Archive for August, 2009
Inappropriate? Yes. Inoffensive? No.
Well, it was bound to happen eventually: according to the latest headlines, “upset Hindus criticize Yoga Journal’s yoga-comedy-series as mockery of revered discipline.” Not all Hindus, though – just one particularly influential and vocal Hindu statesman, Rajan Zed, who is speaking out against the Ogden: The Inappropriate Yoga web video series launched by Yoga Journal in March 2009.
According to several dodgy and poorly written articles floating around various Indo-American websites, Zed claims:
yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a serious mental and physical discipline by means of which the human-soul (jivatman) united with universal-soul (parmatman), and not something to be spoofed at. [prokerala.com]
I gotta say that I really don’t think that Ogden is “spoofing at” the ancient tradition of yoga; I see him as taking the piss out of contemporary North American yoga practitioners, in a good humoured, kinda necessary way. (C’mon, we’ve all been in yoga classes with that creepy dude-in-a-headband trying to impress the ladies with his veganism and then looking down their shirts.) Also, Yoga Journal didn’t create Ogden – his original video was a YouTube hit in 2007. Their Ogden web series seems more like a slightly desperate attempt to increase online readership and relevancy.
This isn’t the first time Rajan Zed has taken on American pop culture. He also tried to incite a worldwide boycott of The Love Guru last year and criticized Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP newsletter, suggesting that she change the tagline from “nourish the inner aspect” to “nourish the outer aspect” (which, you gotta admit, is pretty funny and kinda true – he also said, “The actress needs to grow up and stop writing about mundane topics like ‘Boots by Gucci,’ ‘Banana Pancakes,’ ‘The Hungry Cat’ and ‘Tweezerman’ — in which she talks about taming the unruly eyebrows of men.”)
Watch all 5 episodes of YJ’s Ogden The Inappropriate Yoga Guy web series. And for the sake of nostalgia, check out the original vid below.
I just received my first blog meme (known as the “MeMe Award,” but really it’s just a regular old meme, which I know and love thanks to Facebook) from the lovely and insightful Ecoyogini! These are the rules: 1) share 7 tidbits about yourself 2) share this MeMe Blog Award with 7 blogger friends. Easy enough! Here goes…
1. The little image next to my blog name in the tab is a close-up of my cat’s face. My cat is named Qyogi (pronounced ‘ki-yo-gi’). He actually came with the name Yogi (I found him on Craig’s List), but I was like, whoa, there’s already a lot of yoga in my life, I don’t need a cat named Yogi. If my cat was a letter, he’d be a Q, but there aren’t a lot of Q names out there, and “yogi” is a cute word, so I just put the two of them together: Qyogi. It suits him perfectly.
2. I have a hard time answering the question: Where are you from? I vaguely respond “B.C.” although I currently reside in Montréal, which feels like the city I was born to live in. I’ve been here for more than 3 years, and now that I’m trying to learn the French language, I think I can almost be considered montréalaise. I was born in Kamloops, a small town in the interior of British Columbia, and have lived all over the province, as well as the U.K. and Japan. Prior to coming to Montréal, I was living at an ashram in the remote mountains of southeastern B.C.
3. I ended up at the ashram after being hospitalized for depression. I was released from the hospital on antidepressants and medical social assistance ~ I was unable to work, but I needed to be doing more than just going to therapy all the time. I also knew that I needed to heal and learn about my mind, how I work. The ashram was the best place to do that, and going there was the best decision I’ve ever made (even though all my family and friends thought that I was joining a cult in my vulnerable time of weakness). Continue Reading
The Kapoor sisters promise a "world class" chain of yoga centres in India
It’s not uncommon for some self-righteous Western yogis to perceive India as a place with a pure, holy, spiritual approach to yoga. However, Western-style commercialization happens in Indian culture as well, as seen in this recent news item on Glamsham.com, the Bollywood Hindi Movie and Music source.
Actress superstar sisters Kareena Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor are teaming up to open a chain of yoga centres. Apparently they both practice yoga as a physical pursuit and means of maintaining their fit figures. While they haven’t determined where they’ll start their franchise, they clearly already have a vision for it.
Kareena [says] that yoga is India’s gift to the world, a gift which the west has accepted with arms wide open. Talking about her favourite, power yoga, Kareena says that it helps in keeping the body and mind in perfect harmony and she plans to see to it that they have well qualified instructors and all the world class facilities at their yoga centers.
glamsham.com: Kareen plans yoga centers with sister Karisma!
I probably wouldn’t have made it through my own teenage wasteland if it wasn’t for The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. RIP John Hughes…
[via Boing Boing]
w-a-s-h-i-n-g, t-o-n baby, dc!
So it looks like Mark Lilly and his Street Yoga mission are making an impression on the D.C. yoga community. Just after last week’s Slate.com dispatch from the National Alliance To End Homelessness conference, The Washington Post has also featured an article on yoga activism and accessibility.
The piece acknowledges “a growing movement to take yoga beyond its reputation as boutique exercise for the well-to-do and use it as therapy for groups such as at-risk and homeless youths, HIV/AIDS patients and torture survivors.” It’s about time!
Mark Lilly, who founded Street Yoga in 2002, said the interest in making yoga freely accessible grew steadily until two years ago, when it exploded. “Enough service providers — social workers and nurses and senior staff at nonprofits and clinics and hospitals — had done yoga in their own lives,” he said. “It just hit in a big way for a lot of people at the same time.”
While Lilly is speaking about his observations on a larger, national basis, it does look like there are lots of other cool service-oriented, volunteer-based stuff happening in D.C., including an online resource for “yoga activists” (their website is still under construction, but they have a super cute logo). Who knew? It’s enough to make me almost want to move there…
washingtonpost.com: Yoga Activists Say Classes Shouldn’t Require a Financial Stretch
