Bhakti Fest Rocks “The Woodstock of the kirtan movement ;” this was the tagline organizers used to describe Bhakti Fest. This weekend didn’t have the mud, the nudity or the crowds, but the idea of Woodstock was conjured up (on the fortieth anniversary, no less) and it had to do with the christening of an [...]
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Yogastyles Provides Support Yogastyles founder Susan Nichols is a breast cancer survivor and she’s celebrating by supporting women during the month of October by donating a portion of sales to Right Action for Women, the Christina Applegate Foundation (rightactionforwomen.org). Right Action for Women helps women receive needed [...]
Attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Dharamsala, India, is quite a different experience from doing so in the West. Trade comfortable cushioned seats in a temperature-controlled environment for seats on a concrete floor under a covered rooftop exposed to the wild fluctuations of the Himalayan weather. Trade state-of-the-art bathrooms with the most basic plumbing alternative [...]
Autobiography of a Yogi is a book with a profound impact over the decades since it was written by the great master Yogananda. Among many who have been touched by the words, physical presence or energy of this teacher is Swami Kriyananda, who was only in his early twenties when he met Yogananda and from that [...]
Around The World And On The Stage ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES into the practice and we knew we were in over our heads. Guru Kal, (short for Kali), a powerful lion of a man, was barking out commands in a rapid and incomprehensible (to us) dialect of Malayalam. Following his direction, we awkwardly threw ourselves to [...]
When it comes to health, digestion is where the process all begins. If there is anything off-balance, it can affect not only how we feel before, during or after we eat, but also throughout the entire day (and beyond). Balance is affected both by the food we eat and by how we feel. Our digestive [...]
From the perspective of Ayurveda, seasonal junctures can be times of vulnerabilities. Throughout the hot pitta summer, heat has been constantly building. Then in the fall, the fire of summer meets the wind of the vata fall season. This is a time when paying attention to our digestion and our vitality are both [...]
Desi Bartlett Practice Pages: English Finding A Style Of Practicing Yoga Which Speaks To You DISCOVERING WHICH STYLE of Yoga speaks to you is largely a matter of taste. In Sanskrit, the word rasa means essence. When you are describing something’s rasa, you are talking about the qualities it has, the feeling behind those [...]
Practice Pages: Meditation Japa Breath From The Radiance Sutras, A New Version of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra AYURVEDIC PHYSICIANS ARE FOND of saying, “Have all six tastes on your tongue every day: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent (spicy) and astringent.” Whatever your body type, by treating yourself to diversity of taste (rasa) you will have more [...]
Meeting The Man Behind The Shadow I USUALLY CONSIDER MYSELF to be conscious of what is going on around me, but when I entered a Los Angeles hotel room to interview Zhander Remete, the founder of Shadow Yoga, he seemed to appear out of nowhere, despite being in plain view. As his steady [...]