Uali Ahmat Yoga Echoes

14/05/2025

Day 134...Embracing a year of underconsumption

Helping my body feel safe.

This year, as part of my commitment to underconsumption, I'm focusing less on learning more and more on embodying what I already know.

Down-regulating my nervous system isn’t just about breathwork or quick fixes. It’s becoming a daily rhythm. A way of living.

For me, this means understanding the patterns that were formed long before I had the capacity to choose differently. It means recognising the habits I cling to when I feel unsafe, and gently asking: What are these protecting me from? And are they still serving me?

It also means underconsuming the internalised stress loops, the ones shaped not just by personal experience, but by cultural violence.
Ideas like: I must prove my worth. I must turn up in a certain way to be acceptable. I must adhere to cultural norms.
These beliefs keep the body on high alert, even when the world around us appears calm.

But when a flower doesn’t bloom, we don’t blame the flower....we look to the soil, the light, the environment.

Yet when humans struggle or ‘fall short,’ we’re so quick to blame the person.

I'm learning to stop doing that to myself.

This is nervous system regulation as a form of self-respect.

This is tending to my own inner environment.

This is a sense of feeling resourced and empowered, of recognising I can create my own security. It's about coming home to a sense of safety, over and over again.

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18/02/2025

Future Path...

In April 2020, I took my offerings of mindful movement and stillness online to support you through lockdowns. It wasn’t a carefully laid-out plan, but a response to the shifting world. For three years, these online sessions brought yoga to where you are, with the intention of easing the transition back into life beyond lockdowns.

My hope has always been to create a space for you, especially if traditional studio settings don’t feel like home or if yoga hasn’t been accessible to you. A space where you can feel safe and brave enough to move in ways that meet you where you are, in mind, body, heart, and spirit. No lycra necessary, no judgment.

Many who have practiced with me come from size-inclusive spaces, regional communities, and diverse backgrounds. My passion is to hold space so women feel empowered, supported, and deeply recognised in their inherent worth.

Right now, I’m taking a break from teaching to deepen my education, refine my skills, and learn more about running a small business, all with the intention of returning to serve you better.

When I come back, I want to bring more meaning, more structure, and the same passion and purpose.

I look forward to sharing the next part of this journey with you.

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01/02/2025

Day 32...Embracing a year of underconsumption

I’m giving a nod to my Chinese lineage and wishing you all a Happy Lunar New Year!

The Year of the Wood Snake arrives with whispers of transformation, discernment, and quiet wisdom...a year to shed, refine, and move with purpose. It’s also a year to lean into creativity, to weave something new from what we already have, to approach life with artistry and intention.

I think of the lychee, its rough skin hiding a sweet, translucent core...a reminder that richness isn’t in excess, but in what is carefully chosen and cherished. And the lotus, rising clean from the mud, speaks of resilience, clarity, and returning to what truly matters.

As I embrace underconsumption this year, I take inspiration from the snake’s ability to move lightly, the lychee’s hidden sweetness, and the lotus’s quiet strength.

Less noise, more meaning. Less excess, more essence. More creating with what already exists.

May this year bring clarity, renewal, and inspired creativity. 新年快乐! ✨

15/02/2024

If you're thinking you don't belong in a yoga class, I wouldn't blame you. The truth is there are many paths of yoga but unfortunately our culture has created a warped idea of what yoga is. The over commercialisation of yoga too often presents a watered-down, culturally appropriated version of what is a diverse ancient practice.

Even those who promote a more holistic version of yoga along with offers of inclusion can come with an undercurrent of stereo-typed ideas of athleticism and thinness veiled over white privilege.

Susanna Bartakaki (yoga advocate) believes...“There is no yoga without justice. There is no peace without yoga. No justice, no peace.”

The truth about yoga is that it is spiritual at its core. Yoga is about self realisation and realising the union of all. Teaching or offering yoga practices in a way that is exclusive in nature is distinctly anti-yoga in my mind.

To help you gain other perspectives of what yoga can look like, here are some examples of paths of yoga (think of them as different branches of the yoga tree), that I practice off the mat which may be less familiar to you...

🩷 Standing out against institutionalised injustices is yoga in action, the practice of Karma Yoga.

🧡 Cultivating inclusion and kindness for all through a contemplative lifestyle is the practice of Raja Yoga.

🩵 Practising the path of wisdom and will of my full self, understanding my lightness and darkness, is Jnana Yoga.

💛 The practice of holding an open and loving heart is the path of devotion known as Bhakti Yoga.

It is important to note, that these are all practices. Every yoga practitioner is on their own journey of enlightenment. May we all go forward in the path of truth and love.

07/02/2024

I think this was the last time I did something that even vaguely represented a yoga pose. This is my partner, Billy and me at the beach on a night away at a friend's holiday home and it was the first weekend of the new year. I remember there was a lot of joy.

I also remember thinking I must get back into my practice when I get home...then waking up Monday morning and going for a walk instead as it was opportune to do so weather wise.

