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."

Emergeny Appendix! Michael Franti Cancels on Wanderlust

Appendix

News! Michael Franti, one of the big sells of the inaugural Wanderlust music and yoga festival in Squaw Valley, Nevada, this weekend, had to cancel due to appendicitis! Instead of playing the big stage at the big Saturday night concert, he was hospitalized and in surgery.Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and a headline act at Wanderlust 2010.But back to our regularly scheduled programming.Note on Sunday: read Michael Franti's letter to disappointed fans, explaining the pain that predicted the rupture.

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.

Do Yoga.... Naked!

Naked Yoga NYC

Hot Nude Yoga has been a thing for the gay community for some time already. But efforts to cross-over into the hetero side haven't seen much result. Today I learned that Naked Yoga NYC: Asana Exposed has been offering a full schedule of classes since January 2008 at a secret location in midtown Manhattan. "Sensual shaman"

Isis Phoenix leads the way. "This liberating practice began in May 2007 and due to increased popularity has opened its own sacred sanctuary Phoenix Temple in midtown Manhattan, an urban celebration for the holy body and sensual spirit founded January 2008. "

Yes, these naked classes are co-ed. "We are reclaiming and celebrating our bodies," said Phoenix, who starts each class with a disrobing ceremony," as reported in the New York Post last summer.

"The first 10 minutes of class for anyone who is new, there's always a sense of trepidation," said Phoenix. "It dissolves very quickly."

You can take group classes or privates with any of the luscious ladies who staff Naked Yoga NYC. In group classes, choose from a menu of erotically-named sessions: "Sensual Candlelit Nude Yoga," "Bare Energy Yoga," "Naked Yoga Basics," "Basin of Power: Goddess Pelvis Ritual for Women" or "Chakra Intensive: Lovers' Workout.

"Not being a nudist myself, I have a hard time understanding how yoga gets better sans clothes.  Isn't it just....messier and more distracting? As the center acknowledges on their FAQ page, things do "come up."

"Erections come up and go down and are part of being a fully functional being and living in a body. No part of the body is ever shamed or discouraged. Part of this practice is about healing and removing shame and guilt from all areas of our body and accepting the beauty of the body in the totality of expression. Bodies are honored in all shapes, sizes and energetic flows." No touching, no late entry, no early departure. And no giggling.

Mine and TIME's--Too Close for Comfort?

Last Sunday, in a fit of paranoia, it seemed as if the Yoga Journal blog, Yoga Buzz, had scooped my post on the AskMen.com issue (whether meathead dudes should do yoga).But a friendly note from Yoga Buzz online editor Erica Rodefer clarified that it was just a coincidence. Great blogging minds thinking alike etc etc. Okay, that's cool.However, it quickly became clear that I had sensed the future (putting my yogic skills to work!).On Wednesday, April 15, Time Magazine's article on Yoga and Psychotherpay cited many of my sources and clearly drew from the story structure of the piece I wrote for GAIA Magazine in November 2008!!! ACK!Read and compare:  Mine and Theirs Too close for comfort? I thought so.I'm flattered to be imitated but this goes too far.For now, my complaint has reached the Time Mag health editor and I hope to hear her update on the situation this week. If journalists don't take pains to avoid stepping on each other's toes, what are we doing exactly?[UPDATE: Moving on from the toxicity of the situation, I edited the original post. After the sting faded, there were some interesting meta questions embedded here: journalistically speaking, must mainstream trendspotting rely so heavily on the legwork of others? As a friend pointed out, at what point does one venue's coverage become a stolen idea for another venue? Also implicit here is the question of what happens when yoga bounces into the mainstream? No longer rarified, what are the parameters of representation? To be continued...]

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.)

Enlighten Up! The Quest for a Story

“At teacher preview screenings so far there’s always someone who gets angry,” says Kate Churchill, writer, director, and producer of Enlighten Up! A Skeptic's Journey into the World of Yoga, a yoga documentary that premieres in New York on April 1, 2009.

By teachers, she means yoga teachers.

