Make Your Own Path

"Never follow anyone else's path, unless you're in the woods and you're lost." - Ellen DeGeneres

A Practice - Unlimited

This kind of creative practice is only limited and squashed by mats. Just saying. It's super fun. Full disclosure - I become insanely jealous watching her practice videos. My only consolation is that I notice it and I can work on that.

 

Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video.

Tara Stiles says Yoga Cures

I received this book to review. It's by Tara Stiles. In it she says that Yoga Cures... and in fact creates "Radiant Health" if you just practice.  How do I feel about this book? Ambivalent. I both love it and hate it.

I'll keep this review short by a simple list of things I do and don't love.

Hate:

• Overstated and dreamy. Maybe this is what selling books requires, but it feels disingenuous.
• Claims that practicing yoga makes you crave healthy foods instead of junk. Not really.
• The page on a "Hangover Cure" has a little grey box that sounds really preachy and judgemental.
• P.34 seems to imply that homeopathy is just as good as (if not better than) modern medicine.
• Chapter 2 cites no sources for a few research studies that could be made up for all we know.
• It's barely mentioned as a sort of disclaimer that - Yoga may not cure what ails you. 

Love:

• Zenspiration notes in the sidebar. Cute.
• The tone and language used is accessible and friendly.
• Tara Stiles loves yoga and believes it is life-changing. On this we agree very much.
• The sequences are short and simple which is perfect for Yoga Cures' primary audience.

Overall:
I appreciate the mission of this book. Yoga truly does help with many of the issues presented in its pages. Yoga Cures has a lot of good things in it surrounded by some baloney that makes it hard to take seriously. Lots of beginners could benefit from the sequences, and meditation/breath-work instructions in this book; but I would never buy this book for myself.

Monday Morning Motivation

This story is inspirational and it kicks all your excuses right in the balls.

 

Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video

Yoga Journal Out of Ideas

Yesterday I received my June 2012 Yoga Journal in my mailbox. Upon first glance I felt like I'd seen this picture before. Had it been a cover before? Why did it look so damn familiar? Even Adam said it looked familiar so I knew it wasn't just me. I did about five minutes of digging and while it doesn't appear to have been a cover - a photo that was obviously from the same photo session was featured in the 2010 Yoga Journal Calendar. I know there are plenty of yogis and photographers with the talent and drive to be on the cover of Yoga Journal, so why are they using old pictures?

Nothing against Sarah Tomson Beyer (frequent YJ model and current cover girl) because she has just as much right to be on the cover and in the mag as many times as anyone else. I applaud her. But two year old (or more) pictures? Really? They could at least take new photos of her. It's almost exactly the same pic from the calendar. I know it looks like I have no life to remember this and actually go look it up, but that's fine with me and Yoga Journal is clearly all out of fresh ideas. Or at least pictures.

Chakrasana - Working On It

By working on it I mean failing miserably. I spoke a while back about the Kino MacGregor Ashtanga DVD I received for Christmas. I haven't been using it for a long time now, but there's a motion in that DVD that's been haunting me still. I had never seen Chakrasana before, and for whatever reason I absolutely cannot do it without assistance. I saw this video that breaks it down, but it's no help. I just can't get over at all. Adam, on the other hand, just pops over like it's as easy as the video makes it look.

If there are any Ashtangi's around - I'd love some pointers.

Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video.

A Reminder for Every Day

Some wise words to pack into your bag: