Bikram Yoga is a horse of a different color. It's not relaxing. It doesn't respect individual limitations. Every class is always the same. And no matter how hot it is outside, it's hotter inside the studio. First time Bikram attendees are often overwhelmed by the heat and mentally struggle through the 90 minute class while the drill sergeant instructor barks out orders to flex and move your body in ways you think impossible.
Today the LA Times reported Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has charged Bikram with 10 criminal safety violations.
Apparently a ghost in a small village in India has demanded a house.
"Earlier the ghost used to live on a tree, but it has now become homeless after the tree was uprooted in a storm a few months ago. He now wants a separate place to live in," one of the villagers said.
So villages started a collection to raise funds to build the ghost a house. The problem is, the ghost is not satisfied with this.
"The problem is that the ghost doesn't want his new house to be constructed with donation by the villagers. He wants the house to be constructed through the panchayat and registered in his name. But the rules do not permit us to do any such thing," Purohit said.
It's pretty amazing that this is even news. Are we really living in the 21 century? Or was something lost in translation? Read the whole story here.
You don't have to fall for your yoga teacher to have hot intimate yoga. Darrin Zeer's Lover's Yoga shows many standard Asanas modified for couples. From the playful "V for Victory" to the passionate "Loving Lap Hug" Zeer's modifications keep the essence of the Asana while making it easy and effective; even if your partner has never set foot in a yoga studio. The book is delightfully written with line images of real looking couples performing the postures.
I bought this book because it caught my eye and thought it would be fun to try with the boyfriend. I didn’t know if he would be interested in trying yoga. At home, I left it lying around. Almost immediately my boyfriend noticed it and mentioned that we should try it out. One evening we went through the book together and picked out some simple postures to try. He had never done yoga before and it was fun practicing together. Afterwards our bodies were relaxed and we felt more connected. Since we had so much fun, he's always asking when we can practice together. Practicing together has created time to relax and increase our intimacy together.
The book includes tips and inspiring quotes on each page. It’s down to earth, yet personally empowering and easy for the new to yoga to understand. For more inspiration visit Darrin Lover's Yoga site, where you can watch his daily video on how to get stressed, which is an amusing twist on the relaxing techniques.
* Image of Warrior's of Love, from the book Lover's Yoga by Darrin Zeer, Illustrated by Thorina Rose
Now here's a Swami I can follow. Introducing Swami Beyondananda! A friend heard him on the radio and enjoyed his wry provocative political humor. I found myself laughing when I visited his website where he offers you official absurdification.
You know, the times we find ourselves laughing at our situation in spite of it all, those embarrassing moments where we realize God is laughing so hard we would be fools not to join in. Sometimes the Universe will create a farce-field just for our benefit, and we remember that life is a situation comedy and we are just having an episode.
Swami Beyondananda ends his enlaughtertainment with:
Airport travel these days generally requires that you wait in a myriad of lines and my recent travels were no exception. So what do you do when you are waiting for almost an hour to pass the time? Practice a little meditation, visualization and magic.
I was waiting in the customs line in the Montreal airport yesterday. My traveling companion and I had booked through the same airline; however my flight turned out to be on another carrier and I had to wait in line at another counter. My new line was long and not moving at all, so I told my partner to go on ahead and I would try to get though customs to meet him before his flight.
My line continued to be stagnant and barely progressed. It seemed that every person at the counter had some major problem. I usually check in online or at a check-in kiosk, but there were none in this airport. I wasn't checking any baggage so I only needed my boarding card, while everyone else had multiple bags. Finally I got to the front of the line. Five minutes later I had the boarding card in my hand and I was merrily off, only to be met with a line for customs five times as long as the one I had just finished.
I tried to take a Zen moment and breath. I would get through the line and catch my airplane. But as I stood there with other impatient passengers, I got more and more frustrated. I am not a patient person and it takes much of my energy to endure a long line - especially when I have everything in efficient order and am waiting because of someone else’s' inefficiency.
Just then, the Rabbi who presided over the wedding I had attended over the weekend walked up. We had had many good conversations over the course of the weekend and I really liked him. He was also waiting in line to get through customs. I asked him to join me so we could pass the time in conversation and perhaps gain some enjoyment from the necessity of waiting.
As we chatted the line continued to move at a the pace of a wounded snail and, as enlightened as we were, we both were getting irritated at the stupidity of the wait. Of the inefficiency causing the bottleneck. I tried to focus on the chance meeting we had to converse, before heading to opposite ends of the globe. But then, at some point in our conversation of the metaphysical and ethereal, I exclaimed that we just needed to use our power of visualization to move the line. To see where the energy was blocked and gently nudge it forward, loosening the blockage. I said this with amusement and partial belief, because as much as I have directly experienced the awesome, I am still skeptical.
