Dudes do Yoga

http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2007/01/fit_boy_meets_mats.php

Evidence that if women are taken out of the scene, and yoga-speak is restricted, men can love yoga, too. In Washington, DC, at least.

I see a lot of men in yoga classes. But I see many, many more women. How to explain this? Because women are more looks-conscious? More spiritual? Because men think yoga is too 'sissy' for them? None of these explanations is very satisfying.

For now, I'm happy to see regular dudes doing backbends.

Watch a video of guys doing yoga, from ABC's 49 News
http://www.49abcnews.com/news/2007/feb/21/yogadance_combination_even_appeals_guys/

Yoga Masters and.... Yoga Pants!

Gary Kraftsow (American Viniyoga) and Shelly Craigo (Himalayan Institute)

Someone gets unhinged

HardTail

HardTail booth

The Yoga Journal Conference NYC 2014

Again from the sublime to the ridiculous...

Workshops with Sarah Powers (Insight Yoga), Bo Forbes (Yoga for Empaths), Richard Freeman (the Art of Vinyasa), and Gary Kraftsow (Tantra Yoga: Meditation, Mantra, Visualization) at this weekend's Yoga Journal Conference NYC definitely left me with a lot to think about.

I was struck by how their teachings--and their mastery-- seemed to come from a place of commitment rather than from a place that was searching for recognition or fame.  (And I wondered: where are the up-and-coming Sarah Powers', Bo Forbes', Richard Freemans, and  Gary Kraftsows? Are they off incubating somewhere?)

At Bo Forbes, I ran into both the first editor of Yoga Journal, Linda Sparrowe, and one of my editors at the current Yoga Journal, Carmel Wroth.

So we now confirm that editors are long-suffering empaths. Thank you.

Carmel whisked me off to the "townhall meeting" that included LuluLemon folks, yoga activists, and yoga scholars. I have to say, it was pretty tough being an empath in that room: TENSE is the word, as Seane Corn and crew sought to wring out a statement of contrition from LuluLemon. In fact, the "debate" dramatically unbalanced at least one person in the audience who began pacing in front of the panelists as though looking for a fight.

But as Yoga for Empaths had just showed me, just because I was worried, didn't mean I had to take it on...  So I got grounded and refocused. And so, next stop?

Well, sometimes a yogini just wants to .... shop.The dazzling array of pants from HardTail at the Yoga Marketplace was worth a photo. A horizon of beautiful pants. I did buy a pair. 

Tao Porchon-Lynch, yoga genious in Westchester

On the recommendation of the Equinox gym PR person, Robert, I headed to Scarsdale today, Saturday morning, for an hour-long yoga class with Tao Porchon-Lynch. It sounded enticing--Prochon-Lynch had been profiled in the Washington Post and NBC for her unusual life. She had not only studied with Mr. Iyengar in India, she'd been born in what was French India, Pondicherry, and had practiced yoga since she was a girl. Not to mention that at 88 1/2 years old, she's almost as old as Iyengar himself. 

McDonald's Teaches Yoga?

Forgive me, regular customers, but since I don't go to McDonald's anymore (loved it as a kid, but as an adult it makes me ill), I didn't realize they'd added Asian chicken salad to the menu, and were offering yoga DVDs to customers.May 2006 issue of Fortune Magazine says the "Asian salad [is] made of orange-glazed chicken, snow peas, red peppers, mandarin oranges, almonds and green soybeans known as edamame. People who buy the salad as part of a "Go Active! Happy Meal" for adults are given one of four 15-minute exercise DVDS, including one that teaches yoga. "Yoga is being roped into helping McDonald's dodge the obesity charges levelled at it. So yoga and Super Size Me are on opposite sides of the obesity debate now?Actually, maybe yoga is on both sides.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/17/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm

Humor on Christian Yoga

At last a humorous take on Christian yoga. BC native Shannon Rupp in the independent daily newspaper, The Tyee, skewers Quesnel area woman's objections to yoga in classrooms--because, the woman says, yoga is the work of the devil. Natch.

Here's an excerpt:
"Cummings also complains that yoga in the classroom is the same as prayer in the classroom, and again she's not wrong. You frequently hear prayers of the "oh-god-oh-god-oh-god" variety, especially in beginner yoga classes. An occasional "Jesus!" isn't unusual."

Read, "Me, A Yoga Devil?" at http://thetyee.ca/Life/2007/01/17/Yoga/

(And scroll down to follow the amazing, convoluted commentary that follows the story!)

History Of Indian Yogis 2000 B.C. - 2000 A.D.

