From the department of Yoga Isn’t for Wussies comes news that our very own US Military has adopted yoga as part of their new fitness regimen. Great! you say. Peaceful warriors! you cry. Well, kinda sorta. OK not exactly. Will the new recruits look less like Rocky Balboa wannabes and more like yoga and pilates students? Yes sir! But why’s that now? Because they’re too fat to fight! Sir! Or so says a group of retired generals and admirals who actually put out a report this year called, you guessed it, “Too Fat To Fight”.
Excess weight is the leading reason the Army rejects potential recruits. And while that has been true for years, the problem has worsened as the waistlines of America’s youth have expanded.
Though the Army screens out the seriously obese and completely unfit, it is still finding that many of the recruits who reach basic training have less strength and endurance than privates past. It is the legacy of junk food and video games, compounded by a reduction in gym classes in many high schools, Army officials assert.
As a result, it is harder for recruits to reach Army fitness standards, and more are getting injured along the way.
What does this say to us? #1 We got a big ‘ol weight problem in the US. But we knew that. #2 So many people from your neighbors, to celebs, to athletes and sports heroes have taken on the practice, and yoga has become such an integral part of fitness that even THE ARMY has accepted it. Pin a medal on us and call us bedazzled!
But for the cynics out there, don’t think yoga=easy.
“It’s more whole body,” said First Lt. Tameeka Hayes, a platoon leader for a class of new privates at Fort Jackson. “No one who has done this routine says we’ve made it easier.”
Does this mean there will be less violence? Who knows! Does this mean there will be more fit and mindful folks defending freedom and human rights? We sure hope so. The physical practice is the part most easily recognized, but any yogadork will tell you, after regular practice there are many more leagues under that sea, sergeant.
BONUS: If Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker has his way, soldiers returning from combat with wounds and/or chronic pain may soon be treated with more alternative treatments to medication such as acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback and yoga . “Schoomaker’s said his goal is to form a pain-management strategy that is holistic, multidisciplinary and puts Soldiers’ quality of life first.” PTSD is also a major issue being addressed with so many related military suicides. This is big stuff. [read more at army.mil]
Hey hey it’s September! It’s Yoga Month! Joy! Elation! Sorry, just trying extra hard here, we know a lot of folks are going back to school, returning from vaca etc. Got to keep the spirits up!
The team at Yoga Month HQ this year are bringing the big guns, the TITANS to be exact, to ramp up awareness. Who are these TITANS of Yoga you say? Well they’re big enough to be kept in caps we hope.
DR. DEAN ORNISH, LILIAS FOLAN, KIM ENG, BRYAN KEST, ANA FORREST, SEANE CORN, GURMUKH KHALSA, SHIVA REA, DAVID LIFE, SHARON GANNON, GARY KRAFTSOW, DAVID SWENSON, VINNIE MARINO, SARA IVANHOE, LISA WALFORD, LARRY PAYNE, JOHN FRIEND, BETH SHAW, RAJASHREE CHOUDHURY, DHARMA MITTRA, SWAMI KRIYANANDA, DEVA PREMAL & MITEN, SAUL DAVID RAYE , KRISHNA KAUR
Hm, they seem to be missing a few. Bikram isn’t a TITAN? Oh dear. Rajashree represent. We could continue brow beating, but this DVD is actually for a good cause and will support Yoga-Recess, an organization promoting yoga for kids in school. But, we do have to add, just like Tara Stiles and her ‘Slim, Calm, Sexy’ garishly infomercial looking marketing campaign, they might’ve benefited from a slightly different approach here. Titans? And you could ‘Win a Personal Meeting’ one! Ok, we’re done.
In any case, we hope you’re able to take advantage of that which is Yoga Month – a whole month of yoga awareness! We hope. Is anything going on in your neck of the yoga mat?
If you’re in LA, they’re holding a schmancy premiere of the TITANS DVD tonight Sept. 1, 7.30 PST at Aero Santa Monica. You might even be lucky enough to stay for the Q&A with yoga’s Swami Kriyananda, Shiva Rea, Vinnie Marino, Sara Ivanhoe, Larry Payne and others! (Or if you pay for the $20 VIP ticket)
For the folks at home, it looks like they’ll be simultaneously screening the film online at ustream.
