This past Sunday, The New York Times dedicated real estate in its Opinion Pages to reflect upon what Vivekananda meant to yoga in the West, as the 150th anniversary of his birth approaches. Author Ann Louise Bardach reflects on how...
Are there too many stories about sex and yoga in the news? Does any of it have anything to do with the practice?
Congo is experiencing one of the deadliest conflicts on earth; four million people have been killed in the war there. What can we do about it? Yoga for Congo Women is a not-for-profit that helps women in the Democratic...
From innovative designs that promise to lend extra support and comfort to stylish cover ups that transition seamlessly from the studio to the street, it's no secret that yoga fashions are becoming increasingly more sophisticated these days. But is...
The latest entry in the popular field of yoga memoirs is a wickedly funny book with one of the most memorable titles ever: "Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment." The...
Who says yoga can't be funny? Certainly not Dan Damman and Chris Thomas. Together, they've written a "mockumentary" poking fun at the yoga world. Offering glimpses of the project through a series of videos, which are quickly going viral, they...
There are many ways to live your yoga out in the world, but one of the most profound is to dedicate yourself to the service of others. If you've ever been drawn to the yoga of service, but wondered...
You may have seen the video of Yoga for Wine Lovers, which features an agile yogi practicing advanced poses while simultaneously downing a bottle of red wine. We're not sure when it happened, but yoga and wine have become a...
Does your yoga practice need a little artistic inspiration? Or does your museum-going need a little yoga? Either way, you might find yoga classes at an unlikely place--a nearby art museum. This summer and beyond, museums around the country are...
It seems like everyday we read about a new study showing what most yogis already know: yoga helps with a plethora of physical ailments. But we're noticing a trend of new studies focusing on yoga's ability to combat pain. This...
If you want to be a Forrest Yoga teacher, you'll have to do more than enroll in any ol' 200-hour yoga teacher training. You'll have to train with Ana Forrest herself. Then, you might be mentored by one of...
From Seattle to Syracuse, classes combining yoga and stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) are catching on with both yoga and water sports enthusiasts. News stories are popping up all over about the combination, which promises to offer a challenging twist on the...
The summer is halfway over. You might have a major trip planned, or a staycation where you while away the hours at home. You might have, like us, a list of books from the year that you just haven't gotten...
How do you put your spiritual practice to use in the face of danger? This is the fundamental question behind Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets WIldfire at the Gates of Tassajara, written by former Yoga Journal senior editor Colleen Morton...
More than three months ago, a murder at a Bethesda, Maryland, Lululemon Athletica store rocked the local community and the yoga world. At first, a coworker of the slain victim, Jayna Murray, reported that the incident was the result of...
Summer's here. This means extra time with kids, lazy days at the beach. Why not give them some books on the themes that yogis hold dear? We Are Like the Sky by Elisabeth Rose Wilds was inspired by the author's...
James Fox began teaching yoga to prisoners at San Quentin State Prison in California nine years ago, where he founded the Prison Yoga Project. Recently, he's been traveling around the country training others how to teach in a prison setting....
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...
A recent study reveals that more Americans than ever--more than one-third of the population--use mind-body practices like yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises, and that their doctors are often the cheerleaders for these approaches. According to researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess...
Miami Heat hoops star LeBron James recently credited yoga for his peak physical performance. In an article in the Miami Herald by Joseph Goodman called "LeBron James's big 'secret': yoga," the superstar 250-pound athlete says that yoga contributes to his...
Last October, yoga teacher Lisa Rueff headed to Haiti to help out after the earthquake. "Haiti has truly captivated my heart," she told Buzz. "The Haitian people exemplify gratitude, strength, and perseverance. Amidst so much heartache, the Haitians choose to...
In the age of YouTube, it's fun to sit back and watch a video of twins talking or a cat using the potty. But KarmaTube wants videos to do more than entertain: they view video as a medium to inspire...
Hunger. Reincarnation. Yoga. Cooking. Prayer. Restraint. Family. Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice, a new book of insights and meditations by yoga instructor and Oberlin College creative writing professor, Kazim Ali, touches on these parts of the human...
Anusura Yoga founder John Friend has announced the fall opening of an worldwide center for Anusara Yoga in Encinitas, California. Friend told Buzz that the center will include an 8,500-square-foot state-of-the-art studio, a soundstage for talks and concerts, and plenty...
It isn't often that your doctor takes off his coat, puts on shorts, and leads a yoga class. Unless your doctor is Loren Fishman, MD. Fishman is the medical director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City,...
Does yoga steady your heartrate? A new study out of The University of Kansas shows that yoga decreases episodes of cardiac arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat whose symptoms can include chest pains, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. The research...
People around the globe jumped into action to support relief efforts and aid to the victims of Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and those efforts continue. Yogis have been helping in their own unique ways, with donation classes,...
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the growing trend of yoga for kids. Not only does it improve their flexibility, but it also helps them focus better on schoolwork: In January, Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Southern California...
