A couple of weekends ago, when I went up to Kripalu in the Berkshires for some yogic R&R, I took a yoga-inspired dance class called JourneyDance.
It was in the DansKinetics time slot, but this wasn't my momma's yoga-twirling. I usually just go for the live drums and groove in a corner. But the drums started thumping in the cavernous main hall, and the teacher had us roll around on the floor. And I was like, "Well, I can warm up with the class." And then she had us start moving like water, and I thought, "Ok, I'll be water for just a sec, then I'll go to the corner."
But man, if this sistah of a teacher, Toni Bergins, didn't have me up and moving with her--and about 50 other people--the whole time. Usually I'm kind of cheezed out by new-agey, "love yourself" classes. But this woman was my age-ish and sounded like a happy, spiritual Ani DiFranco (with a dash of Michael Franti). She moved like a hip-hop yogini with enormous energy, totally comfortable in her own skin. The girl channeled some seriously inspiring shakti. And her self-love message? So not cheezy.
Soon I was bouncing up and down, yelling to random partners as instructed: "You are so creative!" and "Well thank you very much!" "You are so wiiild," "You are so sensuous!" "Well thank you very much!" We whooped and built imaginary shamanic fires, burned excess psychic gunk, and danced around them, all to the drums, which were beating in my cells. Then she chilled us all the way back down to the earth.
Whew. Amazing. I caught her again last weekend when she taught at Atmananda (nee Centerpoint) in NYC. Totally different vibe at night, with a much smaller crowd, and no drums, just some funky non-live music. But equally deep and cleansing and fun. She's on tour and will be coming back to NYC for another event on June 7th. (It isn't listed on the site yet, so just drop her an email). You must go. Really.
It's not cheap (like $50 for two hours). But if you think of it like therapy, which it is, but more fun and better exercise, then it's a freaking bargain. Go, dance. Feel alive. She's also giving teacher training in her method at Kripalu in June, in case you get converted and want to spread the high-vibing, heartful, booty-thumping word.
Recently, I was taken to dinner at Akasha by TransFair USA, the folks who give imported products like coffee, sugar and flowers the Fair Trade Certifiedâ„¢ label. This ensures consumers that farmers and workers are paid a fair, above-market price for their goods, while using sustainable practices.
The new Culver City restaurant was the perfect choice because Chef Akasha Richmond sources organic produce locally, purchases from sustainable fisheries and farms, and uses only Fair Trade organic coffees, teas and sugars.
The menu is an amalgam of Indian spices and techniques (from her days at the seminal Los Angeles vegetarian hotspot the Golden Temple) fused with California comfort food. There's the turmeric seared pear salad, cannellini bean hummus, Punjabi mung beans and rice, local greens with shaved fennel and sheep cheese as well as organic mac and cheese and crispy home-made onion rings.
But since I have a sweet tooth, the adjacent bakery is the real treat. Vegan choices like Meyer lemon scones (of course, when Meyer lemons are in season) or salty chocolate pecan tarts are tempting. As are the old-fashioned chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with thick ribbons of frosting (ganache anyone?). And since the pastries change all the time (as does the menu) you'll just have to keep coming back for more.
Because of its spiritual nature, yoga doesn't seem a natural match for the fast-paced and electronic world of the web—at least not upon first glance. But the invent of the Internet has brought with it a million and one new ways to form community among people far and wide. When looked at that way, yoga and the Internet have a lot more in common than one might have thought.
In San Francisco, lots of yoga teachers are using the Internet not only to advertise, but to further develop community or sangha. For instance, Jamie Lindsay has a regular blog in which he details the sequences that he taught in class that week and shares other local yoga info; Deborah Burkman sends out weekly emails that discuss what anatomical or yogic principle she intends to focus in her Hatha class that coming week; and Bill McCully often sends inquisitive emails out to his students to gather their impressions of a previous class.
And local websites are also getting hip to yoga. On both Yelp and Citysearch, you can find a plethora of San Francisco and Bay Area yoga studio listings, complete with ratings and reader reviews. If you are looking to connect with other local yogis, Tribe.net has several great yoga groups you can join including SFYoga. And then, of course, there is Yoga Journal's website, which, by the way, was just nominated for a Webby! (You can vote for us here!)
Do you know of any other San Francisco online communities or listings you'd like to share? If so, please post a comment below and let us know about them!
