Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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

Archive for the ‘Upward Yoga Saujana Resort’ 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 don’t force people to do yoga. If you are ready to deserve the benefits of yoga, you will find yourself doing yoga.” ~NINIE AHMAD

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In the blink of an eye, my first baby just turned 1.

My gratitude and blessing to all friends of Upward,
everyone who has dropped by at Upward,
everyone who has taken classes at Upward,
those who keep coming and blow me away with their beautiful presence and practice at Upward,
I am blessed.

For better viewing, view at 720HD quality.
Shot and edited by Uzair Sawal.
I was actually 3-weeks pregnant :shock: when we shot this video.

Have a blessed and productive Ramadhan to all Muslims
and happy anniversary Upward.

Written by Ninie

July 24th, 2012 at 8:09 am

When we are ready to accept the possibilities of greatness within us, the light of yoga and the right teacher shall appear.

with 3 comments

My heart bloomed and showered happy tears as I received and read these messages today.
(I presume the beautiful souls that sent me these don’t mind me sharing it here for the intent to inspire)

From Shahirah Nabila via Upward FB message

Kak Ninie, I’ve been following your blog quite sometime and I think you are one great person.

I am a 3rd year medical student from Bangalore, and been trying my very best to lose some extra pounds I gained 3 years back when I came to India. I went to gym, lifting weights and everything but nothing works.

So, I sat down in front of my lappy one fine day and googled yoga until I stumbled at your page which changes everything. I learn to look at life differently and better I must say, the energy and the way you put things out makes me realized that there’s nothing impossible for the willing mind.

I admire your positiveness towards life. I’ve been practicing yoga in my room and see the changes yoga did to my body. Yoga butt, yoga curves are damn priceless. And thanks for that. I’ve one small goal which I don’t know when will I crash it, it’s the Headstand, any tips?

From Nini via ninieahmad.com

I had been reading your blog since 2005 and it attracted me to yoga. Been practicing it since 2006 in Yoga Zone til 2008 when it closed down. Back then, I only did what the instructor showed and never bother to do more.

I started picking it up at Upward Yoga last year and this time it feels much better than ever.

Unfortunately, I was down with depression on February and since the medicine was not helping much, I decided to take a break from everything. Each time before starting Intro To Ashtanga class, you always remind us that we can do it ourselves at the comfort of our own places. And remember the notebook you gave me for my birthday? You wrote “Practice, and all is coming”.

So I did my own practice, learning from your YouTube videos and guess what? I can do headstand without any help now, and hold for 2 minutes! Previously I used to lean against the wall but I remember that you told me that you believe I can do it myself so 1 day, I finally did it! And I thought it would be more than 6 months before I could really do it.

I am aiming for Scorpion pose now, currently doing it wall-assisted. Still depending on anti-depressant medicine now but I am decreasing the dose and hopefully I could stop taking it by end of this month. Yoga helps, A LOT. I am getting addicted to headstand, it bring some kind of rush to my head, which is much better than the medicine.

Bottom line, I am glad that I decided to be your student and I don’t know where I would end up now without your encouraging notes, trust and guides. I will be back soon, hopefully around July.

On (really rare and long) days I ask myself,

  • why am I waking up at 4am every morning to do my practice before I teach my 7am classes,
  • why am I teaching almost 15 classes a week,
  • why am I still teaching yoga,
  • these kind words of appreciation remind me over and over again that,
    IT IS BECAUSE - yoga changes lives and yoga heals. Everything.

I am sharing these letters NOT BECAUSE I need you to believe that it was me that ‘changed’ their lives BUT BECAUSE I want all of you to know that it is your own effort in taking that first step to making that change in your life. It could be to a change of mindset that ‘Impossible Is Only An Opinion‘ and to actually start incorporating yoga practice into your lifestyle to help you eventually  achieve your ideal body weight and be happy.

Forcing people to take up yoga is not my style because

unlike other form of sports and workout - attending one yoga class takes more than committing to a lifetime membership at your gym. We will only receive the most benefits of yoga only when we allow ourselves to post-mortem what’s wrong with our behaviour and in our life when all we are allowed to do is to keep breathing and to stop fidgeting. Most people don’t like to be told that they should drink more water, they should eat cleaner and they can’t take it when they are being told that they need to appreciate silence, to sit still more often and to experience Dead Body to appreciate being alive.

Sobbing in tears after being awakened from Dead Body
happens (pretty often..) in the end of a yoga class

Forcing already-been-doing-yoga people to take up Ashtanga is not in my capacity because

not only I am not an authorized Ashtanga teacher, Ashtanga is definitely not for the weak-hearted. Although Guruji did say that “anybody can do Ashtanga” but he also said that “..except lazy people”. Most people would give up the idea Ashtanga before even trying as the sound of ‘having to practice yoga Ashtanga five to six days a week before they start their day FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE’ is too ridiculous.

I am definitely NOT the best teacher for you to learn yoga from and
Upward may not be the most accessible practice space for you to practice at.

