The balance between diet and exercise

Losing weight is not as difficult as some people made it to be. the question is how bad do we want it?? bad enough that you're willing to 1.change your years long habit 2. adopt new habits 3.change our perception about food 4. change our thinking altogether. yes to all that??? well, i guess you're ready.
i vow to keep my body healthy and fit as a way of giving thanks to the Almighty for each day of my being.

What is the 70% diet about?
1. don't blame the food. nothing wrong with eating rice. we are asian so rice is our staple. we eat rice since year 1 so why stop eating something that made us who we are today or generations before that. the key is in the portion
2. don't forget the drinks. coke, 7up even isotonik drinks like 100plus are high in sugar content so if you're not exercising, put that 100plus away. 3in1 drink is loaded with sugar. don't be lazy. buy coffee and sugar and mix it yourself.
3. don't think all biscuits are healthy especially those that claimed to be healthy and 'low in fat' and all the BS.
4. eat lots of vegetables daily with differents colours if possible. for e.g. spinach (dark green), cabbage& cauliflower (white)
5. eat fruits daily as meal on its own and not after heavy meal. don't juice it and turn into smoothie. only way to get the nutrients is to eat with your teeth. the more you cut, the less nutrient remains.
6. eat every 2 hours. for e.g. 7am (slice toast/fruit/egg/capati);9am (fruit, bread) ; 12pm (lunch), 2pm(fruit), 4pm(tea-1kuih); 6pm(very light dinner)

what is 30% exercise about?
1. pick up a sport e.g. badminton, football, tennis, squash, brisk walking, hiking
2. must exercise more than 20mins for the body to start burning fat. i recommend min 40mins
3.at least 3x a week for it to be effective. the more better.
4. best is morning but evening is fine too
5. put the mobile or BB away for that time. focus your mind and energy to get a good workout. you owe that to yourself
6. don't compare yourself with others. each of us response differently to exercise. blame it on our genes.
7. find something that you'll enjoy doing. gym is not the only option!!!

there are so many things i want to share but for a start, try these simple formulas. i do welcome any questions you may have.
give thanks to God by respecting His creations and, we are His greatest creation.

yoga and fasting

maintaining a regular practice during fasting month requires more than will power....having nice soothing lounge music playing in the background certainly helps. quite a challenge to push it more than 60 mins. teaching while fasting is another matter altogether. 2hrs of class seems way too long when trying to maintain focus and zest for the entire class when energy is depleting as the minutes pass. my reward for end of day is this vegetarian meal. always believe that vegetarian meal is equally yummy!

tagine of aubergine with coriander and mint


dessert of 'pengat pisang' made of banana and coconut milk

yoga and food

not sure where to begin really. there are way too many misconceptions about yoga and the food intake..way too many that i may need a day or two to just slowly 'unravelled' the myth. the traditionalists might scorned at the word 'myth'. like it or not, the growing number of people taking up yoga for sheer purpose of losing weight, alternative to 'hard' exercise and achieve peace of mind. i find it quite enough challenge to convince the malays to take up yoga let alone trying to tell them to mind their food.

so, here's the thing. eating a lot of any food vegetarian or not, does cause discomfort to the stomach and make breathing while practising yoga, harder...if you don't throw up, that is. moderation is key. eat meat once a week. eat rice everyday. yes, rice everyday because we are asian. we grew up with rice and therefore, our body is accustomed to it. eat lots of vege and fruits. eat fruits as meal by itself and not as dessert. eat dessert sparingly...once in few days. yes, you can eat those cupcakes (like me) for tea but stop at one and no more until the next day. you see, i still don't understand the confusions that leads to misconceptions about the food intake as a yogi. i still eat the same stuffs as before but perhaps bit more mindful.

soul at peace

this morning, i told a friend over coffee that a soul can only have one resting place at a time. she didn't look at all puzzled as if truly understood every word i said. of course, there was a long talk (me alone) about how unsettling it is for me, the feeling i've been having since i got back from india. i'm not one who likes to whine about things. although i was confined to a room during my stay, i felt somewhat at ease despite having very limited access to things, in general. somehow, i was 'settled' and content, it seemed like my soul belonged there. she said it's the yoga that makes me feel that way. the more you look 'inside' yourself, more things being revealed...you grow more quiet as more thoughts come into being. and with more practise, the mind, too, will grow quiet. hopefully, by then, the soul has found a resting place....while i'm still breathing.

