Meet the Fockers of Wanderlust…SPEAKEASY 2011

Always let yourself wander…
…because life’s most beautiful moments come in the spaces…

Video description:

Come meet the Fockers of Wanderlust! One of the central purposes of Wanderlust is to create community around shared values. Meet the founders of Wanderlust, Jeff Krasno, Schuyler Grant and Sean Hoess, to discuss how to grow this community and define its values. Hear about the inspiration behind Wanderlust from Yoga to Yoda and share your ideas on how to evolve the event.

Wanderlust was created by three friends with a long and deep relationship: the 20+ year husband and wife duo of Jeff Krasno and Schuyler Grant, and their mutual friend (and Jeff’s business partner of a decade), Sean Hoess. We all met back in college during the dark ages of the late 80s. Long before Wanderlust existed, we loved to throw a good party and that hasn’t changed much.

But Wanderlust is more than a party. While it’s a great time, from the beginning we wanted to infuse it with meaning. We saw an opportunity to create an event that is fun but also based on a series of underlying ideals. We hoped to create a unique event where attendees were actually participants, an event where people left feeling better than when they came, an event that could be – at the very least – a good time and – at the most — personally transformative.

Finding a clear and concise purpose is a process both for a business and an individual. It’s very hard to distill & it can change. For Wanderlust, our core purpose is to create community around shared values. It has been incredibly gratifying to see such a large community growing around the pillars of mindful living – yoga, the arts, personal spirituality, environmentalism, organics and conscious consumerism – and to know that Wanderlust is becoming a central gathering point for this community.

The cauldron of talent at Wanderlust never ceases to amaze us and while we continue to seek out diverse and gifted artists, teachers, speakers and leaders — it often feels like the festival is being equally shaped by the talent of its participants. The scholars, buskers, acroyogis, hoopers, and artists that have organically integrated into the event have created the kind of exchange of ideas and energy that could never be replicated by any traditional festival or concert experience.

Wanderlust continues to evolve to include a broader range of experiences, including hiking, biking, running and other outdoor activities, a more diverse array of lectures, expanded food and wine events, movement and burlesque workshops, and even a community garden project. Wherever possible, these new activities will involve interaction and interactivity, so our attendees can learn and create as part of the event.

Wanderlust 2012 will be bigger and better than ever. There’s a lot to do, and many more locations at which to do it. We hope you can come take advantage of all of it, but don’t plan too hard. Always let yourself wander, because life’s most beautiful moments come in the spaces.

Please visit www.wanderlustfestival.com to learn more about the lineup for 2012!

Yoga Blossoms in NYC

[Click video to view on YogaJournal.com...who isn't a fan of yoga in the wild jungles of New York?...]

Sh!t Meditators Say…Tiny Devotions Giveaway

Looks like Tiny Devotions, the fabulous mala bead company, couldn’t help but take a little inspiration from Lululemon’s fabulous “Sh!t Yogis Say” parody. It’s all in good fun and should bring a smile to your face!

Want to win some free mala bead bling for your yoga wardrobe?

Here’s the giveaway rules from Tiny Devotions blog:

We meditated all of January and came out out of silence to make this video (Yes, we know we’re about a month late on the rest of the world).

We need your help in sharing it and spreading the meditating love all over the internet/universe.

So we’ve decided to share the love with a Shit Meditators Say Giveway.

How to enter – Either:

1. Leave a comment on the Shit Meditators Say video (feel free to share it with your friends and yogis)

2. Tweet a link of this video – make sure you include @tinydevotions so we can enter you in the giveaway

2 meditators will WIN a “one of a kind” buddha or Ganesha gemstone and silver wrist mala!

Winner announced when we get to 10,000 views! Spread the love (and the laughs)

Okay. Enjoy the video a few more times and get tweetin’ or commenting!

10 Simple Questions to Ask Before Buying a Yoga Mat

Looking for a new yoga mat?

Here are 10 short and simple questions to ask yourself…

  1. How much do I want to spend?
  2. Do I really need a new yoga mat?
  3. How thick of a mat do I want?
  4. Do I really need a new yoga mat?
  5. How much do I sweat?
  6. Do I really need a new yoga mat?
  7. Will I have to carry it a lot?
  8. Do I really need a new yoga mat?
  9. How important are health and environmental concerns to me?
  10. Do I really need a new yoga mat?

I love yoga mats…so I ask these questions a lot…

[UPDATE 3 Feb 12: Just added a new mat to the collection--Lululemon's "The Mat"--lovin' it!...
...I told you I have a problem:)]

Are you Weak or Tight?

{Isn’t this an amazing video of Joseph Encinia, 2011 World Champion of the Bishnu Ghosh Cup?
He subscribes to a slightly different yoga philosophy of 99% practice, 1% theory…}

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[Editor's note: This is a guest post by Mariska Breland, founder and instructor of Fuse Pilates, where she reminds us of some essential principles of muscle anatomy.]

A fundamental truth of anatomy is that an overly tight muscle (or connective tissue) will inhibit its opposing muscle’s strength.

What was once the result of MS-related weakness for me has become a structural issue from walking not-quite-right for years, to walking flat-out-wrong for a few years beyond. Structural issues are formed from habits. These habits can range from anything, for instance, from talking on the phone too much (creating that kink in the neck) to poor posture. Today, unless I’m standing, my ankle doesn’t come up to a 90 degree angle towards my leg and doing a calf stretch for 5 to 10 minutes twice a day at this point won’t cut it. I found that as much as I tried to strengthen the muscles to flex my foot, it wasn’t working because the tightness in the back of my leg wouldn’t allow it.

This can also happen in women (and some adventuresome gents…Prince comes to mind), that live in their high heels (another form of habit). Wearing high-heeled shoes will cause shortening of the calf muscles and Achilles tendons. In addition, heels shift the pelvis into an undesirable position, though simultaneously making your legs look awesome. Those trendy heels I used to love aren’t so good for balanced leg muscles which yoga and Pilates are ideal for maintaining.

Think about it like this: If your bicep is contracting, it shortens, so your tricep has to lengthen. If both contracted at the same time, your arm couldn’t bend.

Why do muscles get tight?

The simplest reason muscles become tight is that they aren’t stretched or taken through their range of motion sufficiently. The cause may also be neurological as a reaction to things like stress, or it could be a biomechanical problem where the body will tighten around a joint that it recognizes as unstable to protect from further injury.

Other causes of tightness include overuse, which can produce micro tears in the muscles. Those tears result in the muscles tightening to protect themselves. It is also possible to overstretch. When the body feels you are over-stretching, it activates the stretch reflex where the muscle contracts to stop you from injuring it during overly ambitious stretch exercises.

Of course, it could always be a combination of more than one thing.

How to fix a muscle that’s weak?

When you properly stretch a tight muscle (and the surrounding connective tissue), its antagonist muscle (the one that does the opposite job), theoretically can spontaneously increase in strength. In addition to regular Pilates and yoga, there are devices you can use to harness the stretch, such as the stretch brace that I now wear for hours and hours and hours on end, all with the goal of stretching out the tight leg muscles that are making my foot flexion difficult.

The ultimate goal: No pain and walking with a better gait, even when fashion wins over dorsiflexion and I break out the high heels.

A Tip: The next time you feel weak in one body part, look at the one that does the opposite motion and ask yourself, are you weak or tight? Or maybe both?

Stay hard core,

Mariska

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About Fuse Pilates

Fuse Pilates, developed in 2005 by fitness expert Mariska Breland, builds on traditional Pilates exercises and teaching styles with an original, fun, and highly effective twist on Pilates mat and apparatus classes. Prompted by the growing popularity of the Fuse Pilates method, Breland partnered with Roxanna Hakimi and Sormeh Youssefieh to open the Fuse Pilates Playground in Washington DC’s trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood in June 2011. Each Fuse class is different, uniquely customized to student requests and choreographed to upbeat music. Classes offer an intense yet approachable method of mat, tower, reformer and chair instruction, along with private coaching and wellness counseling for beginner to expert levels. Fuse Pilates’ highly trained and experienced instructors concentrate on 360 degrees of the body to shape and create beautifully-toned physiques while promoting overall health and wellness. To learn more about Fuse Pilates visit http://www.fusepilates.com/.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/fusepilates  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FusePilates

(Nearly) Everyone Loves Random Acts of Airport Yoga

With the San Francisco Airport’s new Yoga Room splashing into the news this week, we take the opportunity to highlight random acts of yoga occurring in airports across the world. Clearly, airports and spontaneous yoga demonstrations were made for each other.
First off, here’s kirtan chantress extraordinaire, Ragani, and her band members making good use of their time in the Charlotte airport on the way home from a trip…

