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Monday, September 15, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga is Ageless
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Yoga is for all ages. From babies to children from adults to elderly, the practice of yoga appeals to all ages and all shapes and sizes. Though commonly thought of as a fad for the 20-40 set, the practice of yoga covers all ends of the spectrum. |
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Friday, September 05, 2008 by Maya Koenig
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From Seed to Sapling
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I'm not sure it's possible to innumerate, in so many words, the powerful process of a Yoga teacher training. But, if forced to choose three to describe my experience at Mount Madonna's YTT 2008 they would be rigorous, inspirational, and life transformational. The courses were thorough and authentic, covering all aspects of Yoga from Shat Karma to "Yoga and Social Activism". From 5:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night, we practiced Asana, taught Asana, purified our bodies and redirected our minds. Like new-born-babes, we yoga-teachers-to-be had the opportunity to relearn from the Yogic perspective how to move, breathe, and reconsider our preconceptions of reality. |
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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The Great Yoga Escape
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 The popularity of the Yoga retreat has exploded recently, and though retreats are part of the yogic tradition, they have evolved from the original intent of self imposed exile into a much more alluring commodity. Yogis of old were expected upon reaching a certain age, to walk away from family, friends, business and home to retreat into the forest, practice austerities, and find realization. In this era, they were not expected ever to return. Conversely, today not only are we expected to come back, but to come back refreshed, realigned, and ready to hit the ground running. So can it be done? Can we leave our lives to uncover the presence of consciousness beneath our everyday experiences, and retain this knowledge upon our return? If you believe the answer is yes, or if you are looking only to “get away” without the pretense of self-discovery, then there are a plethora of options from which to choose. |
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Monday, August 25, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Gurus Going Green for the Ganges
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 For Millennia the river Ganges in India has been the most revered river in the world. Hindus who worship the river as the goddess Ganga consider it to be sacred, and believe that bathing in Ganges will purify the body and the spirit. As death approaches it is believed that drinking water from the Ganges with the last breath will ensure that the soul attains freedom, and upon death, cremations by the tens of thousands are performed every year at its banks on funeral pyres made of wood set fire and sent into the river taking the soul of the deceased straight to god. But today, as India becomes on of the most industrialized nations in the world, the holy river Ganges is suffering. Pollution levels in the river are at an all time high, and rising exponentially is the number of worshipers. Now, in response to what is quickly becoming a dire situation, Gurus and spiritual leaders are rallying together in an attempt to improve the conditions of this ancient and venerated river. |
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Sunday, August 17, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Athletes find Support in Asana
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Watching the Olympics this past week has led me to wonder how professional athletes find balance. There, on the television screen, are a plethora of young, determined athletes with a solitary focus, to win. Their bodies show the commitment to their sport with powerfully strong muscles in sometimes disproportionate bulk. Some have worked their whole lives for this experience of competing in the hopes that there hard work will lead to reward. In the Olympics it is a medal, Gold specifically, although there are a couple of others we don’t hear much about, and in other professional sports it’s the championship, the title, the ring that drive these athletes to push beyond their perceived limits mentally and physically and reach for the victory. In order to help these athletes find equanimity, both physically and mentally, many coaches and trainers are looking toward inclusion of yoga in the routine of the professional athlete. |
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Friday, July 25, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yogic Transformation Put to the Test
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If you have ever met a dyed in the wool, dedicated yoga practitioner, chances are they truly believe that the path and practice of yoga has the potential to transform everybody. In the yoga circles of which I am a part, I often hear the phrase, “yoga can change the world.” A pretty bold statement, most would say, but for those of us who believe it, one would be hard pressed to convince us otherwise. In the new movie Enlighten Up, filmmaker Kate Churchill puts this theory to the test. |
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Monday, July 21, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Month for the Masses?