Honestly, I've been feeling a bit down and out about the whole yoga scene in Melbourne. After searching for so long, I still haven't found a place to practice where I can feel safe, seen and heard and where I can feel part of a community without judgement or ridicule and where someone holds space for me with loving kindness. I'm a bit fu**ed off about it all to be honest!!! All these studios that tout about being inclusive and accessible is quite frankly a load of marketing bu****it. I have not met one teacher that has taken the time to understand how bigger bodies move. Most teachers want to put me in poses that aren't conducive or necessarily safe for my buxom body...and often when I don't even try, the teacher's ego is hurt and they demonstrate their distain or there's an ensuing conversation after class about how that pose doesn't work for me. FFS it's not my responsibility to teach other teachers how to teach. Less judgement would be welcome, that's a start!

Because of this, I found it increasingly harder to turn up for my own students...to push through my own upset and distain towards my local yoga studios that abandon people like me...those studios that have no diversity in their teaching representation, the studios where I just don't fit their tidy little mold. I've learned how hard it is to give to others when my own cup is only half full.

But then I think, actually, I'm abandoning myself...which in all honesty is what happens...we can so easily start to believe the bu****it that society tells us on repeat...that we dont matter, wer'e not part of the equation.

If you're like me right now and trying really hard to override the bu****it, send me a heart ❤️.

01/02/2024

Midweek confession...since I haven't been teaching, I must admit that my mat practice has slid into the distant background, preferring right now to move my body in the weightlessness of water.

My yoga practice shows up in different ways however as today I'm celebrating one month of vegan living for our household (sans the four legged family members)! It's been a long time coming with our conscious move towards more plant based living over the past few years as we've slowly been reducing our consumption of meat and animal products from our weekly menu repertoire. I do recognise that life is not linear and we have had a few woopsies, like the weekend we were away with friends and I mindlessly slathered generous amounts of cream cheese on a bagel for breakfast (because that's what I've been doing for years), as my friend looked on and wondered what I was doing!

Today I give thanks that instead of just thinking about making a lifestayle change, I put my thoughts into radical action. I'm not wholeheartedly sure if this conscious decision was born of my reassessment of life through menopause, lockdown or my mother's passing, but I have definitely felt a push towards living a more aligned life. Given my family has a history of heart disease, I summise that completely eradicating animal fats from my diet can only be a good thing. In addition, learning more about the environmental impact that animal farming has on land as well as the agricultural impact of producing food to feed the animals we're eating and moreover the inhumane way animals are often kept and slaughtered, I feel I just cannot keep turning a blind eye.

I'm keeping my leather gloves, my shoes and other material possessions made from animal products, like my Great Aunt Ines' fox shawl, complete with head and tail.

One month in and I'm loving getting to explore vegan foods more, making my own tofu and nut cheeses, aoli and dressings. I regularly make flat breads to accompany the lentils and dahls that we have on a weekly basis and also loving the satisfaction of finding vegan friendly restaurants.
It's interesting to me that I don't miss meat or cheeses at all.

Hoping you too are feeling a sense of lightness and alignment as you continue through 2024.

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25/01/2024

Did you know that Australia is the only country that marks colonisation as the national day?

Today (and evey other day), I stand beside First Nations Peoples who offer us the oldest living culture in the world and who have survived and maintained this land for over 75,000 years.

Here's some ways to be an alley today...

🖤 https://gambay.com.au/placenames
💛 https://supplynation.org.au/
❤️ https://www.clothingthegaps.com.au
🖤 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/25/invasion-day-2024-a-guide-to-protest-marches-and-events-across-australia-on-26-january

15/01/2024

If we change the Australia Day date, for white Australians, this will simply mean coming together on a different day and the public holiday would still take place (so I cannot understand why there is so much resistance).

For First Nations peoples, changing the date would acknowledge the pain associated with January 26. If you are not aware of the significance of this date, then please educate yourself and while you are there, it might be more significant to you if you also have an understanding of transgenerational trauma.

I believe that changing the date also sends a message to all the other people of colour in this country.

My partner of an Asian lineage and I experience racism on a semi regular basis...it is something all people ( in my opinion) of colour have to live with in this country. I personally often do not always feel emotionally safe among large groups of white Australians. If you do not understand the undercurrent of racism in this country, then I think you must be living a privileged white existence. If my words make no sense to you, then maybe also read up on "white privilege." Please do not mistake white privilege as class privilege or financial privilege.

Not only is campaigning for 26 January to remain a day of celebration culturally insensitive, in my opinion, it is COMPLETELY RACIST. If you want Australia Day to remain on 26 January, you are basically saying that your thoughts, feelings and opinions are more important than the thoughts, feelings and opinions of our First Nations Peoples.

If you identify as a white Australian and you are feeling uncomfortable or angry reading this, you might want to learn about "white fragility."

13/01/2024

Gloomy grey days of Melbourne like today have me craving the inticing colours and textures of exotic travels...

13/12/2023

https://mailchi.mp/75a812dcb3a7/sunday-nourish-sess-15865651

Have you ever stepped through a word dump? It is also known as a brain dump which is a way of getting your thoughts down on paper as an exercise to help clear your mind. If you happen to be observing added tensions rising within you as you step closer to the pointy end of this year, perhaps this pr...

13/09/2023

I think I've had enough of being black and white on here...life's just too colourful and it is the season of transition and growth!

So here's me with my dalgona coffee and a vegan Cornetto... thinking of what's in store as I round up another term of my online mindful practices.

We have one Sunday Slow practice remaining...more time for turning your attention inwards to cultivate the seeds of your dreams.

Sending cheers to you for being here.

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31/08/2023

Love this from ❤️