I went to the Wednesday evening dharma talk at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Tara Brach led the group in several rounds of meditation. Every time I've heard her speak, I've struck by how she always manages to deliver a message that is extraordinarily meaningful to me. That evening, she spoke about the importance of listening, opening our ears, indeed the whole body, to awareness of what's going on around us. Listening is the first step towards being mindful about the present. Tara's words struck a cord with me because my father is increasingly impaired in hearing and I've experienced how this isolation is walling him off from his family, his community, the world around him. I came away from the session with a commitment to find a way to break through to my father so that he gives in to buying a new hearing aid.
This was my first time, though I know several of the IMCW teachers, like Hugh Byrne, who I know from Flow Yoga Center. I'd been meaning to go to one of IMCW's classes or dharma talks for some time. Since my wife is off in Peru and I take the car to the Metro everyday, it's easy to go to the IMCW Wednesday evening session in Potomac, instead of heading home. It just means that I get home close to 10 pm. There must have been 300-plus people at the Wednesday session, and parking was a hassle.
I highly recommend the IMCW dharma talk archive. Whenever I've felt the need for a dose of mindfulness, like during the February snow storm, I turn to Tara's talks. These weekly talks and meditations, mainly of Brach, but also of guest speakers, go back until 2006. If you listen to an audio file, I encourage you to make a donation to IMCW's work.
Labels: dc_yoga, meditation
Express Night Out (Washington Post) A House Divided: Strength Meets Yoga at Stroga highlights a newcomer on the DC yoga scene.
... Stroga resides in a mansion with floor-to-ceiling windows, stained glass, chandeliers, exquisite detailing and, most important, a heck of a lot of space. The entire second floor will be devoted to classes that can fit up to 125 people — comfortably. "There will be a foot between mats. We want people to be able to do a pose without getting a foot in the face," he (Doug Jeffries, the co-founder of Stroga) adds.
Jeffries is a smart businessman, as seen with his four Results gyms in the downtown Washington, but in this article he only provides a partial strategy for his yoga venture -- the facilities and amenities, but what kind of yoga is he going to offer?
I need to put up this news item before it gets stale or overcome by events: Sharon Gannon and David Life, the co-founders of Jivamukti, return to the DC area from March 27-28 at Flow Yoga Center, they'll lead four amazing workshops incorporating all the elements of Jivamukti yoga: asana (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), chanting, meditation, scripture, and spiritual insights. They alternate leading the sessions. This workshop series is for those practitioners who want to remake their lives along radically different lines. Debra Perlson-Mishalove, the Flow Yoga Center owner, will probably have to go outside her studio to hold this event. Otherwise, there's not going to be enough room. In any case, you definitely want to register early in order to guarantee your slot.
Correction: in the blog entry's comment, Debra provides more information about the locale for the workshops, the Franciscan Monastery at Catholic University, which opens up for 175 participants. She expects those spaces to sell out within a week, so the call to action still stands.
Guest bloggers: Mary Naeger and Donavan Wilson went to the Brian Kest workshop with me earlier this year. They both attended the Kino MacGregor weekend workshop.
Photos come from Kino MacGregor's personal site, and were not taken at her DC workshop, which I subsequently found to be here.
Kino MacGregor is the youngest women certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga by its founder, the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. A founding director of the Miami Life Center and devoted student of Ashtanga, Kino travels internationally leading classes, workshops and retreats in Ashtanga yoga and total life transformation. Recently on December 12-13, Kino held a weekend workshop at Woodley Park Yoga in Washington, DC. The workshops consisted of the following elements: a guided Ashtanga class, a Mysore class, a class on inversions, handstands and the art of balance and a class on hips and hamstrings. Through her dynamic presence, limitless energy, radiant personality, masterful instruction and graceful, consistent and strong demonstrations, Kino was a source of inspiration to all participants.
Guided Ashtanga: "Guided" is the term used to describe the traditional vinyasa yoga class in which students are led as a group through all or part of the Primary Series of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. The Primary Series (or First Series) is the first sequence of asanas (postures) taught to beginning Ashtanga yoga students and provides the foundation for all advanced postures in Ashtanga. The Primary Series consists of 75 poses that begins with Sun Salutations (five rounds of Surya Namaskar A and B) and moves on to standing postures, seated postures, inversions, and back-bends before ending with finishing postures and final relaxation.
Kino's Guided Ashtanga class was challenging and rigorous for even the most experienced Ashtanga student. She led the class through two intense hours of the entire 75 postures of the Primary Series using the traditional Sanskrit count of each vinyasa. Kino's habit of counting slowly and deliberately succeeded in intensifying the experience for each student turning it into a dynamic and painstaking class for both the experienced and novice student. Her expert guidance and appropriate adjustments enabled students to explore new heights (and depths) in their practice safely. Not a class for the fainthearted, students with limited experience practicing the full Primary Series and those with little or no proficiency in Sanskrit were challenged further by the vigorous physical demands of the practice and the absence of instruction in English.
Workshop Footnote: With two hours to spare between the two workshop classes on Saturday and another Guided Ashtanga class scheduled in the studio, most participants left the studio for a light lunch while Kino opted to practice in one of the changing rooms.
Inversions: Establish a Foundation
The second workshop of the day focused on inversions, handstands and the art of balance. Kino spent the first hour discussing a meticulous and analytical approach to inversions. Designed to instill a sense of confidence and hope in the most doubtful student, Kino taught students to embrace a new mantra of "pelvis forward" rather than "up" when approaching headstands and handstands along with techniques that students can employ to engage their upper back muscles to establish a strong, supportive foundation for the poses. For the yoga student used to "kicking up" to propel the torso into an inversion, Kino's approach proved challenging in that it required drishti (focus) and emphasized controlled movement initiating from the pelvis and not physical momentum using the strength of one's legs.Mysore: A Symphony of Breath
The Mysore practice is an opportunity for each student to be taught individually in a class setting. Participants receive a one-on-one lesson based on where they are in the Primary Series. Students practice their own portion of the Primary Series at their own pace. The teacher assists each student individually through verbal instruction and physical adjustments. The smaller the class, the more individual attention a student can receive from a teacher. After the invocation and chanting, each participant began their practice with the Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) at their own pace. The conditions for the Mysore class were mat-to-mat as it was for each segment of the workshop segment and participants were very accommodating to students who needed additional space or arrived late. The numbers or the mat-to-mat conditions did not affect the quality of instruction students received from Kino. Kino masterfully provided each student with adjustments, instruction and guidance. Kino moved throughout the studio floor and kept a keen eye on everyone. There is nothing so sublime as to watch students in their own movement and breath in the Mysore practice. The room was filled with Ujjayi breathing which was almost in complete concert with each participant.