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Riding the wave of yoga’s popularity, the Yoga Health Foundation’s founder Johannes R. Fisslinger conceived of a yearlong campaign to inspire a healthy lifestyle and promote education about the benefits of yoga culminating in a single month of festivals aimed at creating awareness. It’s called Yoga Month 09.2008 and it is drawing some of the biggest names in the yoga world to its side while leaving many behind. |
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Let’s face it, Yoga is big business. Even the most devoted practitioners and teachers strive to earn at least a modest living by sharing what they love. There is no getting around it. No matter how genuine your practice, if you step into a yoga class you are wearing the clothes, using the mat, listening to the music, and reading the books and magazines. We all dream of the retreats on deserted islands and the trainings that last for weeks. And all of these things, from classes to clothing come with a price. Even those places that we deem sanctuaries of authenticity are a business behind it all. |
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Monday, July 07, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Practice Transcends Boundaries
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 The politics of geographical boundaries are incredibly complicated, and engulfed in years and sometimes generations of dispute. Here in the US, the illegal immigration of Mexicans across the borders in California and Texas remains high on the political agenda, but the issues and conflicts it inspires remain unresolved. But, on the afternoon of Sunday June 22, a group from San Diego called The Border Meetup sought not to divide the two nations but to find the gift of unity through yoga. |
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga Toys
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I’ve avoided writing about the Wii Fit yoga videogame and yoga action figures, as making the practice of yoga into a form of amusement rubs me the wrong way. Yes, it does expose a whole different section of the population to the physical experience of yoga asana, but does it support the growth of yoga’s authenticity, or reduce it to a cellophane wrapped novelty item to be sold in a decade at the neighborhood yard sale? |
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Baba Ramdev - Guru or Fraudster?
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The notion of an Indian guru brings to mind a romanticized vision of an enlightened, otherworldly being swathed in ocher orange robes and followed by hordes of devotees. It is not a “profession” that we give much credence to in today’s world, especially in the West where the concept of an enlightened being guiding and teaching thousands of followers is often viewed as bizarre and cultish. In the classical Indian view, a guru is an enlightened being who guides others to their own self-realization; a concept that is questioned each time it has entered our Western world. So it’s no surprise that as Indian teacher Baba Ramdev is making headlines as a modern day guru, his claims of healing incurable diseases and foretelling the future are causing some to question his authenticity. |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Shortage of Advanced Yoga Classes
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Given all of the billions of yoga students in the world today, it would seem that there are as many levels of yoga classes to choose from as there are brands of yoga clothing. A recent article in the New York Times sites that the opposite is proving to be true. As the number of people exploring yoga soars to its greatest heights ever, those who are looking to advance to the deeper stages of practice are finding themselves stranded on the tarmac of beginning level classes. |
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Saturday, June 14, 2008 by Timothy Burgin
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Incense Activates Brain Functions
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An international team of scientists have discovered that the ancient practice of burning frankincense activates nerve circuits and specific areas of the brain. Frankincense is extracted from the resin of the Boswellia tree, and these researchers used an constitute of the resin called incensole acetate in this study. “They found that the compound significantly affected areas in brain areas known to be involved in emotions as well as in nerve circuits that are affected by current anxiety and depression drugs.” Now before you rush out and buy a bunch of frankincense incense, consider the sobering news that Boswellia trees are being over-tapped, disrupting their ability to reproduce new trees, and potentially threatening the future production of frankincense. |
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Does Yoga Lead to Possession?
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In the wee hours of the morning while my kids are sleeping, I found an article about a recently released book claiming that practicing Yoga and reading horoscopes can lead to possession by the devil. Oh no, I’m doomed. So here I am, serious yoga practitioner, getting totally freaked out at 3 a.m.! It doesn’t scare me that I practice yoga, or that I indulge in my horoscope from time to time, what creeps me out is the viewpoint that would consider this practice satanic and immoral. |
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Monday, May 19, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga and Money Management
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In the beginning, our yoga mat is a place where we come with our wants and perceived needs -- to be more flexible, less stressed, and to become more healthy. But the fulfillment of these wants and needs are not what keeps an experienced yogi coming back to the mat, rather it is the cultivation of inner peace, joy, harmony and balance that turns our yoga practice into a lifelong discipline. Fellow yogi, Brent Kessel has discovered that this same insight can be applied to they way we manage our money in his new book, It's Not About the Money: Unlock Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance. |
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 by Kelly Golden
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Yoga in the Olympics?
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As yoga continues to grow more “mainstream,” teachers and practitioners struggle to uphold the practice as a path to self-realization and fulfillment. The plethora of approaches and styles definitely poses a challenge to the deeper, more spiritual side of yoga. And as the student demographic expands, the practice is becoming more susceptible to the pitfalls of modernization. Now as the India vies for a shot at Olympic mania in 2020, some yoga teachers and practitioners are hoping to add yoga to the Olympian line up in a controversial move that will take the practice of yoga out of self-exploration and into the territory of sport. |
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