Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

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

Archive for the ‘Yoga & Benefits’ tag

Yoga How-To: Headstand Dharma-Mittra-Style

with 3 comments

Headstand (Sirsasana) is not dubbed the ‘King of Yoga Poses’ for nothing.

Its benefits include

    • restoring postion of vital organs by reversing gravity
    • puts spine into correct alignment
    • promotes hair growth by increasing circulating to scalp
    • improves quality of sleep and
    • improves brain function (intelligence & memory)
    • improves many ailments namely nervousness, tension, fatigue, sleeplessness, dullness, fear, poor blood circulation, bad memory, asthma, headaches, constipation, congested throat, liver or spleen or female disorders, the initial stages of eye and nose troubles - and general lack of energy, vitality or self confidence

Yes - your doctor might not be happy and hey, no magic wrist bands needed ;)

And believe it or not, headstand is not even half as hard as it seems.

Photo by Cris Chen, special appearance Atilia

Contrary to people’s misconceptions, headstand does not require flexibility and years of practice at all - just confidence mostly. Really.

If you think and can visualize you are going to stand on your head upside down - you will.

If you second guess yourself and think you are going to fall before you even try - you will fall, guaranteed.

Yes, there are hundred other yoga poses that are impossible-looking yet I used to always wonder how in this world can Sri Dharma Mittra, stand on his head like this..


Times Square, NYC


Westminster, London


Location unknown

YOGA (Yoga Journal publication)

Dharma Mittra images are from Google Image search

With constant (if not daily!) Ashtanga Second Series practice that requires Seven Headstands Of Ashtanga,
I figured impossible is nothing, really..

Here is how I did the Unsupported Headstand or I’d like to call it - Headstand Dharma Mittra Style.

Step 1 - Tuck in your shirt to avoid shirt-in-your-face situation.
But in my case, more of to avoid unsightly boobs-to-my-chin photo moment.

Step 2 - Yes, stand on your head (maybe I’ll come back with another entry on how)
with Mukta Hasta Sirsasana C from Ashtanga Second Series variation

Step 3 - Get your photographer ready (with super fast shutter speed)
and VOILA - look ma, no hands!

But of course to try to Headstand Dharma Mittra style,
yoga-ta be really comfortable and confident standing on your head first.
How to start?

Just get on the mat - visualize, be optimistic, practice and you’ll stand on your head + look 10 years younger before you even know it.

And don’t forget to invest some time in Child Pose (Balasana) with the same amount of time you spent upside down just so that our inversions come with benefits - not injury nor arrogance.


Photo by Cris Chen

Love and heads up.

My body is a wonderland!

with 2 comments

You know with yoga, you can

cut your toenails in Pachimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)

Yoga mat: MANDUKA Black Mat Pro


.. and even answer your phone on one elbow!

Try it!

Article: ‘Starving yogi’ astounds Indian scientists

with 5 comments

Copyright © 2010 AFP

From Yahoo! News UK

An 83-year-old Indian holy man who says he has spent seven decades without food or water has astounded a team of military doctors who studied him during a two-week observation period.

Prahlad Jani spent a fortnight in a hospital in the western India state of Gujarat under constant surveillance from a team of 30 medics equipped with cameras and closed circuit television.

During the period, he neither ate nor drank and did not go to the toilet.

“We still do not know how he survives,” neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the end of the experiment. “It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is.”

The long-haired and bearded yogi was sealed in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad in a study initiated by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state defence and military research institute.

The DRDO hopes that the findings, set to be released in greater detail in several months, could help soldiers survive without food and drink, assist astronauts or even save the lives of people trapped in natural disasters.

“(Jani’s) only contact with any kind of fluid was during gargling and bathing periodically during the period,” G. Ilavazahagan, director of India’s Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), said in a statement.

Jani has since returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation. He says that he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers.

During the 15-day observation, which ended on Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani’s organs, brain, and blood vessels, as well as doing tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity.

“The reports were all in the pre-determined safety range through the observation period,” Shah told reporters at a press conference last week.

Other results from DNA analysis, molecular biological studies and tests on his hormones, enzymes, energy metabolism and genes will take months to come through.

“If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one,” said Shah.

“As medical practitioners we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories.”

Love, long life  and inspiration.

Written by Ninie

May 13th, 2010 at 10:39 am

I choose to make full use, to explore every muscle, to take best care and to extend my lifetime - in this body.

with 4 comments

(continued from I tell people I do yoga to be.. and I maintain my health in this body as it is THE vehicle that contains my spirit, soul and wisdom to experience the wonderful short journey in this lifetime, on this earth - before I meet my Maker)

..while I DO YOGA everyday (among other activities) as it is the only sports / workout that:

  • works every muscle in my body
  • makes me discover new sensations, feelings and awareness
  • heals my existing illness / prevents new injury
  • does not make me compete with others
  • lets me break my record everytime I stretch / stand on my head or hands
  • lets me be my own judge & cheerleader at the same time
  • I don’t need any other gear ( racket / shoes / machine / gloves / Olympic size swimming pool / precision timer / etc) but my breath and willpower
  • makes me more energized after I finish (practicing / teaching)
  • I know I can still do when I turn 50, 70 or even 90 years old

If you have been to a (good) yoga class, you would know that you are in a cult - to look, to live and to know better.

Some day you will die.

Lying on your sick bed

about to breathe your last,

you will be assailed by every kind of pain.

Your mind will be filled with fears and anxieties

and you will not know what to do or where to go.

Only then you realise you have NOT practised well.

The skhandas / aggreagates (matters, sensations, conceptions, impulses and conciousness)

and the four elements in you will quickly disintegrate,

your conciousness will be pulled wheever your ancient,

twisted karma leads it.

Impermanence - does not hesitate.

Death - does not wait.

You will not be able to extend your life by even a second.

How many thousand more times

will you have to pass through

the gates of birth and death.

If these words are challenging,

even insulting,

let them be an encouragement for you to change.

Practice heroically.

Do not accumulate unnecessary possesions.

Don’t give up.

Still your mind,

end wrong perceptions,

concentrate and

- do not run after the object of your senses.

Practice diligently.

Be determined not to let your days and months pass by wastefully.

~ Zen Master GUISHAN

Love, encouragement and enlightenment.

Written by Ninie

March 3rd, 2010 at 12:36 am

I maintain my health in this body as it is THE vehicle that contains my spirit, soul and wisdom to experience the wonderful short journey in this lifetime, on this earth - before I meet my Maker.

with 3 comments

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.

Written by Ninie

February 16th, 2010 at 2:45 pm

39 visitors online now
31 guests, 8 bots, 0 members
Max visitors today: 57 at 10:16 pm MYT
This month: 130 at 06-10-2023 04:47 pm MYT
This year: 202 at 26-07-2023 02:48 pm MYT
All time: 202 at 26-07-2023 02:48 pm MYT