Hips and Hamstrings: Open To The Possibilities
Some yoga students cringe when it comes to practicing certain postures because they are "tight" or stiff in the hamstrings and hips. Kino's "Hips and Hamstrings" class offered an approach to this predicament. Kino began the class with a short lecture on body mechanics and demonstrations on the important role of the pelvis, hips, and hamstrings in forward bends and balancing poses. In a fun and non-threatening way she sought to simplify the mystery of the bandhas and instruct the class in the foundation of healthy poses by emphasizing three key elements: 1) establish a strong foundation by pushing down through the heels; 2) engage the core by hollowing out the belly, and 3) achieve length and depth by elongating the spine. By applying these three elements and her techniques on proper hip and pelvic rotation, soon the once skeptical yogis and yoginis in class were "making phone calls" with their right or left foot while envisioning some day being able to place their feet behind their head without pain or stress on the neck.
Washingtonv Post Virginia overreaches in trying to certify yoga programs - Editorial supports yoga instructors' complaint against Virginia bureaucrats:
Training yoga instructors may not be legally distinguishable from training hairdressers or massage therapists or bartenders. But the schools that undertake it are few and, generally speaking, modest operations that have not been the target of consumer complaints. Better to leave well enough alone or, at the least, exempt smaller schools from regulatory fees that in some cases could put yoga programs out of business.
Dana Cohen has returned to Thrive Yoga, sadly for a brief stay before heading off to Asia. She will be taking over some of Susan's teaching load during the Holidays, but she will also be starting up Yin Yoga classes. On Saturday, there will be an extended, 3-hour workshop that will expose participants to the approach of targeting connective tissue, specifically ligaments and tendons in the joints and spine, in holds that last 3-5 minutes. This approach differs from the emphasis on movement in a vinyasa/Yang Yoga practice. In both cases, breathing is still central.
During December, Dana will be leading Yin Yoga classes in the normal schedule of classes, and Michelle Fry will be continuing them in January. I took a Tuesday evening class with Dana this week. She made several adjustments in my Downward-facing Dog pose that really helped me focus on accessing the right combination of muscles in the alignment. Amazing what a few gentle touches can do for awareness.
Dana has been out on the West Coast, grabbing lots of opportunities to practice her Thai yoga therapy, give classes and play with fire:
YOGA with LIVE KIRTAN in Washington with Kamaniya and Keshavacharya Das with the session led by Katja Brandis at Studio Serenity this Sunday at 6:00 pm. It's kinda West Coast to do yoga with live kirtan/music so the edge is moving east. Or whatever.
Kamaniya Devi and Keshavacharya Das travel ceaselessly to bring kirtan to new audiences so much so that they can barely keep their blogs, Facebooks and MySpace site up to date with their comings and goings. MySpace sites foro both: Keshavacharya and Kamaniya.
Labels: dc_yoga
Washington Post Va. yoga instructors sue state on plan to regulate training:
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia requires certification of all sorts of vocational training programs, including bartending schools, dog-grooming schools and the Ballroom Dance Teachers Academy. Certification requires a $2,500 fee, audits, annual charges of at least $500 and paperwork. Yoga teacher training had long fallen below the council's radar. Then, late last year, a state employee conducting school audits noticed an advertisement for it.
The skirmishing between state bureaucracies and yoga teachers continues. I am not sure if I am comfortable with the Libertarian slant to some arguments against regulations, on top of the muddled perspective of whether yoga has a religious nature and therefore should remain outside the reach of the State. Yoga teacher training is definitely small fry in the vocational training business. For that matter, only a handful of "graduates" actually end up teaching more than a few classes a week. Who's making a living off of yoga? How many students feel cheated by substandard teaching?
Also see the Cato Institute's blog, which in turn points to the Institute of Justice's case report, this You Tube video and this editorial in the Richmond Times Dispatch. An AP wire story. And Reason's Hit and Run blog lends moral support.
The Mid-Atlantic regional yoga competition sponsored by Bikram Yoga is December 6 in Baltimore at Bikram Yoga Baltimore. More information in the Washington (Post) Express article.
I know, contests seem to be the antithesis of yoga's spirit, but it may bring some people to the mat. Bring your own towels.
And this news should be accompanied by this NY Times article: Is the Spirit of Competition in the Soul of Yoga?
At the Brian Kest workshop at Thrive Yoga a month ago, I took it upon myself to be the official photographer of the event. I took my Nixon D40 and kept it near my mat. A couple of times a session, I got up and took some photos, as many as I could because so many uncontrollable factors (and my own incompetence) can cross up a photo. You can see a selection of the shots at the Thrive Yoga Facebook photo gallery
Kest was cool with the distraction of a flash and shutter going off. Susan told the people that if they objected to any of their photos that showed up on Facebook, they could drop her an e-mail and we would remove it. I made a point of taking lots of shots of student greeting Kest after class. Several people specifically requested photos as mementos. Saturday class was more packed and it was really hard to move around. For the workshop weekend, I positioned my mat in a spot in the corner that allowed me a little more leeway because it was "leftover space" -- no one could fit another mat in there. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, it became so hot and humid that the lens started fogging up and everything took on a halo-like glow. I caught it on Sunday and could wipe it clean with a towel, but I was afraid that I would scratch the lens.
There were times when I did not feel comfortable taking pix. For instance, during the Long, Slow and Deep (LSD, get it!) session on Saturday afternoon. People were really zoned into their experience. Besides, by the time, we had actually tunneled into the sequence and deep restorative poses, I didn't know if I could get up. And if I got up, whether I would be able to get back down again and in the same mind and body set. I decided that meditative sets were off base (well, the whole practice is meditative, but you know what I mean).
I don't have any other lenses so I had no way to get around the limited anlges and focus depth. Susan had commented that I tend to show panoramic views of the whole (really a large segment of) class. I tried to focus in on individuals or smaller groups. As evident in this blog, I am working on a series of photos that concentrate on isolated shots, a hand, a foot, clasped hands in a bind. Rather than looking at the whole pose and the full practitioner, I am focusing on a small slice of practice -- a kind of drishti.
