Drishti – Santa Barbara Yoga Store: Yoga Clothing, Workout Clothes, & Yoga Supplies

This video is incredibly random, but it succeeded in making us laugh out loud…

the best prank ever – Watch more Funny Videos

Okay, the original story from which this image came was actually about Sarah Palin and running, not yoga.  And she apparently claimed that she could outrun President Barack Obama in a race – a joke that we don’t really find too funny, and one which is garnering a few headlines around the internets.  In any case, the sight of the controversial former Vice-Presidential candidate in a classic yoga pose in what looks to be a scenic Alaska setting kind of upsets our concept of world order!

[Miami Herald]

…and so we decided to take out a little ad on their front page! It just premiered today (July 1st.) It looks like this (isn’t it pretty? ):

And you can check out how our ad looks on YogaDork’s website here! There are six little squares on the right-hand side of the page and our ad is one of them.

Many of you might already be familiar with the great site that is YogaDork, but in case you’re not, we highly recommend it! Based in New York City, they keep their finger on the pulse of the yoga world and they’re also not afraid to be critical of certain elements of the yoga scene, which we find refreshing. If you enjoy their site and find it compelling, you might want to bookmark it for future reference or subscribe to it with your favorite rss reader! (If you don’t know what an rss reader is – and we bet that many yoga-oriented people don’t! – our favorite is Google Reader and you can check it out here.)

In placing an ad on YogaDork’s site, we’re happy to be supporting a small, independently-driven yoga venture which posesses integrity and an appealing character.  And of course we hope that this ad will support Drishti, a fellow independently-driven yoga venture with integrity and character, in return. Yay!

Is uddiyana bandha really a wise tool for a healthy back?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, uddiyana bandha is an exercise in which yoga practitioners actively draw in their lower abdomens.  The practice is commonly taught in many yoga classes throughout the country.  In fact, in some styles of yoga (specifically Ashtanga), yogis are instructed to hold uddiyana bandha throughout their entire yoga practices – from the opening sun salutations to the ending backbends and inversions.  (As a side note, uninterruptedly engaging uddiyana bandha for the entire duration of a yoga class is quite a tall order, and most yogis (ourselves included!) unconsciously disconnect from this hold multiple times during each practice. But those rare yogis who manage to indefinitely hold a strong uddiyana bandha exhibit the remarkable quality of literally “floating” through their yoga practices.  It’s crazy but true, guys!)

Aside from this “floating” or “lightness” quality that our bodies experience when we engage our cores, uddiyana bandha is also taught because it’s believed to protect the back during potentially intense yoga poses.  The idea is that strengthening the abdomen helps to stabilize the back and therefore avoid back strain.

But is uddiyana bandha really the best tool for a healthy back?  A recent New York Times article begs to differ.  According to the article, which is entitled “Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?”, strong core muscles do not necessarily correlate with healthy backs:

…there’s growing dissent among sports scientists about whether all of this attention to the deep abdominal muscles actually gives you a more powerful core and a stronger back and whether it’s even safe.

Whether it’s even safe? If core strengthening and uddiyana bandha turn out to be unsafe, many a yoga studio will need to significantly re-arrange its class schedule.  (Good-bye “Yoga for Core Strength” classes; hello “Yoga for Weak Bellies”??)

If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. But, McGill says, the muscles forming the core must be balanced to allow the spine to bear large loads. If you concentrate on strengthening only one set of muscles within the core, you can destabilize your spine by pulling it out of alignment.

The key word mentioned here is “balance”.  The article seems to be telling us that core exercises are important for the health of the back, but that our definition of the word “core” is too limited.  Because we have focused solely on the deep abdomen muscles when teaching core strength, we have neglected other important areas within our cores, like the specific muscles which surround and support the spine.  This has resulted in unbalanced muscle development, and therefore potentially compromised spine safety.

To answer the question with which we titled this post, yes, yogis do need to re-think uddiyana bandha.  While the practice is a helpful one, it’s not a complete path to back health.  For a genuinely happy, supported back, we’ll need to incorporate other key poses into our practices, and the article makes a few helpful suggestions:

Instead, he suggests, a core exercise program should emphasize all of the major muscles that girdle the spine, including but not concentrating on the abs. Side plank (lie on your side and raise your upper body) and the “bird dog” (in which, from all fours, you raise an alternate arm and leg) exercise the important muscles embedded along the back and sides of the core.