Funeral Blues

By W.H. Arden. Made famous by movie 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'....

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum,
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let the aeroplanes circle moaning overhead,
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves.
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now, put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

happy birthday ...to me

i celebrated yet another birthday last saturday. started with phone call from mom which i eagerly waited over the last many years. i told a friend that, to me, getting that call from her is all i need to start yet another year of my life. that day, it started like just like any other year with me going for run in the morning except that it was a walk this time around, with my sister and brother whom just picked up running and now, discovering the joy of it...something i've been trying to tell him over the last many years without much success until recently. due to my recent surgery, i'm now confined to walking and yoga for another 3 months to come...following the good doctor's order. after good long hill walk, we all went for nice and hearty breakfast at la bodega deli in telawi bangsar which till today serves one of the best breakfast in town..no kidding. breakfast proceeded by nice light lunch at prego westin and some shopping escapade. unlike most ladies, shopping was never on top on my 'to-do' list, in fact, was never on my list at all. nevertheless, i was thrilled to be taken to such route once in a while.

something was different this year. i didn't get as many calls or texts as i used to get before. i narrowed it down to the fact that i have since changed my mobile number twice. so, i decided to send this text to friends which reads "As someone who practises positive thinking, i like to think that the reason i've yet to get any wish from you is the fact that you have no idea whatsoever that today is my birthday. Well, now you do." for the next few hours, i received in flux of calls and texts with birthday wishes and told me how funny it was to receive such text from me. some even expressed regrets for not remembering it.

frankly, i believe that birthday is a private matter and under no circumstances i would wish anyone to remember it unless they are my family. why i did what i did?! well, i decided to give others chance to wish me. c'est simple! c'est tout!
besides, what i look forward the most that day were 1. my sis has baked 3 different pies for me to enjoy 2. the meals prepared were fantastic! the rest, were bonus.
i hope to be a better friend, a better partner, a better sister and most importantly, a better muslim. amin.

yogi is just another being, too...

they said the person who can hurt you the most is the one closest to you. so, he or she did and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it?! i believe so. if it is someone who is close and we tend to have many of those around us, things get easier. we can just make a conscious effort to spend less time with these people or better still...slowly but surely try to have less and less things to do with them until one fine day, they'll get the message.

the thing with those really close to us, things get difficult. subtlety is the word..in malay we have a saying, "menarik benang dalam tepung...benang tak putus, tepung tak berselerak" means pulling a thread in flour (direct translation, that is) so that both thread and flour are intact. in life, however, that is not always the case. for me, when that happens, i revert back to few things i always revert back in such situation...nothing can hurt me unless i allow it...or..let it go, don't hold on to negative words...or i am what i am, who cares what they say. the problem with that is, things don't hurt too much if it was done by someone else...someone whom you think ought to know you well enough and yet could say the most 'unpleasant' things, your heart does rattles eventhough just a little...you think, how could he or she said that? but they did. i say, take a deep breath, dig deep into your heart and gather all your strength, smile, nod and quietly retires to your thoughts, positive thoughts about your dreams, your plans for tomorrow and, hold out your hands and thank THE ALMIGHTY for all his blessings. finally, say your prayer and retire to bed, early, because tomorrow, there will be a whole new day ahead of us.

lesson from a friend

a friend told me that if someone or something irritates me, chances are the reason is deep within me. how can that be possible, really?! because there are many, many crazy, selfish,unreasonable and...did i mention crazy...people out there that you have had the unfortunate experience of crossing path with them. believe you me, no matter how much yoga practice and meditation you had that day, it is almost impossible not to react either emotionally or physically...yes, finger signage included.
since she is someone i truly respect and who views on life i cherish, i find myself thinking long and hard about this each time i reacted. yes, yogi is human too. i don't claim to be otherwise. i tried telling this to my mom to just let go and try to understand or rather to amuse ourselves on my the @#$%^&& drive like a maniac! that way, we get the chance to amuse ourselves a lot especially while driving in KL roads and most importantly, we stay calm and our emotion learns, slowly but surely, to just let go.

in life, it's when we learn to let go, we learn to appreciate the beautiful things that life has to offer and yet, knowing these things too will not last.

