Yoga Man Roll Call

Reviewer: A viewer (Alabama)
I didn't actually do the exercises on this video because the instructor suggests that you watch the video first. I watched the video and I have to admit that it was very hard to watch the video. One, the video is too long. The case states the video is 68 minutes and, in my opinion, if an exercise video is going to be that long it needs good music and, if it is yoga, it should be a flow series.Second, this video is in "sets" which means that the instructor does each group of exercises about 3-4 times and then moves on to another set. Yoga is not the most exciting exercise in the world so to break it down in sets made it even worse. In addition, I think doing each set 3-4 times is a bit too much.What I liked about the video is the excellent instruction given and the modification for the beginner and the advanced. I think you will definitely develop a hard body using this tape. The problem is that not many people will be motivated to do the tape to get the hard body.

(from the amazon review to the video refez linked)

I have 2! (inches).

And I agree with Remy-- Amazon reviews suck.

1) I can't stand heat
2) I can't stand smells
3) I can't stand up for an hour, let alone and hour and a half

Adam if you are serious about learning yoga even as a physical discipline and nothing else, I recommend reading Autobiography of a Yogi first.

it is funny how few blokes do yoga, considering that women weren't allowed do it until recently.

-- DV (dirtyvica...), November 3rd, 2004. (dirtyvicar) (later)

?!??

I chose my class strictly by convenience (the place is a five-minute walk from my house and the class is at one of my few free times during the week) and was a little disappointed by my teacher at first glance--she's a little old lady from Homeland. But after about 15 minutes the first day, I realized a) she has the all-supple-muscle bod Demi Moore has spent years shelling out $ for, and b) she could kick my ass at yoga, and probably in a couple of other ways as well.

I don't do yoga that often, I'm lazy.

lulu lemon make magical pants

Yoga Man Roll Call!

I will go back next week, and the week after that, and the week after THAT etc. I am not going to let yoga beat me.

I can't believe I actually said "om" (many times!) but I did. The teacher reminds us of Rachel Griffith aka Brenda from Six Feet Under.
http://www.theage.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1055828425958_2003/06/19/21e_rachelgriffiths.jpg

I will challenge you on this point.

Astanga seems rubbish because it is endorsed by Geri Halliwell, but experience suggests that it is much better than Iyengar. Iyengar is in fact self-inflicted torture.

Balti Lisa yoga is in fact the best, but is unavailable to you if you do not live in Dublin.

I think I am going to start yoga.

i haven't done it for ages though :(

Used to do a lot of lifting and boxing/kickboxing (hey, I'm an Angeleno, sue me), went to a yoga class with a friend as a lark... and really liked it. Started adding it in once a week... a year or two later, it's pretty much all I do.

Takes a serious time investment to start paying off, but wow. Wish I'd discovered this ten years ago. Good for the head, the mood, and the bod. Plus mmmm... yoginis...

I mix up more technical classes at City Yoga on Fairfax with Bikram-is-for-the-weak flow classes on Main Street. LA ILXors, represent!

Honestly, flexibility is a very nice side effect, but definitely not what it's all about.

On the physical side, the main benefits are core strength and seriously improved kinesthetic sense (aka "body awareness"). Find an Ashtanga class, or a relatively serious "flow" class - anything that emphasizes Vinyasa (don't worry if you don't know what this means; do worry if your teacher doesn't) and you'll find upper body strength improving noticeably as well.

Even if it's not your primary physical activity, yoga does seem to be a very good general supplement. It certainly improved my boxing and kickboxing, and my runner friends report similar results.

Last time I was late for my Saturday class and I had to sit RIGHT in front of the teacher, who was obviously facing outward. Thus we were face to face for a lot of the class, sometimes uncomfortably close when on hands and knees or laying on our stomachs. Quite embarassing.

(teeny, since when are you pregnant???)

(xpost: day classes are the bomb)

Adam, do keep up!

there was chanting. that is all.

Who was her teacher? There is chanting in every yoga class! It feels strange at first, but you get used to it! And it actually *does* something!

All right. Let's talk about this. Can we agree that there are two kinds of chanting? There's the yogi that understands that going over the top with the chanting and om-ing can be offputting to beginners but ultimately sort of fun and then there's the full-on pseudo-spiritual airhead yogi that spouts florid nonsense and plays stupid, distracting background music the whole time.

xxp

There sounds like too much other shit to worry about in yoga for me. I'll stick to swimming.

That sounds like a good teacher. The classes I went to this last few weeks were really good, but I imagine they'd be totally off-putting for a beginner (ie - the instructors basically assumed that everyone was at least somewhat familiar with the vinyasa and would call out the names of the next pose a few seconds before going into it. Great for flow if you know what's up, but bad if you have no idea what's going on)

What??????

You just do the same as everyone else in the room!

Uh, hello? Yogis can FLY. Idiot.

Totally, I do it while running and lifting weights. Makes everything easier and better.

*high-five!*

FYI: don't buy your mat from the studio. Get it Wal-Mart (or Tarjhay or whatever)! They're over half-price!

this sounds like superhero training

Although supreme ultimate really referring to eternal principles of taoism - yin/yang harmony and stuff. Not as in bigger and tougher than everyone else.

this sounds like superhero training

What he said. Is this for real? Cuz it sounds awesome. Linkage, plz!

So you can see why the comparison gets made from time to time.

linkage plz? Here is my sifu's website. He is also a herbal medicine practioner, hence the name.

http://www.taichiherb.com

http://alternativehealing.org/eight_sections_of_silk.htm

http://www.everyday-taichi.com/eight-brocades.html

You don't wanna know.

Fuck Buddy Etiquette (60 new answers)

here's my number...

(I also love sweating. I almost feel righteous when I'm sweating. Like, "Hey are you sweating? No? I AM BECAUSE I AM HEALTHY.")

Bikram not required for SWEATY AND HOT yoga action. An Ashtanga practice (or even a nice, intense flow practice) should cover this nicely. And be better for your body. Really.

There are some analogies in terms of the language used to describe prana/qi and to elaborate the goals and benefits of practice, but while the aims are similar the practices really are quite distinct, both in physical practice and in philosophy.

awesome. though if you enjoy mysore-style Ashtanga, I suspect you'll be a little disappointed with Bikram, which is a pretty static practice, with the artifical heat posing the greatest challenge.

and of course I have to ask which asana you're working on these days...

Have any of you tried pranayama yoga? Its much more based in breathing and relaxation than any other yoga I've tried. The moves are more gentle, you don't hold any position you aren't comfortable with and the effects are subtle but significant.

A friend of mine, about 8 months pregnant, is also taking prenatal yoga. She's obsessed with her body. That said, I should take up sth, maybe yoga. I feel like a blubber of skin 'n' fat.

"Bikram yoga" is a scam guys. made all the worse w/ the fact that the asshole is corrupting my good name...at least he's using the fake spelling of it

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 13, 8:13 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - An Indian yoga guru who became a multi-millionaire popularizing "hot yoga" in America has reached a settlement with a coalition of yoga studios who challenged the copyright to his version of the discipline — an art form that is thousands of years old.

Bikram Choudhury, who trademarked his name and copyrighted his techniques, had been sending "cease and desist" letters ordering studios to stop teaching the same form of yoga that his private school has used to train more than 2,000 yoga instructors who have opened more than 1,200 Bikram studios in the U.S.

Some of the studios formed a cooperative and sued Choudhury, claiming yoga cannot be copyrighted.

The settlement is confidential, but three people involved in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Choudhury has agreed not to sue the 50 members of the San Francisco-based yoga cooperative for copyright violations. And cooperative members have agreed not to advertise the trademarked name "Bikram" without authorization by Choudhury.

The settlement avoids a June 20 trial that might have settled the legal question of whether Choudhury's copyrighted package of 26 poses and two breathing exercises, performed in a certain sequence in 105-degree heat, could be legally protected in federal court.

"Yoga, the word itself, means unity. So our lawsuit was of the intention of creating unity," said Sandy McCauley, co-owner of Yoga Loka, which has three studios in California.

McCauley and dozens of other instructors who formed the cooperative received threatening letters from Choudhury's attorneys demanding they immediately stop "distributing, selling or otherwise exploiting" his copyrighted work.

"We were very frightened that we were going to lose our business. We are very happy with this settlement," she said.

The cooperative had asked U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who later approved the settlement, to void Choudhury's 2003 copyright.

Choudhury countered that yoga studios cease using his "Bikram" trademarked name unless they were affiliated with the Los Angeles-based Bikram's Yoga College of India.

Choudhury's attorney, Susan Hollander, Hollander did not return calls for comment on Friday. Choudhury's headquarters in Los Angeles declined comment.

Choudhury, who lives in Beverly Hills and collects Bentleys and Rolls Royces, was a national yoga champion in India who has been teaching his unique Western style of yoga since the 1970s. Hot yoga has seen a surge in popularity in recent years.

And here I was being all diplomatic... yeah, I'm no fan of Bikram but I do know people who seem to get something out of it.

To be fair to Bikram, what he seems to be trying to copyright is a specific sequencing of prior art/public domain asanas performed in a heated room and called/advertised as Bikram yoga. He may well be within his rights there, although he's still a braying ass.

Best Bikram Quote Ever: "Because I have balls like atom bombs, two of them, 100 megatons each. Nobody fucks with me."

Don't have much interest in the Baron Baptiste Power Yoga line that branches off from Bikram either, but I am a corny purist fux0r like that.

"Purist" should come in big scare quotes though, since there's good reason to believe that asana practice as we know it (effectively, the Krishnamacharya lineage) doesn't go back much past the late 19th century and represents a pretty dynamic fusion of subcontinental meditative/ascetic practice and, yup, western gymnastics.

The notion of "yoga" of course predates the Bhagavad-Gita. Padmasana and the meditative tradition probably predate the Vedas.

I do get prickly about the Ancient Tradition trope though, which allows for all sorts of Orientalist Mystical Obfuscatory assholery. For which I should acknowledge there seems to be a pretty limitless audience here in LA...

Hence Bikram's trademarking of the name "Bikram" and copyrighting of his sequence.

For the curious, you can see the sequence here: http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/Postures/Postureindex.htm#photo

Endochrine glands. Good stuff. Not even close to enlightenment, though.

Okay! There are a bunch of different ways to explain it, which can all be totally incomprehensible to some people. Wise people generally say the less said about enlightenment the better. But, it is basically comprehension of the subconscious by the self-conscious or "integration" or "individuation" as Jung called it.

You might want to go here and check out the book if the below makes sense to you. It is from a book called "The Eye of The Spirit" by Ken Wilber.

But first, some praise: "No one – not even Jung – has done as much as Wilber to open Western psychology to the durable insights of the world's wisdom traditions." —Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

And now, from "The Eye of The Spirit"...
[The search for enlightenment] is a view of human development that attempts to incorporate the entire spectrum of consciousness, from instinct to ego to spirit, from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal, from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious. If nothing animal, human, or divine is alien to me, then no state of consciousness can be dismissed from the generous embrace of a truly integral psychology.

The crucial error of the Romantic view is fairly easy to understand. Take childhood, for example. The Romantic view is that the infant starts out in state of unconscious Heaven. That is, because the infant self isn't yet differentiated from the environment around it (or from the mother), the infant self is actually one with the dynamic Ground of Being--but in an unconscious (or "un-self-conscious") fashion. Thus, unconscious Heaven--blissful, wonderful, mystical, the paradisiacal state out of which it will soon fall, and to which it will always long to return.

The infantile state is not unconscious transpersonal, it is basically prepersonal. It is not trans-rational, it is pre-rational. It is not trans-verbal, it is pre-verbal. It is not trans-egoic, it is pre-egoic.The course of human development--and evolution at large--is from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious; from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal; from under-mental to mental to over-mental; from pre-temporal to temporal to trans-temporal, by any other name: eternal.

We seek for Spirit in the world of time; but Spirit is timeless, and cannot there be found. We seek for Spirit in the world of space; but Spirit is spaceless, and cannot there be found. We seek for Spirit in this or that object, shiny and alluring and full of fame or fortune; but Spirit is not an object, and it cannot be seen or grasped in the world of commodities and commotion.

In other words, we are seeking for Spirit in ways that prevent its realization, and force us to settle for substitute gratifications, which propel us through, and lock us into, the wretched world of time and terror, space and death, sin and separation, loneliness and consolation.

And that is the "Atman project."

The Atman project: the attempt to find Spirit in ways that prevent it and force substitute gratifications. The entire structure of the manifest universe is driven by the Atman project, a project that continues until we--until you and I--awaken to the Spirit whose substitutes we seek in the world of space and time and grasping and despair. The nightmare of history is the nightmare of the Atman project, the fruitless search in time for that which is finally timeless, a search that inherently generates terror and torment, a self ravaged by repression, paralyzed by guilt, beset with the frost and fever of wretched alienation--a torture that is only undone in the radiant Heart when the great search itself uncoils, when the self-contraction relaxes its attempt to find God, real or substitute: the movement in time is undone by the great Unborn, the great Uncreate, the great Emptiness in the Heart of the Kosmos itself.

I've been doing well. I've only been practicing once a week lately, but I am still really feeling the benfits. I've started to do virapumpeeda karani a lot - that's not how you spell or say it, but you know, when you lie with your legs up the wall. Really good stuff. Also my upper body has got a lot stronger recently, so I'm able to do a lot of headstands and work with the chest and shoulders. I also do a lot of strong hip openers like pigeon and all the Warrior positions, and I did a wall class recently which was pretty challenging. This is only my 8th month doing yoga, but I have made a lot of progres.

ta!

xp

Spencer Chow IS....the Californian!

Last night I finished my day working at a non-profit, put my bare feet back into my flip flops, caught BART to my yoga class, dropped in to see my WEED MAN (*wink*wink*) and then went home and had a huge glass of soy milk followed by a tofu extravaganza.

xxp

xp - Famed grocery store THE BERKELEY BOWL has a dried goods section crammed with barrels of dried fruit and granola. This week I chose some blueberry apple granola and it is great!

!!!

...I am also considering starting martial arts. And I've made tofu curry no less than 3 times this week! THREE!

xp :)

I just remembered why I loved yoga so much.

