Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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

Archive for the ‘David Robson’ tag

ARTICLE: ‘Others often think I’m good at yoga because I am flexible and strong. Fact is, my flexibility and strength came from practising Ashtanga yoga.’ (SUNDAY MAIL, June 1st 2014)

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PETALING JAYA, June 1 — Yoga teacher Ninie Ahmad’s studio, Upward Yoga, was a wedding gift from her husband. She says, “Ten days before our wedding, he took me to view an empty space near our new home. At the time, I had taken a year off teaching. He told me that the space was perfect for me to resume my classes. ‘It’s time,’ he said.”

Opened in 2011, Upward Yoga is a pristine, open space. There are many photographs of New York city and I Love NYC posters. Ninie says, “I modelled Upward Yoga after my favourite studios in New York city.

Those yoga studios don’t use mirrors so I find students will correct their poses based on what they feel within rather than checking their reflections.”

Smiling, the petite yoga guru adds, “Most serious yoga practitioners seem to find their enlightenment in India. I found mine in New York, and now here in my own studio.”

1. Mats

Upward Yoga offers students the use of high-performance, slip-resistant Manduka mats, which are made from a blend of polyester and eco-certified PVC. Ninie says, “Serious yoga practitioners swear by this mat as it supposedly never gets damaged and has a lifetime warranty. The idea is it should last long enough to pass down to your children.”

2. Yoga books


One of Ninie’s favourite yoga books is Ashtanga Yoga As It Is by Matthew Sweeney, one of the most advanced practitioners of Ashtanga yoga in the world. She says, “I started yoga in 1999 but only began my Ashtanga practice in 2008. This book is an indispensable step-by-step guide, complete with what to do and how to eat.”

Ashtanga yoga requires serious discipline and commitment as it requires six days of two-hour practices per week. Ninie says, “It is not for everyone but I enjoy this, what I consider to be the most challenging form of yoga. Others often think I’m good at yoga because I am flexible and strong. In fact, my flexibility and strength came from practising Ashtanga yoga.”

3. Ashtanga Yoga poses poster

A framed poster on the studio wall displays the poses and sequence of the first and easiest series of Ashtanga yoga. For Ninie, it’s both an easy reference and a source of motivation. She says, “I used to wake up at 4am to practice for a couple of hours before breakfast. For example, the Chaturanga (or yoga push-up pose) turns up 84 times in this sequence alone. Imagine doing that number of triceps push-ups!”

Ninie admits that initially she didn’t like Ashtanga yoga because being unable to do all the poses frustrated the perfectionist in her. It took her five years to complete all the poses in sequence. She says, “Ashtanga humbles me.”

4. Peacock feathers


Two tall vases of peacock feathers have an important place in Ninie’s studio and in her heart. She explains, “My mother-in-law gave me these feathers as she knew I loved feathers. My favourite pose is also called the Feather Peacock Pose or Pincha Mayurasana.”

When Ninie was pregnant with her daughter, she found that the Pincha Mayurasana pose, previously difficult for her, was now easy. When it came time to name her newborn child, it was a no-brainer. She says, “Pincha chose her own name.”

5. Bronze yogini figurines

Ninie first saw these brass figurines of yoginis (female master practitioners of yoga) at a shop in Bangsar. However, as they were very expensive, she decided to save up to buy them. She recalls, “I was pleasantly surprised when my husband bought me one for my studio opening.”

When Ninie returned to the shop to buy the rest, the shop owner told her someone had bought the rest. She was disappointed till she received another figurine from her husband for her birthday, and then a third for their wedding anniversary. She says, “They are a beautiful reminder of devotion to my practice as well as my husband’s love.”

6. Scrabble tile display

Upward Yoga’s feature wall used to be covered with numerous framed magazine interviews from Ninie’s early years. She later removed them to remind herself not to hold on to the past as well as not to distract her students from their practice.

In their place, she has put up a mural made from giant Scrabble tiles. She explains, “I used to be a big Scrabble player. I had bought some of these tiles as decorations for my daughter’s first birthday and then decided to recycle them into a new focal point for yoga practice – to breathe, stretch, and heal.”

7. Candles and essential oils


The calm, steady glow of a candle’s flame and the fragrance wafting from essential oil invigorate the minds and bodies that enter the Upward Yoga studio. Ninie says, “Each essential oil has a different healing attribute. My favourites are citrusy oils such as orange, tangerine, lemongrass and mandarin. These really help to refresh the studio and everyone within.”

8. Music

During her classes, Ninie plays a musical accompaniment for Ashtanga Yoga’s Primary Series titled Learn to Float. Created by David Robson, the music leads practitioners through the sequence of poses to the steady, hypnotic beat of a drum. She says, “This helps deepen the focus on breathing during the practice. Also, I find the repetitive beats a form of meditation on its own.”

In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, everyone is believed to have a predetermined number of breaths in a lifetime. Ninie says, “Therefore, the longer the breaths we take, the longer we live. I always tell my students to inhale the optimism around you and exhale all the stress.”

9. Singing bowl


Similarly borrowed from Tibetan lore is the singing bowl (also known as a standing bell or suzu gong). Ninie shares, “The Tibetans believe that when you hit the rim of the bowl with a handle, it produces a fundamental frequency that balances and rearranges the molecules in your body back to perfection again. At the end of my classes, I will ring the singing bowl to wake my students up from Savasana or the resting pose.”

Ninie’s singing bowl is a handmade bronze bowl from Ubud, Bali, where she attends the BaliSpirit Yoga Festival every year. She says, “As it’s handcrafted, the bowl is not perfectly smooth and therefore produces a more organic sound. It creates different energies that are healing and meditative.”

Upward Yoga

Bungaraya Complex, Persiaran Golf, Saujana Resort, 40150 Subang, Selangor
http://upwardyoga.com
http://facebook.com/upwardyoga

Full article at Sunday Mail, June 1st 2014

I choose to offer my time and service to inspiring people I aspire to be like.

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Our recent bump-into and star struck,


Yuna at BSC. She was in flats and really is that tall!


Amina (from Masterchef AUS S4) at The Gardens. She really is that sweet.

I don’t know how long can I keep my coolness before my groupie starts showing when I host this Ashtanga rockstar for two weeks next month.

“If I can’t get out of bed in the morning to practice - I can’t very well ask my students to do the same.” ~DAVID ROBSON

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And so I am beyond honoured and thrilled to be hosting THE David Robson (CANADA | KPJAYI 2) from Learn To Float fame at my humble little Upward this coming October.

He will be leading a Led Practice and conducting three workshops at Upward.
Details and RSVP / payment instructions HERE.

AND.. we are going to Pangkor Laut Resort for luxury Ashtanga Yoga retreat!
It is also the first retreat that Upward & I organize on our own so I am beyond excited!

Anyhow, my bad.. There are only THREE DAYS LEFT to join us and David under the sun in an island where there is only one resort. (Registration is now closed)

We have participants joining us from all around the globe and there are only a couple of spots left so if you’d love to join us for days filled with Ashtanga enlightenment and floating wisdom, RSVP your spot now HERE. We appreciate full payment by September 1st to secure your spot with us for this exclusive retreat.

(Kindly do not RSVP at both event pages without payment confirmation e-mail from us.)

I have been to Pangkor Laut Resort (PLR) four times now

2011

2012

2013

..it is still and definitely my favourite vacation in Malaysia and well.. it is afterall, voted ‘Number One In The World’ by Conde Nast Traveller, UK and only Luciano Pavarotti’s favourite place on earth..

For Upward’s debut retreat and with an Ashtanga teacher I highly look up to,
it is too obvious why I’ve dreamt about this with only PLR in mind.

The more I teach yoga, the more I practice Ashtanga, the more I realize I am a just tiny drop of water in the ocean and just a small being with thoughts, sensations and muscles I never know I have.

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I might be a yoga teacher but I am NOT an Ashtanga yoga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know the difference of Bikram, Anusara, yoga classes at the gym and Ashtanga.

I might have been teaching yoga for 11 years this year but I am NOT an Ashtanga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might have no idea that there is a world difference between a yoga teacher and an Ashtanga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you must have no idea that there is a big difference between an authorized Ashtanga teacher and a ceritifed Ashtanga teacher.

I might be certified in teaching yoga but I am so NOT a certified Ashtanga yoga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that there are less than 200 authorized Ashtanga teachers and less than 35 certified Ashtanga teachers IN THIS WORLD of 7 billion people and probably a million people having yoga teacher certificates out there.

Unless you practice Ashtanga in Malaysia, you might not know that there is only ONE authorized Malaysian Ashtanga teacher in KL and that she is taking a break from teaching this year.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that you CANNOT pay any body to be an authorized or certified Ashtanga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that 2 to 5 years practice and 200-hours or 500-hours TTC (Teacher Training Course) are NOT ALL IT TAKES to be an authorized Ashtanga teacher.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that you have to teach (and of course, practice before you teach) Mysore style EVERY MORNING for six days a week.

