Archives for December 2009

The winter program guide is fresh off the press and programs start in the new year at the Black Creek Community Association. Instructed by Nancy Moelaert, Kripalu Yoga Basics begins Jan.4 and Kripalu Yoga (all levels) starts Jan.5, both at 7:30 p.m.

Kripalu Yoga unites Hatha Yoga (the yoga of physical postures) and Raja Yoga (yoga of meditation) harmoniously and simultaneously. The foundation of this yoga is based on the breath. It is an internally focused, meditative practice of performing physical postures.

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Over the years, I've tried my hand at a variety of styles of yoga. In the '90s, I devoted myself to Bikram and returned periodically when I sought the need to stretch and sauna at the same time. In the first decade of 2000, I tried Hatha and Ashtanga or a combination thereof, hoping to calm my busy mind and loosen the tightness around my right hip. But each time I take a class, I am always left with the same question: When did group yoga become the new form of Basic Training?

A few months ago, I slapped down sixteen bucks for a Hatha Flow class at a small studio in Pacifica. At first I worried about taking the class, anxious that my tired knees would buckle and I'd fall flat on my face. But the sweet-voiced yoga instructor didn't force me to do anything too tough. Just ease into the pose, she said. Don't fight it. Don;t push it. Just allow the body to go to its deepest point. I blew a sigh of relief, knowing that my hips were in no mood to open up to a full extension of a Camel, or even Pigeon.

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Yoga no doubt has become very popular in America. But the new news has it that Yoga enhances the performance of athletes. Its been reported that many Americans athletes have taken up Yoga practices.

Chicago (USA) media, has it as reportedly as said by Ray Lewis, famous American football linebacker from Baltimore Ravens, "I'm talking about an hour-and-a-half yoga classes at times. And the crazy part about it is, once you actually get into it a good two or three times, you really miss if you don't do it. It stretches you that much."Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award winner, the first linebacker to win on the winning Super Bowl team has been practising Yoga in the off season for the past two to three years.

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Many American athletes are reportedly adopting yoga practice. Ray Lewis, famous American football linebacker from Baltimore Ravens, reportedly told the Chicago (USA) media: "I'm talking about an hour-and-a-half yoga classes at times. And the crazy part about it is, once you actually get into it a good two or three times, you really miss if you don't do it. It stretches you that much."

Lewis, first linebacker to win Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award on the winning Super Bowl team, has been reportedly doing yoga in the offseason for the past two to three years.

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Stretching into impossible poses these photogenic felines could be the most relaxed cats of all time. The aptly named Yoga Cats feature in a 2010 calendar that is sure to claw its way into the affections of animal lovers everywhere. Created by professional photographer Dan Borris and his wife Alejandra, the calendar combines real photographs with a whisker of Photoshop magic. 'Cats are amazing, wonderful creatures,' said Mr Borris. 'The process of making these photos is a mixture of meticulous planning, figuring out which cat should go with which pose.

'Alejandra works with the animals in getting them into the positions we need as I set up the lights and take the photographs,' said Mr Borris. 'The cats get as close as they can with the yoga moves but some of those positions in the calendar are anatomically impossible. 'There is no forcing the animal to do anything. We will get the cat in a general position but each cat that I photograph is well looked after. 'We discovered that the best way to work with the cats was through inventing games and playing. 'The most difficult part was the discovery that cats just do not like flash.'Once he has the shot he wants, Mr Borris then spends hours in front of his computer to get the desired results. 'Yes the images are photo-shopped,' he said. 'Some of these poses would be physically impossible for them to achieve although I have to say, that after shooting cats I have a whole new respect for their agility.'

Over the centuries, the winter solstice has been celebrated with festivals, singing, dancing and the burning of fires throughout the longest night of the year. Sunday night, yoga and satsung joined the ways Bangor area residents could mark that night.

Yoga instructor Sandy Cyrus, of Orono, held a satsung, a form of devotional chanting sometimes used in Hindu worship, at Central Street Yoga, overlooking West Market Square. “I do it because I love it,” Cyrus, who also teaches at her own studio, Full Circle Yoga in Orono, said as people arrived. “The solstice is an opportunity to welcome the light and an excuse to get together and chant.

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Acting on the suggestions of the Bangalore Healthy Urbanisation Pro j e c t (BHUP), the BBMP is ready to start yoga classes for students at Corporation high schools from January, 2010. “Majority of students coming to Corporation schools are from BPL families. Yoga is a way to help students lead a healthy and disciplined life,” said C Kameshwari Devi, local coordinator, BHUP.

With the success of the pilot project in the Corporation school at HMT Layout in 2007-08, BBMP is set to introduce yoga in five more schools for students from the VIIIth to Xth standards.

The schools are Vidyapeetha Corporation High School, Mudalpalya Corporation High School, Shantinagar Corporation High School, Corporation Girls High School at Robertson Road and HMT Layout Corporation School. Around 1,543 students will benefit from the yoga classes. Yoga trainers from the Bangalore Panchasheela Nagara SKY Trust will train the students.

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In the steam room at the gym tonight five women discussed the hot topic of Tiger Woods and his supposed extramarital affairs that continue to headline our news. With all the play by play commentaries on his chip in the bunker, I pondered the relationship between athleticism and sexuality.

As a Yoga instructor, I have taught many professional athletes. There is no doubt that increased physical fitness and body awareness tends to increase one's sexual appetite. Our sexuality is a very powerful and very healthy component of being human. It is essentially the driving force to creation, but sexuality is not limited solely to sex. Whether passion is used romantically with another person or whether it is used philanthropically for a specific social cause, for example - it is still the same force.

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No matter how much you love yoga, taking a yoga mat on a trip may seem a little over the top. Yet, either for traction or hygiene, many people prefer to have something between their feet and the surface where they're practicing, especially if it's a hotel room floor or a borrowed mat at a studio. The solution may be a pair of yoga socks.

These are low-cut socks, often in eye-catching colors, with sticky dots or patches on the soles for sure footing. Most of them have glovelike pouches for each toe, so wearers can spread their toes for balance and connection to the ground. Some pairs are cut to expose the tips of the toes, to give increased tactile sensation during, say, the tree pose and the triangle.

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Today we got a pitch that began like this: "Brenda Strong, Mary Alice Young from Desperate Housewives, has created a new yoga method -- and it is getting women pregnant."All righty then. Reading further, we discovered that Strong, who we loved as the bra-baring Sue Ellen Mischke on "Seinfeld," has developed a method called Yoga4Fertility that purports to increase fertility with the help of her trademarked Fertility Ball, which has its debut next month. Combining yoga with something called "Tibetan finger pressure techniques" allegedly helps women get pregnant.

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