The Yoga Guy and Origami

You have stretched and you have strained.

As your body develops into a stronger and more flexible machine, what of your mind? Are you more self aware? Are you more creative?

Yoga works on the 'inside' as well as the 'outside'.

That's why I wanted to talk up Simple Origami.

My friend Chris has written that "The art of origami helps you balance your physical and mental relationship."

You might already know that your left side of your body is controlled by the right hand side of your brain and vice versa. Each side of your brain is responsible for different tasks that your body does.

This is relevant because when you apply yourself to following an origami design, using folds and creases to construct that pattern you use both sides of your brain! As you focus on solving the design by folding your square piece of paper. You are channeling your energy in to that mini project and being consumed with a desire to complete the simple origami pattern.

Follow?

Let me direct you to Chris' website. He spells out the Simple Origami thing really well here.

It's going to appear on the Yoga for Men lens, here.

What to Wear After Yoga

You have stretched, you have reached you have opened up your mind and body and soul.

You are exhausted, and yet you feel...good!
Like a light has gone on inside of you, and/or a clensing breeze has passed.

Maybe, sometimes, that light and that breeze blow away some of the 'crust'.
You know, the part of you that needs to be 'serious'. 'Focused'. An 'Adult'.

With that crust removed, maybe you'll be prone to seeing things less serously.
Maybe you'll embrace the music inside of you. The humor. The soul.

That's why Wunjo 'is'.

Wunjo (woon·jo) 1. to illuminate. 2. to experience the joy of conscious, creative living.

Wunjo Wear was born out of the desire to merge style, substance, and self-expression. Life in all its forms, colors, and energies is our inspiration.

They believe that the threads we wear ought to reflect this 'awakening' that often occurs after the yoga has become a part of your daily routine and your body begins to respond.

Has the Yoga you've done this week opened up someting inside of you?
Are you feeling creative? Expressive?
Do you feel like some of the crust has blown off, and you'd like to express yourself a little?

Check out Wunjo Wear.

Naked Yoga for Men in Texas. WHY?!?!

OK, let me take a second to say that I have no problem with homosexual men 'per se'.
But I ran in to a quandry earlier today and I feel the need to 'air it out' here. And I think Texans need to know about it, too!

I went onto to Google to see what other facts and figures about Yoga for Men I could share with you. I get 4 or 5 entries down the page, and there it is: Dallas Naked Yoga for Men. And I'm, like , NO WAY!!!! BLEAUGHGH!

It's hard enough, as a guy, to be taken seriously for doing yoga.
All I need is the world to think I do NAKED Men's Yoga and I am finished.

BUT WAIT...!

4 searches down FURTHER: Austin Naked Yoga.
Yeah, go on. Click the link. You are NOT going to see Pam Anderson and Claudia Schiffer in any sexy poses....

Remember the movie "Officer and a Gentleman"? The Marine drill seargent tells a new recruit "Texas? Nuthin' but Queers and Steers in Texas!"

I never, ever, ever, ever associated Texas with queers OR steers. In fact, I thought most cattle was raised in Oklahoma. Shows you what I know.

The bottom line is, that here I am pushing Yoga as a difficult and serious work out practice for men...and Google is listing Yoga for Men as a high ranking listing for alternative lifestyles.

I had no idea...

Nevertheless, I am undeterred. Perhaps my friends wil not take me seriously, but I know what I know. And what I know is that yoga kicks butt. YOUR butt, tough guy.

Check out Progressive Power Yoga. Only a real man would use 'Power' and 'Yoga' in the same sentence.

How about Sonic Yoga. Sonic Boom, Sonic Yoga.
Manly, right? Like "I'm a superhero and I'll crush you right after I do this VERY difficult Yoga pose!"

Lastly, there's the "Flexible Warrior" DVD collection of work out videos.
You can't use 'Warrior' in a title unless it kicks butt.
Doesn't matter how Flexible you are, if you are a 'warrior' that's a different story.

So people, my point is this:
I AM in favor of Men doing Yoga.

I am NOT in favor of men doing yoga naked.

I AM in favor of you going to the Yoga for Men lens and learning more about the manly art of Yoga.

I am NOT in favor of going to Texas to find groups of Naked Men doing Yoga.


But that's just me....

Yoga For Men...all kinds of Men

Real men really DO do Yoga, and the book above was written to prove it. 21 star athletes (copyright 2003, mind you) discuss how yoga improved their strength, fitness and flexibility.
If this isn't proof enough that you can be a 'real man' and a yoga lover, then nothing will convince you!

OK, well...perhaps you are ALREADY convinced and you want to get up to speed all KINDS of ways to add serentity, peace and comfort to your life? Find Bliss is a website dedicated to sharing music downloads, books, recipies, lifestyle advice and more! It's the all-in-one solution to getting in touch with your quiet, happy side!

Maybe you are right in the middle? No longer a gun totiing, steak eating 'real man' but not quite ready for the life of total serentity? Find links to the Yoga sites that YOU want to visit all compiled at Yoga for Men

Yoga...a little something for everyone!

See the Yoga, Be the Yoga

I'm a 'visual' guy. I like to be shown how to do something, and then I go and do it.

As much a I enjoy reading, I don't like textbooks, or things that read like instructional manuals. I want to see it...step by step...so I know if I am doing it right. (You ever assemble something using text-based directions, and you don't figure out that it's wrong until it's 95% put together? Stinks, right?)

