No Camel Toe

Lululemon got major flack for this one.  What do you think...too crude?  Crude or not, it's funny...

Nods and uh-huhms to Sarah Miller

Read this after you read my last blog entry:  Six Reasons to Ignore the New York Times Article on Yoga

http://www.theawl.com/2012/01/six-reasons-to-ignore-the-new-york-times-yoga-article

I love Sarah Miller (the author to the article above).

Here's another one by her I love called "Why Yoga Can Be So Irritating (But You Should Go Anyway):

http://www.theawl.com/2011/08/why-yoga-can-be-so-irritating-although-you-should-go-anyway

If you yoga on the reg, you will be rolling on the floor laughing at this one, and nodding and uh-huhming too.

Danger...Yoga?

A recent article in the New York Times called "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body":

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

We are doing everything we can these days to make yoga more hard core.  "Hot" yoga, "power" yoga, etc.  Come on people!  Yoga is NOT hardcore.  Rock climbing is hardcore-- kayaking, skiing , football, skateboarding.


Is yoga dangerous?


One of the main reasons I first started attending classes way back in 2001 was that I needed my own "thing".  I was looking for some sort of physical practice I could call my own.   I was in my early twenties, supple and stretchy already by nature, and yoga was the most un-intimidating "sport" I could put my finger on.   It didn't require expensive harnesses and ropes, a boat, or a boy to lead the way.


The only thing I have found to be afraid of in my yoga practice is my own mind.


Can you hurt yourself in yoga?  Of course.  A great teacher, an experienced teacher, can help to show you how to avoid injuries.  But always in your yoga practice, it is you hurting yourself, not something yoga has done to you.  You control every  factor when you are on your mat.  If you injure yourself in your practice, it's because you aren't listening to your body, you aren't keeping your breath smooth and even, you aren't staying focused.  If your practice continues to be about these things, this calmness and focus,  then you can keep your ego at bay and you are very, very unlikely to injure yourself.


So don't be scared, get on your mat.  And if it isn't extreme enough, go base jumping.  

Stretchy Business

Awesome yoga business card.

Nah Imma Stay

"Yoga Girl" music video by Fog and Smog.   So good.

"you need some visine for your third eye" bahaha

Shit Yogis Say

This is an awesome spoof from lululemon, a spin from the "Shit Girls Say" (which is also hilarious and you should check out on youtube)

"I just got some really cool eyeshadow for my third eye"

Namaste motherf*ckers!

Bad Habits

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/01/02/144431794/what-vietnam-taught-us-about-breaking-bad-habits

Above is a link to an article entitled "What Vietnam Taught Us About Breaking Bad Habits".  The article discusses the link between your behavior and your environment, specifically about soldiers with heroin addictions after they returned from Vietnam.  As those of you who know me well, addiction and recovery are issues close to my heart.

"Samskaras" is a yogic term that simply translated means "habits".  These samskaras are both good and bad habits.   They are like loops in our minds.  We follow these loops all day- in the ways that we move,  talk,  think, perceive, and respond.  We walk these pathways in our minds without realizing we are going in circles.  We approach anything new in our lives, approach every new day, by reliving the experiences of the days before.  We use our past experiences to create boundaries around the very complex and overwhelming world around us.  But these boundaries/loops/habits can become binding.  I have found in my yogic practice that the work lies not in releasing yourself from these binds, but in becoming aware of their existence.  When you can begin to pull yourself away from your mind, can begin to see the patterns and habits as just that...then you can begin to see yourself as something beyond the thoughts and patterns in your mind.  You can see that you exist beyond your mind.  You can see that these patterns can be interrupted.

Perhaps this idea is how yoga can help addiction.  We are all addicts.  But we are all so much more than our good and our bad behaviors.  So in the next few weeks of this new year, perhaps resolve to suspend judgement  and see if you can identify any of these patterns in your own mind.

Good luck with those New Year's resolutions.