theory and practical aspect of yoga

we often forget that yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory....so when a student insists on knowing the theory aspect of the poses, you are compelled to complain but how much, how deep, really. patabhi jois also said "practice and all is coming" but telling that to students, these days and age, might not be sufficient and thus, knowledge of theory including correct words and proper grammar certainly important to make ourselves understood. today's world is so demanding so it's no longer acceptable to tell the students to focus on practice without 'articulating' the reasons behind the practice which is why in US yoga is so big. Americans are simply good at talking!

everyday i thrive to be a better teacher, better practitioner and most importantly, better person. it's a lifelong conquest and i hope i'll never reach the end....amin.

healing with yoga

i can now understand how having your body cut out can really affect your perspective about life albeit for just short while. it makes you more appreciative of having a fully functional body without having to worry that some part of the body gonna rip open. it make you more creative in trying to function the body as normal as possible without other staring at you for walking funny. i was told by my very concerned gynae to take it easy and try not to harm my body by engaging myself in any strenuous activities and yoga included. wait a minute....since when does yoga qualify as 'strenuous' activity...i thought most uninitiated people are quite happy to think that yoga is way too slow for them and hence, they prefer to 'huff' and 'puff' at the gym either using weights or during 'body combat' or 'body attack' or whatever it is they call it these days...i left gym 8 years back. anyway, back to my conversation with the gynae. she mentioned that yoga has some stretching exercises that are not good for someone like me...i.e. just had about 8in cut way down my abs...hmmmmmm...but doc, i said, i'm an instructor and i teach pregnant ladies to yoga. first of all, yoga is not just exercise..don't let other yogis hear that especially those europeans that have taken residency in india coz they might get offended and sue! most importantly, there are so many poses in yoga that one can engage on without being 'strenuous'..
well, against the good doc advise i decided to start my practice with 12 rounds of surya namaskar modified for pre-natal and when on to practice basic poses without much interruption to my healing abs. i felt good. master was right as he always is...work with the breath...listen to your body...no force. that's how life should be.

attachment...no more.

a fine soul has finally found its resting place. i met him 18 yrs ago and spent last 13 yrs 'trying' not to be in touch with him...and i did, most times.
to me, he is the ideal being. it's either you adore (like i do) or you simply don't like him. for those like me (and we are huge in numbers), it was hard not to. as for the rest, how could they? you may ask...well, he has the tendency of reminding people what they should and shouldn't be, could and couldn't be...now, who would like that?? he was someone who constantly reminded you of your weakness..without saying or doing nothing....by being himself. he has set so high standards of himself that, most times, you felt so small being near him and it made you wanna run so far away as possible. and i did.

on april 6, the almighty decided he is too much for this world and took him away forever...in islam we say "from Him we came, to Him we will go"...heaven bless his soul.

How attachment works...

the word 'attachment' is almost synonym with yoga. one of the main principle of yoga is for us 'earthlings' not to have any attachment to things, people, events etc. we may say...pas de probleme. the fact of the matter is, we attach ourselves to almost everything that revolves around us including future that we haven't even see and have no clue whatsoever on how it will be but we, 'earthlings', still stubbornly or by default, manage to attach ourselves and at times, wonder why we are 'so unhappy'.
yoga philosophy isn't my favourite subject but i do practice the principle of attachment as consciously as possible. i use the word 'consciously' because being a human i am, tend to 'attach' myself in things and matters without realising my actions or my thoughts. exhibit a: i use to say that i have to have coffee to start my day. after 2 mths in india, i realised that a. i am attaching myself to coffee, b.absence of coffee or tea did nothing to my mornings. this is a rather simple example and there are many other examples in our lives that have affected us greatly without us realising. our joy, our happiness, our sense of contentment, our being...these are serious matters. i'm not saying that we should work less harder but we do have to be aware the attachment is the source of great sorrow in our lives.
happiness is the state of being. we don't need things or a person or event to be happy. these are just bonuses. we are born alone in this world and alone we go. meantime, play with the cards that you've been dealt with and make the best of it.

Early morning and yoga

I always believe that early morning yoga is a luxury that most people can't afford. for those who can, sometimes, prefer to sleep a while longer in bed..can't really blame them, early morning is a sacred time, really. the whole world in the process of awakening and here we are, packing our yoga mat into car boot and drive to class. that takes commitment and sheer dedication. in mysore, my days started as early as 4.30am. gotta to be in class by 5.30am so i need some time to drink lots of water 'and/to' empty my bowel. it is always good to drink lots of water before anything else as part of cleansing process but mostly, nothing beats water to start the bowel movement.
then again, for 'the uninitiated', getting to class in the early morning is still a challenge. yet, to see those faces is a real delight. i guess, that is what the master felt seeing us waiting for him in class each morning for 6 weeks. it makes teaching so much joy. it makes everything worthwhile. god bless to those early risers.

