PRESS RELEASE Campaign for a "Stress-Free, Violence-Free America" Launched at the Art of Living Foundation's Gala Silver Jubilee Celebration at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. I did not see that the big event got much coverage in the U.S press. This Utah TV station did pick up something, but it was geared to an appearance by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Salt Lake City. Ironically, the event got more coverage in Asian media than in the States. Here is the official site of the event and another on a second one -- Art of Living sites tend to proliferate.
Sri Sri has the same message in India as in the States: Ravi Shankar initiative to eradicate untouchability because the Dalit caste is still discriminated against in much of rural India, and perhaps since in the cities too.
By the way, the Washington headquarters has been completely refurbished and is now fully operational.
Labels: art_of_living
New York TimesGot Crow's-Feet? Call the Downward Dog -- maybe this approach is just a wrinkle too far, not say that it's not less harmful than cosmetic surgery:
"In an era when aging is treated as a disease and yoga is often touted as a cure-all, it is hardly surprising to see people combining the two. Classes are sprouting up all over the United States and so are books, marketed to the portion of the population that wants the benefits of the knife and the needle without the costs or the risks."
I have the habit of taking inventory during class. As I progress through the warmup, the sun salutations and other vinyasa, I take mental notes about the areas that I need to work: I need to work on the form of my leap forward from downward facing dog; I need to strengthen my core; I need to work on flexibility in my shoulders, etc. After three years of yoga, I already know the list by heart. And when I go home, I can possibly fit all these areas into a single practice.
What I've started doing, instead, is to identify one thing from my class that I can take into my home practice and make it mine. For instance, in a class at Thrive Yoga with Lisa Johnson, she had us push ourselves up from dolphin to down dog. In other words, from resting my weight on my forearms to resting on my hands and extended arms. It was surprisingly hard to lift myself up. It was like having a blind spot in my bodyscape. It was clear that my body had never consciously done that movement before and did not know which muscles to contract and there was also a physical weakness in that spot.
So now, whenever I find myself in dolphin pose, I try to fit in a few reps of pressing up to down dog. As to my "one note" per session, once I have found my "discovery," I can then get back to focusing on my movements and alignment, and practice acceptance of where I am in my personal evolution.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be participating in the U.S. leg of the 25th anniversary of the Art of Living Foundation here in Washington, DC with a Gala at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on March 28. You can purchase tickets online, with tickets ranging from $50 to $250. There will be other events. The AOL has pulled in a lot of high-profile backers with keynote addresses by House Majority Leader Hon. Steny Hoyer, Senator Joe Biden, Indian Ambassador Vijay Nambiar. The event will be the occasion for unveiling of the Universal Declaration of Human Values. This will be the culmination of more than three or four years of work to increase AOL's presence in the U.S. Capital.
Labels: art_of_living
New York Times Unconventional Twist in Yoga: Younger Teachers
As the yoga boom continues in the United States, the demand for teachers has accelerated, meaning that many have not followed the traditional path of decades of study and the slow acquisition of gravitas, which some say is necessary to attract students. The number of registered yoga teachers has increased sixfold, to 15,329 in 2006, up from 2,521 in 2001, according to Yoga Alliance, a national trade group.
As a fifty-some student, I find it ironic that my yoga teachers are frequently half my age. I do not expect my teachers to impart wisdom during the class. Probably more important is how long they have been practicing yoga. At Flow Yoga, they are requiring a minimum of two-years' experience teaching.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Devil Rays first in yoga: This team won't be outdone in 7-inning stretch
Such talk makes sense to Edison, who says baseball is the "slowest to adapt but the best suited" to yoga. About a third of NFL teams conduct structured yoga training in the offseason, she says, and the NBA "is more open to it, more progressive" than hockey has been so far.
But it's baseball that could be the real growth industry for yoga.
Pitchers can benefit from the deep-breathing exercises she gives them, and position players need all the help they can get in loosening up their tight muscles, especially the quadriceps.
This is getting to be an old story that is revived once in a while, sport by sport, team by team. It's kind of a God-sent for a sports writer.
In the ongoing tale of my waistline, I have dropped another inch, bringing me down to 36 inches. I've had to go out and buy three new belts because the old ones looked awful with the extra holes punched in. I started tracking my waist measurement in December when I went down to 38 inches. I know at the start of 2006, I was closer to 40 inches. I hate to think of what I was before I began to practice yoga seriously. I still have a long way to go before my core strength is sufficient to sustain my practice.
However, I am still pegged at 193-195 pounds as my fighting weight. I still find it hard to cut out the sweets in my diet, ice cream and chocolate, especially, and too many snacks before bedtime. That's a formula for continued weight problems.
