The story of a yoga practitioner... Vinit Vartak ©
It was 1997 when a girl in Saudi Arabia was fighting for her life. At the age of 17, doctors diagnosed her with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in many parts of the body. In the world of football, just like the self-goal. the body begins to score a self-goal, Due to this she was facing many difficulties. Her diet was under control. Due to digestive problems and control over diet, she had lost a lot of weight, was tired. She was suffering from malnutrition. Joint pain, weakness, chronic fatigue, skin rashes, allergies, attention deficit, sleep problems and stiffness were all present in her daily life. The doctor was desperate. Medicines were being given but as the body was in self-destruction mode, its effect was not felt for hours. In such a difficult situation, she could see only one solution in front of her. That is 'yoga'.
The root of the word yoga is from the Sanskrit word 'yuj'. Which in simple words means 'to bring together'. Creating a dialogue between mind and body. Perhaps this is what the girl needed because her mind and body were out of sync. Her father was the founder of the Arabian People's Martial Arts Federation in Tunisia and Egypt. For the first time, she received a book from him that would tell her about yoga. She was somehow drawn to yoga by reading about yoga. People were knowing it's power for thousands of years. Somewhere in her hopeless life, she began to see a glimmer of hope. She watched several DVDs to learn more about yoga. And watched the video tapes. The journey of a yoga practitioner started from here.
Until 1997, the girl, who was weak due to her illness and constantly fainted due to dizziness, started attending school and college properly by the dawn of 1999. Doctors were baffled by the changes in her body after practicing yoga. She majored in psychology in college because she wanted to study the effects of yoga on the human mind. She was the first Arab woman to study yoga, an integral part of the fabric of Hindu culture, in a Muslim and Arab country. That girl's name was 'Nauf Marwai'.
Through yoga, she communicated with her body, where doctors were helpless and unresponsive to medicine. She overcame her illness from that. Nauf was experiencing the changes in the body due to yoga. From that she took a decision that turned her life upside down. In her words,
"The synergy between mental and physical health, the effects of gentle exercise in yoga and relaxation, and the control of breathing through yoga asanas made me realize the impact of stress on health development, especially immunity and psychosomatic diseases. I then decided to study yoga, not just reading, practicing, or studying it."
But the struggle was not over. In 2001, her illness reared its head again. She overcame this crisis again with the help of yoga, when she felt that her life was about to end. She knew only Yoga can save her and she fell in love with yoga. But in a Muslim country like Saudi Arabia, there was no one to teach yoga. Then she decided to go to India where yoga was born and study it. In 2003, she reached Tadak Kerala and started studying yoga. After studying yoga for 7 years, she got permission to teach yoga. As a yoga practitioner, she learned the importance of yoga. She took steps to take them to her country i.e. Saudi Arabia.
Teaching yoga was a revolutionary step in a Muslim country like Saudi Arabia where there are many restrictions on the freedom of women. There was nothing written in Saudi Arabia's law about what one had to do to open a yoga teaching institution. The importance of yoga was to be conveyed even to the highest leadership of Saudi Arabia. She did not give up. Princess Reema Bin Bandar, President of the Community Sports Federation, conveyed her wish to Saudi King Salman and Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. After the approval of all these, yoga was included in the sports policy. Nauf Marwai's yoga teaching institute is set to open in Saudi Arabia.
What exactly is yoga? What does regular yoga entail? She took this idea to the whole of Saudi Arabia. She showed the people of Saudi Arabia about yoga teachers, its benefits and the changes it brings about in the personality. In 2015, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi's proposal to celebrate International Yoga Day was unanimously approved by 175 out of 193 countries of the United Nations. In the same year Nauf Marwai established the 'Arab Yoga Foundation Group' in Saudi Arabia. According to Nauf Marwai,
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is the biggest promoter of yoga and wellness for the welfare of people and society. I and the entire yoga community are very grateful to him for this initiative, because on that day the entire world sealed the celebration of Yoga Day.
Nauf Marwai was honored with the Padma Shri in 2018 by the Government of India for studying and spreading yoga, which has been an integral part of Indian culture in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia for the past two decades. She is one of the few non-Indians to receive this honor. Apart from that, She has received the Yoga Ratna award from the Asian Yoga Foundation.
My warmest salute to Nouf Marwai who studied and propagated Yoga Sadhana despite being from an Arab Muslim nation. I have no doubt that his journey as a yoga practitioner will help many people in the world embrace yoga. I wish him all the best for his future journey.
Jai Hind!!!
Photo Search Courtesy :- Google
1) Nauf Marwai receiving the Padma Shri award from the President of India in the first photo
2) Nauf Marwai receiving the Yoga Ratna award from Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President of Culture Relations Council of India.
Notice :- Wording in this post is copyright.
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