Yoga + Infertility = Baby?

Women battling infertility is a familiar (though harrowing) story these days. Women using yoga to reduce stress and love themselves better is another familiar story. So it comes as no surprise that yoga is helping women to cope with the physical and emotional stress of infertility and its treatments...It's also not a new idea. My ob/gyn, Dr. Eden Fromberg, opened Lila Wellness Center in New York several years ago to meet women's pre-and post- (and pre- pre-) natal needs. And there have been programs such as Receptive Nest, and studios such as Brooklyn's Bend & Bloom, helping women to reach full "bloom" in their childbearing years. Other renegade yoga specialists have been helping women for years to make the all-important mind-body connection necessary. But the NYTime's article this weekend, "Yoga as Stress Relief: An Aid for Infertility?" raises this issue with a new twist: once-skeptical fertility professionals (doctors) are giving yoga the green light. The tide is turning in how acceptable yoga is to support women in their quest to become pregnant.

Medical acceptance of yoga as a stress reliever for infertility patients is slowly growing. In 1990, when Dr. Domar first published research advocating a role for stress reduction in infertility treatment, “I wasn’t just laughed at by physicians,” she said. “I was laughed at by Resolve, the national infertility organization. They all said I was perpetuating a myth of ‘Just relax, and you’ll get pregnant.’ ” At the last meeting for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Dr. Domar, now on the national board of Resolve, gave multiple talks, including one about how to help the mind and body work together in infertile couples.

And this is a national phenomenon, not just a jag in New York or San Francisco where there are always a handful of people pushing the envelope. Still, even with yoga's help, infertility doesn't sound like too much fun.

“A lot of people want to boil it down to ‘If you relax, it will happen,’ ” Ms. Petigara, a former in vitro fertilization patient who adopted a son, wrote in an e-mail. “I absolutely feel that yoga can have a very positive impact on infertility, but infertility is a lot more than ‘just relaxing.’ ”

Oh!!! As in, lie back and think of England? Well, yoga never was really about passivity.If you happen to be dealing with infertility right now, you can attend the March 17th tele-seminar on “Yoga for Fertility” led by Jill Petigara, who teaches in the Philadelphia area. But you'll have to Google the details. Food for thought

Need a Spot? Yoga on the Great Lawn, June 22

YogaGreat Lawn

Be one of the 10,000 people moving your asana on Central Park's Great Lawn next Tuesday (1 week folks!) June 22 for a HUGE group yoga class.Flavorpill sponsors Elena Brower (who' s done previous events at MoMA and The Standard Hotel) plus 20 live acts including musicians to lead an evening of yoga and New York City sweaty fun.Be one of the first 5 people to leave a comment on this post (or DM me on Twitter: "@Yoga Nation") and I'll guarantee you a spot! (be sure to leave me your email address)To take your chances in the open lottery (remember, they expect to overflow 10,000), register here and invite your friends.See you there!

Core Power Yoga: Part 2, The Hustle in Denver

The Hustle in Denver: Continued from Tuesday....

“For our annual review,” he said, “we have to give a private yoga class to a senior instructor. Okay. Seems doable, right?”

Only when his day came, this senior instructor turned out to be a nationally recognized yoga teacher, a big name, a celebrity.

“So you know,” he said grinning, “He was pretending not to listen and I was correcting him and stuff. It was just weird. Right? But you never know what curve-ball life is going to throw you."

Who was the teacher? What did Andy do? What was the feedback? I was dying to know. Someone in the class asked.

"Nope, not telling!" said Andy. "He gave me some good feedback that I've incorporated into my teaching today so here we go!”

Like so many yoga class pre-ambles, Andy's didn't quite connect the dots. Andy opened with a sequence of slow sun salutations to upbeat disco-y club music. It reminded me of Miami--super positive mixed with aerobics.

“C'mon people, let's move it.”

Thump-a-thump-a-thump-a-thump went the music. We cycled through the sun salutation sequence more quickly now, then held awkward pose and twisted. He adjusted me.

“Lift your thoracic spine!”

I noticed most of the students seemed to have had some good basic training. The two guys behind me were struggling--sweating and sliding and looking around. But most of the women were adjusting themselves as they needed, not pushing themselves into contortions out of their range. The women next to be chose to do all the hardest variations of many poses, but even so there wasn't too much of a show-offy vibe in the room. The practice seemed safe.

Huh, I thought. This is the formula, and it's kind of brilliant. A one-hour class (low commitment, low impact on your day), hot enough (gets you sweating so you quickly feel like you're working out), teaches safe alignment (so people don't get hurt), and just a little bit of dharma talk (how this applies to your daily life) with –oh no!--not the dreaded--It was true: ab work. Right, I thought, it's called “core” power yoga. I never liked working my abs, beginning as far back as grade school.

“Lift your elbow up to your knee! Hold! Switch! Hold! Switch! Now scissor kicks one minute! Go!”

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. Agony. Yet was this part of the appeal to my sweating class mates? You get to do yoga AND do the hard work of the gym, all in one place?Andy stopped us to demo crow pose, an arm balance. Then he demo-d one legged crow. Then he demo-d no-legged crow.

“So when life throws you a curveball,” he grinned, “you just gotta go with it, do your best.”

That was fine, but he gave no hints about how no-legged crow might be possible for us without abs of steel.

“Look at me!” he said, giving a second demo. “Use your core!”

I stuck with two-legged crow.Now thoroughly dripping with sweat we continued on with more standing poses, some backbends, a few twists, a shoulderstand. The music continued pumping. Everything was soaked. My hair dripped like a garden of wet snakes. The thin material of my pants was almost transparent. My face, red. Final relaxation was brief. I had just begun to relax when Andy started talking again. Another “jai!” with a floor slap and the class was over.

“Okay guys thanks a lot, have a great weekend!” Andy grinned, “And we have an inversions intensive coming up at our Cherry Hill location this weekend, also a level 2 training you guys should all do it, as well as more classes with me coming up! Thanks guys!”

I took myself to a shower in the women's changing room which was like a mini gym/spa mix. Three shower stalls with large plastic pumps of soap and shampoo, similar to a gym. The black stones inset into the floor (like a mat in front of each shower) had a spa-like quality to them. And for once I didn't mind the industrial-grade lotions: I had to be clean; I was meeting people for dinner. This was very convenient. And like any busy business person, I was already multi-tasking on my way out of the studio. I paid for my class while talking on the phone. I was signing my credit card receipt while negotiating: Could I be there in 10 minutes? In 5? Where was the restaurant? Could you, I asked Andy, call me a cab? How do you get a cab in this town? I hadn't seen any on the streets. Susan, text me when you know the address. Andy, yes I need one with a credit card machine. Oh, thanks for my card back. Yes, thank you so much for your help. Susan, see you in 10.

No one was left in the studio by this time with its little boutique and posters for trainings, boot camps, more classes, more workshops. In my purist yoga-loving heart I knew what I was doing—multi-tasking and not being very present-- was annoying and a big yoga no-no. But as a business person at that moment, it made sense, it was what I had to do.And in that moment, Core Power Yoga made total sense. I didn't have much time, I had a lot of things to juggle, I wasn't thinking straight, I was barely coordinating the elements of my life right. Core Power delivered all that I needed in a very manageable chunk, and I fit right in.

Yoga is a Religion? Right?

Yoga is a religion---at least according 57% of non-yoga-ing Americans polled by the Yoga Alliance last Saturday, Yoga Day USA. The (semi-)regulatory organization was gathering  Americans' opinion of the sport (?) to see what stops more people from trying it out.According to its press release, inspite of the ubiquitousness of this multi-billion dollar industry that's firmly routed in the material ($$) world, many people still think of it as New Age or only for the very nimble. (Sometimes it seems that way, depending on what center you go to and what style you practice...)

"there are many Americans who know little about yoga or, worse, have incorrect assumptions which inhibit them from participation. The three most common misperceptions are that yoga:

• Is religion-based. 57% of those who do not currently practice yoga believe that it requires mantras or chanting related to a form of worship.

• Requires flexibility in order to practice. Nearly 3 in 5 Americans – 59% of respondents - who do not practice yoga think that it requires a person to be in at least "decent" shape. In truth, however, anyone – of any size, shape or physical state – can benefit.

• Is not really exercise. Half of men who have never practiced yoga believe it "isn't a workout." In contrast, 73% of people who do practice believe it is just as effective as running, swimming or weight lifting.

All events are free on Yoga Day USA which is sponsored by the Yoga Alliance. Attitude adjustment might cost extra---maybe as much as a monthly membership to a local center.

TimeOut NY Reviews My Basics Class!

It's payback: after writing about other people's classes and techniques I've been reviewed in TimeOut NY's Fitness Issue, 2010. It's a nice little write up.Jonathan, the shy English reporter, had no context at all to understand what he was getting into, because......he had NEVER done yoga before. The word "vinaysa" was just a bunch of letters to him. Oy! Putting me to the test.But he did well. In a class of 17, he selected a spot at the very back corner of the room where I slid him props and---a good student---he took child's pose as needed. We all had a good time. Thanks for coming, Jonathan.And thanks GO Yoga for having me as a teacher these past 7 years. (Come to GO's 10-year anniversary party, Saturday, January 16, from 6pm on.)

The Review: Go Yoga

Types of yoga offered: Vinyasa, plus a creative interpretation of different schools.Name of class: Basics with Joelle HannLength: 90 minutesWhat to expect: A brisk yet beginner-friendly session, capped off with a Maya Angelou poem and a group omLevel: Yoga newbies can do it.The verdict: Joelle Hann used the dimmable lighting and music to good effect, controlling the mood of the room. She also watches over her students with a sharp eye, supplying blocks and straps and correcting alignment. You’ll sweat during the more active part of the class, but you’ll leave feeling limber and relaxed, rather than fatigued.—Jonathan Shannon

Read more from the Fitness Issue

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.

Considering a New Year: 10 Resolutions

I haven't been able to stop thinking about new year's resolutions. Maybe because last years' were unexpectedly potent. Over Christmas dinner last week (at a table surrounded by friends), I remembered one of them: "Be better friends with the friends I already have." Huh, it worked. I also made some new friends. How great is that? (I raise a toast.) The other was to start a meditation practice. After 20 years of attempts, I finally did it. Sitting every day! (Thanks for the method, Alan. Thanks for the prodding, Vanessa. Thanks for the company, Tim.)

So, here's what I've been thinking about this week for the coming year. Take it or leave it---it's free. Here's to a happy new year---and an inspired decade.

1. Keep a small notebook---a small one that fits in my pocket. Write down ideas, events and thoughts of the moment, lists, words overheard, sights overseen. I started this in November at the suggestion of a writing teacher (thank you, Victoria) and it has blazed some interesting new trails. How much was I censoring myself? A lot.

2. Break out of the routine for one hour every week---even if it means walking down a new block (which in fact I love to do). In 2010, I'd like to shake things up; keep the brain and spirit fresh. Visit new parks, museums, bookstores etc. Cheaper than a ticket to Rio de Janeiro, too.

3. Use a key phrase for comfort.  Sometimes I have a mantra from my meditation teacher and then I forget to say it. But it could also be a phrase someone---anyone---has said that was moving. Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, for new year's 2006, said, "one of the most moving experiences I have had was when one of my teachers said it to me – “Whatever happens, you can handle it.” Another good one is from ad exec, Paul Arden: "Start being wrong and suddenly anything is possible. You're no longer trying to be infallible."

4. Take on a reasonable amount---and no more. This week I set out to do a reasonable number of tasks each day instead of a superhuman number. It's been fantastic. Lo-and-behold, I've been getting more done and feeling friendlier, too. (It sure helps to get to work at noon.)

5. Check in weekly to see where I am and what's ahead. My own personal 1:1 staff meeting. I've set Friday afternoons for this weekly accounting. It's actually pretty fun, and it helps manage the overwhelm. Another good idea from Victoria.

6. Use iCal on my laptop and on my iPhone. Getting my schedule out of my head and onto "paper" clears some space.... for all those thoughts that I need to get down in my notebook! (See #1.)

7. ... also it's *really* interesting to see how much junk I'm carrying around in my head. I would like that junk to stop jabbing me in meditation, so I'm excited to put it down somewhere. (The creative company Behance has all kinds of strategies, apps, and stationary to help with this very thing---thank you, Jocelyn Glei!)

8. Inbox zero! Again: inbox zero!

9. Annoying people and situations (hello, crowded subway) offer a chance to learn and grown---I know, I know, SUCH a cliche! But there's a catch: they are opportunities only if I can stay vulnerable. It is challenging not go into habit---and so, interesting. Heart forward!

10. Open your eyes. For one minute every day, see who and what is around you. This summer I noticed an overgrown corner lot at S1 and Driggs. I've lived one block from it for probably 10 years: in July it was lush vines, weeds, morning glories, and leafy tree branches spilling over the fence. It was wonderful to walk past. I found myself taking detours to stroke the cat-tails, smell the flowers, inhale the green. Even if you've seen your local spot or your trusted people a 1,000,000 times, see them again. Recall the native greeting in Avatar, "I see you."It's great to open your eyes.

Wanderlust Could Be Yoga's Burning Man, says Ashley Turner

Yoga ticket sales at Wanderlust are closed as of Saturday afternoon, though tickets for music are still available. The yoga is hot, hot, hot!In fact, Wanderlust is smoking hot, says Ashley Turner, LA native and bi-coastal yoga teacher who spent Friday and Saturday hanging with yogi friends at the festival's yoga village.I spoke to Ashley this morning. Because of a scheduling snafu (she had to teach down in SF on Sat), Ashley didn't end up teaching at Wanderlust this year. But she did attend the Friday night VIP party for teachers, artists, and sponsors, as well as the launch part for YAMA (yoga artists management agency. Yes, I know!!!! Weird!)

"Wanderlust is just a very cool idea. I don't know why we haven't had yoga conferences like it before," says Ashley who includes live music in her Friday night classes at the legendary Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, in Santa Monica. She sees the blend of yoga and music as the way of the future. "I just had time for one class, and I practiced with John Friend under a big tent in the yoga village right before sunset. The breeze was going with that hot summer air. It was amazing to practice in the elements like that."

LEFT: John Friend sees a woman crying during his session. She's joyously moved. From Ossumnis on TwitPic. RIGHT: Yoga Tree tent, Janet Stone class. From Phyzzyoga on TwitPic. Turner didn't have time for any of the big-ticket music events, so I asked her what the scene was like in the yoga village.

"The yoga village was amazing. Most of the teachers and a lot of the participants are staying in the village. You literally walk out the door and there are tons of restaurants and shops. Then at night with bands playing it had a Burning Man edge to it."

"There were people in costume, on stilts, it's a whole other artistic edge happening. That vibe adds another dimension to yoga, too. It's like the mystics and wanderers wandering around us. It was so magical. My favorite thing was being with all of my peers from throughout the country converging at one point. All my best friends were there." Schuyler and Jeff [Wanderlust organizers] really nailed it. “This is the next generation of yoga."

Adi Carter Reports from Wanderlust

Wanderlust poster

I caught up with Adi Carter, of Acro Yoga and Mindfulness Challenge fame, as she was waiting to board a "gondola" to the top of Squaw Valley Mountain to see Commons---Michael Franti's replacement act---perform some Saturday night magic.Carter's favorite moment so far at the jam-packed festival was doing yoga on the VIP deck at the top of the Squaw Valley mountain.

"It's a pretty cool place to do yoga," she says, "different from being in a little room" as she has been down in the yoga village. (VIP ticket-holders only get to experience sweeping views of the Valley, its terrain and forests, as they practice on the deck at the top of the mountain.) Adi practiced back to back Saturday morning with Duncan Wong of Yogic Arts and then John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga.

"Yeah, Duncan Wong was pretty cool," Carter reports. "He blasted Justin Timberlake. Then, in Warrior 1 pose, he turned on the hip hop super loud and told everyone to dance. We just broke out." "Wong is super knowledgable and a little crazy. That's a great combo."

Aside from rockin' it out with yoga celebrities on the VIP deck, Carter has been teaching Acro yoga in the Yoga Village, where most of the yoga classes have been held. "I've been teaching slack line down in the jungle gym, romper room. It's pretty cool." On Sunday, says Carter, the Acro Yogis might string a slack line across the swimming pool in the VIP area. I guess that might turn out to be slack line aqua yoga.

Stay tuned for more from Adi and others at Wanderlust this weekend.

LuluLemon Opens In Brooklyn

LuluLemon Soho

LuluLemon Union Square

LuluLemon Times Square

No doubt you already know quite a bit about LuluLemon, the unstoppable yoga and athletics clothing brand from Vancouver, Canada. They went public in summer 2007, did well out of the gate, survived a manufactoring scandal (no seaweed in those stress-reducing, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydrating and detoxifying seaweed-containing clothes), and---in June this year---took a hit when their stock dropped. They publicly vowed to scale back their expansion. Yet, they are still opening stores. Amazing.

Yesterday, July 16, they opened their first store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, (otherwise known as dyke and stroller land) 472 Bergen Street, between 5th and Flatbush. No deets or photos yet, (other than you can get a free class tomorrow, Saturday, July 18 from 10 -11). But, you know, New Yorkers have to shop. Even Brooklynites. So expanding in New York is probably a safe bet. A couple of months ago, they opened in Soho. Here's picture of a spring Soho:Before that, it was Union Square. They closed down their Flatiron storefront and opened officially in a more central-to-yoga location. In January, staff moved store bits over to USWest. Chilly, chilly, chilly weather to carry maniquin busts around.

Here's LuLuLemon on a TimesSquare billboard, fall 2008!! These guys are serious!!photos from lululemon's Flikr stream Just one question:What the hell is next?!!? (No, scratch that: when's the sample sale?) (And how long should I save up before I go?)

Previous posts:Yoga Clothes Go Starbucks

Punk Rock Yoga? from Seattle, My Friend

I started this post thinking that Sadie Nardini's Bon Jovi Yogi was in direct competition with Seattle's (new-to-me) Punk Rock Yoga. But, as so often happens when posting, the more I dug around the more the story changed. In fact, it seems that Nardini's New York Fierce Club (yoga studio) offers a version of Seattle-based Kimberlee Jensen Stedl's punk stuff. (Offered by Brian Williams  though his bio isn't explicit about it.)

Created in 2003 (yikes! how did we miss it?) Punk Rock Yoga is offered once a week for the rest of the summer at 20/20 Cycles in Seattle (as well as locations in Boston, Las Vegas, Missoula, Toronto, and ---wait for it---Weisbaden, Germany). PRY is designed to liberate yoga from the rigid, elitist, body-slimming aerobics-wannabe exercise routine it has become---says creator Kimberlee Jensen Stedl (see her earnest, but somewhat rambling mission statement). She covers a lot of territory without giving much idea of what happens in a Punk Rock Yoga class (we're *dying* to know!). It has live music (sometimes), a community vibe, and---almost totally against the spirit of punk---a rock'n'roll sensibility. (By the way, anyone read Iggy Pop's brilliant put-down of rock'n'roll this week in NYMagazine? So good.

NYM: Have you grown weary of rock and roll? Not necessarily, but I’m really irritated.

NYM: How come?I think it’s now officially the world’s worst form of music. Even a mid-level cumbia band in Venezuela sounds better than the biggest-selling rock bands.) Even more sadly, there are no pictures.

So, plucking again from the mission statement: Stedl explains, "For several months while taking both yoga and belly dance classes,I noticed that I would leave the belly dance classes feeling joyful and connected with the other participants, while I would leave the yoga classes feeling cold and isolated. I sensed this was due to the complete detachment from everyone else in the room that occurs in most yoga classes. What I needed was a more balanced approach, whereby at least a portion of the class was dedicated to connecting with others." (That's why everyone has dyed blue hair that stands, glued-up straight in perfect Mohawks?)

"These observations drove me to incorporate community-building aspects into Punk Rock Yoga classes, such as adding partner poses into each class and incorporating more group activities into our classes."

"The more I taught and the more I immersed myself in the professional yoga community, the more I carved out a mission for Punk Rock Yoga: I want to scrub the elitism and rigidity out of modern yoga."

Okay---but it's hard to imagine true punks being inclusive, flexible socialists. Unless I'm really, totally getting it wrong. (What does punk mean these days to Seattle-ites?)Whatever it means, I would really like to see gloved hands (YogaToes--"yoga grip hand gloves"?), blue Mohawks, old Doc Martins, and safety pin earrings and nose rings moving through sun salutations. That surely would be a yoga democracy. Or, would it be anarchy?

Related Posts:Bon Jovi Yogi, January 2009Fierce Club Opens in Nolita, March 2009

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

I don't often practice ashtanga anymore, but last Friday I needed to move. I needed something familiar and not to heady. I decided to take a led class just up the street from me where the teacher was good.About 2/3 of the way through the zillion jump-backs and chaturangas, a car stereo outside the street-level studio started pumping out Michael Jackson. And we had him--crackly, staticky and super loud--for the rest of the class.I've been hearing yoga teachers around the city talk about playing MJ in their asana classes. If you've ever had a yen to play Thriller in yoga, this is your week.We could all probably do with a dose of  Don't Stop til You Get Enough (a possible theme to any great yoga class) or The Way You Make Me Feel as we absorb the loss and celebrate MJ's genius.R.I.P.Swaha!

Pattabhi Jois Memorial NYC, June 14, 2009

Entering Urban Zen for P. Jois Memorial

Jois the father

Jois teaching

Videos of Jois

Memorial

Sunday, June 14, ashtangis and the greater yoga community of New York City gathered in Donna Karan's gorgeous Urban Zen space in Manhattan's West Village for an evening of remembrances celebrating the life and legacy of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois. The white space was hung with long yellow scrims that caught the late afternoon light and brightened the windowless space. The black cushions on the floor were strewn with the petals of red roses, and garlands large and small framed sepia-toned pictures of Guruji at the front of the space. Food was served the back--delicious spicy popped rice with chutney, and samosas and chai. Four hundred people had RSVPd. Those who came were a good-looking bunch, with a lean, clean, healthy glow. Many had young children with them.  It was a grown-up yoga community, one that has weathered their initial zeal for yoga and matured into seasoned practitioners. Representing the yoga world were Alison West (Yoga Union), Leslie Kaminoff (Breathing Project), Michelle Demus (Pure Yoga), Hari Kaur (Golden Bridge), Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman (Urban Zen), James Murphy (Iyengar Yoga NY), Carlos Menjiva (Jivamukti), and someone from Bikram yoga. On the walls around the space, photos of Guruji, his family, his students, and his travels over the years played in a continuous loop. After Eddie Stern, Jois' long-time student, director of Ashtanga Yoga New York, introduced the evening, three Hindu priests changed a part of the Upanishads, 18 minutes of piercing, passionate sound meant to disperse the elements back into the world, to help Guruji on his journey. In the background of this austere music, was the sound of children chirping and playing.

"When a great person is born into the world, he affects everyone," said Stern. "Regardless of whether they follow his teachings or not."

Other speakers mentioned Pattabhi Jois' generosity as a teacher, the inclusiveness of his sangha, and his "sympathetic joy"---his availability to all who had even just a flicker of interest in trying yoga.

"He took complete delight that someone was growing through their yoga practice," said John Campbell, long-time student.Ruth Lauer-Manenti, a senior Jivamukti teacher, relayed the story of how she first went to Mysore to practice with Pattabhi Jois. "Sharon Gannon [director and co-founder of Jivamukti] had just come back from Mysore. She was thin, thin, thin. She looked kind of green and she had a dislocated shoulder. She said, Ruth, you gotta go. So I went the next day."

" 'Yes you can' was his message---it's what so many of us took from him," said Lauer-Manenti whose practice helped her to heal from a near-fatal car accident." He always wanted you to do your best, including making it to his birthday every year."

Jois believed---in fact, he lived the idea---that yoga is the science of transformation: 1% theory, 99% practice. Yoga is mind control: controlling your helter-skelter thoughts and practicing love (plus a 2hr, 6-days-a-week, demanding asana practice) instead. As he famously said, "Do your practice and all is coming."

Yoga Licensing Issue: My Update on Yoga Dork

I'm excited to have a guest blog post on YogaDork today! Yoga Dork is one of my very favorite yoga blogs out there, covering yogic issues with sincerity, humor, pizzaz. (Others think kudos are due, too: YD got a great mention in Yoga Journal this month!) Thanks, YogaDork!The issue at hand: as you know, in early May, New York State launched a smack-down on yoga teacher training programs, suddenly requiring them to apply for costly licenses, and to cease and desist services until all paperwork was done. Needless to say, there was a big freak out.Lots has happened since then. To get the latest on the licensing issue, the changing case of characters, and the power of unity in yoga, go to yogadork.com and read my post!Hasta la vista (and watch for more guest posts on YogaDork about the licensing issue).

YJ Conference a Whole Lot of Fun

Kraftsow teaching

Kraftsow’s Cakra chart

Gary Kraftsow w/ student

When I signed up for the Yoga Journal conference, I was sad knowing that I could only attend one workshop at a time. How to choose? Ana Forrest? Shiva Rea? Rodney Yee? David Swenson? But each one has been so good that I've forgotten any regrets. How could I think of anything else when Gary Kraftsow ---a man with sweet gravitas---is explaining the cakras? Gary Kraftsow Or, when Roger Cole shows us the four ways to stretch a muscle. It's more than interesting, it's riveting. (We did mostly hamstrings, which I've overstretched on this body.) Dive deep, bring up pearls.

I've also really appreciated the humor here---Judith Hanson Lasater is a firecracker sending hilarious (and too true) comments fizzing and popping around the room faster than a Catherine Wheel. ("I gave up the idea that you could make anyone do anything when I had kids.") She seems to instantly read bodies. Then she instantly---with permission---tells (or shows) the owner what's going on and how to work with it. Trust the body, she says, it's trying to tell you something. (She was able to tell me something about my stuck left pelvis---a puzzle that's eluded me for years.) Also a laugh a minute---who'd have guessed---eminent professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Robert Thurman. Buddha's First Noble truth? Life sucks! How to detach yoga students from their obsession with the body? Tell them to watch The Matrix or Star Trek.

Reasons to meditate on happiness for all beings? "If your enemy was happy, do you think he'd be running around enemying on you? You want him to be happy!" This humor would not resonate as well without presenter's deep knowledge and abiding passion for their subjects. And, I have to think, their fearlessness in the face of dark or ugly news: we're all going to die. They seem to get that, as much as anyone can. We humans are infintessimally insignificant.And their self-driven, but not (seemingly) self-ish desire to know more, be more, grow more, enter more fully into some nourishing mystery seems to help as well. Thurman: yoga's true meaning: to yoke yourself to ultimate reality (nirvana, bliss) and unyoke yourself from limited reality (suffering). The original purpose of asana: to get the body settled for meditation. This is not news. But it was fun to hear it from him. And in case you are wondering, Patanjali agrees with Buddha---life does suck!

Heavy Hitters of Yoga Biz at First YJ Conference

I walked around my Brooklyn neighborhood tonight trying to come back to earth. Breathe! I just got done with the 2-day "Business of Yoga" workshop at Yoga Journal's first conference in New York. I am way overstimulated.Judging from my texts and tweets from Thursday and Friday, I am super glad that I do not run a yoga studio. What a headache! I'm a writer not a marketer!

And yet, I do run yoga retreats, and I do want to write more about yoga and business (and the business of yoga).What I learned: the (global) recession doesn't stop people from opening yoga studios. When Bob Murphy of MindBodyOnline (the next inline to be a big stats provider to the yoga world) asked who was planning to open a studio, about half the people in a room of, oh, 50 -70, shot up their hands. Jeez.

Average annual profit at a yoga studio: 17%. Yes, ladies and gents, it's still a labor of love. And as Connie Chan, founder of Levitate Yoga (which, at 7 months pregnant, she just sold) outlined, owning a studio means dealing with: lawyers, accountants, landlords, NY State, and the Feds, and that's even before you've auditioned teachers, painted your walls, and installed check-in software. Oy! And then there are the licence centers that offer teacher training programs. (See Yoga Dork's astute rundown of the complex---and exceedingly compromising (perhaps crippling)---issue.)

People have come from Russia, Poland, Germany, Canada, Brazil and other parts of South America to learn how to either run their existing business better or how to start on the right foot. Charlie Barnett who left finance in America to open Yoga Flow in Sao Paulo said he couldn't imagine doing some of the (very practical) things that the (very experienced) presenters were suggesting---such as drawing up a budget for his studio. In Brazil, he said, things are about 15 years behind. (Not to mention that you have to monitor the banks down there (money disappears from your accounts) and internet service (including networked servers) cut out at least once a day, leaving you, jack-of-all-trades to get systems up again). As has been the case til recently in the US, in Brazil mingling money and yoga is very much frowned upon. But still a studio's gotta survive.

Ganesh Das, managing director of Jivamukti Yoga School, suggests thinking of money as necessary energy, "At Jiva, money is a form of energy that the center needs so we can use the school as a platform for change in this world. Therefore, you have energy coming into our school through purchases that keep operations going, and it goes to teachers as energy that then goes through their teachings and then comes back to us in a circle."

In fact in the US, says Brent Kessel, financial analyst, ashtangi and YJ columnist on money, says we're moving away from an Innocent/Idealist/Caregiver dominated way of running studios. As more people make career changes midlife, they're bringing more level-headed (Guardian), entrepreneurial skills (Empire Builder) attitudes to running yoga studios. (For example, see Yoga High and Mala Yoga in New York.)Ana Forrest's marketing manager Lynann Politte showed us how to brand: color! image! message! consistency! and Beverley Murphy (Bob's wife) demoed guerilla marketing techniques---yes, those postcards *do* have an effect; yes your most dedicated students are worth your love and attention; yes, you do need to have specials if you want revenue.

All in all it was a pretty interesting couple of days, but as I drift towards bed I've got dollar signs in my eyes where there used to be meditating yogis. Guess that's the bottom line talking, huh?

Yeeehaw! Cow Girl Yoga

Cow Girl Yoga

Every year there are articles about doing yoga outside. I've written about it, too---as a detractor. B.K.S. Iyengar says we need a clean, open space, free of bugs and other distractions to practice yoga--this often does not describe the great outdoors! Flies and bees buzz around your head, needles and leaves fall in your eyes, creepy crawly things appear from the earth and then swarm your feet. On a New York rooftop, the noise of horns, engines, and shouting is often unnerving. But here's a kind of outdoor yoga I might get into: Cow Girl Yoga! In Montana! Horses! Meadows! Wildflowers! Smell of saddle soap! Big Sky Yoga Retreats in Bozeman, not far from Yellowstone National Park, offers 5 days in the wilderness to "improve your saddle skills" (hello!) as well as your asana practice and overall well-being. Photo by Larry Stanley c/o Big Sky Yoga 

BSYR says, "Imagine a week of yoga and horses - a girl's dream come true. Explore how both can put you in touch with your potential and teach you a lot about yourself. We'll practice yoga, spend time with horses, and kick up our heels in cowgirl-friendly Bozeman." (Sorry, guys. Seems like this fun's for girls only right now.)

First Cow Girl Yoga retreat of the year is May 31 - June 5. Followed by 3 more through the summer, as well as several long weekends. The only downside is the expense ($2,750 for 5 days, plus travel and car rental) and the corporateness of it. It is after all, Cow Girl Yoga™. And you know how the combo of corporate and yoga gives me the willies.

(But then they just go over the edge by partnering with Dude Girl ---an outfitting company for dudettes on horses and yoga mats--!)

May Brings World Laughter

yoga laff in the park

I didn't understand one iota of Laughter Yoga at all until I saw scenes of it in Kate Churchill's movie, Enlighten Up! (A small group of older Indian men and women stand around doing simple stretches and laughing helplessly. It was absurd---but also sweet and simple, and utterly harmless.) Yesterday in Central Park under changeable skies, the New York chapter of Laughter Yoga celebrated World Laughter Day. Who knew?According to World Yoga Day's web site laughter, "directly impacts one’s electro-magnetic field and creates a positive aura around that person. When a group of individuals laugh together, they create a collective community aura."Back in New York, the New York Daily News reports: "There's certain things you can't do while laughing: fighting, arguing, being mad."  True!"For two hours, the group convulsed with laughter, ignoring trivial problems like the economic crisis or the flu pandemic." A good way to spend your time!According to Wikipedia, after 11 years in existence, Laughter Yoga now has 6,000 clubs spread over 5 continents. Its originator, Dr. Madan Kataria, of Mumbai, India, says that laughter can unite the world and bring world peace.Yeah--a lot better than a a bag of anthrax could. Laugh away!

Ocean Breezes for Navy Lady

Paula Puopolo in old flight suit in her Florida garden

Photo Credit: Mackenzie Stroh

Phew, this one's heavy--with a happy ending.

From the Wall Street Journal. In the early 1990s, Paula Puopolo was a trained anti-submarine helicopter pilot rising through the ranks in the Navy. Impressive.In September 1991, she accompanied her boss to a military convention at which 200 fellow aviators---as a part of a sketchy hazing ritual---ambushed her as she came out of the elevator. They passed her from man to man, groping and fondling her in a drunken, testosterone induced hysteria. (Oh no!)Puopolo's complaints did not see justice done---in fact she was transferred and ignored until she went to the press. This was the early 1990s, remember. The military wasn't so willing to deal with sexual harassment and assault. Paula Puopolo meditating in her Florida garden, wearing her old flight suit. Military career ruined, Puopolo sued for damages. Though she ultimately won the case and a respectable settlement, Puopolo spent much of her life in tears, taking prescription pills. She suffered the defense attorneys' slanderous accusations as well as the hostility of her home town and naval comrades. That's when she started doing yoga. “I figured if I could trade 10 seconds thinking about my hamstring for 10 seconds worrying about the trial, it was a good swap,” she says. As the trial progressed, her yoga sessions grew longer: “It became a 90-minute window in the day when I didn’t cry," says Puapolo, in the WSJ.

Eventually, in 2008, she used money from the settlement to open Ocean Yoga whose mission is "to empower our students to find and explore their path to health and well-being so they may feel better through safe, compassionate yoga teachings. "Something she knows about first hand, I'd say.In fact, she says yoga---inspired by John Friend's Anusara Yoga---helped her stop taking medication and eased her anger at the attackers.  “The philosophy opened me up to the idea that I could really stop hating so much stuff.” “Everybody’s got a story, everybody’s got something that really deeply informs the way they move for the rest of their lives,” she says. “In yoga you can work through the story to your benefit, you can use it to rise up. But in the Navy, those events? Tough s—, keep moving.” "In teaching yoga she says she does much the same thing as she did in the military---strives to be "a good leader and to get the best  from the people around her."A tough row to hoe, but lucky students of Ocean Yoga.Hari Om Tat Sat, Paula.