DJ Dave and the crew from Fog and Smog films (makers of the very clever ” Whole Foods Parking Lot ” video) are back, taking on yoga–and on the make for yoginis–with ” Yoga Girl .”  We spot Vinnie Marino and DJ Drez. Who else makes a cameo?

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Rapper’s Yoga Video

Canada’s Globe and Mail Report on Business magazine has named Lululemon Athletica’s Christine Day CEO of the year . This news comes after the Vancouver-based company was criticized in the media for its new “Who is John Galt?” shopping bag (a reference to the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged). Day, who came from Starbucks and has served as Lulu’s CEO since 2008, has overseen tremendous growth during her tenure. “Lululemon saw its stock climb to almost $60 this fall, up over 280% from when Day joined the company, and a whopping 250% gain year over year,” according to the article. Day points to the company’s stated values as a driving factor in that growth. “Investing in your health will pay big dividends for individuals and society,” she told the magazine, “elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness.” Of course, the anti-mediocrity sentiment led to Lululemon’s controversial use of the Rand quote . “I believe in a culture of personal accountability and not compromising your values,” Day said. “Atlas Shrugged is both about not accepting mediocrity and being personally accountable for the life you are creating.” But Lululemon has always used inspirational (or what the magazine calls “communitarian”) messages for their logos, such as, “The pursuit of happiness is the source of unhappiness” and “Friends are more important than money.” It’s this selling of ideals, and not just yoga pants, analysts say, that has fueled the company’s enormous success. “Compared to more price-driven products, Lululemon apparel gives its customers the feeling that they’re purchasing a lot more than mere ‘value,’” the article states. “Buy a Cabin Long Sleeve T-shirt and you’re involved in bettering yourself. Pick up one of those cute Lucky Luon headbands and you’re joining a community of like-minded people. … It’s a thing of virtue. Budget in other spending categories if you must, the brand seems to whisper, but don’t stop taking care of your body and building a better society.”

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Lululemon’s CEO of the Year

There are lots of things to love about the practice of kirtan. It’s a chance to practice devotion, experience a meditative trance, or even explore your connection with the world and a higher power. For some people, one of the most alluring aspects of kirtan is the opportunity to connect your voice with the voices of others–to really experience being a part of a community. This is exactly what Kirtan Central founder Daniel Tucker had in mind when he asked people from the kirtan community to submit videos of themselves singing the Krishna Das Classic “Ma Durga.” “As I pored over the videos, two things became evident: first, these people LOVE this song! Whether’s it’s love of Krishna Das, love of kirtan, love of Durga, love of singing, love of God… what’s obvious is the love, joy, and tenderness captured in each video clip,” wrote Tucker in a blog post. “And second: how deeply we crave to be part of something larger than ourselves! There was so much excitement to be part of the “choir,” and I believe that’s one of the places kirtan is healing us.” He accepted submissions from 108 people from around the world and the result is this awe inspiring video. Do you practice kirtan as a way to connect with your community? What are other ways you connect?

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Kirtan Chorus

A few months back, we reported on the film YogaWoman, narrated by Annette Bening, which highlights how a new generation of female teachers are re-creating yoga in our the female image: flowing, nurturing, community-based, and activism-focused. Here’s more news about how the film has captured audience’s attention around the world: Since its release in September, Yogawoman has been selected for seven film festivals and been screened over 500 times around the world, from New Zealand to Japan throughout Europe and the US. Last month, the film won an award for best Feature Documentary at the Off Shoot Film Festiva l in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The film shows no signs of slowing down: It will show a the 2011 New York International Film Festival and the Traveller’s Three Elements Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Filmmaker Saraswati Clere isn’t surprised about how the film has taken off. She tells Buzz: “In 1938, Krishnamacharya, the renowned yoga master from India, said; ‘It’s the women who will be carrying yoga forward to the next generation.’ These days, it’s female yoga teachers who are taking the lead and revolutionizing the face of yoga. I think this phenomenon of woman stepping up leadership roles is very timely. I was thrilled to see that the Nobel Peace Prize was shared between three inspiring woman leaders.” Join Yogawoman on Twitter and Facebook, or watch the trailer .

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Yoga Film Wins Documentary Award

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

The little pink ribbons are everywhere this month. It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and yogis around the world are honoring the month with fundraisers, events, and campaigns. It makes sense: Studies show that yoga helps with lymphatic flow, breaks down scar tissue, and can help cancer survivors sleep better, feel more energetic and cut back on sleeping pills. “Overall, we know that women with breast cancer have an altered stress response, and yoga helps with this,” says Sara Gottfried, a yogi and Harvard-trained gynecologist. “If you have too many stress hormones flying through your bloodstream, we’re talking cortisol mainly, yoga has been shown to be one of the best tonics. Yoga will lower your high cortisol and raise your GABA, which is nature’s Valium.” Last weekend, yogis raised over $43,000 during Yoga on the Steps in Washington, DC. But it’s not to late to participate. At the middle of the month, yoga events are still happening around the country, with a focus on healing, education, and raising money for research. New York City; Columbia, South Carolina; and Garland, Texas: Pose for Pink events in these cities feature donation-based classes for survivors and other students to benefit T he Libby Ross Breast Cancer Foundation . On Oct. 23, for example, Pure Yoga East teams up with Zobha to host an afternoon class led by Kay Kay Clivio. All of the suggested donation of $40 will go to the foundation, and all attendees will receive a limited edition Zobha tank. On Thursday, Oct. 20, the Long Island Yoga Association will host a 7pm screening of YogaWoman at the Elwood Theater in Elwood, New Jersey, with guest host Tari Prinster, who is featured in the film. See the full list of Pose for Pink events here .   Los Angeles: On Oct. 29, Prana Yoga Center is holding a fundraiser from 12-1:30 led by Claire Petretti, a breast cancer survivor and Yoga for Hope activist. The suggested donation of $15 will be donated to City of Hope. Seattle: At Bria Pilates and Wellness Studio, people who bring in a recent mammogram will get 10 percent off of anything they buy. To honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the studio will be accepting donations during all of our classes and sending them to the the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. If you can’t get to an event, you can still help: When you buy a Jade Pink Yoga Mat, $5 will be donated for breast cancer research and education.

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Yoga and Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This past Sunday, The New York Times dedicated real estate in its Opinion Pages to reflect upon what Vivekananda meant to yoga in the West, as the 150th anniversary of his birth approaches. Author Ann Louise Bardach reflects on how this seminal teacher, credited with introducing Vedanta to the West, spread yoga’s gospel: “If you’re annoyed that your local gas station is now a yoga studio, you might blame Vivekananda for having introduced ‘yoga’ into the national conversation–though an exercise cult with expensive accessories was hardly what he had in mind,” she writes. In the article, How Yoga Won the West , the author talks about how Vivekananda influenced many great minds of the day, such as Gertrude Stein and Leo Tolstoy, and laments the way modern yoga has veered from Vivekananda’s message that all souls are divine, while imploring Americans to “work and worship”: Yet precious few of the estimated 16 million supple, spandex-clad yoginis in the United States, who sustain an annual $6 billion industry, seem to have a clue that they owe their yoga mats to Vivekananda. Enriching this irony was Vivekananda’s utter lack of interest in physical exertions beyond marathon sitting meditations and pilgrimages to holy sites. To learn more about Vivekananda, visit the Vivekananda Vedanta Network. Photo: Vedanta Society of Southern California

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Vivekandana and Modern Yoga

Photo: J.T. Liss (Photography for Social Change) Sun Salutations in the late-afternoon sun. Hawks soaring high above. A light breeze cooling down the day while gentle drumming keeps the tempo. Around me, 60 yogis, woman and men, arch into Up Dog, faces radiant as they gaze skyward. Such was the idyllic scene at the recent Mind, Body, Spirit and Wine event at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California. Leading us through the practice was the lovely Suzanna Spring from Cosmic Dog Yoga studios. And co-teaching on this perfect autumn day was Yogadork, the delightful and prolific New York yoga blogger and teacher. The event marked the confluence of passions for yogin-winemaker Karl Wente, whose love of the practice is something of local legend. Around the winery, Wente is known for his spontaneous expressions of asana, busting out an arm balance to make a point or kicking into headstand when too-long tasting sessions start to dull his senses. Yoga, he says, makes him a better winemaker, helping to cultivate the Beginner’s Mind that allows him to approach each wine anew, fully experiencing every nuance. Watch Wente discuss his yoga-and-winemaking philosophy here . Pairing yoga with wine is a relatively new trend that stirs some debate in yoga circles. But on this day, yogis flush from fresh air and asana happily sampled the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah Wente had chosen for a post-class tasting. Whether or not you agree with mixing your yoga with wine, it’s hard not to like outdoor yoga. Your inhalations feel deeper; the exhales extend further. Reach for the sky; bow to the earth. No walls, no boundaries. Practicing under an autumn-blue sky, surrounded by grapevines? A votre sante!        

