Ninie Ahmad: Off her yoga mat.

I only found three things to love about Beijing.

1. They have the biggest adidas store in the world. Period.
2. They have UNIQLO. Ok lah, Singapore has one too. I heard people are still queuing to pay there.
3. They have H&M too. Singapore notchet.

I loved every bit of Shanghai but I didn’t feel the same about Beijing.

(Tennis dress: adidas by Stella McCartney)

For a city almost as modern and for a country as gigantic

• Less people seem to understand simple English in this part of China (and they hosted Olympics last year?)
• The weather was not cooooool. Literally! 38°C at 5 in the evening is not funny!
• They ban Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and WordPress. Hebat tak hebat.

No matter how idiotic the political scene seems, how slow internet connection we bear HERE, the bad weather (if you think KL is hazy, try China!) and the lack of highstreet shops I can definitely still live without – KL is still MY city to live.

(Baseball tee: adidas Originals Limited Edition)

Notice how I titled this entry as such instead of ‘I hate KL less’?

Constantly hating and complaining on things we are unhappy less happy about ARE tiring, don’t you think so?

If you are not happy in KL, move!

Can’t afford to move, help change!

Don’t know how to change, start by changing your attitude!

When we can be grateful of the things we already have, we’d be happier.

Easier.

I prepared myself for the recent adidas FA Beijing with a lot of backbend exercises thinking I was in for ra’Yoka Level Green: Opening, errr.. by not exactly preparing as I know backbends have always been my favourites.

Little did I know, instead of traveling up the chakra chart, it shot down to Level Orange: Detoxification that I know will require deep twists and out-of-the-world painful hip openers, something like Yin Yoga Teacher Training Certification (TTC).

Our hips are the biggest joints in the body.

Toxins are mostly stuck at any joints of our body so our hips are biggest garbage pails in the body especially if we don’t detox, fast, cry / laugh (these are forms of emotional toxins’ releases as well) often.

For a yoga instructor, I am not proud to share that my hips openings are not as impressive as I would like them to be. That was why I got stuck for years at Ashtanga Primary Series for I was not able to do Turtle Pose (Kurmasana) without assistance until recently.

True enough, I was suffering in most of the poses especially Seated One Legged Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Kapotasana) and Revolved Side Angle Pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana) that are deemed pain-free even by some beginners to yoga ‘_’

After 16-hours of repeating ra’Yoka Level Orange that consists a lot of Uddiyana Bandhas

whose benefits include

• Massages abdominal viscera, the solar plexus, the heart and lungs
• Increases gastric fire; improves digestion, assimilation and elimination; and purifies the digestive tract of toxins
• Stimulates blood circulation in the abdomen and blood flow to the brain

(Source: YogaJournal.com)

and all possible Warrior (Virabhadrasana) variations and twists,

which work magic to

(Source: YogaJournal.com)

PLUS after undergoing fruit + veggie (with no sugar, no caffeine) diet for seven days, we started to feel lethargic and if it’s not too demotivating – shitty.

Prior to the ra’Yoka TTC, we have been warned that this Level Orange: Detoxification (or pretty much ANY detox) will only work if we get one of these post-detox effects (PDE):

• Fever (the only way organ and body cells get to regenerate and be reproduced)
• Breakouts (to discharge chemical toxins that our digestive system is not able to release)
• Depression (some people hardly get angry or scream at others so this effect might be expected)

God knows how we all prayed hard to not get the first two PDEs as:

1. We’ll definitely get quarantined at our home airport and we can’t really say, “Don’t worry, Officer. We just got back from a Detox TTC!” can we?
2. Some of the girls are the faces of adidas billboards throughout Asia so they can’t afford breakouts either.

Although, it takes as simple as one processed food / any chemical agent to break our hardworked detox.

As expected, I felt even more lethargic as I touched down KL.

I locked myself in my room for two days, refused to see or talk to anyone and just fed myself with clear water & fruits throughout.

But I was not used to feeling that low and I did not feel good, of course.

For that 48 hours I hid under my blanket, I kept hearing “Get rid of my possession that made me unhappy and has been burdening me a lot” – MY HAIR.

So, a week before Beijing, I had hair (well, ‘almost’) this long

and shortly after Beijing, I chose to let it go.

All the perming / straightening / colouring / highlighting / chemical treatments my hair went through, are being put a stop to. And I have never felt better.

When I was ready to start teaching at BE Yoga again, a couple of fellow yoga instructors shared that they felt exactly the same (depressed, sad, suicidal) after their Yin Yoga TTC.

We might not break out in acne (as most yogis choose meat / caffeine / sugar-FREE & organic diet), we might not get sick as often (an hour of yoga class everyday produces enough heat to regenerate body cells which is to 1- why drinking water in yoga class is not encouraged 2- after every yoga class, you’ll feel instantly rejuvenated, almost post-fever feeling with no fever, of course) but you’d be surprised of the amount of emotional toxins the yoga instructors held trapped inside the hips joints.

