Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

I am trying to pack 28 years of my life in Malaysia into two suitcases.

It is unbelievable how much junks I have collected all these years.

How many pairs of shoes I have.

How many dresses I have only worn once.

How I kept buying jeans in hope that one day I will find that one pair that makes me feel like a million dollars.

How many hair products and perfume bottles I needed to feel clean and complete.

As much as I want to let go of everything I ever own and start my life afresh abroad, I figured that I still can’t live (fine, at the risk sounding shallow – leave my house) without:

• my electric toothbrush
• Lady Speed Stick
• Gilette Venus razors (am still not ready to be au naturale. Should I decide to go to India for a year, I’ll save up to have permanent hair removal first, LOL!)
• M.A.C Mineralizer concealer, foundation, loose powder, blusher – to look like a woman human
• any mascara (washable all the way since I don’t want to care about eye make-up remover) for survival

(yes, I am seriously going to try and wash my face + hair + body with simply any soap. I figure I will still live, if not live happier . And I discovered something, all the Kiehl’s and L’Occitane don’t make me stand on my hands longer, do you?)

And that’s all I am bringing with me.

.   .   .   .   .   .

Nevertheless (come on, be real!) to be accepted in a civilised community, I have to bring

• 5 pairs of Thai / Balinese fisherman pants (with heavy heart, I’m giving up engineered adidas Techfit tights) & 5 literally-no-frills spaghetti strap tops for teaching / practicing
• 3 (they are different colors to match the above articles!) Lululemon HOLY GRAIL sportsbras I discovered in Toronto and I am sooo looking forward to being able to not wear bras at all [when I'm not teaching a yoga class, that is] outside of Malaysia, like I have for the past couple of weeks – so liberating!
• my tennis & rockclimbing shoes
• 2 pairs of jeans (they don’t have to be washed every week time I wear them, right?), 2 sundresses, 3 pairs of sunglasses  & 3 pairs of bikini (they weigh like nothing so bringing 3 each IS alright )
• 1 drawstring linen pants, 1 khaki hot pants, 1 stonewash denim mini skirt, 1 boyfriend (or motorcycle? I can’t decide) jacket, 1 hoodie sweater
• TWO flat pumps*, TWO pairs of high heels* (in case of Academy Awards invitation emergency), ONE flip flop* & ONE practical handbag*= * I’m sceptical I’d be able to bring only the underlined too but I promise my spine I will try my very best
  
• Complete 6 Seasons of Sex And The City (if I ever feel lonely – without my girlfriends, I mean!)
• laptop + charger, digital camera + charger, handphone + charger & international power transmitter for that matter
• Moleskine watercolor + Daler Bowney color palette + 3 crucial brushes
• The Kor’an & Kor’an’s translation in English
• Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga & The Language (A to Y) of Yoga
• Maha Sodhana Level II DVD with Dharma Mittra & Ashtanga Intermediate Series DVD with Kino MacGregor for daily practice
• 8 copies of SHAPE M’sia November ‘09 I still have (as yoga portfolio)
• Lululemon travel yoga mat in Bandhas yoga mat bag (they are both presents from my boyfriend , can I just pack him in my suitcase too?)

and I’m leaving and should I reveal now, selling EVERYTHING ELSE behind.

You read me right – all my 3(0?) shoeracks of high heels, whole wardrobe of adidas by Stella McCartney & adidas Originals jackets, obscene array of yoga mats & adidas futsal shoes, half a library of books (that I thought would make me smarter), my treasured set of pots & pans , my bedroom set (matching queen bed + wardrobe + dressing table + queen mattress), my TV and they will all be available for The Banned Yoga Instructor’s Moving Out (Of The Country) Sale.

Unless they are my bedroom set, my pots & pans and 29′ TV, nothing else’s going to be over RM80 – I guarantee

Stay tuned to this space for time & date especially if you are an XS / UK 6 / US 0 or 2 / shoe size 35 or 36.