Yes, it's officially spring out there. Thank the great green goddess. That was a long one, no?
Well, you can celebrate with a little bit of internal spring cleaning. The folks at Yoga People's Brooklyn Heights studio told me about a two-day workshop (or one if you prefer) they're having this weekend that sounds really lovely: "Root to Rise: The Power Of Organic Energy."
It'll be taught by Anusara-ginis Tara Glazier and Jorja Rivero. On Saturday, they'll be covering backbends, standing poses, and inversions, with an eye to waking up your prana (life force) from its winter slumber and getting those juicing flowing.
Sunday is about grounding all of that expansion by opening your hips, doing some twists, forward bends, and restorative poses. The aim is clarity, strength and oomph.
It costs $100 for both days, $50 for one day, and $55 if you schedule within 24 hours of the workshops. For more info: yoga-people.com or register at 718-522-9642.
How psyched were we after learning that Yoga Journal was nominated for a People’s Voice Webby Award for Best Magazine Website? What's so cool about these awards is that you, the online community, chooses the winner. At the risk of shameless self-promotion (and I'm taking the risk), please vote for us.
With that plug out of the way, I thought this would also be a good opportunity to link to my yogi comrades blogging in L.A. Here's my short list so if I've missed anyone, please let me know, pronto.
The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar blog at the Los Angeles Times is authored by the legendary hoops star, who also happens to be a long-time yogi. And believe me, he knows a lot more than just basketball evidenced by his learned musings about politics, African-American history and fitness.
For the girl about town, yoga socialite POV, visit Joni at Accidental Yogist. She seems to be everywhere at once and is happy to share details about her personal life as well as her yogic discoveries. The blog is also a great resource for calendar listings.
Namasteph is Stephanie and this yoga teacher in training posts about everything from Yoga Journal cover models to Christian Yoga. She's someone with strong opinions and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing.
Eugene's Digital Asana Project on his Om Shanti blog are sights to behold. Basically the guy is an outstanding acrobatic yogi. Check out the mind-blowing clips as he performs yogic feats like Urdhva Padma Mayurasana.
Last, but not least, Mahamondo has a real knack for discovering original and entertaining music and asana clips. LIke these street yogis:
Confession: When I was in high school, I was on a sort of cheer squad. We weren't very sophisticated but we did know how to move (Brooklyn in the house!). One summer, we scored some acrobatics training and learned to climb on each other and make pyramids and stuff. I weighed in at about 97 pounds (still do . . . ) and was always the one being thrown around.
I knew nothing about yoga or Eastern philosophy, but I did love the gymnastics we mixed in with hip-hop moves during our half-time dances, and I think learning ease and lightness in my body really helped when I got into yoga. I hung up my pom-poms ages ago (thankfully), but lately I have been having the urge to again be thrown around.
So, I got really excited when I found out that there is a weekly beginner's AcroYoga class at the Mission Yoga Sun Room (held Fridays until April 23, when it changes to Wednesdays). I went last week and had so much fun. We started with some warm-up asana, simple partner poses, and assisted handstands. But the real fun was when we got to take each other into Folded Leaf and Front Bird. Folded Leaf is when you drape your body over your partner's legs and hang there to establish balance (me, above); Front Bird is when you push against each other's hands and fly like Superman (another student, left). In the midst of all this, we all gave each other some nice shoulder rubs.
I am one of those students who takes my yoga very seriously (and I think that's important in terms of dedication and proper practice), but to feel this kind of playful freedom with asana was exciting and empowering. The teacher, Jeremy Simon, gave great instruction and kept things specific, safe, and also really fun. I only got to fly once, and I am definitely going back for more.
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As I mentioned some months ago, my long-time boyfriend was a yoga virgin. No more. A couple of weeks ago, of his own free, non-nudged will, he went and signed up for Jivamukti's beginner series.
When he got back from the first class, he sent me an email with the subject "Jivamuktilicious." I clapped, so relieved his first time had been good. For so long I had been hesitant to introduce him to yoga for fear that he'd have a bad experience; for this control freak, it was just too much responsibility. But here's what he wrote me:
"So i had my first ever yoga experience... I was greeted by a mellow, smiley young woman, who looked up my name on the computer and asked if it was my first time there. "Yup, I need to rent a mat, right?"
