The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a great piece on non-church like activities that are being hosted at churches around the city. My yoga class on Grace Cathedral’s Labyrinth was featured.
When Darren Main started teaching Tuesday evening yoga on the labyrinth inside Grace Cathedral in September, there were about 20 people stretching on mats inside the church. Now as many as 100 people jockey for spots to unroll their mats, and musicians sing and play harmoniums, didgeridoos and Tibetan bowls in the center of the circle.
As the evening sun casts its final rays through the stained-glass windows, a woman sings an ancient Sanskrit song. Main leads visitors through a meditation, as they lie on their backs looking up at the vaulted ceiling.
When it’s time to stretch, Main weaves through the mats, helping students with their poses: downward dog, warrior pose, triangle pose.
“Students tell me they were raised Catholic or Protestant and haven’t been inside a church in 15 years,” Main said.
“They were afraid to step back in and now, with yoga, they have permission,” he said.
Striking the warrior pose on the labyrinth is one way Nathan Ohm contemplates his religious journey, from his family’s evangelical fundamentalism, to his switch to the Episcopal Church coinciding with his coming out as a gay man. Twelve years later, at 37, he now calls himself a Unitarian.
“Being in Grace is like coming full circle for me, and doing yoga here is purely magical,” he said.
David Festa, 49, tried yoga on the labyrinth with his wife as something different to do on their wedding anniversary in September, and he kept coming back.
“I grew up Episcopalian, and my church looked a lot like this one, so it’s like going back in time,” Festa said. “Coming here makes me feel much more connected to a certain spirituality. I come straight from work after a full day and it’s a real release.”
For years yogis and other mystics from around the world have made claims of being about to live without food or water, a miracle knows as inedia. In his modern spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yoga, Paramahansa recounts two such saints including the Catholic saint Therese Neumann.
Until recently, inedia has never been proven by scientific means. In fact, when these claims have been investigated, they have always been proven false, that is until now.
Yoga Prahlad Jani claims to have been fasting for nearly seventy years. Recently a team of scientiest headed up by the Indian military decided to put his claims to the test.
After 15 days of investigation, India’s Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences concluded its study of 82-year-old yogi Prahlad Jani on Thursday, May 6.
Jani, who claims to have lived without food or water since his childhood, was under the close watch of three video cameras 24 hours a day. Researchers conducted various medical tests on him. The research team, consisting of 35 scientists, could not find any evidence that Jani ate or drank anything during the 15 days.
Doctors have not found any adverse effects in his body from hunger or dehydration. They think that yoga exercises may have caused Jani’s body to undergo a biological transformation. The researchers said tests found that his brain is equivalent to that of a 25-year-old.
In fact, according to the Daily Mail, the doctors said that after fasting for two weeks, Jani was healthier than the average 40-year-old.
When a person fasts, there are usually changes in metabolism, but that was not observed in Jani.
“Clinical, biochemical, radiological, and other relevant examinations were done on Prahlad Jani and all reports were within the safe range throughout the study. He is healthy; his mind is sharp,” said researcher Dr. G. Ilavazhagn according to the Daily Mail. “What is truly astonishing, and something we have no explanation for, is that he has not passed stools or urine. To my knowledge, that is medically unprecedented.”
Scientists will continue to analyze the results from this study, and it may take two months for them to draw conclusions.
Could make-out sessions make homophobia a thing of the past?
That’s the idea behind the Great Global Kiss-In — a series of planned public displays of affection that will take place May 14-17 at more than 30 locations around the world.
The event is organized as part of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), which has been held annually on May 17 since 2006 to honor the anniversary of the day when homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization.
Italian gay rights activists held public “kiss-ins” in front of the Colosseum in Rome on July 29, 2007, to protest the arrest of two men detained by police for kissing near the famous ruin.
That happened on May 17, 1992, and now organizers want people to pay more than lip service to the anniversary by spending at least part of the day kissing someone they love.
People in cities around the world are asked to meet in a public space at a certain day and time with a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife or partner and lock lips for a full minute when someone blows a whistle.
Organizer Kenneth Tan says the massive lip lock is a continuation of last year’s IDAHO Challenge, which featured a series of viral videos created from kissing clips submitted from all over the world.
Because May 17 falls on a Monday this year, Tan and fellow organizer Joel Bedos decided to make it a multi-day event.
