yoga vs. sports

Let me perch on my little soap box for just a moment to clarify that yoga never was and is still not a sport. By definition, a sport is "a competitive physical activity," but the entire expression of yoga practice rejects that premise. Widely known and accepted basics of yoga are that it is non-competitive and that the practitioner learns to connect more deeply with his or her body and mind. Through yoga asana practice, we discover things about ourselves; our strengths and weaknesses manifest on our mat and we work toward learning more about strengthening our bodies and sharpening our minds. Besides obviously not rivaling our neighboring yogis, we're not even meant to fight ourselves! In my humble opinion, our culture already struggles with this concept and could use more competition-free activities.

There has been a lot of controversy swirling around competitive yoga lately, as national bonified yoga competitions are popping up everywhere. If you haven't heard about it, since early 2012, groups have even been lobbying for yoga to be included in the 2016 Olympic games:

"Each Olympic-class yogi would have three minutes to do seven poses, five of which are mandatory (standing head-to-knee pose, standing bow-pulling pose, bow pose, rabbit pose, and stretching pose). The final two poses are yogi's choice. The judges would rate the contestants on their strength, flexibility, timing, and breathing."

- Article from The Week.com

Photo credit: Andy Jacobsohn - Avanna Brown in Eka Pada Sirsasana (Foot-behind-the-Head Pose)

Ayanna Brown - National Yoga Asana Championship.

Namely, Rajashree Choudhury (wife of Bikram Choudhury, founder of the competitive Bikram Yoga form of hot yoga) is one of the biggest supporters of the movement. She says that,"the competitions can be a way to interest people in yoga who might be put off by the spiritual aspect, by showing them the athletic aspect." Okay...so people would not be put off by viewing terrifying and widely unattainable contortions? Certain yoga poses take years to work toward; strength, flexibility and balance cannot be forced, so wouldn't emphasizing a "perfect yoga posture" in an Olympic event be dangerous for admiring fans?

Step into most yoga studios today and you will often hear encouraging little reminders to "focus on your own practice" or to "leave your ego at the door." The atmosphere of calm that many yoga studios strive to achieve is what makes yoga stand apart from any other physical activity. Many fear that this new type of competition would pervert western yoga into an ego-driven fad full of elite athletes. In the United States, yoga is already a booming business offering a variety of yoga styles that appeal to many different types of people. It's great that it's becoming so accessible and comfortable, but if western yoga keeps heading down this path, where will it end up?

I am most certainly not championing purist, perfect or elitist yoga in any way and I'm not trying to discourage anyone who solely enjoys yoga for the physical aspect. The mental and spiritual journey that one might discover through yoga is personal and (just as with physical postures) it should not be forced. The bottom line here is that regardless of one's personal goals and interests, yoga is meant to be non-competitive. Alienating those roots will change yoga practice into something it's not: a sport. How can that core value be ignored to justify induction into the Olympic games? Is this really a good way to expose yoga to the masses or is would it be doing more harm than good?

Personally, if yoga does end up in the Olympics in 2016, I won't be watching it. I'd rather be on my own mat or teaching yoga with goals of acceptance, self-awareness and modesty. What do you think about all of this? If you'd like to continue this dialogue, please feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear what others think, yogis or not!

Namaste!

introducing: skype yoga

Introducing: Skype Yoga - private customized virtual yoga lessons

Thanks to the free technology of Skype, I am excited to now be offering private yoga lessons from my home to yours. :)

Who: This option is meant to be for anyone. Busy? Have children or don't live near a studio? Traveling? I know that it can be complicated to find a way to enjoy a yoga class, or if you've never tried yoga before, a studio can be intimidating. Individual guidance can help empower you.

What: Once I understand your current goals and/or problem areas, I will develop a personalized lesson plan, just for you. I will demonstrate the poses and help to lead you through offering verbal cues and options, just like in a regular class. I can introduce yoga postures to you for the first time, work on a routine that you can practice independently on your own, develop modifications, breathing exercises or meditation time, whatever you're looking for...it's your practice.

Where: Wherever you are! You just need a private space for yourself and your mat that can be free from distractions.

When: Early morning, evening or weekend options are available. Class lengths and prices are adjustable from 30 minutes to 75 minutes.

Why: I love practicing with my students in person, but it's not always possible. I believe that individualized instruction is valuable to any yogii and should be easily accessible. Embracing this technology allows us to still work directly together and connect face-to-face, rather than trying to fit into the mold of a standard podcast, DVD or book.

