In order to attract more people to Buddhism in Japan, three monks regularly perform at a Tokyo jazz bar, reports the BBC. After chanting for 20 minutes, the monks sit down with the audience to chat and.... make balloon flowers....
Hong Kong-based Pure Yoga, in conjunction with Equinox fitness clubs, is planning on opening studios in the U.S., the first one in Manhattan, reports New York magazine: "The new club will be 'design and amenity driven,' which means the usual...
If so, check out the new podcast Buddhist Geeks (www.fallingfruit.tv/buddhistgeeks/), a weekly web radio show intent on introducing spirituality to a younger audience via interviews with Buddhist teachers and scholars. Based in Boulder, Colorado, the show is hosted by 24-year-old...
According to Reuters, recent studies conducted in Sweden and India show that yoga can reverse biochemical changes associated with high blood pressure, obesity, and high blood sugar. Waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides were significantly lower, and "good"...
The World Hindu Council of America is going to try to persuade Indian-American hotels and motel owners to place copies of Bhagvad Gita in rooms, according to the Times of India. It was unclear if this was in addition to...
Religious and political officials from India's eastern state of Orissa have written to the Indian government and the U.S. embassy seeking action against California-based cafepress.com for selling intimate apparel imprinted with Hindu deities. The protesters are seeking an apology and...
On January 28, the New Mexico State Senate will open to the sound of Sanskrit mantras. Rajan Zed will recite from the Rig Veda and Bhagavad Gita. After first reading in Sanskrit, he will deliver the English translation of the...
Don't know what to give a fellow yogi? Want to make sure you leave class with the right yoga mat? You can buy a personalized, embroidered yoga mat at justmymat.com. Mats are made from TPE (Thermo Plastic Estomer) which the...
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak about "Engaging Wisdom and Compassion" at the University of Michigan on April 19th and 20th. The two-day educational program will be held in conjunction with a public talk on environmental issues...
Ever notice how your baby gravitates towards certain people? Turns out, they can be excellent judges of character.
According to the Associated Press, the House approved a bill preventing Myanmar's rubies and jade from entering the U.S. The bill is in addition to already tough sanctions against the ruling military regime that killed peaceful protesters and Buddhist monks...
Whether you're just starting to study Buddhism or you're already on the path, "Ask a Monk, " an online information and advice service, can be an invaluable resource, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Ven. Shih Ying-Fa, the abbot of CloudWater...
Immunologists and geneticists in India are working with Ayurveda experts in a first of its kind project to scientifically explain the physiological reactions that take place during Ayurvedic treatments. Scientists are specifically interested in Ayurvedic rasayana therapy, which involves the...
Visit the Volvo for Life Awards website to vote for one of the real-life heroes who are changing the world, like yogi Matt Sanford. Here is an excerpt of his story: "When only thirteen years old, Matthew survived a catastrophic...
The Hindu American Foundation has organized a letter writing campaign against the destruction of Hindu temples by Malaysian state government officials. A protest march was scheduled for November 25 in Kuala Lumpur but, according to Reuters, organizers of the event...
About 7,500 evacuees of the California wildfire went to Qualcomm Stadium where they were not only given cots, tents, water and food, but arts and crafts for children, crisis counseling, meditation, yoga, acupuncture, and AA meetings for adults. This has...
Although you may prefer to practice yoga in contemplative silence, the music of Chris Brenne may change your mind. Brenne has developed a style of guitar-playing especially for yoga, creating "sound to inspire breath." He performs live at studios and...
Yoga guru Swami Ramdev is against sex education in schools saying that it leads "children towards crime." "Sex education has been dragging the children towards crime and if this situation continued, they would become dreaded criminals," he said during a...
Seems Ogden, the Yoga Guy on YouTube, isn't the only one looking for love in yoga class. According to an article in London's Guardian, "classes such as 'social flow' yoga (after which students go for cocktails) are already up and...