Kenneth Tan
Kenneth Tan, a gay man living in Shanghai, is one of the organizers of the Great Global Kiss-In, an event taking place in 30 cities around the world on May 14-17.
“Unfortunately, this year’s IDAHO, May 17, is a Monday and not exactly the best day to be organizing a flash mob, so we extended it to the weekend before that,” Tan said.
Charles Tyson, who is organizing a kiss-in in Austin, Texas, one of only two currently organized in the U.S., believes the kiss-in is a powerful statement about the inequality of public displays of affection.
“Kissing has been taken for granted by a large percentage of the population,” he said. “People should be able to share love and affection without fear of retribution.”
Tyson, who has lived in Austin for 11 years, says his adopted city has a reputation for being gay-friendly. But several recent hate crimes inspired him to give more than lip service to gay rights.
However, he’s disappointed at the lack of interest by folks in other U.S. cities that have yet to organize similar kiss-ins.
“I’ve contacted friends in other cities and chided them,” Tyson said. “There should be one in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles. We need to step it up and show our solidarity.”
Ironically, Tan is having problems organizing a kiss-in in his hometown of Shanghai, China.
“I’m still trying to get a kiss-in going on here, but it’s a bit tricky since it’s a communist country,” Tan admitted. “If that happens, I’ll be kissing my Taiwanese boyfriend of three years.”
People interested in hosting a kiss-in can contact Tan at idaho@gays.com. He is offering advice about the best way to prepare.
“Bring lots of lip balm, and maybe lots of mouth rinse,” he said, adding that he’d love it if recently revealed gay celebrities like Chely Wright, Jennifer Knapp and Ricky Martin decide to join in.
The event, like kissing, is supposed to be fun, but, like love, the event has a deeper meaning beyond the smooch.
“We hope to have lots and lots of straight couples kissing alongside other couples who might be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender at our kiss-ins around the world,” he said. “We hope to show that the love between a gay couple can be as real as the love between a straight couple. Also, we’d like to show that a kiss is just a kiss.”
Tan is offended that kissing gay couples have found themselves getting kicked out of places, such as the couple who kissed outside a Mormon church in Salt Lake City.
“A kiss between a gay couple should equal a kiss between a straight couple,” he said. “It’s a simple expression of love and affection between two people who love each other, and there is absolutely nothing vulgar, obscene or disgusting about it.”
Tyson agrees, but admits there is one challenge he has to face before his kiss-in.
“I don’t have anyone to kiss, but I am taking applications,” he said.
One of the country’s most widely read magazine on modern spirituality Common Ground published an article of mine called, “The Yoga Mecca We Call Home” in their May 2010 issue. In the piece I discuss the powerful hub that San Francisco has become to the yoga community.
The Yoga Mecca We Call Home
Ask anyone who has been to India, and they tell you that the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. It is a country of extremes, shocks, and surprises, and just when you think you have it figured out, you will be left with your mouth open — stunned and speechless.
Several years ago on my first trip to India, I was going to study with the great masters, like many Western yogis. Taking a pilgrimage to India was something I had dreamed about since I first read Autobiography of a Yogi more than 20 years ago. To sit at the feet of a guru and learn the practice of yoga direct from the source seemed like the next logical step on my journey, yet when I arrived and began traveling from one ashram (yoga monastery) to another, I realized that nothing I had expected came to pass.
Without fail, one swami after another would ask me what I knew about yoga, and I would simply explain to them that I was a yoga teacher from San Francisco. I had expected they would not give such a statement a second thought, since they were great yoga masters who had spent the better part of their lives in deep spiritual practice, but almost before the words left my lips, each one, in his or her own way, lit up and asked me to teach them.
They had not heard of me or read my books. All they knew was that I was a teacher from San Francisco, and that is all they needed to know, evidently. What I had failed to realize was that San Francisco’s reputation as the hub of modern yoga extended halfway around the world to the very birthplace of this ancient practice.
And it’s not just in India that I get this type of reaction. When I travel and teach at yoga studios far and wide, yogis of all stripes see San Francisco as the place to do yoga. They know that some of the world’s most senior teachers hail from the City by the Bay. Living here, it is easy to take this for granted.
