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Mahatma Ghandi, Yoko Ono & Seva Art
November 25, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
What do Mahatma Gandhi, Yoko Ono and Doctors without Borders have in common? a: 5yearplan.org.
Yoko Ono will be one of 20 artists whose work will make up a unique silk screened, hand bound, handloom khadi cotton cloth book. Each book comes with a handloom khadi jhola shoulder bag.
65 copies will be signed by all the artists and only 500 copies total will be made. All profits from sales will go to Doctors without Borders (MSF) and to fund the next 5yearplan project.
The 5 year plan is an ongoing effort to re-orient art and art production towards generosity and participation, while bridging cultures. In honour of Mahatma Ghandi the 5 year plan is undertaken as ’seva’ (selfless service). The cloth for the books comes from the Ghandi Ashram Collectives, which help millions of rural villagers survive by sustaining local industries and agriculture.
The 5yearplan website is in itself a work of art – check it out.
5 Year Plan from swirly byraloo on Vimeo.
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The Language Of Yoga – Not!
August 7, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Here is an extract from an excellent article by an ex card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, Lauren Cahn. For those who have not ventured into the often competitive world of Ashtanga Yoga it is a revealing read. Lauren’s take on all 5 words that do not belong in yoga are right on, below are the two I think are applicable to all yoga asana practice.
Ashtanga yoga (a type of traditional Indian yoga that is based on the linking of breath with movement) is notorious for its rules. From which days on which to practice which poses, to not daring to show up in the yoga room while menstruating, to when you should exhale and when you should inhale, to how many breaths should be taken in each pose, to what to eat and when to eat and exactly how many bites to have, to when and under what circumstances sex is appropriate (something about not having sex when one of the nostrils is clogged, but I can never remember which one), the rules are so numerous that countless books with hundreds of pages apiece are devoted to them. And endless discussion by Ashtanga practitioners. Endless, circular, sometimes angry discussion.
This linear approach to yoga teaching can be appealing to those who have a tendency to enjoy a little competition, whether with themselves or with others. This is odd, considering that yoga is essentially the practice of "stilling the mind", which would seem to subsume such distractions as thoughts of "when will I get the next pose" and "what can I do to get my teacher to love me enough to give me the next pose" and "why does my teacher give poses to so-and-so, but not to me?" and "I think my teacher hates me/I think I hate my teacher."
One of the potential effects of the "rules" of Ashtanga is a need to detail one’s adherence to the rules in the form of blogging. Indeed, this is how my own blog, Yoga Chickie, was born. If you go back to the early days of Yoga Chickie, you will see many references to the Five Words That (I now believe) Do Not Belong In Yoga Practice. I was a card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, after all. Now, since I’ve managed to extricate myself and find some balance in what was always, essentially, my workout routine (that’s right, for me, the "ugly" truth is that the yoga has always been, first and foremost, a workout for me), I feel kind of embarrassed about that. Nevertheless, I feel the need to confess. So here goes, the Five Words That Do Not Belong In a Yoga Practice (but which I admit, I used all the time in the past):
3. Bad.
In conversations amongst Ashtangis, you will often hear the word "bad", as in "bad lady" (a phrase coined by the beloved Ashtanga guru grandaddy, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in jest) or I am "bad" at hip opening. I am "bad" at backbends. Look, I can’t stand bogus yoga blather like, "there’s no such thing as doing it ‘badly’", but really, it’s true (it just needn’t be said in the middle of a yoga flow). How can anything about practicing yoga be bad, except not practicing? (or being cranked?)
5. Pain.
Ashtangis often talk of pain like it’s a good thing: "If it hurts, you’re doing it right" or "Something snapped, but I think it was a good pain". Some use the word "opening" instead of "pain", as in, "I felt a real opening in my hamstring."
Sorry, but there is no good pain. All pain is a warning from your body. Pain contains no magic. It does not mean you are doing it right. It means you need to stop what you are doing. Pain is not an opening. It means something is being torn or broken. Pain has no place in a yoga practice.
Yoga should be an uplifting experience. It should provide a vacation from the thoughts. If it causes one to conjure up new ways to beat oneself up, then, well that’s criminal.
