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Monday, July 07, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Practice Transcends Boundaries
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 The politics of geographical boundaries are incredibly complicated, and engulfed in years and sometimes generations of dispute. Here in the US, the illegal immigration of Mexicans across the borders in California and Texas remains high on the political agenda, but the issues and conflicts it inspires remain unresolved. But, on the afternoon of Sunday June 22, a group from San Diego called The Border Meetup sought not to divide the two nations but to find the gift of unity through yoga. |
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Toys
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I’ve avoided writing about the Wii Fit yoga videogame and yoga action figures, as making the practice of yoga into a form of amusement rubs me the wrong way. Yes, it does expose a whole different section of the population to the physical experience of yoga asana, but does it support the growth of yoga’s authenticity, or reduce it to a cellophane wrapped novelty item to be sold in a decade at the neighborhood yard sale? |
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Monday, June 30, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga Lesson: Awareness
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Awareness (samvedana) is an essential practice in yoga. Conscious attention to detail is important while practicing yoga poses to create proper alignment and to prevent injury. And cultivating moment-to-moment awareness on and off our yoga mats removes unconscious patterns of movement and thought, illuminates our physical, mental and emotional states and gives us the gratitude and appreciation for the small miracles and simple blessings in our everyday lives. |
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Baba Ramdev - Guru or Fraudster?
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The notion of an Indian guru brings to mind a romanticized vision of an enlightened, otherworldly being swathed in ocher orange robes and followed by hordes of devotees. It is not a “profession” that we give much credence to in today’s world, especially in the West where the concept of an enlightened being guiding and teaching thousands of followers is often viewed as bizarre and cultish. In the classical Indian view, a guru is an enlightened being who guides others to their own self-realization; a concept that is questioned each time it has entered our Western world. So it’s no surprise that as Indian teacher Baba Ramdev is making headlines as a modern day guru, his claims of healing incurable diseases and foretelling the future are causing some to question his authenticity. |
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Saturday, June 21, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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A.M. Yoga for Your Week
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 Yoga-star Rodney Yee’s new DVD gives us no excuses for not waking up and doing yoga every morning. You won’t get bored as the DVD contains five different yoga sessions, allowing you to choose from standing poses, twists, backbends, forward bends or hip opening poses. You can easily fit yoga into your busy day with each practice being only 20-minutes long, and unlike other 20-minute yoga videos, these sessions all end with a proper shavasana/relaxation pose. |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Shortage of Advanced Yoga Classes
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Given all of the billions of yoga students in the world today, it would seem that there are as many levels of yoga classes to choose from as there are brands of yoga clothing. A recent article in the New York Times sites that the opposite is proving to be true. As the number of people exploring yoga soars to its greatest heights ever, those who are looking to advance to the deeper stages of practice are finding themselves stranded on the tarmac of beginning level classes. |
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Saturday, June 14, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Incense Activates Brain Functions
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An international team of scientists have discovered that the ancient practice of burning frankincense activates nerve circuits and specific areas of the brain. Frankincense is extracted from the resin of the Boswellia tree, and these researchers used an constitute of the resin called incensole acetate in this study. “They found that the compound significantly affected areas in brain areas known to be involved in emotions as well as in nerve circuits that are affected by current anxiety and depression drugs.” Now before you rush out and buy a bunch of frankincense incense, consider the sobering news that Boswellia trees are being over-tapped, disrupting their ability to reproduce new trees, and potentially threatening the future production of frankincense. |
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Friday, June 06, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Storms Can’t Hurt the Sky
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 Often it is not the information contained in a book that draws us to it, but the context in which it is presented. The Buddhist teachings and practices that Gabriel Cohen presents are not new, he is himself a novice Buddhist practitioner, but they are framed in the space of a man in the midst of a heartbreaking end of a relationship that he believed would last forever. Through the clarity and insight of Buddhist meditation and teachings, he was able to steer through the turbulent waters of ending a relationship and in the process recognize his own strength and compassion. |
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Saturday, May 31, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga Lesson: Intention
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Creating a sankalpa (intention or prayer) at the beginning of your yoga practice can bring a deeper focus and power, especially if this intention remains active throughout the practice. We can also create individual sankalphas for specific yoga poses to help guide us deeper into the individual postures. An effective sankalpa is a short, positive, and precise statement about what you wish to attain for yourself and/or for the benefit of all. |
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Friday, May 30, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Om Guitar
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 This exceptionally soothing, calming and uplifting Cd by the accomplished composer/musician Stevin McNamara is a journey into the Classical music of Northern India using Western harmonies and instruments (primarily the nylon-string guitar). Using the Indian form and function of the raga, these compositions invoke strong moods of peace, longing and joy, while retaining an Indian flavor with the use of sitar, tamboura, tabla, dholak and bells. |
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Does Yoga Lead to Possession?