Once that was all taken care of and I was changed into my jammies [ed note: In lieu of anything stretchy, I told him his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt would be fine.] I went into this little room, about the size of a small studio apartment and people were laying out their mats. There were about ten or twelve of us, about 40% men, 60% women. One woman looked like she was in charge and I asked her what to do. She was an assistant and told me to get some blankets which seemed utterly mysterious, were we going to take naps? And some blocks and straps which were even more mysterious and seemed a little S&M.
Our teacher then arrived, the lovely Narayani aka Nicole Nichols whom had been recommended by the guy who took my Visa card number on the phone when I signed up. "Is anybody here for the first time?" I and another woman raised our hands....
We started with some omming, which was kinda cool since the teacher did it with authority and everyone just followed, including me. She also talked about finding enlightenment through yoga, saying it could be achieved in the here and now. She may have said it was through connecting the body and soul to the earth, or maybe that was just my interpretation.
We went through a series of standing poses--next week it's sitting poses or something like that. Starting with just standing tall-chest open, I forget the Sanskrit word already. Then downward dog and a bunch of others.
Even though it's more than 20 years since I was a gymnast, the whole thing seemed familiar. As a gymnast we would stretch for 30 minutes before practice. I never realized it until today that part of what we were doing during stretching was quieting the mind to focus on the task to come.
As a gymnast, I did routines which were series of moves strung together; yoga feels like the same concept, but a lot slower. I liked the feeling of doing things with my body that were controlled, disciplined and precise. The workout was heavier than I had imagined.
Toward the end I started to feel a little light-headed, not sure why. I looked around a lot at my peers to try to make sure I was doing the right thing and a few times the teacher put her hands on me to correct
my poses.
My body surely doesn't do the things it used to but it remembers those things and I felt them again like I haven't in many many years. At the end we laid in darkness with music and the teacher gave me a 10-second neck rub with some sort of oil with a familiar scent.
My verdict? I liked it. I like physical activity that is controlled and requires mental focus. I felt at home doing this even if it was all new and my body is very out of shape. I can't remember all the Sanskrit words, or any of them actually, but I could look them up."
I'm a bit of a yoga snob. Can't help it. That's mostly because yoga has come to represent much more to me than simply a fitness regimen. But sometimes I want to lift weights, speed walk on the treadmill, and crunch my abs on a fancy machine. So, yes, I have a gym membership at Equinox.
One of the reasons I picked the slick gym, is their yoga program (part of what the company has called their "aggressive yoga strategy"). Subsequently, it is one of the few chains that take yoga seriously with well-trained teachers and separate yoga studios equipped with props and pleasant lighting. In fact, just this week, I took an interesting "Iyengar Flow" class that had all the rigors of alignment, and just the right amount of vinyasa (and sweat) to satisfy fitness nuts.
Yet, I also stumbled upon this very strange Equinox ad campaign. All I'll say is this: it's called Fantasy Yoga and while the guy is ripped in all the right places, someone should really tell him to straighten his arms in Urdhva Dhanurasana. I'll leave any other commentary to you.
Whenever I see modern dance, I can always spot the yoga inside the dance. I'll nudge the friend sitting next to me and say, "Did you see that? That was scorpion pose!" Or dolphin pose. Or some variation of downward facing dog. Depending on the friend, they'll either say, "Yeah! Sweet!" or "Shhhh!" Still, I can't help but get excited when I see yoga on stage.
Enter: Tripsichore. I have only seen this London-based yoga dance company perform once before, when they came, in 2002, to the Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason. Led by choreographer Edward Clark, Tripsichore's sequences and movements are not just yoga-influenced, they are yoga-based. It's amazing to watch the intersection of the dancers' bodies as they tell a non-traditional story with the shapes of traditional asana.
Tripsichore is performing its show Merely Total Risk at Yoga Tree Castro on Saturday night, at 8pm. The show is about the creation of the universe, and also about one's personal experience with mortality.
Want a taste? The above is a clip from the other show that Tripsichore is currently touring, Insects.
Want to learn from the yogacrobats, themselves? Take one of the company's workshops this weekend: "Tripsichore Sun Salutations & Beyond" (on Saturday) or The Tripsichore 12-year Course Condensed Into One Workshop" (on Sunday) at Yoga Tree Stanyan. Or, if you can't make the training, check out the company's DVD.
