As director of YogaActivist.org in Washington, D.C., Jasmine Chehrazi already has an impressive resume at the age of 29. She has opened studios in and taught in outreach programs in poor neighborhoods, created a database of hundreds of Yoga teachers working with alternative populations and devised a technique of teaching Yoga to those who suffer [...]
Be Here, Be Love, Be Now with Ram Dass To even attempt to put words to the impact Ram Dass’ grace and presence has had over the past forty-plus years would be a task, indeed. In 1967, one young Dr. Richard Alpert, former Harvard psychologist, made a foray to India in 1967, where he met [...]
If you ask a yogi or yogini what keeps him or her coming back to the mat, the answer usually boils down to, “It works.” The question now gaining prominence is not, “Does it work?” but rather, “How does it work?” Dr. Susan Smalley, Founder and Director of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), and [...]
Our sense of touch is one of our most human traits and penetrates the core of our needs. Through our sense of touch we help shape the world around us by manipulating tools, and also bring the external world inside of our selves. Our sense of touch pervades our skin from head to toe and [...]
Books To Gift Your Favorite Yogi On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Ten Kirtans playing, Nine Swamis singing, Eight Yoginis posing, Seven Tantrics teasing, Six Gurus gabbing, Five Pundits preaching, Four scholars scolding, Three tickets to the Kumbh Mela, Two asana mats, and a statue of Ganesh in a [...]
A Personal Reflection on Kalari All is quiet inside the Kalari practice space. I enter the space slowly, first touching the red clay earth and then my heart as sign of respect. My teacher’s voice echoes in my mind, “When you enter the Kalari, leave everything behind.” I head to the Puttara, the main altar, [...]
Community : Seen & Heard Cha-Ching: Swapping The Mind For A Song Wednesdays Through December 15! Having been hit hard on the head by the Woo Woo Fairy’s weighty wand early on (at birth), I’m already a member of the striving-towards-awakening choir to which Beth Lapides is not really ever preachin’ in her frolicking [...]
Artivist Film Festival: December 1 - 4 Stories inspire, awaken, activate and propel us into action. At least this is the hope held by filmmakers sharing compelling stories of what is being done globally to forward human rights, animal advocacy and environmental conservation and caretaking. Throughout the four days, 45 documentaries, narratives, shorts and experimental [...]
Yonnus Becker, Photo: Jean Kim The Sun Beckons To This Venice Local On a beautiful autumn afternoon, the sun sparkled on the vibrant streets of the Venice thoroughfare, familiar faces wandered about as a feeling of calm permeated the air. The years have seen drifters and ramshackle huts give way to luxury homes [...]
The Sanskrit word santosha means contentment. Contentment is a slippery idea: If we say that we are not content, or feeling discontented, there are those who will look upon us as being ungrateful, or needing to work harder. If we say that we are content, there is sometimes the illusion of complacency. How can [...]