Unless you teach Ashtanga, you might not know that you have to go to Mysore India at least once EVERY YEAR to renew your practice, authorization or certification.

I am so NOT an authorized Ashtanga teacher.

And so when I travel to Bali or North America, I hunt for Mysore classes with authorized Ashtanga teachers like most Malaysian girls run to the nearest H&M.

And so when I hear any Ashtanga teacher stopping by Kuala Lumpur, I go beyond my means to have them teach a workshop or two at my humble little yoga studio.

And so I am blessed to have Elizabeth Derow who has studied with late Shri K Pattabhi Jois and assisted his grandson Sharath at Mysore last November conducting Ashtanga workshops at Upward twice for the past 4 months.

Liz Derow (UK) | KPJAYI Level 2 with Guruji (Mysore, 2001)

And so I am beyond grateful for Liz is not only a great and compassionate Ashtanga teacher, but for the past week of having spent some time with her showing her around KL, I realized that she truly embodies a walking Ashtangi in her every word, walk and breath. She sees beauty at every corner, she speaks highly of everyone, she sees the positive in everything  - humbling yoga teacher qualities that I am not embarrassed to admit I don’t have.

And so I am humbled when Liz reminded me and my friends at Upward during our last Ashtanga workshop last weekend of how we are of a person outside our yoga mat would truly show when we are alone and still on our mat. If we have been stingy, greedy, impatient, vulnerable, like to put blame on others, arrogant, highly likely we will be the same on our mat and chances for us to get injured, to rush our practice and to blame our ‘inflexibility’ and ‘incapability’ to be still on our mat and perhaps, our ‘incompetent’ teacher. With regular if not daily Ashtanga practice, it is easier to reflect within ourselves why are we behaving in such manners on our mat.

And so I am excited and blessed to have 2012 already filled and planned with visits and workshops at Upward from respected and authorized Ashtanga teachers from all around the world with sea of wisdom and legacy of practice.

Greg Nardi (US) | KPJAYI Level 2 at Upward in July 2012

David Robson (CAN) | KPJAYI Level 2 at Upward in October 2012

I might have been practicing yoga for 13 years but everytime I am on my mat for Ashtanga every morning before I teach, I feel smaller and smaller.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that to say that you practice Ashtanga, you have to practice the series you are practicing (and the previous) six days a week.

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that there are seven Series of levels in Ashtanga yoga with only two people in this world have completed the Seventh Series.

Primary / First Series with Kino MacGregor

Intermediate / Second Series with Kino MacGregor

Advance A / Third Series with Santina

Advance B / Fourth Series with Mark Togni

Unless you practice Ashtanga, you might not know that it takes many years to complete Primary Series, the ‘beginners’ series for Ashtanga and many people will just practice Primary Series for the rest of their life in the same body.

I might have been practicing Primary / First Series almost everyday for the past five years and Intermediate / Second Series almost every Sunday for the past two years and I am still humbled by how more flexible, strong and humble can I be (or not..) everytime I lay everything I have on my mat.

If you think you are strong, fit, perfect, beautiful, powerful, have full control over your body and everyone around you or in this country and could use a slice of humble pie, try Ashtanga (if you don’t mind Idiot’s Guide to Ashtanga with an unauthorized Ashtanga teacher, we have it three times a week at Upward).

Love, light and free breathing with sound.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ~WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD

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Everytime I travel especially to North America,
I would not miss a chance to visit other yoga studios, take a break from teaching everyday
and usually learn so much more just by being just another student in other teachers’ class.

Dharma Mittra’s Master Practice class, NYC

Upward kitten in front of Downward Dog by the beach, Toronto

With Tara Stiles at her Strala, Broadway NYC

Ashtanga Yoga Centre of Toronto (AYCT)

During my visit to Toronto a couple of weeks ago,
I met David Robson of Ashtanga Yoga Centre of Toronto (AYCT) at his centre.

I was at AYCT for just one Mysore class on the first day of Hari Raya morning but David’s teaching and moving Ashtangi persona left me YouTube-ing for more!

Tell me if you are not moved by this..

David Robson’s LIVING THE PRACTICE

David Robson’s LEARN TO FLOAT

Thanks to David, watching his YouTubes AND floating are now my husband & I’s favourite new pastime replacing marathons of Mad Men and Entourage.

Also thanks to David, for the inspiration and realization that:
to be a walking example and ‘living the practice’,
I have to do my Ashtanga practice earlier than my students.

Well, maybe not every 3am for now, but 4.30 in the morning - almost every day for sure.

Love and Toronto light.

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