Body&Mind

Apart from her training and experience as a Spiritual Director/Coach, Nita is also a certified Body Balance instructor (including Laughter therapy)

“I have always been attracted to healing.  In my own personal journey, and in accompanying others in their spiritual deepening, I have learnt that we need to be aware of, to listen and pay attention to ALL parts that make up who we are—our bodies, senses, intuition, head/mind, heart and spirit.

And often, before growth can take place, we need to first heal.  Heal from past experiences that have hurt us, that have not been loving experiences for us.  Even the smallest residue of hurt, anger etc can hinder our spiritual openness.

Physical movements, somatic awareness, laying-on hands healing, laughter, art and other expressive arts are merely tools for healing and growth.  And because each of us are different and unique, therefore different tools suit different people, at different phases of our lives’ journey.

But the most important of all is our unique and deeply personal relationship with the divine (the universe and mother nature).  And then, our relationship with ourselves.

For unless and until we have experienced love, received love, we cannot share what we do not have with anyone else.

So begin now, be more loving and more caring to yourself.”  –  Nita Ng – Founder, Chief Creative Officer


Body Prayer Videos

My version of Body Prayer is a slow and gentle dance choreography using simply poses from yoga, taichi and pilates.  Meditation in movement. Enjoy!

Body Prayer to R.Kelly's 'World's Greatest'
The exercises in this video is suitable for all ages as well as during pregnancy. Great overall workout for muscles, joints, left and right brain coordination and blood circulation.


Body Prayer to the song "Just For Today"
Just For Today song: Lyric and music: Sue Hansen and Karen S. Williamson. Vocalist: Sue Hansen
Choreography: Nita Ng


Body Prayer using The Lord's Prayer for Christian


Nita being interviewed on Red FM (a radio station in Malaysia) on World Health Day 2006



Laughter Yoga Experiences

NEW Article posted on the Laughter Yoga International Website:

Walkabout for Love, Peace & Joy
https://laughteryoga.org/project/nita-ng-malaysia/

My 'Love Peace Joy Walkabout' on Laughter Yoga International's website
See article LaughterYoga.org




Street parade...clowning at Chingay JB 23 Feb 2011
Were you able to spot me in my Clown costume??? Hahaha
YouTube video of this event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiCgDA3I6Nw



Laughter Exchanges and Soul Connections!

Laughter Yoga has become a growing family connecting people worldwide and many Certified Laughter Yoga Leaders & Teachers have become great friends. Technology has made it much easier for laughter leaders to stay in touch especially with Facebook & Skype. Here is an example of a Laughter Yoga Worldwide Exchange with Nita from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who is a Yoga teacher and did Laughter Yoga Leader training in March 2009. She describes her journey and experience with her new Laughing family.
      
Nita: I first joined Laughter Yoga in 2008 and after awhile, I started introducing simple laughter exercises (10 mins) into all Hatha Yoga classes that I teach.  I completed my CLYL in 2009 and my first step was to expand the Laughter Yoga part in my regular classes to a minimum 20 minutes and at least once a month I would lead regular laughter groups. I have always been attracted to retreat work and so I started introducing Laughter Yoga in the workshops and retreat I lead.
  
For example, for a full-day retreat I would allocate time to sun salutation, breathing exercises, guided relaxation, and meditation, yoga dance, some silent time as well as Laughter Yoga and silliness. In fact, some days I may start and end the day’s schedule with laughter as a form of ice breaker as it is super effective. Then we break for lunch and we may try batik painting for a few hours in the afternoon, and laughter continues to be part of our day.  I usually end the day with a sharing circle and people, who may have been strangers before that day, sit in communal circle to share their stories and experiences and we learn and find affirmation and support from each other, as we continue our journey of growth and hopefully, find joy, peace and healing.


My personal aim in presenting workshops and retreats is to share with others ways in which we can engage our minds, bodies, soul and spirit, tools that we can take with us and engage in our own unique journeys when we go away from the retreat.

Laughter Yoga Exchanges and Soul Connections!

Every time I travel abroad, I would find and connect with various yoga groups, including laughter groups so that I could share and exchange what I love with others.

Melbourne, Australia: In Melbourne the results were truly bountiful! I accepted Carolyn’s invite, but as she was away the first few days of my visit, her husband Des picked took me to the park where their laughter group gathers. There was lots of laughter and silliness and we all shared stories over coffee. I was particularly moved by Des’ story of how he survived cancer thrice in his life. The first two times he was diagnosed with cancer, Des underwent the usual medical treatments including chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free after each time. When the cancer came back a third time, by then he had been “converted” by Carolyn and had started meditating 20 minutes daily and laughed out loud all by himself  for10 minutes everyday.

