To whom it may concern Please be informed that Yoga Now Malaysia does not associate or advertise with any yoga retreats booking websites. Even though we had rejected their invite to list our yoga retreats on their website and requested them to take down the listing which they put on their website without our consent and permission, they are still listing our yoga retreats on their websites under the 'non-availability' status with the outdated information taken from our website.
Please contact Yoga Now Malaysia directly via email for any yoga retreat request and booking. Thank you. Regards, Yoga Now Malaysia
My life Stories - Part 10 Stories
from my past memories - childhood, family, friends, growing up,
poverty, integrity, dreams came true, finding peace and
happiness, Buddhism, Yoga, and now...
(Updated November 2020)
We love travelling and had travelled a lot during the last ten years
while we were living on Langkawi Island. Wherever we went, we enjoyed
our stay and travelling in the different places with different cultures,
scenery and climates. We were also very happy to be back in Langkawi
after travelling to some other places.
Living in Langkawi wasn’t any much different from being in a
beautiful holiday destination. Many people from around the world go
there for short and long holidays. Throughout our travelling regardless
of whether we were staying with our family and friends, or staying in
the many different tourists guest houses, I continued my daily yoga
asana practice wherever we went, on top of the formless yoga practice
within the mind every moment which is unseen from the appearance.
Yoga asana practice coordinates with the breath that requires certain
amount of self-discipline, concentration, awareness, acceptance,
adjustment, adaptation, determination, forbearance and perseverance,
isn’t all of yoga. It’s one of the many types of the yoga practice that
can help us to influence the state of the mind, to purify the mind, to
bring the mind into the present, to channel our energy into performing
self-inquiry and meditation to realize unconditional love and peace, to
develop correct thinking and self-control to counter evil or negative
tendencies, to develop non-attachment and non-identification towards the
body and mind, to let go the ego and the desires of craving and
aversion, to develop inner strength and flexibility to deal with
challenges and undesirable experiences in life, and eventually be free
from all sorts of suffering that derived from ignorance and egoism.
Yoga asana practice being practiced with the correct attitude and
understanding helps us to realize and respect the truth of impermanence
in everything, be able to let go attachment towards the qualities of
name and form, and thus, be unaffected, undisturbed and undetermined by
the impermanent qualities of name and form that the mind perceives
through the senses. It also helps to maintain a better physical and
mental health condition for us to make good use of this body and mind or
this life existence, to help ourselves to be in peace and to serve
other beings.
At home in Langkawi, whether we were running yoga retreats or not, I
maintained my daily yoga asana practice even if it’s only for one hour
in the evening after sending our retreat guests back to the guest house.
When we were running yoga retreats, I would get up around 6.00 am, and
would be continuing busy until after 9.00 pm, or sometimes after 10.30
pm if we brought our guests to Kuah town for dinner and to explore the
local night market. When there was a short break in between yoga
classes, I was being busy with preparing the meals for the retreat.
I enjoyed being busy with running the yoga retreats, teaching yoga
classes, doing the maintenance work such like cleaning and tidying our
yoga studio and our home where the retreat guests had their meals with
us, being the driver sending our guests between our yoga studio and the
guest house, shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables and what we need
for the retreats, and cooking for our guests.
When we didn’t have yoga retreats going on, I also enjoyed having
more free time for ourselves (my husband and I) spending time together
going to the beach or the waterfalls and doing the things that we
weren’t able to do when we were running the retreats. Usually I
practiced my daily asana routine for about two hours when we were not
running retreats, as well as writing some blog posts inspired by my
daily personal yoga practice and from giving yoga classes.
Rarely, some days I would take rest from asana practice. I didn’t
feel bad or uncomfortable when I don’t perform asana practice for a day
or a few days, as that was the resting time which my body needed for
that time being, to be away from too many physical activities. It
doesn’t matter if there is no suitable time or space for me to practice
yoga asana physically, the yoga practice within will never stop.
During our travelling in India for more than six weeks in the end of
2012, I had encountered quite serious discomfort on my left knee coming
from the old injuries resulted from my previously more than twenty
years of high impact fitness workouts and competitive physical trainings
for competitions. I couldn’t walk properly. The pain woke me up during
my sleep for many nights. But still, it didn’t stop me from doing my
daily yoga asana practice. I still continued with my yoga asana practice
with some modifications to allow my knee to heal itself with some
exercises that help to strengthen and maintain the mobility of the
muscular tendons that support the knees. The knee discomfort went on for
four months before getting back to its normal condition (discomfort
free).
These are the videos of my daily yoga asana practice in India while
having the knee discomfort. It wasn’t much different from my usual asana
practice, but I performed the exercises with some adjustments to
accommodate the discomfort in my left knee :
Basically, I live a very simple lifestyle. Besides the daily life
routines, I spend most of the time observing silence and doing yoga
practice, purifying the thoughts, actions and speech, developing and
strengthening the inner strength and flexibility, being aware of and
letting go desire of craving and aversion, impurities or impure thoughts
that arising and passing away in the mind, and sharing yoga through the
blogs. I spend some of the time on doing house works, washing and
cleaning which I enjoy very much. I never feel there’s any separation
from yoga whether I am doing some yoga practice in a particular name and
form, or just living every day life.
It doesn’t matter whether my body is at rest or in action, being with
some other people or being with myself, I don’t feel separation from
yoga. Whatever I do or don’t do, all are not separated from yoga
practice. Buddhism practice, Karma yoga, Raja yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana
yoga are all co-existing in actions and inactions. It’s all about
eliminating the ego and egoism, removing ignorance, and to enjoy real
freedom of peace. All these are the yoga and meditation practice in life
every moment. Without doing any yoga asana practice or any other forms
of yoga practice of particular name and form doesn’t stop the mind from
practicing yoga or realizing yoga, and be in peace.
I spend lots of time being with myself (whether surrounded by people
and happenings, or being alone), especially when there are no retreats. I
don’t feel myself being isolated from anything or anyone, even when I
am alone by myself. I don’t feel that I need to be in certain place, or
being with certain people that I like, or doing certain things that I
enjoy doing, to feel good, happy, love and meaningful. The point is, I
don’t need to feel good, happy, love and meaningful at all. I am
peaceful as I am. Wherever I am or I am not, whatever I am doing or I am
not doing, I am at ease. I will try to stay out of unnecessary troubles
when I can see them coming. If I can’t avoid them, I accept them as
they are.
I try to stay away from social gossips and vain talks as much as possible.
I don’t need to be in the Ashrams or attend silent retreats to cut
off from social life activities for me to observe silence, seclusion,
self-contemplation, self-discipline, or to practice yoga and meditation,
although occasionally I will spend some time in the Ashrams and the
silent retreat centres. There’s no difference for me in my own practice,
wherever I am, as the mind is being in the present following wherever
the body goes.
x x x x x x x x x x
Before we moved to the first cement house in Pantai Cenang, I didn’t
cook at all. My husband did all the cooking for the meals of our yoga
retreats. I had started preparing food and cooking for our yoga retreats
only after we moved into the cement house. This was possible after we
had rented the cement house with bigger kitchen and dining hall, and we
only used the wooden house as yoga studio for the retreats classes and
activities. It’s also conveniently located very close to our yoga
studio, where the retreat guests could easily walk to the cement house
for meals after the sessions.
Before we had the cement house to prepare the meals separately from
the yoga studio, my husband did the cooking as soon as the session
finished while I sent the retreat guests back to their guesthouse, and
then an hour later, I brought them back to the yoga studio to have meals
with us. By having the kitchen in the cement house, I could do the
cooking while my husband was teaching the session at the yoga studio,
and meals would be ready by the time the session finished. The guests
didn’t need to go back to their guesthouse and then come back again for
meals wasting time in the commute.
I enjoyed very much preparing and cooking the food for our retreat
guests. I had no idea how to cook or what to cook, but I was determined
to try to learn to cook from watching you tube videos and getting
recipes from the Internet. My husband was my food taster. It didn’t
matter to me in the beginning the food tasted not so good. I kept trying
to experiment cooking. Until my husband thought it was good enough, I
started preparing and cooking the dishes for our yoga retreats.
Because I love eating Malaysian food, Chinese food and Thai food, I
learned to cook a few dishes like Chinese style stir-fried different
types of vegetables, vegetarian Thai green curry, vegetarian Nyonya
sambal with tempe, Achar – vegetables pickles, boiled or mashed potato,
vegetable soups, and pan fried or grilled mushrooms. Basically I didn’t
have precise measurement for the ingredients that I used. That’s why
they tasted slightly different every time when I cooked. During retreat
rest time, my husband would prepare the chickpeas curry, vegetarian
lasagna with tempe, hummus, tahini, condiment dressings for salads,
homemade bread and a few other vegetable dishes that I didn’t know how
to cook yet. I just needed to heat up those pre-cooked food and put the
salads and bread on the table before the session finished. Marc is a
very good cook. He had been cooking for a mountain refuge and a
restaurant in France for a few years.
I am contented and grateful for the past and present living condition
which was and is very conducive and convenient for me to practice yoga
in the present moment.
A friend talked to me about she feels that it's very difficult to practice compassion, acceptance and letting go in daily life. She feels that she has became too "easy" for other people to take advantage of her, and she feels sad about it...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There's nothing wrong that if you felt unhappy or angry or sad when you felt other people were not nice and unkind to you when you have been nice and kind to them... You should allow yourself to feel how you were feeling in that moment. But watch these feelings with awareness... Watch how these feelings come and go... Do not identify with these impermanent feelings... These feelings are not you or who you are... Know that everything is impermanent. Even this will pass...
Real compassion comes along with correct understanding, right discrimination and non-attachment.