Ever since Swami Vivekananda first introduced yoga philosophy to the West at the Parliament of World Religions in 1893, yoga has grown dramatically in both the U.S. and Europe. What was once considered some strange form of Eastern voodoo quickly gained traction, and after Swami Satchidananda opened the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 with a stirring meditation, beatniks and hippies quickly laid claim to the practice. Many of them returned to San Francisco inspired by Satchidananda, and the yoga community in the West was born.
Since the Summer of Love, yoga has only grown in popularity, and like so many counterculture phenomena from that time, it has reached mainstream Western society. Further, some of the biggest-name teachers in the world found their start here in the Bay Area. Also, it was here that The California Yoga Teachers Association was formed, which had a reach far beyond California in its efforts to support teachers and to educate potential students about the benefits of yoga. The California Yoga Teachers Association even produced and distributed an obscure publication that helped to unify a diverse and growing community of yoga teachers around the globe. Today, that little-known publication is one of the most widely-read magazines in the world — Yoga Journal
Even today, The San Francisco Bay Area is a destination for yogis the world over. The latest trend, yoga tourism, is bringing thousands of people a year to the Bay Area in order to study with the world-renown teachers they have read about in the pages of Yoga Journal or with whom they practice on yoga DVDs. Many of the books on both asanas and yoga philosophy are authored by teachers who live and practice here.
What is most exciting is that San Francisco shows no sign of relinquishing its title as the center of the Western yoga universe. Many of yoga’s next-generation teachers are right here, at dynamic studios, changing the face of this practice in exciting ways. As Bay Area residents, we have so much to be proud of. We have been, and continue to be, trailblazers in countless ways, and our continuing contribution to yoga is no exception.
* Last time I checked, Nazis were the bad guys—I’m not so sure being equated with one should be taken as a complement.
* At thirty dollars a class I want a mint on my yoga mat, not crude insults.
* For me, the world is harsh enough without bringing that edge to the yoga mat. I guess he’s doing something right though, people seem to like his class.
* As any good parent will tell you, you don’t need to be mean, abusive or insulting to instill discipline. Belittling people is ultimately counterproductive.
—————— Yoga ‘nazi’ is kickin’ class by Susannah Cahalan of the New York Post
No Zen for you!
Like a drill sergeant — only dressed in tiny black shorts that he designed himself — he screams into his headset at a young woman with sweat dripping down her legs, “Pink shorts. Yes, you. Crotch down!”
It’s 104 degrees in the studio and a middle-aged woman is trying heated Bikram yoga for the first time. “If you’re not going to get your knees down, you might as well be eating pizza down the street!” he yells.
Meet the city’s meanest yoga teacher: Otto Cedeño, owner of Bikram Yoga Union Square.
“My friends call me the yoga Nazi,” said Cedeño, 46. “I laugh.”
While many New Yorkers go to a yoga class to reconnect with their inner calm, Cedeño runs his class like a hard-nosed commander.
Break one of his many rules and you’ll find yourself in yoga detention. Among his many pet peeves: No water for about the first third of the 90-minute class; wash off all makeup (it leaves streaks on rented towels); no loose-hanging clothes; and hair must be pulled back.
Cedeño often singles out people in incorrect positions — even bullying students lying on their backs in the purposefully restful Corpse Pose.
“As a beginner, I was scared that he would single me out for not trying,” said Park Slope resident Kim, 26.
The worst part for Erick Romero, 25, is Cedeño’s kickboxer mentality.
“He goes around and kicks people’s feet into alignment,” said Romero. “He doesn’t say anything and just shoves his foot into your heel.”
But Cedeño, who was a Broadway dancer before capitalizing on the popularity of yoga, says he’s not trying to be mean. His practice appeals to “A-type personalities” who respond to a little abuse.
“Football players, basketball players, hockey players,” he listed. “A lot of Broadway performers. People who strive.”
Bikram Yoga Union Square charges $30 for a single class, while most Manhattan yoga classes run from $16 to $23. Renting a mat is also a hefty $5.
To naysayers who question whether he’s even teaching yoga at all, Cedeño is unrepentant.
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The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a great piece on non-church like activities that are being hosted at churches around the city. My yoga class on Grace Cathedral’s Labyrinth was featured.
For years yogis and other mystics from around the world have made claims of being about to live without food or water, a miracle knows as 
Could make-out sessions make homophobia a thing of the past?
My thoughts: