Can a yogi ever have too many yoga books?  I highly doubt it.  My current collection of yoga books takes up about three feet of shelf space…and it seems to be getting bigger.  I’m always somewhere in the middle of a yoga book.

If you’re looking for the perfect yoga book, you’ve come to the right place.  I recently added a page to Daily Cup of Yoga just for yoga books. The page is in its infancy right now, but should grow exponentially in the near future!  You can peruse the books on the Yoga Books page or check out my Amazon.com Daily Cup of Yoga Store for product reviews of all the books, DVDs, and yoga accessories you could ever want.  Maybe if I get ambitious I’ll start adding my own book reviews.

If you know of other yoga books that you enjoy, please share them with our readers in the comments and they will (most likely) be added to the list.

The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, verses 21-22:

21  For those who seek liberation wholeheartedly, realization is near.
22  How near depends on whether the practice is mild, moderate, or intense.

While this week has definitely been a busy one, my renewed daily yoga practice has remained consistent.  I think I’ve been on the mat pretty much every day but Sunday for almost a month.  Yesterday morning I did an hour and 20 minutes of Ashtanga Primary Series (skipping a few poses here and there I admit).  Tonight I went running for a half an hour and then did some nice and slow yoga stretching for about 45 minutes.  My body’s feeling really good right now.  I love running for its great cardiovascular benefits, but I also love that yoga doesn’t beat up my body quite as much.  I’m trying to find the right balance right now.

Sorry to all of you who read this blog and are beginning to realize that the blog’s becoming somewhat of a personal yoga journal rather than a place to find useful yoga information.  However, I do recommend checking out the constantly growing number of links to yoga-related websites and blogs that I find interesting.   Most recently I came across a yoga blog called Visions of Cody that has a weekly podcast and posts about yoga (usually).  I listened to a few of the podcasts and found them entertaining.

After Tuesday’s beginner Ashtanga yoga class at Practice Yoga, I got brave today and wandered into the Primary Series class. Now, I’ve read David Swenson’s Ashtanga Yoga book and screwed around with some of the short series stuff, but let me tell you, there’s a big difference between following in a book and having someone actually calling out the sequence. Oh my heck! I literally walked out of the yoga studio like a zombie. Although I tried to act as normal as possible when the class ended, I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I was like oh yeah, I’m cool, it’s all good, roll up my mat, where’s my shoes, grab my bag. But actually I was like holy crap, my legs are rattling, where’s the wheelchair, my throat doesn’t work, and I think I’m going to need a maximum dose of Advil tonight!

I bet I lost 10 pounds of sweat. Of course I forgot to take a towel so I spent about an hour ice skating on my mat. I about did the splits once on the puddles of sweat, which I guarantee would have ended everything, and I mean everything. Maybe someday I’ll do the splits, but not today. I definitely didn’t look graceful or lock every pose like a pro (in fact, after a while I couldn’t remember which leg I’d just stretched when switching to the other side after vinyasa, which I think was somewhat entertaining for the lady on the mat next to me), but I did have a great yoga experience. I think I’m addicted to Ashtanga. Thanks to the great folks at Practice Yoga for rekindling the fire. What a difference two classes can make.

It’s been almost four years since I actually stepped foot in a yoga studio. You’re probably thinking that’s a bit insane since I have a blog about yoga and you’re reading it. There’s a multitude of reasons why I rarely go to yoga class. First and foremost, I’m cheap, especially when I feel like I’m paying for something that I could just as well do in the comfort of my own home for free. Not that I won’t spend all sorts of money on books about yoga and stuff. In fact, just last night I ordered The Shambhala Guide to Yoga by Georg Feuerstein. Right now I’m rereading Baron Baptiste’s Journey Into Power, Stephen Cope’s The Wisdom of Yoga, and Paramahansa Yogananda’s The Yoga of Jesus. (I’m a bit of a multi-tasker when it comes to books, which drives my wife batty). Thing is, I don’t mind buying yoga books because I know I’ll use them again. It’s just that somewhere in the back of my mind I’ve convinced myself that it’s ridiculous to pay someone to tell me how to do something I could teach myself from a book and do at home. The funny thing is that despite my sketchy belief that paying for yoga class is an unnecessary, superfluous expense, I remember quite vividly the handful of times I have attended class.

