Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #58 – Yoga isn’t a Handstand – Yoga in Malaysia with Alia Lika

 

Welcome to Episode #58 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Alia Lika onto the show. She is a yoga teacher from Malaysia. My conversation with Alia Lika, a yoga teacher from Malaysia, was so beautiful as we danced around so many topics around yoga— yoga isn’t a handstand, and don’t skip Shavasana! 

I hope that this conversation made you smile, made you laugh, and made you rethink what yoga is. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about being a yoga teacher while still being a student on the path of yoga then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Alia Lika

Certified in 2016 with the Malaysian Association of Yoga Instructors in Hatha yoga, recently Alia Like completed another 200hrs YTT with Vikasa Academy and another 50hr YTT in Yin yoga by Alicia Casillas. Alia believes that a consistent yoga practice is fundamental to achieving a healthy mind and body. 

Her teaching styles varies from a slow and alignment based to a power flow practice. Whether it’s a slow, alignment-focused session or a strength and endurance flow class, a Shavasana awaits at the end. From years of consistent practice, Alia is convinced that no matter what your energy or flexibility level is, yoga will help you discover and grow your true limits – help you sit, walk and exercise better, not to mention sleep well too.

What to expect in the Yoga In Alia Lika episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Did you know that yoga was banned in Malaysia in 2008? The government forbade it from being taught and practiced in the whole country. Fortunately, that law was repealed and then Alia was able to make her way to finding her way to yoga.

Alia used to be a flight attendant, and she knows that she had a fun lifestyle, but it wasn’t a healthy one. After she got married and got pregnant, she realized how much pain her body was in. The postpartum nurse that helped her after she gave birth, was the first one to suggest yoga to Alia and to show her yoga asanas to practice.

She decided to join a gym that offered yoga classes, and she said her first yoga class was absolutely awful. She never wanted to go back. Her husband encouraged her to go and then a week passed, two weeks, then two months and she kept going day after day. 

It wasn’t too long until she decided it was time to become a yoga teacher. Alia was so vulnerable to share that it took a long time before she was ready to start teaching. 

We also talked about common misconceptions around yoga— yoga is only for flexible people, yoga is only for a work-out, or yoga is practiced to lose weight. Alia actually turns away clients and students who say they want to lose weight. She also shared how a lot of her students struggle with shavasana.

The people who need yoga the most are the people who don’t want to do yoga. The people who skip shavasana need shavasana the most.

We wrapped up the episode by talking about yoga in Malaysia and what Malaysia is like as a country. 

Curious? Tune in to the whole episode on the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast!

Favorite Quote From Alia Lika

“So yoga really changed my perspective on everything, people my environment, and also my connection with other people.”

Connect with Maryem Mayouti

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Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast  58 – Yoga in Malaysia with Alia Lika Transcript

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Namaste and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast today. I’m so excited to be joined by Alia Lika, she’s a yoga teacher from Malaysia, and she was certified in 2016 by the Malaysian association of yoga instructors. And that was in half a yoga, but she did another 200 yoga teacher training with the Vikasa academy and another 50 hour.

[00:00:25] Yoga teacher training in yin yoga with a woman named Alicia Casillas. I’m so excited to talk more with Alia about these teaching styles, her focus in her classes, and about her journey. So thank you so much Alia for being on the show today.

[00:00:45] Alia Lika: Thank you for having me.

[00:00:47] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. Let’s start off the show by hearing about your journey, how yoga came into your life.

How did yoga come into your life?

[00:00:54] Alia Lika: So in my twenties, I was a flight attendant and I didn’t have a great lifestyle. I had a fun lifestyle, but not a great one because I don’t eat well. I don’t sleep well. Everything was very rushed and our timings were always upside down when it comes to sleep. We travel really early. We wake up too early or we arrive at a port late at night. That has taken a toll on my body. At some point in time when I got married and I got pregnant, like that’s when reality hit me. I’m such an unhealthy [00:01:30] person because everything hurts.

[00:01:32] With my back I couldn’t sleep during pregnancy. Slowly in time after I’ve given birth to my daughter, the confinement lady. In Asia, we have this confinement lady, who is a maternity nurse. So these women, they take care of you postpartum, and also the baby. My confinement lady is actually from the village, but she was so enlightened.

[00:01:59] She asked me if I’ve ever heard of yoga, and I told her, yeah, I do. But I’ve never tried it. She was the one who actually taught me some exercises, like yoga exercises in asanas to do when I wake up. When before I go to sleep. So I was really shocked at the fact that even though she was from a village, she doesn’t watch a lot of TV or read a lot of books. She was very enlightened.

[00:02:30] So at some point in time I will be taking care of my daughter, staying at home all day, being with like a small little person all day. All night has really also taken a toll on my mental health because you just feel like your IQ level is going down to a single digit. My husband pushed me to go. To have a gym membership to go and socialize also, and also to be a little bit more [00:03:00] healthy in the sense that, you have some movement in your body instead of just sedentary lifestyle, just sitting down, just watching TV, taking care of the baby slowly.

[00:03:10] I started going for yoga classes, the first yoga class. Awful. Awful. Cuz I couldn’t do practically all of it. I couldn’t fall forwards. I couldn’t stretch my arms back. I couldn’t do anything. But, when I came home and I told him like, I’m never going back. He says to me just one more day. 

[00:03:31] Then one more day became a week than a month. Then a year, until to the point that I’m like, wow, this is great, cause it does make me feel better mentally. Also physically, emotionally, because I learned how to regulate my emotions and all the breathing exercises really made a huge impact on me.

[00:03:51] So that is when that yoga teacher training started in 2016. From there I just thought that I just want learn more about it, but then slowly friends started saying, let’s have a class together. Let’s just do it together, and then eventually it began “Hey, wait a minute.”

[00:04:08] I’m pretty good at this. My friends were very supportive. They always told me that, you should start teaching people, but then I also have this one part of me that is a perfectionist. So I’m so concerned about what if I’m doing it wrong? I always have this. I worry that I don’t know enough to teach someone, but everyone tells me it comes with experience.[00:04:30] 

[00:04:30] Just go for it. Just go for it and don’t think too much. So that’s how it started in my life. So yoga really changed my perspective on everything, people my environment, and also my connection with other people

[00:04:47] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, there’s so much I want to comment on. Oh, that’s amazing. Just my mind is spinning. That’s so cool that you recognized. “Okay. I’m having a fun lifestyle as a flight attendant, not a healthy one.” Then after giving birth, having that pregnancy nurse or the post pregnancy nurse, postpartum nurse. Being able to teach you some yoga asanas, and to have that energy and awareness where, as you said, she probably wasn’t watching yoga classes on YouTube.

A 200hr Yoga Teacher Training doesn’t make you a yoga teacher

[00:05:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: Like this was something that she had gained probably from another authentic source, or just that kind of person to person, transmission of knowledge. Oh, that’s so great. I loved hearing how you said I, okay. I did my yoga teacher training, but I was really scared to start teaching because I think that’s something we all can relate to, that 200 hour yoga teacher training doesn’t immediately make you into a yoga teacher. You know? You don’t just flip a switch and, oh, I’m a yoga teacher. I have the paper. There’s so much more learning, and practicing, and trying and failing, and shifting. It’s not so linear. So like oh check a box, I can now do everything.

Going to Yoga classes as a yoga teacher, and as a student

[00:05:58] Alia Lika: Yes. [00:06:00] Also a lot of times, after 200 hours you think you know everything, but then again, there’s so many other smaller modifications that you’re unaware of. Until someone else points it out to you. Like when you I still go to classes Lily. I still go to classes. I don’t just teach.

Learning more about downward dog

[00:06:16] Alia Lika: I still go to yoga classes because I’m so curious about what this teacher can teach me more? You know what I mean? They always have these little tricks and tips. When they teach you even for a downward dog, you think, you know, a lot about downward dog, but then they tell you to shift your shoulders to this side, that side, the little small modifications.

[00:06:40] And you’re like, Hey, wait a minute. This is beautiful. This is a perfect way to explain it. So while I’m going for classes, I’m also still learning. So a lot of people ask me, like, why do you still go to classes when you teach? And I’m like, it’s not.

[00:06:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: the same.

[00:06:56] Alia Lika: I will always enjoy being a student. You don’t have to think about your sequence. You don’t have to think about your cues at the same time. You’re still learning how to refine your down dog. For example. 

[00:07:08] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, that’s such a great example to give to, because every yoga pose, I think, has so many nuances to it where you think, okay, I’m in the general shape, kind of got it.

