Lauding few Arizona schools for introducing yoga, Hindus urge all USA schools to launch yoga.

Brought to you by the same state that will want to see your papers if you ain’t quite white enough: yoga for high schoolers. I suppose anything is possible now. But YOW – advanced yoga philosophy and the Ashtanga intermediate series? These are going to be some seriously sore, thoroughly chilled Vedantin Arizonan teenagers. (that sounds like putting ketchup on angel food cake).

The Collegian » Yoga classes on campus help students relax.

While otherwise a fairly standard presentation of yoga benefits and practice, it is intriguing that increasing numbers of men – especially in college – are beginning to take yoga. Football players, who require a good deal of focus as well as injury prevention, are beginning the practice. Perhaps this will go some way towards addressing the peculiar gender imbalance that characterizes modern American yoga.

Noticed – Yoga Mats Falling Out of Favor – NYTimes.com.

The yoga mat is both a functional and a symbolic component of modern yoga practice. Symbolically, the mat constitutes a microcosm, a space sealed off from everyday life where concentration becomes possible. It also contains within it, virtually speaking, every asana session, every meditation performed on it. For this reason, you might think of it as a kind of talisman, which can remind you instantly of all your accumulated efforts.

Practically, the mat’s function is very simple: prevention of slippage. Even many sticky mats do not perform this function properly if you sweat heavily, as do I. Hence, at Bikram studios, you’ll always cover your mat in a towel. For this same reason, Ashtanga practitioners will often use the cotton mysore mat.

The bottom line, though, may be our Western obsession with *gear.* From walking sticks for hikers to spandex suits for bikers, we consumers like to mark our cultural territory with affectations of various types. To the extent that the mat functions neither symbolically nor practically, it is precisely such an affectation, and should by all means be jettisoned at your earliest opportunity.

Ganja Yoga Getting Popular in Toronto | TopNews United States.

Ganja yoga may be a growing fad in both Canada and America, and it probably seems like a gross debasement of the tradition to many.

Now Indian yogins (especially Shaivite) have used cannabis in meditation practice for centuries. According to some quite reputable authorities, it can in fact open the mind to otherwise unavailable perceptions. But can Americans do this without simply using it as another excuse for self-indulgence?

Class brings yoga into nature zone | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun.

Yoga and nature immersion are parallel practices. There is a mysterious term in the first chapter of the Yoga Sutra – the term is prakrti-laya, or ‘absorbed in nature.’ I have been fascinated by this term for many years, since it seemed to describe a set of experiences that I had with the assistance of nature-immersion during the 1980′s under the influence of mind-body practice and Colorado’s high wilderness.

Before anything else, I want to acknowledge what is obvious. To practice yoga outdoors in the healthful air of Palm Springs – as does this remarkable group of southern California yogis – is certainly a good thing.

The teacher’s heart is just as obviously in the right place. Nonetheless, it is very important to emphasize that, in yoga thought, there is much more to Tree Pose, for example, than the ‘be the tree’ imperative. This symbolic content is important and powerful, and is not merely an adjunct to yoga asana. Yoga knowledge is the complement of yoga action, the Shiva to its Shakti, to use traditional terms.

When properly integrated, symbolic and active components reinforce one another to generate yogic experience (yogi-pratyaksha). Here, the fascinating, multi-layered symbolism surrounding the Tree in yoga thought allows the mind to attend to detail in the same way that the body attends to detail.In this mind-body practice, physical action and symbolic knowledge feed-back into one another. This mutual mirroring creates conditions proper to the experience where mind and body, Ha (sun) and Tha (moon), in-breath and out-breath, become one – and there, time (kala) disappears and the the mind (citta) identical with the breath (prana) enters the void (shunya).

The issue is not of truth, but of method – how best to unite mind and body? For those with a symbolic intelligence, bridging the two becomes an almost mind-less matter.

Yoga Shows Potential to Ward Off Certain Diseases

Physiologists have detected lower levels of stress hormones in *expert* (check the definition in the article – it’s pretty darn loose!) yoga practitioners. It will be interesting to see how these findings dovetail news-wise with Fox’s well-known bias in terms of what we might call ‘culture’ and ‘faith.’ I’m psyched!

Tai Chi Eases Symptoms of Fibromyalgia, Study Finds – NYTimes.com.

The complex mind-body condition ‘chronic fatigue’ requires an equally mind-body oriented solution. Tai Chi gently moves the physical body and breath in even patterns that distribute attention throughout the organism, thus releasing deeply-held tensions and toxins. It is likely that yoga carries with it many of the same benefits.

Yoga Wars! India Blocks Patents On Poses

Metaphorical *patents* on spiritual material are well-known historically – every lineage in India has its own private, proprietary set of yoga methods. This becomes a strange brew in the modern world where these techniques can potentially become money-makers if they are understood as publicly proprietary.

IJYT 2010 Seitz Article.pdf (application/pdf Object).

Recent events in Missouri and Virginia have again how important it is for the yoga community to self-regulate. If it refuses to define itself, others will do so – and they will have interests such as regulation and taxation motivating them.

The question is: are we willing to begin consciously creating our own identity? It requires both knowledge of the tradition, and a clearly articulated vision of where we are going. It seems to me that the Yoga Alliance is our single best in-place tool for accomplishing this ambitious creative act – whatever its flaws.

Here, Dr. Seitz sets out all the relevant issues with clarity and balance.

Intro to Sanskrit for Yogis.

At least in NY, yogis are becoming more responsible to their tradition and its knowledge.

To practice yoga without understanding some Sanskrit wisdom is like trying to play the piano without any musical knowledge.

Ideas?