You know?

fwiw, if this gets settled on the yoga mat it'll be socal in a walk. kinda the ground zero of yoga in the US.

"embarassing" is not the first word that comes to mind

what am I trying to say? - veerapapradad kurani

9. Adam's Wife
-- Allyzay Science Explosion (allyza...), September 30th, 2004 11:19 AM. (allyzay) (link)

I think if Adam and I squared off that California would fall into the sea!

It'll be challenging, but if you're really new to this stuff you'll mostly be learning how to move at first. Still, how "hard/embarassing" it is will to a large degree be an inverse function of how strong the ol' abs are already.

Have fun! If she likes you, she should only embarass you a little...

or, for the yoga man, think of making circles with the torso or with the legs while in navasana

-- giboyeux (skowl...), June 14th, 2005 11:42 AM. (skowly)

I have quit coffee!

Any tips?

Just drink more water and occasionally juice or green tea if you really need some sugar or caffeine before your boss finds you sneaking a quick nap in a crawlspace somewhere. In a week or two, you should just feel normal and more like you used to feel as a kid, wondering why you needed coffee to wake you up at 1 in the afternoon or after a full night's rest.

Yeah, waiting for coffee to "kick in" is a load of shit in more ways than one.

This is pretty much OTM.

I will do this again. I will be strong.

xpost O!T!M!

One of the nice things about kicking the *habit* is getting to really enjoying the occasional social or "treat" cup.

gingerbread latte >>>>>>>> pumpkin spice latte > egg nog latte

I can't imagine a life without it!

I can, and it's really getting me down. I need to find a studio in Chi near my house ASAP.

Oh. Right. Forgot.

i started doing my crunch "fitness yoga" vhs tape again and it's more cardio than i can deal with. i need nice slow hatha where i can lie down a lot.

As if there weren't enough reasons to be a yoga man already, we really haven't discussed yoga-teachin'-hotties yet, have we?

My knuckles are still almost even from those bizarre knuckle pushups.

"Slow and stretchy" does not a repeat DVD make. Get a book. Make a list. There's no reason for a DVD in this case.

The thing is with DVD + "slow and stretchy" is you will not be able to watch the DVD while you stretch and the timing will be too short, even though DVDs can technically hold like 4 hours or something. Also, there will not be enough poses to necessitate repeat viewings.

On the other hand, some DVDs will offer multiple sessions, which means the pose times are really short! So, all you can really do is watch the DVD for a particular session, memorize the poses and then do it yourself. Or, watch one bit, hit pause, worry about your DVD player being on pause too long, then advance to the next pose. Not very relaxing!

Don't project! I wasn't at all. I was trying to give helpful advice. But, if you want to waste your hard-earned money on an annoying DVD, that is your choice!

:(

could you call them up for me?

It's weird (but not, y'know) how female-dominated yoga is in the US.

This is in Chicago. They do Iyengar yoga.

I feel the difference all the time. It tones muscles, increases flexibility etc, but it helps you develop your ability to pay attention to your body and to be focused in general. I guess all yoga tries to do that, but I like Iyengar b/c it is not too new-agey and full of hoo-hah (huhah?).

Iyengar Yoga is characterized by great attention to detail and precise focus on body alignment. Iyengar pioneered the use of "props" such as cushions, benches, blocks, straps, and even sand bags, which function as aids allowing beginners to experience asanas more easily and fully than might otherwise be possible without several years of practice. Props also allow tired or ill students to enjoy the benefits of many asanas via fully "supported" methods requiring less muscular effort.

Standing poses are emphasized in Iyengar Yoga. They build strong legs, increase general vitality, and improve circulation, coordination and balance, ensuring a strong foundation for study of more advanced poses.

Unlike more experiential approaches where students are encouraged to independently "find their way" to the asanas by imitating the teacher, an Iyengar Yoga class is highly verbal and didactic, with misalignments and errors actively corrected. Iyengar has trained thousands of teachers, who complete 2-5 years of rigorous training for the introductory level of certification (higher-level certification may take a decade or more).

It takes about 10 minutes.
Try it once or twice and you will see right away what I mean!

(i know this is a thread for man yoga. men who do yoga = hot when not super dippy.)

Just do yoga. A buddy of mine does it everyone morning, early, somewhere in Manhattan (where do you work?).

uh... Rhode Island.

i should've asked jay ;_;

In researching yoga classes and shit, I've been kind of annoyed by the in-fighting among different schools and practicioners and such, each with their claims of superiority & legitimacy. Lame-o. I'm not looking to open my thousand-petalled crown chakra, you fucking hippies, I want the health benefits.

What the 5T's has going for it is:
1. it IS yoga
2. it is the most basic and beneficial yoga exercises. It was designed by people who did yoga for the lazy or injured man who wanted to keep his body in great shape with minimal effort.