The unpleasant experience post-detox is a surprisingly sore reminder that we are all humans afterall.

For those of you interested to experience an hour of Detox Yoga, BE Yoga and I are holding another Karma Yoga class (F.O.C Class For Public) on Merdeka eve, 10.15pm to 11.30pm at BE Yoga, Damansara Perdana.

This Detox Yoga held on the eve of Merdeka Day is an alternative for yogis who choose NOT to validate Independence Day in form of meaningless noise, unhealthy substance and conventional celebration. Detox / Merdeka Eve Karma Yoga class will consist of poses / 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).

P.S. If you are worried you’ll breakout, fall sick with fever or get depressed, fret not as an hour of yoga a year IS NOT ENOUGH to release all the physical / chemical / emotional toxins completely especially if you’ve never done it before / eat steak everyday / been indulging preservatives and sweeteners for the past 20 or 30 years of living in this body.

So I say, do whatever it is you need to do to let go of things that make you unhappy be it – badly treated hair, toxic friends, unhealthy relationship or even negative-vibed blog as keeping them in our system will only turn them cancerous one day.

Let’s all have a Meatless Monday and an organic week ahead!

Love and light.

I have been invited to participate in adidas Fitness Academy (adidas FA) since last year. When it first started, the academy provided training for three fitness majors – Yoga, Dance and Combat for selected instructors from Asia-Pacific. I always count my blessing on getting chosen for adidas only chooses ONE instructor per Asia-Pacific country (although five instructors from bigger Asian countries like China, Taiwan and Korea). It is held twice a year and I am lucky enough to have been handpicked for three adidas FA so far – Shanghai (Spring/Summer ’08), KL (Spring/Summer ’09) and Beijing (Fall/Winter ’09). For the latter, adidas FA introduced another two fitness majors – Fitness and Personal Training.

For adidas FA: YOGA, these 30 selected yoga instructors (most of them are their country’s own adidas Yoga Ambassadors) will be trained and certified to teach a new breed of yoga developed by Rainbeau Mars.

Rainbeau Mars (yes, that’s her real name) is best known as the ultimate yoga celebrity as she trains Hollywood celebrities (Jeremy Piven, Owen Wilson, John Cusack, Ben Stiller, Ashley Olsen, etc) and world’s best sportsmen (Laila Ali, Jonah Lomu, Steffi Graf, etc). She has elevated her career to a successful collaboration with adidas, becoming the Global Ambassador for their yoga collection and recently launched her own adidas Rainbeau Mars Signature collection with eco-conscious yoga fashion wear.

The hybrid yoga developed by Rainbeau Mars with adidas taught during adidas FA is called ra’Yoka™, which is an innovative and integrative practice combining fundamental principles of yoga, enhanced with a breath-centered flow, dynamic, explosive martial arts movements and core connection with total body balance integration. ra’Yoka manifested itself through Rainbeau’s personal journey of self-discovery and desire to find a practice that promoted courage and integartion of the body and mind while maintaining the beneficial openness of yoga. ra’Yoka maintains its authentic intention of a mind/body connection with the Ashtanga yoga laws of ahimsa (non-harm) and satya (truth) as well as Niyamas (personal ethics) and Yamas (social ethics).

ra’Yoka™ integates ‘Seven Leveled System’ according to the colours of rainbow / body chakra:

During the adidas FA Shanghai ’08, the participants were introduced to the Overview of ra’Yoka. I did share in my previous blog of how I came to Shanghai with excruciating kidney stone pain and how I came back to KL with none (stone left).

Isn’t it amazing, how by simply repeating a simple Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II) helped me escape a kidney surgery?

Then came adidas FA KL ’09 last February where we explored in detail Level Yellow: Core Power.

In KL, the whole concept made perfect sense to me when Rainbeau generalizes that people who are physically flexible are often very open, very giving and very vulnerable in nature while those who appear very strong and muscular are emotionally very reserved, unfriendly and penny-pinching for many.

If you can imagine this: someone who can do Lord of Dancer Pose (Natarajasana) will almost never gets six-pack abs and same applies to those who have six-packs abs will not be able to enjoy dropbacks to Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana).

One of the many best perks in yoga is: it helps you be both flexible and strong. ONE DAY.

For someone who is quite open in the spine area, I couldn’t agree more for the natural traits and I know I could use a little bit if not a lot of core strengthening (to be a little bit ‘stingy’) for I was just about to open BE Yoga back then – so the yoga classes wouldn’t be all FOC .

She highly emphasized on how most female yoga instructors could use a lot of strengthening especially from the core so that we don’t overstretch (since almost nothing hurts) and be all over the place in alignment.

I can’t wait to share in my next pose what I learned from my recent trip to Beijing, China for adidas FA Level Orange.

Have a blessed and productive Monday for now!

Love and light.