Yoga+Journal+USA+-+December+2013

STEP BY STEP TO TOTAL RELAXATION

JOU R NA FIND
BLISS
R16 APODSESIAFONR T
ENERGY IN YOUR
PRACTICE
4 WAYS TO
+EASY
OPEN YOUR HOLIDAY
HEART MOCKTAILS
AVOID COLDS

THIS WINTER
POSES FOR
WINTER SPORTS

Dec 2013 / Display until Jan 7, 2014

YOGAJOURNAL.COM





contents CINDY SANTINI

DECEMBER 2013

on the cover

48 | Step by step to total
relaxation
68 | Find bliss in your practice
65 | 16 poses for radiant energy
57 | 4 ways to open your heart
24 | Avoid colds this winter
74 | 6 poses for winter sports
22 | Easy holiday mocktails

features

68 | JOY TO THE WORLD
Let the symbolism behind the pose
Natarajasana inspire you to stand strong
in your center while life whirls around
you. by Alanna Kaivalya
74 | LIFT OFF
Yoga gives pro snowboarders a leg
up—and can improve your ride too.
by Diane Anderson

cover credits

model: Elinore Cohen; stylists: Lyn Heineken
and Lucila Tepper; hair/makeup: Ivan Men-
doza/Workgroup; top: Lovely 153; leggings:
Lululemon Athletica; earrings: Satya;
malas: Blooming Lotus; cuff: alkemie;
photography: Wari Om

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contents December 2013

26 34

yoga lifestyle 65 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: OJO IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY/VEER; SEAN DAGEN; MICHAEL WINOKUR; ERIC WOLFINGER

19 | OM 37 inspiration
Bringing your practice to life
Tias Little writes about starting each day practice 57 | WISDOM
with a morning practice; celebrate the Reach out Here’s how to cultivate compassion
holidays with non-alcoholic mixers; ski- 48 | BASICS for others—and why opening your heart helps you
iers take yoga onto the slopes; and more. Corpse pose This pose may look sim- too. by Sally Kempton
ple, but exploring its subtleties will teach
30 | STYLE you how to relax with attention and 96 | YOGA SCENE
Gift guide Thoughtful holiday gifts release long-held tension in your body Love connection Two yogis find a deeper con-
to nourish, pamper, and inspire. and mind. by Nikki Costello nection to one another, along with a healthy dose
of fun and play through partner yoga.
37 | EATING WISELY 65 | HOME PRACTICE WITH
Shelf life This year saw a new stack LARISSA HALL CARLSON in every issue
of yoga-friendly cookbooks with recipes Shine on Stoke your internal fire with
for healthy living and eating. an invigorating sequence that gets you 10 | EDITOR’S LETTER 91 | YOGA PAGES
by Lauren Ladoceour glowing from the inside out. 12 | CONTRIBUTORS 94 | LIVING WELL
14 | LETTERS 94 | CLASSIFIEDS
83 | REVIEWS
New books, CDs, and DVDs, featuring an DECEMBER 2013
interview with Kundalini Yoga teacher
Krishna Kaur; plus a children’s book by
Olaf Hajek; a yoga and Ayurvedic guide
for yoga mamas; a metabolic makeover
manual; an inspiring new practice DVD by
Peter Sterios; and more.

4 YOGAJOURNAL.COM

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creating a gathering
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STRESS-FREE HOLIDAYS OUR GIFT TO YOU CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SHERI GIBLIN; SEAN DAGEN; THAYER ALLYSON GOWDY
YJ is giving away
Put down your holiday to-do list and try these tips one gift a day from
for keeping your calm all season long. yogajournal.com/staycalm December 1–25!

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6 YOGAJOURNAL.COM DECEMBER 2013

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by sharing a Charity Ferreira Patricia B. Fox
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8 YOGAJOURNAL.COM DECEMBER 2013



editor's letter

Charity Ferreira

called to share

Consider the teachers who
have helped you Qrow, in
your practice and your life.

Delicious, berry-flavored IT WAS A SMALL THING, something
Zinc Elderberry Lozenges that's happened many times before. I
was settling into Savasana at the end of
boost the immune system class when my teacher crouched down
and soothe the throat. and gently lifted my chronically turned­
in shoulders one by one, tucking my
Get the same results with shoulder blades underneath me and
helping me to settle into a more com­
Thera Zinc Throat Spray. fortable position. The adjustment took
just a moment, but it was made with
This Cold Season Don't such tenderness and care that I mar­
Catch Anything Else! veled at the gift I had just received.

.. Outside the studio, I felt a fresh
wave of gratitude for the countless times and classes when teachers have
..... . shared their knowledge in an effort to inspire, or broaden, or deepen my
. ,.. . . ... . . .. experience of practice. It's the same feeling I had when my son's teacher
. ... .. met me early in the morning, before her own workday started, to teach
....... .. me some games and strategies I could use for helping my son learn his
... . multiplication facts. Humble, grateful. And overwhelmed by the generos­
. ity of spirit that inspires the teachers among us to give of themselves in
.:". : . �. order to foster growth and learning in others.