There is this obsessive idea of the perfect pose in much of the Western practice of yoga, that you have to get the alignment just right, find your edge with ease and grace. So we want to see lanky models pose with perfect lighting. That's why I like the isolation shots because there is no presumption of perfection. The foot of a novice on the mat is just as eloquent as the foot of a master. It tells a lot of things. My daughter, for instance, saw a picture of a foot and hand on a mat and immediately noted that the ball of the foot was slightly raised, putting more weight on the outer edge of the foot. In yoga, you're supposed to distribute the weight over all "four corners" of the foot.
I find myself really draw to this subject matter. In part, I am grappling with words to describe the experience and frequently coming up short. Photography offers another approach, more spontaneous, direct, succinct. But you're only working with the surface, which is only the first layer of the senses.
Taking pictures is a great excuse for stopping in the middle of a demanding vinyasa and taking a breather. It was a demanding practice so I welcomed the opportunity to get out of more hard stuff. I also welcomed the chance to get around and look at other people's practices more closely. It was enriching to see the diversity of experience and ease on display.
I've been meaning to mention that Kino MacGregor, an extraordinary Ashtanga instructor, will be teaching at Woodley Park Yoga on December 12-13, but I just checked at all four sessions are sold out. Unless Faith Scimecca, the studio owner, gets a bigger venue for the event, we're out of luck. We'll just have to conform ourselves to this video.
In an act of penitence, I have gone through all the website links on the DC Area yoga page and made sure they work. It was embarrassing to click on some of the first links and gotten a 404 error. Directory pages, which are made of inventories of links are hard to maintain because the site owner can redesign the site and change the page names and I have no way of knowing. It means I have to link check regularly. The DC Area Yoga page is the third most visited page on the site so people must find it useful so it's worth it to keep it current.
While I am at it, let me also announce that I am implementing a DC area yoga map. So far, I've been able to get in most of the Montgomery Country yoga centers. This is a slow process, and I have not been able to progress as much as I had hoped, which is why I did not announce anything until now.
Washington Wizards star Antawn Jamison talks about the benefits of doing Yoga for an NBA athlete, especially for a grizzled old veteran like him. He needs all the help he can get because injuries start piling up at his age. The yoga would also help mentally when your team had the worst record of the league in 2008-09 season.
From viewing the video, it's clear that Jamison is just scratching the surface of yoga. It's all upside from where he is. He's also fighting against all the ingrained muscular strength that his basketball, weight training and conditioning have drilled into his body. Hopefully, he'll keep it up.
Educators, Scientists and Contemplatives Dialogue on Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Brain and Heart
How can our educational system evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century? How will we educate people to be compassionate, competent, ethical, and engaged citizens in an increasingly complex and interconnected world? The urgent challenges of a globalized and interdependent world demand a new vision of world citizenship that is not confined to national boundaries, but encompasses moral and ethical responsibilities to all humanity.
In this case, there will be conversation with educators, including the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, as well as the usual suspects from previous encounters. Universities like Harvard, George Washington , Stanford, Virginia, Penn State, and Wisconsin are sponsoring the event, along with the American Psychological Association and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning.
Labels: brain_science, dc_yoga, news, reading
Now that Yoga Month has come and gone, we can get on with our regular practice. Shiva Rea is coming back to the DC area in October 9-10 at Flow Yoga. This will be one of the largest mega-classes this year because Flow will probably hold the event in an outside site to pack as many yogis, shoulder to shoulder, into a limited space. Sign up early (if you still can) and go early.
I will be looking forward to the Brian Kest workshop at Thrive Yoga on October 23-25. A leading advocate of Ashtanga yoga on the West Coast, he has been a symbolic bennchmark for me. When I started out doing yoga five years ago, I used to watch the free yoga workouts on my cable service. For a while, it was one of Brian Kest's videos. But they were so demanding for me that I could never get beyond the opening sequence before pooping out. The cable service rotated the video to other yoga instructors so I never got a chance to catch up with Kest's pace. Of course, it took me a couple of years to just make it through a full vinyasa session.
Now I think I can handle it. That's pretty amazing considering that I turned 60 last week. And I look at the coming decade of my life as even more challenging and fulfilling than previous ones because I am a more whole and healthy as a person.
Washington Post Breathing Properly Puts the Body in the Right Frame of Mind:
Exercise can often seem like the opposite of relaxation. Our goal is to exhaust our muscles, shoot our heart rates up and overcome the competition (whether that be a person or a personal best). But performance actually improves when you figure out how to keep your calm while exerting yourself. "Breathing badly is something that's going to make you fatigued faster and hurts form, and that's what gets you injured," says Emory Land, a triathlon coach and assistant general manager of the Vida Fitness location at Logan Circle. "You'll never reach your potential."
Missed this article when it came out a couple of days ago. Also this points to a new yoga studio, Mindfulness Center, at 4963 Elm St. in Bethesda. It's stronger on the meditation side of practice (as obvious form its name) than yoga, but it does have classes.
Labels: breathing, dc_yoga, meditation, yoga
Washington Post D.C. Homeless Men Take Path to Serenity, One Yoga Lesson at a Time:
When they do yoga, after being hunched over in a defensive crouch for years, aching from carrying their worldly possessions in duffels slung over their shoulders, hurting from years of sleeping on pavement, it can be transformative.
"I'm suffering from back pain. Aches, you know, it's the life," said Junior Amarzon, 32, who has been living at the St. Elizabeths homeless shelter in Southeast Washington for nine months and is a dedicated yoga student. "Yoga is great for me, for my body."
Being out on the streets and helpless requires a lot of healing, both physically and mentally.
Labels: dc_yoga, mind health, news
Washington Post Pursuing Rapture Without Regulation, Yogis Take Position Against Va. Policy is about the Virginia state government waking up to yoga teacher training and laying down the law about registration.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently declared that studios offering yoga teacher instruction must be certified. That involves a $2,500 fee, audits, annual charges of at least $500 and a pile of paperwork.
Yogis, in an unlikely departure from their usual mission to foster harmony and balance, are pushing back. They launched a letter-writing campaign to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and state lawmakers and started a "Virginia Yoga Teachers" page on Facebook to organize it. Even Sen. Mark Warner's former private yoga instructor said she asked his office to back their effort.
Photo: Desiree Rumbaugh in handstand
National Yoga Month is September around the country, and there will be Global Mala events all around the DC area, plus workshops by high-profile teachers. Many events will revolve around doing 108 sun salutations or other permutations as an offering or garland.
- Inner Reaches (Gathersburg) is offering a "108-minutes of yoga" session on September 20. It's 12-5, but the yoga starts are 2:00 pm. This flyer has more details or go to the website.
- Amy Weintraub will give a workshop on her LifeForce Yoga at Circle Yoga on September 11.
