We know that yogis are a passionate bunch, whether it’s going to extreme lengths to secure time on their mats or in fighting for a cause they believe in. Now one yogi is putting his own endurance to the test to keep a dream alive. Will Baxter, a financial-advisor-turned-yogin-social-entrepreneur who is trying to launch a yoga-bag company that will also help native Guatemalan women weavers, is one-day into his personal telethon (of the YouTube variety) to walk nonstop on a treadmill until the funds needed to launch the company are raised or until the campaign ends Nov. 22. I AM , Baxter’s sustainable-business-model idea, will sell naturally dyed yoga bags and straps woven by the indigenous Mayan women of the country, sharing 50 percent of the net profit directly with their communities. The seed money for the company will come through KickStarter, the funding platform for creative endeavors. Baxter needs to raise close to $25,000 more of the project’s goal of $45,000 before the fundraising period ends next week. Not unlike brands like Jade , a backer of I AM, Baxter appears to be the next generation of  yogis who hope to pair a business idea with sustainability and social responsibility. A new form of yoga off the mat?

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The Jerry Lewis of Yoga?

How does a Bond girl get in shape for the rigors of her duties? Yoga, of course. The blogs are abuzz about Naomie Harris, the actress who follows in the footsteps of many before her– a Bond girl in the mold of Jane Seymour to Halle Berry. As part of her training regimen to get in shape for playing a field agent Eve in Skyfall , the 35-year old actress told the audience at a London press conference her secret: “I’ve been … driving cars and I’m stunt-fighting, and [doing] yoga to get my body really toned, and I’m firing guns: machine guns,” she said.

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A Spy’s Secret: Yoga

Leslie Kaminoff never expected his humble yoga book to make a splash in 2007. But that’s not what happened. The book, Yoga Anatomy , co-authored with Amy Matthews, sold out its first printing in a month and shot to Amazon’s Bestsellers list, where it’s been ever since. The book is in its eighth printing, is sold around the world, with over 200,000 copies in print. This week, the second edition of the book has been released. We talked to Kaminoff, also the founder of T he Breathing Project , about the book’s makeover: Buzz: Were you surprised that your book has become such a classic? LK: Yes, we had no idea how popular it would be. Buzz: How is the 2011 version different? LK: We’ve added some things that we didn’t add because of previous space and time constraints. Amy has always been the coauthor, and now she’s acknowledged. There are two brand new chapters, and a lot of new material based on the feedback we got. We tried to be clearer and make it easier to navigate. Buzz: Do you think it’s even more relevant today? LK: More and more people drawn to therapeutic work, whether students or teachers, so we’ve noticed quite a lot more demand for higher quality anatomical information than people get in their regular teacher training programs. Buzz: What do you make of the book’s popularity?  LK: Anatomy cuts through a lot of the secular conversations that tend to go on in all of the different schools of yoga. The one thing we all have in common in our body. The function of the body is universal. Buzz: What is your goal for the book? LK: To be a resource for students and for anybody who works with the body. My greatest hope is for it to continue what it’s been, a success far beyond what anyone imagine, Kaminoff offers an online version of his anatomy courses at www.yogaanatomy.net.

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Yoga Classic: New & Improved

Photo by J.T. Liss (Photography for Social Change) They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In our time, this might also be true of a video captured by smart phone or a 140-character Tweet. Yet, there is a sense of timelessness, of depth, when a moment is captured at just the right time in a photograph. All the narrative you need is right there. That’s what yogin J.T. Liss realized when he walked through the streets of Harlem. This former school teacher and counselor to at-risk youth saw beauty in human imperfection, in buildings weathered by time and neglect, in spaces and scenes that others might not notice. He saw stories everywhere that deserved to be told. “A photo can be more than just stimulates thought or evokes emotion,” Liss says. “It can be an advocate for change.” Liss’s Photography for Social Change combines his dual desires to tell these stories through art and to give back and support organizations whose missions he believed in.    This Friday, Liss joins New York blogger YogaDork in a benefit to support Off the Mat, Into the World, the not-for-profit organization founded by Seane Corn that uses the power of yoga and community to bring about social change. Liss will donate 25 percent from sales of his photos of a yoga-roadtrip across the U.S. this past summer to the organization. (The photos are also on sale online .) The event will be held at the Trump Bar in Trump Tower in Manhattan. Get details here .

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Photo Benefit for Off the Mat

While people everywhere are struggling to make ends meet yoga businesses continue to thrive, according to a recent report by CNNMoney . Low operating costs and growing demand are fueling the success of yoga studios, many of which are mom-and-pop operations that simply want to share yoga with their communities. Of course, the still-struggling economy and high unemployment rate are also good reasons for people to look for ways to manage stress and do some soul searching. The yoga and Pilates studio industry is expected to hit $6.5 billion by the end of this year, which is an expected annual sales growth of 9.5% between 2006 and 2011 according to reports by market research firm IBISWorld. But studio owners aren’t the only ones making a profit from yoga–just ask Asheville, North Carolina, entrepreneur Jason Scholder. Scholder is on track to make $1 million in annual sales by 2013 with his innovative yoga prop the Three Minute Egg, according to a recent article in the Asheville Citizen-Times . An alternative to traditional yoga blocks, the Three Minute Egg fits the natural curve of the spine. “I would like to see the Three Minute Egg in every yoga studio, in every Pilates studio, in every chiropractic office and physical therapy office in the world,” he told the paper. At the rate the industry is growing, it might be hard to keep up. Has the economy impacting how much you’re willing to spend on yoga classes and products?

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Yoga Biz Thrives Despite Economy

“What if you could be more virile than Hugh Hefner, more motivated than Tony Robbins, calmer than Buddha and cooler than James Bond?” Got your attention? That’s the hook for a new yoga conference just for men. Activation: Yoga for Men Conference will be held in San Francisco Nov. 11-13, and, as the flier predicts: This is not your girlfriend’s yoga. The conference, a collaboration between the International Yoga Therapy Conference and the Young Men’s Ultimate Weekend, is an effort to introduce this ancient practice to modern men, providing them with tools that the conference organizers believe are exactly what today’s men need. Presenters Scott Blossom, Ed Harrold, Carl Speizer, Antonio Sausys, and Mark Schillinger will tackle topics including focusing willpower, improving sexual health, increasing masculine wisdom and spiritual strength, and creating healthy daily routines. “Since yoga was once primarily the domain of men, we believe the way to lure men back is by creating confidential and sacred spaces where they can reveal themselves unmasked,” organizers Sausys and Schillinger explain on the event website . “This will give men the opportunity to practice yoga in ways that meet their unique psychological, physiological and anatomical needs.”

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Not Your Girlfriend’s Yoga

photo: J.T. Liss (Photography for Social Change) More people are taking their yoga off the mat and onto the street–Wall Street, that is. Since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Sept. 17, yogis Russell Simmons, Deepak Chopra and Michael Franti have joined the masses and lent their voices and celebrity to the cause. Yoga teacher and activist Seane Corn joined the chorus this morning, leading nearly 200 yogis in a practice of community, solidarity, and change. “This gathering [on Wall Street] is not about being ‘against’ something or someone. It is about being ‘for’ unity, freedom of speech, and justice,” Seane Corn explained on her Facebook page on Saturday. Corn founded Off the Mat, Into the World , an organization “that uses the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and to ignite grass roots social change,” according to the group’s website. “OTM supports all societies rights to express dissatisfaction and ask for change. This is what we GET to do and is a right that we should cherish and protect. I am not for the 99% and against the 1%. I am for the 100% getting our shit together and remembering we are ONE.”

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Seane Corn Occupies Wall Street

Photo credit: Jasper Johal for ToeSox From the wide cultural misunderstanding of tantra yoga to controversial ads by some yoga-product companies, sex and yoga is a hot-button topic. The fire was stoked again last week in a series of news stories and blog posts. First, a post on The Daily Beast explored the topic of spontaneous orgasms during yoga class. While it’s no secret that people say their sex lives improve after a regular yoga practice, this was, well, perhaps a little too much information. Then, a group of high school girls in Loveland, Ohio stood up for their right to wear yoga pants after school administrators banned the stretchy pants as too revealing and thus a possible distraction from school work. The girls, dozens who said they were sent home or forced to change their clothes, maintained that the pants are comfortable and no more revealing than a pair of jeans. What do you think? Is it really possible to have an orgasm in yoga class? Are yoga pants too sexy for schools? Are there too many stories about sex and yoga in the media? And does any of this have anything to do with the practice of yoga?

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Sexy Yoga News

If you’re looking for an easy way to give back to the world through your yoga practice, this year’s Yoga Aid Challenge might be just the opportunity for you.. On October 1-2, join yoga students across the globe to raise money for yoga nonprofit organizations that are making a difference in the world. Last year, the event raised more than $100,000 at more than 35 events across the county. This year the organization, hopes to double that! Proceeds will go to one of five deserving yoga nonprofits that are working to bring the practice to those in need from inner city schools and incarcerated youth to poor communities in Africa. How can you help? Find a Yoga Aid Challenge event near your by going to http://www.yogaaid.com/usa . Raise money for the charity of your choice, then participate in a two-hour class. If there’s nothing in your area, you can support one of the participants by making a donation. We want to know: How do you share your yoga with the world?

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Give Love: Take the Yoga Aid Challenge

Any woman with an Internet connection has access to the voices of today’s most influential yoginis, thanks to the Divine Feminine Yoga Telesummit . The free program, which launched with a week of live calls in mid-September and is now available online, embraces the idea that there is tremendous power in owning and cultivating feminine (source) energy and wisdom in your life. Featured teachers on the summit include Sally Kempton, Shiva Rea, Sara Avant Stover, Chandra Easton and others who draw upon the Divine Feminine in their yoga, their teaching, and in their own lives. The summit is the creation of yogi, activist, and former director of the Green Yoga Association , Laura Cornell. “I see the Divine Feminine as a medicine for us as women, and a medicine for our times,” she says. “”It’s just one more piece of pulling together the awareness of women in yoga and celebrating women, healing and empowerment. If we can heal women body and soul, we can heal the world.”

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Where Technology Meets Divinity

From innovative designs that promise to lend extra support and comfort to stylish cover ups that transition seamlessly from the studio to the street, it’s no secret that yoga fashions are becoming increasingly more sophisticated these days. But is yoga clothing stylish enough for fashion week? Apparently so. Fashion designer Vivienne Tam, partnering with Chinese sports brand Li Ning, presented a fashion yoga collection yesterday at New York’s Lincoln Center during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The “modern women’s dream yoga collection” wasn’t shown with a traditional runway show, but a “‘Live Sculpture Garden,” led by yoga teaching duo Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee. Twenty yogini models were wore the new designs while they performed a choreographed yoga routine led by Yee and Saidman. Tam, a longtime yoga student, said she created the collection when she had a difficult time finding fashionable athletic apparel that she could wear to the yoga studio and then to the office or anywhere else. “With my crazy schedule, regularly flying back and forth from Hong Kong to the United States, yoga has been the one thing that not only keeps me focused but provides me with a sense of peace and better energy,” she said. The reviews aren’t in yet, but this well-known designer’s foray into yogawear created a lot of buzz in the fashion blogosphere. If it hits, we’ll likely see other designers jumping on board. What do you think? Does yoga have a place in fashion? Or does pairing yoga and fashion take the practice a little too far away from its intended purpose?

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Yoga Collection Unveiled at New York Fashion Week

The latest entry in the popular field of yoga memoirs is a wickedly funny book with one of the most memorable titles ever: “Yoga Bitch: One Woman’s Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment.” The book chronicles a 25-year-old yoga student’s quest for enlightenment via a teacher-training program in Bali. For anyone who has ever fantasized that yoga could instantly transform them into a serene, lithe, uber-flexible and wise-beyond-their-years yogi, only to be rudely awakened to your real-time self doing a face plant on your mat, this story is for you. You’ll commiserate, cringe, and laugh out loud. Buzz recently spoke with the author, Suzanne Morrison, a writer and solo performer, who, 10 years later, is far less cynical but still has a lot to say about transformation, the marketing of yoga, and some of the more fringe elements of the practice. You went to this teacher training seeking transformation. Do you feel that you were transformed by the experience? I do. But if you go home from a yoga retreat believing yourself to be completely transformed, you should have that checked out. Your friends are probably making fun of you behind your back. That’s what Yoga Bitch is about, in many ways: it’s about waking up with yourself again after believing yourself to be transformed. Transformation is a long-term game. It’s something you can’t really see until you look back far enough. But I don’t think spiritual effort is ever a waste of time, even if you don’t see immediate results. One day you’ll touch your toes, having tried to get there for two years. Five years later you might notice that you’ve been slipping into meditation with less drama than you once did.  Last week my new favorite yoga teacher talked me into actually holding Side Crow for five seconds, and that made me feel like a whole new person–until I fell on my face, and then I recognized myself again. Looking back on your time in Bali, is there anything you wish you could have appreciated more that you didn’t at the time? Oh jeez, yes. I wish I had been able to notice that my ego was running amok after my first big spiritual breakthrough. I wish I had actually gotten enlightened. I wish I had seen the face of God while meditating and then marched into the future feeling great about myself. I wish I had thought to ask for the recipe for the amazing and forbidden coconut vanilla milkshake I became obsessed with. Most of all, I wish I had known towards the end of the retreat that 10 years later I would look back on my teachers in Bali and know that they were the best teachers I have studied with. They gave me a foundation in yoga philosophy that opened some incredible doors for me, both spiritually and intellectually. Physically, too–before Bali I looked like a dying dog in Plank Pose. Now I merely look like an elderly dog. Since you did your teacher training 10 years ago, yoga has become even more mainstream. Any thoughts about the yogification of popular culture? Well, it’s fascinating! I have an older friend who recently had a stroke, and his doctor prescribed yoga to help him regain some lost mobility in his legs and arms. I think that sort of development is pretty awesome. I am still conflicted about the way yoga has been used as a marketing device in order to sell everything from herpes medication to insurance plans. We are a nation of consumers, and right now many of us are deeply invested in consuming a particular health-and-wellness lifestyle. We all must be very exhausted or something, that we respond so profoundly to these yoga images, these wellness promises. But we do: if we are told a new car is going to make us feel nourished, calm, at one with nature and spirit because a woman in white is doing yoga next to it, a lot of us buy in. That image is seductive. It sometimes makes me feel like a huge chump. If I see a sun-drenched advertisement featuring a woman with perfectly clear skin meditating while her all-organic flax seed granola waits patiently for her, nestled in a beautiful ethnic bowl, I find myself wanting that granola. That granola, I’m convinced, is going to calm me the fuck down. I’m a total stooge. Then again, maybe it will calm me down. Maybe that granola has special powers. I want to believe in the power of the granola. During your program, you experienced kundalini rising, which for many practitioners is a kind of yogic Holy Grail. Have you ever recaptured that feeling?   I haven’t, although I did get overheated and pass out in the tub once, and it was kind of a similar experience. Seriously, though, I have deliberately backed off a little on meditation and pranayama. That was such an intense experience and I think there’s a part of me that is afraid to repeat it. Which is odd, because it was an amazing, spectacular event. I felt like I could bond with plants, suddenly. But I’ve tried to belatedly take the advice my teacher gave me in Bali. Lou said to let it go. He said that I shouldn’t try to repeat my kundalini experience or try and hold onto it or else it would actually hurt my meditation practice. And he was right: in Bali, I tried to hold onto that feeling for a long time, and it made meditation impossible, because I was always trying to recapture something lost. Now when I meditate I try and approach it as something new. I try not to compare today’s meditation to yesterday’s. This is actually good for my writing, too–one good writing day and you want them all to be like that. Without giving too much away, there’s a part in the book that discusses the health-preserving benefits of … urine therapy. Have you kept up with the practice? Hell no! Once was more than enough for me. Just the thought makes me gag. Interestingly, I recently spent time with my old roommate Jessica, who plays a significant role in Yoga Bitch , and she told me that she doesn’t do it anymore, either. She was hardcore. If she’s stopped doing it, I don’t think there’s a lot of hope for urine therapy to go mainstream. Read more from Suzanne Morrison at suzannemorrison.blogspot.com .