Next, a group of traveling yoginis, clearly inspired by Ragani’s amazing balancing act, attempt a world record for most yoginis striking a pose on an automatic walkway at the same time…I think they win…

A few tips on how to turn a delayed flight into the next great opportunity to impress your fellow travelers with a perfectly executed handstand…

Here we have handstand splits (2:30 into the clip)…glad no one got hurt…need I say more…

Have a “sore bum” from the long flight? Give these stretches a try…

I wonder if you have to get a permit for a synchronized yoga demonstration like this…

Finally, the last few clips are from folks who might be just as happy as the rest of the yoga world if the Yoga Room concept really takes off in airports…

Gentle Flow Yoga with Kathryn Budig

If you’re under the weather today or just needing a little more relaxed yoga session, this gentle flow yoga practice on Yoga Journal’s Youtube channel should do the trick. Gets the body moving a little bit, without too many sustained inversions.

Video description:

This Gentle Yoga Flow practice is accessible to all levels. There is a primary focus on hip opening, gentle lunging and twisting. This sequence is ideal for the beginning yoga student or regular yogi who wants to tone it down for the day. For this practice you will need two blocks and your strap. Feel free to use this practice anytime you’re looking for a little revitalization. Visit http://www.yogajournal.com for more videos.

The Science of Yoga’s Recommended Reading List

It’s a bit of a costly habit (well worth it though), but one of the first things I do when I read a book is check whether the author provides additional reading recommendations. I’m currently reading The Science of Yoga and was happy to find a list of science and yoga history related books for further reading. As the author states, “The list makes no claim of being comprehensive but simply offers entree to a growing literature that draws on demonstrable fact and reasonable inference to illuminate yoga.”

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Some of these look well beyond my attention span in the science of yoga–glad Mr. Broad read them all and summed them up so nicely–but I definitely plan to add a few of these to my shelves.

Hank Gets a Little Yoga Treatment from Yogi Victor on King of the Hill

I know this clip’s a little old, but I love the heck out of this scene from King of the Hill. While Yogi Victor (Johnny Depp) is quite the crude yoga teacher, he clearly has Hank’s best interests at heart… Who knows, Hank might even learn how to “breath through his feet” once he gets a tank-top. Talk about some great lines…

Hank walks into class:

Hank: Uh, hello, I was wondering if yoga could help my back because it hurts like all…

Yogi Victor: Let me tell you a story. Once I was like you–skeptical, near-sighted, paunchy–then I met a special friend. This glorious friend took me to places I thought I’d never…

Hank: Eh, excuse me, is this one of those stories where this special friend of yours turns out to be yoga?

Yogi Victor: What time do you evacuate your bowels?

Hank: What?

Yogi Victor:  There’s only one right answer! Between 4 and 6 in the morning.

Hank: Well this was a great way to spend a lunch hour…

Yogi Victor: Lunch is one of the worst things you can do to yourself!

At Hank’s disability hearing (where Yogi Victor is apparently his key witness):

Board member: Mr. Hill, this guy is not helping your case.

Hank: Exactly, let me ask you, what healthy person would voluntarily spend five minutes with this joker? If I wasn’t in horrible pain wouldn’t I have kicked this guys ass?

Board: Hmmmm…, yeah…, we find for Hank Hill. Congratulations.

Yogi Victor: Why are you rewarding this man for abandoning the yoga way!?! Look at him. He’s clinched from his back muscles down to his inner eye…

Any other T.V. shows out there with great yoga scenes?

Daily Sun Salutation Yoga Practice: Surya Namaskar A & B

Video description:

This is an 18 minute Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation follow-along practice. It’s a great way to wake up in the morning, or to end your day. While there are modifications for beginners, poses are not described in great detail so if you are brand new to yoga, you may fare better with a more tutorial-like video. This video is practice oriented, with 5 repetitions of Surya Namaskar A and 5 of Surya Namaskar B. While these sequences are taken from the Ashtanga tradition, Forrest Yoga modifications have been given for a few of the asanas, including lengthening the back of your neck at all times in order to reduce neck and upper back pain which I find sometimes accumulates from lots of sun salutes. 

My name is Shiva Reinhardt and I am a yoga teacher at the Blue Lotus Healing Arts Center in Ruidoso, NM. Our website is http://www.ruidosodayspa.com

Music from http://www.magnatune.com under the Creative Commons license: Artist: Hans Christian, Album: Rumi Symphony, Song: Divine Love

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