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Yoga Under a Big Blue Sky

September is National Yoga Month. National Yoga Month was started in 2008 by Johannes R. Fisslinger, with the support from Rachel Levine at the National Institute of Health. Held each September, it’s billed as “an awareness campaign to educate about the health benefits of yoga and to inspire a healthy lifestyle,” according to organizer Sora No. While the month is coming to a close, there are still a lot of free events, concerts, film screenings, Global Malas, and other cool things happening until the end of September. For the culmination of the month, on September 30th the organizers have put together the first annual Time for Yoga Global Community Practice: At 7 pm local time, yoga students are encouraged to practice yoga as an international observance.  “A one-hour yoga practice will be followed by savasana beginning at 8 pm, and a 15 minute meditation for universal peace and well-being at 8:15pm,” explains No. “By participating during your own local time, a wave of yoga will take place around the globe.” Visit the Yoga Month website for events and classes. 

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September 30: Time for Yoga

This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of September 11. Across the country, yogis are gathering together to reflect, remember, and honor the people who lost their lives and the families and communities who live with the effects of that tragic day. “I feel like I needed to get the word out that it’s never too late to lend a hand to those affected,” says Ashley DiMeglio, who organized a music and yoga event in Congers, New York, on Sunday.  ”Coming together as a yoga community not only heals with our yoga practice but brings us together to share in our hearts how we can unite together for this cause,” she says. For the class, whose proceeds go to September 11 Families’ Association , she asks people to bring a picture of a loved who who died or otherwise affected by events of that day. “The reason for this is to place the picture on their yoga mat to dedicate their yoga practice to them and to send healing energy out to those that need that it.”  Many other teachers and studios are offering free classes, or hosting fundraisers. Here’s just a sampling of the events happening on Sunday. If there’s nothing in your area, why not find a park, gym, or living room to be together, and remember? New York By Love Alone , a free day of meditation on Governor’s Island hosted by The Interdependence Project, the Shambhala Center, the Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn, The Village Zendo, Won Buddhism of Manhattan, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and other  meditation and spiritual communities. Some of New York’s leading meditation teachers will provide guided instruction throughout the day. San Diego Yoga for 9/11 is a 3-hour yoga-and-meditation practice to honor the heroes and victims of that day, with proceeds going to the International Association of Fire Fighters Disaster Relief Fund. New Hampshire A 10th Anniversary Yoga Celebration at Zaanti Yoga and Meditation Studio in Wilton will benefit the New Hampshire campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace, and include meditation, mantra, and asana. Seattle Village Yoga is offering a free afternoon yoga class in honor of the day.  

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Reflect and Remember: Yoga on 9/11

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

Over the weekend, Gawker posted this video of yogis demonstrating Acroyoga on a New York Subway. It looks like a good time. But the Gawker writer doesn’t think so. “We do not respect efforts to turn public transportation areas into bourgie personal gyms–or, for that matter, attempts to be ‘funny’ by making ‘jokes’ about the homeless. Way to reinforce a stereotype, you lithe shoeless wonders,” Gawker wrote. Ouch! The commentary might be a little harsh, but does the writer have a point? Is turning yoga into a public performance a pointless attempt to get attention? Or does it simply show a fun and lighthearted side of a serious practice?

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Gawker Calls Out "Yoga Morons" on NY Subway

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

Wanderlust , the popular outdoor eco-yoga-music event enterprise that has spawned road-trip destinations for adventurous yogis, this year expanded its three-day outdoor festival offerings to include mini Yoga in the City Festivals in cities around the country. Now Wanderlust has added one more to the mix: Las Vegas. To be held in September at The Cosmopolitan, a 3,000-room gaming resort, the event features Anusara Yoga founder John Friend (the Elvis of the yoga world?), Wanderlust cofounder and Kula Yoga NYC creator Schulyer Grant, and musical group Thievery Corporation. Being Vegas, it also features burlesque shows, “dance party beats,” and poolside wine tasting, according to a press release. We’re happy that all those Sin City visitors, tired from binge gambling-smoking-drinking and doing all that other stuff that stays in Vegas, will be exposed to some good clean yoga fun. But we were puzzled about Wanderlust’s “commitment towards making the most socially and environmentally conscious event of its kind” with this location choice. Wanderlust’s founders have set a high bar for their events as being models of sustainability–with comprehensive composting and recycling programs among other laudable efforts. Las Vegas, on the other hand, is a city where 90 percent of the power is generated from non-renewable resources . Its main water source, the man-made Lake Meade, is estimated to be sucked dry , via drought and increased usage demands, by 2021. It’s basically a city that wouldn’t exist without imported water, electricity, and well, just about everything else that makes a place sustainable. We asked Wanderlust cofounder Jeff Krasno about the choice to bring the festival here. From a creative standpoint, he explained, the Wanderlust brand is about being playful and unexpected. Vegas fits well into that notion. He envisions a raised platform where “people walking down the Strip will look up and see John Friend and 400 people doing yoga.” As an event planner, it just doesn’t get much better than that.   And as folks in the business of promoting a healthful, yogic lifestyle, “we like the idea of bringing a shot of inspiration and enlightenment into a place not usually associated with those things,” he added. As for Vegas’ reputation as a place lacking any kind of sustainability inclinations, Krasno said he was surprised to discover that there’s more here than meets the eye. The dancers and performers who work in the shows are active, healthy people, many of whom do yoga, he said. There are even a slew of Whole Foods Markets in the area. And when he went seeking local support for the event, “we got like 15-20 yoga studio partners in a day.” “There’s a scene for it there, underneath all the glitz and glamour,” he said. We applaud Wanderlust for bringing yoga to unexpected places–and heck, the spirited, creative vibe of the festival is quite Cirque du Soleil-esque. And maybe, just maybe some of those collective Oms will help raise the energy of the place. Come to think of it, perhaps Wanderlust is exactly what Las Vegas needs. Doesn’t Celine Dion’s run at Caesar’s Palace end sometime soon?   We just hope that the same Earth guardian spirit so beautifully celebrated at Wanderlust’s Lake Tahoe, California, and Vermont events, doesn’t get lost in the drive for playful and unexpected.  Keep it real, Wanderlust!

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Wanderlust Goes to Sin City

It seems like everyday we read about a new study showing what most yogis already know: yoga helps with a plethora of physical ailments. But we’re noticing a trend of new studies focusing on yoga’s ability to combat pain. This might be because yoga helps increase cortisol, a hormone thought to help with pain management. Or because yoga helps us to watch our minds instead of getting consumed by them. We’re happy that science is starting to back yoga’s benefits to relieve pain–the more people get turned on to the healing practice of yoga. Here’s a few recent studies: Fibromyalgia: The Journal of Pain Research recently published a study showing that yoga decreases chronic pain and the psychological effects of fibromylagia for women in the study. The participants practiced 75 minutes of yoga twice a week for eight weeks. The result? The women showed increased amounts of cortisol. Migraines:   A study out of University of Rajastan, published in the journal Headache, showed that yoga can help reduce the intensity and frequency of migraines. After the participants practiced a sequence of yoga poses, breathing exercises, relaxation, meditation, and mantras for three months, they reported migraine problems improved, as did their heart rate. “Scientists have been considering serotonin, a brain chemical, to be a crucial factor for headaches. They think low serotonin levels might cause blood vessels to dilate and cause migraines. And yoga is known to improve levels of serotonin,” said researcher Neha Sharma.  General Pain: The Journal of Neuroscience reported that meditation helps the brain deal with pain. It doesn’t take long: In the study, the subjects each took four 20-minute sessions to learn how to control their breathing and put aside their emotions and thoughts. We want to know: How has yoga helped you with pain?

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Yoga Helps Relieve Pain

If you want to be a Forrest Yoga teacher, you’ll have to do more than enroll in any ol’ 200-hour yoga teacher training. You’ll have to train with Ana Forrest herself. Then, you might be mentored by one of 20 Forrest Yoga Guardians, who have been handpicked and trained by Forrest to become ambassadors of the practice and mentors to less experienced teachers. A recent New York Times article described Forrest Yoga as a “rigorous style with no less a goal than curing the ails of the modern world.” Forrest Yoga Guardians help Forrest spread that message. “Each Forrest Yoga Guardian has gone through intensive training with Ana to learn the skills required to be a mentor for teachers,” explains the Forrest Yoga website, ForrestYoga.com . You can be certain that when Ana Forrest says “intensive training,” she’s not joking around. She’s the shamanic-high priestess-of-healing in the yoga world, blending Native American and other spiritual teachings with a warriorlike fierceness to, as she says on her site, “help people embody their Spirit, not go through life fragmented.” Forrest Yoga Guardians complete a rigorous training program. Erica Mather, 35, who lives in Harlem, told the Times that she had done a 200-hour training with Forrest, 400 hours of field work, a nine-day advanced teacher training, and a one-week Forrest Yoga mentorship training. She also meets with Forrest annually and serves as a mentor to others who are in the process of training. To many students, such high teacher-training standards gives Forrest Yoga credibility, but others are turned off by yoga styles that are so closely tied to one teacher’s persona. “Ugh! More proprietary yoga!” was the response to the article from Twitter user gogoyogini, a yoga teacher in Las Vegas. Read the full article . Photo credit: Federica Villabrega

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Yoga Intensive: Ana Forrest in NY Times

From Seattle to Syracuse, classes combining yoga and stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) are catching on with both yoga and water sports enthusiasts. News stories are popping up all over about the combination, which promises to offer a challenging twist on the practice of yoga. From what we can tell, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Yoga poses on a giant surf board. It looks like fun, but can it enhance your yoga practice? According to Austin, Texas yoga teacher Stphany Heeren, yes. Doing yoga on the water works your core in a different way as you try and keep your balance with challenging poses like Side Plank or even Headstand, she told NBC affiliate KXAN. It challenges your balance, forces you to be present, and gives you a chance to be enjoy nature. It sounds like a winning combo us. Not to mention, it would give you a great answer to the question, “Where’s the craziest place you’ve ever practiced yoga?” Watch the video below for a preview. Yoga paddle boarding becomes new craze: wane.com What do you think? Would you be willing to practice yoga on a stand up paddle board? If you have tried it, what did you think?