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A Q+A with the author of Yoga Bitch

Who says yoga can’t be funny? Certainly not Dan Damman and Chris Thomas. Together, they’ve written a “mockumentary” poking fun at the yoga world. Offering glimpses of the project through a series of videos , which are quickly going viral, they make light of the commodification of yoga, and the personality quirks of the people who practice it.  The idea started when Damman saw a postcard for a trademarked yoga retreat. He thought the idea behind it was kind of funny, “that someone was offering yogis the chance to embrace their vision, but if they didn’t, they might get sued.” Soon, Damman, a yoga practitioner himself, saw comedy in yogis everywhere, from the people breaking the speed limit to get to class to others rushing into class to steal a coveted spot for their mats. He and Thomas describe their project, called The Yogi™, as “a yoga-positive feature comedy about several fictitious yoga posers competing in the Pose Off of the Century.”   Damman says their work is a counterbalance to the idea that yoga has to be so serious. “When you see a situation that you’ve experienced, and you can relate to it, there can be comedy in it. With yoga, there is comedy because we have to battle our egos all of the time. We can’t observe ourselves, but we can observe other people, that’s how we learn about ourselves.” Visit The Yogi™  on Facebook.

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Yoga With a Sense of Humor

There are many ways to live your yoga out in the world, but one of the most profound is to dedicate yourself to the service of others. If you’ve ever been drawn to the yoga of service, but wondered how one person can make a difference, consider the work of Paige Elenson, Baron Baptiste, and the Africa Yoga Project . The Africa Yoga Project began when Elenson was in Kenya volunteering as a yoga teacher for two months. When a civil war broke out there, she realized she wanted to stay and make a difference. Her teacher, Baron Baptiste, became a co-founder and offered his support to the program. “I’ve been to Kenya twice to lead teacher trainings for over 50 teachers who work for AYP,” Baptiste told Buzz. “They all now earn a living wage through teaching yoga and sharing their stories in their communities in Kenya.” Today, AYP offers more than 200 free classes a week to the people of Kenya through programs that serve young urban Kenyans, women, and others who need the practice. “This is really just the beginning of seeing how yoga can be seen as a global practice of empowerment and possibility and creation in our environment,” Elenson said. Elenson is one of several experienced Baptiste teachers who will be teaching at the Baptiste Power Flow Immersion at Yoga Journal’s Colorado Conference Sept. 19-21. The immersion, which is open to both experienced and beginning yoga students and teachers, offers the chance to study closely with Baron Baptiste and deepen the understanding of the Baptiste Yoga method. Classes like Elenson’s are designed to inspire and educate students about the transformations possible through yoga. “They are some of the most highly-skilled, deeply inspiring, and from-the-heart vinyasa teachers on the planet,” said Baptiste of the teachers involved in the immersion. “I’ve been close with each of these teachers for a long time and have watched the impact that their individual teaching has had in the lives of the many people they touch.” Have you ever wanted to change the lives of others through your yoga practice? What challenges have you faced?

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Africa Yoga Project Inspires YJ’s Colorado Conference

You may have seen the video of Yoga for Wine Lovers , which features an agile yogi practicing advanced poses while simultaneously downing a bottle of red wine. We’re not sure when it happened, but yoga and wine have become a popular pairing. Yoga teacher Dave Romenelli has carved a niche with foodies and wine lovers with his Yoga + Wine classes. Connecticut’s Chamard Vineyard hosts summer yoga classes outdoors in view of the vines. At the Wanderlust yoga-music festival, you can take a break from practice for wine tasting. And that’s only the beginning: other yoga-wine events are popping up at vineyards, studios, and yoga gatherings around the country. We are always fascinated at the way modern yoga integrates other aspects into the practice. But what does traditional yoga have to say about this particular combination? We asked James Bennitt, a Tantric vinyasa yoga teacher in Chicago, and a student of Rod Stryker.  ”There is no mention of alcohol in the yamas or niyamas,” says Bennitt. “However in Chapter 1, verse 59 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, probably the most important text as far as the physical aspect of yoga goes, there is a list of ‘foods’ that are to be avoided by the yogi and, sure enough, alcohol is one of them.” Bennitt continues: “Believe me, I’m not happy about this as I love craft beer.” He doesn’t say that everyone has to follow these guidelines, but they work for him: “Personally, I have finally come to the conclusion that I feel better if I avoid alcohol all together.  Even small amounts on a regular basis are hard on your kidneys, adrenal glands and liver.  A glass of wine or beer once in a while isn’t the worst thing in the world, but when it becomes a habit, it is depleting to the system, not to mention clouds your judgment.  For me, yoga is very much about building energy as well as clarity–not depleting yourself of them.” How does alcohol fit in with your yoga lifestyle?  

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Buzzed: Yoga and Alcohol

If you’ve ever browsed a Lululemon Athletica store, you might be surprised that so many different looks could be created from stretchy fabric. From basic and simple to complicated and fashion-forward, the designers at Lululemon always seem to be dreaming up interesting new yoga wear. Whether you’re a fan or not, their designs are on often on the forefront of yoga fashion trends. Have you ever wondered how they come up with those booty-shaping yoga pants? The Lululemon Lab, located on the corner of West Broadway and Cambie in Vancouver, British Columbia, houses new design concepts, designers working on patterns, and even a team of 20-plus sewers putting together the next season’s clothing. Customers who visit get to see first-hand what goes into the designs, try them out, and provide feedback about the garments, which designers factor into their next creations. “The lab creates, makes, and sells its own line of clothing using the same Lululemon fabrics you know and love,” according to Lululemonlab.com, a website that shares photographs of the lab’s designs and interviews with the collaborators. “Its exclusive forward-thinking line is conceptualized by its very own team of designers, whose inspirations are rooted in local and international fashion as well as guest and athlete feedback.” The lab only makes between 10 and 100 of each piece, and only sells those garments from the lab’s showroom in Vancouver. A select few of these experimental pieces do make their way into the Lululemon stores everywhere. But the feedback that consumers offer influence the creations at the lab and the company as a whole. “Lululemon is based on guest feedback–this is a huge influence in creating our product,” says Lindsay Walsh, a product coordinator and designer for the lab. “The lab is our opportunity to collect that feedback on a daily basis.”

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Lululemon Lab

Does your yoga practice need a little artistic inspiration? Or does your museum-going need a little yoga? Either way, you might find yoga classes at an unlikely place–a nearby art museum. This summer and beyond, museums around the country are offering yoga classes as part of their programming. It makes perfect sense, according to the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Regina Carswell Russo. “The art museum is a place of reflection, a place to find solace and to go inside as you look at the beauty around you,” she says. “What better place to pair these two art forms: going inside to see the beautify within and coming into the space to see the beauty around you?” Russo, herself a beginning yogi, says that yoga at the museum is just another example that yoga should be adaptable. “People see that you can do a practice at home on your mat, in the park, in a studio, or at the museum,” she says. “It’s good to be able to find different and creative places to practice.” At San Francisco’s Asian Art museum, yoga classes are aligned with the museum’s goal of educating people  about Asian art and culture. “Some of our most successful programs are more spiritual, meditative programs, we have an incredible collection for that,” says the Asian Art Museum’s Allison Wyckoff. “We wanted to offer a yoga class to really get people thinking about the connection between our collection and this time-honored practice.” The classes, part of the museum’s family programming, also gives museum-going exposure to little ones. “It’s a great way to encourage families and kids to come to the museum,” says Wyckoff. In July, the Brooklyn Museum offered a three-series class to correspond with a current exhibit about Vishnu. While it doesn’t have any regular yoga classes, it is planning a screening of the film YogaWoman on Thursday, August 25. Museum yoga class locations vary widely: some are held in sculpture gardens, galleries, and rotundas, while others are held in community rooms and even reception halls. Here’s a taste of museums where you can find yoga. The Dali Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida:  Yoga + Dali Classes, held every Sunday, take place in a room with a waterfront view. The Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, New Jersey: No Sweat Yoga Held every Sunday, you can pay per class or for a 6-class series. Asian Art Museum, San Francisco:  Yoga Flow Classes are part of the museum’s family programming, so everyone over the age of five is welcome. Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina: Yoga Every Thursday, yogis gather to breathe and sweat.

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Yoga at the Museum

The producers of Yogawoman have announced that Academy-award nominated actress and yogini Annette Bening will narrate the film, which will premiere in major North American cities in September. Yogawoman illuminates the global phenomenon of how modern women have embraced yoga. Eighty-percent of American yogis are women. Yet most of the teachers who bought the lineage here are men. The documentary explores how the current generation of female yoga teachers are taking the practice and making it their own–empowering their female students every step of the way. That’s why the people behind YogaWoman recently launched their website, a portal for yoginis, says co-producer and director Kate Clere. “Yogawoman.tv is designed as a resource for all yoga women around the world to come together and share all their thoughts, writings and research on how yoga is changing women’s lives,” she told Buzz.  “It will be a one stop shop to find out what is going on with classes, retreats and workshops that support women with their practice.” As a community resource, the website also tells you how you can pre-order a copy, host a screening, and find out where the film will be showing at a theater near you. We want to know: How do the women in your life support each other’s yoga practice?

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New Yoga Film Narrated by Annette Bening

The summer is halfway over. You might have a major trip planned, or a staycation where you while away the hours at home. You might have, like us, a list of books from the year that you just haven’t gotten around to. Whatever you choose for summer, a good book can make the summer just as memorable as a family trip to the beach or a double-decker cone. Here’s a few books that we think yogis will enjoy: For the creative. Writing Yoga : A Guide to Keeping a Practice Journal (Rodmell) by Bruce Black. An introspective book that explores where yoga, writing, and life meet. For the lighthearted. Downward Dog, Upward Fog (Alignment) by Meryl Davids Landau. A lighthearted novel about a woman who just can’t seem to stay on the spiritual path — something most of us can relate to.   For the balance-seeker. Yoga for Emotional Balance: Simple Practices to Relieve Anxiety and Depression (Shambhala) by Bo Forbes. Forbes, a therapist and yoga teacher, gives practical advice for working with both the body and the mind to address the blues.  For the scientific. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer (Penguin): The author’s fascinating journey in the U.S. Memory Championship sheds light on the nature of the human experience. We want to know: What’s on your summer reading list?

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Summer Book List for Yogis

It used to be that if you weren’t near a yoga studio, you’d have to be creative about your own home yoga practice or pull from your personal library of DVDs. But with the proliferation of online yoga classes, self-directed yogis have their pick of classes, teachers, and technologies. The latest in the mix is NowLesson , a site that offers one-to-one classes where people can do yoga (or learn to play the mandolin lesson or speak Spanish!) over video chat with a live instructor, for $40 per class. Students find a teacher they like and arrange for an interactive class to fit their needs.  Have a teacher you already love and can’t bear the thought of missing your weekly class? Many teachers today are willing to teach privately over Skype. And for those of you who want to experience different teachers and styles  (and pay less money) there are numerous options, including streamed videos from a studio setting ( Yogaglo ); thousands of free instructional videos on YouTube, including those on the newly relaunched Yoga Journal YouTube channel; and, of course, there’s Yogajournal.com for free podcasts, Livemag videos, and more! We want to know: Do you download or stream yoga videos?

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Yoga Class Right at Home

Back in 1991, while living in New York City and working as a television journalist, Suzanne Bryant took a yoga class to help counteract the stress of her daily life. Nine years later, she had enrolled in the ISHTA teacher training program, realizing that the calm and clarity the practice gave her was something she wanted to share. But it wasn’t until she learned that her mother had terminal breast cancer, and moved back to San Francisco to be with her, that yoga became more than an adjunct to her life–it became her best friend.  After her mother’s death, and still carrying her immense grief, she set out to explore yoga, from its roots to its modern application, to better understand the transformative powers of this mystical practice. Yoga Is is Bryant’s documentary of this exploration. It led her to India where she studied Ayurveda in Kerala, practiced Ashtanga Yoga with Pattabhis Joi and his daughter Saraswati, and met with Neem Karoli Baba’s son and learned about Bhakti Yoga, and back to the U.S., where she met with prominent Western yoga teachers such as Alan Finger, Shiva Rae, Dharma Mittra, Baron Baptiste, and many more;  Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman; and celebrities like Russell Simmons, Christy Turlington Burns, and Michael Franti, who have embraced the practice. At the heart of the film is the earnest search to understand what this ancient system of asanas, meditations, chants, and more, can offer each of us as we navigate through our lives. Yoga Is has screened in New York and Boulder, this week opens in San Francisco, and is slated to play in numerous other cities throughout the U.S. and the world in the coming months.

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"Yoga Is" Documentary

More than three months ago, a murder at a Bethesda, Maryland, Lululemon Athletica store rocked the local community and the yoga world. At first, a coworker of the slain victim, Jayna Murray, reported that the incident was the result of a botched robbery attempt by a masked gunman. But slowly, her story began to unravel. Eventually, the same coworker, Brittany Norwood, was charged with the murder. Although the loss will never end for the victim’s friends and family, one chapter in this tragedy has come to a close. In honor of the victim, hundreds of people gathered on a promenade across from the Bethesda store on Saturday for an outdoor yoga class in memory of Jayna Murray. “She was such a positive person; she would not want us here being sad. There is no question about not mourning, but just living on with good, forward-moving energy,” yoga instructor Adam Pearlstein, who led the Saturday class, told Gazette.Net. Lululemon Athletica, which closed the Bethesda store after the murder, was eager to put the incident behind it. On its website, the clothing company announced the store’s reopening:   The re-opening will embrace the theme of “love” in honour of Jayna Murray. More than ever, we remain committed to the people of Bethesda and look forward to continuing to share with this community the same love, passion and grace with which Jayna lived her life. We want to know: How has the yoga community supported you during a crisis?

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Lululemon Honors Slain Employee

Miami Heat hoops star LeBron James recently credited yoga for his peak physical performance. In an article in the Miami Herald by Joseph Goodman called “LeBron James’s big ’secret’: yoga,” the superstar 250-pound athlete says that yoga contributes to his stamina on the court: “Does it work for everybody? I don’t know,” James said Friday. “I’m not a guru about how to be in the best condition — don’t let me sit here and tell you that. But it works for me.” We can’t say for sure, but we suspect that James’s yoga practice might also be cultivating a mental attitude of presence. When asked about his future in the NBA, he said: “I can’t live in the future, I’ve got to live right now.” Very yogic, indeed. We want to know: How has yoga changed how you perform other athletic pursuits?  

