...but not enough, says BlogHer (http://blogher.org/node/15006). Yoga is a great way to work with PTSD, but the Veteran's Administration isn't wholeheartedly behind it yet. Only two classes in the country are specifically designed for returning vets.
In Boston: http://www.socialweb.net/Events/52675.lasso
In Santa Cruz: http://www.vetshall.org/classes.htm
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/
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.
Waiting outside the studio, in a noisy, busy, Saturday-morning suburban gym, Porchon-Lynch was hard to miss--tall and slender, in a crushed black velvet top, and tight leggings, elegant salt and pepper hair, and a gaggle of students around her. I put my mat at the top of the class, near hers, and was grateful to be so close-- I could barely hear her over the bump, grind, and demolishing music coming from the gym outside.We began seated with some side stretches. I'd never done many of them. She kept her eyes closed in quiet concentration.
Before the class was half over, we were doing challenging poses like krounchasana (crane pose), and sage-broken-in-eight-places. She didn't warm us up much for these so I wasn't surprised that most people in the mixed-level class of suburban professionals and parents could not do them. I could only do them because I practiced last night, and they were still challenging for me.While I worry about overstretching muscles that aren't warm enough, to my amazement, she nimbly demonstrated peacock pose, flying her legs up off the ground as though she were lifting strands of hair. She did it on her thumb-tips with her fingers in extreme flexion. I can barely do that pose with my palms flat. (I did wonder if she used that hand variation to combat arthritis.)
It made me think that --like Iyengar--Porchon-Lynch's body learned these poses young and THAT is why she can still do them. How much does the body change after 35? Her sequencing, however, was mind-boggling. What was her logic? We did a series of standing poses only on one side, and another series only on the other. She apologetically announced, in her hushed voice, that we had run out of time because there was so much she wanted to show us and it wouldn't all fit into the hour. She talked through our 5 minute savasana, final relaxation, about the energy centers in the body. I couldn't hear her very well, but when I peeked up at her, she had her eyes closed, deeply entranced in guiding our journey through the body. Her gorgeous necklace of Ganesh flanked by two suns, and her large lapis lazuli ring, plus the hot pinkish-red nail polish on toe and finger nails announced someone passionate, eccentric, devoted, spirited, and very alive.One-by-one, her students hugged her as they filed out of the room. Afterwards, she told me that she used to be a film maker, and 7 of her films were made in India. She used to pal around with Aldous Huxley in California, and she left India in 1939, one year before my own mother was born there, in New Dehli. She still has many friends in India, and leads retreats there every year. The next one—a combination of yoga retreat and tour of who she knows in Inida—will be in October, 2 months after her 89th birthday, and one month after the monsoons.Sounds like a trip not to miss.
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.
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
Jan 29, 2007 issue of Business Week profiles the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India, home of K. Pattabhi Jois, revered master of the very physical form of yoga called ashtanga."Pilgrimage to the Heart of Yoga" by Savita IyerThis article was in the Executive Life/Travel section. While the article is accurate, it's hard to imagine jet-setting executives dropping in on AYRI: this form of yoga in particular requires a steady practice and knowledge of the poses.From what I've heard, the town is not exactly cushy. You rent a room from someone once you arrive, and the accomodations are basic. The fanciest service available is email and the connection is slow and unreliable. Not exactly what travelling executives might be looking for.Still, it's fascinating that Business Week has chosen to run this article. There's interest out there....
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., 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."
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
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.
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?
At the opening of Golden Bridge Yoga Center in New York last weekend, and then again at Jivamukti this weekend, I sampled a new super green drink that's coming onto the market, Cellnique. It claims to replenish and renew all 30 trillion cells in my body in just 400 ml.
Advertising (and price) aside (this baby goes for about $5), the drink tastes okay, and feels excellent in the body. It should; it's stuffed with an amazing number of good-for-you ingredients. The list is so long you can hardly read the type, but it includes pea protein, hemp protein, and quinoa, as well as some more expected ingredients like broccoli and spinach. But the exotic far outweighs the domestic here.
What I found really intriguing was the marketing label. It neatly captured what I think we think we're doing when we 1) eat organic 2) practice yoga 3) go to accupuncture or a Chinese doctor 4) go to therapy. It's a kind of 1970s mentality of well-being meeting the lifestyle-consumer mentality of the 2000s. We all have to work now, but we spend our money on health.
Here's the blurb, complete with Cellnique's capitalization and punctuation:"You are beautiful and unique, in every way, all 30 trillion cells... you are Cell-nique (tm)."Our Philosophy--Live Consciously: Most of us don't live on a mountain. We live in this world. We strive to be authentic, caring, compassionate and, most of all, soulful. Our perspective is worldly, informed, provocative, stimulating, sensual and aware. We desire to go deeper, to find meaning and balance while living and succeeding in the material world. We ask questions and find answers, continuing to evolve and emerge into our highest being. We feed ourselves the best nature has to offer, knowing it is the secret to lasting health, ageless beauty and superior performance."
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/
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
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
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...
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.
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?
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.