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Is Paddleboard Yoga the Next Big Trend?

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

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

Summer’s here. This means extra time with kids, lazy days at the beach. Why not give them some books on the themes that yogis hold dear? We Are Like the Sky by Elisabeth Rose Wilds was inspired by the author’s own mindfulness practice and her work at a youth homeless shelter in Manhattan, where she has set up a healing arts center.  “I felt that there was a real need for children and youth to see the world through the eyes of love and learn to open their hearts,” she says of her first book, illustrated by Brian Dorr (also the illustrator of her current book.) Recently, we caught up with WIlds: Q: Tell us how you became a children’s author using spiritual themes? A: As I started teaching mind-body programs and mindfulness practices, I saw that the youth were receiving real benefits. For the first time they could remember, many of them expressed an experience of  peace and quiet.  It became very clear to me how powerful and life changing mindfulness practices can be, and how wonderful it would be to teach these concepts to younger children. The youths that I work with still have some emotional storms to endure, but they have some tools to help them “reset”  – mindfulness is one of these wonderful tool Q: How did yoga/meditation influence the words and the pictures? A:  A key to mindfulness practice is finding that quiet place within, which allows us to observe our thoughts. In the book, the quiet place within is represented by the sky (feather) and our thoughts and resulting emotional states are depicted by weather patterns. The book teaches that we can we can always find that quiet place within, regardless of the storms that our thoughts are producing.  We can regain our balance, and begin again, living with greater awareness on a moment by moment basis.  Q: What is your hope that children take away? We hope that children will develop an awareness of how their thoughts impact their emotional well-being and learn how to access that quiet place within to rebalance and begin again.

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We Are Like the Sky

Yoga and Buddhism stem from the same Indian lineage yet remain distinct spiritual paths. Still, there’s natural crossover between the two disciplines, and mutual respect among practitioners of each. This relationship is beautifully celebrated at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center–an oasis of mindfulness nestled some 20 miles inland from California’s Big Sur coastline in the Ventana Wilderness. Photo of Tassajara’s yoga studio courtesy of Margo Moritz margomoritz.com While Tassajara primarily serves as a Zen teaching monastery, from April through September, its doors open to the public to enjoy the site’s natural hot springs, abundant hiking trails, meditation instruction, and some seriously delicious vegetarian food (mealtime is a much-anticipated event here). Guests attend workshops that explore mindfulness as it relates to relationship-building, cooking, art, writing–and yoga, which has become one of the most popular workshop themes. The folks behind Tassajara, a branch of the San Francisco Zen Center, have made such a commitment to its yoga program that they just built a gorgeous eco-friendly studio, complete with cork flooring heated by piped hot-spring water, solar electricity, tons of natural light–it’s even stocked with Manduka Eko-Lite mats.  On a recent visit, I had the good fortune to test-drive the just-opened studio in a class with San Francisco’s Diego del Sol, who was teaching a three-day yoga and Zen retreat with Tassajara’s head of practice, Greg Fain. The class was great, and pretty intense. I’ll admit, somewhere during our umpteenth Sun Salutation variation, my mindfulness strayed into a daydream about a post-class soak in the hot springs.  But then, Savasana. Pure sensation. Nothing but idle awareness of the sound of Tassajara Creek rolling by and dappled sunlight playing across my closed eyelids. I think I reached a Zen state! Combined with endless surprises from the world-famous kitchen (what 1970s vegetarian didn’t own the Tassajara Bread Book , not to mention the center’s gorgeous contemporary cookbooks ), stunning natural beauty, and absolute serenity, this is a destination yoga retreat center well worth the drive.  And what a drive it is. Tassajara is located in a canyon, 14 miles down a winding, unpaved mountain road. (There’s a shuttle for those without 4-wheel drive or who are squeamish about off-road adventures.)   Three years ago, the center was threatened by a summer wildfire that swept through Big Sur, eventually taking out 162,818 acres . The fascinating story of a heroic band of Tassajara residents who stayed behind to defend the property is chronicled in a new book, Fire Monks , out in July. Lucky for all of us, Tassajara still stands, ready to share its bounty with anyone willing to venture deep into the forest–and into their own hearts.  

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Where Yoga and Zen Meet

James Fox began teaching yoga to prisoners at San Quentin State Prison in California nine years ago, where he founded the Prison Yoga Project . Recently, he’s been traveling around the country training others how to teach in a prison setting. We caught up with James before his June 18-19 training in New York City, “Working with Incarcerated Communities,” where he’ll instruct people about how to teach yoga in prisons, addiction recovery facilities, halfway houses, and other rehabilitative facilities. Are your trainings just for yoga teachers? They are for serious yoga practitioners. They may not necessarily be a certified teacher,  but they want to be of service in some regards. Why is there so much interest in teaching yoga in prisons? The yoga community in general is looking at karma yoga as the next step in their personal evolution. They know they are getting a lot out of the practice, and at a certain point, a part of the yoga is tradition is to give it back. I know that’s been my path. I’m always interested in going to populations who haven’t been exposed. There is a whole economic paradigm shift in this country, where it’s becoming more and more obvious that the under served populations aren’t being afforded the same opportunities for health and well-being. And here we are with this incredible practice, and yogis are stepping up. How did you end up teaching at San Quentin? I was contacted by the Insight Prison Project to set up their yoga and meditation program. I still teach for the Insight Project. While they focus on rehab and the whole restorative justice movement, I focus on yoga. What are the benefits for prisoners? The big focus in on impulse control. How does a yoga practice assist those whose major issues are addiction and violence? It all comes down to impulse control, to learning how to pause, learning how to deal with difficulty. If you are experiencing difficulty in a pose and coming up against your limitations, how do you work it out and work through it? Anything else they take away? Another focus is in really understanding yourself as a whole person, [and] yoga really helps support integrating the mental, emotional, and physical. It leads to a greater understanding that we are this whole person, not just thoughts going through our heads, but feelings going through our hearts and sensations going through our bodies. We hear these things in a yoga class, but populations like prisoners need to hear this kind of thing. It’s simple wisdom that they can apply to their lives. To me this really brings it home, to the core of one’s healing. If you can’t get to the Prison Yoga Project training in New York, look for future trainings in San Francisco. Or pick up Fox’s book:  Yoga: A Path for Healing and Recovery or sign up for the Prison Yoga Project Facebook page. We want to know: How does yoga help you with impulse control?

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Yoga in Prisons

“For some yoga practitioners, the body is a sacred vessel that should not be tainted. For others, the skin represents a blank, movable canvas for tattoos displaying thoughts, texts and deities that inspire and inform their practice,” Emily S. Rueb writes in the forward of  “A Moveable Canvas,” a photography portfolio in The New York Times, showcases the devotional artwork of yogic tattoos. Piotr Redlinski’s lovely black-and-white photos feature Jivamukti Yoga School co-founder David Life and other yogis who wear their passion for the practice, literally, on their skin. 

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Yogis Bare All

Wanderlust photo by Tinywater It used to be there were yoga conferences and there were music festivals. But now, yoga music festivals are road-trip destinations for yogis, activists, and music lovers to converge and celebrate their shared passions. Here are a few hot-ticket events on our radar this summer: Hanuman Festival: With teachers like Seane Corn and musicians such as Suzanne Sterling, the Hanuman festival adds yoga, music and seva to the mix in Boulder, Colorado. June 16-19 Wanderlust: The popular destination festival that started in Lake Tahoe, California, this year also rolls into Bondville, Vermont.  Krishna Das, Michael Franti, and Andrew Bird will entertain the masses, while and John Friend, Rodney Yee, and Seane Corne will get you bent into shape. Deepak Chopra will even be there. A month later, the festival returns to California with a similar lineup. And If you can’t make either festival, the show goes on the road, with Wanderlust events around the country. Bondville, Vermont: June 23-26;  North Lake Tahoe, California: July 28-31 Liberate , also in Vermont, is a 3-day outdoor camping extravaganza. Lower key than Wanderlust, Liberate is family-friendly event that has non-stop music and more than 15 yoga workshops. August 18-21 Evolve Fest , a “4-day celebration of the creative human spirit” happens in Vernon, New Jersey, with a mission of raising consciousness through yoga, music, art, and meditation. September 2-5

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Season of the Yoga Music Festival

In an amazing transformation of hardwork and will, 35-year-old opera singer Olivia Ward won Season 11 of the Biggest Loser by dropping 129 pounds. Check her rocking Vrksasana (Tree Pose) … though we wish she wasn’t resting her foot on her knee joint. Yoga is part and parcel of the of the five-month journey that contestants undertake on their path from obesity to health. Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper, who studied with Bryan Kest, is a huge yoga advocate, and has made a couple of yoga DVDs . Outgoing trainer Jillian Michaels released her own high-octane yoga DVD this spring. Ward told Us Weekly that she plans to keep the weight off with five to six spinning workouts a week. We hope someone gives her a yoga mat!   photo credit: NBC

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Biggest Loser Busts Out a Yoga Pose

Hunger. Reincarnation. Yoga. Cooking. Prayer. Restraint. Family. Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice , a new book of insights and meditations by yoga instructor and Oberlin College creative writing professor, Kazim Ali, touches on these parts of the human experience. Writing about the Islam occasion of Ramadan, Ali articulates the process of fasting from dusk to dawn: “Twenty-nine or thirty days to explore the line between the interior of the body and the surrounding world, to think about what is brought to us and what we owe,” he writes. He also compares the process to yoga. “[Yoga] is a practice, not unlike fasting, that allows us to practice linking the inside-the private experiences of the body and the mind-with the outside, the pulsing, breathing, actual world.” Even if you’ve never fasted in your life, Ali addresses the other way we deny our appetites–something most human beings can relate to. We want to know: Have you ever denied your appetite? What was the result?

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Mediations on Fasting

Anusura Yoga founder John Friend has announced the fall opening of an worldwide center for Anusara Yoga in Encinitas, California. Friend told Buzz that the center will include an 8,500-square-foot state-of-the-art studio, a soundstage for talks and concerts, and plenty of workshops, trainings, and gatherings, and will host visiting scholars and master teachers of other disciplines.  Friend invites yogis of all kind to come and “co-create some positive energy during this critical time on the planet.”   Friend calls this California outpost the realization of a lifelong dream. Encinitas has been a spiritual magnet for modern yoga, the place where Paramhansa Yogananda wrote the iconic Autobiography of a Yogi, and that has attracted many of yogas modern leaders, including  Pattabhi Jois and Tim Miller, and even George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. Friend, who has licensed 300 certified teachers and 1,000 Anusara-Inspired teachers, seems to be the next in line.  Watch John’s video explaining the center here. We want to know: Do you believe certain places carry higher spiritual energy?

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Anusara Yoga Heads to Encinitas, CA

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

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

People around the globe jumped into action to support relief efforts and aid to the victims of Japan’s devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and those efforts continue. Yogis have been helping in their own unique ways, with donation classes, fundraisers, and even a Bakesale for Japan , which raised almost $125,000 and counting. For her part, Sarah Baroni, a yogini and jewerly designer in Arcata, California, decided to create the Healing Pendant and donate 100 percent of the net proceeds from its sale to the organization Direct Relief International. “We make jewelry, it’s just the most logical thing for us to do to do our small part to help,” Baroni says. The pendant’s three charms–a dove, a Biwa pearl, and amethyst–represent peace, regeneration, and inner strength, qualities that Baroni wishes for the people of Japan right now.  “I wanted something that felt really healing and peaceful,” she says. Have yogis in your community pitched in to help Japan?

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Yogis Aid Japan’s Tsunami Victims

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!

“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 few years, stories about possible regulation of yoga teachers and studios surface. This time, it comes from the Great State of Texas. Recently, the Texas Workforce Commission sent out letters to various studios, asking them to become state-licensed career schools regulated by the TWC, explain why they are exempted–or shut down immediately. That’s when the Texas Yoga Association stepped in, arguing that regulation doesn’t apply to yoga and creates undue financial and administrative hardship on studios. “The bottom line is that regulation by the Texas Workforce Commission is not appropriate for yoga studios and does not benefit yoga students,” says TYA. Sign the petition “Keep Government Out of My Yoga” here. We want to know: Do you know where your state stands on regulation? Why are you for it or against it?  

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Don’t Mess with Texas (Yoga Teachers)

As yogis, we wish for all people to be happy, safe, and healthy. A touching story from Nashville Public Radio talks about how yoga helps wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afganistan piece their bodies and their lives back together. For many veterans, yoga is a subtler and gentler approach toward health. Beyond visible physical wounds, many soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which the stress relief, body awareness, and serenity of yoga can address: “At first, I was skeptical because I liked running six or ten miles a day, just doing it the 101st way,” says Spec. Michael Stefan. “But the positive thing is for me to focus on what I can do to overcome symptoms of PTSD, rather than getting stuck in a rut, self-centered, ‘oh me’ mentality, which I used to have.” We want to know: What aspects of yoga do you think could benefit veterans the most?

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Yoga Helps Wounded Soldiers

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?

Science has spoken. A new study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging shows that subjects who meditated 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. According to an article in The New York Times, “How Meditation May Change the Brain:” M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes. We want to know: Meditation improves your memory, makes you feel better about yourself, and reduces stress. What is holding you back from meditating?

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Study: Meditation Changes Your Brain

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

The creativity and loving energy yoga community never ceases to amaze and inspire me! A few weeks ago, we reported on the Yoga Flash Mobs happening around the globe to raise awareness about the Africa Yoga Project, whose goal is to create peace among tribes in Africa. From Santa Monica to Nairobi to London, through the snow, sun and in the streets, yogis young and old gathered to “lead the change.” Here’s the inspiring  video , featuring Baron Baptiste, that shows how yogis came together from around the world, to honor each other, and spread the simple yet profound message of peace.   To donate or learn more, visit The Africa Yoga Project. We want to know: How do you Lead the Change?

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Watch It: Yoga Flash Mobs for Peace

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?

At age six, most kids are taught by some kind of teacher. But in an unusual role reversal, an Indian six-year old IS a teacher. A yoga teacher, that is. The Daily Mail calls Shruti Pandey t he world’s youngest yoga teacher: she’s been teaching since the tender age of four. Today, groups of 30 adults–businesspeople, teachers, and housewives–flock to her 5:30 am classes at the Swami Brahmachand Saraswati Kaivalya Dham Ashram in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh in India , to soak in some of her youthful wisdom.  “It feels good when people follow my instructions,” she told the paper. “I got interested in yoga after seeing my brother doing it. I tried picking it up myself, but it was too hard. So I asked my parents to send me to yoga classes.” We want to know: Do your favorite yoga teachers teach by intuition, or by experience? 

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The World’s Youngest Yoga Teacher?

As yogis, we aspire to work toward a deeper acceptance and understanding of ourselves, and to live healthy lifestyles. That’s why starting out the New Year with yoga can be a powerful and soulful way to bring in the year. You set the intention to be a bit more loving and accepting yourself, imperfections and quirks and all, while gifting your mind and body with a practice that helps you in every way. There are New Year’s classes happening at studios across the country to help you set this powerful intention. Or maybe even gather a few yogi friends for a powerful New Year’s day practice in your home. There are many ways to honor what is passing while welcoming the possibilities to come. Here are a few happenings in some major cities: San Francisco: Yoga Tree (shown above) is offering five workshops before, during, and after the New Year that include live music, kirtan, and a range of yoga classes. Cleveland: At Evolution Yoga , choose from Pilates, Jivamukti or restorative yoga classes on New Year’s day. New York Jivamukti Yoga has its 22nd annual New Year’s Eve celebration with Sharon Gannon and David Life, that includes a class, vegan dinner, kirtan dance party, and ending with silence to bring in the New Year. Los Angeles Start 20111 with Siddha Yoga ’s audio satsang, featuring founder Gurumayi Chidvilasananda teachings. We want to know: How can you love yourself just a little bit more this coming year?  

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New Year, Honor You

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

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?

Yogis have known for centuries that a yoga practice makes us feel calm and centered. But science is finally catching up with what we’ve all experienced on the mat and the cushion:  yoga changes our brain chemistry, which in turn helps improve mood and decrease anxiety. A new study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary medicine reports that yoga triggers the release of the brain chemical gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity. The findings establish a new link between yoga, higher levels of GABA, and improved mood. The study, led by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine (the lead researcher is a yogi!), brings us one step closer toward harnessing yoga’s power of prevention and relaxation.  Who knows: maybe this can lead to a wider acceptance of yoga in the medical community as a tool to help people struggling with anxiety and depression.  Prescription for yoga, anyone? We want to know: Do you think it’s important for yoga to get “legitimized” in the medical community? Do you think yoga should be a first defense against anxiety and depression instead of medication?

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New Research Says Yoga Changes Brain Chemistry

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

Joy is our natural state. When I say this out loud, it makes perfect sense. So what happens along the way? Feeling bogged down by responsibility, unexamined emotions, and a whole list of “shouldas,” it’s so easy to veer from this natural state. Writer Karen Talavera tackles the topic of joy in the second of her a two-part series in her blog, The Accidental Seeker. Talavera’s impassioned plea about following our bliss is nothing brand new, but it’s a gentle reminder to remember what is so easy to forget from day to day. She talks about what prevents us from joy–and how to recognize joy when it’s right in front of our noses. The next time you’re faced with a decision as mundane as whether to go to the grocery store or take a walk in the woods, or as serious as whether to move up a rung on the corporate ladder or start your own business, give it the “internal alignment” test.  Forget for a minute your external circumstances like money, image and obligation, and ask yourself one elemental question, which choice leads to joy? Your heart will tell you loud and clear. A yoga practice helps us tune into our inner voice, and connect with our hearts so that we can feel the joy that already exists in and around us. Ultimately, we can make the choices that support joy, even when life seems overwhelmed with sadness, grief, or pressure. For today, choose joy. We want to know: How does your yoga practice connect you with joy? What are the small choices you make that bring you joy?  

