Last Sunday’s Flow class ended up being my last class with Azmi Samdjaga before he goes on a two-month backpacking journey with the possibility of leaving Malaysia which will depend on him getting a permanent teaching job here when he returns.
I am posting here a testimonial for Azmi Samdjaga with the hope that one of the studios in Malaysia will offer him a permanent job with a valid working permit so that he can continue to teach here. It would be such a great loss for the Malaysian yoga community if he leaves as he is such a wonderful and good teacher and has a group of dedicated yoga kakis who have been following him for a number of years.
"Azmi Samdjaga has been my yoga teacher for the past five years. He has influenced my practice which has grown stronger day by day as he has given me a lot of confidence and guidance. He teaches us to be mindful and focused in our practice. Azmi’s continuous search and sharing of new techniques to go into the poses has helped to bring new insights into my practice with focus on anatomy as well as the use of the breath and bandhas. His assists and adjustments have always helped me to go deeper into the poses with the confidence to go beyond my comfort zone.
Azmi always ensure that we practice in a safe manner by constantly reminding us to pay attention when coming out of the poses where injuries often happen due to lack of awareness. He always asked us if we are having any injuries before the start of class. As I had an elbow injury and I sometimes feel pain in the elbow when doing a certain pose, Azmi would let me do a variation of the pose so as not to aggravate the injury.
Azmi is a great Ashtanga teacher and his Led and Mysore classes are very popular with the students. His counting in the Led classes helps to keep us focused on the breath and the present moment while his assists in the Mysore classes helped us to go deeper into the poses.
I believe Azmi would be a great asset to any yoga studio as he would be able to impart to the students his knowledge on yoga as well as provide them insights on how to incorporate the yoga philosophy into their daily lives. "
"Be kind, be present, just BE..." - Azmi Samdjaga
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