What non-5T yoga has going for it: depending on the type of yoga, you may lose fat quicker. This makes sense since the 5Ts only take about 10-15 minutes. But, if you do the 5Ts for a few months, you will reset your metabolism, drain your lymph, get massive energy, lose fat, massage your internal organs, strengthen your muscles, bones and joints, stretch everything that needs stretching and get your endocrine system working right, which means in addition to all the other health benefits, you'll be in a good mood chemically, too. Actually, the good mood you can feel immediately. Dramatic physical-looks results take about 3 months.

swimming, jumping rope, rock climbing, dancing, tai-chi, capoeira, catfish-grabbin', and voodun rituals.

the most authentic book on Buddhism was written by a French woman named Alexandra David-Neel... what she revealed in this book is something many Buddhist will disagree with vehemently simply because they have not learned these depths of the Buddhist teachings yet...

Boy howdy you sure do know a lot.

*though the "tibetans" are perfectly decent as vinyasa-based calisthenics go

I haven't gone to yoga classes, I just bought a Yoga book and have been doing the exercises they tell me in there. Classes scare me - on top of the obvious self-conscious feeling, I just imagine I'd find all the hott yoga babes stretching and bending to be hardly conducive to relaxed concentration.

bump!

adam: where you catching your classes these days?

Myers-Briggs people: are you nuts? It's astrology for HR people. Take the same test twice on the same day and your classification will change.

That said, I'm usually an INTJ or an ENTJ (sometimes an INTP or an ENTP), so that's exactly what I WOULD say...

adam: never mind - just saw yr not in LA 'til July

http://www.currybear.com/nucleus/media/1/20061006-200px-Streetfighter_dhalsim_illust.png

where to take class?

also, i wanted to line up the roll call threads.

whoops - missed your summer bump... did you find a place? if not, lemme know...

bump again - hey adam can you recommend me a studio in SF - I'm moving and I need a new yoga home!

lulz @ yoga studio e-mail blast

Summer Yoga Etiquette~ IMPORTANT!
For the good of all!
Ahhh, the warm days of summer are upon us and while that means fun in the sun, sweet summer nights, refreshing beverages and vacations it can also mean things less pleasant when it comes to sweaty yoga bodies! In an effort to maintain an environment that we can all enjoy, that is sanitary and just good clean fun - we have a few requests and suggestions to take us through this season - and beyond!

MATS - Though we are happy to provide free use of our mats and though we take very seriously the cleaning and care of them we could use a little help from you! If you borrow one of our mats and it's damp when you are through we ask that you NOT put it back in the basket or pile of clean mats but that you take a moment to hang it over either the banister near the bathroom or in the garden on a chair or bench or the shoe rack to air out. In addition we will provide all natural anti-bacterial spray bottles and if you could give the damp side a quick spritz it will make all the difference! If that seems like too much trouble maybe it's time to indulge yourself and get a beautiful brand new mat of your very own! And we are happy to instruct you in the care of your mat at home too. Also if you have left a little puddle in the room near your mat as a result of your supreme yogic efforts, please wipe that up before leaving too. We will have supplies in each room. Thank you!!

CLOTHING and HYGIENE - We encourage sweat and the detoxification process that is an integral part of some styles of yoga that we practice at Liberation. There is nothing more liberating then working up a good sweat and feeling the lightness and clarity that arises from that sort of practice! However, since we don't practice in a vacuum and one person's sweet nectar is another person's nightmare we suggest you do your best to come to class as fresh as possible and with clean yoga clothes! It's often the damp clothes in the back of the car worn for the second time that cause the trouble and not the natural body. We don't want you to miss class because a hard days work has left you a little wilted - so just be sure to have clean clothes with you and maybe consider carrying some simple natural products with you for a quick spruce up!

Thank you so much for your understanding and attentiveness to this - we want everyone to feel comfortable, free respected and welcome. It's going to be a sweet summer!!

Yogic flying, or levitation, is practised by the devoteez

srsly i wld never use a communal mat, i mean people do and it's really not that big a deal but how hard is it to bring your own mat? i don't know, maybe it is

ohman during this month-long course i was taking in july, i wld leave my mat at the yoga studio, wrapped up and tied with this kinda stupid scarf and like velcro stretchy thing i had (tied together, i don't know, it works), and so, one morning as i was getting my mat, i noticed that the tie thing wasn't on right and the whole thing was not well wrapped up and that obv someone in another class had used my mat even tho my mat is nowhere near where the communal mats are, and for a moment i had this insane internal reaction of fuck you you fucking fuck who the fuck do you think you are i will find you and ask you what your problem is holy shit. which is just so whoaa + mental. proof that i require constant yoga to channel my vast stores of energy into decent things and not into pure destructive anger whoa.
but srsly some people have no respect.

i have decided to do karate in the fall!

fist yoga fart

is that a variation of "rock paper scissors"?