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LeBron James: Yoga Keeps Me Fit

Last October, yoga teacher Lisa Rueff headed to Haiti to help out after the earthquake.  “Haiti has truly captivated my heart, she told Buzz. “The Haitian people exemplify gratitude, strength, and perseverance.  Amidst so much heartache, the Haitians choose to celebrate life, hope, and love as they continue to sing, dance, pray, and embody faith.” Inspired by her visit, Lisa and her global volunteer organization YogaVentures are heading back from June 20-16th to help build the Jacmel Children’s Center, a collaboration between Haitian community leaders and Americans like Rueff. The Center, primarily for kids who were orphaned by the quake, will be an eco-efficient place that will provide food gardens, housing, class room facilities, recreational areas and dining facilities. Rueff talked to Buzz about the transformative experience: “Inspired by their courage and love of life, I wanted to make a difference, but knew I could not do it alone,” she says. “As a yoga teacher, I invited my yoga community to join together and help make this children’s center a reality.” Get involved.  Join the Haiti Yoga and Volunteer trip , attend a fundraising event like the Collective Hearts Yoga for Haiti event in Rueff’s hometown of Marin County, donate to the Jacmel Children Center by purchasing a “Brick of Love” for any denomination or join the Collective Hearts Facebook page. Says Rueff: “I am amazed and beyond grateful for the enthusiasm, support and heroic effort of the yoga teachers, practitioners, studios and sponsors who have joined together to share in the vision of The Jacmel Children Center.” We want to know: What are you waiting for?

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Yoga Teacher Helps Heal Haiti

In the age of YouTube, it’s fun to sit back and watch a video of twins talking or a cat using the potty. But KarmaTube wants videos to do more than entertain: they view video as a medium to inspire action–either in the world or in your own heart. The website features videos that both pull your heartstrings and make you want to jump out of your seat and do something: Recent ones showed how some creative kids in Thailand started their own football team; a project that provides handmade hats to orphans in South Africa; and how one woman found art to help heal after the loss of a child. After each video, KarmaTube suggests ways you can create change based on what you just saw, whether this means thinking about tackling a problem in a new way, or volunteering in your community. Visit here to watch a video, suggest a video, create a video, or spread the word. We want to know: What do you do that inspires Karma Yoga (the yoga of action) in others?

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KarmaTube: Be the Change

” Let’s roll some eggs and do some yoga !” exclaimed First Lady Michelle Obama, from the White House balcony on Monday morning. The theme for this year’s annual White House Easter Egg Roll was “Get Up and Go!” a reflection of the First Lady’s nationwide campaign against childhood obesity through exercise and healthy eating.   So get up and go they did. Yoga instructors from around the country led children through modified poses like Peaceful Warrior, Cow, and Butterfly. Sessions ended with a gratitude circle followed by a Downward Dog Tunnel for the kids to crawl through, which one little boy proclaimed, “The best ride of all!”  This is the third year that the Yoga Garden has been included in the Easter holiday celebration. Leah Cullis, the program’s organizer, was thrilled to have the chance to share yoga once again in America’s backyard: “We are all excited and honored to be in the nation’s capitol to share the many benefits of practicing yoga and an empowering message to our country’s youth.”   Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was not the first time on a yoga mat for many of the children. “I like to do stretching and bending in my yoga class,” said Oliva, age five, whose mom and sister also practice yoga.   Near the end of the day, the yogis got a special nod as Mrs. Obama (perhaps a yogi herself?) paused at the Yoga Garden, and with palms together and head bowed, acknowledged everyone there with a quick ” Namaste .” Watch a video of the day here . -Guest Blogger Peg Mulqueen   Photo credits: Drew Xeron

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White House Easter Yoga

It isn’t often that your doctor takes off his coat, puts on shorts, and leads a yoga class. Unless your doctor is  Loren Fishman, MD. Fishman is the medical director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City, author of several yoga books, and a pioneer in the treatment of piriformis syndrome, rotator cuff tears, and back pain. And twice a week, Fishman, who studied directly with B.K.S. Iyengar, personally teaches therapeutic yoga poses to small groups of patients. Fishman, who recently spoke at the1st International Conference on Yoga for Health and Social Transformation in Hardiwar, India, also conducts yoga therapy webinars with Ellen Saltonstall. Their next, “Creating a Safe Yoga Practice: Keys to Preventing and Healing Shoulder Injuries,” will play May 2 and 9. He recently spoke to Yoga Buzz.   Q: What immediate benefits do you see after a patient does yoga with you? A: It sounds almost corny, but after about 10 or 20 minutes the patients have better color and look younger. They become more willing to try poses they wouldn’t have dreamed of before. It’s amazing to watch people who have been in pain and feel lousy become decidedly more upbeat. Less pain and anxiety, better balance and range of motion almost always accompany the first session. Q: Tell us a success story with one of your patients. A: Lorraine had been teaching yoga in New Jersey for 10 years, but had been unable to raise her right arm beyond 60 degrees for seven of them, due to rotator cuff syndrome. I showed her a maneuver derived from the Iyengar teaching of Headstand and she was able to lift her arm painlessly to 180 degrees within 2-3 minutes. Eighteen months later she was still raising her arm completely, painlessly and happily. Q: Do you see a future where yoga is universally prescribed for back pain? A: Back pain is a symptom with many causes, with different, sometimes contrary treatments. Identical examples of severe sciatica may be caused by spinal stenosis and herniated disc. Flexion is good for spinal stenosis, and dangerous with herniated disc, while extension is good for herniated dIsc, but dangerous in stenosis. So you need to know the diagnosis; prescribing yoga or surgery or anything depends upon that.  Therefore my crystal ball has people that can identify the cause of back pain properly prescribing yoga for it. And quite frequently! Yoga therapists need to learn a good deal of medicine; medical people need a lot of practical information about yoga. Visit YogaSpirit for more details about Fishman’s webinars. We want to know: Are your medical doctors aware of yoga’s benefits?

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When Medicine and Yoga Meet: Q & A with Loren Fishman, MD

You voted, we listened. The yogis with the most votes have been named the top five finalists in Yoga Journal’s Talent Search. They are: Shannon McGee Paducah, Kentucky Casey Van Zandt New Orleans Marcelo Tessari New York Vanessa Pattison Sacramento, California Mark Gonzales San Francisco Read more about them here . From these five, Yoga Journal’s editors will choose a winner who will be flown to our San Francisco office and participate in a photoshoot to be featured in the pages of the September issue. Make sure to pick up your copy to find out who it is! Thanks to everyone who participated. We had almost 3,000 talented, passionate yogis submit their photos and share their stories with us, and with all of you. We are awed by the amazing yoga talent out there. Congratulations to everyone. Namaste!

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You Picked ‘Em! Talent Search Finalists Announced

Yogis around the globe will be celebrating Earth Day on Friday. After all, yoga and caring for the Earth go hand-in hand. As Green Yoga Association founder Laura Cornell tells Yoga Buzz, “Yoga starts with the Earth. Period. Our bodies are made from the elements of the planet, our blood from its waters, the air we breathe from its atmosphere. We are not separate. When we recognize this deeply, we are on our way towards the first step of yoga–ahimsa.” . This Earth Day, take your love of the planet one step further–and take action. Many studios are offering up free and donation-based classes, live drumming, and community events. Here are a few other ways you can thank the Earth: 1. Become a Yoga Energy Activist. Shiva Rea invites you to respond to the ongoing energy crisis by commit yourself to becoming an Energy Activist Watch the video here. 2. Practice Yoga Outside. Feel your feet connect with the ground, the wind in your hair, and give gratitude to Mother Nature. 3. Unplug . Forsake television, turn off the lights, cell phone and computers, and spend time with your friends or family instead. 4. Reduce Water Consumption. Think before you flush and cut five minutes from your shower. 5. Dedicate Your Practice. Set an intention for your practice, and send lovingkindness to the Earth. To read these ideas and more, visit Shiva Rea’s Yoga Energy Activism , Green Yoga, and Global Green We want to know: How will you celebrate Earth Day?

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Yogis: Take Action On Earth Day

D oes yoga steady your heartrate? A new study out of The University of Kansas shows that yoga decreases episodes of cardiac arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat whose symptoms can include chest pains, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. The research was conducted by Jeannie Drisko, MD and Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD. (The latter grew up in India with a yoga-teacher father.) Here’s what they did: Participants with arrhythmia spent three months doing their normal exercise routines. Over the next three months, they attended three yoga classes a week, which included pranayama, asanas, meditation, and relaxation. At the end of the study, not only did the frequency of irregular heartbeat episodes decrease, but the participants also reported less anxiety and depression. Lakkireddy says: “These findings are important because many of the current conventional treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation include invasive procedures or medications with undesirable side effects.  Success with these therapies varies widely, and they are often only modestly effective in controlling heart rhythm. It appears yoga has a significant impact on helping to regulate patients’ heart beat and improves their overall quality of life. Any intervention that helps in reducing or controlling the arrhythmia burden in atrial fibrillation can have a huge impact on public health.” We want to know: What health issue has yoga helped you with?

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Yoga May Help with Irregular Heartbeat

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the growing trend of yoga for kids. Not only does it improve their flexibility, but it also helps them focus better on schoolwork: In January, Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Southern California added yoga to its curriculum for 650 students at $20,000 a year. Principal Adriana Chavarin says she has seen how calm and centered students are after practicing the techniques. At a recent assembly, students were getting restless as they sat on the floor. Then a few sixth graders spontaneously led the rest in yoga poses and breathing exercises. “Every kid in the audience quieted down,” says David Miyashiro, the district superintendent. “It’s a different language they all speak now.” We want to know: Have you noticed this trend in your area? If so, tell us how it has changed someone’s life.

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WSJ: Yoga is Good for Kids!

For the fifth year in a row, Shambhala Mountain Center will host “Courageous Women, Fearless Living,” a retreat for women touched by cancer. With meditation instructor Acharya Judith Lief, integrative medicine physician and professor Victoria Maizes, yoga instructor Linda Sparrowe, and yoga and sacred movement teacher Sofia Diaz (all shown below), the workshop includes include mindfulness meditation instruction, integrative medicine, and yoga and movement classes. The program started in 2006. “Originally we talked about creating a program for women with breast cancer, but quickly realized that breast cancer gets the lion’s share of research money as well as public recognition and support,” says Sparrowe. “So we made the decision to reach out to any woman touched by any kind of cancer. We wanted something that blended Buddhist meditation (specifically in the Shambhala tradition), yoga, nutrition, info on holistic therapies, being in nature, and the power of coming together as women.” The program, which runs Aug. 23-28, is open to a wide range of women dealing with cancer: Those who have just gotten their diagnosis, who are in the middle of treatment, who are in remission, and women whose cancer has returned. “Because of the nature of the retreat, we encourage caretakers to come as well,” Sparrow says. “We’ve had women bring their sisters, their best friends, the moms or daughters,  and their hospice workers. We’ve had as many as 65 women and as few as 36.” Partial scholarships are available for those who are unable to bear the program cost, which ranges from $745-$1,495, depending on lodging. “Eileen Fisher has contributed every year and this year has given us a whopping $10,000. We’re hoping to match that,” says Sparrowe  To get an application or donate, visit Shambhala’s site.

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Courageous Women, Fearless Living: A Healing Retreat

“You go into any yoga class in the West, and it’s filled with women. And it’s so ironic, women were never part of the yoga tradition at all,” says author Linda Sparrowe in YogaWoman , a new documentary film by sisters Kate and Saraswati Clere. Yoga traditionally was indeed a male practice. But that has dramatically changed, and YogaWoman documents these stunning changes. With interviews from an all-star cast of female yoga teachers from around the world, such as Shiva Rea, Angela Farmer, Sharon Gannon, Seane Corn, and Cyndi Lee, the film shows how these pioneering women are leading the way to empower a new generation of yoginis. It seems that yoga and women is a topic that is close to many a yogini’s heart: “The trailer is going viral with 9,000 views in the last two weeks!” says Kate Clere. The film isn’t out in wide release yet, but you can visit the site to watch the trailer, pre-order a DVD, get resources about yoga, or join the YogaWoman forums. You can also sign up to host a viewing at your studio or elsewhere in your community.  We want to know:   How are women taking yoga and making it their own?

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YogaWoman, Hear Me Roar

“Yoga is the union of mind, body, and spirit, resulting in expanded awareness,” Deepak Chopra told me yesterday. Well, not exactly directly to me. I was watching a new app on my iPhone called Authentic Yoga . In bite size pieces, the app delivers yoga’s philosophical side by Chopra, who explains everything from higher states of consciousness to raja yoga. Then with Chopra narrating, superstar Yogini Tara Stiles models the asana sections, with routines for back pain, tight hamstrings, tight shoulders, and less stress. It also offers different routines for beginner, intermediate, and advanced practitioners.   I haven’t spontaneously dropped to my mat, iPhone in hand, to do the poses yet. But it is nice to have 5,000 years of wisdom in my pocket: Next time I’m having a hard day, I might just access it: “When you are in touch with your spirit, when you are in touch with your soul, in touch with your divinity, then you have a state of consciousness that is called Grace,” says Chopra. “Nature supports you, God supports you, you have spontaneous fulfillment of desire, and you harness the power of attraction.” Who couldn’t use a reminder once in a while? We want to know: Do you mix technology and yoga?

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Authentic Yoga at Your Fingertips

Designer Donna Karan has long ties with the yoga world. But the latest connection is a plea from yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar to change the way she does business. The animal activists at PETA report that Iyengar recently wrote Ms. Karan a letter asking her to stop the practice of using rabbit fur in her designs: “Being a devoted student of yoga, undividedly practicing my method and compassionate at heart, may I request you to follow the principles of yamas and oblige by dropping furs, which are violently removed from the living animals, so that those animals which have the right to live, live in peace. ” So far, PETA hasn’t heard back from the designer. “We think it’s really contradictory that she is contributing to one of the more heinous industries in the planet,” says PETA’s Ashley Gonzalez. “We have footage of animals being electrocuted and skinned alive. I would think these would go against every principle of respecting the earth, the environment, and life that goes along with practicing yoga.” We’re be very curious to see how the influential American designer and yogini responds not just to PETA, but to the great Iyengar himself.   We want to know: As a public figure and a yogi, do you think Donna Karan has a responsibility to stop using fur?

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Iyengar to Karan: No More Fur

Every night, I give my five-year old son a blessing based on the Buddhist loving kindness prayer. May you be safe and protected from harm. May you be happy with peace in your heart. May you be healthy, able, and strong. May you go easy through sunshine or storm. He usually rolls over, and goes to sleep. But last night, he looked at me and seemed to have decided that I, too, needed a little love. He put my chin in his hand, and brought his mouth to my ear. Then he proceeded to say the blessing back to me. It was a profound moment. Incredibly, had never thought of actually saying this nightly blessing to myself! I put so much effort into taking care of my kids, the house, my husband, my work, and my home. Sometimes I forget that I need, I deserve, the same kind of love right to come flowing back to myself. Today, I’m going to try to show myself the same love that I show everyone around me. I think it just might pay off. We want to know: How can you show yourself love in everyday moments?