[00:07:17] As you said, are you thinking about where your elbows are? The eyes of your elbows are pointing? Are you thinking about which toe to be pressing down on the most? The heel, the inner edge, the [00:07:30] outer edge of the pinky toe, the big toe when I was taking yoga classes in India. It blew me away how specific and detailed every single yoga pose can be. It makes me feel just so humble that there’s always more to learn every pose.

[00:07:45] Alia Lika: That’s right.

[00:07:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: So I love that you go to yoga classes too, because I also feel like I’m a student for life. I’m a yoga teacher for life, there’s so much to remember. To focus on when you’re teaching, and it should be the energy’s focused outward when you’re teaching. You’re focusing on your students and their experience.

[00:08:04] But when you’re practicing, your energy is focusing inward. You’re able to have that, a wonderful breath alignment and the mind melting back into the body. There are so many benefits to gain. Do you also feel that internal experience, more amplified, and more intense when you’re practicing or do you do self practice as well?

Meditation self practice

[00:08:25] Alia Lika: I do self practice, but self practice is more for meditation because I feel, I need to really work on my meditation. You know what I mean? It’s really hard. Everyone’s like, oh, it’s easy. You just sit down and breathe. I’m like, no, but also like you need to be present. Being present is so difficult sometimes, especially when you’re extremely busy and you have 1,000,001 to do list for the whole week, or you’re just catching up on work or you have to plan for classes, especially for me I like to plan for my classes.

[00:08:57] So meditation, like self practice [00:09:00] meditation was for me, it’s still very challenging. I always feel like maybe I need three months, three months with another meditation guru. Just sit me down and tell me what to do. But then again, that defeats the purpose altogether, right? You got to learn to sit down with yourself, and breathe. Really focus your energy at the present moment. I’m still learning that, it’s really hard.

Let go of the ego desire in meditation 

[00:09:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: I think we’ll all be learning it every day. It’s a practice that I love. We get to try again, and try again. It’s beautiful that, one day we might feel like, “oh, that, that didn’t go the way I hoped or I expected.” But that’s also part of the practice is to let go of expectation to let go of that ego desire for it to be calm, still peaceful. Perfect. To let go of that craving for comfort. For “oh, my practice should be, so my meditation should be so comfortable and perfect.” It’s okay, let it all go. That is meditation too.

[00:10:00] Alia Lika: As accepted as it is, it’s okay. You always get to try.

[00:10:04] Lily Allen-Duenas: again. Yes. So Alia, do you feel like there’s something that…

[00:10:11] People are getting wrong about yoga. Do you think there’s anything that has been coming up for you that you’ve been noticing that you’re like, okay. When people come to my class, they expect something different or is there anything that you think you’d want to share on that topic?

What is something people are getting wrong about yoga? 

[00:10:25] Alia Lika: I feel like everyone’s perception about yoga is that it’s just [00:10:30] asanas. When I teach, I always like to start with pranayama just to calm the mind down and just to stay focused. A lot of times I can tell that everyone thinks this part of that class is extremely boring or it’s just a waste of time.

[00:10:51] And it’s quite sad because there’s so much more to yoga than just asanas. Everyone just wants to come to class and sweat, you know? No one wants to take one breath, one movement at a time. So the more they sweat, they think they’re doing it right. But then again, to each their own, I completely understand some people just want to work out.

[00:11:13] But that is one part that is quite sad for me because nobody wants it. Some people even don’t stay for shavasana. So that is concerning to me.

Don’t skip the shavasana!

[00:11:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh yeah, that breaks my heart. I’m like, guys, this is where the good stuff is!

[00:11:30] Alia Lika: Yeah, you deserve to just lie down and just be with your breath because you’ve exerted yourself and it’s only right to balance everything out, going hard and then resting hard.

[00:11:44] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. It’s the yin and the yang. 

[00:11:46] Alia Lika: Yeah.

[00:11:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: That dual nature.

[00:11:48] Alia Lika: Yeah. It’s hard for especially gym goers, cause they do hit stationary bikes. So they’ve always been in this fast moving activities, that they [00:12:00] don’t know how to tune down and calm down. It’s hard to teach people this part, unless they’re extremely tired after a really hardcore power yoga session. Then they would, oh, I’ll stay for Shavana. You know what I mean?

[00:12:17] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, definitely.

[00:12:18] Alia Lika: Yes, but most times it’s… I can say it’s a little annoying when you leave before Shavasana but it’s okay. I get it. Maybe people are always running to do other things. Like for yoga it’s “okay, I got only one hour.

