stretching, science, & the wisdom of ‘boring’ yoga asana sequencing
In the last few years, it’s come to light that static stretching isn’t a great thing before activities requiring muscle power. Most recently the New York Times reported researchers have discovered stretching is bad. The article mentions only once that static stretching, as opposed to dynamic stretching, is problematic. The rest of the article states [...]
the thing about gurus: a kumaré review
Gurus have always been problem for me, perhaps my biggest in the yoga and meditation worlds. Though perhaps it’s the strange and often appropriated spirituality that bothers me, and gurus are an offshoot of that. The reason I’ve left most sanghas (communities) is because there comes a point that if you aren’t into the guru, [...]
yoga & film: kumaré & five ways
Hey, Art & Yoga people: Purva’s Kumaré opens this week at IFC, screening on Wednesday and Thursday. I first saw Purva in East is East at MTC in 1999. Seven (?) years later she showed up in my yoga classes, and is still a Sunshine fan. The documentary is getting lots of great press and [...]
sexytime with william broad
Oh dear. I somehow managed to ignore most of the uproar over William Broad’s “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” in the NYT. I didn’t really get his point, as it seems like a no-brainer. You can hurt yourself doing any physical activity, and that’s why you’re selective about what yoga you do and classes [...]
is bikram bad?
This is pretty hilarious, from “My Itchy Third Eye”: A YogaDawg Quiz– Who Said It (Bikram Choudhury or Charlie Sheen)? INSTRUCTIONS: Place a B or a C in each set of quotes. When completed click on the link above to find out how you did. 1. They lay down with their ugly wives in front [...]
stone age mind in a digital world
I didn’t intend to go on about Jon Kabat-Zinn, but while folding—okay, refolding—my laundry, I listened to the On Being Jon Kabat-Zinn show. He is just gorgeous, and if you have any interest in meditation, your mind, or your humanity, you need to listen to this. And it seems that some of you do, because [...]
more yoga in the news::slim calm sexy spirit
Jon Kabat-Zinn is going to be featured On Being this weekend. I imagine you can listen here after it airs, or just check out where it airs in your area. In NYC it’s on WNYC-AM 820, Saturday at 3:00pm and WNYC-FM 93.9, Sunday at 7:00am & 10:00pm. The site has a number of excellent resources listed, [...]
innerspace
Stay present this holiday season. :) I’m posting a bit from insideowl, because I think it speaks to the intellectuals among you. Sometimes, it is a lot: to ask intellectual people, people of the screen, to go in to the gross body. To ask them to redirect their valuable awareness to something that’s been the limiting [...]
mental exercise, physical exercise :: yoga and martial arts
This is a quick break from “yoga and weight loss,” which I’ll continue next week. I’m changing gears because Shaolin Kung Fu is popping up everywhere I turn. And it begs a question I can’t answer myself, because I’m too close to the subject: Are people in the West aware that yoga is a mental [...]
yoga roundup~yoga in the news
Yoga Breeze, Yakuin Studio, Fukuoka, Japan. Photo: ©Govinda Kai Often I mention articles in class that, if not about yoga, are yogic in nature. Yoga, we know, is everywhere. More and more frequently scientists and other “experts” are coming around to what strikes me as common sense. But if you’ve lost touch with common sense [...]
