I don’t watch many videos that show up on my facebook feed, but when I saw this one, I couldn’t help but click on it. Being part of the yoga world, I had already been educated on what the word “yoni” means. In case you are wondering, it is a sanskrit word for vagina, or sacred gateway. Obviously with the word “yoni” in the title, I had to watch it.

The yoni express plays like a spoof music video offering both shock factor and laughter. SPOILER ALERT: within the first two scenes you might want to turn away, unless you wanna see a girl in down dog who bled through her shorts. Admittedly that made me squirm a little bit, but I appreciate the message that The Yoni Girls are spreading, ahem no pun intended.

I like the fact that they are making a joke out of embarrassing things that happen in real life to real women and their yoni’s.  By making light of topics such as these, Yoni Express is  empowering women to feel comfortable in their bodies, and to not be ashamed of our yoni’s.  After all it is the sacred gateway from which each of us came. Again, no pun intended. As if that message alone isn’t enough, Yoni Express also offers all natural organic products for your beloved yoni and they deliver them right to your door.

Watch it, have a laugh, share it with a sister, and support these fearless women standing up for yoni’s everywhere. Thank you, Yoni Girls for reminding us that sister’s gotta stick together.

Proud Yonis Unite!

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Is it true we are what we eat?

We are told time and time again that you are what you eat!  So if I eat a potato chip, I’m a potato chip?  If I eat a carrot, then I’m a carrot?

There are so many theories about what a healthy diet is, it can be confusing.  Per our various sources of “expert” information, a healthy diet is:

• Animal based with fruits and vegetables

• Vegetarian (you can eat everything under the sun except animal meat, and fish is “sometimes” and “sometimes” not in that category)

• Vegan (absolutely no animals or animal byproducts, like butter)

• Raw Vegetarian (Strictly and only live fruits & vegetables- that means nothing cooked)

It’s so confusing it’s no wonder why people have a hard time managing their weight.

In my 39 years of existence, I have been an animal eater, vegetarian, vegan and raw vegetarian at various points of my life.  My food consumption has varied based off of a health challenge (Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn’s Disease), weight loss, or healthier eating habits I was managing.   Needless to say, they may have all served a purpose at some given time, but were not beneficially sustainable for me.

When I was a vegetarian and vegan, my GI doctors said I needed to eat meat because I was anemic.  When I was a raw vegetarian, the Chinese herbalist said I needed to eat chicken and cooked vegetables to improve my anemia and get heat back into my body.

But when I ate  meat all the time, I didn’t digest it well and I personally didn’t feel well.

What’s a girl like me to do?

Through my experience, I’ve gained a very clear understanding regarding food and it’s connections with weight management by using it as a tool for healing and sustaining healthy living.  

My expert information this:

Learn your body and understand what makes it tick.  Write in a food journal to see what makes you feel good/bad.  This will help you find out what foods are helpful to you.

Listen to your body’s cravings.  And not the chocolate cravings; your body doesn’t NEED this all the time.  But get in tune with your body because the more aware you are, the better you can identify a real food craving which is your body is telling you it needs…because sometimes it is chocolate.

Monitor your food intake, limit your portions, and balance your food choices.

And remember- be a potato every now and again, but make sure you’re a carrot too.

Liv Your Truth!

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I’ve followed different paths along the way to get to where I am at the current moment and am hopeful that I will soon discover my own personal dharma.

I recently learned the word dharma during my yoga teacher training. Dharma can be defined as the meaning of life or life’s purpose. Although I hadn’t heard the word dharma before, I have spent days, weeks, months and even years contemplating what my life’s purpose is. Since finishing graduate school, I have had five different jobs. I spent two years working as an elementary school teacher with the New York City public school system. I was employed with three different non-profit organizations and I am currently a kid’s yoga instructor at various preschools.

To say I have moved around a bit is quite the understatement. I never felt quite myself at any of the past careers I have held. I also never felt that what I was doing was making some sort of difference in this world. There were so many nights that I would lie awake, crying to understand how I got to this point and why this wasn’t working out like I thought it would. I would routinely look in the mirror and ask: “Why haven’t I found my purpose in this world?”

I’ve been criticized numerous times for the decisions I’ve made, as many of them have affected the direction my life was going in. Many people have offered their opinions on what I should be doing, what I am good at, and what is right for me. One thing is important though- I stand by my decisions and try to live my life with no regrets. I’ve made these choices in the hopes that I will eventually discover what my individual purpose in life is.

Some roads I have taken have led to a dead end. Instead of giving up, I turned around and went in another direction. I’ve had to look deep within myself to figure out who I am and what my life’s purpose is. Below, are a few pieces of advice I have for you when you are working to discover your dharma. I’ve taken this from my own personal experience, so remember to do and believe in what is right for you.