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Follow Your Bliss

Fame. Fortune. Commercialization. Is this where’s modern yoga headed? Or what it’s already become? This is the big question tackled by a Boston article called What’s Happened to Yoga? The article opens with a scene from a yoga class, where two students are busy texting away to the dismay of their teacher, Natasha Rizopoulos. Then it touches on the serious issues keeping modern yogis up at night–mainly monetization and commercialization. For this reason, among others, Rizopoulos is aligning herself with some of the country’s foremost yoga teachers who are trying to take back yoga from the masses who they believe are running afoul of the traditions of a 5,000-year-old spiritual, intellectual, and physical discipline. The underlying idea of this “movement” is a studio called Down Under Yoga, which held a summit last weekend to discuss modern yoga, including ways yogis can stay aligned with yoga’s roots in modern times. We want to know: Is modern yoga too big to generalize about? What aspects of modern yoga enhance the practice? And what aspects diminish it? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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What’s Happened to Yoga?

Obsessing about what you didn’t say at a job interview. Wishing your partner acted differently. Believing that you aren’t smart enough. This is the way the mind works. Or is it? I’ve been thinking a lot about these stories we tell ourselves. My book club just finished the fascinating book My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. If you haven’t heard about it, she is a brain scientist who tells the story of her stroke. After the stroke, she has experiences of bliss because the part of her brain that governs judging, language, and ego is damaged. She just feels totally at peace and connected to all beings. What she learns is profound. After her recovery, she writes: Now that my left mind’s language centers and storyteller are back to functioning normally, I find my mind not only spins a wild tale but has a tendency to hook into negative patterns of thought. I have found that the first step to getting out of these reverberating loops of negative thought or emotion is to recognize when I am hooked into those loops . . . Learning to listen to your brain from the position of non-judgmental witness may take some practice and patience, but once you master this awareness, you become free to step beyond the worrisome drama and trauma of your storyteller. As yogis, we know how to become a witness to our mind. We know how to move beyond obsessive thoughts, story telling, and negative thought patterns. We know–but sometimes we forget. Choose happiness. Start today. We want to know: When do you call on your practice to choose happiness? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Choose Happiness

Remember that proverb about all work and no play? Finding that balance between work and play, rest and activity, is one of the great challenges of modern life. But those limber acroyogis want to inject some play into your life with their AcroYoga Festival, which is coming to the Bay Area from October 8-11 at Historic Sweet’s Ballroom in Oakland, CA. Billed as the first-ever AcroYoga Festival and the biggest in the world, the four-day festival will draw over 250 students, 40 AcroYoga teachers, and 10 master teachers from yoga, acrobatics and Thai massage. There’s something for everyone, including different styles of acrobatics, yoga, and Thai massage for all levels. The first day is all-day intensives, and the rest of the weekend is dedicated to short workshops and events like Bollywood Carnival Jam, Ecstatic Dance, and a kirtan with Jai Uttal, MC Yogi, and the Mayapuris. If you don’t catch the festival, you can head to its next destinations, including Spain, New York, Boston, Mexico and Costa Rica. For more information, visit acroyogafestival.com . We want to know: How do you bring more playfulness into your life? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Get Playful at the First-Ever Acroyoga Festival!

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

One of my first yoga teachers, Michael Cooper, had a playful way of teaching. In the midst of a pose, he’s stop, look confused and ask “What time is it?” During my very first class with him, I looked up at the clock and said “It’s 1:30.” The experienced yogis in the room chuckled. He asked again, a little louder: “What time is it?” After a beat, the yoga veterans all said in unison “Now!” This was ten years ago, but every single time someone asks me what time it is, I think of that expression. No matter where I am, it brings me back to his message: Presence of mind. At first, it was helpful when my muscles shook and balance tottered in Warrior III, but now it helps me when I’m in traffic or standing in line at the grocery store. I like to think of these ingrained reminders I’ve gathered over the years as my very own Yoga Jingle, a spiritual twist on those advertising tunes that we can’t get our of our heads. Instead of urging me to consume, however, my jingle reminds me to stay calm, stay present, and remember that everything is unfolding just as it should. We want to know: What’s your Yoga Jingle? How do you use it in your everyday life? Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

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Inspiration: What’s Your Yoga Jingle?

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

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Sadie Nardini

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Samin Nosrat

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Stephanie Bernstein

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Jessica Berger Gross

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Kristin Shepherd

I was honored when my friend Benjamin Finnerty who is living and teaching yoga in Shanghai, China invited me to come teach the Anusara Immersion at Fine Yoga in Beijing. I must admit a feeling of unease came over me because this would be my first time teaching to students of another language and culture and working with a translator, but I knew it was a great opportunity for me to grow as a teacher.   Over the next several months, as we made the plans the idea became more comfortable. During that time a friend said that “life begins at the edge of your comfort zone”!  This is so true; it is the experiences where we have to dig deep inside our self and find the courage that expands us the most. My yoga practice and years of teaching had prepared me for this endeavor. On my first day, though I was quite jet-lagged from the journey, I was taken on a whirlwind tour of Beijing. First we visited the Temple of Heaven, which is located behind one of the biggest and most famous parks in Beijing.  Like most Chinese parks in the morning, it was full of people practicing Tai Chi, dancing, playing games, stretching and enjoying themselves.  This particular park had a section with equipment like a gym in the USA!  At 9:30 on a Wednesday morning people were playing together, both men and women young and old, were getting exercise, socializing and enjoying life. It was beautiful. Thursday was the first day of the immersion. Though I felt at ease about teaching and comfortable with the material there was still this question in my mind about how to connect to the students.  We spent the whole first day on the First Principle of Anusara Yoga, which is opening to grace. Though the students wanted to learn the alignment very much we kept our focus on cultivating sensitivity, connecting to their breath and their hearts and taking a more expansive view.  In Chinese, just like Sanskrit, the word for heart and mind is the same, and both cultures are very connected to the idea of living from their hearts.  There is a Taoist expression that says, “See every thing from the light of heaven,” so the concept of first principle was not new. As the day went on they were beginning to soften their effort and embody it in their poses on the mat. Though we began worlds apart, by the end of the first day each member of the group shared their experiences, and the boundaries between us dissolved with their shyness. I saw the reflection of my own trust that we would connect reflected back through them, and it was more apparent to me than ever that our hearts’ know no boundary of language and culture.  We connected on the most fundamental level, and I will be forever transformed. When have you had to find courage to do something out of your norm?  How are you better for the experience? Stacey Rosenberg is a Certified Anusara Yoga teacher in San Francisco and around the globe.  Her classes are dynamic and playful and provide a fun, safe, and nurturing environment that invites students to move deeply into their own hearts and transform their lives.  www.namastacey.com

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Boundless Hearts in Beijing

Robin, a local therapist in Haines, Alaska invited me to her home for a private yoga session. She said she had to check the tide schedule to see when it would work. Check the tide? Yes, she lives across Mud Bay where part of the day you can walk across the mud flats, and then when the tide comes in (Haines has the third most changing tide in the world) and you have to canoe across. There are a dozen or so families across the bay that all live by the tide, completely off the grid. I was up for the adventure, so I biked over to meet her. After loaning me a pair of extra tough rubber boots we took the 10-minute walk across the seaweed-strewn mud flats together.  As we walked, I was struck by the color of the seaweed and also at the realization that this was her commute to and from her home in any weather: rain, sleet, snow, hail, wind….this is Alaska after all. On this July day I was still wearing a hat and coat! As I stopped to examine the seaweed she told me about how she had prepared our dinner for the evening. The propane for the stove had run out that morning and her partner had tried to bring the propane tank over in the canoe earlier, but it had been too windy and he had to turn back. Needing to use the stove to boil water she got creative and cooked on the wood burning stove. When we arrived at their home, a three-story cabin perched over the bay, she gave me a tour of her prolific garden. I am continually amazed at the abundance of Alaskan gardens and what vegetables and flowers can do in a short growing season with long, long days. We had a lovely yoga session and delicious dinner with vegetables from the garden and wood stove cooked pasta. After dinner and some greatly enjoyed conversation (Robin’s partner, Dan, is writing a book on the history of the Native Alaskan people) I was informed that we had five minutes left to make it across the bay before the tide came in. We had to leave NOW! Back into the rubber boots I went, and tromp across the bay we did as the tide quickly crept in. Robin told me she thinks about her yoga practice and the support her abdominal muscles give her as she makes the pilgrimage across the bay.  She says she keeps her low belly drawn in and her spine in elongation as she confidently and gratefully makes the journey across. I tried to do the same as I sloshed through the mud and sea weed trying not to fall, my heart pounding in my chest, wind blowing across my cheeks. I was silently hoping I would make it across before the tide came in and that I would not have to strip and wade as I did a previous year when another Mud Bay resident invited me to dinner! Actually, that was great fun as well and its all part of the adventure and life in Haines, Alaska. How can you use your yoga practice during the day? How can you stay connected to the cycles of mother nature? Sarana Miller lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sarana is trained in the Iyengar and Forrest Yoga traditions and is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Advanced Studies Program and the Forrest Yoga Teacher training program and is currently studying the Sarah Powers method. She also sings and studies kirtan with Jai Uttal.  

