Posts Tagged ‘united-states’

Yoga Guru Protests Corruption

June 8th, 2011 wynona

Stories of corruption, tear gas, and police action don’t usually end up in Buzz. But this was the scene this weekend in New Delhi, as the popular Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev embarked on a hunger strike to end government corruption.

Tens of thousands of people across India, Europe, Africa, and the United States joined Ramdev in a strike that began on Saturday in protest of alleged Indian government corruption. On Sunday, the police responded with tear gas into the crowd of more than 40,000 Ramdev supporters.

Ramdev.jpgPolice detained Ramdev, guru to millions of followers in India, then later deported him back to his ashram in Haridwar and banned him from entering Delhi. Now on his fifth day of not eating, the spiritual leader said he wouldn’t eat until the government returned millions of dollars illegally stashed abroad and imposed tough penalties on those who continue to put their money in safe havens, and, in a seemingly un-yogic twist, has threatened to arm his supporters.

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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On Your Mark, Get Set . . . Pose!

February 28th, 2011 wynona

Competitive yoga has always been controversial. But that never stops the United States Yoga Federation from hosting its annual Yoga Asana Championship.

And this year is no different. On March 5-6, more than 105 yogis from around the country will gather in Los Angeles to compete for the title of the 2011 Yoga Asana Champion in different categories, including male, female, and youth divisions.

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Such competitions have been happening in India for years. Bikram Choudhury, creator of Birkram Yoga, has championed their acceptance in the U.S. Choudhury’s wife, Rajashree, a five-time winner of the All India Yoga Championship, is the president of the USA Yoga, which sponsors the event and aims to get yoga accepted as an Olympic Sport. Event competitors are judged on physical perfection in their execution of asanas:

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Give Love! Join a Nationwide Yoga Aid Challenge

September 13th, 2010 wynona

The folks at the Australian-based YogaAid have dreamed up a large-scale nationwide yoga event on September 18th and 19th to coincide with National Yoga Month.

The two-hour yoga classes around the country will be taught by 12 local yoga teachers to benefit charity. While the biggest events are being held in Chicago, New York, Miami, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco, organizers say that more than 20 others will happen around the country.

Participating in a Yoga Aid Challenge is easy: Log on to www.yogaaid.com and click the red button for the United States Yoga Challenge. Here, you can register to create a profile page.Then people can visit your page and donate–all online.

The idea is that students raise money for charity in advance of the free class. (Many well-meaning charity events actually lose money, because the cost of putting on an event eats into the profits.) YogaAid’s model is funding the event so that all of the money raised goes directly to the chosen charities: Off the Mat, Into the World, Africa Yoga Project, 4OneWorld, and Yoga for Youth.

Beyond raising money, the organizers hope that the event will have a ripple effect, sparking the desire in each student to serve in their community.

Karma Yoga (the yoga of service) is one of yoga’s eight limbs. How do you find ways to serve in your family or community? Let us know.

And to get you in the giving mood, Yoga Aid and MC Yogi have paired up to create the tune, “Give Love.” Download the MP3 for free by going to yogaaid.com and clicking on the blue box at the bottom right hand corner.

Nora Isaacs is a Bay Area-based health writer and editor.

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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John Isner: Yoga Champion

June 25th, 2010 wynona

ten_g_isnerwinning1_200.jpgYou’ve probably heard at least something about the record breaking three-day tennis math between the United States’ John Isner and France’s Nicolas Mahut, but you may not have heard about the interview with Isner where he clearly qualifies himself as a yogi–immersed in willful intention without concern for results.

“Especially once the match got past, you know, 25-all, I wasn’t
really thinking,” said Isner. “Hitting a serve and trying to hit a
forehand winner is the only thing I was doing.”

When it did
conclude, Isner dropped down to the court, rolled on his back and kicked
his legs in the air–sounds like Ananda Balasana (Happy Baby Pose) to us.

And we aren’t the only ones feeling inspired by Isner’s presence; Matt Harvey has put out all call for people to tweet tennis inspired haikus to his account @wimbledonpoet.

To watch highlights:
ESPN Sports

And to write a haiku about it:
@wimbledonpoet

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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Yoga in the Bedroom?

January 28th, 2010 kate

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If you’ve ever had a sleepless night, you know how frustrating it can be to lay in bed wide awake, mind spinning or body aching, when all you want to do is sleep. Insomnia affects 54 percent of adults in the United States at one time or another. Luckily, studies have shown that yoga can help—and you don’t even have to get up out of bed to do it, says a recent article on TheGlobeandMail.com. Try reclining poses like Balasana (Child’s Pose), Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose), or Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose) if your bed is beside a wall.

“It’s not a magic button,” Graydon Moffat, a yoga teacher who suffers from insomnia, told The Globe and Mail. “But I know that I’m not just
lying down there and tossing and turning – I’m restoring my body.”

Have you ever tried doing yoga when you couldn’t sleep? What poses helped you most?

Read the whole story on:http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/

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