Both of these examples sound like wise poses to serve the back-strengthening purpose, but we’re going to have to re-name that second one, because we somehow can’t see ourselves practicing “bird dog asana” without laughing!

[New York Times]

Okay, we know that this video is kind of bizarre and may not appeal to every man, woman, and child out there, but the truth is that we’re a little obsessed with it and we wanted to share it with you.  And we think that a good amount of you will love it!  For our part, we appreciate the cutting-edge mix of music, creativity, and politics here.  Check it out if you feel like it!

We can’t believe this question made it into the New York Times’ “Social Q’s” column!  When someone writes to an advice columnist with a pressing yoga class etiquette question, you know that yoga has officially become a mainstream phenomenon.  (Actually, we’ve known this for awhile and have made the assertion several times here on our blog, but this is just one more (entertaining) sign…)

P.S. Do you agree with the advice offered by the columnist?

Spare Us the Om

A new person joined my yoga class and has a habit of yelling her “Om!” She ignores the soft beginning and jumps in with a deafening wail, which she continues long after the rest of us are finished. Any suggestions?

Leslie Dumont, Manhattan

Smells like a hit: “Downward Dog” starring Ethel Merman!

A Zen yogi would find a way to accept the deafening chant as a lesson in tolerance — which is probably why you came to me instead. So, if the Human Foghorn is really bothering you, ask your yoga teacher to intervene. Or take a deep breath as you sit cross-legged on your mat and repeat after me: “May this be the worst problem I have today.”

[New York Times]

Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!  We are oh-so-overjoyed to be writing to you from our BRAND NEW WEBSITE.  We understand that our re-designed site is probably just a little bit more exciting to us than to you guys , but we’ve put a lot of thought and time into our new presentation (and so has our awesome web designer Dani), and we just felt compelled to give our new site a little shout-out.

There a few things we’ll be tweaking here-and-there over the next couple of weeks, and our online store is actually also undergoing a huge re-design which hasn’t gone live yet.  So we won’t be celebrating our official, completed project until our new online store is up-and-running, but for now we’d just like to take a quick step back to say… WOW.

This stop-motion video was created by an art student for his final class project.  We found it fun, mesmerizing, and highly impressive… check it out!

It’s time again for your round-up of pertinent news items which may or may not have made it across your desk over the past few weeks!  Here we go…

1) From the New York Times: “The Self-Employed Depression” by Emily Bazelon.  This insightful piece highlights the unique struggles of the urban-based self-employed during the current economic crisis.  The main star of the article is a New York yoga instructor named Lisa Feuer.  Her life situation is chronicled in great detail, and we’re sure that many of our blog readers can relate to her sobering experiences.

2) As if doga weren’t enough for you… We’ve mentioned a few times the media’s recent coverage of the doga “phenomenon” (yoga classes for humans and their canine pets), but apparently the newest trend of all is to run news stories on coga?!?  (Just kidding – we made that word up.  But we’re not just kidding that CNN ran an article earlier this month about yoga with cats.)

3) We covered the creepy, unsettling, alleged cult-like organization Dahn Yoga a few weeks ago.  This group (whose use of the word ‘yoga’ in its name is entirely questionable) is making headlines because 26 of its former members have banded together to file a lawsuit against it.  Since our initial report earlier this month, we’ve seen the Dahn Yoga controversy covered by two more news outlets: Chicago CBS and WBZ out of Boston.  We are ultra curious to see what becomes of this whole crazy dispute.  Our prediction is that things are not looking so good for Dahn Yoga…

4) The benefits and budgeting of yoga in elementary schools was the subject of this article in the New York new outlet LoHud.

5) The Washington Post covered a decision by PBS to ban future religious programming.  The gist: no new church services or religious lectures may be broadcast on any PBS stations.  This move seems to be an attempt by PBS to more fully embody the notion of “nonsectarian” programming.

6) On June 14th, a major Sri K. Pattabhi Jois memorial was hosted by big-name yogis Donna Karan and Eddie Stern in New York City.  Over 400 people were in attendance, and a short documentary about Jois’ life was screened.  For a nice recap of the flow of the evening and some great photos, visit the Yoga Nation blog.

Don’t you feel extra-informed after reading up on these interesting news items you might have missed?