Think Body Electric: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,  it is still a beautiful world."

Apparently this prose poem, written by Max Ehrmann in 1927, is quite famous; even to the point of being so over-promoted with Hallmark Card-esque imagery back in the 1940s-50s that its juice got lost in the rising tide of sap. I, however, never heard of it until today, and so for me, it feels fresh. Not only that, but kinda reassuring as an old-school talisman of a better side of American culture than what we've been swamped in of late, particularly as we watch our political leaders engineer train wrecks that risk much and promise little. At any rate, thought I share in the hopes that others may also find it interesting, and maybe even a bit inspiring - I did.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

 and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

 and listen to others,

 even to the dull and the ignorant;

 they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

 for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

 But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

 many persons strive for high ideals,

 and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

 Neither be cynical about love,

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

 But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe

 no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

 in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

 it is still a beautiful world.

 Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Yay, Free Yoga Classes at the Mall! But what are we really practicing in these Temples of Consumerism?

Reading this news report, I just had to laugh. But when I watched the accompanying news clip and saw all those earnest young women sitting with their eyes closed and hands in prayer, I felt more like crying.

Surrounded by sleek athletic wear, purses and accessories, 30 men and women at the Town Center mall on Friday tried to focus on their yoga poses and resist the temptation to shop.

Employees of Lululemon Athletica, a fashionable yoga-apparel chain that opened in the mall on Friday, moved racks and shelves to the sides of the store to make room for the yogis, who spent an hour before the mall opened doing their lunges, reaches, backbends and hip-openers . . .

Participant Cathy Rosenberg of Delray Beach, who brought her daughter, Eliza, 14, said she was almost panting with consumer lust when she walked into the store and saw the colorful and stylish clothing displays, which emphasize purple, aqua and gray for the upcoming fall season. But she settled into the yoga session and was no longer preoccupied.

"There's a lot in life that can be a distraction," said Rosenberg, 48, a mother of two. "This is a perfect setting to challenge yourself." After class, she bought two tops for her daughter and one for herself.

America is such a weird place. (Although let's not forget that the beloved lululemon is Canadian, so this new yoga goddess of consumerism has really descended on us from our seemingly benign neighbors to the north.) Yeah, I guess that taking a free yoga class in a store stuffed with the most popular, trendy, sex-appeal-enhancing yoga togs (itself located in a mall filled with endless equivalents of the same) offers a good practice in staying inwardly focused amidst temptation and distraction. But let's face it, if you manage to get there, that's a pretty damn advanced place to be. And I have the feeling that these classes are aimed much more toward beginners.

I know excellent yoga teachers who are lululemon ambassadors and teach in their stores. And it's hard to argue that having great teachers offering free classes isn't a good thing, particularly in today's rotten economy. And I know that most of these teachers are making peanuts in order to do what they love, and that they need the sponsorship. So I understand how it can be tempting to smile sweetly and simply embrace all this as simply wonderful.

But not for me. Frankly, I find this marriage of spirituality and consumerism creepy. What energies are you opening yourself up to as you practice yoga and chant "Om" in an environment that's brilliantly designed to sell products - and not only that, but products that are designed to appeal so deeply precisely because they bolster your sense of identity and self-worth?

It's a vexing situation, to say the least. And personally, I feel that I really need to work my practice in order to feel comfortable in my discomfort with it all.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Yoga in the News! 100 Years Ago

Thought I'd share some fun and interesting historical images and news reports from my online files with you today. I LOVE this kind of stuff.


Swami Vivekananda

Here's Swami Vivekananda. He introduced the American public to Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, where he was an unexpected sensation.

As someone who wishes that contemporary yoga were more socially conscious than it is, I'm very taken with the fact the Vivekananda was also an outspoken, radical social critic - both of India and the United States.

The 1893 Chicago Daily Tribune article, "Hindoo Criticizes Christianity," for example, reports on what was for the time really quite an amazing attack on the then-championed conceits of "White Man's Burden":

KA-BLAM! Take THAT, you intolerant self-righteous missionaries and colonizers!

( . . . and, perhaps, our wimpily apolitical notions of "ahimsa" today?)

On a lighter note, it's also true that the press loved to make fun of yoga back then just as they do today. Here's The Milwaukee Journal's take on Vivekananda's work teaching asana and meditation in New York City:

Then, as now, women were the main practitioners of yoga in America. Here's a nice pic of Vivekananda picnicking with the ladies:

Once the racist anti-immigrant backlash of the early 20th century got into full swing, however, yoga's popularity with women became Exhibit A of its depravity. Here's a typical report on that era's anti-yoga hysteria from The Washington Post (1911):

Yes, dark skinned Swamis were corrupting America's white women right and left, sending them straight to the insane asylum! Evilly preying on the weakness of our fairer sex! Clearly, it was time for the government to take action. Here's another report from The Washington Post (1912):

If you're interested in learning more about this weird period in American yoga history, Robert Love, author the The Great Oom: The Improbable Birth of Yoga in America, wrote an excellent (and very funny) article about it back in 2006 that you can access here.

In case you're not familiar with them, two other excellent recent books on the history of American yoga are Stephanie Syman's The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America, and Philip Goldberg's American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West.

If any of you readers have any good American yoga history links, I'd love it if you could share them here! It's a fascinating story that we're still very much in the middle of writing . . .