Showing posts with label pranayama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pranayama. Show all posts

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Iceman cometh: climbing Mt. Everest in shorts

Yogi Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Wim Hof; A Martinez, Alex Cohen (Take Two, scpr.org); Scott Carney (degrading gynecological guide known as Playboy porno magazine)
He can't make it! We're cold in Gortex. He'll freeze to death. Who does he think he is, a barefoot Sherpa? (Kristoffer Erickson/news.nationalgeographic.com). Hey, is that Iceman?

Yogic pranayama (chi-energy manipulation by "breath regulation") makes it possible.
 
Gird your loins and get to the top.
[Dutch Yogi Master] Dutchman Wim Hof, better known as "Iceman" for his ability to withstand seemingly impossible levels of cold, spoke at a hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2007 after successfully climbing Mt. Everest in shorts.

He didn't succeed in peaking, scaling to the top; he succeeded in not freezing to death in a place most people need oxygen tanks and layers of high tech thermal clothing to stave off frostbite.

Majestic Mt. Everest (Sagaramatha)
The "Iceman" climbed Mt. Everest wearing just shorts with the intention of making it all the way to the top. Although not reaching the summit, he vowed to have another half-naked crack at [allegedly] the world's highest peak. Hof said that next year he would try Everest again, and then with a paraglider and two French people they would fly down.
 
Huh, how?!
"Iceman" Wim Hof (scpr.org)
Wim Hof is a Dutch extremeophile, who claims he can consciously train his mind and body to withstand cold that would kill other humans.
 
He has hiked two-thirds up Mt. Everest in only shorts, run marathons barefoot in the Arctic Circle, and submerged himself below ice for 72 minutes.

Scientific study of Hof has borne out his claims. It is thought he has built up so-called "brown fat," a type of fat that can be burned easily by the body to generate heat [which we are born with but lose in favor of storing white fat around the belly and other "problem" areas].
 
It has articles? We just look at it...
All humans have brown fat when they are babies, which allows them to live without getting hypothermia, but most people lose their brown fat cells unless they are exposed to extreme cold temperatures.
 
Hof is the subject of a profile by Scott Carney, in this month's Playboy magazine. Carney visited Hof's training school in the Polish wilderness where he learned to lie in snow for extended periods and eventually climbed a mountain bare-chested in below freezing weather. LISTEN

Iceman Cometh
Scott Carney (playboy.com)
Sounds like Wim knows Indian yoga! (HuffPo)
A dilapidated farmhouse in the Polish countryside creaks and groans on its foundation as six men hyperventilate inside one of its frigid rooms.

The windows are caked with frost and snow piles up outside the front door. Wim Hof surveys his students with stern blue eyes as he counts their breaths. They are lying in sleeping bags and covered in blankets. Every breath they expel appears as a tiny puff of mist as the heat of their bodies crystallizes in the near-arctic air.

When the students are bleached white from exhaustion, Hof commands them to let all the air out of their lungs and hold their breath until their bodies shake and shudder. I exhale all my breath into the frigid air.
 
“Fainting is okay,” he says. “It just means you went deep.”
 
Hof is one of the world’s most recognized extremophiles. In 2007 he made headlines around the world when he attempted to summit Mount Everest wearing nothing but spandex shorts and hiking boots.

He has run barefoot marathons in the arctic circle and submerged his entire body beneath the ice for almost two hours. Every feat defies the boundaries of what medical science says is possible. Hof believes he is much more than a stuntman performing tricks; he thinks he has stumbled on hidden evolutionary potential locked inside every human body. More

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Yoga: The Art of Transformation

Wisdom Quarterly; ArtDaily.org; Dr. Jeff Durham San Francisco Asian Art Museum
Meditation is gaining popularity as a tool to de-clutter the mind and go from noise, stress, and chaos to peace, empowerment, and wellness. Learn to create positive attitudes and responses to situations by understanding universal spiritual principles through the simple, practical guidance of the ancient art of Raja Yoga meditation (Brahma Kumaris). More
 
Yogi and tantrika (Boonlieng)
SAN FRANCISCO, California - The Asian Art Museum presents Yoga: The Art of Transformation, the first major art exhibition to explore yoga and its historical transformation over the past 2,500 years through more than 130 rare and compelling artworks.

All over the world, millions of people practice yoga to find spiritual insight and improved health. Many are aware of yoga's origins in India, but few outside of advanced practitioner circles recognize yoga's profound philosophical underpinnings, its presence within Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Sufi religious traditions, or the surprisingly various social roles played by yogic practitioners over the centuries.

This exhibition shows yoga’s rich diversity and rising appeal from its early days to its emergence on the global stage. Borrowing from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe, and the U.S., the artworks on view date from the 2nd to the 20th centuries, with a majority from the 8th to 18th centuries.

The wisdom of the Vedas from the ancient Vedic civilization is incorporated into Hinduism's Ayurvedic principles of healing herbs, foods, and dietary practices (Kitchen Pharmacy).

 
Throughout the exhibition, stunning examples of sculpture and painting illuminate yoga's key concepts as well as its obscured histories. Early photographs, books, and films show yogis not only as peaceful practitioners, but also satirized as sly imposters.

Artworks and audio guides also reveal yoga’s transformation in 20th-century India and the U.S. as an inclusive practice open to all.

