At last, got my cert!!

Finally, received my diploma certificate in Yoga teaching today :-), but what i want to share here is my teacher's comment written on my final exam paper.

"Pls concentrate on kriya to be able to guide students to complete yoga path, & firstly you must pray everyday and act of spiritual path of yama & niyama * "

And another yoga teacher which i respect a lot also advise me this after he know i completed my course.

"Teach from heart, don't teach for money, once you teach with wholehearted & think for the good of students, everything else will come to you"

Thank you so much for your valuable advices and guidances... i will put in my heart...

* In Pantajali yoga sutra, Yama & Niyama refers to the first two limbs of eight path of yoga.

1) . Yama is the first limb which means self-discipline or restraints. It refers to our behaviour and attitude to cultivate toward others. It depicts the “don’t” in our daily life. Yama basically depicts the famous rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” In yoga sutras, Patanjali states there are five codes of ethical principals namely ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (continence) and aparigraha (non-greed /non-possessiveness).

2) If Yama means the “don’ts”, the 2nd limb Niyama implies the “do’s”. It means the personal conduct or how our attitudes toward ourselves. There are five niyama namely Saucha(cleanliness); Santosha (contentment), Tapas (self-discipline), Syadhyaya(self-study) and Ishyara Pranidhana (surrender to god).

so, friends, see, yoga is definitely more than yoga postures :-)

Rest in Peace!

Was away from town about a week as back to home, only attended my yoga class last night, and my yoga teacher told me a shocking news, "Do you know Adrian?? the guy who wear earring & attended the Saturday morning class & our pranayama workshop...he died in heart attack, in a gym cardio, seem like body pump or combat, collapsed half way & died, he is only 38...". I can't recall who is Adrian until i saw his picture...oh my god, yes, i know him, he attended 2 of my practical classes... he looks physical fit, healthy and he really look young at his age... speechless...and i am really feeling very sad even i never talk to him in personal and know him well...and we will hv our pranayama workshop again tomorrow, but he seem never ever attend it again....

Just feel life is so fragile and impermanence, and you never know what is going to happen next... So, friends, just want to say, live our life fully and happily as as if you were to die tomorrow !!

Rest in peace, Adrian!!!!!!

Yoga at the beach

Brother and I in Tree pose

Yes,yes,yes... followed brother, sister inlaw & their gang last week to one of the unknown beach in Mersing, Johor...had an wonderful weekend there and shoot some yoga photo at the beach before sunrise....btw, this is only partially of the photos which are taken by my brother...more later...in another camera.... wl post online once get it !!

p/s :was super busy for the past 2 weeks...

Truly feeling sad and down!!

I truly feeling sad and down at this moment when i write this post, it is kind of contradict to my normal personality , where i always potray myself as confident, positive and happy... something happens today makes me wonder now whether i take the right step to pursue my dream, i try to question myself, why i hv to do it all, I start to suspect myself, can i survive or live with this dream...Am I crazy?? I just feel i am silly and doing things on my own... I completely lost now... all the quesion marks that come to my little brain now.... I think i need time to think about it... friends, just give me strengths..................

p/s, at 5.49pm : I am feeling much better now..i wl turn the dog shit (bad /negative thoughts) to sweet sweet sweet mangoes....

at 8.30pm : I completely ok now... I will move on and do what i need to do....

I love myelf

I Love Myself Affirmation
~Louise Hay
Deep at the centre of my being, there is an infinite well of love. I now allow this love to flow to the surface.

It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, my very being, and radiates out from me in all direction sand returns to me multiplied.

The more love I use and give,the more I have to give.The supply is endless. The use of love makes me feel good, it is an expression of my inner joy.

I love myself; therefore, I take loving care of my body.I lovingly feed it nourishing foods and beverages,I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly responds to me with vibrant health and energy.

I love myself; therefore provide for myself a comfortable home, one that fills all my needs and is a pleasure to be in. I fill the rooms with the vibration of love so that all who enter, myself included,will feel this love and be nourished by it.

I love myself;therefore I work at a job I truly enjoy doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities,working with and for people I love and who love me,and earning a good income.

I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving way to all people for I know that that which I give out returns to me multiplied.I only attract loving people in my world, for they are a mirror of what I am.

I love myself; therefore I forgive and totally release the past and all past experiences and I am free.

I love myself; therefore I live totally in the now, experiencing each moment as good and knowing that my future is bright and joyous and secure, for I am a beloved child of the Universe and the Universe lovingly takes care of me now and forever more.

And so it is.

Remark : This is the affirmation message from yesterday breathing workshop. I love this message sooooo much...Do we love ourself?? If we love ourself, we will take good care of ourself physically and mentally.. We will eat good food, get rid all bad habits, groom ourself well and etc, we will always look good and healthy.... We will never allow other people or negative thoughts take control and torture our life and happiness, we will always free and feel happy.. sometimes, i don't think i love myself ...so i learned yesterday how to love myself... yes, i wl love and accept myself deeply and completely!!

Is Yoga a "Panacea"? ~ The 3C

Frankly speaking, if you ask me this question, I would say "yes", i do believe yoga cures everything. Had a chat with a lady yesterday before our breathing workshop, she told me that yoga saved her life from hell..she hd a lot of diseases before, but now she is healthy and happy. I believe there are still a lot of real life stories of how yoga changes one's life whether physically or mentally....Physically, it makes one healthy, improves various bodily function & cures related ailments. Mentally, it calms and pacifies our minds, alleviates stress, anxiety, tension and depression, it also help you to approach life in a positive attitude.

Yes, yoga offers enormous uncountable benefits to well beings, I never doubt this notion at all, but the key is do we practice with consciousness, consistent and commitment? (The 3 C). It is very important in yoga to practice with consciousness, being aware of what we are doing, be conscious on our breathing, our body and mind. But not practising for the sake of practising. Secondly, how regular you practice yoga?? Be honest to yourself :-), if you practice occasionally, once a while or only during the class without home practices, i think it is quite fair enough that you don't expect any miracle yoga would happen on you. Last but not least, do u practice with commitment, persistent and wholehearted??

I would not say yoga is the only practice that works wonder for our physical body, but any sport and exercise for instance running, badminton, swimming, dancing, Taiji, judo or any sport activities..if you practice consistently and commitment, you will see result of the improvement of your health condition and experience other associate beneifts.

So, pick one of favourite sport activities or exercise, whether is yoga or not....practise on regular basis with commitment even a small amount of exercise every week can lead the change of your body..

I would like to end this article with one of my yoga teachers quote

"if you don't have time for your body, one day your body will not have time for you!!"

Wishing you all healthy and happy!!!

Remarks : I plan to start writing something on how yoga works for various conditions such as back pain, insomnia, constipation, stress & etc by introducing few simple yoga poses or breathing technique,so, if you would want to see result from yoga, remember the 3C....

The Story of Two Boxes

I was sharing some thoughts of "Let go" in the yoga forum i used to participate..indeed let go is one of the words that i used to encourage friends when they are in down times... "Let go" is also frequently mentioned in the teaching of yoga ~ Just let go and surrender yourself.. Then Steve (from South Africa) asked me "How do you let go??" Mind totally went black at that moment, honestly, i think i am good in talking & motivating...hahaha...but how to tell others how do I let go??

What a great question!! I am still figuring out now how do I let go?? but i think it just happens naturally at one point of time...when I hv felt enough with those things/people/incidents that cause me "suffering" and "unhappy"; then i just tell myself "shihui, that is, it is time for you to let go and move on".... off course, it is not easy by just saying like this...but it hd gone through many struggling mental processes...and internal fighting... yes... but still if we want to live happily, we have to let go, and learn to detach things that bring us suffering and unhappy...we always hv a choice to the living we want...

Anyway, below is the story of two boxes.... enjoy reading :-)

The Story of Two Boxes

I have in my hands two boxes

Which God gave me to hold

He said "Put all your sorrows in the black box

And all your joys in the gold"

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes

Both my joys and sorrows I stored.
But though the gold become heavier each day,
The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black,
I wanted to find out why,
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God and mused,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be.
"He smiled a gentle smile and said,
"My child, they're all here with me."

I asked God why He gave me the boxes,
Why the gold and the black with the hole?
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessing.
The black is for you to "let go".

So, wishing you all hv a WONDERFUL Thursday!!! :-)

Remarks : The story of 2 boxes is very much a little game i played once in my class, will share with you guys next time :-) , promise...

Brother/sister inlaw doing yoga in Tioman

Received a call from my brother last night..indeed nothing special, but just want to show off some pictures he has taken in Tioman during sunrise... in yoga poses... What??? Hate it...and want to bite him some more... i was asking him to take some artistic & glamour picture for me too.... hahaha..so jealous when i see their picture... share with you guys ....

Remarks

1) Even i feel to bite my brother... i still love love my family so much...

2) Tioman Island (locally, Pulau Tioman) is a small island located 32km off the east cost of Peninsular Malaysia in the state of Pahang.

3) My next target is to teach my mum yoga...hahaha..btw, she can do tree pose now... but my brother/sister inlaw learn yoga from different teacher.

What is Yoga?

What is "Yoga"??

Nowadays, most of the people when they heard abt yoga, they will think yoga is a series of extreme physical fitness exercise or workout..but just want to say, Yoga is much more than physical exercises, posture in yoga is called "Asana" (Sanskrit) which is only 1/8 part of yoga, there are total eight paths that constitute the doctrine of yoga.

So, what is "Yoga"???

I Google "yoga definition", i found 509,000 links ;-), and when I type of "what is yoga", there are 474,000 links show up... Not to add more confusion, I will not write 1000 words to tell you what yoga is...but i will explain what is yoga in a very simple way, but prior of this, i want to emphasis that "Yoga is not a religion"....

Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word "Yug". Yug means to yoke, unite, join or connect. So, what are the things to be united, joined or connected?? that is our "body" and "mind". Next, how we are going to connect?? well, i would say through the breathing...that is why in yoga practices, we emphasis a lot of awareness in breathing... that is to train us to connect our body and mind i.e. to be mindfulness, live in present and aware what self is doing ......

Hope this is not complicate to you..simply put, when you are walking, you are walking; when you are eating, you are eating, when you are singing, you are singing...when you are laughing, you are laughing...if asana or yoga poses is what you know abt yoga, no worries... which means when you are in the pose whereas standing, twisting, forward bending or any posture, you are in that pose... just focus on your breathing, inhale and exhale, never ever hold your breath, be aware of your body, be conscious on what you are doing at that moment...then you are practising yoga..

well, you may say "it seem easy"..but ask yourself, how many of us, when we are walking or doing anything, our little mind is still working..."what i am going to eat later? why my bf/gf behave so cold to me today? how to earn more $$ ? what is this or what is that??.....all sort of questions that come to our little brain...if you are practicing yoga, when you in any yoga pose or while in relaxation, is your mind still, relax and calm or monkey mind?? Sometimes our mind just wonder around...Do you agree with me ?? ;-)

To deepen the understanding of yoga for advance students and serious practitioners, from the definition of Pantajali in Yoga Sutra, Yoga means "Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha"; that is the cessation of the fluctuation of the mind...

No worries about this all if seem complicate or confuse you :-) , just remember, just be aware and enjoy what you are doing at that particular moment..then you will feel the bliss of yoga when your body and mind are connected... :-)

Btw, i do welcome any comments/thoughts abt this topic :-) ...

namaste

Dog Poo

We normally end our yoga session by "massage sharing", where we will share some positive/motivation stories or messages with the students..

I did my part on last Sunday class i.e.my last class, before i share my message, i want them to "play" this scenario in their mind...

"Imagine you wake up this morning as you hv a very sweet dream last night, so you feel so good, energised & refreshed at the moment you open your eyes. also you know today is Sunday, and you wl hv your yoga class later, you know you are going to hv great workout and you will see all your yogamates there. You feels so great. Then you drive all the way to the yoga center...the sky is blue, the birds are singing; the weather is perfect & not so hot, the traffic is smooth, well, it seem a beautiful Sunday for you. And you reach the yoga center..Perfect parking lot waits you there..so, you park your car, when your open the car door and come out from the car...you feel something strange, you feels something soft, smelly on your soles of your shoes... . OMG !that is dog poo..a "big" and "fresh" dog poo...

So, i asked them "What you will react then if you step on the dog poo?"I pause a while...everyone seem smiling there..:-) , btw, i believe some of you will shout "SHIT, WHAT A DAY!!" or "HOW BAD LUCK I AM!!" haaha...well, i guess..

Then, i read out my message...this messge is basically taken from one of my favourite monks~Ajahn Brahm, not that really on "Buddhism" teaching, i would think it is very much of one's attitude towards life.....it is a wonderful message...

"He mentioned that if we step on some dog poo, we make a big fuss abt it and clean it off asap, but the dog poo is also fertiliser.

If we can be patient and bear with it, we can add to the soil of the mango tree in our garden and which it grow all the more better.

And one day, when we taste the sweet mangoes, that poo is now part of the sweet mango you enjoy.

Bad experience are like dog poo, they stink, they are yucky but they can be fertiliser to the mango tree that is your "mind"; they will help you to grow (what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger)..and one day, when you taste the sweet mangoes of success and happiness and look back on the bad dog poo and smile :-) "

Each of us has our own stories... we hv up & down in life...dog poo in just part of our life..unavoidable, at sometimes somehow, we will step on some dog poo... the poo can be ranging from breakdown with bf/gf, lost our job, fail in exam or just anything....you choose to live it miserable and stink with this dog poo all your life, keep on complaining and blaming or you can choose to convert this dog poo into sweet mangoes...fyi, I hv a lot of dog poos in my life...plus dog pee :-(, but when i look back of my life now, i still feel grateful for what i have been gone through or else i will be the shihui now, i really happy and content of whom i am now and enjoy what i am doing now...

So, friends, what is your story?? think about it and how does this dog poo changes you...well, i do hope you are tasting your sweet mangoes now :-) ....remember, that dog poo is part of the sweet mangoes you are eating :-); so, when you see dog poo in future...think abt this message!!

p/s - for those who want to know more abt Ajahn Brahm, pls visit this website of the list of his Dhamma talks http://www.bswa.org/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=4&orderby=hitsD

Why Happyfish?

"Happyfish" is the nickname i used in one of the yoga forum......

Why "happyfish"? Well, i born in March, so, I am pisces and i have all the "fish"characters (you name it, i hv it. esp the bad one.haha..), like super emotional, sensitive, imaginative, silly as easily trust people :), unrealistic, dreamer, particularly, i dislike myself being super emotional sometimes where my mood and days are easily influenced and led by my surrounding .... anyway, yoga do help me in some extent to control my emotion...Plus i want to be "happy"; so, i named myself "happyfish".....

Start of my new journey

Finally, after 9 months studies, i have submitted my final test paper today and also this morning yoga class represents my last practical class...so, at last i can be considered complete my diploma of yoga teaching...

Mind bit blank for the past 2 days (as I finished my test paper on last Friday)...bit not get used to the "free" time where i have no coursework to do...hahaha..honestly, i really enjoy my study time even it was so frustrating sometimes...imagine three Anatomy and Physiology papers where I have to study muscles, bones, joints, various bodily systems…..but i do learn a lot throughout the process...anyway, it is over now and I hv no regret for my decision of quitting my job and study full time for this course…

I believe the completion of this course represents the start of my new journey as a yoga teacher...i have much more there to learn and will keep my dream on and enjoy my journey no matter what happens....

So now in order to keep "me" busy, I have planned to start writing something abt yoga in this blog, so, i do appreciate and welcome any comments and feedback from you all........Also "need" to seriously look for job... Furthermore, i wl start my teacher life by teaching a small group of 3 next 2 weeks.. & may be another small group later….well, a good start, right? i think... above all, i still want to hv a short holiday.....any place will do...anyone free there ;-P??