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d21/lardnardo/9TM.jpg

doin yoga in the shower is fly as fuck imo

srsly

don't die!

i tried bikram today

bikram + mild hangover + not a lot of food that day = (,o_O)

bikram + mild hangover + not a lot of food that day = (,o_O)

that is a matt furie cartoon above! he is awesome

reading this thread makes me want to do yoga, since i have pretty bad lower back, no flexibility, need to tone up and get more energy/sleep better. but i seriously cannot deal with going to classes, which makes me sound like a spazz but whatevs.

RIP Sri. K Patthabi Jois

गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा

http://i29.tinypic.com/kb6kqs.jpg

okay so that dick move has kept me from bumping this thread for over a year, but what the fuck, let's keep it moving.

btw KPJ's mula bandha check may look funny to western eyes but it was legit and he didn't just do it to women. that a man who grew up when and where and how he did welcome all students and treated all equally and gave transmission to all who earned it without regard to gender deserves recognition imo.

also i'm now thinking seriously about doing teacher training.

back in this again myself and got five classes at two hours a pop apiece last week
yoga chicks are so fly i gotta say

kinda happy i found this local studio; they had a special for three months unlimited for 275 and they're on the way home. Always a 7.15 class so i can do it on the way home. I've been having some serious abdominal pain and swelling and the doc says it's stress related and recommended yoga, so it all kinda fits just now.

been out of practice for like five years really. it does come back but boy is it kicking my ass.

So i'm like seventeen classes in now.
End of class, this woman comes up to me and is like "Could you maybe breathe quieter? You're very loud and it's disturbing me."
i had to bliss out and be all "well my sinuses are actually very narrow and it's not really something i can control and i'm really sorry" but interior it's like WTF lady, step one is FOCUS ON YOUR BREATHING and that's the name of the game so sorry if i am BREATHING TOO LOUD FOR YOU
and now i'm self conscious.
it's an odd mix of people that show up; one indian guy around my age who's there EVERY DAY and he's real friendly and at least two drop dead gorgeous women in late twenties/early thirties and a dwarf and "you're breathing too loud" lady and one dude who can casually go into scorpion and a couple that try to hold hands in exercises.
feeling much better after three serious weeks of practice, but sidebody/shoulder/neck/belly/thigh/calves SORE

I've been doing a weekly yoga class since September taught by a friend of mine. It's in a photography studio and is basically a private class for the teacher's friends, so there's usually no more than five of us on any given week. I'm always the only guy.

Started a free yoga class offered at my work. First session was Tuesday. Amazing feeling afterward. I felt invigorated and broken down at the same time. I will definitely stick with it.

I am the only guy, but the class only had three people. Perhaps more will show up.

I'm back, here on the greatest of threads. 2012 has been a very yoga year for me so far. Back in with a vengeance and it feels so good. It cannot be overstated how yoga before work is simultaneously the one thing I don't want to do AND the thing that will always make my day bearable/occasionally awesome. The higher the stakes, the greater the reward. Which I know isn't very yoga of me, but still...

Last class I was the only guy, and the only person under 35. It's cool tho

Still doing yoga in 2012!

What? You are? Or is that an exclamation of dismay at how behind the times I am?

i got two classes so far this year. Been going back to the gym and that's pulling time. But the goal is this sunday for the mat.

I have been on constant rotation of gym/yoga/bike/running for the past 15 days. I guess I should take a day off but I get grouchy when I don't exercise now.

xp The former! I'm excited that I have stuck with it for as long as I have.

hi dere

Why do yoga men enjoy practicing shirtless? Call me a prude, but I prefer shirts on my yoga compatriots.

http://i.imgur.com/py6bI.png

I've not seen shirtless yoga guys.

I'm usually the only male in my class, where I am the fat, bearded, balding, tattooed person dressed in black with a black yoga mat in a room full of shiny undergrad women who are 18 years younger than me. It would be cruel to others for me to be shirtless.

i'm way way outta practice
i have never done yoga shirtless

Of possible interest for yoga men:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loszrEZvS_k

I will admit that I've gotten a lot more serious about my yoga now!

Has anybody tried aerial yoga before? Bad for someone with a bum knee/hamstring?

my gf digs it. probably fine on the knee but maybe not the hamstring depending.

re shirts, i do remember scorning the shirtless dudes coming out of the advanced classes way back in the day, but finding a good shirt for yoga* is tough and even when you do, it's pretty easy to soak a shirt in a hot/sweaty-type class and still have an hour to go. some dudes take it a bit too far, but if the room is damp it's completely legit.

*needs to be snug/stretchy enough to not fall over yer head in handstands (or worse, down dog) and light enough not to soak through.

