In A Progressive Move, Saudi Arabia Embraces Yoga With More Studios Coming Up

All heroes do not wear capes. We often find inspirational people all around us who are struggling to find justice for themselves and other members of the community, even at the cost of their lives.

On June 23, after more than a decade, a driving ban on women was lifted under Mohammed Bin Salman's regime. Women were long dependent on their male relatives to drive them around. It curtailed their basic rights and was viewed as gender discrimination all around the world.

Until a year ago, an ancient form of body discipline which is revered around the entire globe for ensuring a healthy mind and body, Yoga was forbidden in the conservative nation of Saudi Arabia.

Photo: AFP/Nouf Marwaai teaching women Yoga in her studio in Jeddah

However, in a bid to represent the kingdom an ¡°open, moderate¡± Islam province, the Crown Prince last November recognized yoga as a sport amid a new liberalization drive that has sidelined religious hardliners.

Got stuck on the road to Rishikesh due to earth slides .. we practiced our yogasanas on the road ?? pic.twitter.com/zckhfOWLhW

¡ª Nouf Marwaai ??? ??? ????? (@NoufMarwaai) August 26, 2018

Just like Fawzia al-Bakr who faced death threats for advocating the cause of driving among women, Nouf Marwaai, a Padma Shri winner is another name that will be remembered among Yoga campaigners.

Nouf Marwaai

"I have been harassed, (and) sent a lot of hate messages," said the 38-year-old head of the Arab Yoga Foundation, which has trained hundreds of yoga instructors in the kingdom.

At a private studio in a Red Sea city of Jeddah, women can be seen doing squats, lunges, headstands which would have been impossible five years ago. The women stretching their arms and legs in unison agreed that the exercise had transformed their lives.

Uncle Abdulgafar from Saudi Arabia is also attending yoga course with us in Himalayas.He is fasting yoday because its Arafaat day an important day for muslims.He finished his yoga & meditation classes & setting waiting for sunset with his dates & arabic coffee #saudisinrishikesh pic.twitter.com/Rtcpb04OZH

¡ª Nouf Marwaai ??? ??? ????? (@NoufMarwaai) August 20, 2018

A 32-year-old health educator, Ayat Samman told AFP, that yoga helped alleviate her lifelong struggle with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder that often left her bedridden. The benefits of Yoga are known to the most influential leaders of the world. The Saudi women believed that their emotional woos were also kept at bay due to the practice of this new sport.

"It just opened me up like a water balloon," said Yasmin Machri, 32. "After my first class... I started breaking down and crying."

With the recognition of Yoga as a new sport, many studios offering this practice have mushroomed even in the holiest Saudi Arabian cities like Mecca and Medina. However, Yoga is still regarded as an aberrant practice by many.

All relaxing after the advance hathyoga 2 hrs class! #yoga on the banks of #ganga while its raining #saudisinrishikesh pic.twitter.com/ESFdAYu2GB

¡ª Nouf Marwaai ??? ??? ????? (@NoufMarwaai) August 18, 2018

A recruitment specialist, Budur al-Hamoud said that she receives messaging on doing Yoga asking if she had converted to Hindu."Yoga has nothing to do with religion. It's a sport... It does not interfere with my faith." she further added.

However, Yoga has given a new momentum to Muslim yoga practitioners around the world. Though, rigid Muslim clerics have a problem with ¡®Surya Namaskar¡¯ adding that the set of physical movements in the Muslim prayer ritual offered enough exercise.