In 2004, Churchill, a die-hard yogini, chose yoga-skeptic Nick Rosen to go in search of answers to the questions many people ask about yoga: what is yoga? and what can yoga do for me? Kate directs Nick's quest, selecting places to visit, books to read. The journey becomes an accelerated initiation that progresses from first yoga classes in Manhattan to the homes and ashrams of sages worldwide. Both Kate and Nick wonder: will Nick shed his skepticism?

While there is also a lot of laughter at the teacher screenings, Churchill says, some yoga teachers think the film is superficial. “They think the movie is belittles yoga.”

You just want to say, lighten up folks.

Personally, I found the device (skeptic against believer) effective—and probably the best way to make yoga appealing to non-enthusiasts. Still, I wondered why Churchill didn’t make a documentary of herself searching for these gurus?

Churchill, who began making documentaries for TV in 1995, is a long-time yoga practitioner (4x a week under normal conditions, every day under stress). However naively (she says herself), some time before 2004 she wanted to find a truly enlightened being. This yogi would be the last word in yoga and would put her on a direct path to samadhi, or as the Buddhists call it, nirvana: enlightenment.

When the opportunity to make a film arose, she considered it a chance to find that being. The only tiny little teensy-weensy obstacle would be shaping her own quest into a compelling story, while using something -- or someone -- else as a subject that everyone could relate to.

When Nick Rosen, a 29-year old journalist, agreed to be her guinea pig, and executive producers (who she had met while practicing yoga in Boston) already on board, Churchill began what became a 5-year odyssey.  It wasn’t what she’d bargained for.

I spoke to Churchill on a Friday afternoon, a few days before the April 1, 2009, premiere (see interview following).

For full disclosure, I will say that Nick’s interview with Iyengar, the Indian sage, basically sums up my feeling about yoga (you can get the spiritual benefits from the physical practice; benefits come slowly for some, quickly for others, there is no rush, keep practicing) which gave me a warm fuzzy, feeling inside.

But I also had a few problems with the film. First, why was Kate being such a bitch to Nick? He seemed willing enough and, for a skeptic, pretty reflective. "We've been throwing around the word 'transformation' a lot," he says. A reasonable comment. (The yoga world often does toss out big concepts without defining them or even understanding them.) Still, Kate's not pleased.

I also wondered how any newbie would deal with such a fast-track to the yoga stars. In my first six months of practice, I was just happy I could do chaturanga with a herd of other sweating yogis. Flying around the world to meet the most influential men in yoga today could set the stakes freakishly high for anyone.

Lastly, I wanted to know more details from Nick himself about how his journey might have affected him—or not—in the long term. The film ended on a weak note. (post script, April 15 Nick writes his commentary on Huffington Post.)

Within the world of yoga documentaries and commentary, Enlighten Up! isn’t as acerbically insightful as Yoga, Inc, John Philps’ 2006 documentary on the entertaining contradictions of the yoga business. It isn’t as earnest as Gita Desai’s 2006 documentary Yoga Unveiled nor as funny as gentle mockeries from The Onion (see below), or McSweeney’s, nor as freakish as some of the stuff on YouTube such as  Kung Fu vs. Yoga.

But I enjoyed it. It was a humanizing look at a couple of impossible questions: What is yoga? We can’t really tell you. How can it work for me? You’ll have to find out for yourself.

© Copyright 2009, Onion, Inc.

Interview with Kate Churchill, writer, director, producer, Enlighten Up!

Yoga Nation: What benefit did you think you would get from Nick’s journey?

  Kate Churchill: I believed I was going to be exposed to encounters with these enlightened masters. In yoga, there’s a lot of talk of coming to a sense of peace and transformation—jivan mukti, liberation of the soul—I was caught up in the promise of yoga: if I could find the right practice I could get all these great benefits. At the same time I wasn’t on the line—the camera was pointed at someone else.

YN: At some point, it seemed you felt you had to push Nick to get him to say meaningful things. For example, later in the film, in India. What happened?

KC: In the beginning, I really thought this is going to be amazing to have this guy who is a challenge to yoga—he’s a really good writer and researcher—who would press hard and investigate. He’d bring his investigative skills to it—dig into and find great stuff. It began as a journey of mutual inquiry.