Well, these last few weeks I’ve been more diligent in my home asana practice. Although work has been a bit stressful, life is settling down and I’m figuring out my schedule. Right now I’m on a business trip in Dayton, Ohio, and I decided to pack my yoga mat so I didn’t get out of the habit. Hopefully I don’t offend anyone by saying this, but downtown Dayton leaves much to be desired as far as I can tell. However, yesterday in my exploration I happened upon a yoga studio about a block away from my hotel called Practice Yoga. When I walked past the studio it looked like it was closed so I hurried home to see if I could find out more about it. I came to find out that the studio opened about two weeks ago. After looking at the class schedule for a while, I came to the conclusion to attend the Ashtanga for beginners class the next day after my estate planning seminar ended. After making that decision, I spent most of today feeling nervous about what to expect in class.

Of course, type-A personality that I am, I showed up for class before anyone else. Instead of going in though, I waited across the street next to a lamp post until more people trickled in so I could sufficiently blend into the background. As I stood there waiting, I realized that I hadn’t been in a yoga studio in four years. When enough people seemed to have shown up, I finally crossed the street. The place was nice and uncluttered, with a few pictures on the walls. At the entrance there were a few chairs, a table with papers to read and sign, and cubicles for storing personal items. Kim, the yoga instructor, told me they lock the doors once class starts so everyone’s stuff would be safe. Anyhow, since the class was for beginners none of us milling around in the lobby really knew what to do next. Kim eventually herded us into the practice room and we unrolled our mats. Unfortunately, none of us really knew what to do once we had our mats out. Thankfully class started soon and the awkward moment passed of trying to figure out what to do. The class was really basic, which was fine with me. We went over Sun Salutations A and B and then did a few other poses from the Primary Series. As things started to heat up I thought to myself, maybe I don’t go to yoga class because I’m embarrassed by how much I sweat. I think I need to take a towel next time so I don’t slip so much. Hopefully I didn’t get any on anyone else. In the end, the class was great and I feel like I got a sweet deal for my ten dollars. I’m planning on going back on Thursday for a Primary Series class, and maybe even tomorrow at lunch if I have enough time.

In the final analysis, I’ve decided there’s something unique about attending an actual class that simply cannot be replicated in a solo practice. Home practice is great, but sweating away the day’s worries in a room full of people doing the same thing is an enriching and satisfying feeling that we should all take advantage of as often as possible.

The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more. ~Liza Ciano (Co-owner and co-director of Yoga Vermont).

Living Yoga looks like an interesting documentary exploration of the history of yoga in the West. I always love Woodstock footage. My mother-in-law went to Woodstock, which makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Hi again.

This is a pretty good incorporation of yoga into an advertisement in my estimation, given the fact that my wife just traded in her not too old, but still a piece of junk PC laptop for a shiny new 24″ iMac. Of course, it’s all just “things” as my mom likes to tell me, so I try not to get too carried away with stuff like this, which is a funny thing to say since the last time I posted on here I talked about my apparent “obsession” with a GPS watch that I was sure I couldn’t live much longer without at the time, but have seemed to survive just fine without.

Isn’t it interesting how we become so obsessed with “things” or, in most cases, the thought of things. That’s not to say that there’s really anything wrong with surrounding ourselves with nice objects, but it just shows how much power the object that we hold at the front of our minds has over our lives.

By the way, if all you can think about is how much you wish you didn’t have spring allergies, here are a few tips for keeping them under control so you can think about something else.

Bye again.

I had a sudden urge of the “I wants it” (really bad) today when I found out that Garmin is set to release its new Garmin 405 for runners sometime this winter. Think of the opening scene in Lord of the Rings where Golem can’t stop talking about his “precious.” That was me this morning.

While I can’t stand having anything on my wrists when I do yoga, running is a different story. For me, checking my time when running has become an absolute necessity. There’s something about looking down at my Ironman Timex that makes my legs move faster. I came perilously close to buying the Garmin 305 last summer, but chose not to when I decided it was still too big for my skinny wrists. It was also a couple hundred dollars cheaper to just buy the Nike+ shoe insert that connects with my iPod. The only problem with that setup is that I feel like I have to listen to music all the time when I run.

