This is what my make-do practice area looks like these days… I’m lucky enough if I get some time on it as long as my daughter happily plays around with her toys and not climb all over me. But heck, who’s complaining?

Gone are the days when I visualized/had a tranquil yoga space to practise. Definitely far from the definition of the world’s best yoga spots, but you know what? Practice is practice. Instead of feeling sorry about not having the perfect yoga space, I feel thankful that there is still space for my practice at home, in my mind & heart

 

My husband had a very bad fever coupled with a chronic headache the day before. The last few times he had this symptoms I had to rush him to emergency and right enough he was admitted to the hospital on all accounts for very different reasons.

Thankfully this time around it didn’t get that serious. Even though earlier in the day he had seen an in-house doctor at his office, we still took the precaution to go for a second opinion as his headache never subsided.  [Read more...]

 

 

“You are a Yoga teacher?”

“But your Maths is so good”!

Someone told me this today.

 

All I did was to do a simple multiplication during a briefing on micro loan policy for the urban poor, just to ensure that the information being presented and the numbers being shown on the brochure tally. Guess he just didn’t expect a Yoga teacher to be doing that! [Read more...]

“One should not fret about the past or worry about the future and that mindulness of the present moment is the key to balance, strength, fortitude, health, well-being and peace.”

~ Sathya Sai Baba

You would have heard this (or something similar) time over time, but it’s that time of the year again when everyone starts wondering about their life’s purpose… what they achieved in the last 12 months and what they are going to achieve in the next 12.

I would like to say, that as a Yoga teacher I have perfected the art of living in the present moment and not be affected by all these New Year frenzy.

Unfortunately, that is far from true! As I write this…my mind rushes to list everything that I should have done or could have achieved in the last one year. Why stop there? It even tries to make its own resolutions (plus a few completely new ones!) for the coming year to make up for all those unachieved ambitions!

FRESH AIR PLEASE!
My mind is now rebelling! Telling me that resolutions are useless – what will happen … will happen. Resolutions! Resolutions! Do we actually need them? Well, maybe it would help to reflect on 2008. Let’s take a look.

2008 was a year full of firsts for me:

1. 1st time I had a chance to train the children from my yoga-for-kids class for a major public performance
2. 1st time I organized a day-long retreat to nature and natural-ness with fellow “yogis” in my home country
3. 1st time I organised and conducted a charity public workshop on sleeping well
4. 1st time  I made the decision to venture out of the corporate world and start something on my own
5. 1st time I experienced death in such close proximity, a life changing experience that taught me happiness and sorrow are different sides of the same coin
6. 1st time I bathed in the majestic Ganges River
7. 1st time I set my eyes on the snow peaks of the Himalayas
8. Last but not least….1st time I started blogging…(even though I didn’t keep up with my aim of 1 post a week!)

So what’s my point?

None of the above was something I actually set out to achieve in the beginning of the year. None of the above started of as a New Year Resolution. They all just happened (I assume) when they were meant to happen.

Even though one side of me still screams at the missed opportunities… another side is feeling so grateful for all the unexpected opportunities and events that makes me who I am today.

So now, should I or should I not make a resolution for 2009?

I’m a searching soul… I don’t have an answer to that. I’m just going to exhale all my expectations and regrets from 2008 and will take a deep breath as the clock strikes 12 to embrace 2009 as a fresh new beginning for more wonderful lessons in this little journey I call my life.

Happy New Year, you all

image source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1126780 (plrang)

The recent comment made by Dr. Abdulfatah Haron Ibrahim in a local Malaysian newspaper prompted me into a deep search on the true spirit of Yoga.

Dr. Abdulfatah said, “The philosophy of Yoga says that man is unhappy because he desires material things. When he cannot get these material things, this makes him unhappy. Since material things are the cause of his unhappiness, man is told to leave all material things, and then he will achieve happiness.”

He went on to add, “The method of the yogis to overcome unhappiness is unsuccessful, because it goes against the nature of human kind (to have desires)”. 

Dr. Abdulfatah has his own opinion on why Yoga is not suitable for Muslims. He said, that unlike people in the west who are lost in materialism and need spiritual guidance from the east to be happy, Muslims didn’t need that as in Islam there are already guidelines for balancing the material life and spiritual life. 

Many thousand years ago, the ancient Yogis must have foresighted their teachings being greatly misinterpreted, and due to this they kept the Yoga techniques as a secret, it was never written down or exposed to public view. The only way one can discover these secrets were through word of mouth teachings from a Guru to a disciple who was deemed fit to be entrusted with this ancient wisdom. This way, there was a clear understanding of their meaning and aim, avoiding any confusion, misunderstanding and excessive intellectual contemplation.
[Read more...]