[00:12:37] I’m just gonna shower and then go back to work.” I also, I notice that with social media… Instagram, TikTok, and everything. 

[00:12:48] Lily Allen-Duenas: Everything,

Yoga is not a handstand

[00:12:48] Alia Lika: Everyone thinks yoga is a handstand, everyone wants to nail the pose. And I always preach, it’s not about how the post looks. It’s about how it makes you feel. Just concentrate on the part that’s being stretched.

[00:13:03] Where do you feel it? How do you feel it? What is your breath like?  Most times students come up to me and say, “Hey, can you teach me a pose? I can post it on Instagram.” I feel like, oh my God, I have to do this? But yeah it’s sad.

[00:13:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: It definitely is. I love that you brought up that yoga isn’t a handstand. That’s something I’ve noticed also on social media, that people are posting.  “Oh, pay me [00:13:30] $200. Join my 10 day online course, and you’ll be able to do a handstand.” It’s… yeah, that’s not how it works. It’s sad that we’re trying to pedal that snake oil saying, oh, this is, this can work for you. I don’t think so. But also it’s sad that people are monetizing that, and taking advantage of that.

Friends or people you see who need yoga

[00:13:51] Alia Lika: I also don’t like the fact that whenever my friends, especially my friends that I know, need yoga. Do you know what I mean? Lily? You see someone you’re like, you need yoga.  I say you guys. It’s on me. Come over and let’s do one hour of  yin yoga, you know?

[00:14:10] Let’s chill because you’re people who work in the offices, they’re in corporate life. It’s super stressful. They work from nine to nine, or sometimes 10 over time. And I’m like, you got rest, and they’re like, oh, but I’m not flexible. And. It’s hard to explain. Like you don’t have to be flexible.

[00:14:30] You just have to sit with yourself and just explore your limitations right. And be comfortable with your limitations. So this is one of the reasons. One of the things that a lot of people get wrong is that you need to be flexible. You only have to have your breath. You have a physical body. You have a mat. That’s all you need. You don’t even need any extra equipment.

[00:14:52] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, definitely. I also firmly believe that the people who need yoga the most are the people who don’t want do yoga

[00:14:59] Alia Lika: [00:15:00] Yes.

[00:15:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Or the people who skip Shavasana are the people who need Shavasana the most.

[00:15:04] Alia Lika: It’s true. It’s true. Sometimes I say let’s just try.  They say “Oh, I can’t, because you know…” You can tell their fingers are fidgeting, their hits moving. They cannot stop moving. You’re trying to tell them it’s okay to be stillness, quiet. Just be quiet for a while.

[00:15:22] They can’t. They gotta grab their phone, and look at their messages. I’m like, oh my God, your brain must be so tired. You don’t realize that because you’re in that fight of flight mode all the time. All your life. You don’t know what it feels like not to be in that, 

[00:15:38] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh yeah. The nervous system is just an overdrive. The adrenal glands  pump and pump in like an IV drip into our system. It’s very

[00:15:47] sad. 

[00:15:47] That’s…

[00:15:49] Alia Lika: They keep telling me that they’re so tired, and I say maybe you should do yoga.

The importance of rest

[00:15:54] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, maybe you should rest. I know what we resist will resist us twice as hard, so if we’re fighting so hard not to rest. Everything’s going to be fighting back saying you should rest. That’s why you’re so tired. That’s why you’re so stressed. That’s why you’re so fidgety. It usually a huge breakdown or a

[00:16:15] Alia Lika: Yes, like a depressive episode or  you black out. You black out. Some people after they black out, they faint. They collapse.

[00:16:25] You’re… 

[00:16:26] What happened? Everyone’s like what happened? I’m like, have you [00:16:30] seen how stressed she has been all these years?

[00:16:35] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah.

[00:16:35] Alia Lika: I mean?

Resisting Resting

[00:16:37] Alia Lika: That’s why there’s a lot of young people who are getting heart attacks in their thirties. It’s obvious there is a problem. But the lifestyle, especially in Asia, it’s always about go-go. You’re not being productive. If you’re resting, you’re not making enough money. If you’re resting, you’re not doing something for your family.

[00:16:55] If you’re resting, you’re lazy. So resting is a bad thing, especially in Asia. If you’re not hardworking, you’re a loser.

Is Self-Care a thing in Malaysia?

[00:17:03] Lily Allen-Duenas: Is there any free time or is there any like time for self-care? Is that becoming more and more prioritized? I know here in the west we’re definitely, there’s a huge self-care movement, is that at all? Creeping into [00:17:15] Malaysia?