But through the journey, my expectations made me more and more antagonistic to Nick. I became more wound up and agitated about what was happening. Nick became more determined to cling to his own identity.

The relationship became more conflicted. I was not getting what I wanted.

At the time, we were learning really great lessons from yogis about letting go, about how no one else can tell you what to do, you go on your own trip. Yet there we were muddling along ignoring them.

YN: How does Nick think yoga affected his life? He doesn’t say much about it at the end.

  KC: What we tried to do with documenting this story is to ask, well, how do you think he changed? It’s open to debate. We like to let the audience decide.

YN: But the possibility of change runs throughout the film. I was wondering what Nick himself thinks of how he changed.

KC: Nick has said at other screenings that it’s inevitable when you step out of life and take a journey that it impacts you in many different ways, even in ways you can’t even recognize. I think the biggest was in starting to accept his mom….

He had a knee-jerk rejection of any spirituality. He associated it with his mom— she’s a healer. He moved more towards accepting his mom’s work instead of automatically dismissing it. He became more accepting of various practices that others are doing.

YN: How did making this film affect your yoga practice?

KC: When I started this film, I was bound and determined to find the one yoga practice that would work for me. What I realized is that no one practice that would work for me. No one had the ability to tell me what to practice, and I couldn’t tell anyone else what to practice either.

I had to go with whatever practice or teacher worked for me—and I couldn’t tell anyone else what would work for them either.

Are you a "Whole Foods Woman"?

Do you do yoga?

Do you have "eco-guilt" (it drives you to buy expensive products because they are green and good for you)?

Must you have a reusable water bottle?

Is buying conventionally-grown produce a betrayal of your core values (even when organic is twice as much)?

 If yes, then you might be a WFW--a Whole Foods Woman. 

The "Whole Foods" woman (in New York, at least) has existed since the supermarket/lifestyle chain opened its NYC location on 14th street in Union Square a few years ago. Once we got over the shock of having a centrally-located grocery store that was clean, offered edible produce, and wasn't overrun with rats, we started to develop preferences and tendencies never before possible. (Goji berries? Organic flax seed oil? Say wa?) 

WFW's counterpart, according to this article on Sigg water bottles, is the "Geek Chic" guy, who is still proudly into Radiohead and Converse sneakers (so over already). (Although, I think the write might be off about this pairing. The WFW seems like a single professional, whereas the GCG seems like he just graduated from high school. Or am I really in denial about the differences between men and women?!?!)

One thing the writer is definitely *not* off about is the crazy profits on Sigg water bottles. This Forbes article is  worth a read. Since 2005, Sigg has enjoyed 130% increase in sales each year. The article says, "At $70 million, the U.S. market represents over 70% of Sigg Switzerland's overall sales." Yikes, guys! We forget that doing good, going green, still makes someone a lot of money: We are all just consumers after all. Bummer.

And get this: they jacked the price by 25% to make us buy the damned bottles. Yes, we're all a little bit gross. 

True confession: I own a Sigg bottle. It is cute, but also heavy, and I don't love the narrow mouth. Maybe if I had the best-selling, Bollywood-influenced design called "Maha," though, I'd feel differently. For now, I prefer to sip from the wide-mouthed Nalgene when I'm at my desk.

(I'm just racking up bills pursuing my consumer rights to sample them all, aren't I?)

Fatwah on Yoga continues

This latest installment is from the NYTimes. (See my earlier blog posts.)

Bali, the Hindu island in Muslim Indonesia, defies the fatwa banning the practice of yoga with a week-long yoga festival. Different Indonesian cultural sects now fear crackdowns on their traditions because of recent edicts from the fatwa-loving religious council. Yoga is one of them, and especially yoga in Bali ('cause, you know, see Eat, Pray, Love).

A refresher on the issue, "The Muslim Council’s yoga ruling came in a package of fatwas issued in January. The council deemed the ancient Indian poses and exercises incorporating Hindu chanting or rituals a sin for Muslims. Similar fatwas have been issued in Egypt and Malaysia. In all three countries, the religious leaders said they were concerned that practicing yoga could cause Muslims to deviate from Islamic teachings."