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Living by the Tide

It doesn’t really matter where you practice, as long as you do. Right? Right. But having practiced yoga everywhere from a church basement to a plush studio to a mountaintop on the outskirts of Katmandu, there’s something to be said for creating a welcoming atmosphere for spiritual practice. The same goes for creating a nurturing and inspiring place for our children to hang out and play and sleep. When Neil and I had Lucien, we were temporarily living in a sublet in Brooklyn. Arranging Lucien’s “nursery” involved setting up a co-sleeper next to our bed. (He ended up sleeping in our bed those first six months, nestled between a yoga bolster on one side and mommy on the other.) Next, we moved to Vancouver and rented a furnished one-bedroom apartment. Neil set up Lucien’s crib in the walk-in closet of our bedroom, and I put some decals on the wall – an airplane, a pink moose. While I loved exploring new places (we were in New York for Neil’s academic leave from Harvard, and moved to Vancouver for his new job at the University of British Columbia), I couldn’t wait to settle down and make a proper nursery for Lucien. The truth was I was completely envious when I walked into my friends’ baby rooms in Boston and Los Angeles. Poor Lucien in his closet!  Of course, he didn’t care or know the difference. At that age he just wanted to be close to his mama and dada.   When Lucien was almost one, on Halloween, we moved into our house – a fixer upper that came filled with character, potential, and a never ending to do list. My first priority was Lucien’s room. We painted the walls with a non-toxic pale green and yellow paint, bought an  IKEA rocking chair   for his nursing corner, and got him some rolling see-through containers for his toys and books.  Since then, I’ve added and subtracted to the room. At  Collage Collage , where I take Lucien for art class, we picked up posters from local artists. Now that Lucien has weaned, the rocking chair is in the living room, and on our summer vacation on Vancouver Island I came across a super cheap stash of vintage children’s chairs, a handmade wooden table, and some old school books and toys that are now my favorite things in his room. Just as I feel at home and at peace in my upstairs yoga corner, Lucien seems content to hang out in his room for hours- playing, singing, reading books, and just generally chilling in his pajamas. Where in your house or apartment do you – and your children – feel most comfortable, most creative, and most inspired?  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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Making Room

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!

During my visits to Haines, Alaska these past several years I have had the good fortune to attend the Southeast Alaska State Fair. It is a sweet fair organized primarily by volunteers that has a wonderful homey feel and also displays a great deal of talent and creativity. The fair has everything from a petting zoo with goats and llamas to a vegetable and pie contest. There is also a world-class puppet show (in its own log cabin) and a line up of incredible musical acts from around the country. This year, I decided I wanted to contribute as well. I have been receiving the benefits of the hard work of the community and I decided a little seva, selfless service, on my part was in order. So, I signed up to work the Hospice of Haines Pie Booth and registered myself to teach a yoga class that included kirtan. Both turned out to be special in different ways.   At the pie booth, I got to receive and sell the dozens of pies as they came in from the woman of Haines. A freshly baked wild blueberry pie is a beautiful site. I knew the woman who made it spent hours picking berries and lovingly making that pie. I was so touched by the love and care that went into each pie, all going to raise money for Hospice. This is yoga in action. I was a little nervous about my yoga class, it being my first time teaching at a fair. I asked my good friend, Bruce Blake, if he had any advice for me. He said, “Just pretend you are at Burning Man.”   Yes, then I got it. Offering a respite from all the activity of the fair and a chance for students to connect in with their breath and their sense of center and home was all I had to do. We were fortunate to have a small dome for the class, and I opened with a short kirtan which droped us all in. From there, I had students connect in with their breath as I lead them through a slow supine hip opening sequence. Little by little I could feel them letting go, and the sounds of the fair (like the train that honked every 15 minutes) around us became just like little bells to remind us to connect back with our ever present friend of the breath.   As my dear friend and mentor Thomas Fortel says of the breath, ” In times of challenge we breath deeply and come into the moment. In times of joy, we also breath deeply and come into the moment.” So there, in that little white dome, amidst the frenzy of the fair, we all joined each other in connecting with our breath and coming home into our bodies.   I give thanks for all the people that made the fair possible and to the practice of yoga, my friend and companion on this journey of life. Sarana Miller lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sarana is trained in the Iyengar and Forrest Yoga traditions and is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Advanced Studies Program and the Forrest Yoga Teacher training program and is currently studying the Sarah Powers method. She also sings and studies kirtan with Jai Uttal.

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Puppets, Heart-Felt Blueberry Pie, and Yoga at the Fair

We’ve been playing a game  all week. Maybe you’d like to play with us. If you were stranded on a deserted island-it’s a beautiful island, great weather, great food somehow, great books, just no other people-and you could only do one yoga pose for the entire month, what would it be? After much hand wringing and general hoopla, we’ve decided that Savasana is a freebie. You can do all the Savasana you want. And one other pose. Another thing. In this game, you’ll be completely healthy at the end of the month. Flexible, strong, peaceful, and beautiful. So the pose you pick is just about the happiness it’ll give you, not about, “oh, god, if I don’t do the shoulder openers, I’ll look like Hulk Hogan by Friday” (no offense to Hulk). Here’s what we’ve got so far: My sister picks Upward Dog, because it looks so beautiful. My lovely man says The Plow. He’s just gone back to it in class and it’s exciting to be able to do it for the first time in decades. My friend Paul chooses Triangle Pose. I think he’s crazy, but free choice is a part of the game. (He did ask if we were allowed to come out of the pose at all, or whether we have to hold the pose for an entire month. The answer, with rolling eyes, is yes, you can come out of the pose.) I will do Downward Dog. I love everything about it: the inversion, the use of my entire body, easily a month’s worth of interest. And if we play again next month, I’ll pick handstand, because it makes me feel like a goddess. And you? What pose? Why? Hoho! I can hardly wait to hear. Thanks to yoga for being so interesting, and so much fun, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  These games thrill her inordinately.  Join her on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd, on Twitter at kristinwonders, or at kristinshepherd.ca

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The Game

testing code to pull most popular entries from blogs. In the right column you will find six lists… three each from Yoga Buzz and Beginners Blog. Each blog has a list for Most Popular of all time, Most popular since July 1 (could be quarterly), Most popular this week. They have been intentionally left un-formatted.  With a little formatting and perhaps including an excerpt, they could be powerful drivers.

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Test: Most Popular List

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

On Monday, in the space left behind by the thousands of yogis who attended Wanderlust, my friend and I decided to climb a mountain. (You can see it in the background in the picture below.) OK, it was more a civilized trail than something I’d need a rope and rock shoes to tackle. But let me tell you, it was pretty darn challenging. The high altitude makes it harder to do even simple things, like breathe, much less hike. I was a little daunted thinking about scaling a steep path for an hour, especially since I haven’t done any other exercise besides yoga for a decade, unless you count climbing the stairs to the 9th floor walkup I lived in for a year in Manhattan. Yoga prepared us both for the adventure of doing something new with our bodies, and though the air was thin, and my heart rate was about as high as the hill itself, I felt strong, capable, and, finally, grateful for all those long-held Warrior poses. When we reached the pinnacle, a pyramid-shaped outcropping of flaking shale, my friend had the idea to pick up a large piece and heave it over the side. It bounced and skipped until coming to rest among another pile of rocks farther down. I felt so inspired by this that I got up from my serene perch overlooking a mountain waterfall and stream and start throwing rocks too. It felt like every rock I tossed was a heaviness I was deciding to release, lightening my mental, physical, and emotional load. There is a parable I love, about a monk and his master stopping at the bank of a wide stream. There they encountered a man dressed in fine clothes. This man looked at the master and asked, “Will you carry me across? I don’t want to get my nice clothes wet.” The monk volunteered to take the man across, as his master was older, and, well, the master. But the master said, “No, no. He asked me. I’ll take him.” So the master put this perfectly strong, healthy guy on his back and struggled across the stream with him, getting his own clothing all wet so the man could stay dry. Once across, the man went his own way, without any word of thanks. The monk and master continued on, with the monk indignant. He mumbled under his breath and cycled back into a dark and stormy state every few minutes. Finally, after about two hours, the master said, “Brother, what’s bothering you?” The monk exploded: “I can’t believe he didn’t even thank you! I mean, you’re a master, and he was capable of getting himself across. The nerve of this guy! What a complete jerk!” The master looked at the monk, undisturbed, and said, “I put that man down on the other side of the river–and two hours later, you’re still carrying him.” We all tend to carry unnecessary baggage around with us. Whether it’s regret for what could have been, anger at a past experience, or even tension from a stressful job that builds in the shoulders or low back, it ends up as extra weight that prevents us from engaging with and enjoying the present moment. Sometimes we might feel that punishing ourselves for past actions or keeping them alive by dwelling on them over and over again will keep us from repeating the behavior. But this is a toxic attitude that will slow you down as surely as carrying someone across a stream. Instead,  just as you enter a challenging practice with the intention to shake up and dissolve areas of restriction in your body, use your yogic tools to shake up and dissolve those stories or habitual “truths” you tell yourself that diminish you instead of lighting you up. Through mindful practice, we realize that we can remember the lessons we’ve learned from our experiences, but drop the weight of living them over and over again in ways that erode our happiness. When, with arms overhead and with all my might, I threw the last rock, I did the following pose. This is a wonderful, instant way to release any negativity that’s following you around. Do it regularly, to ensure that you’re not gathering tension or destructive energies on any level, and watch your body, mind, and heart lighten and move with more freedom. Lion’s Pose Take a deep breath. Imagine it traveling from your lungs to your belly, and all the way down to your toes. Really gather up any inner negativity you can find. On the exhalation, release the breath up and out through your mouth as you stick your tongue way out and roar like a lion: “HAAAAAAH!” Repeat this 1-3 times, or until you start laughing. That’s a good sign: As you lift the energetic stone of whatever has been weighing you down, you’ll uncover the joy that is your right–and birthright–that’s within you at all times.      

