We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ammarah Sadiq. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ammarah below.

Ammarah , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this question is the metaphor- “pressure makes diamonds” in the sense that, in order to truly shine and be a diamond it goes through such intensity.

Thats how I see my journey.
I am where I am today because of my parents. Obviously I didn’t always have this perspective, for the longest time, just like every teen or young adult I found fault with my parents and their ways.

When I was in high school, things changed, I went from regular school to being home schooled in what felt like a blink of an eye, and I was having a hard time coming to terms with this new arrangement. I loved school, and everything about school. If it wasnt for my father, I wouldn’t have made it through. Now you would think it was his words of encouragement that pulled me through, but it was the exact opposite! He told me I didnt have to study or put in the effort because, as a girl, I would get married and have to keep house. You dont need to be educated to do that he said. This made me hunker down and I managed to do so well that, I got invited to a reputed college to study there!
His words made me want to prove my self, and that led me to discover what I am truly capable of.

If there’s one thing I can say my parents did right, was that they challenged me to be the best version of my self.

Ammarah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For as long as I can remember, I have always been extremely flexible, and that was how I first got into yoga and subsequently trained to become a Yoga teacher.

Flexibility is mostly,talked about in positive light. Especially in my line of business, it is an aspiration to many. An interesting thing I found out in my journey is that, extreme flexibility is caused due to hypermobility of the joints, which isn’t a good thing. A person with hyper mobility is more prone to injuring themselves because they dont have normal limits to their range of motion. This is when i found out that flexibility alone isnt enough, strength and agility are needed as well.

Yoga has helped me be mindful and aware of my body, and also fuelled me to dive deeper into bringing awareness and mindfulness to others.

All of this has been the foundation of Anahata Yoga- Where we believe in embracing a compassionate approach, honoring your unique body and abilities. We provide an array of classes for all ages.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In Middle school when My friends and I had a conversation about what careers we wanted to pursue, they had these elaborate plans on what subject,which college they were going to apply to etc when they turned to me, my answer was ‘I want to be a Mom’ and they laughed saying thats not a career! But I was certain about my answer.

Then I discovered yoga and my love for it but I was still convinced that I had to choose- Being a Mom or Having a Career.

When the time came, I chose being a mom full time, with slivers of moments where I took prenatal yoga for a friend, or did yoga classes with my family etc.

Anahata Yoga came to life when I realized that I dont have to choose one or the other but instead I chose one for the other.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Post covid I developed an autoimmune condition called sjogrens/sicca syndrome. During a flare, I go through bouts of fatigue, body pain, stiffness etc this combined with hypermobility makes it difficult to function at times.

A quote that comes to mind by Vivian Greene- “Life isnt about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain”.

This is what motivates me to show up everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Anahatayogamn.com
• Instagram: @Anahatayogawithheart
• Facebook: Anahata Yoga MN
• Youtube: https://Youtube.com/@Anahatayogamn

Image Credits

Essa Milan Milton, Zikra Sadiq Ammarah Sadiq