Now YOU can be sexy is just 15 minutes a day! Whoa, hold the twinkies, are you talking about yoga? This is the marketing message of Tara Stiles’ new book Slim, Calm, Sexy, three little words that unlock a whole smorgasbord of emotions, connotations and a motherload of self-consciousness, maybe even worse than camel toe.
Eat, Pray, Love; Slim, Calm, Sexy; mind, body, spirit – we’re on a 3-word roll! This, friends, is the new frontier of the Incredible, Edible, Yoga: bite sized munchkins of a practice formed from the whole of the yoga donut, downsized and palatable enough for women’s magazine splash ads, and 3-minute morning show bits. Is this bad? Does it matter? Whether we like it or not Tara Stiles is the “new face of fitness” deemed so by the Queen of ‘Workout’ of herself, Madame Jane Fonda. It’s true. (The women’s magazines are a whole other glob of dough to fry).
So Tara has seen her share of the spotlight, as a model, yoga teacher, American Apparel yoga ad-maker, Nissan yoga ad-maker, Deepak Chopra ‘Authentic Yoga’ iPhone app collaborator, and now author. She has done all of this with an impossibly thin physique! Something we assume she was born with, so we can’t really fault her on that, right? (though we can certainly look on begrudgingly).
But WHAT about the message? Responses to the hyper-pinked marketing have ranged from “We love Tara! but…” to vehement and passionately dissenting, aghast at the way yoga is whittled down to a disposable diet fad to tackle the “epidemic of bra fat!“. Stop the insanity! One commenter said it looks like something out of Cosmo, but we’re thinking it’s borderline late-night infomercial. We actually totally get the yoga every day thing. Great! Yoga to “give you the body of your dreams”? Ack. Yoga for the masses? WHO are the masses? Intention is there, but the message all wrong. Although it’s really not that far off point. See the comparison of book covers between T. Stiles and Tracy Anderson, fitness expert to the stars! (Madonna, Gwyneth, etc) below.
In a society where obsession over “no pain, no gain” fitness is routine, a yoga community that is already tossing cookies over too-sexy/naked yoga ads, and the billion dollar industry where there are moguls, large-scale mass-produced corporate sponsored events, Hollywood movie franchising and yoga “talent” representatives, would we really be surprised to find that 1-800 number on the screen at 3 in the morning badgering us to ‘act fast! feel the yoga burn with 4 easy payments of $19.99!’ ? And should we be shocked if the bandwagon of merry yogsters pisses off the hardcore home team? Something is certainly shifting, but it’s undeniable yoga is a hot commodity. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Want to know our reaction? It defaults to: what would Gabourey Sidibe have to say about this?
Bikram receiving a blessing from BKS Iyengar! One of our teacher training classmates, Judes
Yang, took this photo while travelling [sic] with Bikram in India when he visited Iyengar.
The past 2 weeks have been a blur! And that’s partially due to a potent cocktail of yoga yoga yoga, dog days of almost-fall weather, and the flu that put me flat on my back for 3 days earlier this week. No need to be alarmed! Just a little break from the rabbit race for some classic time-out asana. Hey it’s almost September, might as well get my “me” time in now eh? Though I could’ve done without a side of fever, nausea and body aches.
Aaanyways, a lot has transpired over the past 14 days, so I’m going to start with the recurring theme: When hitting a wall, just as little kids do when they fall down and in that brief moment are open to let fear and panic win, and the parent swiftly smiles and says ‘you’re OK, it’s OK!’ and suddenly everything’s fine, we too should prop ourselves up, dust ourselves off and tell ourselves it’s OK, it’s OK! Be the kid, but be the parent too. And we move on, because it really is OK, and falling, fear and taking a pause are all pieces of the same puzzle. Having the flu isn’t preferred but it’s a definite focus-shifter. When concentration on a part of the whole trumps a meditative awareness of the entire package something’s gonna give.