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Lightening Your Load

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

Two historical events occurred this weekend on opposite coasts. Chelsea Clinton got married in New York, celebrating with  more than 300 guests. Meanwhile, a few thousand miles to the left, more than 8,000 yogis celebrated yoga, rock and roll and dance at the Wanderlust Festival at Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe, California. I attended the latter.   My Wanderlust journey began with Annie Carpenter’s 8am class Thursday morning. Smiling volunteers welcomed us to the first class of the festival. Next up on the line-up was Shiva Rea with live DJ Bom Siva and the Mayapuris, who lead us into an ecstatic dance and yoga practice as an informal opening ritual to the festival. We raised the vibration to the level Shiva and co-founder Jeff Krasno (other co-founder Schuyler Grant) dreamed up over 2 years ago while lounging on the terrace of Shiva’s Malibu home. The celebration continued into the afternoon, where Shiva hosted a sold out river rafting party with live music. As we lazily drifted down river in the summer sun,  we soaked in Mayapuri’s kirtan and Steve Gold’s rhythm and blues melodies.   This uniquely epic experience raised the collective conscious vibration of the planet with it’s diverse line up of world renowned yoga teachers and musicians raising awareness of sacred activism including a Yoga Aid event that spilled off the yoga floor onto the hot tarmac; funds were raised for Seane Corn’s Yoga Off the Mat; Baron Baptiste and Paige Elenson’s Africa Project; Shiva Rea’s Global Mala Project; Brock Cahill’s Kurmalliance (Rescuing Turtles from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill). Moby’s Speakeasy talk, “May All Beings Be Free of Suffering: Why I Am a Vegan,” moderated by Kaitlin Quistgaard editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal , was also an event to remember.   Celebrity sightings included world-class sport climbing champion Chris Sharma and Nick Rosen from the Enlighten Up! documentary.  And “non-celebrity yoga celebrity,” John Friend made a surprise appearance on Saturday afternoon, days after The Yoga Mogul appeared in the New York Times , stepping off Beaver Theodosakis’ private Prana plane in time to participate in the Yoga Aid event taught by Seane Corn, Baron Baptiste and Shiva Rea. Ecstatic dance parties included (music headliner) Moby’s epic Friday night performance, a breakout dance session in front of the Natural High booth during Base Nectar’s Saturday night performance (which almost burst open the fences with record attendance), and literally climaxing (a t 8,200 feet) on Sunday afternoon at the pool at High Camp, the ultimate chill-out zone where relaxing yogis and families made way for DJ Dragonfly’s spinning extravaganza. What a weekend!   For more information, go to www.wanderlustfestival.com .    Twee Merrigan is senior teacher trainer of Prana Flow and a sacred activist traveling through America this August to raise funds for the Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up on her Butterfly Effect Tour. Wanderlust was a stop on the Tour to raise awareness and inspire sacred activism.

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Wanderlust Wows with Music, Dance and Yoga

Remember when Ogden took over at Yoga Journal ? So-Cal yogis with a light sense of humor still have time to  catch the internet sensation series, The Inappropriate Yoga Guy on the big screen tonight! Here’s the details: Tuesday, August 3rd at 5pm Laemmle Sunset 5  8000 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046 Head over there tonight and check out the five short episodes from when Ogden visited Yoga Journal here .

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Inappropriate Yoga Guy Heads for the Big Screen!

My mother and I were at the same family gathering on the weekend. Which is not a big deal if you come from someone else’s family, but my mom and I only see each other once a year or so. And that’s a huge improvement after two decades of down right difficult, then jaw-clenchingly tense, and now tentatively willing relationship. (There’s a mouthful.) She looks beautiful. One bionic hip, and two hearing aids (which she’d forgotten at home), but a soft, gentle face and a kind of high, croaky, older woman’s voice. Once planted on the couch, she stayed put. I brought lunch to her while she watched her kids mingle and her grandkids fling themselves around the room with my dog. She did yoga when I was a kid. That was my introduction to yoga, to meditation, to the whole idea of looking inward as a form of health care. It astounds me, writing this, when I consider how central this looking inward is to everything I believe now. It is the core of my work in health care, in theatre, in parenting, and in all relationships. My mother doesn’t do yoga any more.  She can’t get down to a floor and has no local chair yoga classes. More than that, she’s lost the oomph it would take to do yoga at home. When we talk about it, she says, never, never stop doing yoga. It was the best thing ever, she says. People make their own choices. I know this. And yet, if I had one wish today, it’d be that my mom could still do yoga. Or that somehow, I could do it for her, while holding her closer and closer to this croaky heart of mine, which, I hope, is growing more flexible over time. Is there anyone you’d love to hold during your practice? Thanks to yoga for looking inward, to my mom (love, love, love), and to you for the conversation.

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Holding my Mother

As yogis, we all struggle to keep our practice consistent. We get distracted by life and make excuses to skip one day, then the next, and pretty soon we find ourselves making a lasting indent into the couch–we are too defeated for that one down-ward dog that could turn it all around. It seems like perfectionists catch the worst of this cycle. We like to feel like we are “being good,” “making progress,” and “on track.” Self-proclaimed perfectionist and yogi blogger Daniela Velázquez at TBO.com says “Yoga helps me cope with much of that fretting – until I stop practicing. Then all of the anxiety creeps back and makes me want to crawl in bed instead of working it out on my mat.” And she’s not the only one who struggles with this all-or-nothing mantra in her yoga practice and exercise routine. “‘It makes it hard for people to stay motivated – they have to be perfect in their diet plan and/or exercise plan,’ behavioral psychologist Dean Anderson says. ‘When they inevitably aren’t, they start getting down on themselves. They figure they’re never going to do it,’ says Anderson, who writes for the weight-loss website SparkPeople.com under the pen name Coach Dean. ” Velázquez  says ” Lately, I have learned to let the problem remain what it is and nothing more. Eating a cookie or skipping class is simply that – not an excuse to send myself over the edge. That’s what I have always loved about yoga. Sure, I geek out when I do something I couldn’t before, like my first on-the-wall handstand a few weeks ago. But the emphasis for me has always been on the journey of the practice and the progress I have made to become a happier, more whole person. Once you’re able to do something new (like a handstand), there’s always a slightly more complicated pose to work on (a one-handed handstand). And with more than 1,000 poses in yoga’s repertoire, you won’t ever be able to master them all. And that’s OK. Because each time you practice, you gain a little more wisdom about yourself and the world. It’s about the process of changing, not about each individual event. Perfectionists focus on the outcome, and if they don’t get a perfect outcome their motivation collapses. ” Next time, start with reminding yourself that you are inherently full or whole–lacking in no way. Then press on to practice with willful intention and non-concern for results and see if it feels different. Erin Chalfant is a writer, yoga teacher and the Web Editor at Yoga Journal.

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Yoga for Perfectionists

Last week I took Lucien to swim camp. Now, “swim camp” when you’re two involves getting into the water with your parent or caregiver and practicing the most basic skills like kicking and blowing bubbles into the water. I wasn’t exactly dropping him off for sleep away camp. But, on the first day, my guy was terrified of getting in the water, even though we swim together in one of the public outdoor pools in Vancouver. He refused to go in. Lucien’s fear and resistance reminded me of how I feel when I’m in yoga class and it’s time for backbends, specifically Urdhva Danurasana. Give me a chair backbend or an Ustrasana and I’m happy, but when it comes time for wheel, I have a hard time not heading for a bathroom break. But when, despite my urge to flee, I force myself to stay and work through the tightness in my upper back and shoulders and the voice in my head saying “No! I’m scared. I don’t want to do that pose!” I end up feeling a sense of freedom and elation that only come from breaking through a mental or physical block. Back at the swimming pool, it was seriously touch-and-go for a few minutes (major crying and “No, I am NOT a fish!” on Lucien’s part, and some serious cajoling–um, make that supportive encouragement–on mine).  Eventually we made it into the water. As you can imagine, Lucien loved it once he was in. The water felt great on a hot day, and the songs and games his teacher used to encourage comfort and familiarity with the water worked like a charm.  By Friday morning, the fifth and last class of the “camp” session, Lucien refused to get out of the water! All in all a huge success.   Sometimes, you have to force yourself to stretch. Which pose makes you say “No, I’m scared!”?     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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Swim Camp