How: With an internet connection, a PayPal account and a webcam, it's easy to set up for a class. Just place your computer on a table so that I can see you and you can see me.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or comments, or to set up your very own Skype date. Namaste! :)

Photo courtesy & copyright of Little Story Studio

the rain barrel saga continues...

If you read my previous rain barrel post, you might not yet realize that this DIY now qualifies as a "saga." When we left off, I was touting the ease and affordability of this little weekend project. Well, 2 weeks and 3 rain storms later, things are now a bit more complicated.

Call me naive, but I never had a rain barrel before, so I thought I had time before I would need to add an overflow valve. Boy, was I wrong! I did not realize that a 50 gallon barrel would fill up and overflow in a 5 minute storm, but it certainly did. We cringed at all the wasted water that immediately flooded our basement.

Maybe a normal person would have just said, "Okay, well I'll add the overflow valve first thing tomorrow and be done with it." But not us...we decided we would go ahead and get 2 more rain barrels and THEN we could worry about the overflow valve.

I bumbled around the plumbing department until I came across this 1/2" thick flexible tubing. I've seen this work for other rain barrel links on the interwebs, so I figured it would be fine for me. I dug up the first rain barrel and added some concrete slabs underneath so that it could sit higher than the other 2. (I do NOT recommend this arduous task...even 1/4 barrel of water is much heavier than it looks) But, once that was done, I just added a few little 1/2" holes, some caulking and a metal dingus on the inside of each barrel, and I was good to go...or so I thought.

Mother Nature laughed at our efforts. Again, according to the weather forecast, we were fooled into thinking we had time to add the overflow valve another day. Lesson learned: you can't just keep indefinitely linking rain barrels to avoid making an overflow valve. :)


At 2:00am, I woke up to torrential downpour, 3 overflowing barrels and a freshly flooded basement. I clearly had no idea what I was doing, but I was not yet discouraged. I am working hard renovating our garden and I was determined to harness this over-abundant natural resource! So, back to the hardware store I went. After some more scratching my head and bumbling around, I ended up with this junk:

3" male and female seals, elbow pipe and long drain pipe named "Charlotte," apparently.

I was worried about making a hole that large in the barrel, but I needed the water to drain quickly from the 3rd barrel to allow the other 2 to drain and not overflow.

Traced outline with chalk, drilled hole in center and sawed out to the edges to make a 3" large hole

Hypothetically, it worked. This is how the drain looks on the third barrel, heading down into the original flexpipe, behind a bush and underground out to the road.

Round 3 of drainage adventures...

We've thoroughly enjoyed the free water we've been using for the past week. Temperatures have been over 95º, so we've been watering most of our new trees, shrubs and baby grass twice a day and we still have almost 2 full barrels!




UPDATE: I'd like to say we lived happily ever after, but not quite yet. (Don't be afraid of this project because I'm making all the mistakes for you.) The first barrel (the one receiving the brunt of the water flow from a huge roof) still overflowed in the last storm. I added a 3" connection (like the overflow pipes) between the 1st and 2nd barrels as well as the 2nd and 3rd to allow it to drain faster. It was not easy to do since the barrels could not be moved (note the impeccable caulk job) but it should do the trick. Fourth time's a charm, right? ;)

The mistake(s) I made were mainly in relation to water pressure. If/when the downspout is ever at full capacity in a storm, then the connection valves need to be at least as wide as the downspout, all the way through. The rain barrel ideas and designs I looked at must have had no trouble using small tubing; for a smaller home or roof, it would have been sufficient, but we have a very large roof, heavy storms rolling through and a basement that has a propensity for flooding. Although the process was stressful, I'm still definitely glad that we did it. We will have tons of free garden water for years to come!


FINAL UPDATE! Almost a year later now and we are SO thankful for our barrels! We've planted tons of things since then and have used them weekly. In the winter, we syphoned the water out and reconnected the downspout to the drain. Our basement has also since been waterproofed and the flooding had very little to do with my barrel adventures.

I'd say the only downfall is the actual lugging of water if you have a large or steep yard. We have about an acre incline with some new trees up the hill, so we are planning to add some gutters and a barrel or two behind the shed. We won't get as much water from such a small roof, but it would be nice to have some up there as well. Love them!