Author Archive
Yoga Festival Montreal!
It’s been a quiet week on IAYB! I ended up taking an unintended mini-hiatus while I’ve been focusing my energy on last minute details for Yoga Festival Montreal, the community-driven, fiercely local yoga event that I co-founded last year. The second edition goes down in just one short week, May 31 to June 2 (omg!).
Collaborative community event coordination is challenging and humbling. I’m working on an awesome team with four other women, and we discuss and debate every single decision around the festival, from the program schedule to exhibitors to poster design. While we have areas of responsibility (mine is faculty, communications and media relations, obv), we are all involved in every aspect of the project, and we think long and hard about everything.
The festival is my dream yoga community event. Matthew Remski described it perfectly: “on a shoestring budget in a non-corporate space, featuring all local teachers who will be all paid the same wage, workshops on yoga and social activism, no corporate sponsorship or import vendors, with all advertising materials printed in soy ink on 100% recycled papers…” (Although, admittedly, the shoestring budget isn’t part of my dream). Continue Reading
Jeffrey Bussolini conducting research at the Center for Feline Studies.
One of the internet’s greatest gifts is cat videos. I could spend hours watching cat videos and marveling at what amazing creatures cats are. So can millions of other people, which is why there is such a crazy amount of cat videos on YouTube. Cat yoga videos are pretty great, too.
Vice.com decided to study why cats on the internet are so addictive for a recent episode of My Life Online. The video is called “Cat Yoga with Feline Experts,” but really it’s about feline experts, cats on the internet and the concept of cute, although cat yoga does play a strong role.
Jeffrey Bussolini, owner of the Center for Feline Studies, explains his research work which includes “systematically looking at yoga with cats” and creating an “intersubject communicative experience” with them. As well, Vice writer Amy Kellner, creator of The Cute Show, tells us why there’s so much cute on the internet.
“Cat Yoga with Feline Experts” is more than just a cat yoga video – it’s a charming cultural picture of the internet’s obsession with cats and an appreciation of all things cute. Especially cats.
Watch the full brilliant and amazing “Cat Yoga with Feline Experts” on Vice.com.
Anamaya’s yoga deck & its stunning view (image via anamaya.com)
The tropical yoga retreat experience – a time to get away, rest, and reconnect. Costa Rica has become a primary yoga destination for people from around the world. What really happens in the retreat setting?
IAYB sponsor Anamaya Resort in Montezuma, Costa Rica is situated on a cliff in the jungle looking over the Pacific Ocean. The three-year old resort, with a capacity for about 40 guests, has worked hard to develop strong ties with the local community.
I could have asked Anamaya co-owner Geoff McCabe about the centre’s yoga retreats, spa services, yoga teacher trainings or the infinity pool (which I’m kind of obsessed with). But I wanted to know how they’ve integrated into the community and how they support local businesses. Continue Reading
Image via Decolonizing Yoga FB page.
Kula Annex, one of the few studios with a positive space initiative, apparently offers “consent cards” to indicate if you want to be touched for adjustments (or anything) in their yoga classes.
As they state on their Facebook page:
we keep green + purple consent cards that read “yes, thank you” and “no, thank you.” we invite students to place either by the top corner of their mat at every practice to indicate to teachers whether or not they consent to physical adjustments. ultimately, consent helps us to cultivate a safer space.
What do you think? Should other yoga studios and teachers follow suit? Would you use consent cards if your studio had them?