[00:17:16] Alia Lika: think in Malaysia, it is starting to take shape. But at the same time there is constant need to be on social media to show off your things, your cars, your houses, your perfect holidays. There’s always that need to… I got to work harder. I got to earn more money, so slowly, yes. Slowly. I’ve seen a lot of times I’ve been seeing a great shift that everyone’s trying to take more time to. 

[00:17:48] Selfcare. That’s why they come to the gym. But then when they come to the gym. It becomes a different story altogether. It’s oh, I got to be leaner. I got to be skinnier. I got to be…It’s just never ending, 

[00:17:59] Lily Allen-Duenas: students, [00:18:00] uh,

[00:18:00] Trying to get skinnier, a lot of your yoga students.

I won’ t take yoga students who want to lose weight

[00:18:02] Alia Lika: My God I won’t take clients that want to lose weight. That is my thing. If someone comes up to me, I want to do yoga cause I have an event coming up in three months and I wanna lose ten pounds.. I’m say I’m not the one for you

[00:18:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: Good for you. I’m very impressed. Good for you. Way to put the foot [00:18:19] down. 

[00:18:20] Alia Lika: Yeah, I can’t because you defeat the whole purpose altogether.

[00:18:23] You just want to lose weight, but then do you even care about your insides? Of course you can lose weight, but what about your insides? I don’t think it can be healthy to lose ten kg’s in three months. It’s  unhealthy. Your organ’s gonna be in shock, your body’s going to be crazy. So I would never put a poster that says “have yoga with Alia to lose weight.” [00:18:46] you’ll never see that happening.

[00:18:48] Lily Allen-Duenas: Good. I’ll hold you to that.

[00:18:51] Alia Lika: You’ll never see that. 

[00:18:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: Um, 

[00:18:55] Alia Lika: A lot of times, and a lot of yoga classes are selling classes like abs, arms, and stomach. I wonder what’s going on here? So they’re only doing exercises or asanas that are mainly to get six packs to build your butt ,to lean up your arms, but then I’m thinking, what about the hips? Are you, do you guys, are you guys gonna release your hips or so there’s this big market right now to look certainly [00:19:30] thanks to Instagram.

[00:19:31] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah.

[00:19:32] Alia Lika: Social media and it’s just destroying your self worth. You wake up and you’re like, oh, I gotta get a bigger butt. I gotta get stronger arms. It’s okay to want to be stronger. But I think there is a problem. You want to look a certain way, especially with the S, I don’t get it. It’s hard to find jeans with a big S don’t you think

[00:19:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: Especially in Asia, I spent some time all over Thailand, Cambodia and Kuala Lumpur as well. It was hard to do some shopping for an American body.

[00:20:07] Alia Lika: Yeah, everything’s tiny, right? Who wears this?

[00:20:10] Lily Allen-Duenas: So tiny. I was at a street market in Thailand and I found a pair of jeans. I was thinking of getting it, and I looked at the man, I said, do you have any? He looked at me, and he said I was too large. 

The pressure women are put up against 

[00:20:22] Alia Lika: So when you see the pressure Asians, especially women, are put up against that. Even after you give birth, you’re supposed to be back to skinny. You’re supposed to be like back to your weight when, before you were married, kind of thing, It’s unrealistic. I have women who are in their fifties, and they were asking me like, “oh, how do I become 45 kgs again?”

[00:20:46] I’m just thinking you’re 50. What you are right now, it’s completely normal. The fact that you have to be a certain way to, to comply with the social [00:21:00] status, it’s really sad. 

[00:21:02] Lily Allen-Duenas: It’s all over. It’s hard to escape that pressure because…you see it on your phone when you pick it up. Which let’s be honest. It’s glued to our bodies. Our phone is always on, always sending us advertisements and you turn on the radio there’s ads. You turn on the TV and there’s ads.

[00:21:17] You drive down the street. There’s especially in Kuala Lumpur, like there’s tons of ads everywhere.

[00:21:21] Alia Lika: can see it. Yeah. It’s hard to, it’s hard to ignore it’s in your face 24/7. Whether you like it or not, it will somehow affect you.

Body image issues and yoga

[00:21:31] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, definitely. It will. It’s subliminal. It’s these messages that are just suffocating from all angles. Can’t escape it. But I think if we really took a step and we really thought about it.  We don’t all want to look the same. If we all looked identical. If we’re little androids or identical copies and clones.