Been back to two-three times a week for the last five months, after a long lapse early in the year. I've been on and off for two years now, but really trying to stick with it. I'm still really tentative with a lot of things, and some of the balance poses just kill me. But I finally got into a crane pose briefly last week, which felt good in terms of trusting what the body can do. Really need to work on headstands and handstands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiHIs7_iMl8

This is an hour long neck and shoulder yoga. You feel really great after doing this. Heck, just after the first 5 minutes (the neck stretches) it wakes me up every time.

Hah, I just started managing to do headstands without a wall last Saturday! It turns out that the wall actually makes it harder to find the proper balance point.

*needs to be snug/stretchy enough to not fall over yer head in handstands (or worse, down dog) and light enough not to soak through.

Appreciating this difficulty now that I've started Ashtanga at a heated studio, though tucking whatever I'm wearing into my pants/shorts does help prevent it from falling into my face.

In today's class, we were doing partner work, and uh the person on whom I've crushed basically had her face in my crotch for one of the poses...

Leee are you still in the bayarea? Where are u gettin yr ashtanga on?

Yeah, I've started going to a place in downtown MV that has the distinction of using Comic Sans for their signage.

brilliant! if i find myself down the peninsula of an evening i will have to check it out.

In that case, you should know that there are TWO yoga studios in the vicinity. I haven't gone to the other one but the studio I'm talking about is this one.

i knew that ;-)

comic sans 4vr

ps based on yr posts itt and in fitchix, if u ever want to join me here i promise you will enjoy: http://www.urbanflowyoga.com/

lolol

I never go up to the city anymore but now maybe... (that is a hueg class!)

Vis-a-vis the search for an adequate top for a yoga man -- anyone try compressions shirts, like those Under Armour tops?

yeah - they work but it can get pretty hot in there and I'm vain enough that i'll only go there if i'm in game shape.

this is my current go-to: http://shop.lululemon.com/products/clothes-accessories/men-tops/5-Year-Basic-V-240350

haven't tried but this might have potential: http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens-charged-cotton-vneck-undershirt/pid1234032-001

I know what you mean! FWIW, I'd probably just wear it under another tee (I need shoulder support).

Jeez! $52!

jaymc, how much are yr yoga classes?

I tend to wear the black Dickies t-shirts that have developed holes / frayed colors / excessive fading / stains and are therefore no longer suitable for daily wear.

I am the same, fashion-wise. My yoga class is all 18-22 year old undergrad women with like three or four undergrad guys who are serious jocks. I am the old professor dude in the back in the punk rock t-shirt w tattoos, sticking out like a sore thumb. But the class rules so why not? nobody is looking at you in yoga, everybody turns inward anyway.

why dont u guys just not wear shirts its way more comfortable

This is an hour long neck and shoulder yoga. You feel really great after doing this. Heck, just after the first 5 minutes (the neck stretches) it wakes me up every time.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, September 8, 2012 11:00 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imna try this, i love rolling my head around

anyone here a yoga autodidact?

Tried another heated yoga studio this weekend (not quite Bikram hot, but I was melted all the same). Noticed the demographics are a lot younger, and the yogis wear fewer clothes. Huh.

I wanna get back into it, but only after I read The Science of Yoga : The Risks and The Rewards, by William J. Broad. Though mainly known for reporting on environmental issues, he's also been doing yoga for a long time. The book apparently tells quite a bit about good and bad teachers, judging by recent interviews (check the one in Fresh Air's archive, for inst).

I've read most of it, but Broad seems a little too sanguine and credulous at times, though I confess I'm not familiar with his work. (I did hear the Fresh Air interview.) Still, I've taken to heart some of the warnings he mentions (and I think that the Fresh Air interview is pretty good for getting them, without necessarily going through the book.)

been jogging for three weeks, legs are starting to scream at me. maybe it's time for a one a week again.

Broad is clown tbh.

Bad form to post pictures of oneself doing headstands, wheels, etc. in this thread?

/humblebrag

You can do wheel? Fuck you.

My regular weekly class, which I'd been doing for almost 4 years, came to an end recently. So I have not been doing yoga as regularly. Tonight I went to a class at my wife's gym, and the teacher reminded me of Paul Giamatti.

Clouds, sorry I missed your question from 2012!

too late, i'm dead now. :C

Hilarious that a yoga men thread exists, and that it has hundreds of posts.

Been posting bits and pieces on my six months so far:

Yoga - CD/SD

I think my fear is that my yoga teacher might disappear (unlikely) or I might not be able to go to her if my life changes. I am, it seems, dependent on her (a couple of other teachers are not the same at all). No one's fault - but I don't like it. I'll enjoy this class for as long as I can but it is important to find other Iyengar/Hatha practitioners that are nearly as good/build a network.

But it is important to always be instructed, exchange ideas - much more into it as a lifetime's practice than mere exercise - that angle is ok but I don't care for that very much.

I finished Mark Singleton's book charting the genesis of modern postural yoga (The Yoga Body). It's an amazing and beautiful academic study (he goes through hundreds of yoga manuals and exercise books from the early 20th century). The book is written for a general audience though it helps if you've done some practice as you know the names of the poses.