The head of the council promises not to enforce the laws, but it's scary that they now exist.

Culture of Kirtan

A NYTimes piece on the appeal of quasi-spiritual, sing-along kirtans.

Here seen in Montreal.... 

The Times says, "And an increasing number of Americans seem to be connecting with kirtan. At the Omega Center in Rhinebeck, N.Y., attendance to its Ecstatic Chant festival has doubled over the last five years. The numbers are also up at Integral. Jo Sgammato, 57, the center’s general manager, said the Friday-night kirtan would have about 25 participants 10 years ago; now the center will sometimes host 400 in a single weekend when kirtan stars like Krishna Das, Jai Uttal and Wah! perform. At the Jivamukti Yoga School in Manhattan, 700 people came last September to see Krishna Das, setting a record for kirtan at the center."

... here in NYC. 

Several new studios find recession not a big deterrent to opening, strangely

Players big and small, fearless of lean times, falling revenue.

In Williamsburg, Sangha Yoga Shala by Alanna Kessler and Cory Washburn. This studio will mix Iyengar and Astanga traditions. 107 N 3rd, between Berry and Wythe.  Classes start April 13. 

Fierce Club "yoga to kick your asana," from "Core Strength" Sadie Nardini and partner Shannon Connell. Opens for classes first week of March. 

In Soho, Exhale Spa. "Located within a light filled temporary space at 68-70 Spring Street between Crosby + Lafayette, enjoy our signature Core Fusion®, Core Fusion® Sport and Core Energy Flow® classes while our permanent Downtown New York City flagship spa is being constructed. Exhale is pleased to be partnering in a condo conversion in a historic building that will be green (LEED gold standard) that is underway at 200 Lafayette Street in Downtown Manhattan."

Soon on the Upper West Side, Pure Yoga numero deux.

And also in Soho, Yoga Works, Soho. "Our Soho location will be the latest addition to the YogaWorks family. It’s innovative, cutting edge, environmentally friendly and the best thing to happen to yoga since the yoga mat. This is the perfect opportunity to find out how yoga can work for you."

Ready, set, eat your heart out, folks. 

Bon Jovi Yogi

It might seem incredibly unlikely that rockers and yogis could mix. Turns out, they're two great tastes that taste great together.

A recent trendlet in Bon Jovi yoga shows this beautifully. Below, a JBJ yoga chant option thanks to Sadie Nardini, a Brooklyn rocker yogini who teaches in Manhattan and podcasts regularly about yoga. Love the East-Village-of-yore spirit in this video:

What does Bon Jovi think about this? According to Contact Music, Bon Jovi's all for yoga. In November 2007 he said, "I'm going to do yoga. I went for my first time, and I enjoyed it. I'm a 21st century man."

What do other yogis think? According to Rodale's (magazine chain) yoga site iYogaLife, Bon Jovi is a natural.

"We don’t usually take life lessons from Jon Bon Jovi," says the writer of "Yoga Cures: The Blues," "but he was onto some yogic philosophy with his song “It’s My Life”[NICE 80s bods'n'hair in the video, by the way]—where he sings that the key to happiness is a heart “like an open highway.”

"Studies show that sudden emotional stress can release hormones that prevent the heart from pumping normally. Even watching a sad movie can reduce arterial blood flow, according to a study reported recently in the journal Heart."

There you have it, folks: chanting along (or singing, yelling, yodeling or screeching) to JBJ can help increase arterial blood flow. Like, livin' on a prayer or what.

For more on humor and yoga classes see the NYTimes' article from New Year's Eve 2008, "The Enlightened Path, With a Rubber Duck." 

Yoga for Food

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor lead me to Yoga for Food, a non-profit yogic effort spearheaded by Kimberly Smith, founder of Riverdog Yoga in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Smith started Yoga for Food in 2001 after 9/11. According to the CSM article, Smith got 30 students to bring a bag of groceries to a special sunrise class (according to the Yoga for Food website the number was 20, but who's counting). They collected more than 200 pounds of food.

Now more than 30 yoga centers in 13 states run their own version of Yoga for Food, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds of food.