- Yoga Aid will be staging a two-hour event in downtown DC, starting at 10:00 am on September 12.
- As you might expect, Lucy stores will be sponsoring multiple events. Check with the local story.
- Faith Hunter will lead a session at Shakti MindBody Studio on September 6.
Yoga Month is sponsoring a one-week of free yoga promotion at participating studios. It's a great chance to sample a different studio. Other events will be coming up, and I'll try to point to them here, if possible, but you can also check with your home yoga studio to see what's happening there.
Washington Post Yoga Activists Say Classes Shouldn't Require a Financial Stretch is about increasing efforts to broaden yoga's appeal and utility in dealing with multiple issues:
The class, for students in Upward Bound, a program that prepares low-income youths for college, is part of a growing movement to take yoga beyond its reputation as boutique exercise for the well-to-do and use it as therapy for groups such as at-risk and homeless youths, HIV/AIDS patients and torture survivors.
Of course, this trends has been going on for far more than three years; it's just that this reporter noticed the outreach efforts now and needs to cloak the article in newsworthiness.
I just got an unexpected message from Rachel Permuth-Levine, the organizer of the National Institutes of Health Mind-Body Week, the latest installment of a series of events that NIH has served an institutional umbrella for. The conference this year was really shaping up as a compelling gathering of presenters (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dan Siegel, Tara Brach, Alan Finger, Timothy McCall, etc.) and demos of yoga, meditation, tai chi. It's not the same as a high-profile Yoga Journal conference, but still dealt with fundamental issues. Look at its Facebook page for details. I was even planning on taking a few days off to attend. It was part of Yoga Month.
Here's her message:
I am writing to inform you that the NIH has decided to cancel the proposed NIH Mind-Body Week (MBW), scheduled for Sept 8-11, 2009. Subsequent to initial discussions among planners about a MBW event, the NIH was given the enormous opportunity and attendant responsibility of funding an unprecedented $8.2 billion to support scientific research priorities as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The period proposed for holding the MBW is exactly when much of the NIH will be focused on ensuring that all of the successful ARRA applicants receive their awards prior to the end of the NIH fiscal year on September 30, 2009. We appreciate your efforts in developing MBW and regret any inconvenience caused by the change in plans.
This cancellation is really baffling! Two months before the event is to take place, it's called off because the NIH can't chew gum and walk at the same time, figuratively speaking. Or because it suffers from institutional attention deficit disorder -- if some guests are doing yoga while the NIH managers are crunching numbers for funding research grants, the bureaucrats might get distracted and hit the wrong key on their computers.
This move just does not make sense, with apologies to Rachel, who, I am sure, feels embarrassed and disappointed. There has to be a more rational explanation for the NIH backing out of the event (conspiracy theories welcome). And the NIH is dumping this news on a Friday afternoon to make sure that it gets buried over the weekend -- there's proof that something fishy is going on!
washingtonpost.com Nonprofit Group Teaches D.C. How to Take a Breather also has some great photos of the open-air event in downtown Washington.
"Take a Breath DC" ran from Wednesday to Saturday and culminated in a group meditation for about 600 in Lafayette Park. The course was organized by the Art of Living Foundation, a nonprofit group that has its national headquarters on 15th Street NW. The cornerstone of Art of Living is a rhythmic breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya. About 30 years ago, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (not the sitarist who knew the Beatles; different guy) discovered that this type of breathing, combined with yoga and meditation, can bring inner peace; he and his followers have taught the art of better breathing to millions since then.
I learned the AOL routines back in early 2004 and have continued them to this day, though I don't do them everyday because it's hard to fit all my practices into a single day. If I do yoga, I usually won't do a kriya unless I'm really dead tired and need to revive my energy. I haven't been to a Art of Living weekly session for several years and need to go back just to refresh my memory of the whole process.
Before it's too late, let me mention it's DC Yoga Week, May 2-9, at a host of yoga studios in Washington. Free and inexpensive classes are offered at 10 participating studios. Next Saturday, there's going to be a Yoga on the Mall event from 2-5 pm.
Labels: dc_yoga
Rachel Permuth-Levine wrote me to ask that I put something about the next NIH Yoga Week on the blog:
From September 8-11, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will premier its second annual Yoga Week. Highlighting the science and practice of yoga, this four-day series of events will serve NIH employees and the public. Participants will not only learn about the benefits of yoga but also experience them first-hand through stretching and practice. The first yoga week, in May 2008 received national attention with over 1300 participants – it also resulted in National Yoga Month, a National Health Observance being designated for every September from now til – perhaps eternity. This Yoga Week will focus on yoga, yoga therapy, yoga research, and will have other related presentations on meditation, stress management, and other mind/body modalities. Everyone is welcome to join us for several free sessions. There will also be an opportunity to gain Continuing Education credits through Yoga Alliance and several other health education partners. Events take place in Bethesda, Maryland, which is just 20 minutes away from Washington DC. Come be a part of this historic and energizing event.
So now you know, set aside a few afternoons that week to take in some of the activities. And if you think that you have something special to contribute, contact Rachel yourself. You'll find her very receptive to ideas and suggestions.
Labels: dc_yoga
The Washington Post gave the NIH CORE (COnditioning and RElaxation) Week (February 9-13) a nice curtain-raiser for the event in A Free Opportunity to Give Your Body and Your Brain a Boost:
The offerings include a talk by Acklin, a neurologist and founder of All Is Well Yoga, on "Responsibility and Empowerment in Creating a Life of Vitality"; a time management workshop; an intro to the "energy-balancing" practice of reiki; a whole lot of Pilates classes; and a number of surprises, such as a hip-hop dance tutorial led by CORE Week organizer Rachel Permuth-Levine.
The fact that Rachel has earned good street cred allowed her to get such a nice writeup before the event actually took place, which is when you need the publicity, not after the fact. Of course, I should have spotted this article earlier in the week and pointed to it, but at least I posted about the NIH CORE Week before. I hear that all the sessions really went well.
Last weekend, I took some shots of the YogaUSA Day event at Thrive Yoga. It was a packed house, 64 people signing up online. Susan Bowen led the session. I think some people got a bit freaked out by so much attention (a photographer shooting every few minutes). Admittedly, no one came expecting to have their practice immortalized. Most people were there because the class was free, and Susan was just hoping that a few of them would come back for more.
I was using my son's Nikon D80 SLR camera, which was a real treat. I now understand why attempting to take shots of yoga practice with anything but an SLR camera is tough, almost a guarantee of amateurish shots. Yoga is like any sports activity: you need a fast shut time, a sensitive CCD and the ability to modify the RAW file in Photoshop (or similar application). I've been working with a Canon compact, which is fine for tourist shots, but for anything moving at real life speed.
Thrive Yoga is offering a $69 unlimited month yoga pass promotion. She made a good point explaining the offer to the people at the event: you have to give yoga some time to see if it can work for you. The first couple of sessions, you're looking around at the other people, worried whether you're holding the pose correctly, fidgeting in your clothing, and trying to figure out the audio cues that the teacher is giving you. Meanwhile, your body is complaining after the session that unusual demands were being placed on it. You need a couple of weeks to get over the initial shock and awe, and then take a more balanced assessment of how yoga affects you.
Inspired Yoga is getting into the swing of Obama Inauguration with Inaugurating the Sacred featuring master teacher Saul David Raye, stretching from today, January 15 to Monday, January 19. There are too many sessions to mention here specifically (yoga, Thai massage, meditation, chanting). In addition, there's an Om Inaugural Ball on Sunday evening, January 18. Many out-of-town guests will be showing up at Inspired Yoga. More power to them. Recently, the studio and its owner director, Kyra Anastasia Sudofsky, were featured on CNN about the relief that yoga provides stressed out Washingtonians.
Just to update, the Shiva Rea & Seane Corne events have been all booked up for more than a week (if not longer).
Flow Yoga Center is sponsoring additional activities on Monday, January 19, taking advantage of the presence of two leading yoga teachers, Shiva Rea and Seane Corne. Seane will have a two-hour session from 10-12, followed by two sessions (1-2:45pm and 3-5pm) with Shiva. The third session has already filled up. All yoga sessions will be held at the Washington Ballet facilities. Remember that January 19 is a holiday so you may have some free time to take in a day session. You can sign up at the online store. These events lead into the evening Chant 4 Change: Inaugural Kirtan Festival. There may be other events taking place around the inaugural so you may want to check with your local yoga studios. You also have the Yoga Day USA the week after the inauguration.
CORE stands for COnditioning and RElaxation. This week will feature discussions and participation in diverse forms of physical activity, such as yoga, Pilates, running, walking, hip-hop dancing and more. It will also offer de-stressing and relaxation. There are more activities than a single person can undertake. CORE Week is held from February 9-13 at various locations at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. For more information, please contact the organizer, Dr. Rachel Levine, directly. All events are FREE and open to the public. Details about daily events.
On Wednesday evening, February 11, from 6:30-9:00 pm, the event organizers will have a networking/brainstorming get-together at the Rockville Lifetime Athletic Club, 1151 Seven Locks Rd., Rockville, Maryland 20854. This event carries a modest fee, $15, to cover refreshments.
Judging from a previous event, I know that Rachel and her colleagues will put together a great series of presentations, discussions and hands-on sessions. NIH is also opening its fitness centers for classes before and after the main mid-day events.
Labels: dc_yoga
Yoga Day USA is coming up on Saturday, January 24. The event is sponsored by the Yoga Alliance and is meant to broaden the appeal of yoga and encourage people to be physically active.
At my home studio, there will be a free class at 12:30-2:00 pm, and other studios will be doing similar activities so locate them on the Yoga Day site or go directly to the studios to find out what they are planning.
Labels: dc_yoga
CHANT 4 CHANGE, January 19, 6:30 pm - 11:30 pm, at Church of the Holy City
Celebrate the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with sacred activist Shiva Rea, world-renowned kirtan/chant artists Jai Uttal, Dave Stringer, Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits and 400 other conscious revolutionaries.
I suspect that this event is going to sell out very quickly. It's a relatively small venue. You can buy tickets at Brown Paper Tickets at $70 a piece. It's for a good cause.
Labels: dc_yoga, life style
Desiree Rumbaugh
Anusara Yoga teacher
I wanted to sketch out some ideas about the Desiree Rumbaugh workshop at Thrive Yoga this weekend. You would think that 13 hours of yoga spread over three days would generate a lot of grist for the mill, but there's been little opportunity to clarify my mind. Friday night after the first two-hour session, I was involved in family affairs (my mother-in-law arrived from New York City and daughter spent the night on her way to Philadelphia for the weekend.) until late.
Last night, I went straight home and ate anything to give me some quick energy. I thought about doing something useful, but I was too tired to write anything about the workshop. In the end, I went to bed. The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed, served myself a bagel and a cup of coffee and made it to the studio by 8:45. I wondered if I had made the right decision: my hips, thighs and calves were all stiff and felt like dead weight. I felt flat and a bit burned out. But once the yoga started moving my limbs, my energy got better. By the end of the last session (Yoga Therapy), all I could think of was to get more fuel into my system.
Kathy Donnelly, Desiree Rumbaugh, Suzie Hurley and Susan Bowen welcomeall the Anusara aficianados to the first night of the workshop.
First finding: all-day yoga workshops make it hard to get adequate meals. I did not want to overeat at breakfast and lunch for fear that it would interfere with the yoga. But all the energy consumed during the sessions means that a late dinner just makes you want to go to bed. If I had taken just one session a day, it would not have made much of a difference, but double sessions are grueling.
Second finding: Anusara yoga has a strong foothold in the DC area. Desiree drew workshop participants from as far away as New York, Pennsylvania and even California, but many current Anusara teachers from the DC area (and their students) renewed their relationship with Desiree. Lots of hugs and kisses before and after each class: Willow Street Yoga, the Yoga Center of Columbia , Inner Reaches Yoga, and probably a few others, were all present. Friday night and Saturday morning, not another mat could have fit into the expanded room (maybe 70 in all). The other sessions still had slots available, but there were a lot of new faces. That's pretty good, considering that the workshop fell in the middle of summer. Thrive's owner, Susan Bowen, says that Desiree will be back soon.
Desiree demonstrated how to get deeply into cobra pose.
Third Finding: Desiree Rumbaugh is an exceptional teacher, and it's easy to see why she's gained such a great reputation. She has a knack for driving home the Anusara message of proper alignment, joyful attitude and balanced action in asana after asana, spotting the necessary adjustments to more fully manifest the pose in her students, and enthusiastic narrative that intertwines her own self-discovery and healing through yoga and the principles of Anusara philosophy. She's really able to break pose down into pieces that can easily be digested and enacted. And it's the details that make the difference in the asana.
These "findings" are the low hanging fruit that I can easily pick before going to bed. More considered remarks will come later, with at least one good night of sleep and a day without yoga under my belt. Plus, I've got photographs of the sessions.