He writes an article and summarises it here.

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/philosophy/yoga-s-greater-truth/

There is also an excellent podcast where he talks about the book ten years on from the publication.

Amusing to read about his crisis of faith in that piece (which he doesn't talk about in the book). I am now halfway through my own teacher training course, but there isn't any of that from me.

Since that book some old Hatha yoga texts have been found and translated. The Hatha yoga project at SOAS has delved into that. There is a book compiled which lists 112 asanas, with six sequences. These findings don't invalidate Singleton's book as Sun Salutation is very much a modern construction but all of this shows how a thing such as yoga changes and adapts over a very, very long period of time. It's all fascinating history as much as anything else.

Here is more details on that Hatha book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha%E1%B9%ADh%C4%81bhy%C4%81sapaddhati

good article

Singleton's work is reminiscent of recent research on the history of karate and other martial arts, where checking the folklore against the historical record turns up similar 19th century Western influences and 20th century processes of systemization

in any context where oral traditions and lineages are central to the production of styles, organizations, and schools, a lot of practitioners just don't want to hear this stuff

I think it's uncomfortable because a lot of exercise and physical cultures veered into eugenics and fascism, and some of that goes into modern yoga - and you see glimpses of that when anyone who isn't thin or young who talk about their struggles in a yoga class where the teacher doesn't know what to do because they paid for a quickie course to become a teacher and have no experience. Or don't know what to do or care.

it's much easier to say "my teacher and our past masters did it this way" than to find better answers to questions like "what is this for and why are we bothering?"

authenticity based on lineage is also a quick way for new teachers to get some status and authority -- not necessarily a bad thing unless it blocks them from thinking critically about their practice and learning from research, other styles, etc.

I like Mahler's line: "Tradition is not the worship of the ashes but the preservation of fire."

lineage is bad but no lineage is worse. if your teacher can’t name their teachers, that’s a big red flag.

that said, 100% agreed on the Mahler line, and 1000% agreed that lineage cannot be treated as a substitute for svadhyaya

The teachers that don't adhere to a lineage would need to have spent quite a bit of time learning other lineages of postural yoga for me to go to them.

The algs pointed me to this piece. Basically covid has hit yoga studios badly and it might be the opportunity for a reset. I don't think you can teach in depth online though.

Yoga being less of a business would be good.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/white-middle-class-yoga-teacher-problem/

rogermexico OTM about inability to name teachers being a red flag

It's also a red flag if I ask a young person about their studies and they reel off a long list of disparate teachers and schools.

I tracked down Yoga Body and enjoyed it a lot. Singleton keeps his debunking to the necessary minimum and instead emphasizes the creativity of modern yoga systematizers and the role of print and photography in the propagation of 20th century physical culture.

It’s also a red flag if I ask a young person about their studies and they reel off a long list of disparate teachers and schools.

I tracked down _Yoga Body_ and enjoyed it a lot. Singleton keeps his debunking to the necessary minimum and instead emphasizes the creativity of modern yoga systematizers and the role of print and photography in the propagation of 20th century physical culture.

This book was doing the rounds a couple of months ago. I won't read it and from the articles it doesn't sound like she has a lot of practice to back what she's saying. But the message of affordability and taking this to people is an excellent one.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/03/yoga-white-wellness-industry-21st-century-colonialism

rogermexico otm obv

I love how the author of that Guardian column echoes the standard folklore ("The origins of historical Indian traditions are notoriously difficult to date, but it is thought the ancient practice of yoga may have emerged between 2,500 and 10,000 years ago ...") as the basis on which she tries to wrestle with present-day whitewashing and decolonization. Before attempting judgments about appropriation, it might be useful to consult some evidence-based history about how she and the people she's writing about received their yoga.

I am not a yoga man so as a guest on this thread I should be polite. Appropriation, colonization, and whitewashing are real and relevant in this context, but those concepts can't be much use when one premise of the analysis is a handwavey orientalist "tradition" with limited demonstrable relationship to the existence of yoga in the modern world.

It's interesting to compare these yoga authenticity debates to the (less informed, less attractive) debates around authenticity in martial arts, where orientalism and the narcissism of small lineage differences have both lost ground in recent decades to the idea that the only authentic martial art is the one most efficient for (hypothetically) killing people or (less hypothetically) winning combat sports competitions.

In both cases (yoga and martial arts) there are a few historians working to document how these practices were formalized and reproduced, but that scholarship has little influence on "the yoga industry" and "the martial arts industry" (both allegedly expected to generate something like $10B in 2023).

Looking over this piece on Italian food. A tradition that has changed as time has. Really interesting how the right have used this idea, in the way the BJP use yoga in India.

https://www.ft.com/content/6ac009d5-dbfd-4a86-839e-28bb44b2b64c