Leslie Kaminoff – Review of “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards,” by William J. Broad

http://yogaanatomy.net

Yoga helps addicts, homeless find peace

via Ashtanga Yoga New York

link to video

More Yoga DIY: Make your own mat cleaner

It is shaucha time!

So by now your mat smells funny and you’re too lazy to bring it back home with you? Are you embarrased by the sour stench when the teacher comes to adjust you? Making your own mat cleaner is fun and really simple.

Many cold-pressed citrus oils have both antiseptic and fat dissolving properties

You will need the following:

– Sterilized water
– Essential oils
– A little spray bottle

You can play with it, but start adding just a few drops of the essential oils. Then test it and see how much of a scent you can take (and think of your fellow yoga mates… don’t go crazy on the oils).

The most important part is that you use essential oils with antibacterial/antiseptic properties, such as tea tree, cinnamon bark, clove, fennel, grapefruit, lemon, lime, thyme, oregano, pine, rosemary, etc. Once you find your favorite combination, fill the bottle, and whenever you spray your mat let it dry for a few minutes.

Western Yoga Guilt: Should I wear a mala?

Malas:  The New Yoga Status Symbol
via Yoga Modern by Patience Steltzer

Whether you’re male, or female fashion is a great way to express creativity, and personality on a daily basis.

While I love bringing a sense of style into my yoga practice, I am not so sure how I feel about bringing yoga into my style. 

I have noticed an increasing amount of individuals sporting malas through out studios and community events, and I wonder if they are being worn as a symbol of devotion or merely as a fashion statement.  While searching the yogasphere I came across a mock ad on Yoga Dawg that poked fun at how sacred objects are often commercialized and treated by “western yogis” as trendy accessories rather than worn for their intended spiritual purpose.

The YogaDawg Sadhu Fall Collection

Top to Bottom

Vedic Face Paint
Lotus Joy Premium Yoga Club
Mellow Yellow Chakra Yoga Shirt
Holy Moly Far Out Yoga Bead Set
Mellow Yellow Chakra Yoga Pants

While it is common in the Hindu religion to wear malas around the neck, it is typically used to practice devotion towards a deity. Malas are used to express one’s respect and service to that god, and it’s considered disrespectful to wear the beads flippantly or without intention. Devotees are expected to be disciplined in spiritual practices that are deserving of the malas and the blessings they come with.

For example, many people wear the rudraksha mala in observance of the Lord Shiva. Devotees take certain measures that show respect, including the use of rituals and prayers to purify the beads, and they remove the beads when consuming alcohol, attending a funeral, having sex, and for women during menstruation.

I know very few yogis in the United States who take the same precautions when adorning themselves with malas. Most of us aren’t even aware that such precautions exist. continue reading

Put your yoga where your mouth/wallet/etc. is

A couple of well-timed blog posts at Think Body Electric and Tikkun Daily.

An excerpt from “Politics, Spirituality, and Postmodern Malaise“:

Really taking it all in like that, however, is fucking hard. And it poses a challenge that’s utterly absent in the way that these ideas tend to manifest in yoga circles, where there’s an implicit insistence that being properly “spiritual” means staying locked inside some pastel-colored bubble where everything looks beautiful and right and good – PERIOD. No unpleasant issues raised; no difficult questions asked.

And from “Yoga for War:  Politics of the Divine“:

Does any of this upset your yogic sensibilities? Do you think there should be no OM in the office? No bakasana on the battleship? No hero pose in boot camp? Isn’t yoga about peace, compassion and love?

I highlight these examples not because I think yoga doesn’t belong in the army, but rather to question an assumption many yoga and spiritual practitioners make. It’s the belief that spiritual liberation is inherently socially or culturally revolutionary.

Living Yoga: The Life and Teachings of Swami Satchidananda

Watch trailer:

Watch full film online here:

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/swf/embedplayer.swf

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Om Yoga Book: Ashtanga Interviews

Om Yoga: A book about yoga by Kia Naddermier, Lisa Ljungh Strömberg & Magnus Naddermier

Featuring interviews with

John Scott, David Swenson, Danny Paradise, Chuck Miller, Dena Kingsberg, Dona Holleman, Shandor Remete & Maria Boox

Read more + pics

A YogaDawg Quiz – Who Said It (Bikram Choudhury or Charlie Sheen)?

Somewhere in a parallel universe a pair of twins were spewed out from the loins of the Great Cosmic Mother with such force that it ruptured the firmament and caused the twins to be born to two different earth mothers in different countries at different times and eventually both ended up in La La Land.

 

INSTRUCTIONS: Place a B or a C in each set of quotes. When completed click on the link below to find out how you did.

1. They lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and just look at their loser lives, and then they look at me and they say, ‘I can’t process it.’ Well, no, and you never will, stop trying. ____

What happens when they say they will commit suicide unless you sleep with them? What am I supposed to do? Sometimes having an affair is the only way to save someone’s life. ____

continue quiz at YogaDawg

msnbc: Flexibility & Migraines

Ultra flexible? You’re at triple risk for migraines

Joint hypermobility syndrome, migraines both rooted in same cause: too-elastic collagen

updated 3/2/2011 4:17:11 PM ET

NEW YORK — People with severe forms of double jointedness have a greater risk of suffering from migraine headaches, a new study finds. They also tend to have more severe and more frequent migraines.

Researchers say that the two conditions — “joint hypermobility syndrome” and migraines — may have causes rooted in the same problem.

People who fit the profile for having joint hypermobility have contortionist-like flexibility. They are able to bend their thumbs back to their forearms, overextend their elbows, and place their palms on the floor without bending their knees, for instance.

“It’s a disease of collagen, basically,” study author Dr. Vincent Martin, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio, told Reuters Health.

Collagen is one of the body’s basic building blocks, helping to form myriad structures, including the joints and blood vessels.

Martin’s hypothesis is that if the collagen is too elastic, it leads to both flexible joints and stretchy blood vessels — problems involved in joint hypermobility syndrome and migraine, respectively.

Martin had noticed in his clinical practice that double-jointed patients seemed to suffer from migraines, too. He also pulled from his own experience, having both hypermobility and migraine headaches.

read full article at msnbc

Sharath in New York and Encinitas

{UPDATED 2/5/11}