Posts from ‘news’
Illustration by Bob Al-Greene, via greatist.com
Get ready: the great yoga injuries conversation has risen from the ashes. The great debate was initially ignited in early 2012 after an infamous article in the New York Times, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” In the past few months, we’ve seen a new rash of articles and blog posts from author William Broad, in support of the paperback version of his book, The Science of Yoga. This was followed by a rebuttal of some of Broad’s claims by Timothy McCall, M.D., Yoga Journal’s medical editor.
While some believe that the yoga community has actually benefited from increased dialogue about the dark side of the practice, the great debate has left many practitioners, and teachers, confused about what is safe and unsafe. Yoga U Online, an educational resource for yoga teachers and therapist, is attempting to open the conversation even more with a free online telesummit, April 10-14.
In advance of this event, Yoga U Online’s Eva Norlyk Smith interviewed Dr. McCall about the complexities of the yoga injury debate, and how to discern fact from fiction. Here is an excerpt from their conversation, originally published on the Huffington Post.
Eva Norlyk Smith: You yourself have been writing about yoga injuries and how to prevent them for years. So why the strong reaction to the claims made in the New York Times articles and the accompanying book?
Dr. Timothy McCall: While the coverage in the New York Times has been overly sensational, all the controversy it generated got the yoga community talking about the risk of injuries and how they can be lessened, and that’s a good thing. As with any other serious physical activity yoga, of course, can lead to injuries. But Broad goes out of his way to argue that yoga is a particularly risky — and even sometimes deadly — and that this has long been the dirty little secret of the yoga community. Continue Reading
Musician & yoga teacher Rachel Cama (photo by Becky Oehlers, via rachelcama.com)
There’s nothing new or innovative about yoga classes accompanied by live or recorded music of all genres. Perennial faves, however, tend to be remixed sanskrit chants, world music, or yoga-centric artists like MC Yogi.
But a radio station in New York City is putting a new twist on the yoga-plus-music phenomenon. WQXR, NYC’s only all-classical radio station, is bringing an exclusively-curated J.S. Bach playlist to yoga studios as part of its Bach 360°Festival, running March 21-31. The playlist apparently “taps into the introspective nature of Bach’s music, a perfect marriage with yoga’s contemplative flow so you can downward dog and sun salute all the way through the Baroque period.”
Two playlists have been created by a certified yoga instructor for practitioners to enjoy in either restorative or vinyasa classes. Participating NYC studios include Yogaworks, Moksha, Upper West Side Yoga and the 92nd Street Y. Find dates, times, classes and playlists on the WQXR website.
If you can’t get yourself to New York City before the end of March, roll out your mat and practice alongside Glenn Gould’s performance of The Aria, from Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.”
Bikram Choudhury in his glory (image via details.com)
Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga, is involved in another legal case – this time, instead of suing others for patent or copyright infringement, Bikram is being sued for alleged sexual harassment and discrimination by a former student.
I couldn’t take this story too seriously, since it first turned up in tabloid rags the New York Post and the Daily Mail earlier today. But it caught the attention of YogaDork (who managed to attain the court documents), the YJ Yoga Buzz and Yoganonymous, and finally appeared on The Guardian this afternoon. So it’s something.
The Guardian reports:
The 67-year-old founder of the international Bikram yoga studio is alleged to have pursued protege Sarah Baughn, 29, for years, claiming they were connected in a past life and his wife didn’t understand him. Eventually his pursuit turned physical, she claims.
According to a suit filed in Los Angeles’ superior court, Choudury denied Baughn an international championship title she had been awarded and has prevented her from teaching “because of her past and continuing refusal to have sex with her guru.”
Lululemon has pulled yoga pants from their shelves after they realized the products were determined “too sheer” (read: basically see through).
“The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women’s black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards,” the company announced in a March 18 press release. Since Lululemon has been working with the same company since 2004, the varient in quality is not the result of “changing manufacturers or quality of ingredients,” but some kind of manufacturing glitch.
Luon, a combination of nylon and Lycra, is Lululemon’s signature fabric and credited with giving the products their unique form-hugging abilities.
According to a handy FAQ prepared by the company, 17% of women’s pants are affected by the manufacturing issue. This has also affected Lululemon’s stock price, which dropped 7% within hours of the announcement, and the company stands to lose an estimated $20 million in sales (from an expected $350 – $355 million to $333 – $343 million) during its first quarter of 2013.
The new home of Le Studio de Yoga Wanderlust (top left, where the “For Rent” signs are); Google Street view screenshot, summertime.
Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood is probably the closest thing to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in all of Canada, and possibly even the world. The artistic neighbourhood is known for its density of artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers. It has been the homebase for musicians like Arcade Fire, Grimes, The Barr Brothers, Plants and Animals, and thousands of others. Last year, The Telegraph even named Montreal “The New Brooklyn” (and this seems to happen every three or four years).
With its tech and music scenes, Mile End bears a similarity to another hip American city: Austin, Texas. In a further striking resemblance, Mile End hosts the annual Pop Montreal festival (which is like a less techy SXSW, launching countless Montreal and non-Montreal musical acts over the past decade).
It’s not a surprise that Wanderlust, the annual music and yoga outdoor festival that has swept through North America over the past four years, would choose to open its second studio in Mile End. The Williamsburg-based company opened its first studio, Wanderlust LIVE, in Austin in Spring 2012. Continue Reading