1. Only you can discover your dharma 

People will have their opinions on what your purpose in life is. Some will judge you on your decisions and others won’t take the time to understand. Remember that you and only you know what is right for your life. You need to figure out the meaning of your own life and how you want to live it. When you figure that out, you will be presented with your dharma.

2. Do not settle

 Try something new. Make a change. We lose sight of what our purpose in life is when we settle for something. Maybe we settle because we don’t believe something better will come along. Maybe we settle because we don’t believe we deserve to be happier. We often settle on something even if it does not feel right. Do not settle. If an opportunity comes along or you want to make a change that you believe will be for the better, go for it. We do not get anywhere without taking risks and making changes.

3. Develop your own practice

For me, having a solid weekly yoga practice has really helped in pushing me towards my dharma. It has awakened feelings and thoughts inside of me that have been dormant for some time. Yoga has been a constant source of enlightenment. Find a practice that is right for you. Some people meditate regularly, some people write in a journal. Find something that speaks to you and that you feel provides you with a greater sense of understanding about who you are and what you want your life to be. That will allow you to see your dharma.

4. Stick to your own beliefs and values

You can never go wrong as long as you stay true to yourself. You may not agree with the beliefs and values of others, but that is not important. Know what your beliefs and values are and stick to them.

5. Live a life of service

Go out and volunteer. Is there a change you want to see in the world? Try and make that change! Help a family member, friend or colleague in need. Do it because you want to do a selfless act, not because you want to get something out of it. When we live a life of service, our dharma reveals itself and we are whole.

I gave you this advice to help you discover your dharma. It is important to remember that only YOU can discover your dharma. You may discover it in a short time or it may take many years before you finally realize your life’s purpose. Go in with an open mind, go down the various paths and stay true to yourself. In time, you will discover what your dharma is.

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This wonderful video is a testament to the beauty of a mother and her balance of life and Yoga- and a great reminder to be thankful to mothers everywhere for raising the next generation. 

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If you receive the emails, or follow Groupon as closely as I do, you’ll notice that everyday there seems to be a new Yoga studio offering classes and packages on Groupon. There are a few Hot Yoga (or Bikram) and plenty more traditional Yoga styles being offered to the Groupon community.

It leaves one to wonder… are the studios really all that different? Is it worth driving to a town that is supposedly pretty close, but I haven’t heard of? Is this even a good deal? Well I have found myself asking the same questions, and thinking about the answers.

At first, I was convinced the Groupons for all of the Yoga Studios were inflating the idea of Yoga and the classes throughout the state. It seemed like everyone was promoting on Groupon!

Well I went back to one of my favorite Yoga spots (Jersey Shore Hot Yoga), and met three different women who bought a Groupon to try Hot Yoga for the first time. When I arrived to set up my mat, I sat next to a few women who actually looked scared. I introduced myself and discovered they had never done Yoga before, and they were terrified; yet they were both marathon runners! Now to me, THAT is terrifying! We made small talk, and I assured them that the community is very accepting and they actually came to the perfect class with one of the best teachers!

After the class, they were all excited and planning the next class to see me in.

It was at that point, I became convinced that Groupon was not inflating the Yoga community, but rather was encouraging new Yoga followers! With less of a financial commitment, more people were willing to try different types of Yoga in all different studios.

Another positive part of Groupon promoting is that it gives all Yoga followers the opportunity to try different studios in the area. I have learned there is not just a difference in the physical structure and ambiance of the studio, but there is a difference between teachers and communities and the types of yoga being taught within in the studios.

Groupon has found a great way to bring new Yoga lovers together and allows seasoned Yogis to travel between studios. With a new blog and moving to a different town in NJ, I look forward to utilizing Groupon to find various Yoga communities in the Central Jersey area.

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Oh boy.

There certainly have been a number of lawsuits swirling around Bikram lately, but this one takes the cake.

Let me first say that I have no idea if the claims are true, but damn.

They sound REALLY bad.

The Lawsuits were filed under the names Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 under Shea Law Offices on Monday, May 9th. Not only are the suits against Bikram himself, but also Bikram Yoga College of India.

The claim alleges sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, harassment and seven other counts.

via

In her complaint, Jane Doe No. 2 claims that Choudhury raped her in November 2010 after her boyfriend gave her a gift to be trained as a teacher at Choudhury’s Bikram Yoga studio in San Diego.

Doe No. 2 says in the complaint that defendant Does 1-25, “other persons in defendant Bikram Choudhury’s inner circle, were aware of defendant Bikram Choudhury’s pattern and practice of causing, inducing or persuading young women to enroll in teacher training classes to become yoga instructors only so he can sexually assault and/or rape them.” She claims the Doe defendants knew this was in the cards, but “did nothing to prevent this from happening to plaintiff or to protect her.”