"It was a natural fit: Yoga is food for the spirit," says Ms. Smith [in the CSM article]. "It's become a win, win, win: The students who get involved feel good, so do the studios that participate. And then, of course, the food banks are grateful."

Smith hopes that in 2009 yoga centers in 50 states will host a Yoga for Food event. No time like the present! A lot of people in our new crash-n-burn world order need seva, the selfless service of others.

While Riverdog Yoga organizes their food-drive event around the winter solstice, anytime this year will be a good time for donations like this.

Register a Yoga for Food event on yogaforfood.org or click HERE.

Cutthroat Spirituality

IN THE NEWS lately--a bunch of articles the over-seriousness of yogis and their teachers. Yay! I was hoping someone would bring that up.

It started with a post in Rick Cohen's ethics column, The Ethicist, in the New York Times Magazine, December 5th.

A San Francisco yoga teacher, up for promotion, wanted to shoot down a competing colleague's chances of promotion by outing his relationship with a yoga student (a relationship forbidden by studio policy). But she seemed to care more about getting the promotion than helping to promote the ethics of the yoga studio. Sadly, this striving to be holier-than-thou (literally) is all too common in the yoga world. Years ago, when I didn't know what puja meant, an astangi explained it to me with barely contained distain. 

The letter-writer's question to Cohen--"if the owner knew about this, my colleague would not get the promotion and might be fired. Should I tell?"--reveals her thinly veiled competitiveness. I loved Cohen's answer because it was so direct. The yoga world seems unable to be so frankly self-scrutinizing even though self-study is an important aspect of the practice.

Cohen writes, "If, as your actions — or inactions — suggest, you believed silence was appropriate during the past year, then it is still appropriate today. All that has changed is your self-interest. You now have a chance to trip up a rival for a promotion, a poor motive for reversing course." Yes. Who knows, maybe the letter writer couldn't admit her competitiveness even to herself. This is, I would say, an obstacle to good teaching and good practice.

NEXT, we have an MNBC feature Dec 7, 2008 --an outtake from Self magazine--about a woman who overcomes her skepticism about yoga and starts a regular practice, only to become an instant yoga-snob. The writer, Marjorie Ingall, who also writes for the Jewish Forward, catches herself judging fellow students and wonders what happened to the spiritual component of the practice.

She writes, "too many yoga students in this country have taken a tiny piece of a wider Indian worldview, one that isn’t just about exercise, and turned it into a new kind of self-absorption. Exercise is not sacred, much as we want to pretend it is. Worse, some yogis have internalized only the most negative aspect of religion — the tendency to think that outsiders are bad and wrong. The dark side of faith is when it turns on others."

She goes on to say that what we all want deep down inside is a yoga butt and the right to feel superior to people doing other kinds of exercise. Well, that doesn't describe everyone's practice, but I'm sure that's true for lots of people. It's the downside of projecting our needs for authenticity, prowess, and purity onto yoga, yoga teachers, and fellow students (not sure what the upside is). Really, it's an ongoing psych experiment that no one is taking notes on (yet).

MEANWHILE Adele R. McDowell writes on American Chronicle about falling off her mat and out of her pose in her very serious gym yoga class. No one noticed her dramatic kathunk onto the floor mid-class (not even the teacher) and the class continued without missing a beat.

She writes, "The class is filled to capacity with bright-eyed, Gumby-like students in form-fitting togs. They are awe-struck and reverential to the instructor, a lean, sleek and uber-serious young woman. The room bows before the altar of her yogic wisdom as she leads us in pose after pose. The teacher´s style is stern. One could well imagine this woman striding about in riding boots complete with crop in hand, rhythmically tapping her palm."

Is that militaristic image familiar or what? And what's it for, I wonder? Do those striding boots inspire people to have better practices and more authentic experiences with themselves and the world?

I know that sounds hokey, but we can be beaten up any time we like. Just walk outside and try to catch a bus. Life's basics are not easy, but that's why we go to yoga (I think). Yoga should not make things harder, in my humble opinion. And let's check our egos --check them thoroughly-- at the door.

Artist-Made Yoga Mats

Artist Katie Merz of Brooklyn has created her own yoga mats for sale at Merz Mats.

