Off the Couch and Onto the Mat

This feature of mine, "Off the Couch and Onto the Mat," was just published by Conscious Enlightenment Media.

The piece looks at the influences of yoga on psychology and vice versa--how psychotherapists are using yoga techniques in their practices, as well as how more yoga teachers are getting degrees in Western psychology in order to better help their students. It's a new trend!

The piece s running in CE's 5 magazines: GAIA (NY), Conscious Choice, (Chicago & Seattle), Whole Life Times (Los Angeles), and Common Ground (San Francisco). It's the same article, but with a different sidebar for each city. (NY: there is no link yet but you can pick up the print copy at a yoga studio.)

Yoga in SF Juvenile Hall

Youth Radio sends a reporter to Juvenile Hall in San Francisco and finds teenagers, including one named "the Baddest," benefiting from yoga classes.

"The Baddest: "Most likely when you go to rec, someone is going to come at you, someone said this, someone said this."

Unlike rec, where brawls can erupt, the Baddest says yoga class provides an oasis of calm within chaotic juvenile hall."

"Rachel Getting Married" to a Yoga Beat

One of the most remarkable things about Jonathan Demme's film, "Rachel Getting Married," is the deliberate, multi-ethnic array of people who comprise the wedding party and family friends. The soundtrack not only reflects this UN-style gathering, but co-mingles and cross-pollinates world sounds as many types of musicians group for spontaneous jams over the wedding weekend.

(image: Sony Pictures Classics)

We're left to guess that Sidney, the groom, a musician, experiments with world sounds, and so his like-minded friends can't help but jam and experiment during their Connecticut weekend with the happy couple. But it wasn't completely clear why the bride and her maids decided to dress in saris.

One song on the soundtrack is titled "New York Style Yoga" (it's actually a track from Black Bombay, and---guilty as charged---I've used it in my own yoga classes) and it fits right into this scene.

It's as if we'll all know what this joyful mix means, and need no further explanation. We'll know that every marrying couple wants world musicians to make our party pump; that every bride wants yards of gold-bordered silk to frame her quasi-Indian lifestyle (a Hindi-Connecticutian?), that yoga is so known, so done, and so much a part of our lives that we don't even have to explain that most of the women at the wedding, and some of the men, (probably; we assume) practice yoga. (That might explain the saris.)

Don't you do yoga? Doesn't everyone we know? Here comes the bride, and Om Namah Shivaya.

Warrior/Maverick Pose

Yoga teacher and model, Tara Stiles, designs a Palin-specific routine for facing off terrorists, viewing Russia, hunting wolves, and handling the stressful campaigning weeks ahead.

"Be the best maverick you can be with the warrior poses."

As published in the Huffington Post. 

Ways to Bend It

The New York Times reports on some semi-recent trends in yoga classes---Acro Yoga, Aerial Yoga, and something called Core Fusion Sport. A little behind the times, but if it's in the Times, you know the trend is now at last truly visible.

Who in $$ Does Yoga?

This Huffington Post article tells us who is doing yoga in corporate America, which is interesting. Newcomers include William H. Gross, the Chief Investment Officer of Pimco, Edwin Catmull, the head of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, new anchor Katie Couric.

Still, even if their main concern is the goal and not the process, powerful people tend to seek powerful ways to keep their assets--their brains and minds--in peak condition. It's not so much of a stretch that they, too, would appreciate yoga's revitalizing tonic. We've been hearing about celebrities doing yoga since day 1 of the current yoga craze (late 90s). Now it's time to hear more from the other power brokers.

Read the article here.  

In India: Practicing Yoga, Ears Open

The writer, Kyle Jarrard, and his wife travel to a yoga ashram in Pondicherry, India, to study with Ajit who has taught yoga with extensively, passionately, in France and India for many years. The article profiles the town (and its French-named streets), its inhabitants, the ashram, and the writer's own journey.

As published in the NYTimes. 

Why *Not* to Call Yourself a Yoga Therapist

Leslie Kaminoff, New York-based yoga teacher, e-Sutra blog author, and director of The Breathing Project in Manhattan, explains why he has decided to stop calling himself a yoga therapist. His article in October's International Journal of Yoga Therapy meditates on the same topic. Instead, he will call himself a "yoga educator."

"This does not in any way mean that I intend to stop doing my job," says Kaminoff.

