March 2008 Archives

"I love this class," Erich Schiffmann tells about 40 of us who gathered at Exhale in Venice for a class called Free Form Yoga. "Free form means instead of me telling you what to do, you do what you've learned to do after doing what someone else told you to do." Sounds complicated but it's really quite simple; do whatever you feel like doing, just don't bug anyone else.

We start with a meditation and I'm immediately lulled into a calm state by Schiffmann's hypnotic, soothing voice. He's an unsung yoga hero here in Los Angeles with a loyal following among those who don't expect to see him on magazine covers or to release slick DVDs. Instead, he's a proponent of helping students find the teacher within which is exactly what we do while listening to an eclectic soundtrack that includes Bahramji-Sufi Safir, the Beatles, Roberta Flack, Eddie Vedder, Sinead O'Connor and yoga classics by Krishna Das and Jai Uttal.

The goal of all this? I’ll let Schiffmann explain it to you via the You Tubes because I’m not nearly as charming or entertaining.

All this to say, the class is liberating, fun and quite revealing.

Free Form class: last Wednesday of the month at Exhale Venice.

Poke around Schiffmann's website too. There's a swell community board with a wealth of information and lively exchanges.

When I was in Thailand a couple of years ago, I discovered the Thai Massage. If you've never had one, it's a type of massage during which you get stretched and bended into bliss—kind of like doing yoga asana, but you don't actually have to do anything. Since I've come home, I've been wanting to find a place to get Thai massage but it seems to be one of the rarer forms of massage practiced at most yoga studios. International Orange, however, offers a few variations of Thai massage and they also do something called a Thai Fusion massage, which incorporates the best of all worlds: the stretching motions of Thai massage, the smooth rubbing motions of Swedish, and the pressure point techniques of Shiatsu. I went for one last week with massage therapist and yoga teacher Christy Swenson.

Christy used Shiatsu compression and Swedish sweeping motions (along with signature aromatherapy oils) on my back and did Thai on my legs. While I was being massaged, I was positioned in various yoga poses, like Dhanurasana, Vrksasana, and half of Gomukhasana. She also did yoga while massaging me, literally climbing up onto the table and working on my back while she was in down dog! The massage was an hour and then she sent me home with a card that had a special mantra she wrote down for me, along with a couple of recommended yoga poses.

The benefits lasted well into the following week. I didn't only feel looser, but I actually felt my circulation working better than it normally does. International Orange also offers a 90-minute straight-up floor Thai massage, if you're more of a traditionalist. And the sauna there is also pretty sweet.

Stacie just brought an amazing-looking upcoming photo exhibit to my attention--The Searchers. Done by artists Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher, it captures a strand of Western spiritual tourism in India. The kind that you may be familiar with--the kind where sightseeing means ashrams, temples, and festivals. The type of tourism that seeks yogic, often guru-lead transformation, following in the footsteps of The Beatles, Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Elizabeth Gilbert, and countless others.

The lovely photos range from scruffy white guys in orange robes (I had to squint at a couple I thought might be ex-boyfriends), to elegant images of orchids climbing cracked walls, a haunting altar photo of Osho, and deity-scaled palaces populated with human-scale yogis. In their statement, the artists write: "we photographed transient seekers and lifetime converts, architecture in the communities they found, and the spiritual practices they engage in."

They add that this work builds on their other projects in different countries, looking at "young Western travelers visiting the developing world, their relationship with their host country, and what this means within the larger questions of history, economy, race, and idealism."

Mark your calendar and catch the exhibit:

Front Room Gallery
April 11 – May 4, 2008
147 Roebling Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718. 782. 2556
http://www.frontroom.org

And selections from the Searchers will also be exhibited with Front Room Gallery at
Bridge Art Fair
March 27 – March 30, 2008
@ The Waterfront
222 12th Avenue
& 269 11th Avenue
http://www.bridgeartfair.com

To browse the images online: www.sashabezzubov.com

Next week, Brent Kessel will be in Los Angeles reading from his new book, It’s Not About the Money: Unlocking Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance.

