bunch of hooey

Today, MSNBC's Mental Health page reports on weird new "laughter yoga"in the article, "Laughter yoga no joke for fad's followers."

Forcing yourself to crack up in a class sounds pretty odd--so does muttering gibberish for a cool-down (not kidding). And what does this have to do with yoga?

So far, this fad is restricted to Laguna Beach, California.

But I do have to laugh at the headline that follows this one. Remember, this is the mental health category on MSNBC: "Botched penis surgery ends in mailbomb to doc."

Freaky yoga, suicide, depression, schizophrenia management, and penis surgery--you'd think mental health (and by association, yoga) was just for psychos.

Taking Our Pulse

Hanna Rosin, former Style writer for the Washington Post and a current contributing editor for The Atlantic, takes the pulse of yoga in America in her December 2006 article "Strike a Pose." According to Rosin, the good old days of hard-core yoga--like that practiced by Jivamukti teachers and practitioners--have been superceded by the more mainstream yoga like Power Yoga taught by Baron Baptiste, a pragmatic blend of gym workout and church pep talk.

The article is not available online, but you can read a related interview with Rosin on The Atlantic's site here.

Sweet Irreverence from McSweeneys

The Primary Series of Poses in Yoga for Depressives.

BY CARMEN NOBEL

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1. Up yours/downward spiral
2. Dead cat/fat cow
3. Sorrier one
4. Sorrier two
5. Unloved child's pose
6. Shrug of futility
7. Goddam farting vegan
8. Crap squat
9. Awkward pause
10. Applying for COBRA
11. The collapsing bridge
12. The pointless Kegels
13. Too fat for that pose
14. Forward flop
15. 12 hours of corpse pose
16. Namaste, or whatever

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