Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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.

Join us for FREE yoga classes at IKANO Power Centre for the next five Sundays!

WHEN: Adults (11 – 12 noon), Kids Yoga (3 – 4pm)

WHERE: Level 2, IKANO Power Centre (in front of Barang-Barang & World Of Cartoons)

WHO: Azmi Samdjaga & Ninie Ahmad from BE Yoga, Damansara Perdana

WHAT: Sports attire, no shoes required. Yoga mats are provided.

THEMES:

• January 10th
  • INTRO (11am): Yoga for Backaches (*with media event)
• January 17th
  • ADULT (11am): Yoga for Stress-Relief
  • KIDS (3pm): Land & Water Animal Yoga Poses
• January 31st
  • ADULT (11am): Yoga to Relieve Migraine, Asthma & Gastric
  • KIDS (3pm): Plants & Flower Yoga Poses
• February 7th
  • ADULT (11am): Yoga to Boost Immune System to Fight Common Cold & Flu
  • KIDS (3pm): Furniture & Solar System Yoga Poses

This is an FOC event somehow minimum donation of RM5 is appreciated. Donation will be forwarded to a chosen charity organisation / orphanage.

Space is limited to 40 pax for adults & 20 for kids yoga so pre-booking at 03 7728 6182 / 03 7729 6182 or http://beyoga.my is highly encouraged.

Hope to see you there with your kids, friends and family!

Love and productive weekend ahead.

I am NOT the type of girl that asks this type of questions:

• • Which dress do I look better in?
  • Does my make-up look alright?
  • Should I buy that pair of shoes or this one?
  • Would a MINI or a 4-wheel-drive suit me best?

I know my taste, I understand my body type and I respect myself enough well to not let others decide on what looks and feels good for me.

So when I still do get “Why did you cut your hair? You look so much better with your hair long..” and “Why do you look so skinny now? You lost so much weight since I last saw you?”,

it offends me a lot as I will never be heard voicing out, “Why are you so negative? You always sound more so bitter everytime we meet. What unjustice has the world done to you that you only see ugliness and the worst in others?”

I have wasted too much time, money and energy in painstakingly blowdry, highlight, colour, relax, perm, be put toxic chemicals onto my innocent hair that I earn my right to choose to let it recuperate and heal for the next couple of years.

Hair spiked up for Tatler shoot

Big earrings always complement short hair

I have always weighed 42 kg and been a US size 0 and UK size 6 for the past 10 years and I know my body better than you do. I am  simply happy that I am strong enough to lift up my own body weight (and others), I don’t depend on unhealthy substance to enjoy life and that my body is not built of dead animals.

Lifting up Azmi in BE Yoga’s Partner Yoga class every Saturday 4pm

Standing on my elbows for our Partner Yoga performance for Breast Cancer Awareness Karma Yoga

I am more than happy with my short hair and I know I am healthy with 13% body fat percentage. If you are not (happy with my hair and my body fat count, I mean), kindly exhale them now or hold your destructive comments to yourself forever.

I’m surrounded by liars everywhere I turn
I’m surrounded by impostors everywhere I turn
I’m surrounded by identity crisis everywhere I turn
I’m the only one who’s noticed
I can’t be the only one who’s learned

I don’t want to be anything other than what I’ve been trying to be lately
All I have to do is think of me and have peace of mind
I’m tired of looking ’round rooms wonder what I gotta do
Or who I’m supposed to be
I don’t want to be anything other than me

~ GAVIN DE GRAW (I Don’t Wanna  Be, 2004)

Love, productive Monday and sweet November ahead.

Last Sunday, I conducted my usual Karma Yoga (free class for public) class to raise awareness on breast cancer as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I was grateful and blessed as the turnout was amazing (and almost everybody showed up in pink!). A number of our local celebrities did show up to support the cause as well including the usual Atilia and the familia Henry Golding, Yasmin Hani, Xandria Ooi, Aishah Sinclair and Stephanie Chai that is gracing the cover of Harper’s Bazaar this month with spicy Breast Cancer feature and fashion spread inside.

As Karma Yoga classes held every Sunday at BE Yoga are themed, before asking the participants to set their intentions and dedicate their practice that day, I asked these questions with everyone’s eyes closed

• Has any of us experienced breast cancer first hand?
• Does any of us have immediate family member that have / had breast cancer?

to tailor-make my class whether the class should consist of deep twists to eliminate (physical / chemical / emotional) toxins that might trigger cancer cells OR ‘loving’ and heart-opening poses to expand our hearts’ capacity with love and support for our loved ones in times of trial.

To my (not-s0-pleasant) surprise, out of almost 20 participants that day – a quarter raised their hands for the first question and more than half raised their hands for the second, BREAST CANCER IS NO JOKE!

No amount of yoga / exercise / fancy pink ribbons / expensive lingerie can help us if we call upon cancer by smoking!

Our lungs and breasts are so near to each other – the thousands of chemical and poisons (you know I am not making these up) in evil cigarette that are trapped in our lungs might trigger cancer cells that require just one stimulant for the cancer cells to be activated.

Socializing with smoke-stained breaths, growing old with blackened teeth and dying painfully slow with all sorts of cancer are NOT glamorous.

I love my lungs and my breasts. I know you do (love your breasts, I mean ;D) too.

I have successfully quit smoking and so will you.

Peace, pink love and healthy breasts this October.