I ran into Abby Murphy at Thrive Yoga on July 4, and she popped up at the Desiree Rumbaugh workshop in several of the sessions this weekend so I need to mention her seva initiative. As stated on her blog, she is working in the DC area to rally support for the Cambodian Children's Fund. It's part of a broader effort by the Off the Mat Foundation, created by the yoga instructor Seane Corn, Hala Kouri, and the singer Suzanne Sterling in Silver Spring. On Sunday, October 12, she will be leading a yogathon at Willow Street Yoga. I am sure she'd appreciate all the support possible from other yoga studios and practitioners.
This coming weekend, Desiree Rumbaugh will be giving five workshops at Thrive Yoga. I hear that there are still vacancies available, though the Friday evening class looks like it's close to filling up. I will be attending all of the sessions, taking pictures as often as feasible, and sucking up the energy. Thrive Yoga is basically shutting down for the weekend to hold this workshop so it's practically Desiree or nothing. I will try to blog my practice, but I don't know what kind of time and motivation will be left over from the sessions.
Continuing with Donavan Wilson's comments on yoga classes in the DC area, he recounts three recent experiences: in a well-established studio, in a small studio operating out of loaned facilities (typical of how many studios get started), and in a store.
"Support Your Center: A Workshop on Core Strength" with Sheree Mullen, March 2008
This was my first class at Willow Street Yoga Center and it lived up to its reputation. Ms. Mullen offered an unorthodox and fun workshop that focused on postures that target the core. Sheree's approach was to try postures in a different way. A few participants fell on the floor in an effort to keep up. No one was injured. The participants ranged from beginner (one male student's first yoga class) to advanced students. Students encouraged Mullen to offer a second workshop in the future.
Gerri Smith, Calm Unity Yoga, December 2007.
Geri Smith manages Calm Unity Yoga, which offers classes a few days in the week. The "studio" is a carriage house located next to the Art Barns in the Kentlands, Gaithersburg. Calm Unity offers blankets, blocks, straps and mats for individuals. I participated in Hatha class (Saturday from 11:30 to 12:45). It was small (6 or 7 people), which provided an opportunity for the instructor to give students more one-on-one guidance. The class challenged me and it was a rewarding experience.
Lululemon Athletica in Bethesda, June 29, 2008
I went to a Sunday class at the Bethesda Lululemon Athletic, a high-end store that sells Yoga-inspired athletic apparel. It provides a free Yoga class that starts at 6. Laura Greene, who teaches at the Sacred Space Yoga in Rockville, is a wonderful instructor with a thick English accent. I enjoyed the class SO MUCH. Each week Lululemon will provide a different instructor. Lululemon's staff wants to provide a class every day! I hope they succeed.
Donavan Wilson and I have been exchanging e-mails for a while, ever since we both attended a master Ashtanga class at Thrive Yoga and did not introduce ourselves to each other. He has sent me his comments on taking yoga classes at Bally's Total Fitness, two locations, four teachers. Since gyms are where many people get their start with yoga, I thought it would be helpful to include his remarks here. In fact, he's so positive about the experience, I'm tempted to try them out. So this is the first experiment with an outside contributor on this blog (not counting the comments that crop up once in a while).
Bally's Total Fitness, Gaithersburg, Maryland Sherry Rubin and Mireille "Mimi" Lafontant
Mimi: Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm
Mimi's offers a very demanding Yoga class. This class combines elements of Pilates, Power Yoga and Hatha Yoga. She begins each class by asking each participant, "What would you like to work on your body today?" She adjusts the class accordingly to the needs of her students. Mimi's emphasis on core training is consistent from week to week. She pushes her students to there limit, by holding postures very long time. However, with each posture Mimi offers options and modifications for beginner, intermediate and advanced students. Mimi's passion for pushing her students and developing their strength is very clear. You will work up a sweat in this class.
Sherry: Wednesday and Friday at 9:30 and Sunday at 10:00 (all morning)
Ms. Rubin has four years of teaching experience. Sherry's teaching style is a blend of different styles of Hatha Yoga. Rubin injects humor and pleasant outlook into her classes. Unlike Mimi, Rubin does not push her students as hard.She offers modifications depending on the experience of each student. Also, Sherry is very good at correcting students regarding their form. This reviewer can tell that Ms. Rubin has spent years in a Yoga Studio as practitioner. Rubin often demonstrates new postures before students attempt them. Rubin is very user friendly and outgoing instructor.
Bally's Total Fitness, Wheaton, Maryland Peter Gibbon and Diane Brown
Peter: Saturdays at 11:45-12:45
An instructor and Co-Director of the Peaceful Path Yoga Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, Gibbon has a background in Kripalu Yoga and has 500 hours of certification as an instructor. Gibbon's Saturday Yoga class at Bally Total Fitness at Wheaton is a mixed-level approach. Gibbon covers the traditional postures (Warrior I, Triangle and Plank). Gibbon is walking across the aerobic room to check the form and posture of each student. Also, Gibbon is in front of his class demonstrating proper form. For individuals looking for traditional mixed-level class in a gym setting, I highly recommend Gibbon. Throughout the course of the class, Gibbon injects his brand of humor with a very thick New England-Massachusetts accent.
Diane: Thursdays at 7:30
This review can not capture or describe Ms. Brown's joy for teaching and life. Brown incorporates both Yoga and Pilates into her class. Brown is often wearing a smile and talking up a storm to distract students, in her efforts to push them. Brown's energy and enthusiasm is contagious. She does not push as hard as some instructors. What Brown lacks in pushing, she makes up in an interesting blend of Yoga postures and Pilates moves.
I got an e-mail message from Christine (:Brahmi:) Romero at St. Mark's Yoga. She will be leading a Laughing Yoga session on Sunday, June 22, 2:30-3:30. This style of yoga has been getting a lot of notice recently so it should be interesting. St Mark's Yoga, located on Capital Hill, will be hosting Kirtan with As Kindred Spirits on Sunday, July 27 at 2:00-3:30. The group has been playing at local yoga studios, as well as up and down the east coast. It has a CD and is preparing a second. More information about the group at their site where you can sample their sound.
The Jivamukti Yoga Satsang and Flow Yoga will bring Sharon Gannon and David Life, the guiding lights of Jivamukti Yoga, to Washington, DC, on September 6-7. They will give four workshops that could not be contained in a normal yoga studio so the Marvin Center facilities at George Washington University will be the event site. Despite the expanded facilities, expect these events to sell out quickly so anyone interested should sign up immediately. Gannon and Life have their high-profile studio, the Jivamukti Yoga School, in New York City. They are charismatic teachers and extremely influential on the US yoga scene.
