Om Shanti: A Yoga Blog

This timely article addresses the very real risk of injury from yoga, even for the seasoned practitioner.

(One woman experienced a life-threatening stroke as a result of doing Fish Pose!)

Here’s a great blog/website with lots of delicious vegan recipes: http://www.fatfreevegan.com/

The vegan pepperoni is superb.

Famed NYC-based yogini Cyndi Lee has released another “Om Yoga Mix” CD. I’ve given the collection a thorough listen, and overall I’m quite happy with it. There’s an interesting and eclectic mix of different artists and styles on this CD, and (for the most part) there aren’t any of those cheesy New Age songs you tend to find on these kinds of mixes.

I especially enjoyed the following tracks:

1. Gentle Voice - Michael Hewett

4. Freeze (Yoga Mix) - Kodomo

6. Tulong - The Beyman Bros

8. Swadisthana - Vive

9. Kiss of Bliss - Steve Gorn & Jamie Lawerence

The real highlight of the CD, in my opinion, is track 7, “Hasret”, by Omar Faruk Tekbilek.

Also, if you’re a Krishna Das fan, there are two KD song’s on here for your listening pleasure.

My one complaint about the CD is that it doesn’t make for a good mix from beginning to end–i.e. the CD lacks a smooth arc that would coincide nicely with the ebbs and flows of a yoga class or self-practice session. Nevertheless, I’ll probably pick a few songs off the CD and throw them into my own yoga mixes, but I don’t think that “Om Yoga Mix 2″ is the kind of CD you can just throw and on let play from start to finish, at least not for a yoga class.

Overall: B+ Good CD for background music in a studio or relaxing at home; several good songs, potentially, to thrown on a mix for yoga class or self-practice.

Sometimes it’s fun to throw in a handstand here and there in the flow. Not only is it fun, but it’s also a great way to build/maintain heat. A particularly challenging way of jumping into handstand is with straight legs, pausing in “L”-pose, and then lifting the legs up to the sky.

In this video, I demonstrate what is sometimes called “piking into handstand” (borrowing a term from swimming and gymnastics). The steps are simple; the execution, not so simple. I do not recommend this transition to anyone who cannot comfortably hold handstand away from the wall for at least 30-seconds, or to anyone who has lower back and/or core strength issues. As always, this video is for demonstration purposes only, and if you have any interest in learning how to actually do it, seek out an experienced and qualified yoga teacher who can give you hands-on instruction.

Disclaimer: I am not a certified yoga instructor, and the ideas and opinions expressed here are not intended to be formal instruction on yoga poses. If you plan to start up a yoga practice, or if you have one and plan to do any of the yoga poses described in this blog, please seek out an experienced, living, breathing yoga teacher to guide you with hands-on instruction.

I’m returning to Bloomington, Indiana, this fall. Barring any wild occurrences, I will resume teaching classes at Bloomington Power Yoga. Kelly, Susan, and Rusty will continue teaching as well. We have some exciting new developments in the works, including a new schedule, possibly some new classes, and special offerings for yoga beginners and yoga veterans.

The fall schedule should be up sometime in August.

A recent post entitled “Where Are All the Hard Yoga Classes?” has generated a lot of interesting and lively discussion on this blog. Much thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts. I’m seeing a range of opinions being expressed, and this certainly reflects the many different experiences we all have with yoga, and our different attitudes about and conceptions of yoga.

An important and recurring question has arisen from the discussion, and I’d like to take a few moments today to address it. The question is this: Exactly what constitutes an “advanced yoga class”? (more…)

A lot of people have been pointing out to me that their Manduka Eko mat gets very slippery when they practice Ashtanga or a sweaty Vinyasa Flow class. I’ve had students and readers of this blog say to me that they had high hopes for the Manduka Eko and were disappointed because they found it to be too slippery. Does this mean that the new Manduka mat is a bad mat? (more…)

Here’s an interesting article in the LA Times about how some people are cutting out yoga classes (which can be really expensive) and gym memberships during these difficult economic times. As prices at the gas station and the grocery store keep going up, up up, people are finding that they have much less disposable income, and one result seems to be that yoga studios are losing quite a bit of business. (more…)

I read this interesting article today about the lack of difficult/challenging yoga classes out there for advanced practitioners. (Thanks, Eric, for sending it to me.) This was a particularly interesting read for me because I have been frequently frustrated by how hard it is to find a strong and challenging yoga class these days, even in large cities where yoga is very popular. What’s going on? You’d think with the growing popularity of yoga, there would be more, not fewer, advanced yoga classes around. (more…)

This article in the NY Times addresses an important question that may be of special interest to yogis: What is the relationship between physical fitness and muscle bulk?

The general/popular belief seems to be that bulging muscles are healthy, and that smaller muscles are less healthy. I know some anxious yogis who still lift weights (despite advice to the contrary) because they believe that doing yoga alone does not help them to “bulk up” enough. Part of this thinking is true–You in fact won’t build Incredible Hulk muscles from doing yoga. But why think this is necessarily a bad thing?

Interestingly, this article claims that “bulk does not matter” when it comes to muscle health. And there seems to be a growing body of research to support this claim. This doesn’t strike me as all that surprising, though, especially when I look at older yogis who are neither bulked up nor sculpted, but who are nonetheless very strong, agile, flexible, and who look, feel, act years younger than their actual age.