Recovery and yoga

i like to think myself as the healthiest or at least, among the healthiest person that i know. i've been exercising and eating well way back when it wasn't hip and trendy to make such claims...but i was. all my friends will say that much about me, to say the least. so, when the doc told me that i need to undergo an operation for something brewing in body, i was shocked! i told her the exact same thing that "i'm the healthiest person i know" and "are you sure that is necessary??". 3 weeks and a half later, here i am, with stitches measuring about 8in way down my abs and temporarily lost my ability to use my abs for the next few months. i was also told to lay off teaching for few weeks for fear that this might harm my body especially after such operation making it almost impossible to practice yoga. 'almost' is the word for i am determine more than ever to start practice as soon as possible. i hope to be able do yoga soonest. when?? you may ask..like everything else in life...there's time and place for it. till then, i shall breath.

All about good vibrations...

during my training in mysore, the teacher, master barath, kept mentioning about how important it is to keep the high energy in class. although this isn't always the case at times but as teachers , we have to be aware of this and try to manage the situation. having said that, managing a difficult situation i.e. difficult student, can be rather challenging definitely not for the faint-hearted because our whole being is being challenged and not just our teaching. if there's anything to gain with yoga is that the practice teaches you to have more calm attitude toward 'challenging' circumstances. i watched how he managed to bring the class energy back together after some tough times no thanks to certain individuals. then again, that's life...there'll be some who love you and some who don't. our job is to be honest about our teaching and hope the students will gain something much more than good stretches when they leave the room.

How do i explain yoga?

for most people, being able to 'survive' 2 months in india is something intriguing and thus, i have successfully generated a lot of buzz about india and yoga since coming back in xmas last year. have to admit, i'm really getting sick of explaining to people what exactly i did in india. again, to most, spending that amount of time in india, is something unheard of. i told that 2 months is nothing compared to other europeans who spend 1 year going from one place to another so my stay is considered short by their standard. so, how do i explain yoga to these people? funny that amidst all the media exposures that yoga been getting last 2 years, there are some who actually think that yoga is all about meditation...where have they been really??? my answer, i admit, depends on the mood i'm in at that particular moment though at times, i prefer to cut the conversation short by saying..."what do you know about it so far" or "why are you interested?". and while they ponder trying to figure out an answer, i muttered something like "yoga has been getting bad rep in m'sia....such a shame....would be great if more people are taking up yoga" and then i gave a weak smile and changed the topic completely. wanna know about yoga?? google it and if still unclear, buy a book on yoga. just don't waste my time by asking a meaningless question on which you'll forget the answer as soon as i'm done explaining...

Diet and yoga

Some people are under the impression that yoga is all about diet and the first thing they ask is 'so, are you a vegetarian?/ do i have to be vegetarian?'. the answer is yes and no. i'll leave that for another entry.
when i was in mysore recently, i picked up a book titled 'don't lose your mind, lose your weight' written by a really spunky person i met some 3 years ago in rishikesh. she is now so uber famous in india. i use the word 'uber' because a.kareena kapoor wrote foreword for her book, and b. rujuta, the author, has list of famous clients. i'm on the 3rd chapter of her famous book and am now convinced that she has figured it all out, as far as diet is concerned. she outlined 'calm state of mind' as one of utmost important thing when eating. in yoga, we strive to achieve calm state of mind with all the asanas, pranayamas and meditation that we religiously practise (or not) daily and we gush when others (non yogis) commented how calm we are when we engage ourselves in conversation and in dealing with daily tasks in general. we politely tell these 'uninitiated' people it's all due to yoga that we've been at last few years. so technically, being a yogi, i had achieved the no.1 rule of eating due to my calm state, well, most times. then, we move on to the next rule 'how to eat: relearn'. now, most of us would be offended when told that we've been eating wrongly all these while but hey, i didn't say this but she did, and i agree with her, as someone used to say to me, 100%. my favorite part is on overeating and bloatness because that i get that a lot. yes, being a yogi doesn't make us immortals and we do get problems like other mortals do. back to the rules, basically, the power of calm state of mind will easily be taken over when one is ignorant or pure blatant disregard about sensitivity of stomach which is why she outlined on 'what to eat: rethink'. in this chapter, she explained in details about carbs, protein, fats and other important things that our body requires on daily basis for it to optimise and most importantly, for me, to have fat loss. why i used the word 'fat loss'? you have to read the book to understand because until you read the book, what i just mentioned may seemed greek to you.
why do i take such interested in this book, one may ask? well, there are few reasons. 1. i met her before and think that she's kinda cool 2.it worked well on kareena 3.her recommendations and examples are more closer to home, malaysia, that is, since i eat significant amount of indian food, and malay food can be as nasty (or not) in terms of its oilyness (is there such word?!nevermind). i've also attached here the cover of the book for your next visit to the bookstore. good things must be shared, same goes for good book. the book might changed your life, quoted by kareena, or it might not or you decided not to buy it at all. i like to use quotes from swami vivekananda "take one idea. make that one idea your life. think of it,dream of it. live on that idea...."