She writes, "After years of looking down at a blank yoga mat and feeling somewhat grim, I decided to pick up a sharpie and sketch out some characters onto my own mat. I needed to laugh. The result is here. The mat is a classic navy blue 1/8″ sticky mat with my characters screened in white. They are latex free, extremely durable and washable and measure 68″ x 24″ x 18″."

 Cute Christmas present anyone? Learn more here.

Custom-made Yoga Mats

Also check out the more expensive (and slightly ridiculous) YogaMatic for custom made yoga mats. Featured yoga mat designer this week: Calvin Klein! No kidding.

Says Kevin Carrigan, Creative Director of Calvin Klein Performance, “My design for the Calvin Klein Performance yoga mat is inspired by Warrior 1, one of the most fundamental and beautiful yoga poses. We purposefully wanted the design to incorporate bold, graphic lines which create a fearless silhouette that embodies strength, balance, and courage.” I'm sure you did. Ah, the courage to purchase designer yoga mats.

Non-designer images present the possibility of practicing on the face of the Dali Lama (who is not a yogi, by the way) or on an image of oversized granola or on a field of donuts or on an anime still or on the word "yoga" imitating the Keith Haring sculpture "love."

Jeesh. 

Yoga in the Muslim World

(image: c/o Time inc; Jean Chung/Corbis)

Inspired by the recent Malaysian fatwa against yoga, Time magazine just published a shrewd commentary on yoga in the Muslim world--the most comprehensive I've ever read. (It's a blog entry, so don't get too excited--they're not going front cover with this.)

The writer, Azadeh Moaveni, who has practiced yoga all over the Middle East (in Egypt, Lebannon, Iran, and Iraq etc) gives us insights into yoga outside the Judeo-Christian US, ones that might inspire us North American-bound folks to look up a bit (up away from our navels...).

For example, did you know (could you have guessed?) that in Iran, even in religious cities, every kind of yoga is available to every kind of person--from kids' yoga, to toning yoga, to austere or rigorous yoga--much as it is in the US? Or that in Beirut, Lebannon, people actually prefer gym yoga?

Moaveni quips, "Attending a yoga class at one of the city's [Beirut's] many posh fitness centers means that ministers can chat on their yoga mats, and pop stars can show off their headstands, a convenient way of getting centered and being seen at the same time."

Moaveni frets over the fate of yoga post-fatwa, but eventually decides that most likely it will continue unchanged. "That the forums' experts and mediators rule so contradictorily — some rule haram, while many more judge yoga harmless — suggests there is no fixed Islamic position on yoga, just as there is no fixed type of yoga itself."

So if everyone keeps their cool, this passion for mums, babies, professionals, expats, yuppies, celebrities and the general middle class will continue to flourish across the muslim world. Now what about those problematic Christian yogis...

Read the piece here. 

South Pole Yoga

While on a 5-month assignment as sous-chef at a South Pole research station, Kundalini/Anusara teacher Michele Gentille volunteered to teach yoga. Since her departure in Feb 08, star student Don Potter has taken over.

Michele writes: "Don was a first time student who got hooked and now leads the entire construction crew in yoga every morning for their mandated stretches. Don is in good physical shape to begin with; his summer project was to rollerblade from Seattle to NYC. Not sure if he made it the whole way..."

Below, at the South Pole gym: staff in standing forward bend. Padded bums ahoy! 

South Pole Yoga

(photo care of South Pole station staff)

Yoga Woman

A clever letter to the editor from October spells out a flattering portrait of  Yoga Woman (except that in this portrait, she's only suburban instead of also rural and urban). She is the one person keeping the household together, in contrast to Patio Man who's been taken by surprise by the economic downturn. I like how the letter-writer manages to make a feminist as well as yogic statement.

"Yet Yoga Woman doesn’t expect government to swoop down and come to her rescue. She does expect it to have sound judgment and make solid, educated decisions that will right the country. Yoga Woman is nothing if not formidable. She is the suburban force behind the change that’s taking place this election cycle."

The letter-writer, from San Francisco, was responding to columnist David Brooks' editorial.