Holy cowboy! It’s dueling funny yoga videos! First Star Wars Yoga, and now these buckaroos have come to rule the roost. It’s Cowboy Yoga! Let Connie and his pardner teach you how to get your ass-in-a correct position. It’s a little slow going, but these western yoga wranglers know to take their time to git-er-done. (sorry)
We reckon this could start a craze. Next thing you know we’ll be seeing yoga lasso and spurs™ on sale wherever you buy props! Eh, or not.
Fun fact: This is a short film by Hal Clifford and Lou Bendrick that premiered at the Berkshire International Film Festival in 2009.
Were you sad over the Central Park Yoga wash-out? Pissed about being stuck in the long lines? Annoyed by the in-your-face brand marketing transcending the yoga message? We don’t blame you, it was a bummer! But when Yoga @ the Great Lawn was the largest, shortest yoga class on record due to inclement weather, the event hosts, and namely flavorpill CEO Sascha Lewis promised us all a September do-over - ‘express entry’, no “line drama”!
But we hadn’t heard anything since! Until we found this message our inbox last night (see below). Sorry to break it to you, there will be NO Yoga at the Great Lawn 2.o this September. Blast! But don’t worry, there are many more mass yoga events to be had and flavorpill is just getting started. Who knows if they couldn’t line up the sponsors and/or book the park for a September re-do (would’ve been perfect for Yoga Month no?), but having the time to reconnoiter the situation, team fp saw a huge opportunity. (YAMA yoga talent should be excited too). Not only will there be Y@GL next summer, there will be a whole series of mass-produced yoga events across the country. Excited?
We’re not sure if these events will once again be sponsor-laden and piss people off, but at least they took our advice and decided to incorporate some charities. (YD poll results show that most people would just as soon pay for an event if they knew it was benefiting a good cause).
Don’t get us wrong, we like the idea of yoga events for the people, but don’t think just because we’re in adho mukha it means we can’t be watch dogs.
Here’s the full message:
Greetings,
Having staged the world’s largest ever registered yoga class, we’ve decided to build off this amazing event and to bring Flavorpill Yoga at the Great Lawn back to NYC next summer.
Rain cut Y@GL short and although we had originally pushed to do a follow-up in September, the real opportunity is not just to do it again quickly, but to offer this event to a wider community, to involve our favorite charities, and to create a year-long program with events in multiple cites.
With that in mind, we are preparing to bring a more expansive version of the Flavorpill Yoga Series to the Great Lawn in 2011, and have started working on a national program for large scale yoga events across the country.
Additionally, we’re excited to announce the launch of our health and wellness mailer, which will be delivered to inboxes weekly, beginning in September. This publication will expand our focus to health and wellness and will keep you updated on the Flavorpill Yoga Series developments, both in NYC and across the country.
Can you believe it’s almost the end of unofficial summer? It’s back to school time already! Well we can’t provide you with a new pair of shoes for your first day, or you know, for work or whatever you do, but hey we can help you with your back to school book list. Everybody needs one. Why does summer get to have all the reading list fun?
And so we’re excited to present to you the latest in YD Giveaways: Win yourself a copy of Neal Pollack’s Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude. We’re giving away two! Follow Neal’s own comical story of finding yoga, and his journey from a “doughy, 35-ish white man with a goatee and thinning hair” to an utter, self-proclaimed yoga dork. He’s a published satirist, Yoga Journal contributor, and unabashed man of self-deprecation and sarcasm, so really none of the usual yoga characters are safe, if you know what we mean.
“If Eat, Pray, Love had been written by a sweaty, aging, male smartass, then that book might be called Stretch, and Elizabeth Gilbert would be named Neal Pollack.” John Hodgman ~nealpollack.com
HOW TO ENTER: It’s simple really. Surely there are a multitude of reasons why we’re all yogadorks. Tell us about why you, right now, in your present existence can be seen by outside eyes as a downright down dogged dork. OR if you’re in the dude category, feel free to share that as well. We LOVE to hear from the guys.
Two winners will be chosen at random and announced next week. Good luck!!
Stay tuned for the special YD interview with STRETCH author Neal Pollack coming soon…
Drop and give me 20 chaturangas!
