JEDDAH — A Saudi woman and the founder of the Arab Yoga Foundation Nouf Al-Marwaai received a certificate honoring her foundation by the Indian Consulate for its role in promoting yoga and keen participation in marking International Yoga Day with the Indian mission. Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak presented the certificate on Wednesday to Al-Marwaai in recognition of Arab Yoga Foundation's contributions toward promoting yoga in the Gulf in general and the Kingdom in particular besides its contribution in organizing the first International Day of Yoga in Jeddah on June 21. Nouf is a yogacharya (certified teacher) and has been a proponent of yoga as a practice to stay healthy. She is also advocate of the age-old physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline which originated in India. During the two-day event celebrating International Yoga Day, she and her colleagues explained that yoga is more than how to effect various poses, different forms of meditation, and provider of healthy lifestyle tips. She and her colleagues explained the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease. Nouf started practicing yoga in 1998 when she was 18 years old. She was certified as a yoga teacher in 2005. Since then she has been associated with yoga. Her personal journey into yoga began when she was sick and having problems with her joints. She has taught yoga to around 8,000 students since 2005 and certified more than 150 yoga teachers since 2009. "In yoga there are many styles and schools. Yoga is not just surya namaskar! There are many athletic sequences and postures which are also practiced in physiotherapy as therapeutic exercises," Nouf told Saudi Gazette on the sidelines of a yoga seminar in Jeddah in June.
