Yoga 2009: 10 Highlights

What happened last year?

Did it pass like a kidney stone or like savasana? Lots of subtle changes for me personally, and a big leap into the blogosphere for Yoga Nation. Part of me wishes I had a time machine to go back ten years (if I knew then, what I know now...) and another part looks forward to the madness and the mystery of a new year.But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see what happened in 2009....

1. Fierce Club opened in Nolita. Sadie Nardini, of Bon Jovi yogi fame, not only opened her own kick-ass studio in Nolita last March, but later in the summer she also joined up with YAMA, an agenting enterprise for enterprising yoga teachers. Yes, folks, the future is here...

2. The movie, Enlighten Up!: A Skeptic's Journey into the World of Yoga, launched to mostly positive reviews (and some grumbling from yoga teachers) proving that yoga can entertain Americans for at least an hour and a half on the big screen. Director/yogini, Kate Churchill, and skeptic/subject, Nick Rosen, tussle and tumble around the world looking for the truth about yoga

.3. Inappropriate Yoga Guy "Edited" Yoga Journal. Yoga Journal spoofed itself in this 5-part online mini-series in which the unforgettable, and wildly inappropriate, Ogden, took over the inimitable magazine offices as a hazardous (and sometimes naked) "guest editor." Went live April Fool's Day.

4. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois passed. One of three Indian grandaddies of modern, Western yoga, 93-year-old Pattabhi Jois, passed away in May, and was fetted through the early summer. The memorial held at Donna Karan's Urban Zen headquarters on June 14 in the West Village created even bigger buzz than the first ever NYC Yoga Journal Conference in May.

5. Licensing Issue ravaged New York---and is not over. Should yoga studios pay large sums of money to New York state to be "licensed" to train yoga teachers? Widely seen as a pitiless money-grab, this proposed legislation threatens to shut down many tiny yoga studios that rely on teacher-training programs for basic income. (For this issue, yoganation was also a momentary guest-blogger on the illustrious YogaDork.)

6. On the other hand, Brent Kessel made clear that yoga and money can live happily together. Financial advisor and long-time ashtanga-yoga practitioner, Kessel wrote a practical, inspiring and possibly profitable book called It's Not About the Money (which it never is: it's always about the junk in your head). Read my interview with him on Frugaltopia.

7. The inaugural Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival rocked Lake Tahoe in July. This ingenious festival blasted open indie minds and took over taste-making in the yoga world. Who said yoga can't be radically cool? Driven by yoga and music-exec power couple from Brooklyn, Wanderlust will happen in three locales in 2010. Thank you, Yoga Journal (San Francisco), you may now hand over the reigns. The young uns' (uh, Brooklyn) got it from here.

8. Celebrity Yoga Teachers---Problem? In late August, YogaCityNYC sent me to report on the Being Yoga conference upstate. The question: Is a media-friendly yoga teacher the natural outcome of yoga’s presence in America’s consumer culture? The peaceful yoga crowd at Omega had a lot to say. READ my final article. .....(One source said: “I've never had a PR agent or invited myself somewhere. Everything has happened because of the shakti manifesting in me.” The next day I got a message on Twitter inviting me to review her latest DVD.)

9. BKS Iyengar turned 91. Really, you need to see Enlighten Up! the movie just for the scenes of Iyengar talking about the meaning of yoga---not empty New Age spirituality, but real internal work, with a few beads of sweat and social service thrown in. For his 91st birthday, this tremendous force of a man requested that students hold a fundraiser to benefit his ancentral village of Bellur. If everyone gave $3, more people could eat.

10. The Yoga Clothing Wars continued with lots of news about LuluLemon throughout 2009. Their stock was up, their stock was down. We loved them, we were peeved. Mostly we were conflicted about the giant success of a giant "women's activewear" company. Good news: they have excellent yoga clothes for men. More good news: they are inspiring small yoga clothing companies, too. More good (-ish?) news: they are EVERYWHERE. Planet Lulu!!

HAPPY 2010, yogis and yoginis! Here's to a happy, healthy, inspired, productive, restful, and OM-ing new year.

Men & Yoga: Lovers, Hater, Boobs

On AskMen.com, the relationship columnist and the fitness columnist duke it out on why men should---or should not---do yoga . It's a real-men-don't-eat-quiche kind of discussion with dumb-ass humour, dude stereotyping, and the assumption that men are compulsively two-dimensional. Both pro- and con- columnists seem to be protecting some faked-up fragile male ego that could be emasculated by words like "teacup" and phrases like, "how do you feel?" All pretty ridiculous considering that yoga was originally conceived by men for men. It just seems like these writers don't actually do yoga. Here's a quote from the pro-yoga, fitness writer Kevin Neeld: "Before we're tarred and feathered by women in leotards and men that own all of Yanni’s CDs, hear us out. We love yoga, but it’s a tool to be used for very specific purposes." Yeah, we know who's the tool here, Kevin. Also: "A well-designed yoga routine provides a great dynamic stretch and muscular activation series to use before other forms of training or just to mix into your day to get you out of a chair for a few minutes." Please don't call that yoga.

The anti-yoga writer, Chris Illuminati, relies on jokes that revolve around 1. getting some and 2. not getting laughed at by the guys. But he does manage to list four reasons why men shouldn't and don't do yoga (Yoga Journal, are you listening?). They are dumb, but they might be a little bit true:1. Real men don't carry mats. Okay, point taken-- I don't like to carry a yoga mat either.2. No man should bend that way. Illuminati writes, "A workout should involve the release of aggression through the movement of weights or the scoring of points." Should is a strong word, Chris.3. There are too many phrases to remember. "Men don't like to think."4. Yoga makes you look like a stalker. "Even if you are 100% interested in actually taking yoga, you will just look like the creepy guy in the back of class who might just be staring at every woman’s backside." Dude, see Ogden (last post).We've got all these issues covered, over here in the yoga world, boys. Which makes me wonder: what are you doing over there at AskMen?Oh, I know. Thinking about boobs."It might be a little more guy-friendly if the instructor said “bend over like you are picking up a quarter” or “react like you just threw your back out and can’t stand straight.” If an instructor is telling me to get in the downward dog after a tittibhasana, I’m just going to lie down on my stomach, because those words conjure up naughty thoughts, creating what is frequently referred to as the “living wood.”

Inappropriate Yoga Guy "Edits" Yoga Journal

To mark April Fool's Day, Yoga Journal sent out a fake press release announcing that Inappropriate Yoga Guy, the crotch-grabbing, breast-oggling liability called Ogden, would be installed for a 6-month editorship at Yoga Journal, the giant of yoga magazines. Of course, it's a traffic-driving spoof to get a younger demographic on to the magazine's site. It's also an ad for the 5-part web series on Odgen at the helm at YJ. View the laugh-out-loud trailer here:Beginning last Wednesday, the first episode of the series is available on the YJ Web site. See episode 1 here. ( See episode 2 here!) Notable excerpts from the YJ press release: "Tough times demand creative solutions. In a surprise move that is already rocking the magazine industry, Yoga Journal Magazine announces it has hired Ogden, also known as "The Inappropriate Yoga Guy," as its new editor.Ogden, the YouTube sensation, already has millions of fans who have watched him bumble his way though yoga classes, offending his female classmates and annoying those around him."Anyone who can dream up the cover line 'Yoga and Knives: What Took Us So Long?' is truly a publishing genius," says Patricia Fox, Yoga Journal's General Manager."It's no secret that in this economy, magazines have taken a hit. We are certain that Ogden's unique character and consistent record of thinking outside the box will not only increase revenue, but also bring tens of thousands of new users and readers to our website and magazine."With Ogden's high-jinx now front and center on the ultra-yoga corp's site, maybe we'll see a jump in the number of dudes doing yoga. Or, ahem, checking it out.(FYI about 700,000 more men were practicing yoga in 2008 compared to 2004, according to---you guessed it---Yoga Journal's own demographic studies.)