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With today being the International Day of Yoga, let us acknowledge and celebrate a figure who was essential in breaking past stereotypes and decades of oppression: Nouf Almarwaai, prefers to call yoga a ‘wellness sport’, whose journey in yoga lead to Saudi Arabia turning yoga into an official sport that can be practiced in the country.
As a result of the origin of yoga being said to have come from Hinduism, yoga as a ‘practice’ was looked down upon places such as Saudi Arabia, whose state beliefs are against the practices of any other religion within the country. However, with the intention of cultivating a culture of a more “open, moderate Islam” the rule of Crown Price, Mohammed bin Salman, turned yoga into a sport.
Nouf Almarwaai’s story goes beyond yoga. She has had a long and painful struggle with health conditions and have overcome the auto-immune disease, Lupus as well as cancer, all armed with yoga. To Almarwaai’s, she sees yoga as a liberating factor that rids one of mental disturbances and other psychological stress factors.
“If the Individual is free from physical ailment and laziness and mental disturbances, they will create a healthy and free society,” Almarwaai said.
Nouf Almarwaai’s journey with yoga
Nouf Almarwaai was only ten years old, when she first heard the term “yoga” – the spiritual, meditative and physical art rooted in ancient Indian culture. Her father, Mohammed Almarwaai, was in the Saudi army, and as part of his training, had been to Japan to learn martial arts. During his stay, he came across a book on yoga, by the South Indian yoga Gurur, Iyengar, and decided to bring it back home for his family to read. Mohammed Almarwaai was also the one who had brought martial arts to Saudi Arabia, over 45 years ago. The book that her father brough back home, Almarwaai says, helped her heal.
Having had to live with an auto-immune disease, Lupus, Nouf Almarwaai said, “My joints would swell up. I did not have the strength to even hold a pen. It took me nearly half an hour to 45 minutes to get out of bed. And sometimes, I would feel like I am having breathing difficulties and would wake up in the middle of the night.” Almarwaai at this point, read the book her father brought back and decided to try doing some yoga poses. However, as she did not have any practice; she was unable to hold any poses and chose to no longer pursue it.
Her health condition kept deteriorating as the years went by to the extend that due to the pain, it got to a point where she had to drop out of college and gradually had to stop participating in any kind of physical activity. Having exhausted every other route to heal herself, Almarwaai came across another yoga book and decided to give it one more chance. With high hopes, she started practicing the poses and Almarwaai instead of having high expectations for her body, she gave her body some time to get adjusted to the poses as well as the breathing patterns.
“It worked like a miracle. For the first time, I felt like I could beat Lupus. The swelling in my joints started reducing, I could sleep well and I also felt a new energy. Yoga saved me. I decided to make yoga a part of my life.”, Almarwaai mentioned.
However, she soon realized that there were no yoga instructors within Saudi Arabia, from whom she could learn the wellness sport, the right way. She had to travel to not only learn how to practice yoga but obtain a license to open a yoga studio as well. Nouf went to several ashrams in Kerala (South India) and Uttarakhand (North India) to learn yoga. After mastering the art, she came back and started teaching yoga in Saudi Arabia professionally.
Due to practicing yoga, she was not only able to resume college but also was able to graduate and become a psychologist. By then, she had started teaching yoga to her family too. And gradually, she started teaching yoga and busting myths about the ancient discipline in her community. She proceeded to build establishments like ‘Holistic Healthcare’ and ‘Saudi Arabia Yoga School’ and popularized it not just in her city but in other Arab Nations too.
‘Yoga gave me strength to deal with the pain.’
In 2014, she came across a new obstacle: being diagnosed with cancer but she bravely fought the disease head-on. Nouf recalls, “before taking the tumor out, and after it was removed, I was doing yoga daily. It helped me tackle stress, anxiety and it gave me the strength to deal with the pain.”
People all around the country were inspired by her journey now. And gradually, the Saudi Arabian government recognized the importance of the ancient art form and the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Investment, officially approved the teaching of yoga as a sport in November 2017. Yoga was introduced in gymnasiums and in rehabilitation centers, thanks to Nouf’s persistence and determination showing the country how useful the practice of yoga could be.
“Asanas are names given to sequence of actions due to a specific cultural background and not a single yoga school makes you do these positions facing the sun or do any worship. Yoga is practiced only for physical and mental wellbeing,” she says.
A Great Honor
Additionally, Nouf was also presented the Padma Shri, due to her instrumental role in legalizing yoga and detaching the misconceptions of yoga, in relation to yoga and Islam, in Saudi Arabia. The Padma Shri award, is the fourth highest civilian award in India.
Receiving Padma Shree has been “a great honor” and a “big responsibility” for Nouf. Nouf expressed, “I am very thankful for the trust Indian government has shown by giving me this award as appreciation of my work in the field of yoga.”
Additionally, she has also received Yoga Ratna award from Asian Yoga Federation and Yoga Person of the Year award from an Indian NGO.
Why is yoga important?
The UN believes that the message of yoga, in promoting both the physical as well as the mental well-being of humanity has never been more relevant, due to the on-going pandemic. Beyond its immediate impact oh physical health, Covid-19 pandemic has also intensified the psychological suffering and mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, as pandemic-related restrictions continue in various forms in many countries. Yoga is said to help alleviate the aforementioned problems and improve the overall health in individuals.
Recognizing this important role of Yoga, this year’s commemoration of the International Day of Yoga focuses on “Yoga for well-being” – how the practice of Yoga can promote the holistic health of every individual.
Article written by: www.halalweekly.com