"In retrospect, I realize that from the moment I taught my first group âsana class until the present day, I’ve always had the same job. I’ve just been doing it more effectively by learning how to better tailor the teachings to individual needs. I used to unquestioningly assume that my education in anatomy, biomechanics, bodywork, physical rehabilitation, and philosophy granted me the right to call myself a therapist. But, in fact, it just turned me into a highly-educated Yoga teacher."

Read more here.

A 90-yr old man from Mumbai moves to Chicago

... and continues to do stunning yoga moves to the amazement of the media, and awe of his children. Read about this medication-free Indian grandpa in the Chicago Tribune.

"If someone asks me, 'How old are you?' I always say, 'I am 18 years!' " 

Some Sweet Why-I-Do-Yoga stories

Published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, these stories are refreshingly spin free. Sweet.

"I moved to Minneapolis last August from Los Angeles with my husband and kids. I was very attached to my girlfriends, and I just got really homesick and was very depressed. My next-door neighbor said, "Hey, try that yoga place down the block." "

The 311 on Yoga in LA

The LA Times reports that yoga is necessary in order to stay sane in LA. Er, I thought that applied everywhere...

But since we're on the topic, check out Joni's super cool map of where she's practiced yoga in LA. She's a trooper yogini with a cool blog, The Accidental Yogist. Check it out.

Mary Dunn dies

Highly respected, foundational, inspirational yoga teacher Mary Dunn, died of cancer at age 66 in her daughter's house in Westchester, NY.

Read the obits:

NYTimes

Yoga Journal 

Ann Arbor News 

 Mary Dunn's blog. This inspiring blog follows Mary's thoughts during the course of her illness, up to a few days before her death 

Parsing "Namaste"

A pithy, energetic, and not-too dumbed down article (I mean, c'mon, we've had 10-years of that style of yoga reporting--the, 'wow, it's really weird, but I kind of like it,' stuff) on the cultural background of Om, Hatha, and other fundamentals of yoga class. Nice to see yoga in the "grammar" section, though it's not exactly grammar. B.K.S. Iyengar does more parsing of "Om" in the intro to his classic book, Light on Yoga. It's more of a history lesson. But who's counting?

The writer, Jaimie Epstein, a Jivamukti-trained yoga teacher, former copy editor and sometime-stand-in for William Safire's "On Language" column for the NYT Magazine, says that Hatha yoga's, "present-day roots go back to the Nathas, an Orc-like breed of mercenaries in medieval India who resurrected the methods of hathayoga in the hope of developing the supernatural powers, like invisibility."

The article is a handy little primer with personality on the various styles of yoga popular right now and how they got there, and of the poses you'll find in it. "After an hour or so of pretending you’re three-cornered and sitting like a hero, you’ll get to play dead in savasana, corpse pose, which isn’t a gruesome nod to slasher movies but a way of allowing you to experience the lightness of total surrender."

Lastly, be sure to check out the line of figures in poses at the top of the article. The one third from the end seems to have aquired an extra thigh joint.

Stress Management for Types A

Using the story of Christine Cody, a publishing executive for Penguin, this Wall Street Journal story shows how yoga is not wimpy at all; in fact it can kick your butt, tame your weight, make you more successful, happier, and easier to work with. What's not to love? 

"The unpredictability that New Yorkers have to deal with is so much more manageable for me since I've begun yoga," she says. "If the F train decides to run on the G line or the A train just doesn't show up, I still have a smile on my face. I feel like I don't have the same anxiety I used to. My friends even say they love my 'awesome new yoga attitude'."

Read it here. 

Traders Breathe Deep in Tough Times

The Wall Street Journal reports that traders are working off market stress with sun salutations--either in workplace classes or after hours."

The yoga industry, shrugging off its brown-rice-eating-and-sandal-wearing image, is adapting to and courting its new, wealthy customers. Yoga retreats in places like Malibu -- which offer grueling regimens of several hours of yoga a day -- have become popular destinations for the finance crowd."

I don't know one yoga teacher who hasn't made this adaptation, or at least wanted to. 