At the same time, I abandoned my skepticism. I thought our line and saw the blockages of energy, the stagnation, the places where movement couldn’t happen. I took a breath and when I exhaled I envisioned those blockages working themselves out. I saw the energy moving; and almost instantly the line started moving. It moved quickly in long spurts with short pauses. We covered the rest of the way (which was about half the line) rapidly and easily chatting all the way. Neither of us said anything about the dramatic change in the line movement, although I distinctly noticed the change. We continued our conversation, easily passed through customs and made it to the gate with time for coffee. He got on his flight and I still had time to meet my partner at his gate before his flight left.
Later when my own flight was high in the sky and I was watching the clouds out the window, I thought of the three of us. Each of us with a different trajectory, seemingly away from each other, but I felt closer and connected. I knew I would meet each of them again - in their own perfect time. In the meantime, I have the power to remove blockages and smoothen the flow, if I only acknowledge it.
Ok, these yoga mash-ups have gone too far. I'm all for burlesque and pole dancing classes to get in tune with your inner sexuality. But this story on spicing up yoga with burlesque moves is going too far. Practicing yoga can help in flexibility in dancing and other physical activities, but do we really need burlesque yoga?
"I just like to add a little feminine, minx-like energy to the pose," she says, punctuating the sentence with a girly giggle. "It doesn't mean I'm not using my muscles. Instead of a series of yoga postures -- or asanas -- I offer a series of burlesque-inspired movements."
"Burlesque is a symbol of something that could be considered taboo or wrong or risque or scandalous, but by combining it with yoga -- which means union with the divine -- I'm trying to make the whole connection with our bodies a spiritual practice." - Little Woo of Burlesque Yoga
Do you see unexplained lights in the night sky? Streaks, strange flashes or unexplained flares. Is it a bird, a plane or the military testing secret aircraft again? Or could it be some other unidentified flying object?
“I want to try to figure out what these people are seeing,” said Vike, who said he has investigated scores of reports of UFO sightings from around the world. “We don’t have the answer: Is there life out there?” [Source]
If you are fascinated with UFOs and UFO sightings you may want to check out this site, which reports on all kinds of UFO sightings both those that can be explained and those with questions, including this one on a recent crop circle in Croatia.
While much of the world is held in rapt world cup fever; an interesting blend of yoga and soccer has occurred in a West Chinese province. Football yoga (although in the US we'd call it soccer yoga) was jointly created by the Asian Yoga Federation, India Gandhi Yoga and the Natural Treatment Institute.
Holding a ball in hand, practitioners make it move through every joint of the body to musical accompaniment and the ball seems to work with the body in a perfectly way. [Full Story]
It's suggested that fans can use these techniques to enjoy and add health to the world cup viewing schedule.
With the football yoga exercise, soccer fans can concentrate all their energy on the football. By doing so, fans will not only have a chance to play with the ball, the exercise will be good to their health as well.
Now that's a unique twist for world cup viewing; but I doubt you'll see this in a bar anytime soon.
Here's an interesting take on the power of fans. England's star soccer player, Wayne Rooney, broke his foot on the way to the World Cup. A distraught had an interesting thought to harness the power of positive thinking. He created a website where fans can visit and virtually massage Rooney's foot. When you arrive at the site you see a huge foot and when you draw your mouse over it, the cursor transforms into tinkling sparkles. As you "massage" the foot, the time is measured in meters. The site uses the Healometer to keep track of how many meters of massage have been given.
The goal is to amass 790,056 meters on the Healometer, which is the distance between the Football Association headquarters in London and the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, the venue for England’s first World Cup match. ”With the help of the Healometer, fans will be able to visualize the healing of Wayne Rooney’s fractured metatarsal, though a mass concentration of faith-healing energies,” says Robert Wheeler.
Is this for real? You don't expect someone to utilize the Internet to harness psychic healing, even though it's been proven that prayer does have a positive effect on healing.
All that mousing over may actually be working, too. Rooney missed the first game but his foot has been healing in double-quick time, medical authorities report, and he may be ready to hit the field for part of the World Cup, if not for Thursday's second match perhaps by the following week. [Full Story]
Wishful thinking or not, you can practice your healing powers by going to HealRooney and experiencing it for yourself. Now, where's that voodoo mouseover site for those pesky people in your life?
Yoga is proving to be very flexible, wrapping itself into various beliefs. This week, let's look at Christian yoga.