If you ever wished you could do Downward Dog with a decomposing body, you're not alone. According to the New York Times, this combination is a fantasy for some yogis. About 75 people showed up for an open casting call...
Yoko Ono urged the world to give peace a chance with the unveiling on October 9th of the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland on what would have been John Lennon's 67th birthday. The plan is for the tower to be...
A teacher at an elementary school in Georgia has decided to get her students out from behind the desk and onto a mat to help them learn about Greek mythology.
I can't think of a better way to spend a fall weekend than in Bozeman, Montana, taking a yoga for equestrians workshop. The program is run by riding instructor Annie Bolognino and yoga teacher Margaret Burns Vap. The first part...
I recently stumbled across the website www.yogakitty.com. The "spiritual humor disclaimer" reads: "It is well known that almost all Yogis have a great sense of humor. Many great spiritual leaders have valued a good joke. We certainly wish to offend...
Kelly Neylan, a yoga teacher based in Columbia, M.D., has created an affordable line of yoga-themed T-shirts and tanks. "I was seeing $60 yoga T-shirts and just thought about how so many people who teach and do yoga can't...
Time magazine recently reported that over the past three years, 13,000 Americans were treated in an emergency room or a doctor's office for yoga-related injuries. Why do you think so many people are getting hurt practicing yoga? How many of...
It's 8 a.m. at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at the University of Missouri-Columbia: you wouldn't normally expect a bunch of frat boys to be up at this hour, never mind doing Sun Salutations with the campus yoga instructor. But...
We've heard of yoga for your back, yoga for menopause, yoga for any number of ailments, but a yoga facelift? "Face yoga" expert Marie Nadeau and author of The Yoga Facelift (Conari Press, 2007) says the concept is the same...
Many viewers of the reality series "Survivor: Exile Island" became fascinated with Aras Baskauskas and his apparent love of yoga. Aras junkies are in luck: on November 30, his 90-minute yoga DVD, "Yoga for Health and Wellness," will be released....
Now you can receive a weekly installment of Nischala Joy Devi's interpretation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, via email. Based on her book, The Secret Power of Yoga (Random House, 2007), the free service begins November 1 and will highlight 111...
The Yoga Health Foundation, has announced "Yoga Month 092008," a grassroots, community-based global campaign to educate people about the health benefits of yoga. The organization has planned a year-round program that will peak September 2008 with millions of health and...
Lucid dreaming, also known as dream yoga, has been used for centuries by Tibetan Buddhists and Taoists to reach enlightenment. The practice begins with recognizing that you are dreaming and then sustaining that awareness. Next, you learn to control the...
When was the last time you wore a pair of jeans to yoga class? I'm guessing never. Montreal's Second Denim (secondclothing.com) would like to change that. The company's Yoga Jeans ($120), designed to stretch as you move into Downward-Facing Dog...
A study conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, found women being treated for early-stage breast cancer who participated in a yoga program experienced a smaller decline in social well-being than women who did not do...
No, that's not my new alias. It's the name of a one-woman show in London. In Yoga Bitch, Suzanne Morrison tells the story of her two-month stint in Bali training to be a yoga teacher. Have your heard of any...
A Mommy and Me yoga class has been banned from two church halls in England. Louise Woodcock, who was looking for a new home for her Yum Yum Yoga class, was turned away by vicars who described yoga as a...
Having a hard time getting your little ones interested in yoga? Check out www.aikido-reading.co.uk/micro_site/stretching/15_stretches.htm. You'll find Kermit the Frog demonstrating 15 "stretches," including Child's Pose and a Spinal Twist. Fun for kids of all ages....
New research shows that yoga can relieve both psychological and physical symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. It also appears yoga can lift levels of an antidepressant-like hormone, allopregnanolone, typically low in chronic sufferers. Dr. Ratna Sharma, a physiologist at the All...