Kessel, a wealth manager, has taken his financial wisdom, his interest in yoga and meditation and written a book to help people improve their relationship with money while offering up solutions to solve personal finance problems.

Money, he writes, is an easy target when we’re looking for the cause of discontent in our lives, and over the years he’s noticed certain behavior patterns – thus the money types – or eight archetypes of how people relate to and spend (or save) their money.

He covers everything from socially responsible investing, pearls of wisdom about money from people like Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh as well exercises to change the way we feel about the old mighty buck.

On Thursday, April 3rd, he’ll be at Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica and on Friday April 4th, he’ll be at YogaWorks in Santa Monica.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the roof on my building has stopped leaking rain into my living room. All of that can mean only one thing: It's springtime! And, according to the yogic tradition, that's the best time to clean up one's act. So I decided to do a cleanse.

The only other time I've "cleansed" was last year when I did the master cleanse (you know—10 days of nothing but lemonade, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper). It was cool in a meditative way, but my body didn't really enjoy the starvation aspect. When I learned that Scott Blossom was doing a one-week ayurvedic cleanse at Yoga Tree Hayes that involved food, I was eager to take part.

I am now on day five of the cleanse, which is intended to balance our doshas, or vital energies. Everyone is eating a dish called Khichari, which is basically mung beans and a whole grain (rice, barley, millet, or quinoa, depending on your dominant dosha) mixed with various vegetables and Indian spices.

Don't know what a dosha is? Ayurveda is a huge health science, but in short it tells us that there are three doshas in every body which can be identified by both positive qualities (when they are in the right proportion) and negative qualities (when they dominate). For instance, vata brings creativity and nervousness, pitta can be identified by motivation and temper, and kapha suggests both steadiness and sluggishness. The idea of this cleanse is to bring your doshas into greater balance. (To determine your own dosha, you can fill out Yoga Journal's dosha questionnaire.)

Scott is a yoga teacher and a doctor in ayurveda (as well as Chinese medicine), so he has vast knowledge about cleansing the body. By midweek, many of us were not feeling so great because of all of the toxins or ama that's been stirred up, but Scott's been great about helping us to understand what's going on and how to work through it. We have also been meeting in the mornings to chant, do a digestion-based practice, and ask questions.

The cleanse ends this weekend with a "purgative" dose of castor oil (whoa!) followed by a day of fasting and meditation. It has been such a great experience to cook fresh food all week, limit my Internet browsing (required for the cleanse), and increase my knowledge tenfold of the Rainbow Grocery herb aisle. I am, however, starting to salivate just a little at the thought of Thai food, raisin bread … and chocolate.

Anyone else doing a spring cleanse? Let us know how it's going!

I've managed to catch whatever my cubicle neightbor has been sick with--I'm fevery and in need of some neti-potting (or yogic humming). So I'll keep this week kind of short and just let you know about a pair of conference-type things that might interest you.

One is the New Life Expo, the weekend if March 28-30. Frankly it's always seems a little cheesy to me and asking around I've heard that it's dwindled in stature in recent years. But lots of speakers and panels on things like vibrational healing, chakra balancing, and holistic sexuality.

What might be more up the yogi's alley is the same company's Yoga and Raw Food Expo June 6-8 (and just now realizing it's all run by the same group as NY Yoga magazine--my post last week. I don't plan these things, but info tends to come in clusters that way--an energy thing?). But anyway, It promises to be three days of "yoga classes, lectures, music, food" at the Hotel New Yorker.

Not a comprehensive list of who will be involved in the latter yet, but somehow the idea of eating fresh raw food and doing tons of yoga sounds so very, very nice right now. But maybe most appealing is the idea of warm, balmy June.

Sniffle, sneeze, cough, ommmmm. Stay warm!