You can read the whole article on the Huffington Post
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Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev Claims Homosexuality Can Be “cured” By Yoga
July 20, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 7 Comments
The claims that yoga can cure homosexuality were made in response to the recent legalization of homosexuality in India, and just prove that prejudice can be found in all religions.
One source for this story, the UK daily telegraph claims Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev is the most popular Hindu guru, which surprised me because I’d never heard of him. It seems he is on a mission to popularize yoga and ayurveda and that’s great. He’s using modern media technology to promote his yoga teaching through a tv show watched by a reported 85 million people.
His comments to the press before and after the passing of the decriminalization of homosexuality in India show the Swami in less than illustrious light – ""The verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting. We are blindly following the West in everything. This is breaking the family system in India. Homosexuals are sick people, they should be sent to hospitals for treatment."
In India sadly he is not alone in his condemnation of the legislation which has also been voiced by Muslim, Christian and other Hindu leaders in India.
The "we are blindly following the West" line has sway with many on the Indian subcontinent and it is understandable. I remember years ago sitting in a cinema in Calcutta watching what in the West would be a not so great movie because it was in English and thinking to myself what on earth does this look like to them, dubious morality, sexuality and so on. And hey I have issues with a lot that is distinctly normal and mainstream in the west too. So I do agree that there many things about Indian culture that deserve preservation and honoring.
That said when some one says things like comparing homosexuals to "other anti-social groups", and "it can be treated like any other congenital defect" is heading down a road of fundamentalism that worships ignorance and dogma.
Inevitable I am left wondering why? What is the perceived threat that warrants such inflammatory rhetoric. Maybe when you have a pulpit you need something to shout about. In many ways it is ironic because in India – and this is seldom spoken about – one avenue that gay men have taken in life is to become sadhus, wandering ascetics.
This is one of many things in Indian culture that are swept under the carpet by the strong moral values. Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev also claims that the legislation will increase the prevalence of AIDS. In fact as a result of the strong moral values around sexuality the main cause of AIDS spreading is prostitution.
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The Yoga Regulation Fight
July 13, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
A week or so ago i wrote about efforts to regulate yoga teacher training and the launch of IYEA – Independent Yoga Educators of America.This is an issue that is already affecting many who offer yoga teacher training in America and the push back is being taken up in different parts of the country at a local level as well as the IYEA.
Below are extracts and links to two recent articles on this issue that are worth bringing to you attention.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time. Ten years ago, with yoga transforming into a ubiquitous pop culture phenomenon from a niche pursuit, yoga teachers banded together to create a voluntary online registry of schools meeting new standards for training instructors.
But that list — which now includes nearly 1,000 yoga schools nationwide, many of them tiny — is being put to a use for which it was never intended. It is the key document in a crackdown that pits free-spirited yogis against lumbering state governments, which, unlike those they are trying to regulate, are not always known for their flexibility.
Citing laws that govern vocational schools, like those for hairdressers and truck drivers, regulators have begun to require licenses for yoga schools that train instructors, with all the fees, inspections and paperwork that entails. While confrontations have played out differently in different states, threats of shutdowns and fines have, in some cases, been met with accusations of power grabs and religious infringement — disputes that seem far removed from the meditative world yoga calls to mind."
"Last Wednesday, the Yoga Association of New York (YANY) was officially ratified at its second official meeting, held at OM Yoga in Manhattan. All in attendance agreed on a working mission statement that had been meticulously combed over by member lawyers. Now the fledgling organization can go forward with incorporating—and fighting for justice for yoga studios everywhere (in New York state).
Following the meeting, on Friday, the New York Times published an article on the controversy of the state trying to license yoga teacher training programs not just in New York, but in the whole country (states such as Wisconsin and Virginia and others have targeted yoga studios as well): Yoga Faces Regulation, and Firmly Pushes Back.
The Times article presented the important angles of the issue, several key voices, and also seemingly distorted a quote from Sybil Killian of OM Yoga (taken from a private email—that caused hubbub on the listserv). But ultimately it was sympathetic. It showed yoga centers and teachers objecting to the huge new fees and lots more red tape that studios are currently facing. (really, $50,000 is nothing to sniff at when you’re a tiny business.)"