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A Nightly Blessing: Love Thyself

Yoga was a hot topic at the 7th annual Integrative Healthcare Symposium . From yoga in the military to a planned teacher training in Haiti to an explosion of web applications for medical professionals to introduce yoga to patients, the practice is reaching deep into America’s most venerable institutions and professions.   “It’s phenomenal how rapidly yoga has spread into acceptance in mainstream health care,” said presenter John Weeks, editor of the I ntegrator Blog and executive director of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care.   Some of the highlights:   • A more holistic paradigm for overall military fitness has been called for by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. One possible model is The Wellness Inventory, which was featured as an exemplary assessment in a report commissioned by Mullen, and provides a holistic overview of a patient’s needs for purposes of customizing wellness plans. Things like movement, breathing, feelings, and the ability to transcend situations are among the considerations measured by the inventory. “It’s all yoga-the original system of holistic health,” says Jim Strohecker, co-creator of the web-based inventory and a lifelong yogi and one-time student of Swami Muktananda.   • The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, in Washington, DC, has trained “120 doctors, nurses, priests, and voodoo healers,” in Haiti following the devastating 7.0 earthquake there in January 2010, in practices such as guided imagery and yogic movement and breathing, said center founder and longtime yoga practitioner, James Gordon, MD. The center is working on a plan to also offer yoga teacher training there.   • Yoga is finding it’s way into medical practices through a number of other web-based applications, such as LiivMD, which employs video instruction from well-known yogi and mindfulness figures such as John Friend and Joan Borysenko to guide patients through poses and concepts.   Yoga may play an even larger role at next year’s symposium, with a planned presentation about the benefits of the practice in therapeutic settings. Dr. Woodson Merrell, the M. Anthony Fisher director of Integrative Medicine, Continuum Center of Health and Healing in New York City, and chairman of the symposium, said integrative providers “feel like yoga is a foundation for accessing inner wisdom and healing capabilities. It’s fundamental.” By Nancy O’Brien                    

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Yoga Makes a Splash at Integrated Healthcare Conference

Helping women overcome issues like poverty and abuse leads to education and leadership. And this can transform the world. This is the idea behind the annual Care Conference, where artists, politicians, and thought leaders come together to talk about why helping women heals the world. For the first time this year, the Care Conference will kick off with a yoga class with Off the Mat, Into the World’ s Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, and Suzanne Sterling. With both groups focusing on grassroots social change, they are perfectly aligned. “It’s going to be a great way to get participants energized and ready to take action on issues affecting girls and women around the world,” says CARE’s Sarah Moser. The conference takes place on March 8-11th — in conjunction with International Women’s Day — and features appearances by Melinda Gates, Laura Bush, Judy Woodruff, India.Arie, Michael Franti, and others. After their conference class, the dynamic Off The Mat trio will then teach an intensive called Yoga, Purpose & Action, at Washington D.C.’s Flow Yoga Center . We want to know: Do you think yoga has the potential to transform the world?

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Help Women, Heal the World

Balancing the business and spiritual sides of yoga has always been a delicate one. An article in Business Week broaches the scramble for yoga teachers to trademark their yoga styles, citing that “out of the 2,213 trademark applications containing the word yoga, more than 2,000 have been filed since 2001.” The original yogi to trademark his style is Bikram Choudhury, who got a lot of slack at the time for his desire to “own” his series of poses. But now, the trend has caught on. From BROga® to Hillbilly Yoga®, many teachers are choosing to go the Bikram route. Hanel then broaches the underlying message: that yoga is going mainstream. As the Eastern mystic practice has spread from hippies to soccer moms to Metallica fans (yes, there’s Metal Yoga™), aspiring gurus are seeing an opportunity in the $6 billion U.S. yoga market. “Yoga today is where the Food Network was 15 years ago,” says Ava Taylor, whose Brooklyn-based Yama Talent manages the careers of 41 ambitious yogis. “Many of these teachers will cross over into the mass market.” We want to know: What do you think of trademarking yoga styles?

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Trademarked Yoga Is All The Rage

Competitive yoga has always been controversial. But that never stops the United States Yoga Federation from hosting its annual Yoga Asana Championship. And this year is no different. On March 5-6, more than 105 yogis from around the country will gather in Los Angeles to compete for the title of the 2011 Yoga Asana Champion in different categories, including male, female, and youth divisions. Such competitions have been happening in India for years. Bikram Choudhury, creator of Birkram Yoga, has championed their acceptance in the U.S. Choudhury’s wife, Rajashree, a five-time winner of the All India Yoga Championship, is the president of the USA Yoga, which sponsors the event and aims to get yoga accepted as an Olympic Sport. Event competitors are judged on physical perfection in their execution of asanas:  T he focus of the 2011 Yoga Asana Championship is physically demanding–similar to a gymnastics floor exercise–and competitors are judged on the perfection of the pose, its difficulty, their poise and composure, and the grace of movement both into and out of the position. We want to know: Does the idea of a yoga competition seem counterintuitive or just a natural outgrowth of the physical practice of yoga?

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On Your Mark, Get Set . . . Pose!

” Eat mostly plants, especially leaves .” Everyone has certain “food rules” that they live by–including bestselling The Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan. After his wildly successful book last year, Food Rules : An Eater’s Manual, which gave us nutritionally sound, easy-to-remember gems such as eat your colors and the whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead , he’s calling for submissions for an expanded version. His newest tome will include food rules submitted by readers.   Submissions are due by Sunday, February 27. Winners will be credited with their “rule” and receive a signed copy. Yogis, have any rules to share? Submit your food rule here We want to know: What’s your favorite food rule?

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What Are Your Food Rules?

In a bit of political news, the topic of yoga recently reached our country’s capital. California Republican Darell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is proposing amendments that would ban government-funded studies on health issues, including whether video games improve the health of older people, the impacts of a soda tax–and the effects of Integral Yoga in treating hot flashes for menopausal women. At this point, no one knows if they will be passed. According to an article in Politico : Typically, the lawmaker argues that the study is a waste of taxpayer money and the administration–or the researcher who won the grant in question–counters that the research is important for disease prevention or treatment. We want to know: Do you think it’s important to have government-funded yoga studies such as these?

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Giving the Ax to Yoga Studies?

“This sh** is hard,” says one NBA player when describing yoga in an article in the online magazine Slam about the growing interest of yoga in the NBA. Some teams have on-site teachers during the season, while others direct their players to practice during off-season. In the piece, author Kyle Stack talks about how yoga helps NBA players deal with the intense stress and strain of their job–and the clash of cultures that can happen when yoga meets the money, fame, and pressure that goes with professional sports. ” That there is even one NBA team which has a yoga instructor on the payroll is fairly surprising,” he is quoted as saying. “Yoga has a fundamental association with nature and soft music and showing one’s sensitive side. That doesn’t jive with an NBA environment that is filled with aggressiveness, even ruthlessness. ‘Soft’ doesn’t work; NBA players can read through someone trying to tap into their inner self. ” We want to know: Should yoga adapt itself to its environment or remain true to it’s original format?

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Yoga in the NBA: Culture Clash or Savior?

In our culture, we associate one day of year with love, Valentine’s Day. We most often direct this love toward another person. But us yogis like to practice Bhakti Yoga–known as the yoga of love and devotion–every day of the year. More than just a single day, bhakti is an entire practice dedicated to love. It teaches us that we can have union (the meaning of word yoga ) when we devote ourselves to connecting with love. This love could come from anywhere, explains San Francisco yoga teacher Rusty Wells. “Bhakti is the yoga of love and devotion to the god of one’s own unique understanding,” says  Wells, who teaches a style he calls Bhakti Flow. “There’s no dogma involved. If you have devotion in your life, you know where to put your attention, whether it’s to a god, person, nature or anything else.” Loving ourselves is the first step. Instead of looking for love, remember that we are love. When we can unconditionally ourselves, we can unconditionally love the object of our attention. We want to know: How will you practice Bhakti Yoga this Valentine’s Day? Where will you put your devotion?

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The Bhakti of Valentine’s Day

Yoga is more than a practice; it’s a cultural phenomenon. So I love when yoga shows up in the news. And it can’t get any higher-profile than the Oprah Winfrey Show. To celebrate Oprah’s birthday, actress Jennifer Aniston showed up with a yoga mat–personalized with Oprah’s five dogs! Before giving her the mat, Aniston says: “You know how you give out your favorite things? Well, one of my favorite things is yoga!” We want to know: Do you think moments like this give yoga more exposure? And that it’s good for advancing yoga in America?

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Aniston to Oprah: A Yoga Mat!

From February 4-6: His Holiness The Dalai Lama will initiate The Buddha Maitreya. Maitreya is the Buddha of Universal Love, and the goal of this teaching is to bring abundance, peace, and joy to the planet. For this event, taking place at a monastery in India and documented by Elevate Films , The Dalai Lama has called ten thousand monks from around the world. Of course, most of us can’t attend. But you can do your part, thanks to  Do As One. This site hosts online “breathing rooms,” where people can sign in and join others breathing; current breathing rooms include Laughter Room and Om Room, among others. “I had a vision of having a billion people breathing together synchronously,” says Do As One co-founder Rabia Hayek. “And then I realized with the Internet that I could actually do it.” The goal is 10,000 people breathing together at any given time. For this week’s happening, Hayek encourages everyone to log in and join the Universal Breathing Room anytime during the 4th, 5th, or 6th to take part. We want to know:  Do you think breathing together has an effect on the planet?

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Breathe with the Dalai Lama!

Last week, I started walking through the door of my Pilates class. Just as the door almost shut behind me, I heard the sound of funky world music coming from another room. I gave the teacher an apologetic glance, backed out of the room, and found myself in a huge roomful of people laughing and dancing and moving en masse to a really loud Afro-Cuban beat.  The moral isn’t to shun your Pilates class. (I went back the next week.) But for me, it’s clear that I need to have more fun. Since then, I’ve been trying to practice The Art of Silliness. Even though I often feel weighed down with responsibility, I’m trying to find small ways that I can bring a silly, childlike quality back into my life. Here’s my modest Art of Silliness list:  1. Host a nightly “dance party” with my kids before bed. 2. Go out with my girlfriends–even when I’m “too tired.” 3. Smile with joy during a tough asana practice instead of grimacing.  4. Play charades. We want to know: What’s on your Silly List?

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The Art of Silliness

Many people can get up in arms about yoga being used to sell products. But I think that we yogis can laugh at ourselves, too. And laugh is what I did when I saw this advertisement from PEMCO, a Seattle-based insurance company. PEMCO, has brought yoga into the fold, with Type A Yoga Girl, one of five characters in their new ad campaign. The moment the meeting ends, she’s off — with hair in a ponytail and a yoga mat wrapped so tightly under her arm it’d take two downward facing dogs to rip it away from her. She’s going to find her inner peace. So don’t even consider getting in her way . We want to know: Is there truth to this stereotype? Do you think Type A personalities are more attracted to yoga than other types? Does this ad offend you–or make you laugh?

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Type A Yoga Girl?

Did you ever wish you had a more solid foundation of knowledge about yoga philosophy? After all, yoga isn’t only about a healthy body–it’s really meant to be a vehicle to liberate the mind, elevate consciousness, and reach greater states of expansive awareness. Even if you’ve gone to a teacher’s training, you probably have only scratched the surface of the vast body of yoga philosophy. That’s why I love the idea of the certificate in yoga philosophy offered by the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, which starts again in February. The course focuses on everything I wished I knew more about, including the Eight Limbs of Yoga, a historical overview of modern yoga’s move from East to West, classic tantra philosophy, and the Bhagavad Gita. The faculty is a yoga dream team, including Sally Kempton, Carlos Pomeda, Gary Kraftsow, Scott Blossom, Laura Cornell, Kate Holcombe, and more. Of course, not everyone interested in yoga philosophy can get to San Francisco, but there are other options for study under the tutelage of some great, learned teachers. Christopher Key Chapple, a professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, created the  Yoga Philosophy Certificate Program there. There are also some trusted sources for home study, including the distance-learning programs developed by scholar and author Georg Feuerstein’s Traditional Yoga Studies , and Nicolai Bachman’s The Yoga Sutras: An Essential Guide to the Heart of Yoga Philosophy . Now, yoga philosophy isn’t lightweight stuff. It helps to have the guiding hand of a teacher versed in the tradition and the camaraderie of people with whom you can discuss what you’re learning. Why not start a yoga philosophy book club, starting with books by these experts? The effort will be worth your while. Learning about the foundational aspects of yoga will enhance your practice–and enrich your life. What are you favorite ways to learn about yoga philosophy — books, DVDs, classes, or classes, or workshops?

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Go to Yoga Philosophy School

Ever since Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke out against Christians doing yoga , the blogosphere has gone wild. If you haven’t heard about it yet, the story revolves around an article on Mohler’s website, where he wrote: “When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga.” Here’s an update: Since that story broke, the Wall Street Journal followed up with a poll that posed the question: Should Christians Practice Yoga? The result: 71.8% said yes, and 28.2% said no. And in a December 30th article by highly-regarded scholar Wendy Doniger, I s Yoga a Form of Hinduism? Is Hinduism a Form of Yoga? she highlights the issues this debate has brought to the forefront, especially that some American Hindus think American yoga isn’t Hindu enough, while others like Mohler think that yoga is too Hindu. We want to know: Do you think of yoga more as exercise, or as a spiritual practice?

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WSJ: Should Christians Practice Yoga?

Sometimes we humans make things harder than they have to be.  I truly understand this while putting my kids to bed. If they are having trouble, the evening can go downhill, rapidly. I struggle to find a solution: Cry it out? Pacifier? A new blanket? I get irritated, and start to feel sorry for myself.  That’s when I remember Om. Slowly and in a soft voice, I start to chant OM.  It doesn’t matter if my kids are cranky, teething, pissed off, or overtired. Whatever their state, they automatically calm down when I chant OM.  Sweet simplicity. Sweet surrender. I sometimes think remembering is the only thing that matters. So I try to keep things simple, sweet. In my daily life–especially during the holiday season–I come back to OM. When I’m being pushed around in the supermarket, fighting for a parking spot, or just plain frazzled, I search for simplicity.  OM.  I don’t need a complex mantra. I don’t need  a 10-day vipassana retreat.  Om.  Simplify.  Only two letters.  We want to know : What happens when you remember Om?

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The Sweet Simplicity of OM

Aadil Palkhivala , former student of BKS Iyengar and founder of Purna Yoga, always manages to distill the essence of yoga eloquently and passionately. Recently, I asked this master teacher a few questions about his new book, Fire of Love: For Students of Life, For Teachers of Yoga. Q: You’ve said that ”yoga is not to be performed: Yoga is to be lived.” What does this mean? A: Performing yoga is aggrandizing the ego. When yoga is done for perfection of posture, it is done for somebody else, the show, the façade, the appearance. When we live yoga we are working for the very reason our spirits took birth in human form. Therefore, performance is a waste of time. Living yoga alone is meaningful.   Q: As yogis, how can we bring what we learn onto the mat into our lives? A: While practicing asana on the yoga mat, we learn how to focus, how to be nonviolent, how not to cheat one part of our body to favor another part. We learn how to do the bandhas to control our sexual energy, how to be content with what we can do today and not be forever greedy. These are the lessons of the yamas. Bringing these lessons into our life makes the practice on the mat meaningful. Q: Can you explain the title of your book, “Fire of Love?” A: During deep meditation, when I look inside myself, I see several fires burning. They include the fire of creativity, of passion, of power, of expression, of thought. To me, the most sacred of these is the one that burns in my Heart Center, the Fire of Love.  Hence, the name of my book.

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Aadil Palkhivala’s Fire Burns Bright

Before you buy another mug or pair of salad tongs, remember it’s not too late for a meaningful gift that someone could actually use. The right book can inspire, teach, or just add a little humor. Here’s a few ideas: For the kid in your life: Watch Me Do Yoga (Rodmell Press) by Bobby Clennell . A delightful children’s book written and illustrated by this seasoned Iyengar Yoga teacher. For someone who could use a good laugh: Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses (Farrar, Straus,and Giroux) by Claire Dederer. The best kind of yoga memoir: witty and inspirational. For that person at a crossroads: Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience (Sounds True) by Sally Kempton. With a forward by Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, this riveting book explores practical ways to love yourself. We want to know: What will you read over the holidays?