History Of Indian Yogis 2000 B.C. - 2000 A.D., course at Loyola College, CA

https://www.lmu.edu/extension/catalog.aspx?id=2641

From the course catalog:

"Most reconstructions of the history of yoga in India have focused on the term "yoga" as it is found in a selection of major religious and philosophical texts, including the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita of the Mahabharata, and the Hathayogapradipika of Svatmaraman. These reconstructions have tended to emphasize a body of ecstatic and meditative practice. When, however, one traces the history of the term "yogi," the presumed agent of yogic practice, the reconstruction changes radically. From the very earliest accounts of yogis, as found in narrative passages of the Mahabharata, and down through the Tantras and medieval and modern non-scriptural accounts, the image of the Indian yogi has been one of a phenomenally powerful, but also dangerous possessor of supernatural powers, who exits his own body, often to take over those of other people. Using archeological, iconographic, and textual data, this course will survey the image of the Indian yogi from the earliest times down to the present day. The conclusions it will draw will be most surprising."

BBC covers Yoga

A post on the BBC's Web site (BBC's Hindi service) discusses India's modern newsmaker, yoga guru Swami Ramdev.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6240681.stm

Rodney Yee's New Love: An Old Story

The NYTimes covered Rodney Yee's wedding to Colleen Saidman (Sag Harbor yoga studio owner) last weekend.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05EEDA1430F934A35752C0A9619C8B63

The story was first covered in New York Magazine in May 2005 http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/12023/?imw=Y

It was much talked about, and even covered in yoga magazines as an ethical issue. We sure hold our teachers up to high standards.

Yoga in "Children of Men"

In the arresting movie, Children of Men, there was a brilliant characterization of yoga/healing culture. Several times, the midwife character who's helping Theo and Ki, invokes Shanti and chants Om Mani Padme Om. She even gets skeptical Ki to chant when when they are burying the leader of the Fishes, Julienne.

The midwife character is a bridge--she is key to the escape and she gives her life for the child about to be born. But she doesn't get to see Ki delivered into the right hands. That's left to morally exhausted Theo.

The midwife is struggling to live in an unlivable world, do what's right, and have hope. You get a sense that she has to deceive herself to do this. Chanting Om Mani Padme Om gently underscores this: Julienne has been shot in the neck, murdered by her own people. She's buried in an unmarked grave in the woods, in desperate circumstances. There is no redemption. If there is a soul, if there is a god, if there is a healing power, or a guiding light, we don't see it in this movie. The midwife character invokes Shanti in spite of the overwhelming evidence that Shanti is meaningless here.

Sometimes this is how the "healing" around yoga culture seems: harmless when times are good. But how effective would it be if the government and the terrorists were trying to kill you?

Yoga is Big Business

The New York Times reports that (gasp!) yoga makes some people a lot of money. Their business reporter Susan Moran dropped in to the Yoga Journal conference in Boulder, CO, in early January 07 and found people not just blissed out with Shiva Rea, but dropping $100 on necklaces said to help with "expression issues."

As the mainstream embraces yoga, expect to see more and more shopping opportunities wherever yoga is practiced. Retail therapy gets literal.

Meditate on this: Yoga is big business http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=150919#

Read a Canadian angle this story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070113.TEAYOGA13/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Style/

NPR looks at the Business of Yoga

From NPR's Web site:
"Talk of the Nation, December 26, 2006 · Guests explore yoga's path from the margins to the mainstream, and its transformation along the way from spiritual meditation to a mass-marketed workout.

Guests:
Hanna Rosin, staff writer for The Washington Post and author of "Striking a Pose," an article in Harper's magazine that examines yoga's potency as both exercise and market force.

Robert Love, contributing editor at the Columbia Journalism Review. Love's recent article "Fear of Yoga" traces yoga's origins in the United States and its rocky rise to popularity.

Miriam Nelson director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition"

Listen HERE http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6681341

Russell Simmons Does Sun Salutes

I've heard a lot about Russell Simmons doing yoga. He's often mentioned with the roster of stars who once (and might still) practice at Jivamukti. He's hip hop's biggest yogi.

In a somewhat erratic interview, Lime.com presents Simmons explaining his practice. Watch him demonstrate sun salutations. He's got good form. But does he always practice with his shoes on?

http://www.lime.com/tv/living_well_with_oz_garcia/video/6883/living_well_russell_simmons

India Patents Poses

This from a 2005 article from the London Telegraph. Dated, but still news: outraged that Americans and Europeans are making money off yoga, India started a project to record and patent 1,500 yoga poses.

This argument has been bubbling beneath the surface for a long time: who owns yoga?

Are Americans like Baron Baptiste and John Friend really corrupting yoga? Or, as with Western interpretations of Buddhism and meditation, are they reviving the practice as well as putting their American twist on it? Would yoga be so popular in India today if it hadn't first caught on in America? After all, yoga was nothing to get excited about 50 years ago.

Hmmm...

Baghdad Yoga

The Army Times reports that Maj. Michele Spencer, a medic in training, recently called to duty in Iraq, is now teaching 3 yoga classes a week in Baghdad.