Have you been effected, can you see how you could be affected by this issue? Who will next, meditation schools? What do you think.
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IYEA & The Fight For Yogas Freedom
July 4, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
Today aptly sees the launch of IYEA – Independent Yoga Educators of America. In the booming times of yoga asanas popularity the issue of standards in teaching is a contentious one. If there is to be a standard across the board, who sets it and how they set it is never going to be satisfactory and never going to guarantee the quality of yoga teachers.
This hasn’t been too much of a problem until now when the very success of yoga as an ‘industry’ of an estimated $6 billion has brought it into the focus of state regulators. They want a piece of the pie and they see see requiring yoga teacher training programs to obtain licenses to operate vocational training facilities as a way in. There is good reason to believe it won’t stop there.
There are many, myself included who already find it cringeworthy to constantly read about yoga as an exercise and fitness training. The road of regulation would certainly only lead further away from the true purpose of yoga as a spiritual practice. On a broader scale, in an ever more draconian world in which individual freedom is increasingly encumbered and restricted, where will it end?
Behind IYEA is Leslie Kaminoff who some will know as the co-author (with Amy Matthews) of the book Yoga Anatomy. Regulation in yoga is an issue that Leslie is passionate about and with equal measure articulates well. It is an issue that easily muddies the waters but his view of it has remained clear for over 16 years since the debate began in earnest.
"I’ve always believed that the whole notion of industry-wide standards is invalid, because it presupposes an entity that ENFORCES those standards on an entire industry. Yoga and force are incompatible because yoga is about freedom, and yoga is about relationship, and force destroys both. It is precisely that flawed way of thinking we are fighting against when we resist government attempts to control our profession."
So if you are a yoga teacher, teach yoga teachers, want to be a yoga teacher or for any other reason this issue is relevant to you, consider joining IYEA, at least visit the site and read more about the issue and Leslie’s position.
Proposed IYEA Statement of Principles:
I am an independent yoga educator.
I teach about the value of personal freedom on all levels of human experience.
I embrace my own standards for my education, and the training of my students – and am willing to be held accountable for living up to those standards.
I value my freedom to conduct my relationships without coercive interference by third parties.
I will resist to the best of my ability any entity that assumes the authority to license or regulate me as a yoga educator or to enforce its standards upon me.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreYoga Improves Asthma
June 1, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
Researchers have found that yoga nearly halves symptoms of asthma in just 10 weeks. The study was done at the American College of sports medicine.
The group of asthmatics in the study did to yoga classes twice a week And were asked to do an extra 30 minutes of practice at home during the week. That’s really not so much yoga practice for such good results is it.
In fact the less is more route was a deliberate choice by the researchers as past studies had been of twice daily yoga and studied for fewer days. It was thought this was an impractical ask for most people.
None of the participants aged 20 – 65, had done yoga before. Results were based on a questionnaire that measured frequency and severity of symptoms, activities associated with breathlessness and social and psychological functioning.Overall, scores of individuals participating in the yoga arm of the trial improved an average of almost 43 percent.
Of course an important part of the improvement comes from deeper breathing, but the development of greater breath awareness is just as beneficial to asthmatics. This breath awareness from asana practice allows asthmatics to recognize early on when breathing is becoming impaired
It’s also thought that the deep breathing involved while holding yoga postures causes similar respiratory stress as in an asthma attack – as the subjects became used to this, they were better able to deal with their asthma.
Lead researcher Amy Bidwell, herself a yoga teacher said “There’s not much of a downside to yoga unless you have a major orthopedic problem,” She added "Yoga is an excellent way to relieve symptoms because there are no side-effects, unlike modern medicine such as corticosteroids"
Bidwell worked closely with a physician to design and conduct the study. He had been teaching breathing techniques to his patients. Based on the study results, he now is prescribing yoga practice as well.
This study joins a lengthening list of studies proving numerous health benefits from both yoga and meditation practice.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out morePattabhi Jois Dies Today At 93
May 18, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
From those I know who have, losing your guru is harder than losing a parent, for many around the world Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois was Guruji, and my heart goes out to them today.