Designer Donna Karan has long ties with the yoga world. But the latest connection is a plea from yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar to change the way she does business. The animal activists at PETA report that Iyengar recently wrote Ms....
Every few years, stories about possible regulation of yoga teachers and studios surface. This time, it comes from the Great State of Texas. Recently, the Texas Workforce Commission sent out letters to various studios, asking them to become state-licensed career...
In today's world of breakneck technology, I've noticed that everyone is talking about "integration:" How do you get your Facebook Page and Twitter account to work together? How can you sync up your iPhone with your computer address book? How...
As yogis, we wish for all people to be happy, safe, and healthy. A touching story from Nashville Public Radio talks about how yoga helps wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afganistan piece their bodies and their lives back...
Yoga was a hot topic at the 7th annual Integrative Healthcare Symposium. From yoga in the military to a planned teacher training in Haiti to an explosion of web applications for medical professionals to introduce yoga to patients, the practice...
Balancing the business and spiritual sides of yoga has always been a delicate one. An article in Business Week broaches the scramble for yoga teachers to trademark their yoga styles, citing that "out of the 2,213 trademark applications containing the word...
Larry Schultz, founder of It's Yoga studio and developer of the signature practice known as Rocket Yoga, has died. He was 60. Schultz founded It's Yoga in San Francisco in 1989, creating a vibrant hub for a growing yoga community...
In our culture, we associate one day of year with love, Valentine's Day. We most often direct this love toward another person. But us yogis like to practice Bhakti Yoga--known as the yoga of love and devotion--every day of the...
Science has spoken. A new study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging shows that subjects who meditated 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress....
Last week, I started walking through the door of my Pilates class. Just as the door almost shut behind me, I heard the sound of funky world music coming from another room. I gave the teacher an apologetic glance, backed...
How many of us have struggled with weight and eating? In Ravenous: A Food Lover's Journey from Obsession to Freedom, YJ staffer Dayna Macy offers us the searingly honest story of her battles with compulsive eating. To discover the root...
Ever since Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke out against Christians doing yoga, the blogosphere has gone wild. If you haven't heard about it yet, the story revolves around an article on Mohler's website, where he...
At age six, most kids are taught by some kind of teacher. But in an unusual role reversal, an Indian six-year old IS a teacher. A yoga teacher, that is. The Daily Mail calls Shruti Pandey the world's youngest yoga teacher:...
Sometimes we humans make things harder than they have to be. I truly understand this while putting my kids to bed. If they are having trouble, the evening can go downhill, rapidly. I struggle to find a solution: Cry it out?...
Aadil Palkhivala, former student of BKS Iyengar and founder of Purna Yoga, always manages to distill the essence of yoga eloquently and passionately. Recently, I asked this master teacher a few questions about his new book, Fire of Love: For...
I love the energy and buzz of urban life. But I've notice that sometimes after a day out in my beloved city, I feel more drained than when I take a vigorous two hour hike in the mountains. So I...
It's starting. The creeping feeling of holiday time, where everything speeds up, whipping up into a final frenzy. As if things weren't going fast enough already. During my meditation yesterday, I heard a voice loud and clear. A question, really....
No matter how hard we try, we can't escape the cycle of life and death. In Hinduism, this eternal cycle is called Samsara. This continuing loop of life, death, and rebirth is at the heart of everyday living. Lately I've...
Yogis have known for centuries that a yoga practice makes us feel calm and centered. But science is finally catching up with what we've all experienced on the mat and the cushion:Â yoga changes our brain chemistry, which in turn...
It's easy to make your yoga teacher into a minor deity. Some teachers seem to have that indescribable "thing" that we so desperately want--poise, calm, a knowing. Not to mention great abs and a perfect Handstand. That's why we turn...
One of the things I've learned from my yoga practice is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Sure yoga can help you rehabilitate an overstretched muscle, but it can also teach you had to move...
The shooting at the army base at Fort Hood that resulted in 13 lives lost and 30 people wounded was a tragedy that saddened the nation. But in the last year, the leaders at the base have been experimenting with...
Opening a new yoga studio (or any business for that matter) in this economy is risky. So when landlords approached a Memphis studio owner about expanding to a new location in their apartment building, the studio owner had reservations. The...
A yoga instructor who teaches at Yoga Workshop, a Boulder, Colorado yoga studio founded by Ashtanga Yoga teacher Richard Freeman, has been named in a lawsuit brought on by a former student who claims he was injured during an "unwanted...
When it comes to the fashion industry as a whole, it's no secret that designers tailor their clothing to thinner, smaller bodies. Considering the inclusive nature of yoga, however, you might expect things are different in the yoga fashion industry....
By now most of us have heard about the tragic Spiritual Warrior retreat and sweat lodge in Arizona that resulted in three deaths and dozens more hospitalizations. The retreat, led by James Author Ray, was meant to facilitate the "spiritual...
