One day I walked into class and noticed that since I had seen my teacher last, like two days ago, he’d changed. Good-bye robust athletic yogi, hello rock star. Not the junkie kind either. The thin, trim, spry, stage-roaming, glowing kind. After class, when I asked him what his secret was, he revealed [...]
THANKS TO JON KABAT ZINN, PhD and the proliferation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) practices in research groups, medical centers, universities and Yoga studios and sanghas (spiritual communities), a practice popularly known as the raisin meditation has become both a symbol of mindful awareness and an oft-repeated mindfulness exercise. We take many foods for granted, [...]
Finding Bliss Through Community And Chant Saturday, 11:45 P.M., the Pod nightclub, Dublin. It’s been twenty-five minutes since my boyfriend and I dropped E and washed it down with Bacardi and Coke before switching to water (alcohol dilutes E’s clean high). We’re waiting to “come up,” we’re waiting for the high to kick in. We [...]
Everything in life has a unique rhythm. From our heartbeat, to the cycles of the moon and the length of each season, everything follows a pattern or tempo reflecting the cyclical nature of life. As a mother, I am learning to become more comfortable with the rhythm of motherhood and the balance between being a [...]
Daniel Stewart If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out “MUSIC IS ONE OF THE FIRST WAYS that we worshipped God,” says Daniel Stewart, co-owner, with Claire Hartley, of Rising Lotus Yoga in Sherman Oaks. “The emotional vibrations of sound speak directly to our soul.” A Yoga teacher, retreat facilitator, kirtan leader and [...]
Finding Storytelling Through Community And Voice Walk out on stage, take a deep breath and start telling a story. When standing exposed beneath the spotlight, even though the house lights are dim, it’s still possible to make out faces in the audience. The seats are filled with both friends and strangers; they’re a community, whom [...]
ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS, there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe, and around 100 billion stars in each galaxy, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Our Sun is just one fairly mediocre star at the edge of it. And this universe is continuing to expand infinitely. As is the macrocosm, so is the microcosm: [...]
Ayurveda has been practiced in the US for only about 30 years, yet it is one of the systems of medicine native to India and is thousands of years old. Readers are invited to submit questions for “Ayurveda Q & A” to ayurveda@layogamagazine.com. Q: I have an addiction to alcohol. I have had a very turbulent past [...]
Yoga had me at the first hellom. I love the asana practice, but it’s the chanting and oming and mantras that soothe the savage Beth. Maybe it’s because I’m a professional talker that I find it especially hard to turn off the chatter. For me, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to [...]
The other day Greg and I were stuck in some mood-ruining slow-and-go traffic. Instead of picking a fight we picked a mantra (sacred syllable) and started chanting. Somewhere between the opening om and the closing swaha, the air cleared and we were in it together again. And that’s when I remembered the billboard. [...]