PETALING JAYA, August 2009 – When you don’t drink, not in the mood to party and when you are never into conventional fireworks and hazardous noise, how else can you celebrate Merdeka (Independence) Eve? Ever thought of a free yoga class conducted by Malaysia’s yoga celebrity?

The founder of beyoga and also the Official Yoga Ambassador for adidas Malaysia, Ninie Ahmad said, she has been counting the days to 2009’s Merdeka Day to commence her free yoga class for public on Merdeka eve.

“For years, I have never enjoyed partying and be stuck in traffic jam everytime Merdeka and New Year’s eve arrive. I respect my body by not consuming harmful substance just to validate a commercialized celebration and I believe, many more KL-lites are in the same boat with me.”

Since beyoga opens to public in May 2009, Ninie has been conducting free yoga classes she calls ‘Karma Yoga’ every Sunday 10.15am at beyoga Damansara Perdana with help of her key teachers at beyoga.

“We call it Karma Yoga as it is our way to give back to the public of what we have gained from them. The teachers do not get paid for teaching Karma Yoga class as it is of voluntarily basis. However, participants are highly encouraged to donate any amount of cash as they join this class and all donations from our Karma Yoga classes are to be forwarded to a chosen charity body or non-profit organization we have pre-chosen for the month. For example, collection for the month of May and June had been proceeded to Rumah Hope, PJ and we have selected MERCY Malaysia to receive our collection for the month of July and August.”

Ninie who also is one of Malaysia’s top female bloggers and has ‘pretzel-ed’ local celebrities namely Ida Nerina, Atilia, Ning Baizura, Jehan Miskin, Norazlina Redzuan, Wan Zaleha Radzi, Kavita Kaur and many more adds, “The best part about Karma Yoga class at beyoga is, although it is a free class, it is also the only class where we teach themed yoga.”

“Since all Mother’s Day and Father’s Day fall on Sundays, we did encourage public to bring their mothers and fathers those two Sundays. Instead of normal light stretches to warm-up, that Karma Yoga classes started with the teacher choosing a couple of participants to share what their mothers or fathers have sacrificed for them to raise them up.”

“Since 70% of the beyoga ‘s Karma Yoga participants are women, you could expect tears and overwhelming emotions filled the room!”

“We first conducted the Karma Yoga class during Earth Hour 2009 where participants practiced yoga poses surrounded by tealight candles and be asked to take care of Mother Earth as much as we take care of our body and family.”

Ninie also shares, “For the past two months, I have been conducting my Karma Yoga slots with yoga therapy and poses that can help boost immunity system to fight airborne virus and common cold especially with the current H1N1 pandemic scare.”

“While we are all bound to suffer from occasional flu, yoga practitioners are less likely to come down with sniffles and when we do, we tend to have much faster recovery rate due to yoga’s known abilities to regulate the immune system, keeping it strong to withstand infection.”

“Yoga’s stress-reducing ability is a primary reason to why yoga helps prevent if not cure common cold. Stress is a major contributing factor to catching a cold or flu as stress hormones cause the thymus to shrink in size causing it to poorly-function as a producer of immune cells.”

“For the Merdeka Eve Karma Yoga however, I plan to teach the class with yoga poses and flow that will help ‘free’ chemical, physical, emotional toxins that have been colonized and trapped in our system throughout our lives – in true spirit of ‘Merdeka’ (Independence), and maybe wear Jalur Gemilang coloured yoga attire that night!”

The Merdeka Eve Karma Yoga commenced 10.15pm until 11.30pm August 30th, 2009 (Merdeka Eve) and beyoga conducts Karma Yoga (free class for public) every Sunday 10.15am. For more information on beyoga’s other Karma Yoga classes, visit beyoga’s website http://beyoga.my or contact beyoga at 03-7728 6182 / 03-7729 6182.

(All photos courtesy of Erica Wong)

How do we lead a family, company or rule our country if we don’t have total control of our own health, breath and body?

A gentle (and national) reminder that BE Yoga is having a Karma Yoga (FOC) class tonight (Merdeka Eve) from 10.15pm to 11.30pm.

This *Merdeka Eve Yoga is a healthy alternative for yogis who choose NOT to validate Independence Day in form of meaningless noise, harmful substance and conventional celebration.

I will be conducting this Merdeka Eve yoga class and will be sharing adidas & Rainbeau Mars’ ra’Yoka Level Orange: Detoxification that consists plenty of deep twists & hips openers that will help ‘free’ chemical, physical, emotional toxins that have ­­­­been colonized and trapped in our system throughout our lives – in true spirit of ‘Merdeka’ (Independence).

If more people embrace yoga & its values (non-harm & non-violence to self and others, truthfulness), I believe this country and this world will be a happier place for us all to live in – anyway.

(*Merdeka = Independent)

Since it is an FOC class, entrance is strictly by reservation to prevent overcrowding as space is limited to 30 yoga mats (online waiting list is enabled). RSVP your independence by booking your own space at http://beyoga.my or by calling us at 03 7728 6182 / 03 7729 6182 before 5pm today (Sunday, August 30) to check availability of space.

Merdekakan diri dari hasad dengki, busuk hati dan tekanan persekitaran yang memakan diri (free ourselves from toxic feelings, hatred and peer pressure that do not contribute in making anyone better).

Celebrate being a Malaysian by choosing to have a healthy body, heart and mentality.

Happy National Day, Malaysians. I will always believe in the kindness in us.

Peace, love and light.