While the cause of death has not been made public Pattabhi Jois’s health had been declining for the past few years, with several spells of hositalization.He passed away at his home after another spell of illness.
The word is that his grandson and student Sharath Rangaswamy is likely to take over as head of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India (known today as the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute).
Pattabhi Jois, was along with B.K.S Iyengar and T.K.V Desikachar a living legend in the world of yoga. All three were students of the man considered to be the father of yoga as we know it today Krishnamacharya.
His passing is like the begining of the passing of an age. In that age yoga has become synonymous with asana practice and is today practiced by tens of millions of people worldwide.
On the question of the true goal of yoga Pattabhi Jois Said " The essence of yoga is to reach oneness with God. Ego must be understood, contemplated, and released, if you only try to boost the ego, you will miss the greatest fruits of yoga."
Here in his own words is a small snapshot of the wealth of knowledge and experience from a lifetime dedicated to practicing and teaching yoga, that this wonderful man held.
The world is a poorer place from his passing and a richer place for his living. I hope you will join me in offering respectful pranams at the feet of Sri Pattabhi Jois. May his life serve as an inspiration for the age of universal yoga he helped birth.
Please also visit YogaDork who has put together links to other bloggers responces to the passing of Sri Pattabhi Jois
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreChildren Benefit From Yoga Practice
May 6, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
When Alayna Kurek panicked one day about forgotten homework, the 9-year-old stunned her school counselor by using a yoga breathing technique to calm down.
That stress-relief method is a reason Sherri Kurek says she takes her two children, Alayna and Olivia, 7, to classes for kids at the Yoga Studio of Shelby.
“It’s the one thing they stick with,” says Kurek, an in-home transcriptionist from Shelby Township, Mich.
Alayna gets exercise, going from downward-facing dog position to cobra to frog. And her improved confidence shows when she teaches her classmates how to pretzel up, Kurek says.
Karen Lutz, who teaches child yoga classes at Providence Hospital in Novi, Mich., says, “A 4-year-old — they have a short attention span. They really don’t care where their feet are.” But as younger yogis mature, she says, “They want to know, ‘Where do my feet go?”’
University of Michigan pediatrician Dolores Mendelow says yoga, if done properly, is a suitable alternative to tumbling and team sports for getting stressed-out, sedentary children socializing, exercising and building discipline.
“It requires practice, patience and accepting of self-limitations,” she says.
Read the complete article here….
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreEnlighten Up
May 1, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Enlighten Up is a bold and welcome film. It isn’t a snuggly feelgood bhakti fest for what 18 million Americans call yoga, thankfully. Director Kate Churchill chose in her approach to directing and making the film to make the project an experiment. The film is a reality documentary style following Nick Rosen a spiritualy skeptical New York son of 60’s parents, as he goes on a process of discovery seeking transformation through yoga. Below are some clips from the film and part one of three of an interview with Churchill and Rosen.
You can look here for upcoming showings of the movie If you have the opportunity it will be well worth your time to see Enlighten Up and glimpse yoga beyond the designer body and clothes.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Can Yoga Fix Health Care?
April 29, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Most of us agree that America’s health care system is broken. Disease management is a more accurate way of putting what we have in our country’s operations. Have a pain? Take a pill. Don’t worry about why or where the pain came from in the first place or what it could develop into without behavioral change. If Americans were healthier, doctors and pharmaceuticals would lose business. So what is the solution? Many Americans aren’t covered anyway, or spend too much of their income on insurance premiums. Millions of people pray they don’t get sick because who knows what their insurance won’t cover when they really need it.
Americans are catching on, or at least becoming aware of something that can make a major difference in our collective health. A regular yoga practice keeps the body strong, vibrant, and sharpens and calms our minds. It also keeps you healthy, and mends a lot of the chronic problems for which standard medicine hands you a prescription and mountain of nasty side effects. You probably won’t need those pills during your lifetime if you practice yoga regularly and eat well. Healthy eating is one of the many benefits of practicing yoga. Yoga keeps us enjoying and treating our bodies well.
Read the complete article here
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