Author Archives: Melanie

My Humble Yoga Journey – Stop. Slow Down. Breathe.

Posted on by Melanie

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I did not get in touch with my mat for the past week. Full the brim with guiltiness. *Grins*

It was my bad for procrastinated and did not prepare myself for my Japanese Language exam. Last minute revision is seriously a torture! Thank goodness that I’ve passed the exam with Grade A *ahem*. Notes to self, no more last minute study for my next semester. NO MORE!

While I was studying with droopy eyes and stuck brain, basically the whole revision session was blur-blank-study-for-the-sake-of-study, one of my yogi friends tagged me for Stop-Drop-Yoga. It was a perfect timing for me take a break. Yeah, I should stop for a while. No point forcing. Drop myself on the mat. And of course, let’s yoga! And I choose Warrior 3 and stretch with all my might. Mmm… 🙂

At times, we need to stop for a while. Go out to the park, cafeteria, pantry, even toilet just for a drop of pee. Do something. Talk to people. Crack some jokes perhaps. We must always remember to breathe and slow down. Inhale, exhale.

When I was younger, I ask my mom what will happen if we hold our gas. And her answer was, “Your face will turn green!”. I hope you are giggling if not laughing. Comes to think about this, it is theoretically true that we need to let go of what we have in ourselves. Let go of all hatred, stress, sadness, you name it. Else not only the face will turn green, our mind, body and health will be affected. True?

Well people, let it go and fart! Don’t-lah do it “secretly” unless you are 100% sure it does not smell.

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Let’s “STOP. SLOW DOWN. BREATHE AGAIN”.

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.

My Humble Yoga Journey – Utthan Pristhasana

Posted on by Melanie

lizard pose

In my Surya Namaskar practice, I always have this asana included without fail.This is such a great asana for opening the hips, hamstring and groins. It strengthens the inner thigh muscles of the front leg and opens the shoulders. I can also feel the opening of the back of the knees.

Above picture is a modified version by clasping the hand behind and bring the crown of the head to the floor. It is quite wobbly before I could find the balance. 🙂

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.
Wearing, Handmade Iyengar Yoga Shorts.

My Humble Yoga Journey – Adho Mukha Vrksasana

Posted on by Melanie

adho mukha vrksasana

Handstand is one of my favourite asana. I am still working on it. It is a very, very long journey for me to get into this asana without the support of the wall. I saw a yogi on IG having a block on the buttock and so I got inspired immediately of course. I have Abner to help me place the block like how she did it and FUH~ it does train the arms strength.

If you would love to try this, please do make sure that you have a foam block with you. When I was in the pose, I have zero concentration because I was so worry that the wooden block  will fall on my head at any time. 😛 Namaste.

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.

My Humble Yoga Journey – Tittibhasana

Posted on by Melanie

titibhasana_blog

My first Tittibhasana or Firefly pose. I always admire all the great yogis out there in this asana. Of course I wish so badly that I could do it but have no guts at all to really try it. Well, I tried it but without putting any effort or understand it and so I failed.

I check out some tutorials on youtube and reference from books and hit my mat to work on it. I was surprised at first when I managed to lift both legs up followed by witnessing the progress of straightening them. That was amazing and by nailing this asana, it gave me hope and confidence to try new poses that makes me believe in this saying which goes like this.

“Stop waiting for things to come. Go out and make them happen”.

It is happening and I am so amazed by it. By the look of my pose, I need a lot of practice. A lot of flexibilities and strength to do better. Namaste.

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.

My Humble Yoga Journey – Kurmasana

Posted on by Melanie

kurmasana

I remember when I was first introduced to Kurmasana or Tortoise Pose like 3 years ago, it was so tough I felt like a mission impossible. I never bother to give it another try since then.

I got inspired by so many yogis on IG and so I thought of giving my body an opportunity to work on this asana. To my surprise, I got into the pose quite easily albeit it does not look perfect. I am not ashamed to show this because perfection doesn’t concern me. The concern is I need to let go of the past failures and give myself a chance right now, today and many more fun days to come.