However, I think I am now fully committed to saving up for a Garmin 405. I think it will look quite nice on my skinny wrist. Despite the fact that I clearly recognize what a materialistic obsession this is, it’s probably going to be a while before I completely eradicate my thoughts of fascinating new gadgets. Interestingly enough, Lifehacker has a post today on how to avoid getting sucked into buying the latest and greatest gadget. That ought to hold me off for a while at least.
Runner’s World video of the 405
Pre-order on Amazon (great description of the watches capabilities)

I love books! I especially love free books! If you don’t mind reading books in PDF format, I ran across Yoga for Men by Thomas Claire on Scribd. It’s probably not the top book on my list of places to start reading about yoga, but it’s pretty hard to beat free! In perusing the book, I was surprised at how much information Yoga for Men contained, especially concerning different styles of yoga. While some of the information is targeted towards men, most of the book just deals with yoga subjects that would appeal to anyone interested in yoga. One of my favorite parts of the book was the depth of resources the author provided for further study. If you’re looking for a good list of yoga books to read, I highly recommend checking out the additional resources at the end of each chapter.

There are quite a few books uploaded on Scribd (some yoga related), making it a decent place to look if you want to preview a book.  I also found Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, one of my all-time favorites.  If you’ve never read it, you’ll eventually end up buying you’re own copy.  I like the Scribd version because I can put it on my Pocket PC for reading late at night in bed.  Good stuff!

It looks like Yoga Journal has just started a new yoga podcast series. The first episode is a 20-minute practice segment taught by Yoga Basics columnist Jason Crandell. It looks like a promising start to a nice feature.

If you’re into practicing with podcasts, also be sure to check out Elsie’s Yoga Kula. There are many other podcasts out there, but I’m mostly wondering what you all think of yoga podcasts and which ones are your favorite. Maybe you like podcasts, maybe you don’t. I’m just curious.

(By the way, it’s nice to be blogging again…at least for the time being.)

WOW!

I just came across Yogacards.com, an interesting site where you can print off yoga posture cards that can be used during practice for creative sequencing.  Looks fairly useful, especially since it’s free.

I’ve been told that dads don’t actually “babysit” their own kids. My wife says it’s called ” “parenting.”  Whatever. Whenever mommy is gone it is a crash-course in babysitting for daddy around here. Tonight mommy had some meetings to go to so it was just me and my three-year-old daughter Kennedy “hanging out” after dinner. Having been rather busy lately, what with moving across the country and starting a new job, life has probably been a little more hectic than a three-year-old deserves. So, I decided that tonight I would focus on doing exactly what my little girl wanted to do. With a face like this how could I resist?

We started out reading a book, moved on to coloring, and eventually the idea popped into my head to see how well an informal yoga class with my daughter would go over (with me as the teacher). A few weeks ago I received a free copy of a little yoga book from LibraryThing’s “Early Reviewers” program titled The Yoga Adventure for Children by Helen Purperhart. Pretty much all I had to do was put the book in my daughter’s hands and she was quickly busy turning herself from a caterpillar to a butterfly or balancing herself like a tree in the wind. Each pose in the book is illustrated with a different animal juxtaposed with a drawn picture of a child in the pose, so she knew exactly what the pose was to look like and pretty much what it was called. Another fun part about the book is that it has an adventure story that children can act out through yoga poses as it is being read to them.

Kennedy loved it! I’m sure there are other good yoga books for kids out there, but I was very impressed by how well Kennedy connected with the pictures. As it turned out, we did yoga together for almost 45 minutes and Kennedy really worked up a sweat. When I finally got Kennedy into bed (late I might add), she told me thanks for teaching her how to do yoga tonight and asked whether we could do it again tomorrow night. I’m not sure Ms. Purperhart needs a much better endorsement than that for her book.

“When we listen as if we were in a temple and give attention to one another as if each person were our teacher, honoring his or her words as valuable and sacred, all kinds of great possibilities awaken. Even miracles can happen. To act in the world most effectively, our actions cannot come from our small sense of self, our limited identity, our hopes, and our fears. Rather, we must listen to a greater possibility and cultivate actions connected with our highest intentions from the patient and compassionate Buddha within us. We must learn to be in touch with something greater than ourselves, whether we call it the Tao, God, the dharma, or the law of nature. There is a deep current of truth that we can hear. When we listen and act in accordance with this truth, no matter what happens, our actions will be right.”