The exhibition’s highlights include an installation that reunites three stone yoginis from a 10th century South Indian temple; 10 pages from the first illustrated book of yogic postures (asanas) from around 1600; and a film by Thomas Edison, "Hindoo Fakir" (1902), the first American movie ever produced about India.

Curated originally for the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery by the associate curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Debra Diamond, the Asian Art Museum’s presentation is organized by the museum’s associate curator of South Asian Art, Qamar Adamjee, and assistant curator of Himalayan Art, Jeff Durham [who will be in Pasadena on Saturday talking about mandalas in Vajrayana Buddhism]. 

Classical Buddhist art (WQ/Boonlieng/SFAAM)
“We are honored to serve as the only West Coast venue in presenting this historic exhibition, one of the most remarkable surveys of Indian art,” said Asian Art Museum director Jay Xu.

“We hope that by illuminating aspects of yoga and its hidden histories to Bay Area audiences, visitors can take new perspectives to their present and future yoga practices.” 

The exhibition surveys the centrality of yoga in Indian culture and focuses on core elements of yoga practice; the role of teachers; the importance of place in yoga practice; the associations between yoga and power; ways in which yogis have been understood and imagined in Indian and Western popular cultures; and the transformation of yoga into today’s contemporary practice.

Kathak Yoga: dynamic footwork and dance as a means to union of breath, body, and mind.
 
Visitors are encouraged to start their journey in Osher Gallery, followed by Hambrecht Gallery, then Lee Gallery. 
  • Osher Gallery: The Path of Yoga - The exhibition begins by introducing visitors to yoga’s origins. Between 500 and 200 BCE, wandering ascetics of the [Vedic Brahminical] Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religions developed practices for controlling the body and breath as a means of stilling the mind.
These practices introduced concepts that laid the groundwork for much of what later came to constitute "yoga." By the 7th century, many of yoga’s key concepts, vocabulary, and practices were established. This gallery reveals how artists translated yogic identities, beliefs, and practices into meaningful and eloquent visual forms.

In yoga, the body is both what must be transcended as well as the necessary tool for attaining enlightenment... More

Thursday, 10 April 2014

America's youngest yoga teacher (video)

Yogi Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Reuters via DailyMail
What if everyone could do yoga -- the union of body, breath (spirit), and mind? (MY)

Fitness in a cup: Can harmful caffeine influence workout routines? It seems so. According to research, those with a nasty caffeine habit can exercise more. "Science" says so! (vogue.it)

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Can caffeine influence your fitness routine? It seems so. According to a research, those with a regular caffeine intake can exercise more successfully
- See more at: http://www.vogue.it/en/beauty/wellness-and-fitness/2014/04/caffein-coffee-fitness-metabolism-work-out-calories-diet#sthash.yukkIsWH.dpuf
Can caffeine influence your fitness routine? It seems so. According to a research, those with a regular caffeine intake can exercise more successfully
- See more at: http://www.vogue.it/en/beauty/wellness-and-fitness/2014/04/caffein-coffee-fitness-metabolism-work-out-calories-diet#sthash.yukkIsWH.dpuf



A whole new meaning to child's pose! Meet America's youngest yoga teacher
Hold it there! Twelve-year-old certified yoga instructor Jaysea DeVoe teaches her yoga class at the Bergamot Spa in Encinitas, California
Yoga Master Jaysea DeVoe (Reuters)


I'm not taking her class (vogue.it/en)
Twelve-year-old certified yoga instructor Jaysea DeVoe teaches her yoga class at Bergamot Spa in California.
 
In addition to her pint-sized students aged four to six, she teaches teens and fellow tweens in her California beach town of Encinitas and is about to start a family yoga class.  Oh, and she just told her dad she wants to look into making eco-friendly yoga mats.
 
If Suey Park is busy, maybe I...can try yoga?
"I feel like I want to do this for a long time because I love teaching so much," says DeVoe, the picture of a California beach girl, with long blond hair and long legs to match. But DeVoe is not alone in her entrepreneurial zeal. Her twin brother, 12, is a sponsored competitive surfer and works at a surfboard fin manufacturing company. [So move to California now and you, too, can raise prodigies!] More
 
Perspective as a Power Tool: 3 Ways to Change the Way We See Things
Zoe Kors (layoga.com)
I wouldn't take her class either, but Woody'$
"I kind of quit surfing when I got out of high school, but then a few years ago I started to take it up again. I'm not an expert by any means, but it's so wonderful to get out in the ocean and get a different perspective on things." - Actor Jeff Bridges

It's part of the human condition that we come upon challenging moments when it feels like people in our lives, or even life itself, are wearing us down. Or perhaps there is a specific aspect of a situation or relationship that is showing up as a persistent source of discomfort. At these times... More
 
Friend Miely and yoga instructor Jaysea DeVoe (Mike Blake/Reuters.com)

 
Cycling through the Day for Mindful Practice – The Body/Mind Types
April2014yogatherapy
Click for INTERACTIVE mag
According to Ayurveda [Vedic science of health], the energetic qualities of the doshas (or body/mind types: vata, pitta, and kapha) rotate throughout the day. So different influences predominate during different portions of the day. They can affect our practices of poses (asana), pranayama (spirit control), and meditation as well as our strength, state of mind, mood, and more. As yoga therapists, acknowledging and understanding these cycles can help us more effectively work with clients and students. The inherent qualities of the doshas have a strong influence... We can fight against or flow with and utilize practice to help find balance... More