This week is turning into mini awards season around me. On Sunday I found out a friend won a Pulitzer for her amazing reporting at the New York Times. (Bob Dylan also scooped up a Pulitzer--how cool is that?) And then Tuesday I learned that both sites I'm involved with were nominated for Webby Awards. Very different things, but all exciting nonetheless!
The place I do my day job--Beliefnet.com--was nominated in the Webby Religion and Spirituality category. And YogaJournal.com was nominated in the Magazine category--along with other fantastic sites: New York magazine, National Geographic, Make, and Dwell. Big stuff! Yay, congrats YJ.
I grew up in Quaker schools where competition was not encouraged, in the name of equality, two central Quaker tenets. So I've never really allowed myself to express my competitiveness (ok, unless you've played a boardgame with me, in which case--is that a vowel lodged in your ear? Sorry!).
But as we all know, recognition is nice. When it involves me, even tangentally, I've found it's especially lovely if I can circumvent my ego and recycle that joy by plunking it into my self-love piggy bank. Clink!
If you'd like to help turn the YJ "bank" into an actual win by voting for us between now and May 1st, that would be extra-clinky.
This weekend marks the first new moon of spring (April 5th at 2:55 PST). According to yoga teacher and astrologer Guru Jagat Kaur, this is an auspicious time to set intentions for the coming months and an ideal time to do some yogic spring cleaning.
That's exactly what we did in Kaur's Kundalini Women for Women's class Friday morning at Yoga West. The kriya was so powerful (brought up many emotions, yes) and refreshing too -- since it's designed to move out the old making room for the new. I thought I'd share the wealth. It's deceptively simple and really quite challenging, but in a good way, I promise. All that breath of fire is a grand way to feel your prana, too.
1. Sit in Baby Pose. Sitting on heels, forehead is on the ground in front of you, arms are pointing behind you resting at your sides. Lift up your neck and do Breath of Fire. 3 minutes (start with 90 seconds).
2. From Baby Pose, lean back until you are lying on your back (but still with your heels underneath your buttocks) and do Breath of Fire. 3 minutes (start with 90 seconds).
3. Chair Pose - feet flat on the ground, bend over trying to keep the back parallel to the ground and grasp your feet from the outside, reaching inside between your knees to do so. In this position, stick your tongue way out and do Breath of Fire through the mouth. 3 minutes. (start with 45 seconds and work your way up).
4. For the final five minute relaxation, sit in Easy Pose with your arms at shoulder height parallel to the ground, palms down, right arm resting on left while you breath very, very slowly; silently, mentally chanting: "Haree, Haree, Haree" on the inhalation, and silently, mentally changing: "Har, Har, Har" on the exhalation.
"Haree" calls upon the creative energy and "Har" is joining the God within and without.
This series is adapted from Harijot Kaur Khalsa's Kundalini yoga book, "Owner's Manual for the Human Body"
If you give this set a whirl let us know what you think. If you have any questions, Guru Jagat Kaur is standing by ready to answer any queries.
With the change of seasons, I have been feeling a little under the weather lately. So last Sunday night, I went on a search for that perfect relaxing restorative class. I fell upon this tiny tucked away yoga studio in the inner Richmond called Bend. Located in one room on the second floor of what seems like an office building, Bend is a tiny little peaceful studio with a warm local feeling. There were about 8 of us taking the class and we were at a cozy maximum.
The class I went to is called Candlelight Yoga and the room has lit candles all along the sides. The blinds were drawn but, due to the longer hours these days, light sneaked in anyway to our 6pm class. (I think that the candlelight effect, as pretty as it was, would be stronger in the 9pm classes).
With soft tunes in the background varying from Iron and Wine to Indian chanting songs, David led us through a deeply restorative practice, really allowing us to sink into the four or five postures that we practiced, which included supported child's pose, one armed frog pose, and a supported back bend. Because there were so few students, a lot of individual attention was given. The teacher was able to give us all adjustments, put sand bags on us, and adjust our props. We hardly did anything ourselves: talk about relaxation!
I found the class to be a great and gentle class for anyone feeling like their body or mind needs a rest; it's also a good way to end the night or weekend, especially with all the amazing Clement Street restaurants nearby for a light post-yoga dinner.
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A couple of weekends ago, when I went up to Kripalu in the Berkshires for some yogic R&R, I took a yoga-inspired dance class called JourneyDance. 
Yes, it's officially spring out there. Thank the great green goddess. That was a long one, no?