—Jack Kornfield, from A Path With Heart

Learning to Listen

In order to get the really bad last post off the top of the blog, here’s a video of a Indian yogi getting in the zone.  Try keeping up with him.

I’m fairly speechless about the headline to this article about the “Tooting man” who is believed to be a Hindu goddess?!? Besides feeling flabbergasted about the fact that a man claims to be a goddess (and the villagers believe him), I couldn’t help but laugh about all the references to his hometown in England.

JOBLESS Steve Cooper has found work at last — as an Indian GODDESS who thousands of Hindus believe can cure their infertility.

Pilgrims head to a remote jungle temple to be blessed by Steve, 32, from Tooting, South West London.

He places his third finger on the their foreheads and mutters: “The goddess is here”.

Surrounded by followers, Steve told The Sun: “I love being here. I don’t miss anything about Tooting.

Stop laughing!! This is serious work he’s now doing. I’m not sure why I went to school for all these years.  (By the way, I passed the bar exam and am moving to Florida.  I have no plans to become a goddess though).  Apparently he forgot to tell his brother back in Tooting about his new job in India.

But last night Steve’s stunned brother Justin Cooper said: “He’s just an ordinary guy.

“He never told me anything about this.”

It also seems that not all villagers are convinced that Steve is qualified to be a goddess:

Steve now follows a strict vegetarian diet and sleeps in a spartan room. He lives among 80 eunuchs — castrated men — at the temple. But some have their doubts that he is equipped to be a goddess.

A eunuch called Sudha said: “He is a fake. I checked and he still has a penis. (uh-oh!)
“He is a male so can’t be a goddess. He shouldn’t give blessings.” Steve, who has a tattoo of the goddess on his arm, just insisted: “I am both male and female.”

Fair enough. I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who could confirm the veracity of this Tooting man’s claims to be a goddess.

Probably not, but click on the picture to find out anyway ~

Been over to Yoga Journal.com lately? I’m not going to lie and say that I’ve spent a lot of time over there, but I have noticed that there’s been a major update on the site. So far I’m pretty impressed. Somebody at Yoga Journal finally realized that a community oriented site attracts viewers more frequently and for a longer duration, which obviously equates to increased advertising revenue.

It’s now possible to leave comments on articles or save favorite articles to a profile. Equally impressive is the Sequence Builder that makes it possible to create customized yoga workouts. Plus, if you think you’ve put together the perfect routine, you can choose to share the sequence with other members of the community. You can even save notes for each of the poses. My only complaint is that you can’t click on the images for a detailed description of the pose. Oh well.

I’m sure there are a lot of other great new features, but I’ll let you head over to YJ to check them out for yourself.

Check out this interesting article from the New York Times on September 6, 2007, discussing some of the current trends in yogi practice habits. The article states:

Haphazard yogis are the norm nationwide: 25.7 percent practice once a week compared with the 8.7 percent who practice more than five times a week, according to a 2005 survey of 4,700 people conducted by Yoga Journal and Harris Interactive.

While most of us would like to think that we practice more than we do, “haphazard yogis” is probably an apt description for many of us. If there was one other thing I got out of the article it was a reminder that it’s probably time to begin another 30 day home practice challenge. If only the 30 day challenge was as simple as this picture implies:

Lucky for me, I’m not currently sitting at a computer 14 hours a day. Hence, I’m less in need of ideas for getting some physical movement in during the day while at work. But, for most people some simple stretching, breathing, and mind-centering during the workday could make a huge difference in productivity as well as physical and mental well-being.

I ran across a series of ten minute video clips designed by a yoga instructor for bringing a little bit of yogic awareness into the workplace and thought I’d share. The exercises are designed to counteract the effects of sitting down hour after hour. So, if you’re stuck at a desk for most of the day, use a few breaks during the day to do some desk yoga.

Here’s another segment from the Y Yoga movie. I’m pretty sure that Diamond Dallas Page was a professional wrestler and now it looks like he’s changed his focus a bit. Talk about a no nonsense yoga instructor. I was pleasantly surprised with his earnestness in giving the soldiers in Iraq a gift that will help them better face the challenges they are up against.  I really quite liked this clip.

It sounds like the full-length feature film will debut in December of this year or February of next year.