P.S.
Remember, you can always drop me a line about what you'd like to see here--yoga listings, info, etc. When I'm feeling better, I can even do some actual reporting (!) if there's something you'd like to find out. valerie at valerie reiss dot com

xo,
Valerie

Next week, Swedish electronica artist Naid (pronounced Noyd) will host a party to celebrate his new album Varanasi. Named after one of the oldest cities along the Ganges river, the record is an inspiring blend of sacred Sankrit chants with beats Naid perfected working with Pop artists like the Cardigans. The angelic vocals belong to G Ghayathri Devi, S Saindhavi and R Shruti, who also happen to be the female trio heard on the CD Holy Chants on Shiva & Shakti.

If you want to attend the party, get the details off Naid's website. In the meantime, here's a video from the album to give you a taste of what it's all about (love the elephants):

The Piedmont Yoga Studio (which was founded, in part, by Rodney Yee and has birthed some of the Bay Area's best teachers) turned 21 this past weekend and celebrated its anniversary with a number of events to benefit the studio, including a very interesting lecture called Why Yoga Works. The panelists were local teachers Judith Lasater, Tony Briggs, and Yoko Yoshikawa and the talk was moderated by another PYS founder, Richard Rosen.

So, why does yoga work? The articulate guest speakers spoke a bit about how yoga focuses the mind, relieves the body of stress, and digs below the surface emotionally. But, in general, they also seemed to struggle somewhat with the question. And upon reflection, so did I. After all, this is a question we all get asked from time to time by people who don't practice: Why does yoga work? But how can we answer that question without defining what exactly we're talking about. Asana? Pranayama? Yamas and niyamas? Kriyas? Mantra? Sure, all of these things "work," but they work differently.

The discussion meandered somewhat until Richard asked a great question: What exactly does it mean for yoga to "work"? What is the goal we are trying to accomplish with our practices? How do we know when we are "successful"?

We could ask 100 practitioners why yoga works and get 100 different answers. One person might say, "I feel calmer after a yoga class, so it works"; another person might say, "My injury doesn't hurt anymore, so it works!"; and yet a third person might say, "Yoga helps me feel closer to God, so it works." See the problem? Perhaps the question really is: "Why does yoga work for you?"

All of this difficulty speaking about yoga's ultimate benefits got me thinking of my own troubles defining yoga to friends and relatives who don't practice.

So, it's exercise, they say?
Well, not exactly.
It's breathing?
Well, yes, but there's more.
Is it praying?
Well, in a way, but … (Sigh.)

If only they just tried it, they could tell ME why it works!

In the end, even the panelists agreed that there was a certain mystery to yoga, that its powers couldn't be completely explained by simple terms and definitions. I wonder if anyone out there, teachers or students, have thoughts about the question of "why yoga works"? Or maybe just share with us why yoga works for you?

After attending my first "Green Drinks" night--networking for the eco set--I sat on the train thumbing through a magazine I've read only a couple of times, New York Yoga Magazine.

It's one of those free newsprint publications mostly filled with articles by the same people who advertise in the magazine. Some decent event and studio listings, though, plus a silly syndicated humor column I've long appreciated by "Swami Beyondananda," and a helpful article or two. But tonight I stumbled upon something novel--a yoga crossword puzzle. 1. down is "Tortoise pose," 3. across--"A knot in the body or mind that blocks the free flow of energy or prana and distorts our view of reality."

It's a cool way to brush up on your Sanskrit and yoga trivia. And even though I'm a crossword junkie, this one is actually pretty hard since it doesn't rely on old vowely standbys like Brian Eno and NAFTA for its answers.

You can download it here: nyyogamagazine.com when you click pages 26 -40.

It's also sort of timely to be talking about this, as just a couple of weeks ago, NYC hosted the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, a totally insane exercise in speed solving (Bikram for your brain?) covered really well by NPR here.

Let me know what you think of the yoga crossword--and how fast you solve it.

Ever feel guilty when you practice yoga? Sometimes I do. Like everyone else, I enjoy having my special yoga clothes and practicing at the beautiful yoga studios in my safe and beautiful city. But deep inside I am always acutely aware of the disparity between my life and the lives of those who are less fortunate—those who live in impoverished countries and are unable to even get food on the table or feel safe in their homes, let alone have a guided asana practice. I often wish there were more opportunities to combine my yoga practice with doing seva (service) abroad. If this is something you've thought about, too, you might want to consider Metta Journeys.