In a recent Anatomy of Yoga class with Leslie Kaminoff, we watched a video that I’ll never forget. And hopefully, neither will you. And, trust me, this all has a heck of a lot to do with your yoga practice! It features anatomist Gil Hedley explaining The Fuzz. You can watch it yourself, but be aware that it shows him working with a cadaver. Yet it’s such an important piece of knowledge that I’d like to define this incredible concept for you, and you can choose to view it or not and still take it forward into your daily life. Each night while we sleep, or any time we’re still for long periods, like sitting in a car on a long road trip, our body begins to build collagen fibers. They look a little like cotton candy, and are just as sticky, causing friction between what should be smoothly sliding muscle surfaces. The end result is the stiffness you might feel in the morning getting out of bed or standing up after watching a three-hour movie. Now, this is usually no big deal for those of us with a consistent movement practice. We feel creaky, we do yoga, we’re good. But if you don’t lubricate your joints and move your muscles to break up the fuzz regularly enough, it begins to knit together. Over time, the normal, subtle stiffness becomes limited movement, and even pain as the spider-webbed, bound body tries to move against resistance. Instead of confronting the fuzz, to avoid discomfort, many people simply move less. It becomes a vicious cycle that we often chock up to aging, but really is a cumulative, and mostly avoidable, buildup of fuzz. Now, that’s not to say that all physical slowdown is due to the fuzz, and if we simply stretch more, we will never feel the effects of age. But there is much more we can do to keep our bodies–and therefore our minds–as open, vital, and free as possible. This parallels the yoga teaching about samskaras , the mental and emotional patterns that make up our conditioning. Samskara is a neutral word, indicating simply the actions we take that lead to certain results, but our habits can lead to either constructive or destructive outcomes, depending on our goals. The yogi seeks to strengthen those positive habits that maintain the full range of spiritual motion, and, importantly, dissolve the ones that have become diminishing and threaten to hold us back from reaching our potential of living from love, light, and joy. It’s exciting to see science finding that the same lessons apply to our actual body as well. In fact, I see the two as interconnected, since continual mental and emotional stress, for example, leads almost unerringly to muscle tension, which is a direct physical manifestation of the samskara of anxiety or fear. This is the mind-body connection the yogis have known about for centuries, and though sometimes yoga philosophy can get pretty obtuse, much of it can be translated into the real world as simply as you want to make it. That’s nice to know when you’re looking for tools you can apply today, right this moment, that can help you release what doesn’t serve you, and keep, even amplify, the things that do. Yoga doesn’t have to be confusing. It’s the art of living in balance, and taking actions that fuel your happiness, whatever that means for you. From there, you’ll be inspired to offer some of that goodness to the world through your creative self-expression, and with a burning desire to help those who are still suffering. This is the road map the samskaras offer us: What kind of a life are you carving out through your choices? Is it shaping up as you’d like? If not, then start chipping away at another way of being until it more closely resembles your heart. The next time you’re on the mat, or doing a few Sun Salutes just out of bed, you are not only solidifying healthy habits, you’re creating the potential for new ones to take root in your life in so many ways. Here’s a great all-in-one pose for dissolving restrictive samskaras, and, with them, the fuzz. Do it in the morning just after you get out of bed, and you’ll greet your whole day with more resiliency, flexibility, and freedom from all sorts of fuzz. Core Pose: Low Lunge with Cat/Cow Variation Come into a Low Lunge position with your right foot forward. Your front knee is stacked over the heel, not out in front of it, to avoid knee pressure. The back knee stretches comfortably behind the hip, not directly under it. The front foot and back knee are hip-distance, or about two fists-width apart. Keep your hands on the floor, framing your front foot at first. Take a moment to back off the hips, since you don’t want to sink too far into this pose. This can cause you to overstretch the connective tissue. Instead, lift out of the pose a bit until you can ground the foot and knee, draw in the low belly, and bring your torso upright, hands onto the knee or thigh. You should now feel a stretch in the center of your muscles, not in the back hip crease and front sitting bone only. Your legs are also working to maintain the buoyancy of the pose. Inhale, carve your tailbone long, and arch your spine. Keep the back of your neck long, and lift the chest sky-high. As you do this move, pull your shoulders back and slide your shoulder blades closer. Exhale and round your back. Remember to keep the length in your lower back and roll more through the upper back and shoulder area. Gently lower your chin for a mindful neck stretch. This pose is meant to lift through the back of your heart and spread the shoulder blades wider apart than it is to press out your lower back curve. So although you will activate the low belly fully on your exhalation, lift it in and up towards the chest, rather than squeezing it back towards the spine only. Repeat the spinal motion with your breath for 5-10 rounds, then return to a Down Dog or Child’s Pose, and repeat on the left side.

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Fuzz Buster

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!

Feeling a little burnt out on your yoga practice? How about a little inspiration for your practice from a few of the greats? Check out Krisnamacharya’s totally zen moving Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)! And from Mr. Iyengar himself: Who, or what, inspires your practice?

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Old School Yoga

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

Testing Food Blog

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Testing Food Blog

testing top five tuesday

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Testing Top Five Tuesday

You know your child is a yogi in training when: 1. He knows what a neti pot is and can explain how to use it and why. 2. She sings along to Krisha Das and Wah! 3. Not only can he do cobbler’s pose, he calls the pose by its Sanskrit name and prefers if you do, too. 4. When he wears his Ganesh T-shirt, he wants to “sing the song about Ganesh.” 5. He is MUCH more excited about the Babar yoga book than Toy Story 3. 6. Favorite foods include: avocado, peaches, quinoa pasta, steel cut  oatmeal, kale, and hemp milk. 7. The stuffed animals in your house play yoga rather than war. 8. He drinks chamomile tea in a sippy cup. 9. She gets really, really happy when she hears Mama’s off to yoga class. 10. He — see photo above — does a chair back bend off his high chair in the morning just because. How do you know your child is a yogi? 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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Ten Ways You Know Your Child is a Yogi

Although I’m a yogi living in beautiful British Columbia, on stressed out hectic days, it doesn’t take much for me to veer into my frazzled New Yorker mode. But lately, thanks to the (finally) beautiful Vancouver summer weather, the aftereffects of my recent yoga retreat, my reduced work load – no university writing classes this summer to teach, no short turn around freelance assignments – I’m feeling much more mellow than usual.  My to do list no longer feels so pressing or urgent, nor does the laundry pile.  Because our morning day care only runs during the school year, Lucien is home for the summer and I’m in 24/7 mom mode. In some ways it’s easier having him home and on a more flexible schedule with no rush out the door in the morning. We can swim down by the beach or go to the playground or library, all to our hearts’ content. Even the usual challenges of mothering feel easier these days. If Lucien skips his afternoon nap, then we go outside in the sunshine and play.  If my babysitter’s alarm clock fails to go off on the one morning I have a few hours slotted for writing, then Lucien and I hang out on the front stoop for an unexpected unscheduled hour of just being together.  If my husband goes on a four day long weekend trip to Sweden for work, well then I’ll tame my inner cheapskate (or try to) and hire aforementioned beloved babysitter so that I can go to a Saturday afternoon yoga class and a Sunday morning movie, too.  Feeling this way is worth it.  My relaxation is having an effect on all of us.  When I feel calm and centered, Neil’s less stressed (despite his crazy work deadlines), and Lucien seems happier and more easygoing, too.  He sings around the house all day long.  When I’m anxious and overworked  – thinking back to the days when I was frantically juggling teaching, meeting a book deadline and caring for a nursing baby – everyone felt that, too.  My new goal for this coming year is to see if I can be in the “real” world (balancing work and motherhood) but keep an easier, lighter yogi-summery attitude.   Yoga is a gentle reminder to come back to this calm center. Please someone, next winter when it’s cold and rainy and I have a writing deadline to meet and a virus is going around, remind me to take a deep breath and remember this summertime mellow-as-can-be feeling with the kitchen door open and the sunshine coming in. 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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Summertime Zen

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

I think yoga is a sport, just like the World Cup. Hear me out. Tuesday was one of those days. I love yoga, love my home practice, love class, but there are some days, some weeks, even, when it all goes off the rails.   This is one of those weeks. I’ve been in hotels two weekends in a row, I’ve seen my share of drive-through windows over those weekends, and my hotel practice has been less thorough than my home practice. I’ve been away so much that my dog rolls her eyes when I come home. The result is that my body and spirit are tired, chunky, and unsociable.   It took Olympian determination to get myself to yoga class on Tuesday. It was touch-and-go all morning. I kept thinking, “I can go home for a break, I can eat, I can read, I can get some work done, I can sit here and stare out the window for an hour.” Most of these options looked much more appealing than going to class. (It’s possible some of you never feel this way. I am determined to like you anyway.) By the grace of Whatever, I get changed, get in my car, and drive to the studio. I lie down, and almost immediately I could cry, I am so happy. Class starts. My left hamstrings have shrunk considerably over the weekend, somehow, I have NO balance, my thighs and rear end burst at the inadequate seams of my formerly roomy yoga pants, and still there is no place I’d rather be. This is where the World Cup comes in.   When we go to class on these days, I think our teachers should welcome us at the door with big, glossy medals. “Would you like a medal today?”  “Yes,” I’d say. “Bronze, silver or gold?” “Are you joking? Do you have any idea how far I’ve come today?The French fries and pizza I have overcome, the hotel coffee, the hours in the car, the dog’s face, and lethargy the size of an oil spill? Give me the gold, absolutely. I am the champion of the world today.” There are days when we should all have medals around our necks. Thanks to yoga for making me show up, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, writer, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. KristinShepherd.

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Champion Yogis