Nouf Marwaai (; born:1980) is a

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

instructor in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. She is the founder of the ''Arab Yoga Foundation in Saudi Arabia''. Nouf Marwaai has contributed to making Yoga legal and get official recognition in Saudi Arabia. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2018.

Introduction to Yoga

Nouf had been a sickly child and was diagnosed with systemic lupus at the age of 17. The doctors informed her parents that there wasn't much hope of her being cured. She read a Yoga book that her father had brought from his travels, and started practicing a few

asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

s. Over time as she continued practicing Yoga, her health improved, allowing her to graduate from college with high honors and she became a full time Yoga practitioner. In an interview, she said after starting Yoga and

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...

, she has lived 21 years without any medications.

Arab Yoga Foundation

Nouf started teaching Yoga in 2004, in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

as the Saudi Arabia Yoga School. In 2010, the name was changed to Arab Yoga Foundation because the practice of Yoga had spread to other Arab countries as well. In June 2017, due to the efforts of Nouf and the Foundation, the General Sports Authority of Saudi Arabia gave its approval for Yoga Day Celebrations. As of 2019, the Arab Yoga Foundation has taught Yoga to over 10,000 people and has over 700 yoga teachers across different cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

References

External links

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Arab Yoga Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marwaai, Nouf Living people Yoga teachers Recipients of the Padma Shri in other fields 1980 births Saudi Arabian women