Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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

Archive for the ‘Pregnancy’ Category

Yoga helps me build a strong body, a flexible mind and a soft heart.

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If you did hold your breath watching my ‘21 Practice‘,

wait ’til you see these:

Kindly note that all videos I shared and posted are NOT recommended as prenatal yoga practice.

The women featured in these videos (including Yours Truly) have been fit, strong and positive as results from having practiced yoga everyday and living healthy lifestyle for many many years before we entered pregnancy.

Depending on your current state of yoga practice (do consult an experienced teacher’s opinion), you might be able to keep attending your favourite yoga class. Otherwise, Prenatal Yoga is recommended for expecting mothers (with or without yoga background).

“Just as a woman’s heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.” ~VIRGINIA DI ORIO

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Yoga is one of the rare workouts that is safe and encouraged to be practiced when you are expecting.

Yoga’s organic properties of energizing, opening and relaxing are known to be more than helpful to endure the nine-months marathon of pregnancy peacefully and to cross the finishing line as natural and enjoyable as possible.

Yoga’s breathing techniques during stages of labour have been proven to overpower expensive epidural and other temporary drugs that come free with permanent side effects.

Depending on your current state of yoga practice (do consult an experienced teacher’s opinion), you might be able to keep attending your favourite yoga class. Otherwise, Prenatal Yoga is recommended for expecting mothers (with or without yoga background).

Last Saturday,
I held an F.O.C Prenatal Yoga class at Upward for photography purpose and everyone showed up in bright colourful yoga attire!

Sharing the outcome and the pregnancy + birth affirmations I always share in my classes.

“I take good care of my body so I can take better care of my baby.” ~NINIE AHMAD

“I am a warrior woman.
It is a woman’s right to be able to experience a beautiful and colourful pregnancy,
it is my right to have a calm and cruelty-free delivery.”
~NINIE AHMAD

“Nature has been working with you from the very beginning of your pregnancy to prepare your body for this great wonder. You will come to understand that when your mind is free of fear and tension, your body can be free of pain and will function as it was created to do.” ~MARIE F. MONGAN

“Yoga helps me build a strong body, a flexible mind and a soft heart.” ~NINIE AHMAD

“My husband and I made love and conceived our baby naturally.
Nature will find its way to make us birth our fruit of love naturally.”
~NINIE AHMAD

“Because I allow myself to sit still to connect with my baby,
my baby will let me know how she / he wants to be born.”
~NINIE AHMAD

“Yoga helps me discover what feels good and how I can move my body intuitively so my work in yoga when I am pregnant will help me feel good and move my body intuitively when I am in labour.” ~NINIE AHMAD

“I created my healthy and happy beginning so I can design my own peaceful and beautiful ending.” ~NINIE AHMAD

I expand my range of motion to expand the capacity in my womb to house my baby. I expand my breath to expand the capacity in my heart to love unconditionally. ~NINIE AHMAD

For more photos during our session and pregnancy + birth affirmations,
check out the full album at Upward’s FB Page.

(All photos are copyright of Upward,
usage of birth affirmations must credit the stated owner,
usage of photos must credit Gianinna Salas Aerny)

Prenatal Yoga at Upward is every Saturday 4pm,
for all trimesters and husbands / birth partners are welcome to join our practice F.O.C.
Each class lasts for 90 minutes, fee is RM50 and with complimentary organic ginger tea and usage of Manduka mat towel, bolsters, mats and blocks.

NO RESERVATION OR PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED,
simply arrive at least 10 minutes before classtime.
For more details and direction to Upward, visit http://upwardyoga.com/

“Nature has been working with you from the very beginning of your pregnancy to prepare your body for this great wonder. You will come to understand that when your mind is free of fear and tension, your body can be free of pain and will function as it was created to do.” ~MARIE F. MONGAN

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I can’t say this enough,

I LOVE BEING PREGNANT!

I love how my facial skin finally behaves (bye bye super oily face!),
I love how my clothes finally fit (this might sound sick but XS is no longer too big for me),
and I love being showered with so much love, food and massages from my husband and my family.

Although I am slowly trying to surrender to the fact that:
I am losing my center of gravity (handstand in the middle of a room is a stretch! :sad: ),
I now have an ‘outtie’ bellie button :cry: ,
I sometimes pee when I sneeze (how embarrassing :oops: ),
I often drool when I sleep (how sexy :roll: ),
and my bra cup has gone three sizes bigger (only the cup, circumference remains for now)!

but I just love love love my pregnant body and I celebrate every little connection I make with this bundle of blessing in me!

Wanna see how big I am now?

at 8 and 18-weeks

at 10 & 20-weeks

I am massive right?

Yup, same clothes, same smile, same pose, same arms :cool: , same location
(unless I am not in Malaysia, like in the second left photo, I was in Toronto)
only feeling so much better and so much wider 10 weeks later!

Can’t wait to PicStitch my future week-by-week photo and
to see me at 10 & 20 & 30 & 40-weeks side-by side!