"The word yoga means 'yoke,' and that ties in with Christianity so well because Jesus Christ says, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light,'" said DiGeronimo, who teaches Christian yoga under the auspices of Spring Branch Community Church in Virginia Beach, where she is a member. At a recent class, she opened with a Bible reading and prayer to the "Father," while sitting with her legs crossed, feet on her thighs, in the lotus yoga position. [Read More]
Although not everyone agrees that yoga is a Christian practice.
Critics contend that with yoga something else is at work. In 2003, the Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed its stance against Eastern practices such as yoga, which it had condemned in 1989, warning that yoga "can degenerate into a cult of the body." [Read more]
But I think, that regardless of the technique, if you are able to connect with the divine, whether it be inside or beyond you, the practice has value. And for any technique to have power, one has to make it their own.
All around the world, ancient healing methods; from acupuncture to herbal remedies, are under the scrutiny of western science. Study after scientific study dissects and analyzes the physical improvement the ancient technique brings to the body. Here's another step showing substance of traditional remedies.
A plant extract used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat type 2 diabetes could form the basis for new treatments for the disease, scientists now report. Chinese-medicine practitioners have used pods from [Gardenia jasminoides], also known as the cape jasmine, for thousands of years to treat type 2 diabetes. [Full Story]
Of course, there's still a long way to go to distill it into a pill for prescription.
"Obviously, medicines in all sorts of cultures come from natural products. Some of those natural products hold a lot of truth," Michael Wheeler says.
LB: Who do you find most attracted to this kind of game experience?
GB: Our target audience includes gamers and people looking for an alternative to the standard game offerings. Gamers are going to love the deep strategic game play. There are also the millions of consumers who are looking for entertainment that also offers positive, inspirational content. [Source]
Um, what kind of inspiration is going to be found from shooting infidels? Are bible quotes going to be interspersed between killing sprees?
I can just imagine kids asking for this game for Christmas - ah the irony. Perhaps we'll have a whole new generation of religious tolerance blossom in the US. Not everyone is excited at the violence in this game.
Tyndale's licensing of the project infuriated one of its authors, Jack Thompson, a conservative Christian attorney and outspoken critic of video game violence, who told the Los Angeles Times that he severed ties with his publisher in a dispute over "Left Behind: Eternal Forces." "It's absurd," said the video critic. "You can be the Christians blowing away the infidels, and if that doesn't hit your hot button, you can be the Antichrist blowing away all the Christians."
The game hasn't been released, and there is a lot more discussion, here.
I honestly can't get too wired up about this game or this series. It is just another attempt to monetize in the name of religious-political-entertainment. It's not doing anything new. It's applying a pop-culture meme to pop-culture meme and no enlightenment is coming out of it.
If the Rapture were going to take place, and Jesus came back to earth as is believed, I think a lot of religious fundamentalist would be extremely disappointed at being left behind. (Maybe the fact that they are still around could give them a pause for consideration.) Someone with an inkling of enlightenment would see that the religious revolution as described by Christianity aka the Rapture and post-Rapture, is not going to be a big blown up event. People are not going to spontaneously combust in their cars or be struck with bolts of lightening while praying (oh wait, that already happened).
The raising up of the chosen has been an ongoing activity - and it's going on right now in front of your eyes. It's called enlightenment. It's the ability to see and behave beyond your limited world view. And that is true transcendence. Killing those who believe differently than you keeps you in your limited hellhole of a view.
Student-Teacher love is a difficult thing. A student elevates a teacher to a near God like position because of his or her knowledge. But even the teacher is human, and that is what is usually what the student doesn't see.
The path to enlightenment is often see as a goal - not a path. The teachers you find along the way seem to be Gods, because they have different perspectives, more experience, may be a bit further ahead of you or are just plain spiritually-egotistical. And that type of teacher can be a bit of trouble for a doe-eyed seeking novice. This is a standard story for many spiritual paths - and one of the reasons to have a celibacy rule.
So what is the problem when both student and teach are consenting adults? This article looks at this situation in the yoga studio.
In an ideal world, teachers and students would be able to participate in a learning experience that benefits both without harming either. Until that happens, maybe it’s time for a Yoga Board of Standards. As teachers, don’t we want to do everything we can to guarantee that students are receiving quality instruction with a high level of integrity?
I wouldn't go so far as to say that there needs to be a board of standards, but I do think you can separate the enlightened from the seekers based on their behaviors. Sometimes it's the student that has more wisdom.
Well today is 6-6-06 and a lot of people are making a big deal out the date. If your satanically inclined you might find David Markland's series of 6 days of Satan interesting. For the past 6 days he's written on various satanic topics mostly around the LA area. Even if you're not a Los Angeles local, the stories are interesting.
