Posts Tagged ‘pop culture’
The yoga community is still experiencing the fall-out from last week’s NYT Magazine article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” The article has gone far and wide, with varied responses from yoga practitioners and yoga haters. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more interesting responses, both positive and negative (YogaDork has also provided some responses from the community – and gets bonus points for the brilliant blog post title that summarizes my general feelings about the NYT’s yoga coverage: “Is The New York Times Wrecking Yoga?”).
ABC News: 4 Ways to Practice Safe Yoga – Surprisingly, ABC News had one of the better, more proactive responses. This little newspiece on their website gives readers some concrete tips on how to respect their limits and find the right teacher. In their television news segment, they give us a couple of balanced and reassuring soundbytes from Dr. Loren Fishman. Thumbs up, ABC News! Who woulda thunk?
Fake Time Magazine cover image by YogaDawg. Original image taken by J.T. Liss, via yogadork.com
When not quoting right wing ideologues, lululemon apparently enjoys co-opting protest language when it suits them. (image: Toronto lululemon store, taken by James Hamilton, via torontogp.blogspot.com)
Since the blogosphere and mainstream news picked up on lululemon’s adoration of Ayn Rand’s ideology last week, there has been a lot of curiousity about the underlying philosophy of the ubiquitous “yoga-inspired” clothing company. Interestingly enough, this PR scandal landed just week’s before lululemon CEO Christine Day was named CEO of the year by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine. A profile of Christine reveals some insight into the company culture and how they craft their success.
The profile starts off with some scene setting:
…On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Vancouver, you could pop into any store—the flagship Kitsilano location, for example—and, by doing nothing more than people-watching, easily get a sense of what underscores its success.
What’s notable here is that it’s not just shopping that you’re hearing. It’s community building. And if you have any doubt that Lululemon is deliberate in encouraging this sensibility, you need only read the slogans that adorn their shopping bags, advertisements and websites…
Then it launches into lululemon’s business strategy and how it mystifies investors and stock market watchdogs. Clearly, this CEO of the year accolade is well deserved ~ with Christine Day at the helm, lululemon has made some impressive growth. “…It is her performance as CEO that has mesmerized analysts and the markets,” writes Timothy Taylor. “With 122 stores in Canada and the United States, and 100 more now under consideration, this is a company well on its way to mass popularity. Lululemon saw its stock climb to almost $60 this fall, up over 280% from when Day joined the company, and a whopping 250% gain year over year.” Continue Reading
Can you name this pose? Take a guess in the comments section below and be eligible to win a handmade something (by me!).
This 18-carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a yoga pose just sold for £577,000 at Sotheby’s – only six percent of it’s initial £10m estimate, and less than a third of the £1.5m cost to produce.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, artist Marc Quinn created the piece “to question the notion of value that society places on objects and materials in light of the credit crunch.” Perhaps it could also be interpreted as a comment on the materialism and status consciousness of yoga as it’s absorbed into haute couture.
While Kate Moss did pose for the artist, this specific asana was modeled by “a more experienced woman yoga practitioner.” Do you know what she’s doing? Take a guess in the comments section below! The person with the right guess will win something awesome and made by me (most likely knitted, not gold). If there is more than one correct answer, I will draw one name for the prize.
Three flavours of yoga teachers – which would you choose?
The New York Times has once again fixed its gaze on yoga culture, this time with a short profile of Forrest Yoga, the method created by Ana Forrest. While I was reading the article, I couldn’t help but think back to a couple of other recent yoga teacher/style articles in the NYT: last summer’s seminal John Friend feature and the Tara Stiles profile from earlier this year.
The articles vary in depth, focus and length, but after a close reading of all three, I noticed some common themes. Here’s a handy dandy compare and contrast guide to the NYT’s approach to three very different, yet similar, teachers. All text is directly quoted from the NYT articles and everything in italics is my commentary.
Type of yoga teacher
Ana Forrest (AF): itinerant, fierce
John Friend (JF): rock star yogi
Tara Stiles (TS): former model with skyscraper limbs and a goofball sensibility
Name and origin of style
AF: Forrest Yoga – her last name, apparently
JF: Anusara – Sanskrit for “flowing with grace”
TS: Strala – a word she said she and her husband made up, but it turns out to be Swedish for “radiates light”
Description of style
AF: intense
JF: touchy-feely
TS: nondenominational Continue Reading
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