Wish me love and peace for another 20 weeks or so to go :grin:

Written by Ninie

September 3rd, 2012 at 5:15 pm

I am not weak, thin and skinny. I am strong, fit and healthy!

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You know how I always say people always say,
muscle is heavier than fat?

Not that I was that muscular before :roll:
but I have proof that if you (used to) have relatively more muscle mass percentage = less body fat percentage, you can somehow not gain as much unnecessary weight when you are pregnant!

P & I have this weighing machine at home that gives an estimation of our body fat percentage and how much calorie intake we should consume a day.

Obverse this (and my belly)..

At 2-weeks pregnant (and didn’t know it),
I was 41.2kg with 15.3% body fat.

At 4-weeks pregnant (and trying hard to conceal it),
I was 40.5kg with 16.8% body fat.

At 8-weeks pregnant (a day before leaving to NYC),
I was 39.7kg with 18.2% body fat.

At 10-weeks pregnant
(at Toronto, too nauseous to pose during 9th week in NYC),
no weighing machine present.

At 11-weeks pregnant,
40.2kg with 19.3% body fat.

At 12-weeks pregnant,
40.4kg with 20.1% body fat.

At 13-weeks pregnant last week
(and after I resumed teaching 15 classes a week at Upward),
41.1kg with 19.2% body fat.

For a pretty tiny girl,
I am really huge for 13-weeks pregnant right?

I am not too worried about my losing weight since

  • I know for a fact I’ve lost quite a bit of muscle mass since I am on a hiatus from daily Ashtanga practice
  • my belly is growing significantly and my appetite is really healthy despite my morning sickness.

I also remember my mom when she was last pregnant,
during her heaviest at 9-month pregnant, she was only 47kg.

Wanna take a guess with us
if I’m having a boy or a girl?
Or.. a boy AND a girl? :shock:

Guess we’ll find out next week ;)

Written by Ninie

July 16th, 2012 at 9:45 pm

I create my healthy and happy beginning so I can design my own peaceful and beautiful ending.

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I am not having any weird cravings yet,
just longing for my mom’s cooking like never before.

I don’t really restrict what I eat now,
as I have been eating pretty clean and healthy years before I got pregnant.

Interview with Natural Health magazine, October 2011

I planned to get pregnant three months after I started taking folic acid in January early this year. Lucky strike, I conceived in April and I immediately searched for what options do I have for organic prenatal vitamins & supplements as I have never been a fan of allowing synthetic, drugs, processed and chemical-laden products in my body.

From my researched (mainly from here and here), this is one of the two most recommended brands of organic prenatal vitamins.

New Chapter Organics® Perfect Prenatal Multivitamin

Unlike many if not every other vitamins and prenatal vitamins in the market, New Chapter’s Multivitamins are probiotic and whole (not lab and synthetically produced), non-GMO, fair-trade certified and made with organic fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a vendor that sells this in Malaysia so when I found it pretty much in almost every corner in New York City, I bought and stocked them for as long as I am pregnant.


New Chapter Wholemega® Prenatal Extra-Virgin Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil

Selling side-by-side beside it is, New Chapter Wholemega® Prenatal Extra-Virgin Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil listing halal Gelatin capsule, B.A.S.S (Botanical Antioxidant Stability System with extracts of organic rosemary, organic oregano and organic sunflower oil) and 100% Wild Alaskan Salmon Fish Oil.

I am not a vegan and I do take fish when I eat out sometimes so I didn’t hesitate on taking fish oil supplement when I am pregnant to promote my baby’s brain and eye development.

The only downsides to this organic supplements are:

  • the big bottle of Perfect Prenatal multivitamin you see above containing 96 tablets is only for 33 days and cost US$46.95 / RM135 (not including tax) PER BOTTLE A MONTH and the Wholemega Omega-Rich Fish Oil’s bottle is only for 22 days and cost US$29.95 / RM90 (not including tax) PER BOTTLE A MONTH! That makes about US$500 or RM1,500 for 7-months pregnancy marathon supplements!!!!
  • the Perfect Prenatal multivitamin has to be taken three times a day the Wholemega Prenatal Omega-Rich Fish Oil has to be taken twice a day with two tablets each time because of their whole food and organic properties that take longer (time release) to dissolve naturally.

Apart from the organic prenatal supplements, I also have been indulging in bottles of organic skin care oil to prevent / reduce stretch marks. I have been using Neutrogena’s Sesame Formula Body Oil (not sold in Malaysia..) before I got pregnant and in my early weeks of my pregnancy and have switched to these organic and natural brands since I found them in Canada.

To ease my horrible morning sickness (and to substitute my coffee..), I have been using these organic teas by Earth Mama Angel Baby as well.

Would highly appreciate it if anybody knows New Chapter organic supplements and Earth Mama Angel Baby products selling in Malaysia as I would love to recommend a natural, healthy, chemical-and-cruelty-free start to my pregnant students and friends as well.

Love and light.

Photos of my evergrowing big belly soon!

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