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Holiday Book Gift Guide

I love the energy of the yoga community. Like a flash flood, a flash mob comes together like a FLASH!, flows through Sun Salutations–and then, it’s gone. This Saturday, three flash mobs are happening around the world. In London, Nairobi, and Los Angeles, yogis will come together to raise awareness about the upcoming documentary Yoga for Unity , which highlights the work of the Africa Yoga Project and explores how yoga can be used to combat tribalism, violence, and poverty. A powerful testament to yoga’s ability to transform. Baron Baptiste, executive producer on the film, will be speaking at the LA event, which is taking place at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Stay tuned for the video of these three events edited together. We want to know: Do you think of your yoga as activism? If so, in what way?

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Saturday: Global Yoga Flash Mob

I love the energy and buzz of urban life. But I’ve notice that sometimes after a day out in my beloved city, I feel more drained than when I take a vigorous two hour hike in the mountains. So I wasn’t surprised to read about recent research from Harvard Medical School that shows spending a few minutes on a busy city street can affect the brain’s ability to focus and to manage self-control. That makes sense, because all of the stimulus takes up a lot of the brain’s processing power.  According to an article by Scott Edwards that appeared in On The Brain:  Directed attention fatigue is a neurological symptom that occurs when our voluntary attention system, the part of the brain that allows us to concentrate in spite of distractions, becomes worn down. People suffering from directed attention fatigue can experience short-term feelings of heightened distraction, impatience, or forgetfulness. When the condition is severe enough, people can exhibit poor judgment and feel increased levels of stress. What to do about it?  Next time I’m going to head for the streets, I think I’ll head for the hills instead. Research shows that only 20 minutes in nature is a remedy for getting the brain to recover from directed attention fatigue. When you are overtaxed, overstimulated, overwhelmed,  what will you do? 

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Study: City Living Changes the Brain

Want to experience rare private yoga classes with Jivamukti founders Sharon Gannon and David LIfe, a six-month membership to their studio, and “The Jivamukti Enlightenment Kit,” which includes books, CDs, mats, clothes, and accessories? How about a membership to Eddie Stern’s Ashtanga Yoga school plus one private a month for a year? Or Cyndi Lee’s “A Place to Call OM” package, which includes a 10-class card to her studio plus a weekend workshop?  Head to Tibet House’s annual benefit auction at Christie’s in New York City. This year, the items auctioned off include not only rare art and a safari for two, but also yoga packages from generous and prominent yogis in the community. The goal is to entice people to donate to Tibet House US, which is aimed at promoting and preserving Tibetan culture.  With famous yogis like Sting and Donna Karan as members of the honorary chair committee, portions of the proceeds will go to Tibetan Children’s Village, which educates poor Tibetan children in exile.  We know everyone can’t make it to the event (or the $175-$225 ticket price). But click here  to see other ways you can support the work.  We want to know: How are the yoga teachers in your community giving back? 

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Tibet House Auction Offers Yoga Packages

It’s starting. The creeping feeling of holiday time, where everything speeds up, whipping up into a final frenzy. As if things weren’t going fast enough already. During my meditation yesterday, I heard a voice loud and clear. A question, really. It asked “What feeds you?” I stopped and listened. “What feeds you?” it asked me again. The question pointed me toward the simple realized that I have been putting my energy toward too many things that deplete me and not enough things that feed me. So, I decided to make a list. From now on, when faced with a decision I’m going to ask myself: Does this feed me? If the answer is no (it’s not absolutely necessary), I’m going to do my best to skip it. What Feeds Me: 1. bodywork 2. sunshine 3. connecting with people 4. restorative yoga 5. sitting with my son after school while we have a snack What Depletes Me: 1. guilt 2. big muffins 3. too much socializing without quiet time to balance it out 4. saying yes when I really want to say no 5. feeling overly responsible for people around me We want to know: What feeds you?

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What Feeds You?

How do you stay sane, healthy, and green for the holidays? Try practicing Holidayasana .  With so much overindulgence on the horizon, the social media masterminds at Social Workout  have a challenge for you:  Practice yoga 20 times during the month of December.  Eat 25 super healthy green meals. Do one hour of volunteering. Don’t use any disposable plastic bags.  Not an easy task for the month of overindulgence. Fourteen yoga studios like Jivamukti, Om Yoga, Pure Yoga, and YogaWorks are supporting the cause, which includes a free class for new students and help promoting the challenge. The result isn’t just a healthy and clean you. People who finish the challenge can get goodies like a month of free yogurt, or some cool yoga clothes.  What are you waiting for? S ign up today.  We want to know: Of these four challenges, which is the hardest challenge for you — and why? 

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Stay Healthy for the Holidays

I’m continuously impressed by the creative ways people find to bring yoga to those who can really benefit. The latest example is from Yoga Bear, a non-profit organization that promotes yoga for health and wellness to the cancer community and beyond. For the next month, the organization is presenting Cinemasana , an online yoga film festival, which anyone with a video camera and a computer can enter. The idea is to encourage yoga instructors to create videos of specific sequences that can benefit cancer patients and encourage them to start a home yoga practice. Anyone interested can go online and watch the videos. On December 15, the festival’s organizers will look at the videos with the best ratings. Creators of the top five videos will be showered with swag from sponsors like Lululemon Athletica, Numi, Satya Jewelry, Dr. Hauskchka, and more.  Whether you are a yoga instructor, know someone with cancer, or are part of the cancer community, I urge you to take advantage of this creative–and beneficial–challenge.   For more information, and instructions on how to post your video, visit http://www.yogabear.org/page/cinemasana-1

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Film Festival Brings Yoga to Cancer Community

It’s easy to make your yoga teacher into a minor deity. Some teachers seem to have that indescribable “thing” that we so desperately want–poise, calm, a knowing. Not to mention great abs and a perfect Handstand. That’s why we turn to them like a therapist, develop a little crush on them, or just follow them around in the hopes that they transmit some of their power to us. We just want someone to make things better, and they seem like a likely candidate. Tara Stiles, author of the Slim Calm Sexy Yoga , addresses this phenomenon in the Huffington Post. In her article , she talks about how some misguided students are looking for power in all the wrong places:   Yoga is your own self-reliant system that provides whatever you need to be healthy, as a whole person, which includes all together your mind, body, spirituality, and happiness. All the tools are right there, and you already have them . She goes on to say that when you cultivate a healthy body and a healthy mind through yoga, you’ll develop–and recognize–your own power. “It is the ultimate self-empowering toolbox that you need to accomplish anything you desire in your life.” Now that’s power. We want to know: How do you give away your power–and how do you restore it?

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Don’t Give Away Your Power to Your Yoga Teacher

Hugh Hefner has done it again. The controversial and eternally youthful playboy is in the spotlight once more, this time because of a flashy Playboy video showing a female playmate doing yoga poses. The Hindu keepers of the yoga flame are livid, according to a various news reports . “Hindus are upset over what is the misuse of the age-old and revered system of yoga by Playboy for mercantile greed. . . ” said Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism. “Yoga is one of the six systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy and it is highly revered in Hinduism. It is a serious mental and physical discipline by means of which the human soul can unite with the universal soul.” This is yet another chapter in the raging debate about who gets to define modern yoga. Not every case is as extreme as Hugh vs. the Hindus, but the core issues–materialism, commercialism, and sexism–remain the same. We want to know:   Do you think Hugh Hefner has crossed the line? Is this latest flap an insult to yogis, or do you just take it with a grain of salt?    

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Hefner Blasphemes Yoga

Did you know that the wings of a butterfly flapping in Bali have an effect on the Gulf Coast tornados in North America? This incredible cause-and-effect is the inspiration behind yoga teacher Twee Merrigan’s international Butterfly Effect Tour. After the gulf coast oil spill, Merrigan wanted to raise money and awareness about the cause. With the help of other yogis and activists, she created the Butterfly Effect Tour, traveling around the world teaching dynamic vinyasa flow workshops — and donating the proceeds to clean up the gulf. The tour, which included stops in Bali, Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York, raised more than $3,000 for the gulf and other charities in just one month. But Merrigan wants more than just an event that comes and goes. So she’s incorporating Butterfly Effect classes into her workshops and events around the world. Here, students have an open forum to talk about ways they can positively change the world, while raising money for local and global charities. “It’s not just a response to a clean up or an earthquake or a tsunami,” says Merrigan, who has been living and teaching on the road for the past three years. “But it’s on-going awareness and action to continue the yoga in our ‘matless’ world.” Her next stops include Bali and Sydney.  To see the full schedule, or learn more, visit butterflyeffecttour.com We want to know: In what small ways do you positively change the world? How does your yoga practice help?

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The Butterfly Effect

Five years ago, every time a yoga story appeared in The New York Times , I’d get dozens of emails from friends and family who knew I was a writer in “the yoga world.” That doesn’t happen anymore–because yoga stories are now de rigueur for the Paper of Record. I love that these stories are so frequently popping up in The New York Times , giving a little cultural commentary on what’s happening beyond my neighborhood. This Sunday, my morning paper-reading ritual included two entertaining articles that shed a little more light on the yoga scene nationwide. In ” Their Lotus Can’t Take Root on a Yoga Mat ,” noticed.html Mary Billard illuminates the trend of forsaking one’s yoga mat for a mat-free practice. “The ecstasy of yoga can’t be contained by a mat,” said Dana Flynn, a director of Laughing Lotus, a yoga studio in New York and San Francisco. Many teachers at her studio have done away with mats and practice solely on the hardwood floor. “The lotus flow is a devotional dance,” she added. “The rubber just got in the way.” That last part made me laugh. In the City Room section, an article by Lizette Alvarez called ” The Jocks Throw Down Their Mats ” chronicles her visit to Jivamukti, where she noticed an uptick in the number of men surrounding her in class. Lately it seems that the number of guys stretching and twisting beside me–at least in some studios–has risen quite a bit. And I mean the kind of guy who advertises his jock credentials and shamelessly checks out the women in class. The sort of dude who not too long ago derided yoga as a chick thing–like going to see “Eat Pray Love.” We want to know: Do you use a yoga mat? Do you notice more men in your yoga class? Does the New York Times accurately reflect what you see happening in the yoga world? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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The New York Times Hearts Yoga

The city of Cambridge has stretched its views on parking tickets. Last week, city officials began issuing parking tickets illustrated with a series of calming yoga poses. According to an article in The Boston Herald by Laura Crimaldi and Ira Kantor, the city printed 40,000 yoga parking tickets as a part of a public art project by artist-in-residence Daniel Peltz. The artist says: “I started this process by wondering what would happen in a world where I received them [parking tickets] with a set of graceful postures: a clean bend at the waist, a gentle lift of the windshield wiper . . . I’m going to get the ticket either way, my only choice really is how I’m going to receive it.” We want to know: Would an image of a yoga pose make you feel less annoyed at receiving a parking ticket? What daily hassles would be improved if they included a gentle reminder about yoga’s relaxing principles? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Cambridge Institutes Yoga Parking Tickets

Teaching yoga should be accessible to anyone called to do it. That’s the idea behind a unique teacher training starting on November 16th in Northern California. Accessible Teacher Training (ATT) is a 400-hour Integral Yoga teacher training certification program that is specifically designed to train people with disabilities who want to become yoga teachers. The innovative program–available to people who have paralysis, a disability, chronic illness, or physical limitation–is the only one of it’s kind that meets national standards. Integral Yoga instructor Jivana Heyman started Accessible Yoga in 2007 after a student with MS dropped out of his regular training because he fell behind. “It began with the idea that anyone who loves yoga can share it, and that a physical limitation does not limit spiritual growth,” he says. For more information visit accessibleyoga.org .  Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Accessible Yoga

Bhakti, the Sanskrit word for devotion or connection to God, can be an intimidating concept even for experienced yoga practitioners–if not for its religious associations, for its scriptural context within the ancient mythology of the Bhagavad Gita. If its namesake event, Bhakti Fest, a four-day celebration of around-the-clock kirtan, yoga, and the healing arts in Joshua Tree, California last weekend was any indicator, Bhakti is experiencing a modern-day renaissance. Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Sean Johnson, and Dave Stringer were among the musical headliners while Saul David Raye, Seane Corn, Krishna Kaur, and Dana Flynn led back-to-back yoga classes in tents and halls across festival grounds. Ram Dass made a video appearance and workshop content ranged from Ayurveda to yoga psychology and the symbolism of Hindu and Tibetan deities. The festival is certainly visionary in its mission to create a sacred space and vibrant community. The desert setting, a sort of surrealistic playground reminiscent of Burning Man, fostered a palpable air of magic as attendees of all ages from as far as Australia and Ukraine sang, danced, and constructed impromptu altars in celebration of the present moment. Bhakti Fest also featured an impressive array of raw and vegan culinary offerings and a healing sanctuary that appealed to my newest of new age desires. I felt my former analytical constructions of Bhakti dissolve to the sound of a drumbeat after a transformative session of subtle-body healing, lecture on the Mayan calendar and an hour or so of ecstatic trance dance with the festival’s Ombassador Shiva Rea. As Radhanath Swami explained in a Sunday address, “Bhakti makes no sense to the intellect, but perfect sense to the heart.”  Photo Credit: Julianne Reynolds Shannon Skillern is a yoga teacher, designer, macrobiotic cook and student of ayurveda.

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Divine Celebration

The folks at the Australian-based YogaAid have dreamed up a large-scale nationwide yoga event on September 18th and 19th to coincide with National Yoga Month. The two-hour yoga classes around the country will be taught by 12 local yoga teachers to benefit charity. While the biggest events are being held in Chicago, New York, Miami, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco, organizers say that more than 20 others will happen around the country. Participating in a Yoga Aid Challenge is easy: Log on to www.yogaaid.com and click the red button for the United States Yoga Challenge. Here, you can register to create a profile page.Then people can visit your page and donate–all online. The idea is that students raise money for charity in advance of the free class. (Many well-meaning charity events actually lose money, because the cost of putting on an event eats into the profits.) YogaAid’s model is funding the event so that all of the money raised goes directly to the chosen charities: Off the Mat, Into the World, Africa Yoga Project, 4OneWorld, and Yoga for Youth. Beyond raising money, the organizers hope that the event will have a ripple effect, sparking the desire in each student to serve in their community. Karma Yoga (the yoga of service) is one of yoga’s eight limbs. How do you find ways to serve in your family or community? Let us know. And to get you in the giving mood, Yoga Aid and MC Yogi have paired up to create the tune, “Give Love.” Download the MP3 for free by going to yogaaid.com and clicking on the blue box at the bottom right hand corner. Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Give Love! Join a Nationwide Yoga Aid Challenge

Stories about yoga in schools come across my desk all the time–maybe a weekly class after school, a teacher coming for a visit, or a rotation during gym class. But Headstand, a nonprofit with programs in the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin, Texas really caught my eye: The folks behind Headstand have created a comprehensive 40-week curriculum that meets the state’s standards for physical education, making it a mandatory part of the curriculum. They currently have programs in three schools, with a full-time, Headstand-trained, staff yoga teacher at each. So far, the pilot program is operating in 3 KIPP schools, which are free, open-enrollment academic charter schools in underserved communities; the yoga programs range from elementary to middle schools, depending on the location. Headstand founder Katherine Priore, who teaches at KIPP San Lorenzo, California, told me a few things her kids have passed along about yoga’s impact: One boy said that when he gets really mad, he now uses his new mantra “yoga breaths, yoga breaths” and calms down. And recently, a fifth grader told her after Savasana: “I really think that was life-changing!” Along with San Francisco-based yoga teacher Stephanie Snyder, Headstand is working on a new curriculum. Sounds simple. But yoga can be so hard to define, much less systematize. We want to know: What do you think are the most important yoga principles to teach children? What do you wish you knew about yoga that might have helped you in school? Get involved: Want to donate to Headstand? Visit www.headstand.org/donate.html Want to know more? Visit www.headstand.org Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Yoga Goes Back to School

The Cowboys’ football stadium was over run with 400 yogis this weekend. Saluting the sun and lunging their hearts out to help raise money for breast cancer, these yogis raised more than $10,000 and showed the country what yoga can do. Don’t mess with yogis, y’all. As Nerissa Knight reports from CBS 11 : While the Dallas Cowboys were preparing to meet the Chargers in San Diego on Saturday night, hundreds of women converged on Cowboys Stadium in Arlington to heal their bodies and minds, and they did it all for a great cause. It was the largest yoga class in Texas. And tickets to the event raised more than $14,000 to help in the fight against breast cancer.