This asana gives the entire back an intense stretch. The legs whole spine is stretched. So be sure to warm up first. Let’s together we enjoy our practice. Keep practicing and believe that all will come.

Here’s a beautiful saying.

When you focus on problems, you will have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you will have more opportunities.

Psst~ I love my spandex tights which is so comfortable for my home practice.

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.

 

My Humble Yoga Journey – Marichyasana 1

Posted on by Melanie

Woke up this morning and did my daily morning prayer. Hopped on to my mat right after. Keep myself in silent for 10 minutes. Start my warm up with Surya Namaskar and practice some asana.

I am supposed to catch up with the backdated asana here but I am so excited to share today’s challenge which is Marichyasana 1.

I remember trying this asana once but it was a no to my body. Not at all.

After my practice, I turned to page 148 on Light On Yoga by BKS Iyengar and practice Janu Sirsasana, page 151 Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana, Badhha Padma Paschimottanasana on page 153 and finally page 160 Marichyasana 1.

I couldn’t bring my face to the knee from my first few attempts. The catch? Let’s go to page 161, point number 5. It goes like this:

“..while in this position, keep both shoulders parallel to the floor and breathe normally”.

Ahhhh ~ and so I brought my shoulders parallel to the floor. By doing so, it makes this asana so much easier. More practices are needed so that I can catch hold of the palms and soon the wrists and erect the spine straight to bend more forward.

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As this beautiful quote says,

There is no glory in practice, but without practice, there is no glory. ~ by unknown.

I hope you enjoy the sharing for today. Namaste.

My Humble Yoga Journey, GOPAKO.

My Humble Yoga Journey – Parsvabhujadandasana

Posted on by Melanie

Mmm…mm… how pathetic I am for not being able to make my time to update my blog here. I am not sure whether or not anyone will bother with what I am up to lately, but well… I am back blogging. 🙂

I am currently juggling in between Graphic Designing, Gopako, sewing, handcraft thingy, family and friends. Not to forget my personal time for yoga practice at home. I started self-learning from books and videos ever since I followed many inspiring yogis on Instagram (IG). I honestly got so inspired, so motivated and I am having so much fun exploring new asana. But hey, don’t get me wrong… I will be back to classes soon. And be back to teaching as soon as I got myself settled down with the juggles.

I remind myself:

There is no use trying to rush fate, because the best things in life are worth the wait.

Okay, here’s one of new asanas that I have not tried before. It is called Grasshopper pose or Parsvabhujadandasana in sanskrit.

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It’s not quite there as I have not much knowledge, flexibility and strength for this asana. Therefore, I started with my face down on a bolster and then slowly I lift myself up. I am not quite sure if I got this right, this is just my own experiment with the props that I have. This asana requires flexibility on the hips and arms and core strength. There’s so much I have to learn. Guess what, I stepped my feet so hard I have got big blue black patches on my arms. Ouch but fun! 😀 I got one awesome tip from one of the yogis on IG. She is so smart to wrap her arms around with a band to avoid the bruises. Good one!

Let go the ego today and it will be a good day for the soul.

P/S: This is a backdated photo in September, I will try to catch up and update more. Thank you for reading. Namaste.

My Humble Yoga Journey, Gopako.

Yoga T-Shirts!!

Posted on by Melanie

I often get request from friends and customers for t-shirts, especially those who love my doodles. Yes, I do love to doodle. It helps keep my mind calm.

I would like to thank all of your continuous support for me to make this big step to start selling my own designed t-shirts. All these encouragement words are priceless to make me who I am today. The founder of Gopako.

May I present to you my 1st t-shirt design from one of my doodles.

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Pre-Order now and get 20% off for 3pcs and above purchase.

I will show you the ‘behind the scene’ in my next post. I myself is so excited for the production to be done.

Stay tuned!
Namaste. Melle