Against my better judgment, I decided to “browse” at the after-Christmas sales last Saturday. Purchase #1: After a yoga class at the mega studio I’ve been featuring, I browsed through their book selection. While I’m an Iyengar devotee, I’m also curious about Yin yoga, and I was tempted by Sarah Powers’s Insight Yoga and Bernie…… Continue reading Shopping, sales, and greed
Sampling yoga studios and teachers
My ongoing “research” on the mega studio in town has been quite revelatory. First, I’ve found some good teachers at a studio I’d discounted as too commercial. (It is commercial, but that doesn’t mean all the teachers are middling.) A few nights ago, I took two “Hatha” classes. The first teacher was as detailed in…… Continue reading Sampling yoga studios and teachers
The mega studio versus what?
In response to my post “The lure of the mega studio,” Ray wrote a thoughtful comment, asking me about my frame of reference. To what am I contrasting the mega studio? Since day one, my predominant practice has been Iyengar yoga. So, the studio attributes randomly listed below apply frequently (but not exclusively) to Iyengar…… Continue reading The mega studio versus what?
The lure of the mega studio
Since my last post about the biggest yoga studio in my town, I’ve attended five more classes there (12 total). I’ve seen four of their five locations so far. They’re all huge: I’d estimate that two have mat capacity for 40 to 50, one could hold 60, and the main studio might squeeze in 80.…… Continue reading The lure of the mega studio
The biggest yoga studio in my town
Months ago, I received a two-week pass to the biggest yoga studio in my town. It boasts five locations, 30 to 40 teachers, and almost 150 weekly classes in various yoga styles, including Vinyasa Power Flow, Kundalini, and Hatha (a name that I still find misbegotten, as discussed here). Workshops feature celebrity teachers, such as Shiva…… Continue reading The biggest yoga studio in my town
Advanced studies = teacher training
In yoga, there is a juxtaposition of “advanced studies” and “teacher training.” Do they necessarily go together? On one hand, it makes sense. Those serious enough about yoga to delve deep into it are likely to become teachers. Similarly, those pursuing PhDs become professors who not only publish their own work, but also teach and mentor…… Continue reading Advanced studies = teacher training
Addendum on vegetarianism
In the November 9, 2009, New Yorker issue, staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert discusses vegetarianism and factory farming in “Flesh of Your Flesh,” in which she reviews Jonathan Safran Foer’s nonfiction book Eating Animals. Kolbert’s review (which reads as effectively as a full-fledged article, as the best reviews always do) struck me in the way the CBC…… Continue reading Addendum on vegetarianism
Ahimsa versus sashimi
I recently watched part of a CBC documentary, The End of the Line, about the catastrophic collapse of global fish populations—due to our insatiable appetite for seafood. It’s based on Charles Clover’s 2008 book, The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and What We Eat. Once plentiful, Atlantic cod and Bluefin…… Continue reading Ahimsa versus sashimi
Peer-reviewed blogs
When I began my blog last August, I told myself that it shouldn’t matter whether anyone reads it. Blogging would be an outlet, a way to gather and release my thoughts (some fleeting, some fundamental) about yoga. As a writer, I process through words. I wanted a free, uncensored forum sans gatekeepers. Whatever the audience…… Continue reading Peer-reviewed blogs
When do yoga teachers practice?
I love practicing yoga first thing in the morning. It wakes my body, smoothes the kinks, clears my mind. I feel energized. Energy begets energy, as they say. Now that I teach three mornings a week now, my practice is cut short (especially if I accidentally oversleep) on those days. Still, I’ve got it made. I…… Continue reading When do yoga teachers practice?
Make the most you can with what you’ve got
In a prior post, “Reawakening the body,” I discuss toe mobility and the possibility of developing “yoga feet” by willpower and lots of practice. Those of us with spreadable, grippy toes might feel relieved of further effort. But, let’s face it, grabbing fallen objects and opening cabinet doors is mere child’s play. For real dexterity, check…… Continue reading Make the most you can with what you’ve got
Is stretching overrated?
In yoga, it’s an advantage to have stretchy, elastic muscles. Touching the toes is not enough; yogis strive to clasp behind ankles, with forearms hugging calves and forehead pressed low on shins. But is such flexibility good for anything else? In the New York Times’s Phys Ed column, Gretchen Reynolds wrote an intriguing article, “How…… Continue reading Is stretching overrated?
Yoga Spy 