 “It’s a great feeling to be here and help raise money,” said Dawn Dixon, who participated in the class. “I’m a survivor myself and I know what it feels like. “While coach Wade Phillips leads the Cowboys, yoga instructor Wade Morisette (brother of recording artist Alanis Morisette) led a group of about 400 people, mostly women, in the house that Jerry built. The football stadium was the perfect place for them to practice yoga and help others, thanks to the Dallas County and Greater Fort Worth affiliates of Susan G. Komen For the Cure and Indigo Yoga.
 “I’m a breast cancer survivor and I feel great to be here,” said class participant Lisa Prescher. “I feel like it’s a personal accomplishment, and I’d like to share it with others. “More and more women are using the ‘downward facing dog’ to take a bite out of breast cancer, and attain emotional and spiritual strength. “Breast cancer is really running through our population right now,” said yoga instructor Brooke Hinkle, who was at the Saturday class. “Yoga is a very powerful practice. It will not only strengthen the immune system, but strengthen the whole body.” “It was a great time and a great practice,” said class participant Melissa Sexton. “It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.” The group plans to hold a similar event on Sunday at the Fort Worth Zoo. Tickets are $35 each.

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Don’t Mess with Texas’ Yogis

Yoga teachers often feel the need to inspire others to live consciously. Depending on their intentions and methods, they may or may not be successful. As students, we come to class to feel refreshed, renewed and challenged. Again, depending on our mental state du jour, we may or may not feel much shift. A teacher of mine once said that once the student is advanced enough he or she is able to find that every class is the perfect class. No matter how preachy the teacher, how off-putting the music, or how sweaty the neighbor, an advanced student adeptly extracts the lesson from each situation. But what about those of us just getting in to yoga? There are clearly some teachers who take advantage of their position of power (a roomful of open ears for 90 minutes) to climb onto a soap box and impose their views. Is this ok? As a student, do you find your zen or protest the violation of your space? As Neal Pollack (author of the new book Stretch: The Unlikely Making of  Yoga Dude ) writes for salon.com, it’s not so much about whether or not you’re irritated, but about how you handle the irritation: “The teacher had preached, didactically and unpleasantly. But what I’d done in response, I finally realized, had been totally wrong and disrespectful. It took months for me to understand that I’d gone blindly into one of the founding studios of modern yoga, thrown a fit worthy of a toddler so far gone that no shiny object could distract him from his rage, and left with nothing in return. Before the yoga, I’d behaved that way fairly often. It was about as far from my best self as I could get. In fact, I’d even go so far as to call it my bad self . But even serious yogis, I was learning, are often tempted to get down with their bad selves. This was the true yoga practice, the real discipline and dedication, and getting there, I began to understand, would take a lot more practice.” Have you ever had a class or a teacher that really irritates you? How do you notice it and make it your practice?

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When Yoga Teachers Turn to Lifestyle Preachers

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Samin Nosrat

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Erica Rodefer

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Jessica Berger Gross

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Sarana Miller

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Stacey Rosenberg

The other day, my sister’s friend invited her to a different yoga studio for a class.  “I can’t do it”, said my sister. “I’d love to, but I’m not good enough. I suck.”   Fear shows up in funny ways. Tory pictures an entire class pointing at her and sneering.   This made me laugh for about four seconds. Then I realized that whenever a new challenge comes my way – going back to class after weeks away, trying a new kind of yoga, going to a different studio – my immediate, insane response is, “I can’t, I’m too fat.” This is obviously absurd. There is no sign posted anywhere in yoga that says Stay Out If You Think You Are Pudgy .  Nor have I met a yoga mat that hasn’t welcomed my solid thighs. (Oh my god, the mats are too small for my lardy bum! I’ll have to put four of them together!)  Nor, come to think of it, have I ever encountered a yoga teacher who raises one eyebrow and says, “Oh, you think so, do you? If you were enlightened enough to be in my class, you’d be thin.  Now stop crying. You can come to my Class For The Fat and Unenlightened .”    Absurd, excessive, twisted, completely un-constructive, I know. But these are the trolls that leap up from under my bridge when I’m facing something new and scary. Or old and scary for that matter. I like stating my fear out loud. It looks more ridiculous than ever that way. Gives it a loving kick in the head. I suck. I’m too this, too that. Do you have a fear that yoga brings to light? Would you like to kick it in the head? Thanks to yoga for showing me where and how I’d like to be more fearless, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (about All Things Wonderful) from North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd or on Twitter at kristinwonders.

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Yoga Trolls

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One of you wrote a kind note to me recently in which you encouraged me to discover my “inner teacher” during my home practice. This might involve veering off the straight path I’d been on. What a beautiful idea! Originally, my home practice was basically whatever I remembered from class, in much the same order we do our asanas in class. Not much imagination involved. All hell has broken loose, since. This morning I thought, I’ve got to reign this in a bit or I’ll never be able to go back to class. Today’s practice looked like this: I’m in flannel pajamas, which are far more comfortable than my yoga clothes. I sing show tunes during my Sun Salutations. My secret desire (not so secret now, I guess) is to star in Big! Musicals! I picture some Famous! Broadway! Producer! driving down my very quiet street in Northern Ontario and hearing my voice Soaring! out the front windows, singing, Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, from Annie Get Your Gun. It’s a tough fantasy to maintain given that I am terrified to sing in front of anyone but my dog. I maintain it nonetheless.   I put henna in my hair today for the first time. It’s mucky, it stinks, and the instructions say keep it on for hours, so I do my entire practice with a goopy head. Toward the end of today’s practice, which includes some completely invented dance moves (in case that Producer needs a Dancer!, not just a Fabulous! Singer!), I find myself saying, “Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah”, with each forward bend and each spinal twist.  How did my practice become so loud? Savasana, at the end of all this, is a quiet relief. Is this my inner teacher at work? I don’t know. I understand that there is no mention of show tunes in The Upanishads, but something in my practice feels freer and more creative these days. Lighter. Do you have inner teachers?  Are they serious? Funny? Creative? Are they dancers? Singers? (Do you want to do a musical together?)    Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Inner Teachers

l What’s new with the Oil Spill in the Gulf? It’s plugged, it’s leaking, there are underwater plumes the size of Rhode Island, the oil is lost? The headlines are kind of confusing, and it’s been a few months so I know it is starting to go out of vogue for the mainstream media, but there are at least a handful of yogis in LA who are keeping it on their radar and are ready to help. Brock Cahill is a surfer and a yogi with a plan. The way he sees it, we can make the most impact if we focus our efforts. His focus, the turtle. His plan: get to the gulf, get a boat, and get to work saving the turtles. He has partnered with Yogis Anonymous and the Insights Foundation to get this grass roots movement off the ground.   Here are a few words of his own on why he chose the turtle and founded Kurmalliance: A s many of you know, kurma is the Sanskrit word for turtle. Sanskrit is the ancient language of India, Hinduism, and yoga–roughly translated our project, Kurmalliance, is yoga for the turtles!  Beloved Kurma is also the second avatar of Vishnu, who, in my humble opinion, is the coolest god in the Hindu trinity. In an age old story, Vishnu comes in earthly form as Kurma to save humanity by hoisting a great mountain up on his shell, churning the seas, and distilling the elixir of life. That was the first time the turtle saved the world. The second is now. The turtle is the totem of this revolution. He is the preserver, the dude who comes to the rescue, and the dude we need now!    He is providing the motivation to get involved and fight for what is right. He saves humanity once again by getting us involved, recognizing that the nectar of life lies with the ocean, and if we continue to kill it, we will be faced with our own death and extinction. Wonder how they knew 5000 years ago that the turtle would play such a huge role in our potential evolution, or our possible extinction. If you want to get involved: to donate . For more information . Join on Facebook . Share with us if you know of any grass roots movements to get people involved in saving the gulf. Erin Chalfant is a writer, yoga teacher and the Web Editor at Yoga Journal.

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Save the Turtles!

If you’ve been reading my blog regularly this summer, by now you know I’m more than a little obsessed with taking my son Lucien swimming. Being in the pool with him is a joy. The cool water, the feel of his body intertwined with mine – it’s delicious. For months I’ve been looking forward to the opening of a new neighborhood pool here in Vancouver, part of the deal the city made with its citizens for hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics.   Vancouver already has some amazing city pools, and this new one promised to be the largest and best yet, and just a fifteen minute walk from my house. (Not to mention affordable, as it’s part of the city parks and community center system.)  I crossed my fingers that Lucien would like it and not be overwhelmed by the sprays and jets and water cannons and lazy river, not to mention the 70-person hot tub. To my surprise and delight, Lucien loves the new indoor pool paradise. So here we were in the pool, having a mommy baby pool party. The first time we visited we spent a record breaking (for us) two hours in the water. On this, our second visit, it seemed like we’d be there all day – fine with me. I noticed though that even in moments of mommy-son bliss in the shallowest end of the hot tub (more like a hot tub river) I kept asking Lucien if he wanted to go see the next big thing in the pool – journey down the lazy river or back to the bubbles or waterfall area. But Lucien was perfectly happy just to be. To sit in the shallow end of the hot tub and look at the families playing, chat with me, sing his repertoire of songs, and be one with the warm water lapping over us. Looking at Lucien, I remembered what had drawn me to yoga asana and philosophy back when I was an ever-searching twenty-something. As Ram Dass famously wrote, “Be Here Now.” I didn’t need to explore the rest of the pool, or teach Lucien how to swim that morning, or even go into a deeper section of the hot tub. I just needed to follow my yogi-in-training’s lead and be here now in that hot tub. And so I did. And it was a time-stopping moment of peace and oneness and through-and through-contentment. Until I noticed them. Tiny brown pieces of toddler poop bubbling up from Lucien’s diaper and into the 70-person hot tub river. Yikes! I felt a wash of panic and then shame come over me, but tried my best to stay calm. I gathered Lucien, ran to a lifeguard, and rushed a howling don’t-want-to-ever-get-out-of-the-water-and-certainly-not-to-change-a-dirty-diaper toddler to the change room and shower. I felt horrible for the other patrons of the pool that day. It’s one thing to deal with your own child’s poop, but nobody wants to encounter other children’s poop while relaxing in a hot tub.  Oy. Needless to say, everyone in the hot tub was evacuated with a whistle as an entire section of the pool was closed off, drained, and cleaned. Once he was clean and dry, Lucien was un-phazed by the events of the day. He just figured he had a dirty diaper – not realizing the hot tub had become a HAZMAT scene. On our way home, I heard employees talking about the “emergency.” Triple yikes.   Enlightened Motherhood Lesson of the Day: Be here now and take each situation in stride. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Be Here Now

The other day at the swimming pool I overheard a conversation that made my heart break. A dad, who seemed well intentioned enough, was trying–at all costs –to get his five-year old son into the water. Now, I understand where this father was coming from. As I wrote about in a recent post [link to swim camp post?], I’ve had my own challenges this summer getting Lucien comfortable with swimming pools.  I’ve tried everything from talking to him about his fears, using music and games, and, I have to admit, even the inducement of a trip to Whole Foods with promise of a wheat free muffin after a swim excursion. But this dad, after offering his own food related reward lost what little patience he had left, and told his son, “Just get in the water! Don’t be a baby!” Needless to say, it didn’t work. I saw something similar at bike camp last week. (Bike camp = three and almost three-year-olds practice on their tricycles or balance bikes for an hour a day for one week, taking lots of breaks for coloring and playing helmut hide-and-seek.) Lucien’s camp mate did not want to get on her bike. The first day she was with her nanny, an older woman who seemed nonplussed by the situation and let the girl be. The next day, Mommy came. And Mommy was bound and determined to have her daughter get on that pink tricycle and take it for a spin. She began with positive inducements (how proud Mommy would be) but quickly went downhill, so to speak, from there.  “If you don’t ride your bike,” she said, “Mommy is going to have to leave you here all by yourself.”  The bike camp counselor and I (she happened to be a young yogi and massage therapist) bit our tongues. I felt awful for both children and was reminded of a yoga class I took in a foreign city that shall remain nameless. Fresh off the plane on my first day in said city I hightailed it to a yoga center in the style I study. Instead of finding a home away from home and relief from tight shoulders post flight, I found an instructor who cajoled, prodded, intimidated, and even occasionally raised his voice at his students. I remember in particular one exercise at the rope wall where I couldn’t quite figure out how to arrange myself. (I’ve never been good at math or driving or spatial relations and my big yoga challenge is arranging my props!) This “teacher” made fun of me to the class–I was shamed, horrified, and though I should have left right then and there, I stayed for the two hour session, feeling worse and worse every minute. That evening, I came down with the flu. Enlightened Motherhood Lesson of the Day: Intimidation and name calling never ever ever work. Should I have said something to that father at the pool or the mother at the bike camp? Would there have been a gentle, yogic, way to offer alternatives to threats and name-calling?   Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Don’t Be a Baby: And Other Things Not to Say to Your Child (Or to Your Yoga Students)

Uh oh. Who would have guessed that 10 months into my yoga life, I’d lead a class? Well, a small class. Three of us and a dog named Emma. At a cottage. I may not know what I’m doing when it comes to yoga, but neither did they, and we all felt certain we’d come to no harm. So we gathered on a deck looking over Big Marten Lake on a gloriously blue Saturday morning. We started with a few Sun Salutations, followed by variations on Sun Salutations. We flowed gently from posture to posture, plank to Chattarunga to upward dog to downward dog. I gave them every tip I could remember (shoulder blades down, inner thighs rotating backward, rooting through hands and feet) and made up several extra. More than once, Jenni said, don’t you mean my left leg forward? And isn’t it the right foot pivoting this time? (I am far more dyslexic than I imagined.) We moved onto slower poses, a ridiculous rendition of yin yoga – ridiculous given that I have not once attended a yin class.  I watch my lovely man do his poses at home and thought they’d be fun to try with my friends. Class was a rousing success. Until day two. During our Sun Salutations, neither Sue nor Jenni can move gently from plank to chattarunga. Not even the first time. Sue says, I don’t remember doing this yesterday. We did, I tell her. We did exactly the same thing. “It didn’t hurt like this,” Jenni says. “Hurt like what?” I ask. “Like hell,” she says, “pointing to her chest and arms.  It hurts like absolute hell.” “It’ll get better,” I tell them, hoping it’s true. And through every Sun Salutation (and we only do five), they collapse like big bags of potatoes from plank to Chattarunga. Smack. Slam. Thud. Thwack. Bang. Crash. The new sounds of yoga. We laughed so hard I thought I’d blow a bhanda. Great lessons from chattathwack yoga: 1.  Yeah for the shoulder and arm strength that comes with practice!!!! 2.  I adore sharing yoga. My only goal in leading the class was for them to want to do it again the following day. They did. Sort of. 3.  Yeah for real teachers, who know right from left, how to start slowly, and how to let us laugh. Have you taught, those of you who aren’t teachers yet?  I’d love to hear about it. Thanks to yoga, for fun on vacation, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Teaching!