� .• • :1 This issue is rich with such offerings. Nikki Costello teaches the finer

� . .. points of Savasana - including how to relax your shoulders (Basics, page
48)! Writer Diane Anderson interviews pro snowboarders about the gifts
... ... . ... .. . . . .�. /.
... . . . ... yoga has given them, and yoga teacher Eoin Finn offers poses to get you
.. .. .
ready to ride ("Lift Off,"page 74). Wisdom columnist Sally Kempton
. . writes about cultivating compassion and what it can teach us ("Reach
Out, "page 57). And on page 68, YogaJournal's managing editorJennifer

Rodrigue, who is also a yoga teacher, offers a sequence to work up to this
issue's inspiring cover pose, Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose). +

Gl• Share your gratitude with the teachers in your
life and let us know about the gifts your practice

has given you at [email protected].

DECEMBER 2013

At Kripalu, we invite you to breathe—to intentionally Healthy Living programs, R&R Retreats, and programs
pause the ongoing demands of life, bring your with world-renowned invited presenters, including
attention inward, and rediscover your authentic
nature. Conscious engagement with the breath Joan Borysenko Cyndi Lee
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life force within and around you. Whenever you are Julia Cameron Dharma Mittra
faced with a challenge—on the yoga mat, in a Rajashree Choudhury Sadie Nardini
relationship, at work, or with your health—you can Stephen Cope Todd Norian
draw on a deep sense of ease, purpose, and mastery Joe Dispenza Natasha Rizopoulos
to create positive change. We call it the yoga of life. Kate and Joel Feldman Erich Schiffmann
Loren Fishman David Swenson
Book now: 800.741.7353 or kripalu.org Rolf Gates David Harshada Wagner
Dan and Tara Goleman Amy Weintraub
Stay connected: kripalu.org/blog/thrive Harville Hendrix Paul Winter
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Jack Kornfield Rodney Yee

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stockbridge, massachusetts

Hundreds of contributors
Trainings
across What’s the best gift
you’ve ever received?
North America
each year. Yoga. When I discovered One night when I was feeling
yoga, it changed my life. It is sad, my boyfriend Ben brought
IAYT me flowers and just listened to
Member School the biggest gift I’ve ever me vent. The next morning, I
received because I carry it awoke to a kitchen full of Post-
2013 – 2014 MIND BODY with me all of the time, in my it notes reading “I love you so
FITNESS SCHEDULE work as a yoga photographer, much”—one letter on each
note! It was the sweetest gift.
Palm Springs, CA 9/12/2013 and in every breath.
Atlanta, GA 10/30/2013 ELINORE COHEN, an alignment-based
Barcelona-based photographer
Long Island, NY 11/13/2013 vinyasa yoga teacher in Las Vegas, mod-
Seattle, WA 12/11/2013 WARI OM photographed this issue’s eled for this issue’s cover as well as for the
Long Beach, CA 1/16/2014 sequence in “Joy to the World” (page 68).
Alexandria, VA 2/6/2014 cover and “Joy to the World” (page 68).
Denver, CO 3/12/2014 The biggest gift is my son,
Morristown, NJ 4/10/2014 Ananda Lion. I do yoga to be FROM TOP: APRIL BENNETT; JUDITH BASOLS; JORDAN JUNCK
Honolulu, HI 5/7/2014 half as happy as him. His whole-
Minneapolis, MN 6/25/2014 hearted laugh seems to come
from a happiness deeper than
Palm Springs, CA 7/24/2014 one tiny body can contain...I
New Orleans, LA 9/11/2014 am so grateful for the beautiful
gift of his enthusiasm for life.
2013 INTENSIVES
Yoga teacher EOIN FINN, who divides
Rishikesh, India 11/17/2013
his time between Vancouver, BC, and Ven-
Please visit yogafit.com for updated information. ice, CA, contributed the poses for “Lift Off”
on page 74, Yoga for Snowboarding.
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talk to us