So this is why she is suing Bikram and the business- because she claims there was a concerted effort to keep it all under wraps.

Wow.

But this is not unlike the story put forth by Sarah Baughn, when she claimed that no one in the business wanted to help her, and in fact pushed her out.

The 36 page complaint also describes a cult atmosphere that  was designed to “break down her body, will and spirit,” to fill her head with Bikram’s ”vision and teachings.” In other words, cultish.

 Doe claims that on the night of the attack, Choundhury told her he wanted to discuss a job offer in his room.

“Defendant Bikram Choudhury said he saw himself in plaintiff (he had said that to her before) and that, ‘I need to spiritually enlighten you. In order to do that, we need to become one.’ Then, without warning or consent, defendant Bikram Choudhury forcefully pulled plaintiff towards him and had one hand around her and the other was unbuttoning her jeans. He hooked his hand at the top of her pants and tried to pull them down with force,” the complaint states.

Though in a “weakened state” from her training, Doe says she pushed Choudhury away, but he threatened her, grabbed her by the wrist and forced her into his bedroom.

“Defendant Bikram Choudhury pulled her pants down and forced her onto the bed. Plaintiff Jane Doe No.2 could not stop crying and kept begging him over and over to stop. He forced his unprotected penis in her vagina. Within moments it was over. The only thing defendant Bikram Choudhury said was, ‘How many times did you come?’ Plaintiff Jane Doe No.2 was in pain, in shock and could not speak. Defendant Bikram Choudhury then ordered plaintiff to watch him until he fell asleep,” according to the complaint.

Doe adds: “The next day during lecture, defendant Bikram Choudhury made offensive sexual comments to the whole class. It was demoralizing and humiliating. He told the plaintiff and rest of the class that when he first moved to the U.S. women raped him all the time and taught him how to have sex. Defendant Bikram Choudhury said he would have sex marathons. Then he started talking about women’s bodies and how he liked ‘pussy’ without hair on it. Defendant Bikram Choudhury said, ‘I can’t stand fat unattractive women.’ As he spoke, his voice was becoming more and more intense and his language more vulgar.’”

And thats not all- she claims there is actually a system to bring in new women:

Doe claims that when she told Choudhury she planned to leave the studio, he told her, among other things, “‘If you fuck with me, I’ll fuck with you.’ …

     ”Plaintiff Jane Doe No. 2′s life unraveled after she returned home. Her long term relationship fell apart, she went into a severe depression, attempted suicide, started drinking, doing drugs, engaged in uncharacteristically impulsive behavior, quit her job and cut off communication from almost everyone in her life,” the complaint states.

     She says she “lived in constant fear” that Choudhury would come to her home and attack her. Doe claims that some people enter the United States illegally to “volunteer” in the program.

     ”Once in the United States, these ‘volunteers’ are required to serve defendant Bikram Choudhury for zero or little pay. Their duties include grooming him, massaging him, making his tea, bring him food and being forced to submit to sexual assaults and rapes against their will,” according to the complaint.

Once again, I have no idea if these claims are true, but both the women are claiming nearly the same thing and seeking  “punitive damages, lost wages, and costs.”

Also, I don’t know much about law, but I am very curious as to why there hasn’t been a criminal investigation launched. Seems to me there should be one.  I hope that if the claims are true, more women start stepping forward and justice is served. 

We will keep you posted as new developments unfold. 

What do you think? Do you think that these women are telling the truth? 

The post Bikram Sued For Rape In Two Separate Cases appeared first on theyogablog.com.

Lululemon in the headlines again

Lululemon is having a tough time of it.

Well…tough is relative…especially when you are a billion dollar company…but Lulu is still paying the penalties from the “sheer” madness that occurred over a  month ago, and it seems to really be biting them in the ASSana. (Oops. Was that misspelled?)

Lulu is getting sued by a pension fund holder based in Florida.

The reason?

Turns out Lulu gave their executives some hefty payouts right before everything hit the fan about the sheer Yoga pants.

Hallandale Beach Police Officers and Firefighters’ Personnel Retirement Fund have filed the suit, claiming that Lululemon knew the recall was going to occur and still handed out a hefty 33% in bonus payouts.

Suspicious behaviour

The group allegedly wrote to the board asking for a copy of the minutes in the meetings to determine the timing of the recall vs the bonuses, but none was given.

And so left with a very suspicious chain of events and no response, the fund decided to sue.

According to the string of events, on March 11 Lulu stated on their site that it had just started to understand the extent of the sheer problem. But guess when the payouts happened.

March 13.

Uh oh.

That gives reasonable suspicion that Lulu knew the stock would go down and hurt the valuation of the company, and thereby make the idea of large bonuses rather unwise.

