Posts Tagged ‘febuyoga’
Let’s talk about Stretch, baby
erinm on 9:46 pm February 17th, 2011 / Be the first to comment! »
Have you noticed there are a ton of yoga memoirs out there? I’ve feel like I’ve spent most of this year and some of last reading really great books about yoga and being a yoga practitioner. With that in mind, one of our goals with Feb.U.Yoga is to inaugurate the Boundless book club. We’ve huddled and picked as our first book Neal Pollack‘s memoir Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude.
As the blurb on the back of the book notes, this book is “The hilarious true account of an overweight, balding, skeptical guy’s unexpected transformation into a healthy, blissful yoga fiend.” Or as Pollack writes early in the book:
“Like a freshly made vampire, I’d only just begun to test the limits of my thirst. Yoga was about to become the organizing principle of my existence. Also, must to the chagrin of non-yogis I knew, it became pretty much the only thing about which I ever wanted to talk. In the walk of life, I’d stepped in a big pile of yoga doo and nothing could get it off my sole. Or my soul.”
What’s not to like? Neal Pollack is a husband, dad, writer, and sarcastic as hell. He was named a “hot writer” by Rolling Stone. He’s written for the humor site McSweeneys, Slate, Salon, and Yoga Journal. He’s the author of several books. He was in a band. He likes dogs. And, I’ll bet he’s good at bar trivia. To quote Kelly, I heart him.
I don’t want to ruin it, but I think you’ll really, really like Stretch and Neal Pollack. I should note that this is a memoir and Pollack is very honest; there are some adult themes in this book that not everyone will be comfortable with (i.e., recreational drug use and swear words). We’ll be blogging about this some too. But as you’ll read in Stretch, Neal Pollack’s journey to yoga dudehood is honest, real, and true.
And, I’m really excited to share that we’ve been in touch with Neal Pollack and he’s generously agreed to answer our questions! Please share questions about Stretch through this blog and we’ll email those to him to answer. (He’s also very funny on twitter @nealpollack.)
So hurry – go pick it up! Support a local independent bookstore! We’ll be posting more about Stretch in the next week or so, and hope you’ll join us in our online bookclub!
Borgel
harry on 9:44 am February 4th, 2011 / 8 Comments »
“And yet we’re able to carry on this normal conversation while all that power is going on,” I said.
“We always do everything while all that power is going on,” Borgel said. “Only most people don’t notice it.”Daniel Pinkwater, Borgel
This is a quote from one of my favorite books. It’s a bout a kid named Melvin Spellbound and his elderly relative, Borgel. I’m not going to spoil the book by telling you more about the quote and where it falls within the narrative of the book or anything like that. But I will say this: My son, at almost 6 years old, just sort of relaxed when I read this to him. It was as if it somehow confirmed his suspicion that adults miss the point most of the time.
We have a choice within every moment–to notice the power, or not. Kids seem to instinctively notice the power–this may be why they are so bad creating a system for, say, picking up their toys.
I think my practice this month is about noticing the power that animates the world. So far I have noticed it with asana–at Erin, Leah, and Kim’s classes. Tomorrow I think my practice might be just noticing the power. Maybe not all day–maybe I will just check in at points throughout the day. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Harry’s Feb.U.Yoga. Intentions
harry on 10:05 am February 1st, 2011 / 4 Comments »
Hi. I have Feb.U.Yoga intentions. Want to hear them? Sure you do.
- Listen.
- To myself.
- To silence.
- To people close to me.
- To those with no voice.
- Be Fierce.
- Stay.
- Be Gratitude.
- Be Silence.
- Be Music.
- Ground in the air.
- Align upside down.
My intentions for the month are kind of a mix-tape, not of songs, but of the people around me who just keep teaching me stuff. I am so grateful for them all.
Curious about setting intentions? Here’s a place to start: Silence. Stop–even for just a breath or two. Then listen. This formidable yoga teacher I know named Kim Weeks (you should meet her–really) says that to form intentions “You start by noticing where you are and what you’re doing in that place, in that moment.” Then you notice where you might want to be and find the path there. That’s all.
Pretty simple, right? So, what are your intentions?
12 intentions for 28 days
kelly on 8:01 am January 29th, 2011 / 2 Comments »
I am so excited about the new Feb.U.Yoga program this month. Here are my intentions:
1) Bring more awareness into my hands.
2) Hand-write things, play guitar.
3) Handstand
4) Less Computer
5) Witness abundance and possibility where scarcity and self-defeat sneak in.
6) Accept everything that comes to me and everything that this acceptance brings up.
7) Keep a journal.
8) Keep a dream journal.
9) Kim’s Asana Classes.
10) James’s Asana Classes
11) Take pictures of the sky.
12) Take pictures of the ground.
Namaste,
How peculiar. The number 8 is formatting as a smiley face icon. I am typing it as a number with a closed parentheses like on every other line. Oh well, I guess the universe likes that one. hunh. <3 k