It doesn't mean "being easy", or agree with everything, or say "yes" to everything...
When you think you are being compassionate, accepting everyone and everything as they are, and being available for everyone when they "need" you or your help, but at the same time, you feel very unhappy, angry and sad with people taking advantage of you or take you for granted because they think you are "easy" and "kind" or "stupid", and you feel tired and disappointed with family and friends whom you care a lot and you do your best for everyone whom you love but they don't show any gratitude or appreciation, instead they criticize you for what you do for them, then know that you are not really being compassionate.
If you are truly compassionate, you will know when to say "yes" and when to say "no"...
You don't have to agree with things that you don't agree with. You don't have to throw away all your belongings and relationships with anybody to show that you are practicing non-attachment and letting go.
You will know how to be compassionate towards yourself first, take care of your own well-being first, have peace in yourself first, before you can be compassionate toward other beings and taking care for other people...
In order to take care yourself, you will be able to say "no" without feeling bad or guilty when you need to say "no"... It doesn't make you bad or less compassionate. Being compassionate doesn't mean that you have to be available for everyone all the time. You need to have your own time for yourself, to eat, to play and to rest, to take care your own well-being, to retreat from the worldly affairs... Do not forget to be kind and compassionate towards "this being"...
Acceptance doesn't mean that we have to agree with everything and go along with things that we don't agree with.
Acceptance means "Able to allow everything to be what they are as they are, whether it is something that we agree with or disagree with. Nor try to change or control things to be the way that we want it to be... At the same time we do our best to improve without expectation that things will change into what we want it to be... Allow things to change into what they are as they are... Maybe it will change into what we like it to be, maybe not... It doesn't matter... We did our best, and let go..."
Letting go doesn't mean throw away everything, not having anything at all...
Letting go means "Whether we have many things or don't have anything, it doesn't determine us for who we are. We do not attach to all these things. We do not depend on things to be who we are, to feel good or meaningful. We can have things, but we know the truth of things is impermanent. No matter it is material belongings, relationships, works, enjoyments, thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, positivity, negativity, painful sorrow and etc... They all are impermanent. We are able to allow all these things to exist, change and disappear... We accept all changes as they are from moment to moment. When we don't have things that we want or like, we are still who we are, it doesn't make us any less good or less peaceful..."
When we feel unhappy about certain things, they will pass away eventually. When we feel happy about certain things, they also will pass away eventually. Good relationships or bad relationships, they all will pass away eventually whether you like it or not... Good health or bad health, they all will pass away...
Love yourself, be compassionate towards yourself, take care of yourself.... Be honest to say "no" when you need to say "no"... Sometimes we need to allow other people to show compassion towards us. We don't have to be the "strong" one to be there for everyone whom we "think" they are weak and they need us... We don't have to be the "compassionate" one and let other people to be the "compassionate" one... This is not selfish... This is the beginning of compassion.
When you know how to take care yourself, you will have full energy and joyfulness to be kind to other beings without feeling tired or disappointed... You will not be touched nor determined nor disturbed by your compassionate kind actions towards other beings or the reactions of other beings towards your compassionate kind actions. You are not determined nor disturbed by the fruit or the result of your actions...
You are who you are... You do not become a better or happier person when you show kindness towards other beings. You do not become a bad or less happy person when you need to take care of yourself, nor do you become a bad or unhappy person when other people don't appreciate nor be grateful towards your kindness towards them...
You'll never feel that you are being taken for granted nor feel it's difficult to be a good, kind and compassionate person...
If you are compassionate, you won't be angry or upset with anything or anyone... It's because you love yourself and be kind to yourself... This is more important than try to please everyone and make everyone happy, because you can't... That's why you feel so tired and disappointed after trying to please everyone to make them happy and satisfied... Everyone will be happy and satisfied as they are, when they found the inner peace and happiness within themselves through their own effort. We can only guide other people on how to reach this unconditional peace when we ourselves are peaceful, but we cannot take away what make them unhappy or not peaceful in the first place, or to remove their root cause of unhappiness which is ignorance or impurities...
Nobody is going to be truly happy or satisfied unless ignorance or impurities are vanished from their mind. It doesn't matter how other people tried to please them or be nice to them, they'll still be unhappy and dissatisfied as the root cause of unhappiness or restlessness or dissatisfaction are there...
We need to help ourselves first before we can help other beings... We need to mind our own purification to purify our own mind, without expecting other people will purify their mind... Let other people perform their duties and purification when they are ready and willingly to do so...
When we point fingers at other people criticize them "You are this or that...", actually ourselves are not any better than them...
No need to worry about other people's ego, just mind watching our own ego...
Know thyself. Everything is impermanent and selfless. There is no 'I'. There is no 'I am selfless'/'I am not selfless'. There is no 'I am hurt'/'I need to be healed from hurt'.
Non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing and non-blind propagating, but be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything.
Be free. Be peaceful. Be happy.
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