There are days – pushing my stroller up a steep hill, scooping dog poop while answering the phone, trying to meet writing deadlines while Lucien plays at my feet, managing outings and baths and meals and schedules, not to mention making time for my yoga practice-when I could almost forget. How hard it was getting here. It was hard for me to become a mother, excruciatingly so. (Now, in comparison, is the easy part.) Neil and I married when I was 30, and though it seemed prudent to wait to try and have a baby-for our careers to become more stable, to have more of an income, to settle down in one city -I wanted to get started right away.  Maybe deep down I knew. After six months of trying, I became pregnant. We lived in Los Angeles at the time and immediately I changed everything. My diet: Goodbye coffee, hello egg salad sandwiches. My asana practice: so long Mysore series, hello Iyengar. Even the way I thought of myself changed in the instant I saw that plus on the pregnancy stick. In a flash I went from struggling would-be writer to contented mom-to-be. That pregnancy was seven years ago. At eight-and-a-half weeks (that half week was as important to me then as Lucien’s “half” a year after his two years is to me now) I went to the doctor for my first ultrasound. In that fancy office in Beverly Hills I sat feeling out of place but confident in my impending motherhood as I flipped the pages of the magazines laid out in the waiting room. And then the exam. There was no heartbeat. What followed was an everyday nightmare that I know many of you reading this have been through-the blood work and waiting, the D & C, the endless and unexpected free fall of grief. It took a long time for me to heal. One thing that helped was working on my first book, an anthology I edited, About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope . I wrote my story and collected others.  Hearing women’s stories, immersing myself in them, steeled me as I spent the next several years determined to become a mother, but not sure how or when or some days, if, I would. Yoga helped too. In class I felt cared for and comforted, and on good days I felt that everything would be all right. (On the bad days I stared in envy at the gorgeous pregnant women in class, on the really bad days I cried at home on my mat, and on the worst days I stayed in bed.) Now, all these years later, I have my beautiful boy.  As he sings to me and as we snuggle and make believe, and even when I get so exhausted from keeping up with him that I need to collapse in front of hours of reality television in a pop culture coma, I remember, and I feel for all the women (and men) out there struggling-whether with IVF cycles or adoption waiting lists or simply the monthly still-negative pregnancy tests. I’m sending love to all of you and prayers that soon you’ll be with the children you are meant to parent. And believe me, I know how lucky I am. Do you have a story to share? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Remembering

I know there are branches of yoga. I know most of us are focused on the physical branch. Some multi-branched yogis don’t love our primary focus on the physical. I think it’s all right. Here’s why: I began with Hatha yoga. But it doesn’t take long before I realize, without any teaching, that yoga has at least a second branch for me. Let’s call my two branches outside yoga and inside yoga. The physical is outside. I love its strength and flexibility, its warmth, love the physical buzzy calm after my practice. At some point on the trip, outside yoga introduced me to inside yoga, a kind of calm, accepting, eyeball-dissolving something, so often accompanied by huge sighs the end of class. And just as the physical branch teaches itself to me, class by class, the inside branch works its way through me, too, telling me a thing or two or twenty that I didn’t see at first. Like the fact that I don’t feel inner peace after every class. In fact sometimes I’m as relaxed as all get out during class and then my head races during Savasana. Go figure. And sometimes I find that lovely, floaty peace without doing a physical practice at all. Sometimes it shows up out of nowhere, while I’m driving or eating or scratching the dog’s belly. Today I saw an old man sitting on a guardrail, watching traffic go by while he picked something from the sole of his shoe, and my heart melted as though he were my grandfather.   Somehow, my yoga practice helps this inside thing happen, even when they don’t occur together. So. There you go. I have two branches, now. Who knows what will show up next, and what kind of tree I’ll be in the end. How about you?  How many branches?  What kind?  What’s your current growth? Thanks to yoga for such gorgeous growth, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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My Own Branches

My vegetable garden is officially off the charts. It’s all thanks to two people: My good friend Lise who inspired me last summer with her backyard garden, and my green-thumbed next door neighbor Ellen who taught me what to do–from getting my garden beds together, to planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting.  I’m hoping it’s not just beginner’s luck–and that Ellen will help me again next year–because Neil and I are getting seriously spoiled by eating out of our backyard. “The farm,” as we have taken to calling the plots, is ripe with peas, kale, broccoli, lettuce, beets, carrots and cucumbers and scallions and zucchini, with the very beginnings of tomatoes and corn peeping through.  The process has amazed me, reminding me both of motherhood (seeing those tiny seeds blossom into full grown plants) and yoga (with a little time and attention every day, and some   patience, you’ll start seeing results). How does your (yoga) garden grow? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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In Season

My office was burgled (what a lovely sounding word! It sounds like water pouring over rocks in a cool stream) on Friday, while I was in a back room speaking with someone. For the first two hours afterward, I thought, oh, this is just like trying to find the toothpaste on my bathroom counter. That substantial amount of cash is here somewhere. I just can’t find it. When the reality of it sank in, my gut writhed for a few minutes. Until–and this is the yoga part –until I realized this is what is. It is exactly like my hamstrings. They are short. No whining about that helps. No gnashing of teeth, no “why did this happen to me”, no “I should have done this or that”. My hamstrings are short. The money is gone. Can’t do much about it. Except. Except that I can look at the situation gently, and positively, and with a lot of love for myself. I can soothe my gut by contemplating the good things that might come from this. I can dwell on how lucky I am to be safe, happy, and engaged in work that will never land me in jail where the food is bad and my yoga props might be confiscated. A sense of humor comes back to me. Which, strangely, helps me wish my burglar friend well. For him (it turns out I met him before, which is why I know he is a him), I wish peace, well being, a relaxed gut, and good life choices ahead. In fact, I’ll go all out and say I wish long hamstrings for him. Somehow I know my own flexibility on this point will help both of us. Here’s what yoga is teaching me: What is, is. I do better when I let go. Looking at everything with peace and love makes it all better. It turns a burglary into water pouring over rocks in a cool stream. How cool is that? Has yoga done this to you, too? Thanks to yoga for the alchemy in this, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Burgled!

The other day, my yoga teacher said something I keep thinking about. “In class,” Louie said, “we practice how to practice. But at home, we practice.” Of all things, this made me think of my date night with Neil this past weekend. On Friday night we went all out–hired a babysitter, made a reservation at a Japanese tapas place by the beach, dressed cute (in a summery dress and sandals for me and a striped button down and jeans for Neil). We had a great time – talking and eating and planning and dreaming – but the bill and the babysitter added up. Then on Saturday, we had a no fuss date night at home. We put Lucien to bed early and I set the table and gathered vegetables (lettuce, kale) from the garden while Neil made black bean veggie burgers and yam fries. We wore shorts and t-shirts and were sweaty from a day out and about in the summertime sun. For dessert, we ate raspberries from the garden. Guess which one was more fun? As important as it is to be out in the world – or in the yoga center – at home with the ones you love is where true practice begins. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Date Night

Summer is busy. This week, my lovely man did a yoga session on a sheet of plywood covered by a raincoat. He said it was great. I have done handstands in my office, downward dogs on an enormous rock by the lake, and side planks at the public library while waiting for a meeting to begin. I sneak yoga while waiting for my car to be repaired. And I would do it in the park and I would do it in the dark and I would do it on a rock and I would do it on a dock Yesterday I hung in a forward bend at the grocery store while looking at cans of tuna on the bottom shelf. No one said a word. I was there for ages. Where will yoga show up next?  Where is your favorite place to sneak it in to your day? Thanks to yoga for being so delicious that we want to sneak it here and there, we want to sneak it everywhere, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Yoga Here and Yoga There

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Green Living Blog test

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Testing Top Five Tuesday

testing entry for Challenge Mondays

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Monday test

Parent-baby and parent-toddler yoga classes seem to be growing in popularity, but does it really help the children find their center? Shivani Vora from the Wall Street Journal reports. “A growing number of classes around the U.S. and DVD programs insist kids can reap all the benefits of yoga–but in a less-structured format. They say that yoga is calming for children, teaches them more awareness about their bodies and even helps with their development. But Punam Kashyap, a senior developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Institute of Child Development at the Joseph Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, N.J., says there is very little evidence that the practice can have a positive effect on young children. “It’s a theory, not a fact that yoga can calm babies,” she says. “That said, as long as your child is having fun in a class, it’s not going to harm them in any way.” As parents, we were curious if yoga would do anything to mellow out our small children. We tested three classes and a DVD for comparison. (Read the entire blog for the details of the “experiment.”) Our daughter paid attention for at least half of the DVD before her attention started to waver. She attempted a few of the poses and was fascinated by the animal and nature sounds like a hissing snake and barking like a dog. We aren’t sure if it made her any calmer, but she did have a good time and now keeps asking to “do yoga” to her disc. While the children didn’t seem noticeably more chilled out in the end, yoga did amuse them and introduce them to a practice they can use to de-stress when they’re older. For us, that makes yoga for kids a keeper.” What do you think about kids doing yoga? Are they old enough to reap the benefits?

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Is Yoga for Kids any Good?

Before I move to Austin on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to pop up to Boston to teach a couple of workshops on Saturday. Why? Because I’m a glutton for punishment! No, actually, and perhaps strangely, I’m considering it a mini-vacation. A moving vacation, more specifically, since I get to ride a train and have nearly 8 hours to myself to do with what I wish. That’s about 6.5 hours more than I’ve had in a long time. On the trip so far, I’ve slept, read a magazine, planned classes, written this blog, caught up on emails, and simply stared out the window, enjoying the passing views of the verdant Hudson Valley.  This may sound like a lot, but these were all things I felt like doing, and they’ve brought me heartfelt pleasure. Virginia Woolf once said, “A woman must have money and a room of her own, if she is to write fiction.” I think that sentiment extends to both genders. No matter who you are, in order to create, you need resources. And one integral requirement of creative freedom is space. This doesn’t mean just a physical space, but some kind of spiritual “room”–an expanse within. This is where your spirit can dance with abandon as you gift yourself the chance to decide what to create next, instead of having your next move dictated by the pressures of time, relationships, and responsibility. The funny thing is, we yogis learn that in order to expand, we must first draw inward. We have to contain ourselves, plug our pranic leaks, and stop existing solely in other people’s rooms if we are to truly live in our own. This practice of self-regulating the balance between giving and receiving helps us stay focused not only on sharing with others, but on keeping what we need. In this way, we cultivate moksha , or being free from stress and suffering, but to me, also means having the freedom to access the soul, and from there, to express oneself completely and without regret.   This is often what stepping onto the mat means to me. It’s a magic carpet ride to new adventures as I remember and reveal the most vital parts of myself. No phones ring, no flight times loom, no partners or students need my attention. Sometimes I feel guilty for wanting this time to myself, this room of my own. After all, I love my loved ones and enjoy my job. As a centered-living teacher, I should be able to exist in peace within the chaos and pull of the outer world, right? Well yes, and no. I find that in order to give the quality of attention that my projects and interactions deserve, I simply must take physical, mental, or emotional retreats at regular intervals. Otherwise, I risk burnout. Whether it’s a nap, a walk in the park, a long bath, or a train ride, I’m careful to immerse in the luxury of being totally Self-centered. Then, once I’m ready to re-engage with the world, I have all the more to offer the next time an offering is called for.      All too often, we wait until we are at the end of our ropes, frazzled and spent, before we’ll use those vacation days or get a massage. Sometimes it takes illness or fatigue to force us to pause and get some much needed rest. As practitioners of a conscious path, I invite each of us to do better than that. Let’s look for daily opportunities to invoke freedom: to withdraw, conserve, and nourish our bodies, hearts, and minds. If chances for restoration are lacking in your life, build a room of your own with the tools gathered from your yoga practice: the wisdom to know when to go and when to stop, and the inner strength to create the boundaries needed to literally make peace with–and within–your life. Core Pose: Ustrasana (Camel Pose) with Arm Stretch Here’s an asana that helps me invite moksha into my day by shaking off the constrictions of tension in my body or on some other level. Kneel at the front of your mat with your knees slightly separated. Reach one hand back onto the floor or a block. Exhale fully and firm your belly. As you inhale, press your fingertips into the mat and circle your other arm up and back beside your ear. At the same time, lengthen your tailbone and pull your navel in and up as you lift your hips (a little or a lot, depending on your flexibility) and wave your spine towards a heart-opening backbend. Refrain from dropping your head back; keep the neck curve naturally long and supported. Exhale, return your hips to your heels, and bring the opposite hand behind you to repeat on the other side. Aim for 5-10 repetitions of this pose then fold forward into Child’s Pose for one minute.      

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A Room of One’s Own

1.Do your hamstrings become close to the same length at any point? 2. Have you found clothes that contain your gut while doing Downward Dog? (Perhaps you don’t have a gut anymore.) 3. How long did it take you to get the bandha thing going? 4. (This is directly related to #3) Can you lift your bum and legs off the ground when doing Uttitha Padmasana? How long did it take you to learn that?  (Are your arms disproportionately long by any chance?) 5. Has anyone ever snapped a hip in two doing Pigeon Pose?   6. Do you like yourself more, now, than you did before starting yoga? (I do, for the most part. Something to do with the daily determination to be kind to myself, I suspect.) 7. Do you fantasize about teaching yoga? Classes at sunrise? In temples? In India? (If you currently teach yoga in temples in India, do you fantasize about teaching yoga at sunset in Machu Picchu?) I do. I have long, flowing hair and long, flowing hamstrings in these fantasies. 8. Does yoga elbow its way into all of your conversations? (For example, your dentist says you need to replace a crown. You say, that reminds me of forward bends in class today. Your dentist doesn’t understand.)  Most of the people in my life hope this wears off at some point.  9.  Do you still love it?  As much as you did when you were new? That last one is the one that matters to me most. I’d love to hear that it’s possible to love this for the rest of my life. Thanks to yoga for inspiring questions, and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Questions for Yogi Experts

  Now that Lucien is two-and-a-half, friends and acquaintances are starting to ask me whether we’re planning to have another baby. It’s something I’ve been thinking about at least five times a day-okay, maybe ten. Lucien is growing up, already more a boy than a baby. No more nursing, no more carrying him in a carrier like my newborn kangaroo.  Lots of mothers I know with kids Lucien’s age are already pregnant, or home with new babies.  In Lucien’s music and art classes several moms are on maternity leave with their infants, juggling toddlers and newborns. Mothers in his morning daycare (that just ended) are starting to show, too. Each time I bring another bag of Lucien’s clothes upstairs to the storage closet, I wonder if I’ll ever need these baby things again, or if I should give everything away now.   It was difficult for Neil and me to have Lucien. A miscarriage, years of trying, an international adoption application process, acupuncture, fertility treatments…. I know there are many of you out there who can relate. Dare we test fate and try again? Could we handle the disappointment if it didn’t work out? Could I handle going through it all again and this time with an energetic toddler? In yoga we learn will full intention without concern for results, but it is really tough to apply when talking about offspring. And it’s not just that. As much as I love spending most of my time with Lucien, there’s another part of me. The me who wants to start writing another book, the me who wants to delve deeper into my yoga practice-maybe even study with the Iyengar family in Pune, India in a few years-the me that wants to travel the world.  These are all things I can imagine doing with Lucien, but I’m not sure if I could manage making these dreams come true with two children. Dreaming big is important, but so is being practical, and Neil and I have only so much in the way of energy and emotional, not to mention financial, resources. Besides, we both feel more than santosha , contended, by our band of three. And then I think of babies…. And how Lucien’s presence in our lives is the very best blessing, the most meaningful experience imaginable. Much more precious than any book, trip, or retreat.   Maybe it’s ultimately a question of being in the moment. Perhaps now is my time for young children and bathtub Saturday nights, for early morning wake ups and squeezing in my yoga practice and writing when I can. There will be time later for books and India, for work and alone time, for sleep. And yet, I can’t deny the side (is this what it means to hold the opposites in yoga?) of me that’s ready to move on from babies and into the world of three-and-four-year-olds, with kindergarten looking like a finish line of sorts. (Free childcare!  Six whole work hours a day!) On many days, one feels like the perfect number for us.   At age 38, with a history of difficulty getting pregnant, I can’t help but feel like it’s now or never. Can I make a decision and embrace it, either way? Or do I allow myself to remain ambivalent and process these feelings for another few months or year?    How did you decide to have — or not have – one more?  And how, if at all, did your dedication to yoga play a part in the decision?   Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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One More?