Darren Daulton on some of his strange experiences:
A couple of years ago, Daulton said, he was relaxing near Clearwater Beach, Fla. He walked through a building, but suddenly found himself back where he had been 15 minutes prior. "I thought that was pretty bizarre," he said. Daulton doesn't want to reveal many of the other experiences that led him to metaphysics, but did say he has skipped through time.
"I think the people I played with respect me, just because they know who I am," Daulton said. "Some of the stuff I share is pretty weird, and I get pretty much the same reaction from everybody. But once people read this book, I think they'll have a much clearer understanding of what I'm talking about. It's not rocket science; it's something we're all very capable of understanding. I'm just the lucky idiot who gets to share it with everybody."
A man wanting to prove the existence of God in a Kiev Zoo failed.
"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," a zoo official told Reuters news agency.
A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.
It might have been more interesting if he had waited a day. Tomorrow is 6-6-06, if you didn't already notice it. Read the whole story.
Straight from the X-files, last week the San Francisco Chronicle reported a strange alien face found in the the x-ray of a sick mallard.
Right there, in the duck's ventriculus, or gizzard, is the shocking image of a grimacing, bald-headed being. How it got there, nobody knows, but when an autopsy was performed after the bird died of unrelated causes, the alien had mysteriously disappeared.
Unusual characteristics are commonly on display among male mallards during the spring mating season, according to Travers. Their testicles, for instance, grow to three times the size of their brains, but they have never been known to sprout an alien head, she said.
The image is for sale on eBay with bidding over $4500 as of this writing. You've got another 2 days to get your bidding in! And you can also buy alien duck shirts here.
In more celebrity news, Dan Aykroyd is releasing a DVD discussing his belief and showing footage of UFOs.
"This is the real stuff. I'm not alone on this. There are many, many people interested in UFOs," he said.
The DVD, which went on sale Tuesday, is a conversation between Aykroyd and UFO expert David Sereda interspersed with footage of unexplained objects in flight and comments from experts like former astronaut Gordon Cooper. There are no jokes.
Don't think that Ghostbusters was the only place Aykroyd interacted with the paranormal, he recounts two personal encounters.
One occurred on Martha's Vineyard, he said, where he sighted "high altitude, glowing magnesium discs traveling at 20,000 miles (32,190 km) an hour at 100,000 feet (30,480 metres). ... wing to wing, edge to edge."
"The second was a telepathic experience," he said, which happened at a lake retreat in Canada. "I was asleep with my wife and I woke up about 3 a.m. wanting to go outside into a field and look at the sky," he said, telling his wife, "They want me to see. They want me to see." She told him to forget it.
The next morning, he said, newspapers and radio reports from across the region were filled with eyewitness accounts from some of the estimated 12,000 people who saw a pink spiral in the sky.
The military later said it was a Chinese rocket, Aykroyd said, but he believes he was being summoned and regrets ignoring the call.[Source]
Maybe next time Aykroyd will heed their call. They do say the third times a charm.
Suddenly, lightning exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a pockmarked area on the concrete. Brown wound up on the floor, dazed and disoriented by the blast but otherwise uninjured.
"I said, 'Amen,' and the room was engulfed in a huge ball of fire," she said. "I'm blessed to be alive."
Apparently Lohan is continuing to dabble in Hollywood esocentricies and trying out hypnosis - although her publicist denies the suggestion.
The 19-year-old reportedly has been known to spend $100,000 a day, once allegedly blowing $20,000 in 20 minutes. “I don’t want to be the best-dressed person in the poorhouse,” Lohan said, reports L&S, which claims that the visits to the hypnotist are already working. During a May 23 stop at Rosasen in LA, she spent a relatively paltry $920. [Full Story]
But scientific studies have shown that hypnosis can have a positive effect.
According to a [2005] report, hypnotic suggestions regulate activity in certain regions of the brain and can help it manage cognitive conflicts.
Maybe Lohan has reprogrammed her shopping mantra to be "don't buy it."
Airport travel these days generally requires that you wait in a myriad of lines and my recent travels were no exception. So what do you do when you are waiting for almost an hour to pass the time? Practice a little meditation, visualization and magic.
Ok, these yoga mash-ups have gone too far. I'm all for burlesque and pole dancing classes to get in tune with your inner sexuality. But this 
Yoga is proving to be very flexible, wrapping itself into various beliefs. This week, let's look at Christian yoga.
Student-Teacher love is a difficult thing. A student elevates a teacher to a near God like position because of his or her knowledge. But even the teacher is human, and that is what is usually what the student doesn't see.