Swami Ramdev, who has a large following in India and is best known for teaching pranayama, is holding six-day "yoga camp" at the Alexandra Palace in London from July 27 to August 1. More than 4,000 people are scheduled to...
The Asian Classics Input Project, an organization dedicated to locating, cataloging, and disseminating Tibetan and Sanskrit manuscripts, has created a CD of yogic texts including the Rig Veda, the Bhagavad Gita, and more. The CD was given away to 1,000...
Yoga is being used help children who have apraxia, a condition that affects their speech and fine motor skills. Patients don't just do asanas, they also make sounds in coordination with their breathing. Yoga has also been used to help...
The Papworth method, developed 40 years ago, has recently been proven to relieve asthma symptoms, depression and anxiety according to an article published in the journal Thorax. The technique includes a sequence of breathing and relaxation exercises developed in the...
Teaching meditation in public schools could have positive benefits, but does it cross the line?
According to the New York Post, yoga teacher Rodney Yee and his wife Colleen antagonized Sag Harbor, NY, police by holding a class in Marine Park without a permit on July 3. "As the class started, cops descended and threatened...
By now you may know that traditional yoga mats, made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), can be hazardous to your health and the environment. The manufacturing of PVC products releases harmful dioxins into the atmosphere, and even more dioxins can leech...
Yoga will now be mandatory for students in Kerala, India. "Taking into consideration the widely accepted advantages of yoga and its effect on individuals, the education department would soon see that this is made part of the school curriculum in...
It was only a matter of time . . . During the month of June, the Salt Lake City dance company, SB Dance, performed "Yoga the Musical," a full-blown musical with an original book, music, lyrics, and choreography. The show...
According to a Washington Post article, Hillary Clinton's support team, self-described as Hillaryland, is a tight knit group of women that does yoga together once a week: "They have a personal connection virtually nonexistent among professional male colleagues. Even rarer:...
If you missed celebrating last week's summer solstice with a 108 sun salutations, here's a second chance. On June 30, Project 108 will bring together participating studios, yogis, and online donors to help raise money for Iraqi children who have...
This fall, a team of British academics, yoga teachers and practitioners will join forces to find out if a 12-week course of Iyengar Yoga can be used to treat lower back pain. More than 260 people between the ages of...
Today there will be a free yoga fest in New York's Times Square to celebrate the summer solstice. Sessions started at 7:30 a.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.timessquarenyc.org/about_us/events_solstice.html. Here's a glimpse: Photo Credit: Alan Zucker...
A juvenile court is Colorado is sentencing juvenile drug offenders to mandatory weekly yoga classes. Mary Jo Berenato, juvenile magistrate for the 8th Judicial District, believes over time these troubled teens will turn to yoga instead of drugs when faced...
The findings of a new study conducted at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and McLean Hospital show that practicing yoga may elevate brain gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) levels. Low GABA levels are associated with depression, anxiety, epilepsy, and even Alzheimer's. Complete...
According to entertainment news sources, "Saturday Night Live" alumni Mike Myers was kicked out of an L.A. yoga class because he couldn't stop laughing. Why? The yogi on the mat next to him was gassy. The actor explains, "This guy...
Which poses or pranayama do you find most helpful with headaches?
"Yoga, Inc.," the documentary about the commercialization of yoga by filmmaker John Philp, made its debut at the end of April at Hot Docs, the documentary film festival in Toronto. Clips are available at youtube.com. Although most of the controversies...
Yet another study that proves yoga does a body good: At Penn State they have found that women going through menopause who practice yoga feel better than those who don't. Yoga was "effective in enhancing positive mood and decreasing negative...
If you've ever dreamed of trademarking your own yoga style or patenting a yoga invention, you may want to work faster. The Indian government has set up a task force to try to prevent the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...
Jeanne Ricci is the former managing editor of Yoga Journal and author of Yoga Escapes (Celestial Arts, 2003). She first started practicing yoga in the early 1990s at Integral Yoga in Manhattan. She went on to study Iyengar Yoga...