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In the wee hours of the morning while my kids are sleeping, I found an article about a recently released book claiming that practicing Yoga and reading horoscopes can lead to possession by the devil. Oh no, I’m doomed. So here I am, serious yoga practitioner, getting totally freaked out at 3 a.m.! It doesn’t scare me that I practice yoga, or that I indulge in my horoscope from time to time, what creeps me out is the viewpoint that would consider this practice satanic and immoral. |
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Monday, May 19, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga and Money Management
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In the beginning, our yoga mat is a place where we come with our wants and perceived needs -- to be more flexible, less stressed, and to become more healthy. But the fulfillment of these wants and needs are not what keeps an experienced yogi coming back to the mat, rather it is the cultivation of inner peace, joy, harmony and balance that turns our yoga practice into a lifelong discipline. Fellow yogi, Brent Kessel has discovered that this same insight can be applied to they way we manage our money in his new book, It's Not About the Money: Unlock Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance. |
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga in the Olympics?
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As yoga continues to grow more “mainstream,” teachers and practitioners struggle to uphold the practice as a path to self-realization and fulfillment. The plethora of approaches and styles definitely poses a challenge to the deeper, more spiritual side of yoga. And as the student demographic expands, the practice is becoming more susceptible to the pitfalls of modernization. Now as the India vies for a shot at Olympic mania in 2020, some yoga teachers and practitioners are hoping to add yoga to the Olympian line up in a controversial move that will take the practice of yoga out of self-exploration and into the territory of sport. |
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Monday, May 05, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Eighty Four Asanas in Yoga
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 This fascinating and scholarly exploration of the history of hatha yoga and it’s asanas (postures) explores the modern belief that the poses derive from an ancient and original set of eighty-four asanas. Buhnemann traces and documents the traditional sets of 84 classical yoga postures by examining original materials, including drawings, descriptions in older Indic texts and modern publications and finds conflicting lists of poses with the oldest dating from the 17th century. |
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Monday, April 28, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Gathering In The Light
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 This heavenly combination of chant-master Krishna Das’s deep soulful singing with the haunting and enchanting overtone singing of Baird Hersey and Prana is a must have for all Krishna Das fans. This is also a wonderful chant CD to play during a yoga class or practice, with its slow to medium tempos and atmospheric drones of overtone singing. |
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Friday, April 25, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Is it Yoga?
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 I don’t think it’s a big secret that my passion is yoga. The asana, the pranayama, the meditation, the focus, the self discovery, the divine connection, I eat it up. My view of what yoga actually is comes from study and practice, and it’s mostly a classical one. So when I was checking out the latest yoga news, I ran across a rather different approach to yoga that intrigued me. YogaSlackers are a group of yoga practitioners who practice their asanas not on a mat, but suspended on a piece of 1” flat, stretchy tubular webbing (like rock climbers use) tensioned between two anchor points above the ground. |
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Monday, April 21, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Green Yoga is Growing
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In an effort to bridge the gap between yoga and the environment, the Telluride Yoga Festival is committing to eco-consciousness, and leading by example of how to bring the teachings of yoga and the principles of sustainability together. The festival is inspired by a desire to redefine the relationship between the yogic community and the environment, and the creators are committed to honoring the principles that guide the practice and applying them to the relationship with the world. Telluride Yoga Festival aspires to be a zero waste event by eliminating the generation of excess waste and reusing, recycling and composting at every opportunity. |
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Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga Lesson: Contentment
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One of the five niyamas (internal observances) of Patanjali's yoga sutras, contentment is considered an essential and fundamental yogic practice. Samtosha (contentment) can be practiced while holding yoga poses by letting go of the desire to attain the perfect looking pose, and to accept the experience of the pose as it is without wanting to change it. |
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Monday, April 14, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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What’s Your Yoga Love Story?