With this practice, he gradually healed himself of cancer.  His doctor who was monitoring the cancer cells was amazed, and when he saw how the cancer had shrunk after three months, he did not put Des under any therapy and asked him to continue what he was doing and come back in another three months for further monitoring. Soon the cancer completely disappeared from Des’ body.  Of course, through it all, he also maintained a healthy diet.  He now promotes the benefit of Laughter Yoga and continues his daily practice.

I was touched and grateful that he shared this story with me the first day we met. I now share his story with every laughter group I meet because I believe that the more we share our stories the more healing take place. When Carolyn came back to Melbourne we met a couple times more.  Meeting her was like meeting a long-lost soul sister.  We connected immediately!  We were also passionate about many similar interests, including Body Balance, Reiki and alternative methods of healing. I have come to treasure both Carolyn and Des’ friendship the short time I was there and continue to count them as friends today, special soul friends


Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, Canada: I was invited to spend a weekend in beautiful Port Alberni, located on the Western tip of Canada. We were five women and each brought a gift to share.  Mona shared her beautiful home with us, and made us feel so at home, especially in her lovely hot-tub!  She also gave me the gift of a hypnotherapy session.  Beautiful Penny and Maryam shared their love for creating nutritious and super yummy food with us.  Sharon brought drums from various cultures—African, Middle-eastern, South American, hippie…whatever!  And I brought Laughter Yoga and my batik paintings. We ate, drummed, danced, talked and laughed through it all.   Throughout that weekend, five women who didn’t know each other all that well bonded as sisters.
  
Laughter Yoga and Retreat Ministry:  When I first arrived to work at Queenswood, a retreat centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada I was eager to share the joys of Laughter Yoga with everyone. People came there to reconnect with themselves and others at a soul level, through personal retreats, group retreats and workshops. The gift I received was the joy of being able to share with many people who have never heard of or done Laughter Yoga before.  I came to understand that in the retreat ministry, I am a sower of seeds.  I share my experiences with others, we all laugh together and I may never see some of them again. But the connection was made and we have exchanged gifts of laughter, experience and growth.

Personally, I learnt to let go and surrender.  I sow the seeds everywhere I go, and then trust that those seeds will take root and grow in their own unique divine timing. I let go of results and trust that each person will leave the retreat centre with what they need in their own spiritual journey





A Life Changing Experience

Being a yoga teacher and volunteer at a local hospital, I’ve always been convinced of the benefits of laughter. When I first heard about Laughter Yoga and tried a class near me in Kuala Lumpur, I wasn’t so convinced that the concept of LY works. Well, maybe for some but not all. It might have been my lack of understanding or the lack of group dynamics (there were only 3 of us and only the leader had done it before).

Then I found Lee Jean and the laughter club in Johor Bahru. They have reaffirmed my initial interest and I have learnt a lot more about not taking myself seriously. Exercises like the Bill laughter and our own (Denise and I) creation, the Ah Long (Loan Shark) Laughter, showed that even when life is not all peachy but we can still laugh and feel better. I believe that the joy from within gives us hope and more optimism, especially right now during challenging times.

I now laugh more easily at anything and everything in my daily life and wish to share this joy with the world. After all, a roomful of laughing people, emitting strong positive energy can definitely beat much of the negative around us. In fact, right after my CLYL training, I incorporated LY into my yoga classes and workshops!

See article on Laughter website


Nita's interview on Red FM on World Health Day 2006

http://yogapark.blogspot.com/2010/12/nitas-interview-on-red-fm-on-world.html



Article in Yoga Life magazine Malaysia

The Wholistic Benefits of Yoga
My first encounter with yoga was when I was working for a non profit organisation in India. I volunteered with a schizophrenic center near Bangalore where yoga kick-started everyone’s morning schedule. The amazing thing was that even the patients took turns to lead the class in doing the Sun Salutations or Surya Namaskar.Yoga helped them to improve their minds, to think more coherently and more systematically.

Then at a HIV/AIDS center, also outside Bangalore, breathing exercises were part of the prescribed therapy to help to reduce massive weight losses that were part of the disease.

I enjoyed doing yoga while I was in India but did not continue on my own after coming back to Kuala Lumpur.

And it wasn’t until a few years later, when searching for more meaning to life that I took up yoga again. This time round, I fell in love with yoga. My favourite time for yoga practise was lunchtime, that’s when I would run over to the gym across the road from my office. Doing asanas (poses) to beautiful music, followed by a few minutes relaxation in corpse pose and a quick shower gets me completely refreshed for the second half of the work day. What a booster compared to the lethargy usually experienced after a carbohydrate lunch!

I was so addicted to yoga that I was attending classes at least 4 times a week and so I decided to do the yoga teaching course. The beginning was a bit bumpy and scary because I soon left full-time employed to teach yoga.  In the early months my pay from teaching yoga was only about 10% of my previous corporate salary. But I persisted and have never looked back since.

Body
I have always had health problems since birth. Despite seeing how yoga is used as therapy in India, it never occurred to me to just do yoga for my own health reasons. After all I just love it and was happy doing yoga everyday.

