Yoga Spy

  • A few examples of Prashant talk

    Prashant’s classes always leave me with indelible images. I jot them down at home, hours later. I know full well that recording any class is prohibited, so bear in mind that the following paraphrased statements are my interpretations. Don’t do asana strictly for the body. Think of a fountain pen. Now, if…

  • Crossing the street

    Crossing the street

    Traffic is insane in Pune. Cars, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles swarm nonstop all around, honking, honking, honking. No crosswalks or stoplights for pedestrians, no designated safety zone. If you’re not careful, you’ll get hit. If you’re too careful, you’ll be stuck. One day, still new here, I was trying to navigate around the traffic circle by the…

  • On the home front

    Booking an apartment was my top priority. I was late to start, especially since regulars book their places a year or two in advance. I ended up choosing a new, untested listing in Bobby Clennell’s guide. The owner was prompt and articulate in his email messages, and it had the makings of a match: single…

  • Mumbai to Pune by bus

    To get from Mumbai to Pune, I made a last-minute decision to ride a bus. I’d already booked a train ticket. Trains are the iconic mode of travel in India (think The Darjeeling Limited) and I figured that the three-and-a-half-hour journey would be a good initiation. But my host friend’s…

  • A class with Amrish Mody

    I was curious to attend a class at the Iyengar Yogashraya in Lower Parel, Mumbai. So I ventured there last Monday for the 10:30am class. I had no idea who the teacher would be. (The webpage is spartan, with no teachers, levels, or prices listed.) Located on a busy street, the place is old…

  • Bombay in a day

    With only three nights in Bombay, I decided to hire a tour guide on Sunday. This is not a city easily navigable for foreigners. Destinations are far flung, transport is daunting, and the flooding downpours are dismal. Further, while many residents speak English, “many” is a relative concept in a city of more…

  • Reading list: India

    In late February, I got the green light to go to Pune in August. (Among Iyengar yogis, “going to Pune” means going to study at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute.) Five months to prepare. To me, this meant buying Lonely Planet India, finding an apartment in Pune, booking flights, getting vaccinations, avoiding…

  • Aging well: Phyllis Sues

    Prepare to be impressed. Can Phyllis Sues really be 90 years old?  You can’t really guess her age any more since she went through Blepharoplasty Beverly Hills.Go to her website and see her in action: tango dancing, jumping rope, playing tennis, doing yoga, swinging on a trapeze, hiking. From her 20s to her 40s, she was…

  • Pelvic tilt: how much is too much?

    A few months ago, one of my original yoga teachers, Donald Moyer, observed my Tadasana. Under his scrutiny, I tried extra hard to perfect my pose. To my surprise, he said, “You’re tucking your pelvis.” What? If left to its own devices, my body is overly mobile in the lumbar spine.…

  • Tadasana feet: what is parallel?

    Recently a physiotherapist asked me to stand, feet apart, facing a mirror. When I did, she said, “Your feet are slightly turned inward.” In the mirror I saw my feet aligned in Tadasana. I then repositioned them to show my natural alignment, a bit more outwardly turned (yet still more or less parallel). That made me reconsider my Tadasana…

  • Have you ever cried in yoga class?

    “I couldn’t stop crying in Savasana,” my friend Elaine once told me. She was struggling through a bad time and finally, in yoga class, she felt at ease. It was such a relief that she broke down. Yoga can catalyze emotions in people. I’ve witnessed spontaneous crying, during or after asana,…

  • Yoga “demonstrations” in the YouTube age

    http://youtu.be/VAaxoSMX3kU Last month, I stumbled upon a yoga presentation by Patricia Walden on her 60th birthday. Wow. Her backbends are awesome and need no comment. But it got me thinking about yoga videos, performances, and “demonstrations.” Bear in mind, I’m talking not about instructional videos. I’m focusing on displays done silently or, more likely, accompanied by music. Some are professionally…

  • Home practice in my hometown

    Flying into Hilo, my hometown, two weeks ago, I gazed out the airplane window. An endless, supersaturated palette of green, along the Hamakua Coast. While much of the world, including California (my subsequent stomping ground) is suffering from drought, Hilo has had over 12 inches of rain in the month of April alone. The aerial view was striking.…

  • Yoga injuries: who’s at fault?

    Yoga injuries: who’s at fault?

    Ever been injured in a yoga class? Chances are, we’ve all felt a twinge in one class or another. So, who’s at fault? The teacher? The student? Or are occasional tweaks simply part of being active and exploring our limits? Since William Broad began writing about yoga injuries in the New York Times and on…

  • Aging well: Misao Ihara

    Old age. Why do we dread it? A common fear is ill health, which is probably why 95-year-old Olga Kotelko, the first in my Aging Well series, is so impressive. Another concern is loneliness. There will come a point when we lose friends and our closest companions. That’s why I’m now…

  • Take it to the next level

    Last summer, I resumed freestyle lap swimming after a hiatus. I’m purely a rec swimmer and will never be super fast, but I still want to cut my 1000-meter time, 25 minutes. “What’s a ‘decent’ 1000-meter swim time?” I asked my yoga student who does triathlons. Here’s her paraphrased answer:…

  • Making money from yoga teaching

    The other day, teaching at a community centre, I did an elevated Chatushpadasana (Bridge pose), feet on chair. Props are minimal, but include thick mats, foam blocks, and straps. I resorted to supporting my shoulders with a folded-up mat. During my demo, I immediately realized that one mat was inadequate,…

  • Aging well: Olga Kotelko

    Nowadays it’s no surprise to see super fit and active 70- and 80-somethings. But beyond 90? I recently (and belatedly) read “The Incredible Flying Nonagenarian” by Bruce Grierson (New York Times, November 25, 2010) about Olga Kotelko, almost 95, world champion in track and field. Born in 1919, she grew up…

  • Christmas day versus any other day

    Is Christmas day a big deal to you? In what way? Reading “UPS draws fire after Christmas delivery breakdown,” I couldn’t relate to those who slammed UPS for ruining Christmas for them. Does it really matter if gifts arrive on December 25 or a week into the New Year? I…

  • The humility to learn

    “Do you still take classes?” a student asked, upon hearing that I’d be attending a weekend workshop. For a moment I was speechless. I can’t imagine ever not taking classes. I explained that most Iyengar yoga teachers continue taking classes and workshops (and, if possible, trips to RIMYI in India)–for life.…

  • A few quotes by Mahyar Raz

    Describing a yoga workshop is daunting. Do I stick to objective reportage or do I share my subjective gut feelings? I won’t even try to describe Mahyar Raz‘s workshop, but I’ll let her words (and she is not shy about sweeping pronouncements) speak for themselves: “You must feel the pose, in your…

  • Yoga… and the rest of your life

    A few years ago, I was walking along the seawall at Kitsilano Beach. There’s a segment where the seawall separates the path from a drop (Six feet? Eight feet?) to the beach below. A friend I’ll call MJ dared me to walk atop the seawall. It’s encouragingly over a foot wide. But…

  • An Iyengar yogini in a flow yoga class

    During my Lonely Planet research trip to Hawaii, I dropped on 75-minute classes at two Hilo studios: Balancing Monkey and Yoga Centered. Neither offers Iyengar yoga , but one teacher’s bio mentioned that she’s in training for Intro II certification. Curious, I attended her “basics” class–and a half-priced “community flow” class at…

  • When things go wrong

    In June, I accidentally ate some Canadian bacon. It was hidden in the supposedly meatless frittata that I ordered. I’d eaten a few bites before I suddenly spied an unmistakable pink shred of… “What is this?” I asked the counter girl, whom I knew from prior visits to the cafe.…