There's no denying Lululemon's rise in popularity or its wildly popular marketing campaigns designed to inspire (and sometimes shock) us all to get healthy and look good doing it. As a New York Times writer put it in a recent...
The newest professional athlete to give yoga a try is basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. The Cleveland Cavaliers center tried a class in suburban Cleveland, according to the Associated Press. He needed two mats to accommodate his 7-foot-1, 325-pound frame. (The...
Anyone who's tried yoga can attest to its soothing, stress-relieving benefits. Of course, business people (and, really anyone who has a job) have been flocking to yoga for some time to seek relief from their stressful jobs. This was the...
If you're like me it just dawned on you that the time to start planning for the holiday season is NOW. Earlier this week my husband started the frantic search for affordable plane tickets. And, because I love handmade gifts...
You probably already know that yoga can help your posture now, but a recent study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests yoga also can also help lower the risk of Dowager's Hump in the elderly. Dowager's Hump,...
Despite its popularity, there are many misconceptions about yoga floating around in the media. The two that I think might be most prevalent are that all yoga students are crazy flexible and that yoga classes are mostly easy, gentle stretching....
We all know the first yogis did not have stretchy pants to highlight their, um, alignment. They didn't have yoga mats, props, or hardwood floors either. In the beginning, yoga was not about the stuff. Fast forward a few...
I'll never forget the time a yoga teacher looked at me in a pose (it was a variation of Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose), scowled, shook her head, and announced loudly to the entire class, "I can see we've got a...
Whether you like video games or not, you've got to be at least curious about the new Yoga for Wii game coming out later this year. As a Wii Fit enthusiast, I was definitely excited to hear that there was...
Businessmanagementdaily.com recently posted a list of tips using yoga techniques to help productivity. It's something I can definitely relate to as I sit at my desk on a Friday afternoon. It's also a fabulous lesson in applying yoga to everyday...
At $18 a class in some cities, it's no surprise that yoga studios are often a hub for financially secure spiritual seekers. It's the high price tags associated with yoga classes, retreats, and trendy yoga clothes that has some folks...
Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a recent study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study, which was a follow-up on...
By YJ correspondent Nancy O'Brien. Normal 0 Yoga Journal, tracking down furtive reports that a yoga teacher had been arrested in a Michigan crackdown on yoga teacher training programs, has learned that state police appeared at Dancing Feet Yoga in...
In the yoga community there's an unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" rule when it comes to being a vegetarian, wrote vinyasa teacher and author Sadie Nardini in a recent blog post."Many of the most famous teachers are not only vegetarian,...
If we've learned anything from this recession, it's that yoga is not a "luxury" expenditure but an important necessity for many who have found ways to stretch their (already thin) dollars to make it yoga class. In fact, many studios...
It's not news that states are cracking down on yoga teacher training programs and asking (in some instances demanding) that yoga schools pay the same licensing fees vocational schools like hairdressing and massage therapy schools pay. After Michigan gave yoga...
Deepening your practice doesn't always mean getting your body into a deeper asana. In fact, sometimes you'll get more out of sitting down with a book and deepening your knowledge of the practice.But there are so many important yoga books...
Image: Brant Ward/The Chronicle I'm not sure where it came from, but the idea that yoga teachers should never date yoga students seems to be prevalent in the yoga community. It was taught as ethics in my teacher training course...
What do you normally get your dear ol' dad for Father's Day? A tie? Slippers? It can be difficult to find the perfect present to show your dad how much you appreciate him. If your dad's a yoga practitioner, I...
I recently caught with YJ contributor Jaimal Yogis to discuss his memoir about his experiences with surfing and Buddhism, Saltwater Yoga: A Surfers Quets to Find Zen on the Sea. A long-time yoga practitioner, Yogis (his real name--you'll have...
A study at West Virginia University found mindfulness training exercises such as yoga, controlled breathing, meditation, and tai chi can help people handle stressful situations, according to an article on CNN.com. The study followed 103 participants, half of which were...
In a lawsuit against Dahn Yoga, a yoga organization with locations across the U.S., 26 former Dahn members allege the organization subjects its members to "psychological manipulation". Dahn Yoga issued this response to ABC15 in Arizona, who has been following...
Summer traveling can be challenging for a yoga student. Hours cooped up in crowded airplanes, routine meditation and asana sessions disrupted by altered schedules, so far from your yoga studio. Travelers have long been seeking out cozy Bed and...
Unless you've been living in a cave lately (a rent-free cave) you probably know we're in a recession. And unless you've been living in that cave AND on an incredibly long media fast, you know that people are cutting back...
After a hiatus, in which I was blogging about the first-ever Yoga Journal Conference in New York City and visiting family, I'm back to blogging all of the buzz in the yoga community. (Did you miss me?) First, I wanted...
Upon waking for the last day of the conference, we learned that Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, 93, has passed. The official announcement is posted here, and you can find up-to-the-minute memorial posts and reactions from students worldwide here via twitter. What are some of your best...