Tag Archives: yoga class

How To Do Yoga More Easily And Pleasurably

Joan Arnold is a New York-based teacher of yoga and of Alexander Technique. Joan tells interviewer Robert Rickover: “Alexander Technique is a way to move more easily. We can use it to refine our movements in daily life and in … Continue reading

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I Can’t Do Celibate Pose!

I began yoga in January 2009. I went all-out. And within two months, I’d done a lot of damage to myself, some of it permanent and irreparable. Once you stretch ligaments, they don’t unstretch. Some of the damage was repaired … Continue reading

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Bad Use

After yoga class one evening, I was extolling the benefits of Alexander Technique. The woman talked about how yoga imparts similar benefits — it opens up the chakras. “Maybe,” I said. “I’m not so sure. I look around in yoga … Continue reading

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Everyone Asks Me If I’m Jewish

I wear a yarmulke and tzitzit and a beard and people still ask me if I’m Jewish. I don’t get it. I’m the Jewiest Jew around. Is it my Aryan looks? Is there something off about my demeanor? Is my … Continue reading

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‘Communism Wasn’t So Bad’

I sit after yoga class with a Ukrainian actress (about 36yo) who’s lived in America for the past 15 years. We sip yogi tea. Tisha B’Av finished minutes earlier. The actress wears a cap with the hammer and sickle of … Continue reading

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The Kundalini Glow

Cathy Seipp said I was the most cynical person she knew. Cathy was a cynical journalist who knew a lot of cynical people. I felt proud. I went to yoga today and again it stared me in the face that … Continue reading

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What Is The Path To Enlightenment?

Halfway through yoga class the other day, the teacher had us go outside for a 15-minute walk. He urged us to do it barefoot. "Will you lead us over hot coals?" I asked. "No, that’s for the advanced class," he … Continue reading

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Tears For Fears

Kundalini Yoga class. I arrive five minutes early. I put down my stuff, take up my cross, roll out my mat, sit next to the wall, lie down on my back while simultaneously sending my legs straight up in the … Continue reading

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Seeking God

At 6:10 pm, I leave the house carrying three books (two to return to the Los Angeles Public Library, and one on Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann to read before class begins), my yoga mat and my blackberry. I get … Continue reading

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Long Time Sun

At the end of yoga class tonight, the Guru said: "Let’s sing this for all those who don’t know that suffering is unnecessary." Oy vey! When I go to yoga, I feel like I am entering an alternate universe. I … Continue reading

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