Founded by three local Bay Area yoga teachers—Sarah Powers, Chandra Easton, and Janice Gates—and two yogis (financially savvy Jo Ousterhout and travel expert Deepak Patel), Metta Journeys is a new program that brings yoga practitioners to less fortunate parts of the world in the name of global awareness and humanitarian service. It's holding its inaugural trip from May 3-10, when its teachers will take a maximum of 20 students to Rwanda in partnership with Women for Women International (an organization that I am a proud member of!), which helps women in war-torn regions rebuild their lives (especially important work in Rwanda because so many women were left widows after the massacres of the early '90s).

The trip costs about $5800 (plus the plane ticket), so it's not an easy getaway for those who are strapped. But for those who are short on time, not too short on funds, and really wanting to make a difference, it's a luxury yoga vacation, international adventure, and major charitable endeavor all rolled into one. The price includes intimate yoga instruction, accommodations at Kigali's only 5-star hotel, personal translators, gorilla trekking, and, of course, the opportunity to connect with Rwandan women and hear about their struggles. Each person who attends will not only be paired up with a "sister" who they will sponsor for one year (like I was when I joined Women for Women International), but they will actually get to meet their sister, which I think is just really cool.

The teachers (who are not getting any financial renumeration for this trip) are also planning to go about a week early to give yoga and mindful meditation instruction to the brave Rwandan women involved in the program.

This weekend yoga therapists from all over the country are meeting in Los Angeles for the second annual SYTAR conference. It's a stellar gathering with therapists and researchers like Judith Hanson Lasater, Leslie Kaminoff, Sat Bir Khalsa, Nischala Devi, Gary Kraftsow and many more, all who will share their expertise using yoga in medical and therapeutic settings.

Better late than never because I'm told there are still some spaces available despite an expected 500-plus turnout. The program is broad -- covering everything from the healing power of mudra, to yoga for cardiac health, anxiety and depression. Add to that an exhibition hall and poster sessions that will showcase the latest in yoga therapeutic research.

And of course social events in the evening -- Ayurvedic master Swami Veda Bharati will speak about yoga therapy as spiritual liberation on Thursday night and on Saturday night there's a ho-down where country western caller Mike Bendavid will debut a line dance choreographed to one of Dave Stringer's Kirtan tracks that was commissioned exclusively for SYTAR 2008.

To register and get more information visit SYTAR.

Fearless. What does that mean, exactly, in a city where fear is a kind of sixth sense that helps us navigate? Even though it sometimes seems vital, with the help of yoga and meditation, I'm working on trading fear for a relaxed readiness.

We can all re-think our fear systems at Omega Institute's annual Being Fearless conference next month.

On April 11, 12, and 13 at a midtown hotel, an array of spiritual luminaries will assemble for our collective enlightenment. In years past, this conference has had keynote speakers like Al Gore and Malcolm Gladwell. This year's teacher roster is even more eclectic than usual, including: Rev. Michael Beckwith of "The Secret," yogic rockstar Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, author Anne Lamott, politician Robert Kennedy, Jr., Mia Farrow (yeah, I know), Valerie Plame Wilson (!), and the amazing Iyanla Vanzant.

I'm not sure I've dropped much fear in my last three years attending, but I have danced with Gabrielle Roth, heard Malclom Gladwell pumped for spiritual advice, had my aura photographed, and took a nap on something called a "Biomat" that's supposed to align every last chakra with its crystal essence. Or something. Last year after a heart-opening workshop I even thanked a favorite, beloved author for changing my life. She didn't miss a beat, immediately asking me for a bathroom. Ouch. NYC armor: re-activate.

Painful lessons aside, it's always weird and lovely to dip into the waters of yoga and soul and step out into midtown. Kind of like leaving a single yoga class times 100. I highly recommend checking it out, even if only for the pupu platter appeal of tasting a little spiritual-yogic something from a lot of fascinating someones.

It sold out last year. Click here for more.

Have you been to the conference? What did you think?