Weird terms in yoga

This term first came about when i was in a meditative posture and were asked to watch my breath. in yoga, we are constantly engaging ourselves in countless awkward positions that makes 'watching the breath' sounds normal. this is, of course, when the conversation is among yogis. we are so used to weird sounding terms like 'keep the collar bones smiling' and the likes that make our conversations, most times, plain weird. a friend once told me about a teacher who told her to hug her shins and no, by no means using hands, at all. i guess that is one of the reason why some people think that yogis are bunch of weirdos. then again, most people have the knack for generalising for fun sake which has absolutely nothing to do with religion or belief. of course, after spending sometime in india, i do admit that some yogis do behave strange and give an open invite to wrong interpretations. as for me, i try to sound as normal as possible i.e. using easily understood terms when conducting classes for simple reason that i want the students to focus more on their breathing then wasting thoughts and energy trying to decipher my words. it is hard as it is to connect mind, body and breath when doing the asanas so let's not make it more complicated by using hard to understand jargons.

Life is Mysore: Part 2

since coming back about 4 weeks ago, i've been asked a lot on how i find living in mysore. i got these strong feeling that most of those who asked expected me to say not-so-nice things about the place. for benefits of others, mysore is about 3 hours by car from bangalore, yes the IT hub of India. mysore is in state of karnataka, where the people speak 'kannada', a slight twang from tamil language, at least what i used to hear in malaysia. it is one of the cleanest part of india that i've ever been anyway. for 2 months, i stayed in a middle/middle upper class neighbourhood called gokulam. it is a really nice area especially when it comes to security. i can certainly vouch for that having to walk at 5.30am daily to yoga shala. i never walk so much in my life till i get there and my heels were the testimony of that. even after 4 weeks being back, the cracked heels are stubborn at healing. over there, everything is within walking distance, be it 5 or 20mins walk. then again, with the cool breeze and good company, i'll take the walk anytime. sadly, my interaction with locals was limited to my landlord and family, tina (the cafe owner), pritti (the lady from lucknow), the 'brothers' at my fav chai shop, and lokesh the tailor. during the first week, i was so excited about learning hindi so i can converse with the locals but soon enough i realised tina is the only person that speak hindi at home while the rest don't. i don't even wanna talk about the rest of mysore population. so, safe to say that i kept the 'conversation hindi' book that i bought away with other books to be shipped back home. i did learn on how to count and simple 'how do you do' and 'i want some chai' in hindi. i called that progress! given the packed daily schedule, most of my interactions were with my coursemates and breakfast and lunch operators. sad, i know. but hey, i signed up the course to socialise so i had to make do with the little interactions i managed to get daily except perhaps on sunday where i can hang longer at breakfast joins without having to rush back or anything like that. so, sunday was for me and my book and tall glass of chai and if at santosha, some beautiful music. heavenly. a place called 'the coconut stand' is a very famous reference in gokulam. for example, someone who want to explain the direction will asked you whether you know the 'coconut stand'. curious why is it called such?!! simple. because it is just a pile of coconuts both fresh and used. at rs10 each, you get the freshest coconut and so nutritious. the thing about india is you can get the healthiest things at fraction of the cost back home and i'm saying that coming from malaysia. i can't imagine for those european, americans, japanese and others. india is so diverse as society and yet so cultured. i know i used the word 'cultured' because that is a fact. it has so much to offer if one willing to learn and let live. no wonder some who came would find it hard to leave...and those who left, can't wait to come back!