Words by Ayesha

When you think of self-care what comes to your mind? Often we deem self-care as a trip to the spa or some pampering in the form of a body massage or facial. But rolling out your yoga mat and doing yoga is self-care too.

Mimi describes yoga as massage to self. “I say it’s a self massage to your body because it makes me feel that good. If I don’t do it I miss it.” Mimi is a local yoga instructor who conducts classes online and at home too.

“I say it’s a self massage to your body because it makes me feel that good. If I don’t do it I miss it.”

Mimi uses her instagram account “lazulyte” named after the semi-precious stone lazulite to share about her yoga journey. Similar to the precious stone which is said to induce states of bliss Mimi consider’s her practice as something that ignites a spark of balance to her mind and soul.

Mimi, started yoga as something she did before she hit the sack. “When my son was about 2 years old I started to workout to keep up with him. He was an active toddler and I would be struggling to keep up with him. When we play together he would kick a ball to me and before I get to it he will run and kick from my side.Thats when I decided I wanted to be fit enough to be playing with him. He needed me”.

With this determination she started to do home workouts. According to Mimi it was much harder to get into a fitness regimen as she wasn’t active growing up . “I wasn’t a sporty person when I was growing up. I had asthma and my allergies triggers easily.”

“I wasn’t a sporty person when I was growing up. I had asthma and my allergies triggers easily.”

I spent most of my time with a book while other kids played outside. So it wasn’t easy. I had to fit a workout anywhere but it was a start. A Jillian Michael’s workout I came across was very simple, repetitive and easy to follow. This workout made me feel very good.“

Driven from that simple yoga sequence Mimi joined a local yoga class and started her practice. Her desire to learn more led to her ultimately to become a certified yoga teacher. Mimi has successfully completed teacher training in Hatha Yoga, Fly yoga, Pre-natal and Thai yoga bodywork.

“I hardly saw any local pages out there when I started making posts to promote yoga on Instagram. I got a lot of messages from a lot of people saying they were inspired. I was surprised with these messages and it was nice to receive those.”

There are several misconceptions about yoga. Yoga is stereotyped as something only for the athletic, toned, thin or fit people. This is a common thought, however yoga can be practiced with any type of body.

Mimi elaborates “The beauty of yoga is you don’t need to be yogi or yogini to do yoga. From what I have learnt anyone can do yoga. I learnt yoga from a teacher who learnt from Iyengar himself. A person who does yoga does not need to look a certain way. A person with any type of body or any age can do yoga.

For example some people may appreciate the use of yoga props such as straps, blocks and pillows. With the aid of these, any pose is accessible to everyone, it may not look the same for everyone but the benefit would be the same and the feeling would be the same.”

Mimi has experienced the health benefits of yoga as well. “During pregnancy I had a sharp shooting pain on my leg which was horrible. A doctor recommended that I swim, which I did too. But the pain was still there. I did a lot of home remedies too.

I was able to get relief for this pain from a yoga pose I did during my teacher training. Trainers watch our practice closely and one of my Trainers noticed the stiffness and helped me to alleviate the pain through a deep pigeon pose.

To reap the full benefits of Yoga you need to continuously practice. I would say it’s all about consistency. People would ask me if yoga will help them lose weight? Or whether it would help them get rid of back pain? Somebody may even ask whether they’d be able to do a headstand and so on. For these questions I always respond that they need to try and be committed to the practice.”

Yoga strengthens the body and has the power to calm the mind as well. “Compared to the local classes, learning from a professional trainer was an eye opening experience for me. Teacher training programs were quite comprehensive. They taught everything from what needs to happen in our mind together with the body; which areas to be engaged to do a pose in the right form. It was totally a different experience.”

As a teacher, Mimi does her best to give her clients an enjoyable experience whilst teaching them the right way to do yoga. “In yoga, you align your moments to your breath.So breathing is an important part in yoga. Some people are very much body aware and it will be easy for them to follow.For others, it might take a while to find where their body is during practice. If the clients are struggling to do a pose in the right form a prop can be used as an aid.

For beginners, listening to the cues will help them. It may take some time to grasp the concepts for the new-comers but they eventually catch up.

Covid has changed a lot of things for many people including Mimi. “This year’s lockdown was tough for me as well. For three months, I was out of practice. I could feel the tightness in my body but since then I have started again, and I am slowly getting into my normal practice. I haven’t felt like that for a long time but now I understand again how new people will feel in yoga”

Mimi encourages to always start with a teacher if you are a beginner. “If you are a beginner , always start with a teacher. Even now I go to a teacher. There is always room for improvement.” That’s advice from her teacher Mr.Shirnath says Mimi.

Over the years, Mimi’s life changed with yoga and her journey is still evolving through her practice. “I feel like this was the thing that was missing in my life and I will ask anyone who wants to join my class or start up yoga to do it with an open mind. I want people to know yoga is for anyone who wants to do yoga and that you don’t need to have anything other than the willingness to practice yoga”