  I’m writing this post from Fairburn Farm on Vancouver Island, a working farm and guest retreat where Neil and I have brought Lucien for a week-long summer holiday. The farm is a bucolic, heavenly spot just a ferry ride from our house in Vancouver. The views of forest and mountain and sky from the windows of the cottage we’re staying in are spectacular, but the real reason we’re here, for our third summer in a row, is the food. The guest operation is run by chef Mara Jernigan, sometimes called the Alice Waters of Vancouver Island. Meals here are a true farm-to-table experience. Breakfast is a two course affair starting with to-die-for homemade granola and berry compote, followed by omelets (with eggs and herbs from the farm, and cheese by local artisans) or frittatas or light-as-air pancakes. Dinner stretches out for hours, with each plate a celebration of local, fresh ingredients: sockeye salmon cakes with lentils and greens and green goddess dressing; rich risotto or homemade pasta or fresh from the brick oven pizza; strawberry tarts and (if it’s hot) refreshing sorbets. For lunch (which Mara doesn’t serve) we stop at a bakery in town where they mill their own grain, and bring the bread to the cheese shop next door for sandwiches that we take on a walk into a nearby park.   It’s an idyllic week, and I’m so glad I’m at a place in my life where I can enjoy it. It’s taken me a long time to get comfortable with food indulgences like this. As mentioned previously, I struggled with food issues, and my body image, for years.   When I got serious about yoga in my late twenties, I lost the weight I’d accumulated over the course of my unhappy childhood, and finally learned to eat and like healthy foods. My diet came to consist of brown rice, tofu, vegetables, black beans, and fruit–great stuff. But I soon came to be overly attached to healthy eating. If I was traveling and what I normally ate wasn’t available, I freaked out. If I gave in to temptation and ate a chocolate chip cookie, or a scoop of ice cream, or a slice or two of pizza–even if these were made lovingly with high-quality ingredients–I felt that I’d slipped, and worried that I’d backslide and return to a regularly scheduled program of unhealthy eating and ten to forty extra pounds.   This made travel-and even eating out at new places-hard. It was no fun when I showed up at Thanksgiving dinner or a Passover Seder or even a dinner party petrified of three quarters of the menu.  Or when I’d have a panic attack about “getting fat” on an otherwise romantic (and of course bread filled) trip to Paris with my husband.   As a new mom, I resolved to approach food differently. I didn’t want the scale, or my fears, to rule my life anymore–or our family vacations.  As I practiced more yoga, and studied yoga philosophy, I came to realize that my food fears weren’t in keeping with yoga after all.  The Yoga Sutras say moderation is key, as is non-attachment (in this case to the precise number on the scale.) Becoming nearly phobic about fattening food was embodying neither principle. Through a process of self-study, and the help of a good therapist, I changed. Now I eat healthy most of the time–and enjoy to the utmost the occasional treat.   What indulgences make your life a pleasure? What do you still struggle with when it comes to food and body image? And, how do you model a healthy relationship with food for your child/children? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Food Loving Yogi

I’m in Austin, Texas, and last night took a lovely yoga class at Black Swan Yoga. Hillary, the instructor, said something so simple, it was profound. After a difficult Eka Pada Koundinyasana (Pose Dedicated to the Sage Koundinya) variation, which we were attempting during heat and humidity that created a slip-n-slide situation, we returned to a democratic Downward-Facing Dog. As we recovered, Hillary said, “If you were struggling in that last pose, then it’s good it’s over. You don’t have to think about it anymore, because it’s not happening now.” I know that I’ve said and heard countless variations on that theme in yoga classes I’ve taught and attended. Yet something about the straightforwardness with which Hillary spoke made it seem so simple to just let go of the past and along with it, all the weighty entanglements of suffering, guilt, and instant replays. Trying to change the past by keeping it running on a constant mental and emotional loop can end up frittering away your prana , or life force. Likewise, when you jet off into any scenario–imaginary or already played-out– than what is really happening in the here and now, I call it time-traveling.  We time-travel on the mat too, like when you mentally tell off an ex-boyfriend while in Crow Pose or go over your grocery list in Savasana. The danger in always traveling into what has been or what might never be, is that you lose the sensitivity it takes to stay in communication with your core wisdom. That root awareness can only reveal itself when you drop the baggage you’re carrying and turn all your attention toward accessing the tools you have right where you stand. At first when Hillary made that statement, I thought, “Yeah, easy to say, Sister, but try doing it.” Then I remembered one day a few years back. I was standing in the subway, having recently gone through a major breakup, and my heart was hurting. The world seemed colorless and tasteless, and still, everything stung. For no reason at all, I wondered why I was feeling so bad. Was it inevitable? Or was it a choice I was making?  I decided to see if I could put my broken heart on hold, enjoy a day out in the big city, and come back to the processing part later on. In literally one instant, my pain disappeared. Gone, nada , zip. I felt free, light, and happy to be alive and experiencing all that was in front of me. I had a wonderful time before, a little while later, I decided to re-enter the growth process, a sensation that would never again be as cutting or make me feel as helpless as when I thought I had no control over it. I didn’t know that it was possible to allow myself to step into the present so fully as to be immune from the poison of confusion and regret. I’ve employed this skill many times since, and you can, too. It’s as close as a decision, as gentle as an allowing, and as natural as relaxing into being who you want to be, right this minute. Yogis call this process dharana , or concentration. It requires pratyahara , sense withdrawal, another yogic skill of reigning yourself in from obsessively poring over the past or future, and from leaking your chi, or energy. I also call it core power, and when you practice using it to become victorious over the time-traveling mind and tidal heart, you will see more clearly, and without judgment, how you wish to proceed in the only time period that you can do anything about–the one you’re in. Sometimes even teachers need teachers to remind us of this. Here’s a pose variation that can quickly return you to the present; one that gets you grounded plus gives you a taste of all the strength and vitality you hold at center. From there, no matter how life comes at you, you can choose to come right back out at it with compassion, wisdom, and grace. Core Pose: “Core” Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) Stand with your feet about two fists-width apart. Bend your knees and reach your right fingertips diagonally out away from your right foot, wider than the right shoulder, and press them into the mat. At the same time, press your right foot into the ground strongly. On an exhalation, draw your left knee into your chest using your low belly to draw in and up toward your sternum. Begin to stack your left hip on top of the right and unfurl your left arm to the sky. Inhale as you maintain the tone in your abdominal muscles, and begin to lengthen your bent, left leg out behind you until it is parallel to the floor. Your bottom leg can remain bent or, if your flexibility allows, straighten it. Keep your standing leg firm and foot rooted even as you draw into and express from your center in the pose. Do 3-5 repetitions on this side then bring both feet back down into the starting position. Take a gentle forward fold, clasping opposite elbows. Find your Earth-to-core connection and repeat the pose on the left side.  

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Stop Time-Traveling

Two fantastic things occurred over the last 24 hours. 1. We experienced an earthquake yesterday. Very exciting. It lasted 26 seconds. The dog growled for a few seconds, and the antennae on the TV shook for a full minute. In fact, the quake shook much of the province, which was wonderful, because it led to phone calls with my mother in Ottawa and my sister in Toronto. It’s the kind of thing everyone wants to talk about.  2. I tried naked yoga this morning. My goal was to last longer than 26 seconds. There is no doubt I was shaken more by the naked yoga than the quake. If you haven’t tried it, if your dad is British, say, and you’re uneasy in short sleeves, if you wear flannel clown pants to bed every night and peel your socks off during the middle of the night as you become unbearably hot–if you do all of that–well, we can talk. (If this isn’t you and you’re the type who goes naked to the movies, you have no idea what I’m talking about. In my next life I’ll be just like you.) The first 26 seconds are spent dismayed by the complex surface of my thighs, which look as though they have undergone several earthquakes of their own. Then I forget about them, perhaps because it is hotter this morning than it’s been all summer, and as humid as cottage cheese. My first forward bend makes me sweat. I make it to 40 minutes, naked. I put my clown pants back on for seated postures, to avoid rug burn, I say to myself. I conclude that this naked thing is no big deal. And then something unexpected happens. I move off the rug and onto the wood floor for Savasana. And, oh, oh, oh, the floor is as cool as ice cream on my poached back, so cool that I take my clown pants off again for the last couple of minutes. I press my low back into the floor and when I relax it makes a deep, suction-y, rumbling, farting sound that is the best thing I have EVER heard during my practice.  A soft, funny earthquake of my very own. I am CERTAIN you have things to teach me about your naked (or not) home practice. My ears are quaking. Thanks to earthquakes, to cool floors, and to you for the conversation. Join Kristin at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at http://kristinshepherd.ca

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An Earth Moving Experience

As our nation turns to backyards, barbecues, burgers, bright colors and explosions in the sky, it seems appropriate to celebrate independence in a personal way as well. Perhaps with some yoga? Independence. Freedom. Liberation. Moksha. Most cultures take time to celebrate a form of letting go and feeling open and alive to possibility, and it seems the height of summer is the perfect time for this expression. Your pores are open and warmed by the sun, encouraging your body to release, the days are long and, in most places, the weather is inviting.  What do we, in this modern day, need to do to disentangle ourselves from our oppressors?  What are our oppressions anyway, and why do we feel tangled in the first place? Yoga can help answer all of the above. I woke up with Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” in my head: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” This will be my mantra in practice this weekend. Any obstacle I perceive has been placed there by me, and I can also choose to remove it. My morning yoga practice, of course, will be my revolution. Today I celebrate independence from the mind stuff, vritti .  I will not allow myself to be worried about the extra traffic caused on a Friday before a holiday weekend…or the longer lines at the grocery store, or the wait at the bank or how crowded it will be at the park and the beach. These things are fun and they are choices. I will enjoy my liberation with breath, movement, and maybe a little reggae. How will you liberate yourself this weekend? Check out the accidental yogist if you’re in SoCal and looking for studios that are celebrating their independence. Erin Chalfant is a writer, yoga teacher and the Web Editor at Yoga Journal.

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Independence Day

I was out at lunch with a friend in Brooklyn the other day. She’s Israeli, and she enjoys teaching me Yiddish words that seem random. (Like the word for suspenders, or shleykes .) I was telling her about my decision to spend the rest of 2010 engaged in a hugging practice. For the first half of the year, I toured like crazy, a rewarding yet hectic experience of meeting students and studio owners across the country. For the next few months, and into 2011, I’m going to hug in, or streamline and focus as much as possible, on what positively serves my goals of teaching Core Strength principles to people. And I intend to limit the things that drain my energy unnecessarily so that I have more quality instruction to share when I do teach. “Gurnisht!” my friend interjected. “What?” I replied. She explained that in Yiddish, this word means “done” or “a decision made.” That’s it, that’s all, that’s all she wrote. Gurnisht is what we do whenever we choose not to participate in something in favor of doing something else. Yogis go a step further, We aim to bring a consciousness and compassion to our choices, so the decisions we make end up helping us to stay healthy and balanced, with energy to give to the important projects and relationships that nourish us in return. I know that, for me at least, it’s much easier to say yes than to say no. It’s uncomfortable to disappoint people. It’s also intense to keep energy inside that could have gone out to something or someone else, as anyone knows who has ever held Chair Pose for what seems like an eternity instead of running screaming out if the room. The key to balance is to know when a yes or a no will best serve your highest good. Often, my students express anxiety about saying no, because it feels like a negative thing. Well, it inherently is, and yet when we realize that a boundary can be as positive as an offering, our perspective of saying gurnisht might also shift. After all, without banks, a river becomes a stagnant swamp. If we truly want to move anything forward in our lives, it’s important to first identify the areas to which we want to give our commitments. Then, the borders we build with the solidity of our focus around those agreements encourage our energy to flow forward into action. Over time, these positive habits carve a path toward our preferred creations, careers, loves, and life choices. This sounds great, but it is supremely challenging to do, whether you’re saying yes to a wonderful opportunity or no to participating in relationships or responsibilities that take you off track of what you wish to cultivate. Understanding when to employ agreement or denial is a skill we use each time we step onto the mat. In our asanas, in any given moment, we get chances to hug in or expand in infinite ways: Do you want to express outward into Full Wheel or back off in Bridge Pose to protect an injured shoulder or to save energy? Through refining our choices based on what we think will empower our ultimate harmony of sthira-sukha , or steadiness and ease, we learn how to more easily navigate the constant stream of requests coming from within and, once we move off the mat, from the outside world. One could even say that sthira is our no, and sukha is the freedom and joy of our big yes that sthira helps to make possible. After all, there can hardly be one without the other. In our poses and in our lives, we employ not only conscious yeses, but conscious nos. Yoga teaches us that when you choose your dharma, and step into the current of your highest expression of health and happiness, freedom and delight, you undeniably serve the highest good of everyone else around you. Think about that for a moment. We yogis know that even though good is served doesn’t mean it will feel good to say no to drama and yes to our dharma. At times, moving toward our own truth can cause anger, fear, insecurity, and pain–for others and for ourselves. When your heart and your core tell you that it’s time to hug in, and say “no more” to leaking your attention and prana (life force)–instead making room for freedom from suffering and freedom to be yourself–remember the principle of gurnisht and don’t do it! Core Pose: Half Chaturanga Dandasana Just because this is half a Chaturanga doesn’t mean it’s not fully challenging. I see so many students rushing or collapsing through full Chaturanga, and they flirt with shoulder, elbow and wrist strain, instead of reaping the core and arm-strengthening benefits of the pose. This variation will help you back off to go deeper. Coming into effective alignment and generating the freedom of more power and safety means you have to create boundaries all around the pose. Begin in Plank Pose, fingers wide, palms and fingertips grounding. Place your knees down on the mat, not under the hips, but farther back. Remain lifted at the navel with a long tailbone and spine. Reach your chest forward between the upper arms without sinking toward the floor and winging the shoulder blades; they stay firmly on your back. Hug your elbows in, not squeezing the ribs but also not leaking energy by opening too wide. Keep the elbows directly over your wrists. On an exhalation, float your heart forward to maintain the vertical line of your forearms, push the floor with your hands, pull up the side waists and lower belly, and begin to lower, by about 2 to 4 inches. Resist the urge to go to as far as full Chaturanga. Staying higher will keep you working from the belly, or center, of your muscles, so you gain tone instead of stressing connective tissue and joints. Try 3-5 repetitions, holding each Half Chaturanga for 1-3 breaths. Press back into Child’s Pose and rest for 1 minute after your last pose.  

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Hugging in–and saying No