According to the article, "Six months ago, when the reservist went to the Green Zone in Iraq with the 9th Brigade, 108th Division out of Charlotte, N.C., she decided the class could provide a calming effect for soldiers facing daily battles with stress. She said at least one other yoga instructor teaches at the embassy."

Spencer has an enthusiastic Web site, too, Baghdadyoga.com.

Laughter Yoga NYC

At first laughter yoga seemed confined to California. Okay. We know California is willing to try anything. But I just read about it in Montreal (see photo above, from the Montreal Gazette), and after a bit of searching, found a club in New York.

Here's what the New York site (www.grabbagiraffe.org) says about laughter yoga:

"The unique idea of laughter yoga clubs was discovered on 13th of March 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician from Mumbai (India). Any one can laugh for 15-20 minutes without depending upon great sense of humor, jokes or comedy. It combines laughter exercises (simulated laughter) and yoga breathing, which turns into real laughter when practiced in a group."

I still don't know why it's yoga. Why is this yoga?

Get a PhD in Yoga?

India-trained professionals in ayurveda and yoga are looking for work. Follow this link. In India you can get a doctoral degree in yoga (SVYASA, Bangalore is one place offering this) or a masters in applied yoga science at Bihar Yoga Bharati, Munger, Bihar and at other universities, too, probably.

What do they teach yoga PhD students? Sanskrit, anatomy, physiology, sutras? Like our typical one-month training spread out over 4 years? Or something completely different?

Will Americans be tempted to go to Pune, Lucknow, and Mysore, not just to improve their bodies and breathing, but to get advanced degrees in yoga?

Food for thought.

Yoga for...

On Thursday, my article on "Yoga for Everything" appeared in Time Out New York (mysteriously titled "Goal Mate" by TONY).

On Friday, The New York Times ran this story, "Days of Wine and Yoga", about a yoga and wine workshop that's touring major US cities.

Hmmmmm, seems as journalists we're cementing a trend. (See what happened to the entrepreneur after she appeared in the Times.)

According to the Times, Yahoo.com is starting an entire "Yoga + " series that will pair yoga workshops with other kinds of learning and "indulgences." Yoga for chocolate is one.

I've watched some reactions to my little article. Yoga for dating raises eyebrows, but is by far the most talked about entry. Some people get indignant, some laugh, some are curious. The more sensible pairings, like yoga for running, or yoga for singers (after all, yoga tones the muscles of respiration and calms performance jitters) doesn't ruffle any feathers.

But what does yoga have to do with chocolate? Or wine?

I can see having a drink after a yoga class: when Go Yoga was still located in the Mini Mall, I used to enjoy stopping in at Uva Wines to taste the night's samplings.

But the Times shows yogis on their mats sipping wine. Mais, pourquoi? What benefit could there be from learning about wine in your gym clothes? (And possibly spilling it on the studio floor.) Is this a product of literal thinking or great marketing?

I think the answer is this: lifestyle.

Ahhh the fresh scent of the wave of the future.

Better Sex Through Yoga videos

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, "Better Sex Through Yoga" is a video series, created by Jacquie Noelle Greaux. I know it's ridiculous, but don't tell me you're not curious.

Didn't you used to think, vaguely, that yoga had something to do with sex? Back before you actually practiced it, of course. I think that association lingers, especially among men who don't practice. Fantasies of flexible women, you know...

In October 2006, Prevention.com ran an article on how yoga improves sex. Read it here: The Big O in OM. No one's watching.

New DVD: Yoga 4 Fellas with Trev the Yogic Builder: The Only Yoga Teacher who Can Drink Ten Pints.

Ailon Free was a yoga teacher for 20 years before getting into comedy. In this self-produced DVD, his character, Trev, "features yoga down the pub, in the motor, at the footie, with the missus and meditation for builders – each with up to eight poses adapted for everyday situations."

Trev will also help guys to "achieve the perfect builder's bum."

From the Brits, of course: Yoga 4 Fellas with Trev the Yogic Builder.

Bikram Yoga Championships Hit Britain, Olympics Could be Next Stop

The Huffington Post reports that two former British Yoga Champions (this is only for Bikram-style yogis) are lobbying to have yoga officially recognized as a competitive Olympic sport . The last National Championships in the US were held in the summer of 2003, to very mixed reactions. When did yoga become a competitive sport, some asked.

Bikram himself was a champion in India; who knows what other yogis like Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois think of it, but yoga championships continue today, like the World Yoga Competition in New Delhi next week. The competitors are five 15-year old boys and one 14-year old, so don't get excited.

One thing's for sure: in the West, many of us don't accept this version of yoga. The comments on Huffington Post blurb show a familiar mix of lurid skepticism and outraged disbelief. Some hilarious comments, too.

More on the Olympic effort on buzzfeed.