Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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

Archive for the ‘Matthew Sweeney Astanga As It Is’ 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 practice flexibility in every aspect in life and I embrace detachment to not have to depend on unnecessary emotions to survive.

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One of the things I miss doing since I got pregnant is my former daily Ashtanga practice.

As soon as I found I am pregnant,
I have been taking it really easy on my Ashtanga practice.

According to my research before I even tried getting pregnant, women with very strong pelvic floor (female gymnasts, horseriders and Ashtangis) can have difficulty conceiving and higher chance of difficult labour. I would do anything and would give up everything to have quick, peaceful and easy delivery.

Apparently - I was already pregnant when I spent almost a week with Kino MacGregor in Singapore and come to think of it, this little yogi in me has already been practicing Mysore and been studying with Kino MacGregor at 3-weeks in utero young!

Three tiny Ashtangis

A couple of days before I did home pregnancy test because my period was a couple of days late, I already announced that I was going to conduct Idiot’s Guide to Start Practicing Ashtanga Yoga and Idiot’s Guide to Ashtanga Yoga’s Jumpthrough & Jumpback.

When the pee stick turned ‘3+ WEEKS PREGNANT‘, I can’t help but to worry about our safety in the workshops as I would be demonstrating options to ‘float’ in Surya Namaskar, jump forward, jump back, jump through and seven Headstands in Ashtanga Second Series!

Note the already loose top?
I was already showing at my fourth week!

I prayed hard and kept repeating,

“We will be alright as my intention is to educate.
We will be alright as my intention is to educate.
We will be alright as my intention is to educate.”

and I thanked every God all 7 billions people in the world pray to for having ensured our safety and now I am on my twelve weeks of beautiful pregnancy.

Diffferent Ashtanga teachers would have different take on practicing Ashtanga when one is pregnant.

Matthew Sweeney says “it depends on your current state on your yoga (practice) and to modify with accordance to trimester,” in Astanga As It Is.

Moon Days, Women and Weight Loss in Astanga As It Is

which makes perfect sense BUT,

in Yoga Mala, which is written by Shri K Pattabhi Jois himself, it is stated that “pregnant women should take it really easy on asanas to have easier delivery,” which can make sense too.

Yoga Mala, page 27

Personally for me, I just don’t feel like doing Ashtanga everyday anymore when I am ‘practicing for two’ now. I was happy and content with the state of my practice and the amount of dedication I poured on Ashtanga Yoga before I got pregnant and I will have a lifetime to practice Ashtanga again after I delivered and healed.

My focus now is to create space on my mat and in my heart for another life I am going to nurture. It is not all about me, not about maintaining my muscle mass and body fat percentage and not about holding handstand for a second longer anymore.

How if, the concept of ‘easy delivery’ is as simple as how much of our selfish-self that we let go? What if (half of) what it takes is being kind to all beings while we are pregnant and visualizing all things positive as we enter labour?

For the next six months,
I plan to keep teaching six days a week and
practicing ANY YOGA THAT WORKS anytime I feel like it.

Having said that, I am going to continue leading Ashtanga Led classes at Upward and mayyyybeeeeee do a cool modified Ashtanga practice video something like this when I gain my strength and get over my nauseous period.

Ashtanga Prenatal Demo at 9-months pregnant

Women are blessed with strong intuition and if we have been doing yoga regularly and long enough, we get even more in tuned with our inner self and our truth within. As soon as a woman is on her way to become a mother, her intuition gets quadrupled. I am going to listen, respect, treat and honour my body even more than when I was on my own.

By the way, it is late Guruji’s birthday today and many Ashtanga Yoga shalas all around the world are having celebrations and kirtans session in memorial of Guruji.

at Eddie Stern’s Ashtanga Yoga New York

Happy birthday Guruji and
I can only thank you before my every practice of what your dedication and selflessness have done to mankind today.

‘May leaders govern the world with law and justice.’ ~ASHTANGA MANGALA MANTRA

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One of the best things I love about daily (OK OK, six days a week..) Ashtanga practice is
the beautiful and meaningful Opening & Closing Prayers that we recite before and after practicing.

Since the mantras are translated from high-level Sanskrit,
they have different translations depending on who translates it.

My favourite version has got to be from Matthew Sweeney’s Astanga As It Is book
(did I tell you I attended his workshop THIS VERY MORNING? :cool: )

At Celeste Lau’s Back On The Mat, Singapore

स्वस्तिप्रजाभ्यः परिपालयंतां
न्यायेन मार्गेण महीं महीशाः ।
गोब्राह्मणेभ्यः शुभमस्तु नित्यं
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनोभवंतु ॥

svasti-prajā-bhyaḥ pari-pāla-yaṁtāṁ
nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ
go-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham-astu nityaṁ
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino-bhavaṁtu

May all mankind be prosperous
May leaders govern the world with law and justice
May divinity and erudition be protected
May people of the world be happy.

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
auṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
Om peace, peace, peace.

Ashtanga Closing Prayer / Mangala Mantra

Since I am in Singapore for Matthew Sweeney and Kino MacGregor’s Ashtanga workshops and Mysore classes, I don’t know what is on front page of local dailies back home but this is what I read this morning.

Singapore’s New The Sunday Times (29 April, 2012)

Power to the people.
Be the change we want to see in this world.

I accept and welcome opportunities, good fortune and blessings showered upon me.

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2012 has been too kind to me.

In April this year and this month alone,
I managed to study with Ashtanga Godfathers:
Danny Paradise
, Govinda Kai and Prem Carlisi (3 of only 35 certified Ashtanga teachers in this world).

I must have done something really good in this lifetime
(despite what some people say about me “What other people think of me is none of my business.“)
as I will be meeting another two certified Ashtanga teachers and also on the top of my list of five people I want to meet in my life,

all in the same weekend starting tomorrow!

Last week, in the spur of a moment, I decided to eliminate all Yogilates classes at Upward and had our scheduled changed to Intro to Ashtanga as I felt strongly that everything my Yogilates (Yoga + Pilates) class promises can be achieved with Ashtanga Yoga (with investment of more practice and patience).

After I officiated that (resulting Upward to have six Ashtanga classes a week now) - within the next immediate couple of hours, I received unplanned and unbelievable good news that I got the very last spot to study and practice Ashtanga with

THE Matthew Sweeney

the most advanced Ashtanga practitioner in this lifetime
whose ‘Astanga As It Is’ book is a bible to me and a thousand others.

AND the Kino MacGregor,

that I have mentioned only about a hundred times here and in my classes as my biggest inspiration.

All of her videos especially this YouTube speak for me in every level. From her ‘no background of gymnastics and dancing’, ‘wearing make-up and bright coloured coloured clothes’ and ‘always being the smallest person when she was young’, she worded my every issue with grace, compassion and kindness.

Her small frame executing poses that most people give up on even trying and thinking about - has been my strength on how ‘impossible is only an opinion’.

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

I am finally ready.

I don’t know if this is my calling to spread the legacy of Ashtanga to more people around me
but I accept and welcome good fortune and blessings showered upon me.

Til’ I come back in May,
(all classes at Upward GO ON when I’m gone, with the exception of Prenatal Yoga),
see all of you back at Upward with spectrum of Matthew & Kino’s light to be shared!

Love and practice, practice, practice.
Shanti is coming.

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