Ok, why am I sharing this personal information with you?

Becasue I recently discovered a website called MyYogaOnline.

The website is a collection of Yoga videos.
Yoga in the Office
Basic Yoga Positions
Yoga for Beginners
Meditation
etc.

It provides chakra charts and downloadable audio, as well as other text-based information (like a handful of blogs based on yoga-specific subjects).

This is a great site to see yoga postures 'in action' as you learn them.

Whethr you are learning the most basic yoga postions, or are ready to transcend into tantric yoga positions and beyond, I invite you to visit MyYogaOnline and check out these valuable resources.

Real Men, Yoga and Children

So, real men now can do yoga and still be 'real men'.

Let me tell you what I did, Yoga-wise, that PROVED I'm a real man:
I invited by 8 year old daughter to join me.

I love my little girl. We have a lot in common. She's a feminine little princess that likes to watch Football with me. She also likes to play princesses and dance to You Tube videos.

I love her so much taht it pains me when things are less than perfect for her.
While she's involvved with Soccer and Dance, she still is having a hard time geting rid of the baby chub. She's not terribly 'limber', either. Couple this with the fact that despite (finally) having her toncills and adnoids removed, she still strugglges with coughing and throat clearing. (I won't bore you with all the details in this post, but so far it's not allergies and it's not asthma)

So, the thought occured to me...why doon't we do yoga together?
The worst that can happen is that she doesn't like it and refuses to do it.
The best that can happen is she becomes more limber, and brethes more easily.

I'd love to be able to tell you that it was an overnight success, but let's be reasonable.
Most 'great ideas' take a while to be 'proven'.
Today was our first day, and while she has joined me in past Yoga attempts, she (and I) had to re-learn a little.

Occassionally, I'll share withyou an update.
I don't want to bore you with the family album...but I plan to have great results to share over time.

Power Yoga - The history, no mystery

"Power Yoga". I like it. Sounds manly.

Mark Blanchard's purist and progressive "Power Yoga" class is for the 'real man'. No props. Nothing trendy. Nothing glamorous. It's designed to be straightforward, healthy and well balanced.

I don't know Mark. I've never met him. But when I first heard of the phrase Power Yoga it was through an article about him, and I then checked out his website, which you can see here.

But I did a little more research and found a VERY good article on the evolution of "Power Yoga".
There are a few different theories/practices that the term evolved from.
Check it out here.

"Power Yoga"
It's that one phrase that separates YOUR yoga from the soft-music-and-meditation your ex-girlfriend wanted you to try...    ;)

"Power Yoga"

Go on...
You're a real man.
Check it out...

The First Book Yoga Men Need

When I made my mind up that I was going to start doing yoga, I wanted to find a book or two on the subject. I needed to learn the Basic Yoga Poses, but I didn't want to learn it from a 'girly' source. I wanted something written for 'men'.

There were plenty of 'yoga for everyone' titles and even a 'yoga for dummies' I believe...but I really wanted something that said 'here's a Yoga book for beginners that was written for the man. Yes, YOU, sir. Here I am . Read me and become healthy.'

That book specifically was not on the shelf, but I DID find 'Yoga for Men' by Bruce Eric Van Horn. (Copyright 2002). The book comes with a CD that directs you through your yoga work out.

In true 'man' fashion, these basic Yoga Positions are named after something 'business' related, so the Sun Salutation is called the 'Opening Bell' and the BackBridge is called 'Beinding over Backwards for your Customers.

In true Yoga fashion, Bruce speaks slowly and clearly, and there is acoustic guitar playing in the background...but you can only 'man up' Yoga so much. To do Yoga properly, you need to be relaxed and you need to stretch yourself and you need to be calm. You can't take a deep breath and "power lift" your way into the positions.

(What a lot of people don't realize is that the stretches and contortions attributed to Yoga are designed to let more oxygen into your body and to allow your back to 'open up' and allow blood to flow more freely. This gives you a much healthier body, but doesn't take away from your raw strength.)

You'll notice the image of the book cover has that Amazon.com "Search Inside!" logo. I pulled the image from there so I could share the link with you, too. I am not selling my copy and I don't make a nickel if you decide to buy one. But I think very highly of the book/program and you can read more about it here.

Namaste'...

Namaste!

I used to think that Yoga was for very flexible, skinny women who ate granola and lit incense.

I may not be 100% wrong, but I never gave thought to the number of men who do yoga.

Not granola-eating, incense-lighting men. I mean fit, health conscience men who care about thier physical and mental health.

I discovered yoga when I was in a place in my life where not only did I want more 'working out' time (I couldn't afford the gym) and I wanted a healthier lifestyle. I wanted to feel good about what I ate, how I breathed and how I 'thought'.

There are many, many blogs and websites about Yoga. Of them, there is a subsection that deals with "Yoga for Men'. (I say this because, as an example, there are yoga websites, principles and diets for pregnant women.)

My goal is to scan the universe of yoga blogs and websites, and then combine the information with my own experiences so that other men doing or considering yoga can be better informed, and hopefully a little entertained.

Yoga allows you to open your mind, your heart and your soul so that you are healthier and more able to appreciate your surroundings. You don't neccessarily need incense or candles or green tea...but you can make those decisions for yourself.