[00:21:51] We don’t want that. I think we could take a step back. Okay. No, I do want to see different types of people, like or different types. Of course that feels right, but it’s 

[00:22:03] marketing. It’s just, 

[00:22:04] I want, if you 

[00:22:06] Alia Lika: People just want to sell stuff. Yeah. They constantly want you to feel miserable. So you buy more stuff.

[00:22:14] Lily Allen-Duenas: Bingo marketing 101. If the people are miserable, fearful, scared, then yep. I’ll make my money.

[00:22:20] Alia Lika: Yeah, that’s the thing, even when I join some yoga studios. Even if I’m teaching differently, I can tell it’s one yoga studio, [00:22:30] you only see skinny girls. You see the same physics, skinny Lululemon girls.

Scared to practice yoga? This is a safe space

[00:22:39] Alia Lika: Then another studio is like all types of bodies. I love that. I love it because I’m like, yes. When I see someone super scared coming into class and I say, is this your first time? She says, yeah I’m really scared. I say, listen, it’s a safe space. You don’t have to be perfect.

[00:22:54] You don’t have to look like everyone. You’re perfect. Just the way you are, do your thing and I’m here for you. So that really makes everything change. When you go into a yoga studio, you need to be comforting in that sense that it’s okay. You don’t have to be skinny. You don’t have to be flexible. You can do it. You can feel the effects. You will get the benefits. If you just try. That’s it.

Yoga studios are for everyone

[00:23:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes, you absolutely will. I completely agree with that. It’s amazing when people come into the studio too, that are of all different ages, shapes sizes. I feel so lucky where I’m teaching now that I get to teach to such a diverse range of people. I have a lot of at one studio, a lot of retired people. Usually they have a hip replacement or they have a shoulder surgery scheduled for two weeks because their fascia is disintegrating. It’s amazing. I’m so lucky I get to teach. They walk into class and someone says I cannot put any pressure on my knees, no cat cows.

[00:23:59] So then I have [00:24:00] to say, okay, how can we do cat, cow cross-legged or how can we get that shape standing? Or someone will come and say, I have bursitis in my hip joint. I think, okay, what can I do? I feel very grateful. Then in another studio, I have great guys who come in, who are probably in their forties and

[00:24:17] Alia Lika: I love. 

[00:24:18] Lily Allen-Duenas: I love. 

[00:24:19] how they are

[00:24:21] Alia Lika: If you notice they are more willing they listen to you. They actually are more disciplined. They practice at home and I love the fact that. “Oh, I did my breathing practice for the whole week and I’m like, wow.” She’s 60, that’s great. You hardly hear things like that from a 20 year old, 30 year old. They’re like, oh yeah, breathing practice. Oh yeah. I didn’t have time. I’m like, okay, let’s move on.

What is yoga in Malaysia like?

[00:24:47] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, also would love to talk to you Alia about what yoga in Malaysia is like. Is it only in Kuala Lumpur or is it all over Malaysia? Has it been really popular recently or more popular in the past? Just kind of love to get your perspective on yoga in Malaysia.

[00:25:06] Alia Lika: All right. So in Malaysia we are a multicultural country, so we have the Malays, the Malaysian Chinese and the Malaysian Indians. A lot of times yoga was a thing in Malaysia, but then it had a little bit of controversy in about 2008 when the national OA council. Which is the Islamic Islamic council [00:25:30] rule that yoga was forbidden as it is at is which.

[00:25:35] Against Islamic teaching and people, they believe that people could deviate from Islamic faith if they perform yoga. Which has its roots in Hinduism. So it was banned. Then our prime minister back at that time to Laha state that it’s not banned. It’s just a physical regime with no elements of worship shall continue.

[00:26:00] So there was a bit of controversy in 2008, but then slowly in 2016 a lot of gyms were popping up left, right and center. So the cost of working at Milia has decreased and a lot of more people could afford gym memberships. That’s when you see there were a lot more people joining yoga classes.

[00:26:22] Yoga is practiced everywhere. In India every state has pretty much, at least one yoga studio in Kuala Lumpur for that’s too many to mention. obviously being a capital. I see yoga as something that is still slowly building. We get a lot of Malays, the locals are starting to join and are comfortable with the fact that it’s not a religious practice. It is more a physical practice and also a breathing practice. It is hard to explain, especially like I’m lazy [00:27:00] myself. So my aunties are always concerned about, oh, have I converted into Hinduism? But. I stopped explaining myself instead, I just lived my life and continued practicing, continue teaching. 