That’s not good.

Furthermore, there was a quiet devaluation of Lululemon’s stock on May 3.

via

In the report, Chen noted, “Following our national survey of 300 LULU customers, we are downgrading shares to NEUTRAL from OUTPERFORM as results suggest: (1) consumer perception of quality erosion, which has not been properly addressed by management, (2) LULU may be losing dominance in yoga apparel as competition gains mindshare, and (3) only ~10% of respondents plan to buy more upon restocking of black luon bottoms, suggesting limited pent up demand in Q2/H2. These issues, combined with the stock exceeding our $75 PT, lead us to move to the sidelines.”

Don’t let it be true….

So basically, there are some fishy things going on.

I hope that Lulu didn’t really cheat those executive bonuses…that would be a worse backlash than even the sheer pants issue.

But that time frame looks pretty damning, nonetheless.

Oh Lulu…

Stay tuned for updates as it unfolds. 

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Get past the hype of meditation

Hype surrounding meditation abounds. Wherever you look, someone is extolling the virtues of meditation while unwittingly sabotaging its occurrence.

The intent is to help people better manage stress and enjoy more fulfilling lives. But what many refer to as meditation is often nothing of the sort and, with all the grandiose claims being bandied about, easily engenders more problems than it solves.

From a technical standpoint, there are rarely any distinctions being made between the yogic concept of meditation and what are readily being called “mindfulness exercises.” Even among yoga teachers and experienced practitioners, there is not much clarity regarding the last three limbs of Patanjali’s eight-fold path. The principles of dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (enstasy) are often being lumped together.

Without getting mired in the semantics of ancient sanskrit words or in the subtle aspects of mind and experience, what is important to note is that there is little guidance being offered as to how any of the ideals being touted might be brought to fruition. Consequently, meditation becomes a magic pill that relies upon placebo effect and creates a dissociative hamster-wheel of seeking.

This happens with particular irony in the yoga world, where meditation is heralded as a badge of legitimacy. To say that “I meditate” is a way of signifying depth, that someone’s practice is not just a physical workout.

Krishnamurti had it right

Yet, more often than not, the practice is just a physical workout with a few minutes of sitting thrown in at the end so that people can tell others that they meditate. The actual practice amounts to a sweaty aerobic activity involving yoga poses where the heart rate is up, the mind goes out, and the “flow” takes over.

Meditation is thought to happen when the focus goes inward and the mind is brought present and calmed. However, the few minutes of the runner’s high buzz that is enjoyed for some brief moments following the barrage of a standard vinyasa class are not likely to produce the many benefits that teachers espouse and we see listed throughout media outlets.

As J. Krishnamurti, one of the first pioneers of yoga philosophy in the West, put it: “Don’t fool yourself by all the books they write about meditation, all the people that come to tell you how to meditate, or the groups that are formed in order to meditate.”

We must be clear what it is that we are seeking, each one of us. When we say we are seeking truth or we are seeking God or we are seeking a perfect life and so on, we must already have in our mind a pattern or an image or an idea of what it is.

So in seeking, is there not implied in that word, that we have lost something and we are going to find it? The first thing to realize is not to seek.”

Meditation will not alleviate everything

The suggestion is that the context in which an endeavor for understanding meditation takes place determines the outcome of the endeavor. When we are told that meditation will alleviate everything from emotional imbalance to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and will bring about everything from increased fertility to a knowledge of our true selves and maybe even enlightenment, its kind of hard to not be seeking for those things when we are sitting uncomfortably waiting for the allotted time to be done.

And if we are seeking for something, whatever it may be, then we ensure its absence.

Listening to Deepak Chopra give a guided visualization about our inter-connectedness to nature and universal consciousness is a beautiful thing that likely has a positive affect for many.

But this is not meditation. Nor is observing breath, chanting mantras, performing physical postures or sitting still. These sorts of techniques are intended to be a vehicle for concentrating the mind and easing the body, whereby some conditions are encouraged that tend towards an experience of meditation.

But these techniques are not meditation in and of themselves.

The distinction between “mindfulness exercises” and the potential gifts that come from engaging in them is profoundly important. Yoga classes that are working the body in an aggresive manner or are placing too high an emphasis on accomplishing form are not setting a stage that allows for mediation.

The key is to change the mindset

If the student is striving in practice, inadvertently or not, then this will most certainly find its way into any seated repose. And attempting to meditate as an activity, rather than understanding it to be the natural result of mindful practice, imposes a sense of lacking when there is none.

Meditation is a description of what happens as a consequence of healthy choices, not a prescription for bringing them about. When we have an intimate relationship with our actual lives, it simply occurs. Stop meditating. Learn to take pleasure in a regular practice that soothes the system and the rest is coming.

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