies takeover, I should be able to give birth naturally and breastfeed freely.

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(IN SUPPORT OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK, 1 - 7 AUGUST 2023)

First day of Eid Ul’ Fitri last week marked PJ’s 6 months in our world and also my sixth month of exclusive direct latch breastfeeding.

I had an easy pregnancy but not so straightforward labour so I didn’t know what to expect of my breastfeeding dream.

Almost everyone whom had breastfed their babies and met me before I gave birth told me (off?):

  • “Your nipples are going to be bleed and crack like mine so you’d need this cream!”,
  • or “Even with my size, I didn’t make enough milk so I had to top up with formula. Good luck to you..”
  • and even “I choose not to breastfeed as I don’t want to lose the suppleness of my breast.”

I honestly understand different mothers’ struggling breastfeeding journey (FTWM, hats off!) due to medical conditions, lack of support from all around and I truly respect everyone’s personal choice but I am here to shed some light that not all breastfeeding journey has to be painful and that small sized mothers can breastfeed and ‘grow’ fluffy babies just fine.

Not once and never a day has any of my nipples cracked or bled and I do not ever experience ‘painful feeding’ nor encounter ‘nursing strike’ not even during teething that has started since PJ was two months.

The only challenge if I can even call it a challenge is that PJ doesn’t feed for long, maybe for 5 to 8 minutes at a time but once every hour so I can never really be away from her (not that I ever want to).

While I am a pro-choice parent and have been practicing daily positive affirmation and consumption of virgin coconut oil (VCO), plant-based diet, organic and clean eating and I gave my baby the gift of Lotus Birth that could be very well contribute to her supreme health and strength - I truly believe my exclusive breastfeeding is the biggest reason to why my baby is the healthiest and most peaceful baby I know.

Nothing gets more organic and has zero processing involved than direct latching breastfeeding.

I won’t stop preaching these to aspiring breastfeeding mothers:

1. Do not give your baby pacifiers.
Our nipples deserve all the stimulation to make milk our baby gives, not the pacifier. Babies cannot get addicted over something they never had in the first place.

From Page 171 of Ina May Gaskin’s Guide To Breastfeeding

2. Do not get stressed over how much milk you can pump.
Stress is No. 1 milk killer and 99% cause of all diseases.

3. Drink at least 3L of water a day!
To produce liquid gold full of nutrients enough to feed our baby, we have to have enough fluid in our body first. 3L is not that hard, I find 1L stainless steel drinking bottles are very handy. Put it by our bedside, drink a full bottle as we wake up, a full bottle after lunch and another full refill ‘as snack’ in between breastfeeding.

4. Be responsible to what we eat as almost everything we put in our system goes to our milk thus our baby. Even if your medication / doctor says ’safe for breastfeeding mothers’, drugs are still drugs nevertheless. With the exception of absolute medical emergency (life-threatening infection or accident), please research and resource for natural remedy first. Better still - lead a healthy lifestyle and eat clean so we don’t have to fall sick hence no real need for drugs.

5. Throw away or burn your copy of Gina Ford’s Contented Baby Book and instead, do invest in a copy of Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Breastfeeding. Feeding your baby at your schedule (or worse, at Gina Ford’s schedule!) is cruel. I don’t think you & I would like to go on 3 hours without snacking let alone our babies..

Let’s pat ourselves in the back, supermommies (being able to produce milk and birth babies are superpowers!) and Selamat Hari Raya to our celebrating friends and family from baby PJ and I.

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