Citation Salutation, by Daniel Peltz

National Post had a great feature today about a new initiative by the city of Cambridge, Mass: Parking tickets are now imprinted with yoga postures, dubbed cheerfully as “Citation Salutations.” The campaign is part of a public arts project and exhibit curated by the Cambridge Arts Council and called Of, By and For: New Work by Daniel Peltz and Paul Notzold. Reactions are mixed to the 40,000 yogic envelopes printed for the project–to give a sense of scale, Cambridge police write around 340,000 tickets a year, so only around 12 percent of ticket-getting folks this year will receive one of these envelopes. Ticket-receivers quoted in the Boston Herald on Tuesday didn’t find the lighthearted project so cute, but I don’t totally blame ‘em. I’m certainly not at my most Zen while staring at those annoying little money-suckers tucked under my windshield wiper, but everybody needs to just take a deep breath or two. If you need help, that parking ticket will provide instructions.

Now, can someone please testify as to how a thong works out for you while you’re in, well, ANY yoga pose?

Props to Geekologie for the pic

From the NY Post with the AP:
Star Wars yoga all the rage at Toronto geek confab

“Darth Vadar and his storm troopers will be in Toronto this week to embark on a 20-minute exercise regime in connection with this weekend’s Fan Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

‘It might be interesting for people to come out and get some shots of Darth Vader and the storm troopers doing park things and creating a little buzz for Fan Expo,’ Roy Mitchell, head of the Star Wars afficionado group Toronto Garrison of the 501st Legion, told the Toronto Sun.

The 501st Legion — which has about 80 members in Toronto — is a regular at the Fan Expo convention.

‘We can’t do things like Downward Dog or anything, yoga will probably be limited to standing poses,’ said Mitchell, who will be dressed as Darth Vader. ‘We’ll then set up a tennis match and maybe Vader will be standing on the line and be the judge. It’ll be fun and that’s the idea.’”

The answer? Shoes with arches. But where’s the glamor in that? Thankfully, there is another option: YogaToes. These sexy little buggers go for $40 a pair and supposedly “relieve foot pain caused by tight shoes, being on your feet all day and participating in sport activities.”

Well, who am I to nay-say? After all, there are folks paying money for this.

Tried YogaToes? Love ‘em? Loathe ‘em? Lemme know! I may be snarky, but I’m more open-minded than I let on!

I saw the movie with my ma this weekend, and we both enjoyed it. Pretty scenery, pretty men and, of course, the ultimate Pretty Woman. We’ve both only read part of the book, so we weren’t particularly equipped to evaluate how closely the movie followed the book (unusual for us). However, I’m fascinated that across the blogosphere and MSM, people seem to think the movie promotes yoga and may somehow help yoga expand in ‘Merica. As one intrepid writer put it: “Eat, Pray, Love might do for yoga mats what Sex and the City did for Manolos.”

First of all, what does that actually mean? Secondly, as the review intends this positively, really?

Keep in mind that the movie depicts only the most obvious elements of yoga. Roll out a yoga mat in Italy–check. Visit an ashram and sit in meditation–check. Depict Ganesh–check, in the most contrived way possible: a literal elephant.

Despite the supposed message of sattwa, or balance, (which is handled as delicately as a hammer to the head) this movie is ultimately about pretty scenery, pretty men and, of course, the ultimate Pretty Woman. I mean, come on, the woman runs away from her man to find, ultimately, another man. This isn’t enlightenment–it’s just the prospect for better sex. (Though you could talk me into believing Javier Bardem is the reason for universal existence.) Gilbert/Roberts’ epic journey was fun for her and is fun for us to watch (most of the time), but at the end of the day it’s about an upper middle class woman globe trotting in fairly comfortable conditions to hash out her somewhat incomprehensible angst with strangers-turned-BFFs.

So, to wrap up this rant: Eat, Pray, Love is fun. Go see it with your mom. But don’t believe for a second this movie is at its core about yoga. And that’s OK–just don’t misrepresent!

Anyway, this is pretty much a cheap shot, but hey, The Yogurt hasn’t featured a radio clip yet, so here goes!

The Onion Radio News: Last Vestige of Manhood Gently Exhaled During Yoga

Right after reading the article, I forwarded it to my poor parents, who are kitty-sitting for me this week as I’m headed off on a camping trip tomorrow. My cat, while sweet, is not always the easiest little (12-pound) guy, because he eats absolutely everything (plants, cords, tomatoes, you name it). Apparently, his meows were tinged with melancholy last night (it’s good to be missed). So, for my parents’ sanity, I recommended Hindi music if he keeps it up. Yup, they’ll love that.

In particular, here’s a lovely Om Shanti video from Wildmind. See? This is good for kitty mamas, too.

My first hit was an article from the Asheville Citizen-Times about a man doing wonderfully strange things with his ex-wife’s wedding dress as a way to recover from their divorce. Called myexwifesweddingdress.com, the blog has generated thousands of views and may yield book and movie deals.

Yes, there is a connection to both “cats” and “yoga” here. During the divorce, Kevin Cotter called his family looking for real advice about what to do with the wedding dress left behind by his wife of 12 years. His sister-in-law remembered a book she’d read once about 101 things to do with a dead cat and recommended Cotter take a similar approach.

He did, and though the list isn’t quite to 101 yet, the dress has definitely been put to some unusual uses. Use number 20 is as a yoga mat. Here’s the clip from a TV news story about Cotter:

I’m pretty impressed that a town would actually give the go-ahead to this kind of thing; I mean, an occasional event is one thing, but five years is quite the commitment.

Almost makes me want to visit Orange County again. Almost.

From Fort Myers, Florida News-Press: Alan Lowenschuss, Banana Peel the Yoga Clown, and yoga clowning partner Ali Gardella, Ali Oops, perform at a Yoga Goes to the Circus event June 12 at Yoga Boody Studio in Bonita Springs. (Amy Sowder/ news-press.com)

I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone made the leap from the Laughing Yoga movement to straight-up clown yoga. Alan Lowenschuss, or Banana Peel the Yoga Clown, dresses as a clown and uses a variety of clown props to demonstrate yoga to children (and adults) in “a nonthreatening way” that emphasizes the connection between yoga and general health and happiness, according to a Florida News-Press feature.

Even if you’re a coulrophobe, take heart: Banana Peel and his assistant don’t wear face paint in order to minimize the risk of causing emotional trauma for audience members with a fear of clowns.

So quick, send in the . . . yogis.