But I am a pretty nice person and there is no contract, no reservation, no registration fee, no annoying salesperson to force you to sign-up membership anything at Upward. Only bottomless energy to share the healing benefits to others will welcome you at Upward.

Classes especially Ashtanga classes I conduct at Upward are yoga in layman’s term and I teach like how I want to be taught. I want to be inspired, not to be intimidated. I want my teachers to be in form of normal human being in colourful clothes with a mug of coffee (and maybe a little make-up) instead of an untouchable flawless sacred being in white or orange outfit all the time.

My everyday prayer

When you are ready to ‘accept the possibilities of greatness within you‘,
the light of yoga and the right teacher for you shall appear.

My gratitude and blessings to Shahirah & Nini, you made my Monday more than my words can say. Don’t worry so much about the Headstand & Scorpion, you are already able as you are. You WILL find yourself on your head and on your forearms when you are ready and when you earn it ;)

Written by Ninie

May 14th, 2012 at 10:57 pm

I attract and welcome beautiful, optimistic, honest, punctual, friendly and radiant souls into my space.

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From this

to this

and this.

From this

to this.

From this

to this

and this.

YOU brought life to Upward!
And in the blink of an eye, we will turn ONE in July!

Part of our celebration,
we are going to make our own video clip,
with you guys in it - TODAY!

Come practice with us as the sun sets in Sun Celebration class 6pm this evening,
bring your friends and colleagues as our 6pm class today (worth RM30) is absolutely F.O.C!

It is for ALL LEVELS, I promise I’ll be kind!
(Description for classes and direction to Upward here.
Simply arrive at least 10 minutes before 6pm to guarantee a mat space.
No reservation required!)

Don’t forget to wear your best smile (I am going to wear my best eyelashes :cool: )
as your smile + poise might just inspire someone else to start taking up yoga!

See you before 6pm today!
Love, light and sunset at Upward.

Written by Ninie

May 10th, 2012 at 9:10 am

I love just how I want to be loved. I give as much as I want to receive. I listen like how I want to be heard. I teach exactly how I want to be taught.

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Many of you might not know that,
not only I am the only yoga teacher at Upward,

I am also Upward’s tealady

And I wash the dozen of glasses myself after each class
so I can guarantee they are clean and washed with paraben-free cleaners.

I am Upward’s cleaning lady too

I am the one who has been cleaning the toenails
you decide to tear and leave under your mat during
Paschimottanasana.

I am that bad Upward copywriter and graphic designer

which explains the constantly poor grammar and punctuation.

I am also Upward’s janitor

I myself scrub the toiletseat you sit on so you don’t have to
practice
Utkatasana when you do your other business with us.

The lengths I go so yoga classes at Upward can stay RM30 (USD10) per session and so that you’d feel at Om home with us.

So when e-mail like this comes once in a while,

The following comments / enquiries were submitted from www.upwardyoga.com on 06 Mar 2023 @ 03:04pm:

Name: JXXXXXXXX
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 01XXXXXXXX
Location: Kuching, Sarawak

Enquiry:

I love your class! I have been brimming with smiles every time I think about your yoga session. I will definitely come back for more! And also encourage XXXXX to come along.

I love your place - it’s such a peaceful place to be in.

I love your drink - it makes me feel so healthy.

I love your changing room and bathroom - it’s so fun to be in it.

I love Manduka - who doesn’t…

I am jotting down what I’ve learned in your class while listening to Steve Gold.

Thank you for your lesson.

Namaste,
JXX


I know I am appreciated.
And loved.

(And I make believe you understand why your enquiries and e-mails to [email protected] and SMS to 019 345 7600 take quite some time to be replied.. I only have two hands and half of the time, I’m standing on ‘em!)

I also edited this video myself (and it was shot using only my iPod!) as I would spend on
best yoga mats you can use at Upward first - before splurging on flashier video promo.

Thank you for shining my light and for sharing yours at humble little Upward.
The light in me bows to the light in you.

Written by Ninie

March 8th, 2012 at 12:14 pm

Posted in I teach

Tagged with

I Sun Salute everyday to express my neverending gratitude to the Maker of the universe for the sun (and light) that starts my day so I begin moving and marks my night so I start resting.

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Who needs Bali when..

Ku De Ta (2010)

..you can get sunsets like these in KL.

Upward (July 2011)

Upward (November 2011)

Inspiration:

BaliSpirit Festival (April 2011)

I also Sun Salute to awaken, energize and celebrate the source of light and energy in me (MY ’solar’ plexus) so I stay alive, grounded, strong and shining.

So should you.

Written by Ninie

November 11th, 2011 at 7:30 pm

“So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.” ~OPRAH WINFREY

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This cute song from a Malaysian sweetheart makes me wanna get on my mat and just ‘fall all over’ for 4-minutes!

P.S. Jatuh means ‘falling’ in my beautiful language, in case some of my readers didn’t get me :)

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