But soon after I started teaching, I began to see the changes within myself. One of my most serious health issues was that my endocrine system is out of balance. But we didn’t know this in the beginning. It first showed its symptoms when I was 12 and for the next 3 years when my menses would only come once a year. I got my menses early at age 11. It was pretty regular in the beginning. Then, at age 12, my menses only came after a dry spell of 11 months. The next year, it came after 12 month and the following year, 13 months. The logical step was to go and see a gynaecologist. The gynae told me that my hormones were imbalance and that I had more male hormones than female hormones. I was then prescribed some pretty strong hormone pill, which become my daily intake from then on. Each annual check up only revealed the same thing. The doctor would say something like, “Your hormones are still not balanced, continue on the medication.” It wasn’t until I was 21 years old when I just refused to take the hormone pills anymore, even though the doctor said the same thing again at the next check up. Through the years, I’ve also been told by the doctor that I might grow a moustache if I were to stop medication and that I may never be able to conceive. To my teenage self, the moustache part was scarier than not being able to conceive. I thought it was okay and I would consider adoption when the time comes

On hind sight, my parents and I should have sought other treatment when the same doctor, prescribing the same medication did nothing for me for nearly 10 years. Psychologically, I was most scarred by the fact that the hormone pills make me big sized. I could never understand why I was fat when I don’t eat much. For example, an apple for breakfast and simple rice or soup noodles for lunch and dinner at home. Not very heavy eating for an active growing teenager. Yet I could never shake off the excess weight.

At last, I found help at age 21. My parents meet a specialist on endocrine who was also an expert on diabetes. I wasn’t diabetic but my father had started showing signs of being borderline diabetic. I was referred to Prof. Khalid. He was wonderful. A full blood test showed that it was my endocrine system that was really having problems and the hormones imbalance was merely a symptom. All these years of misdiagnose! At that moment I really thought of suing my previous doctor of incompetence but what’s the point. I didn’t have the money for legal fees anyway.

Prof. Khalid took his time to explain my condition to me. Sadly, I would never be small sized. It’s too late to reverse the effects. But he did prescribe new medication and I’ve improved much since.

And little did I know, my yoga practise accelerated the healing process. Soon I didn’t need medication anymore and today my menses is regular and comes every month. My doctor was also very impressed with my good cholesterol level, my very health pulse rate of below 70 (which he said was more common in athletes) and that I only need to see him every 2 years from now on. All thanks to yoga!

Mind
I would never be a skinny Chinese girl but I’ve learned to accept myself and to love myself just as I am. Being able to do most of the asana (poses) despite my size gave a wonderful boost to my confidence. Most important of all, I love my life and I love what I do and I hope to continue to touch the lives of others and to inspire them to have courage for all changes requires strength and courage.

Spirit
When the mind and body was alright, the spirit started to ask, “Hey, what about me?” It started with a deep emptiness in my heart/soul. It got worst within 3 months and I just could not figure out why. Everything in my life was wonderful and perfect. So, why am I feeling so down?

I decided to search within my own religion. I am a Christian, a Catholic. In going back to God, to feed my soul, I finally found peace and abundance joy. My meditation is now more meaningful because its aim is now spiritual, whereas in the past it was external relaxation and peace. It’s now so much deeper.

In fact, one day, in meditation I heard one word—batik. Without any questioning, I took a basic batik class and from there I used batik to explore my rusty artistic side and just painted as free expression, doing mainly abstracts on batik. And within a year, I’ve participated in 3 group art exhibitions both here in KL and in the US.My first solo exhibition is currently on at an art gallery in Washington DC.

My life has taken expected turns, way beyond my dreams and I have never been happier!
Thank you, God.


Comments from students:

I am a member of the choir and had difficulty in holding on the notes for a few counts. But after going through the breathing exercise I found that I could hold on to the notes longer than before.
- Thanks, Veronica.


"I have been doing yoga for five months now and I have reached the point where it is impossible to stop doing it. Sooner of later yoga becomes a life-style and, probably, a way of thinking. Thanks to the yoga classes that I attended in Malaysia, I became aware of the connection between body and mind and how important role in our lives it can have. I have a dream to gain a better knowledge about yoga and to teach it to the others one day.
I definately encourge everyone to take up yoga classes as it is not only exercising ones body but also mind, giving a good relaxation and balance in life."
- Ieva (Denmark)

When I first started yoga, my muscles and joints were very stiff. I was also suffering from chronic bronchitis.
Now I can proudly say I am doing better in yoga and my yoga teacher said that too.
The breathing exercises in yoga really helped me. I did not cough for the last one year. 

- Elaine


Photos from some of the retreat houses where I have worked or presented:

 Kripalu, Massechusetts USA













Queenswood Spirituality Centre, Vancouver Island,

Canada