[00:27:15] I have seen a lot of Malay people starting to practice yoga. And that makes me proud because I’m glad they put aside that whole religion bit away and focus on the benefits instead of, oh, this is from Hinduism and this is against my religion. With the Malays it’s a special case, but for the rest of the other races, I’ve seen them during yoga. Like since before I started. So that’s the situation in Malaysia.

Yoga was banned in Malaysia in 2008 

[00:27:43] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, I hadn’t realized it had been banned in 2008. That’s very serious.

[00:27:49] Alia Lika: Yeah. When that came out, I was just really shocked. It was such a big buzz in show and that. But then I’m glad our prime minister was pretty cool back then. And he was like, no, like you can practice yoga as long as you don’t deviate from your religion.

[00:28:06] Lily Allen-Duenas: So is there anything like, you’re not allowed to use the Sanskrit names of yoga poses, like calling it Shavana.

[00:28:13] Or 

[00:28:14] Alia Lika: no, you just, you’re just not it’s not recommended to practice mantras

[00:28:19] Lily Allen-Duenas: Okay.

[00:28:20] Alia Lika: chanting and all that.

[00:28:22] Lily Allen-Duenas: Got it. Okay. But it’s good to hear that pranayama, meditation, all that is still okay. Do you ever have any yoga [00:28:30] students who’ve freak out about what’s going on?

Do you have yoga students who get worried? 

[00:28:32] Alia Lika: Yes. Oh my God. Yes. There was one time when I was teaching a yoga class. There was this I’ll put, sometimes I put on some background music and there was the last Shavasana song, which was Ya Devi and it was. Of course it was in Hindi and it was a beautiful song, at least for me, but maybe I was insensitive in that sense that maybe some people find it uncomfortable. So there was a couple that was telling me that, like maybe you shouldn’t put on that music with all this Om Shanti and stuff like that. I’m just like, oh I’m really sorry if that triggered you. I said to myself, I just take it as the most beautiful vibration. The last part of our class. So those things trigger people, and I have to be very careful about what kind of music I put on. Which is sad, but we have to make sure that no one gets triggered.

[00:29:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, yeah, that’s so important. Make sure everyone feels comfortable and also respected and that no one’s forcing anything on them. I think. It’s great that you’re yeah. Paying attention to that. In case somebody also hasn’t heard too much about Malaysia, would you like to share with our listeners just more in general about your country?

What is Malaysia like?

[00:29:49] Alia Lika: Sure. I’ll give you the boring parts, which is Malaysia, is a Southeastern, Asian country. Okay. So we share borders with Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, [00:30:00] Brunei, Indonesia. Kuala Lumpur. Where I live is the national capital and we have about 32 million people living. In India our official language is Malay and the recognized language is English.

[00:30:14] So in Malaysia we live in a multicultural country. So that means that we have 69.7% of Boomi PRA, which are the locals. We have 22.5% of the Chinese Malaysia. Chinese. The 6.8% Malaysia Indians.

[00:30:29] So our most famous iconic spot in keel will be the Petro nest twin tower. It’s encased in stealing glass. It took seven years to build it. It has 88 stories between 1998 and 2004. The city was the tallest twin towers in the world until other people built other stuff.

[00:30:54] You can only hold onto a title for a certain amount of time. We have beautiful beaches. We have Lakai. We have Teman, we have beautiful beaches. Clearwater. We also have this beautiful town called Malacca and it’s very special because it was colonized by the Portuguese and the Dutch.

[00:31:14] So you’ll see a lot of historic landmarks that are so different and beautiful and completely a mix of culture. One thing about it is it has so many mix of cultures. You see a lot of Portuguese [00:31:30] side Dutch Chinese. So it’s a beautiful mix of cultures in one, one.

[00:31:37] We also have Borno, which is Sahasrara and in Saba, there is a spot called Ang. There’s so many endangered monkey species that a lot of them are already extinct. But then they lived they are still living in Saba. 

[00:31:58] We also have Cameron Highlands, which is up in the heels. They have beautiful gardens and also the tea where they grow tea leads. It’s a site to see, I think everyone should go and visit just to see how beautiful the mountains are. Oh yeah, I have to talk about Batu caves. So Batu caves is a limestone hill.

