Fatema Majdi is a yoga instructor, mobility specialist, personal trainer and functional strength trainer in Bahrain. By sharing her journey as a fitness professional, Fatema has grown to be one of the Kingdom’s most loved health and wellness influencers. This month, she spoke to Farah Baig about her thoughts on body positivity, the benefits of yoga and the need to have realistic fitness goals.
Ever since she was 14, Fatema dreamt of being an interior designer but life guided her down a very different path. “I had moved to India for a year during which I worked in Baroda, Gujarat for six months before backpacking through Manali, Rajasthan, Goa and New Delhi for another six months,” she reminisces.
“When it was time for me to leave, I found out that I was an illegal worker and ended up being stuck for over a month,” she adds.
Fatema had never thought of yoga as a profession until she taught two of her roommates who felt elated after the experience. “I felt the same way after my first lesson, so when I understood that I could make people feel just as good it clicked. Yoga made sense for me and taught me that I wasn’t working out for the right reasons before and eased my path to health and fitness,” she says.
Previously, she never saw herself as the one conducting lessons which she believes may be due to people being conditioned into thinking that trainers are meant to look a certain way. “The second class I attended in India was actually conducted by a very old couple who didn’t have the typical yoga body but they were doing headstands and everything. I thought to myself, ‘Why isn’t this marketed to show that it is more inclusive than you think?’ because it is accessible to all body types,” she says.
“When I first started teaching, I was approached by diverse people with all body shapes, sizes and genders who were relieved that a body that they didn’t expect to do yoga, does yoga,” she adds.
When it comes to the narrative surrounding body image, Fatema believes people wouldn’t be unkind to themselves if they understood factors, such as genetics, which can affect the way their body looks. “I was shocked at some of the interactions that my followers had with people who were close to them too. It’s 2023, do we still have to go through this?” she says. “Encouraging people to have a positive relationship with their body, and more self-awareness is very important to me.”
“I also believe the perception that if a person is thin they are healthy has to change. People that are half my weight can have an unhealthy lifestyle and not have the best bloodwork,” she adds.
Pursuing yoga or attending fitness classes can be stressful for some people, but having a trainer that you connect with can ease the process. “People are often surprised by how much their body is capable of and how it can progress,” she says, adding that benefits of yoga include a better posture, better breathing and attention.
“You don’t have to be flexible to do yoga because that’s one of reasons we’re there – to improve flexibility. I believe that people should be open, be realistic, have attainable goals that are periodical and understand that we all have a starting point. You can dream big, but break it down into goals that are sustainable because any movement is good movement,” she concludes.
To keep up with Fatema, follow @bohemianfatema.