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Yogini and author Anne Cushman is running a contest on her website to tie in with her new book Enlightenment of Idiots. In a nutshell, her book tells the classic quest for enlightenment through a fun, adventurous and dysfunctional yoga romance, and she is now inviting others to tell their own yoga romance story. All stories will be posted anonymously and be eligible to win a $100 gift certificate and anyone who submits a story will receive a free downloadable PDF of Enlightenment for Idiots. Check out the contest page to submit or just read the submitted stories and vote for your favorite. |
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Sunday, April 06, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga for Arthritis
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 This excellent book covers the therapeutic applications of yoga for all types of arthritic conditions. The excellent overview of the pathology of arthritis, and the brief introduction to the therapeutic benefits of yoga, sets the foundation for the rest of the book, which is organized primarily by the effected joint. Each joint is addressed in detail with a list of poses that activate and benefit the joint, and each chapter ends with a table summarizing the poses intensity and actions on the joint. Many of the yoga poses utilize modifications with props (primarily chairs and straps) and have two stages to work with to suit all levels of ability. |
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Friday, March 28, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Helps Breast Cancer Survivors
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For those women who have battled and survived breast cancer, the path of recovery is far from over. Breast cancer survivors can experience ongoing effects from the treatments as well as the time they spent with the disease. Treatments can cause menopausal symptoms, infertility, osteoporosis, and ongoing issues with body image, anxiety, and depression. Now there is new evidence available that shows a sustained practice of yoga can ease hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors. |
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Sunday, March 23, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Power to the Peaceful Yoga
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 Musician, activist and filmmaker Michael Franti shares his love for yoga with the intention of cultivating inner peace and spiritual activism. Jivamukti founders David Life and Sharon Gannon instruct this intermediate/advanced class with Michael as their student against a backdrop of band instruments and a soundtrack of Michael’s music. The most inspiring sections of this DVD are Michael’s introduction and testimonial and the 20 minute group discussion on how yoga philosophy and practice lead to creating peace in the world. |
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Monday, March 17, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Breath Awareness
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The breath is our link from the external to the internal, from the unconscious to the conscious. When we connect, control and regulate the breath we can consciously effect the body, mind and spirit. Our goal in this yoga lesson is to cultivate greater awareness of breath in the yoga poses, as well as in our daily life. |
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga Sequences completed
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Just a quick update on our continuing work to transfer the premium yoga content to the new site. We have completed the transfer of the entire Yoga Sequences section and have made some improvements and refinements while transferring the contents over. |
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Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Taranga by Prem Joshua
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 Multi-instrumentalist Prem Joshua has created an evocative yet high energy Cd in the essence of the Sanskrit word Taranga: colorful waves of joy and enthusiasm. Moving away from his more recent electronica-world fusion recordings, Prem Joshua’s focus is on natural, acoustic soundscapes using traditional Indian instruments and vocals. |
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Yoga has long been sought after for physical benefits. It increases flexibility, strength and overall health. It also supports mental focus and fortitude. So, it’s no surprise that a number of athletes are using the practice to support and maintain their performance. But what is surprising is how many athletes are crediting yoga to their success and triumph in professional sports. |
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Monday, March 03, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Yoga as Medicine
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 While several books have been written on the subject of yoga therapy, this is the first that attempts to explain how and why yoga works as a therapeutic tool to heal disease. Western-trained internist and medical editor of Yoga Journal, Timothy McCall M.D., provides an excellent overview of the use of yoga as medicine and the practice of yoga in the first 2 parts of this in-depth book. The book’s third part, Yoga Therapy in Action, contains the most important content to the reader, with twenty chapters devoted to a large array of common medical conditions. |
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Thursday, February 28, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga in 2008 and Beyond
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Yoga Journal has just released the results from their latest market study on yoga in America. The study includes numerous components from consumer spending to why people are practicing yoga, and provides some insight on the trends in yoga today. |
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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The Practice of Yoga in Action
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 Karma Yoga is the premise of the Bhagavad Gita: action without thought or need of reward. Many yogis today are finding that their practice of Yoga is being pulled off the mat and into the world, and for most, it’s manifesting as selfless service to others. Bringing yoga to those who need it most is a dream for most of us who love the practice, and now many are putting that Karma Yoga dream into action. |
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Thursday, February 21, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Element: Yoga for Beginners
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 Yoga for Beginners is a great DVD for those who are looking to start a yoga practice while being challenged and engaged. This DVD practice starts out slow and gentle with a pranayama (breathing) practice and an excellent series of warm-up movements. Once the body is warmed and energized, the practice moves into more challenging standing poses, and then ends with a good mix of floor poses and a final relaxation. |
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Keen on Getting Close
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 Only weeks before I’m scheduled to co-teach a partner yoga workshop, I receive a link entitled, Why I hate partner yoga. The irony did not go unnoticed.
To be honest, I haven’t practiced that much partner yoga, and taught even less. But, when my friend approached me about teaming up for a workshop, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more. First, I do not have an aversion to sweat. I am a vinyasa teacher and practitioner, and sweat is part of the process. For the most part, I like people, and I love to share yoga, so we were off to a great start. And the stroke of luck that sealed the deal was that my partner for the workshop was well versed in the workings of this practice. |
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