The Batu Caves and Malaysian food

[00:32:20] Alia Lika: It is a Hindu shrine. It’s probably the most popular Hindu shrine in Kuala Lumpur. So it is also the tallest statue of Hindu. In gold, like you can’t miss it. It’s completely all in gold and it’s beautiful. The steps up to the shrine are colorful. I got to talk about our food.

[00:32:43] We have so much food. I don’t know. Everyone likes our food, but I can tell you that our food is very flavorful. We have our Nasi Luma, we have our Roti Chanani, we have [00:33:00] too much food. To be honest, if you go on Instagram and you type Malaysia, you’ll see like food, pictures

[00:33:07] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh gosh, I ate so well in Your Roti Chanai

[00:33:09] Alia Lika: yeah. 

[00:33:10] Lily Allen-Duenas: that bread is so 

[00:33:12] Alia Lika: yeah. 

[00:33:12] Lily Allen-Duenas: The Batu caves are incredible. If you go to Malaysia, you have to see them.

[00:33:17] Alia Lika: Batu Caves are beautiful. I think just the vibe just going there, it just feels very light and it’s just very joyful. Malaysia also, I have to talk about the people I think Malaysias are extremely polite. We’re nice. Maybe not so nice to each other. but definitely nice to tourists sometimes, but yeah.

[00:33:37] I like the fact that we are multicultural, cause even though I’m Malay I still eat Chinese food and Indian food. I still can go to a friend’s hindu wedding. I can still go to church. We are so multicultural that we are so accepting of each other’s religion and culture. We are very careful about how Muslims, we don’t eat pork.

[00:33:59] Then if you have a Chinese neighbor and they know they, they know not to cook like pork, if they were to send anything to you, and they’re very respectful with each other. We also have our crazy celebrations. do you remember Lily? How many holidays do we have?

Malaysia Holidays 

[00:34:16] Alia Lika: Inia

[00:34:17] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, you gotta tell me the number

[00:34:20] Alia Lika: We have too many holidays. I don’t know specifically how many, but we have too many holidays because we are multicultural. We celebrate everyone’s [00:34:30] holiday. So that is like high Chinese, new year, Diwali. So in a way we all look forward to it because there’s different fruit being served.

[00:34:40] See, it’s always back to food. Everyone’s looking forward to the food. And. I think Malaysia is great. If you wanna have a chilled out holiday, you go to Borneo and if you want like a more like hardcore party scene, then you gotta be in KL.

[00:34:58] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. So thank you so much. Aliah for sharing so much about Malaysia and I’m sure you made everybody Dr. A little, I run a little hungrier now time to get to snack. But a question I asked to every guest on the show and I would love to ask it to you is what is your personal definition of yoga?

What is your definition of yoga?

[00:35:18] Alia Lika: All right. So yoga to me is the most practical practice if executed with mindfulness and awareness, it will definitely benefit the body, mind, and soul.

[00:35:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: Perfect. Very eloquent, very succinct. It’s like you had maybe listened to an episode before and maybe had in mind that might come up.

[00:35:40] Alia Lika: I got my papers. I have anxiety, so it’s good to be prepared.

How to get in touch with Alia

[00:35:46] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh, definitely. No, I feel that if anyone wants to reach out. Learn a little bit more about you, I will put your Instagram here in the show notes. If anyone’s listening to the podcast, you can just scroll down, [00:36:00] check that out, or it will be on my website as well. Wildyogatribe.com/yogainMalaysia.

[00:36:06] Is there anything else Alia you’d like to share, whether someone can get in touch with you a certain way or anything?

[00:36:12] Alia Lika: You can get in touch with me. Send me a DM. If you have any questions also pop by and say hi on Instagram. Thank you, Lil.

[00:36:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Alia. It has been just such a joy. Such an enormous joy for me to have this conversation with you today. I appreciate it so much.

[00:36:30] Alia Lika: Thank you for your time, Lily. I really appreciate it. 

[00:36:32] Wild Yoga Tribe podcast outro

[00:36:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. My conversation with Alia Lika, a yoga teacher from Malaysia. It’s beautiful as we danced around so many topics around yoga about how yoga isn’t a handstand, and you really should never skip shavasana. I hope this conversation made you smile, made you laugh and made you rethink what yoga can be for you. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode, that’s all about being a yoga teacher while still being a yoga student on the path of yoga. Then this is the conversation for you. Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Be well.

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