"Catharina Hedberg owns a yoga retreat called The Ashram in the Southern California hills near Malibu and says she has seen an increase in finance types attending over the past five years. Now, about a quarter of her customers, who pay $4,250 for a one-week stay, are financiers. The retreat offers a hard-core program of 6 a.m. yoga sessions with an alcohol-free, caffeine-free vegetarian diet that she says is popular with the Wall Street crowd. "Every week you see someone from hedge funds," says Ms. Hedberg."

 Business people are no different from the rest of of us stressed out urban rats. Why does it surprise anyone that traders need to cool of with some twisting and inverting? They do tend to like the more athletic practices like ashtanga... and they can't quite bring themselves to chant OM... and they have trouble with the whole process aspect of the practice... but other than that..."

Teachers say one key principle poses an implicit challenge to Wall Streeters: Value the process of hard work rather than the rewards it brings." 

Read it here.  

All's Fair in Yoga and Business

Gawker reports that the Wall Street Journal is quoting its own--an editor who owns Triyoga, a branch of a UK-based yoga franchise--touting the benefits of yoga--at Triyoga. Circular logic benefits all... because we're all one, right?

Paean to Beach Yoga

Every time I've practiced yoga outdoors, the elements have gotten in the way: the sand shifts and hurts my wrists, the bugs prickle my skin, the sound of the ocean drowns out the instructor's voice. But on Long Island, a small and growing gathering of yogis is making it work. Read about it:

On the Beach, Yoga Poses Really Flow, NYTimes (Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey edition)    

And speaking of yoga for causes...

How about a yoga Blissfest to support a kids with HIV/AIDS summer camp?

Vancouver instructor Eoinn Finn, who enjoys legendary status locally, started Blissfest 6 years ago. In 2008, over 1,300 people signed up for the event and raised $150,000.

The event which originally started at a small venue at Kits Beach now takes place at the Thunderbird Stadium, includes live music, an eco-fashion show, yoga, and kids activities."Kids come from all over Canada because there is no other camp for kids who are affected in this way, especially one that is focused on recreation, says Hiebert, adding the kids have all their expenses paid.

"The mandate is to give kids a great fun summer camp experience," he says. "It's like, 'hey, you've got all these health issues ... you get a week off. Take a vacation from your worries.' "

Strike a Pose for a Worthy Cause, Vancouver Sun 

Off the Mat... with The Huffington Post

Off the Mat - Into the World is a program run by Sean Corne, Hala Khouri, and Suzane Sterling,  that "aims to inspire and guide you to find and define your purpose and become active in your local or global community in an effective, sustainable and joyful way."

Recently, Huffington Post columnist Verena Von Pfetten was dispatched to participate in one of OTM's 2-day workshops, this one held at the Omega Institute. Von Pfetten writes, "And so, while I began the trip thinking I was entirely out of my element and cringing at the thought of sharing my "wounds" to 30 other beautiful people, I ended it feeling like, at the very least, I was a part of something. So, when a fellow retreat-er crawled up to my mat after the three-hour ass kicking and quietly said to me, "You did really well there," I did almost (almost!) cry, but I thanked her."

Hardened journalists beware! Yoga is more than ready for you. 

Pure Yoga Hits Town and Everyone Says, "Wow!"

Here's a round-up of comments so far about Pure Yoga in NYC:

July 30, Fashion Week Daily on "the scene" at Pure YogaJuly 30, Yoga Journal blog, Valerie Reiss

July 7, New York Sun 

June 15, New York Magazine (in the shopping section, ahem)

Dec 30, 2007, New York Magazine

From blogs:A range of responses like the not so critical Om La La on June 18th, "I dont think you can do drop in classes, its membership only, but something to check out when it finally opens!  Plus if the yoga is good, $140 for unlimited yoga is pretty good!"... to Om Yoga trained teacher, Lauren Cahn,'s worry on June 13, "On another note, Pure Yoga hired two non ashtanga people to run their ashtanga program. I think this decision was made before Christopher was available. Pure made a very bad decision. I have been in touch with the people at Pure. They claim their selection of teachers is temporary and if ashtanga does not do well at Pure, they may change teachers..."...to the refreshingly blunt, Valerie Reiss writing on the Yoga Journal blog Samadhi & The City, back in January. Titled, "Pure Yoga? or Pure Insanity?" her entry reads, "The quote Equinox gave New York is incredibly telling: "we will continue to expand and pursue an aggressive yoga strategy." I will be curious to see more responses as this giant moves in.