The Saudis accepted yoga “unhesitantly” seven years ago and now this ancient Indian practice is quite popular in Saudi Arabia and is dominated by women, says the country’s first certified yoga instructor and the first Arab recipient of Padma Shri award Nouf Marwaai.

She says Saudis love anything that is good for health and well-being.

Marwaai played an instrumental role in introducing yoga in Saudi Arabia in 2017 and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2018. She now heads the Saudi Yoga Committee, established in 2021, and is the founder and president of the Arab Yoga Foundation.

She says yoga today is dominated by women in Saudi Arabia.

At the second Saudi Open Yoga Asana Championship held in Mecca by Al-Wahda Club and the Saudi Yoga Committee this January, there were 56 girls and 10 boys, she says.

Marwaai was just 17 when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Lupus Erythematosus.

“The doctors told my parents I won’t live long. I was asked not to go to school and that is when I learnt yoga at home in Riyadh. My health condition surprisingly started improving. Finally, I decided to go to India to learn more about yoga,” she recalls her tryst with yoga.

“In 2008, I went to India to study yoga and ayurveda and it was a big shift that happened in my life,” she adds.

Asked how difficult it was to introduce yoga in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, Marwaai told PTI, “I think the Saudi people just needed to know that they were not practising something which was in conflict with their religion.”

She says yoga is vast and the philosophy itself is an ancient one.

“I believe there is no harm in studying any philosophy and learning for you to improve your life. Of course, the Vedic philosophy and yoga coming from a background like the Vedas is actually something ancient and something lived for thousands of years for humanity,” she says.

According to Marwaai, there was no opposition as such from Saudi people, but from those outside.

“The Saudis love different cultures, they love to explore, they know their faith. If something doesn’t conflict, they are not very hesitant. And anything that is good for health and well-being, people in Saudi Arabia love it,” she says.

Last year, on the international day of yoga, we had 10,000 people including Saudis participating, she says, adding this year, in spite of the Haj vacation, there were 8,000 people who took part.