Filed under: Yoga News
Here’s a great article (from The Economist, of all places) about that California hippie haven known as Esalen.
My favorite quote from the piece: “Whether at Esalen or not, Californians are still willing to try anything new—to do it until it hurts and to become caricatures in the process—in order to explore how far we can go as human beings. The consequences may sometimes be laughable, but somebody has to do it.”
Filed under: Yoga Stuff
This thing saved my life. Okay, not literally. But it really did help my practice out a lot. The Hugger Mugger Foam Wedge is a simple but highly effective device that has lots of handy uses. It costs about $15, and is more than worth it. (more…)
As a yoga teacher and as a student, I’ve always had mixed feelings about chanting “Om” in class. For newcomers, this chant sounds kind of funny (it’s not unusual, especially in beginners classes, to hear people snickering) and doesn’t seem to make much sense. Most teachers don’t bother explaining what the chant means or signifies, and, to be honest, I think that a great many teachers don’t know and they just chant “Om” out of habit or due to some vague notion they have about “tradition”. (more…)
Filed under: Yoga News
In my years of doing yoga, I’ve noticed that women have a far better time at backbends than most men. Of course, there are always exceptions, but, as a general rule, the ladies tend to be more “backbendy” while the guys tend to be more inversion and arm-balance happy.
This interesting article (thanks, Matt!) says a thing or two about why women might naturally have an easier time with backbends.
If you can’t open up the article, here’s an excerpt that gets at the main point:
“What they found, said Katherine K. Whitcome, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard and the lead author of the paper, was evidence that evolution had produced a stronger and more flexible lower spine for women.
After studying 19 pregnant subjects, Dr. Whitcome found that the lumbar, or lower back, curve in women extends across three vertebrae, as opposed to just two in men. And the connecting points between vertebrae are relatively larger in women and shaped differently in ways that make the stack more stable and less prone to shifting or breaking.”
-NY Times, Dec. 13, 2007 Science Supplement
Filed under: Yoga News
Check the site for all the relevant info!
Filed under: Yoga Musings
It’s easy to get hooked on a single studio, a single type of yoga, or even a single favorite teacher. I’ve literally seen students at my local studio cry when “their teacher” moves away. And I’ve seen students turn around and walk right out of the studio when they find out that there is a substitute teacher. Lately, I’ve been trying to break any attachment I have to a single school of yoga or any single teacher, and to broaden my horizons by learning from a wide range of people coming from a wide range of yoga traditions. (more…)
Filed under: Yoga News
Check it out. According to Pat Roberston, yoga has evil origins…