On a more modest scale, another Jivamuskti instructor, Alanna (Kaivalya), the Jiva Diva, will also be teaching a workshop on "Myths of the Asana" at Flow Yoga August 17. She has a great podcast that you should check out.
Jill Abelson, the lead Jivamukti presence in DC, has been laying the groundwork for these events with her own active teaching activities at Flow and other yoga venues. She's one of my favorite teachers in the DC area.
Labels: dc_yoga, philosophy
The Washington Post's blog called The Checkup has a post about The NIH and The Woo-Woo Thing, which really refers to the NIH Yoga Week events taking place in Bethesda this week:
"Yoga Week is chock full of lectures about yoga's role in medicine and hands-on-the-mat opportunities to practice asana (the Sanskrit term for yoga poses)."
The writer gets an interview with Dr. Timothy McCall who's the medical consultant for Yoga Journal and also recently published a book about Yoga as Medicine. He talks about the yoga practitioners being way ahead of the medical community in knowing the good that yoga does. Speaking from the personal experience of having just come from a vinyasa class at Thrive Yoga tonight, I could not have had a better tonic. I sweated out all the toxins of the daily grind and was left at peace on the mat for the final restorative pose (blessings to Dana for a great class).
I've heard that the activities are drawing "big crowds," but I can't be real sure since I am confined to a cubicle from 9 to 5:30 (except when I escape to run around the Mall in shorts). A tip of the hat to the organizers and sponsors, especially to Rachel Permuth-Levine, who worked her butt off to make this week possible. I wish I was there to soak up the wisdom.
Beryl Bender Birch, the master instructor of Hard and Soft Power Yoga (within the Ashtanga school), is giving a weekend workshop at Georgetown Yoga on Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7. As noted here and here before, I participated in a Bender Birch workshop at Thrive Yoga. I really enjoyed the opportunity to benefit from her insight and inspiration and would recommend her to any serious yoga student.
At Thrive Yoga, there are a couple of great workshops coming up:
- Govindas & Radha - Waves of Love Weekend on June 13-14. Govindas is a Rockville native who now lives in California and leads workshops that combine asana with kirtan, music, rhythm and joy. You can buy his CD at CD Baby. The Friday evening event is going to be a family affair in which you can bring offspring and friends for a single price.
- Anusara Yoga with Desiree Rumbaugh will take place on the July 11-13 weekend. Desiree is an exception teacher and associate of John Friend. She has multiple two DVDs that deal with body issues through yoga. These sessions are going to be 2-3 hours long so that will really reveal a lot about Anusara's approach to the body .
There is nothing like take an intensive workshop (just one session or multiple days), to break through barriers in your practice.
Washington Post A Breath of Hope: Walter Reed Tries Yoga to Counter PTSD picks up on the use of mind-body techniques to heal the psychological and physical suffering of war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center:
The yoga that Carnes teaches, a form of guided meditation known as yoga nidra, was added to the program in 2006 after she helped conduct a feasibility study at the medical center... The results of the study were overwhelmingly positive, she said, adding that the service members appreciated learning skills that they could continue to use after they left... However, it's difficult to document the program's impact. Participants, who evaluate their own progress, often say they feel better after sessions, Carnes said, but there's little scientific evidence to back their anecdotal reports.
When Bush unleashed war on Iraq, his administration failed to put a dollar cost on the invasion and occupation of a Middle East country for five years. Now we know that the psychological cost may be even heavier than the financial, maiming a generation of soldiers. Their suffering will linger for decades. Yoga and other disciplines have been identified as key components of any treatment strategy, but it's been hard to pin down the statistical evidence (anecdotal accounts abound) to back this up to the full satisfaction of Western science.
Living Yoga is a feature about the life and teachings of Swami Satchidananda. A couple of trailers are on YouTube or on the website. Swami Satchidananda was a major influence on the US scene when he arrived the 1966 and began re-introducing yoga and Tantric knowledge to a new audience seeking to break out of consumerism. Here in the Washington, DC, Yogaville is a monument to his legacy.
The feature will be shown at St. Mark's Yoga on Capital Hill on May 15 and the Smith Farm Healing and Arts Center on May 30. Check out the Living Yoga blog for exact times, dates and locations. I just chanced across the information about DC-area showings.
Labels: dc_yoga, philosophy, videos
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be back in Washington, DC to lead a yoga, meditation and pranayama workshop on May 9-11 (Friday and Saturday, 6-8 pm; Sunday, 8-10 am). It will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, VA and cost $200 (students and seniors: $100). No prior knowledge of the Art of Living courses is needed. This is a rare opportunity to receive insight directly from a major spiritual leader.
For those who are already introduced to the Art of Living program, you can take an advanced course with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, May 8-12, 6:30 am - 9:30 pm. This will include the celebration of Sri Sri's birthday. This 4-day course will also take place at the Hyatt Regency and there may be some overlap between the advanced course and the workshop open to the public. This course costs between $510 and $660 (see the conditions on the registration site).
Labels: art_of_living, dc_yoga
My friend and infrequent yoga teacher, Rachel Permuth-Levine, is one of the organizers behind 2008 NIH Yoga Week: Exploring the Science and Practice of Yoga. NIH is the National Institutes of Health, for those not up on Washington acronyms. From May 19 to May 23, there will be guest speakers, reports on NIH's own research on yoga and meditation and yoga practice on the NIH campus lawn (weather permitting). Most events are to take place from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm so I will probably not be able to attend.
Among the speakers are Timothy McCall, M.D., Medical Editor of Yoga Journal Magazine and author of Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing
Thrive Yoga will be holding an event outside the NIH daytime schedule. Sat Bir S. Khalsa, will speak on " Yoga and Meditation in the Management of Stress" on Thursday, May 22, 6:00 - 8:00 pm. There is limited space so you will have to register Sign up online..
Labels: brain_science, dc_yoga, meditation, therapy
If you are scheduling your calendar around the growing number of yoga-focused events, you can block off the whole month of September, which a coalition of yoga personalities, media outlets and service companies has declared "Yoga Month." It is "a year-round awareness campaign and will peak September 2008 with millions of health and socially conscious individuals practicing yoga at thousands of yoga studios, businesses, parks and homes around the globe." The campaign will highlight the health value of yoga in dealing with obesity, hypertension, heart disease, breast cancer, menopause, chronic back pain, asthma, arthritis and depression, among other illnesses and conditions. So far, there is no event or affiliate from the Washington, DC area.
