Ayurveda has been practiced in the U.S. for only about 30 years, yet it is a 5,000-year-old Indian system of medicine and yoga’s sister science. Readers are invited to submit questions for “Ayurveda Q & A” to ayurveda@layogamagazine.com. Ayurveda has been practiced in the US for only about 30 years, yet it is one of [...]
There really is no department within our government that looks at alternatives to war and violence. This is a department whose time has come.” U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland We have a State Department. A Defense Department. A Department of Homeland Security. Why don’t we have a Department of Peace? It’s an idea gaining momentum [...]
We may think we know what it means to be healthy and we may see health as the absence of disease. But in many traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, health is so much more. Truly being healthy also includes our outlook on life, our relationships with others and with the Earth, and the ability [...]
“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but interest patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, exercise and in the cause and prevention of disease.” –– Thomas Edison Treat the Patient Not the Disease – this was the title of an article that introduced me to naturopathic medicine in 1997 [...]
Smackdown on the Mat: Yoga for Regular Guys, Gals, Soldiers and More As the sun sets over Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills, Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) and his “favorite hot yoga babe” Angella Cole sit in lotus. The Rolling Stones are playing as Page’s strong voice instructs the class to get into [...]
China’s authorities have cracked down on Tibetans after protests this spring raged across the Tibetan plateau. The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy estimates that 6,500 Tibetans have been arrested since March. Hundreds of others have reportedly been removed from their homes and taken to undisclosed locations. In July, police and security personnel conducted [...]
Yoga is like a gateway drug. At least it was for me. One day I was opening my hips and the next thing I knew I was opening my mind. Downward-facing dog led to chakra meditations, led to psychic flashes, led to pendulums, remote energy healing, DNA activation and now I find myself a full-blown [...]
Don’t Think of it as Pain Don’t think of it as pain,” my first yoga teacher used to say. “Think of it as sensation.” Yes, painful sensation. But I did start to think of it as sensation. And it helped. So I shifted my attitude off the mat too. For instance, I didn’t [...]
A yogi commits to political activism. Sometimes we feel moved by experience: a song, a poem that lifts the heart, words that stir the soul, or the speech of a political leader might send one on an arduous journey for a cause. I was recently moved to participate in the Great American Walk for Freedom, [...]
Diving Beneath the Surface for the Internal Arts of Qigong “That ’s the milion dollar question,” Sifu Tom Rizzo grinned at me when I asked him to give me his definition of qi (sometimes written as chi) energy, our prana, our life force. “A definition of something is much easier when you’ve understood it or [...]