Is your busy schedule keeping you from staying fit? Learn how to relax tense muscles and boost up energy with Yoga Intructor, Maha Najeeb.

Maha Najeeb acquired her international 250 hours Vinyasa Yoga teacher certification from Aura Wellness Centre, U.S.A; and has been running her home studio in Lahore since 5 years.

In an exclusive interview with Conatural, Maha shared how she embarked on the journey to become a Yoga teacher and how one can stay fit despite having a tight schedule. 

What influenced you to start practising Yoga personally?

It started in my early teens, when I was 18. I had a vague idea about yoga but knew that it brings about ample calm and peace of mind. It was the need for calm and peace that motivated me.  After my degree in Visual arts, I perused yoga as a career. 

When and how did you decide to dedicate yourself to yoga professionally?

I experienced the outcome of a persistent practice on my physical self: I felt anew. I wished for other women to feel the same energy. That’s how I came up with the idea of starting my own yoga studio for women.

What yoga poses can you recommend (and why) to those who have busy schedules?

You should at least take 30 minutes out, if not an hour, for yourself. No matter how busy you are, you will feel less tired and more efficient in your daily tasks - Consistency is the key! However, if you cannot take out time, then at least practice 6-8 rounds of Classical Sun Salutations or Surya Namaskar as we call it in Sanskrit, along with variations of plank pose.

Surya Namaskar is the most important and ancient practices of the yoga of postures, allowing you to move in and out of a pose on every inhalation and exhalation. A regular practice improves your concentration and balances the positive and negative energies in the body, it increases the flexibility of the spine alongside your legs, opens up your side body creating space for you to breathe efficiently. A short and sweet way of experiencing meditation in motion.

Beginners should stick to full arm and forearm planks.

Different variations of the plank includes:

• Full arm plank
• Full arm side plank
• Forearm plank
• Forearm side plank
• Single arm planks