Labels: dc_yoga, health, yoga, yoga_resource
The DC area yoga page has become the second most popular page on this site so apparently someone finds it useful. As an additional feature, I have done a little online research and determined which studios offer teacher training and certification. This training component is a sign of a studio's professionalism and scope of services because it takes a substantial investment of knowledge, resources and energy to pull off a 200-hour (or 300 or 500 hour, or pre/post-natal) accredited training program.
Teacher training does not have to be just for those who want to become a teacher. Anyone who wants to deepen his or her understanding of yoga can take a course. My daughter took teacher training last year at Flow Yoga and only a handful of the 20 students are currently teaching. Another way of doing yoga intensive is the 108-hour Anusara immersion program, like the one at Willow Street Yoga.
Finally,
my main yoga shala, Thrive Yoga, is starting a teacher training program in affiliation with Alan Finger and ISHTA Yoga. Two weeks ago I participated in a weekend workshop and was really impressed with Alan Finger's depth of knowledge of yoga, tantra and ayurveda. He's an ol' school yoga guru who traces his lineage back to his teachers: Paramahansa Yogananda (author of the classic book Autobiography of a Yogi), Swami Nishraisananda, Swami Venkatesananda, and Shuddhanand Bharati when they frequented Alan's father's home in South Africa. This is a tradition that is different from the Krishnamacharya branch of the yoga tree (B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and T.K.V. Desikachar) that predominates in the States. Finger came to the States in 1975, founded Yoga Works in LA and then came to NYC and founded Yoga Zone/Be Yoga. His participation in the Thrive ISHTA program sets it apart from most teacher training offerings in the Washington area.
The Finger workshop had a strong emphasis on the underlying universe of knowledge that supports yoga. Alan also integrated pranayama and meditation into the experience. He explained how the chakras related to the whole energy system and why they were essential to understanding yoga. He encouraged questions from the participants and let their interests guide the discussion. His laughter was the mantra of the workshop, punctuating his self-deprecating humor and joy of living.
Most people came to the workshop expecting to work up a good sweat with a vinyasa practice. Instead, we really had to exercise our minds. In the lone vinyasa segment during the workshop (I attended Saturday AM and PM sessions, and went to the Sunday session to take photos), Alan gave two adjustments that helped me correct some bad habits: in downward-facing dog, I was not maintain the curve in my lower back; and in twists, I tended to lead with my head and neck, over-exerting, when my head should be the last element to come into play. In other words, I was trying to hard to get into poses.
Labels: dc_yoga, website, yoga_resource
New York Times Bending, Posing and Teaching Beyond the Mat is a nice article about karma yoga, taking the practice to the prisons, shelters and schools as a selfless act of service.
Research in the United States on yoga's effectiveness in helping treat drug addiction or mental illness is limited. Most studies have been done on a small scale in India, and the findings aren't universally accepted... But yoga's function as a stress reliever is not in dispute. “Yoga and meditation do several things, and perhaps one of the most important is that they allow individuals to cope with stress better," said Sat Bir Khalsa, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies the medical effects of yoga. "At the core of a lot of addiction is a search for that kind of relief from the stressful world."
There have been two recent articles in the Washington Post that I have not mentioned before: "The Family That Ohms Together..." (January 4, 2008) and Om for the 'Olidays: Breathe. Release. Repeat. What Stress? (November 20, 2007). Both mention Thrive Yoga. Also seen the feature on Diamond Dallas Page, a three-time World Wrestling Champion who has taken the virtues of yoga to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has a Yoga for Regular Guys DVD and a book out. See his site.
The MAYA Yogathon is taking place on Saturday, January 26 at the Josephine Butler Parks Center, 2437 15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009. More details at MAYA site. World Yoga Day is February 3. Karmapalooza was a Miami-based event, but is now expanding nationwide. It is on March 1. So many events, so few opportunities to get the news out.
Labels: dc_yoga
I took my first Jivamukti class at Flow Yoga. The teacher was Jill Abelson, who happens to be featured in the December issue of Yoga Journal. There are only two certified Jivamukti teachers in the DC area, and they both call Flow Yoga their home studio. The 300-hour residential teacher training program is demanding and requires big bucks and tons of commitment.
For those who are familiar with this style of yoga, Jivamukti flows from a New York City yoga studio run by Sharon Gannon and David Life. Despite being on the trendy edge of urban chic, Gannon and Life are respected innovators in American yoga. It draws a lot on Hindu spiritual practices to expand yoga beyond being just physical exercise.
The class was fast-paced and I sweated up a storm, in part due to the fact that the class was packed. Jill kept things interesting and challenging. Aside from more chanting and pranayama than in most classes, I was not able to put my finger on what makes the Jivamukti style so distinctive. Of course, one class just gives you a short taste of the approach so I should probably hold off on any judgments.
David Stringer will be performing at Willow Street Yoga (8561 Fenton St., Silver Spring MD 20912) Friday, October 26, at 8:00 pm. He has a new album coming out soon, Divas &: Devas. Along with Krishna Das, Girish, and Donna de Lory, Stringer has popularized the kirtan musical style, blending it with Western rock, gospel and blues. I suspect you need to buy your tickets soon. You can sample his stuff on his website.
In my previous note, I commented on the absence of all but one DC-area yoga studios on the Global Mala Project website. The reason was that DC has its own Global Mala site and campaign. There are a bunch of activities on September 23. The participating centers are listed, including Thrive Yoga and Flow Yoga.
Labels: dc_yoga
I wanted to mention a new yoga studio that has opened up in Cleveland Park, called appropriately enough Cleveland Park Yoga. It's only a 10-minute walk from the Red Line metro stop. I will have to put it down on my (growing) list of studios where I should take a class.
You also might want to check on the blog of one of the teacher, Purvi. She had the good taste of including Prana Journal in her list of favorites. She's just starting out blogging so this plug is a push to help her build up momentum.
Labels: dc_yoga
May 12-18 is Yoga Week in Washington, DC at 14 yoga studios. Special events are being organized at all the participating studios. At my DC studio, Flow Yoga Center, they are offering reduced price ($5) sessions and free classes and workshops. Although the week is meant to reach out to people who have not tried yoga before, that does not mean a non-novice could not take advantage of special pricing. The week is a great way to explore other studios, styles, teachers and intensity at little expense. This is the second time that DC Yoga Week is held.
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Labels: dc_yoga
