Yoga

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Rodney Yee Makes Page Six

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The New York Post's gossip column, Page Six, rats on Rodney Yee's July 4th class in the Hamptons, which was held outside without a permit.

"July 4, 2007 -- HAMPTONITES looking to Zen-out with yoga master Rodney Yee before the holiday crush got a rude awakening yesterday. The Post's Thomas Hinton reports too many people showed up for Yee's class in his Sag Harbor studio, so he and his modelicious wife, Colleen, decided to teach a larger class in the Marine Park by the harbor. But the Yees didn't realize they needed a permit. As the class started, cops descended and threatened to arrest the couple, but were talked down and the group was allowed to disband without a violation being issued."

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Yoga and Wine Vacations Rear Their Heads

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As reported unironically in the Chicago Tribune.

"The yoga package is priced at $2,590, including accommodations, all meals, all activities and transfers to and from Rome. Trans-Atlantic airfare is additional. The tour is offered by Tuscan Way, known for its Tuscan cooking vacations. (800-766-2390; www.tuscanway.com)"

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Yoga: The Musical

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SB Dance, out of Salt Lake City, presented "Yoga the Musical" in June.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported, "It's kind of like 'Romeo and Juliet' meets 'Star Wars,' " said Stephen Brown, the company's namesake and founder. "It's about a boy and girl and a yoga mat, and they're caught in the middle of battling gurus."

"...the story, set in "YogAngeles," follows Frankie, played by Paul Mulder, who is running a yoga black market and still in love with his ex-wife, Sheila (Kim Lynn), who is now on the side of "good" yoga. The two are caught in the middle of an evil corporate plan to commercialize yoga, while gurus Danny (James Dale), and Jackti (Natosha Washington), fight for the right to practice "good" yoga."

"..."Musicals are so American," Brown said. " 'Yoga the Musical,' you know, is a bit of a joke. What does yoga have to do with a musical? But, you know, we poke fun at how yoga is sold today, and really [the story] is about America's ability to absorb anything."

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Yoga Wars: Chicago

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Time Out Chicago pits two popular yoga teachers in a zen-off and picks the winner. The Chicago Tribune then contemplates the fairness and yoga-ness of this move.

Time Out: Most zen yoga teacher

Gabriel Halpern vs. Lourdes Paredes
Halpern, founder of Yoga Circle The closest our city has to its own master, Halpern is considered a legend by folks in the know. Many Chicago instructors train with him at some point in their teaching career.Paredes, teacher She built a massive Chicago following with traditional yoga, and continues to inspire students with new classes—like trance dance—at studios across town (Yogaview, exhale, Namaskar and Healing Power Yoga).

The winner Paredes. Halpern’s experience and talent are undeniably awesome, but we love how Paredes connects with everyday students through her blog (www.lourdesparedes.com), giving solid gear and apparel recs, plus positive (not flaky) affirmations.

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles1/108/features/heroes_and_villains.xml

Chicago Tribune Blog Takes a Bite... and WOW! All the comments!

"Comparing the two is hardly fair. Halpern, a Chicago institution, founded the Yoga Circle in 1985--when Paredes was just 16--and has trained many local instructors. He has seen yoga’s popularity ebb, flow and boom, and is one reason Chicago has such a rich yoga scene.

Paredes, who once thought she would join a convent, is a contemporary teacher who blends spirituality with challenging vinyasa yoga. You can’t help but feel uplifted and refreshed after walking out of her Shiva Rea-inspired classes, which often end with reflections on topics like focus or self-forgiveness, or poetry from the spiritual master, Rumi."

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2007/03/chicagos_best_y.html

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Face Yoga? In NYTimes so gotta be true...

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Face Yoga book published; class offered at gym; media media media--eternal beauty and youth!

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0716F938540C7A8EDDAA0894DF404482

OR, to actually read the article

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:u5p9Ox8qIi0J:www.midtownyoga.com/journal/got-crows-feet-call-the-downward-dog+SKIN+DEEP%3B+Got+Crow%27s-Feet%3F+Call+the+Downward+Dog&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

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Yoga Popular in Prisons

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In Saskatchewan, and elsewhere:

"U.S. prisons are also offering meditation and yoga for their general populations.
The Prison Dharma Network in Boulder, Colo., leads yoga and meditation and also sends books and correspondence to inmates U.S.-wide and around the world."

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=5480a7f0-8c7b-4e45-b19e-be73333c14ef

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Being a Yoga Teacher is Better than Being a Lawyer

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According to CNNMoney.com. Number one in their survey of satisfying job switches is from lawyer to yoga teacher/studio owner.

Witness Susan Rubin at Seasonal Yoga, Armonk, NY.

http://www.seasonalyoga.com/

As covered at http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0703/gallery.bestjobs_profiles.moneymag/

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Yoga in Ghana--Association of Black Yoga Teachers

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Fascinating! Who knew?

"The International Association of Black Yoga Teachers, Ghana (IABYT-Ghana) is organizing a day's Yoga Clinic for the general public as part of preparations for its upcoming first Africa International Summit in Accra slated for August this year."

http://www.myjoyonline.com/archives/health/200703/2754.asp

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Slate Doesn't Like What it Sees

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Ron Rosenbaum, Slate.com columnist, doesn't like the current mainstreaming of yoga.

"No, it's the commodification and rhetorical dumbing-down of yoga culture that gets to me. The way something that once was—and still can be—pure and purifying has been larded with mystical schlock. Once a counterweight to our sweaty striving for ego gratification, yoga has become an unctuous adjunct to it."

Yup.

But while the column begins with interesting insight and valid critique, it devolves into summarizing a recent article in Yoga Journal, chastizing the magazine's editors, and lambasting the phantom yogini-subscriber who would actually take the magazine's advice to heart.

"The final step in the great journey of self-understanding the Yoga Journal editors have force-marched [the writer] on is realizing it's all about her "relationship with herself." Whitney Houston yoga: I found the greatest love of all—Me! It's the return of New Age Me-generation narcissism. And there's nothing worse than narcissism posing as humility."

Okay, he's got a point here. Yoga Journal has been market-shaped into a women's lifestyle magazine. It's getting fluffier and fluffier.

But that YJ story was a particularly strange one. I remember it.

Still, Rosenbaum's column would have been so much more interesting as a think piece about the weird contradictions in the current yoga environment--the mass-marketification among them.

http://www.slate.com/id/2162283/

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Gold's Gym Offers Yoga

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"Apparently the Mr. Universe days are over. Gold's Gym, one of his last strongholds, has finally decided to divorce the oil-slicked rock-hard prototype patron of their long heritage to draw yoga mamas and mellow boomers into the building."

Because that's where the money is...

http://www.adrants.com/2007/03/golds-gym-drops-barbell-picks-up-yoga-bri.php