standing SEPTEMBER 2013 My daughters love it when
I get a new Yoga Journal.
STRONG The little one delights
in showing me how easy
Yoga can help those with it is to get in every pose.
osteoporosis and osteopenia
JACQUELINE SIMMONS
MAINTAIN BONE MASS, BUILD (VIA FACEBOOK)
STRENGTH, and PREVENT INJURY.
TOUCHY SUBJECT?
BY CAROL KRUCOFF | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID MARTINEZ
Some yoga studios offer
HALFWAY THROUGH AN EIGHT-DAY TEACHER TRAINING, I began to feel students cards to place on
it: a dull throbbing in my right hip. For hours, I’d been sitting cross-legged on their mats so that teachers
the floor in front of 40 students, discussing how to make yoga safe and effec- can see at a glance if ad-
tive for older adults. In such a supportive environment, you’d think I’d have justments are welcome or
switched to a different position—or maybe even sat in a chair.Yet I stubbornly not. What do you think?
continued to return to Easy Pose, which I began to think of as Painful Pose,
until getting up became so agonizing that I had to walk in circles to straighten (ASKED ON FACEBOOK)
out my hip. Welcome to my late 50s.
Adjustments are part of yoga.
Aging comes subtly. The risks and changes sometimes have a harbinger, like Verbal and visual demonstra-
the pain in my hip, and sometimes they don’t. Signs such as graying hair, the tions are great, but can’t com-
softening underbelly of a chin, and joint stiffness are easy to see and feel. Yet pare to knowing how the correct
other changes are completely hidden. Just after my 50th birthday, my physi- posture feels in your body. If
cian suggested a bone-density scan since I had many risk factors for osteopo- a student is uncomfortable
rosis—including being a thin, postmenopausal woman with a family history being touched I think it should
be his or her own responsibility
Kudos for Carol Krucoff ’s story about yoga for women with osteoporosis to inform the teacher.
or osteopenia (“Standing Strong,” September ’13). I started taking yoga
TARA O’LEARY HUGHES
classes at my local YMCA after menopause. Never did any of the instruc-
tors warn participants that bending forward or twisting poses could be As a teacher, you don’t know
dangerous for older students. I found the information provided by your student’s story. A card is
a great way to make them feel
Ms. Krucoff to be informative, detailed and encouraging. The instruction less “on the spot.” I think it’s
by Ellen Saltonstall for bone-strengthening poses and variations was a wonderful, caring gesture.
excellent. Thank you and keep up the good work. JACQUELINE VIEUX
EMMA ESSERY
soothing scents ageless practice
New students might have no
The story “Travel Easy” (August Thanks for such an inspiring maga- idea what adjustments are and
’13) says that Kathryn Budig uses zine. The magazine would be even what they can do! Just making
a blend of orange, clove, pepper- more so for me if there were occa- it all about ‘being touched’ is
mint, birch, and cinnamon oil sional photos of older people prac- kind of the wrong thing to ask.
when traveling, but the article ticing yoga. I’m 67 and have been
doesn’t describe the amount of practicing for 37 years. I practice ASTRID BRIX
each oil in the blend. Would it be daily, a combination of what I’ve
possible to get instructions for learned over the years from teach- The exercise instructions and advice presented
making this oil blend? ers of Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga. in this magazine are designed for people who
I’m so grateful for yoga; it keeps are in good health and physically fit. They are not
DENISE HENDERSON me young in both mind and body. intended to substitute for medical counseling. The
It would be great if this message creators, producers, participants, and distributors
EDITOR’S NOTE Kathryn Budig could reach older people. There are of Yoga Journal disclaim any liability for loss or
suggests combining 1 tablespoon lovely photos of young models per- injury in connection with the exercises shown
of a base oil like coconut or sesame forming poses that are just a dream or the instruction and advice expressed herein.
with 20 drops each of peppermint for most of us. But yoga is not just
and birch oil, 10 drops each of about looking good. There’s so DECEMBER 2013
orange and clove oil, and 5 drops much more, and it gets richer and
of cinnamon oil in a small jar. Dot more wonderful as you age.
on your wrists and neck for a calm-
ing fragrance in flight. ISHBEL ASKEW

twitter.com facebook.com letters@yoga DAVID MARTINEZ
/yoga_ journal /yogajournal journal.com

14 YOGAJOURNAL.COM



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CULTURA PHOTOGRAPHY/VEER Yoga is a dance
between control and
surrender—between YOGAJOURNAL.COM 19
pushing and letting
go—and when to
push and when to let
go becomes part of
the creative process,
part of the open-
ended exploration
of your being.”

Joel Kramer, author of The Passionate Mind:
A Manual for Living Creatively with One’s
Self and co-author with Diana Alstad of The
Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power

DECEMBER 2013

om

PERSPECTIVE

RISE
THEN
SHINE are bubbling up, and what am I
telling myself in response? Sit-
Instead of checking WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN you first wake up ting meditation helps cultivate
the deep inner listening that
your email when in the morning? Lounge in bed? Start planning your allows me to foster the sensitiv-
you wake up, check day? Check email? The first hour of the day is pre- ity needed to fine-tune the in-
cious, and for centuries yogis have cherished the strument of my body in Triangle
Pose or Downward Dog.
in with yourself. dawn for personal practice: meditation, building
their prana, and opening their bodies with the After my seated practice, I
begin to actively extend and
rising sun. I have come to savor my morning prac- refine my breath. This awakens
prana, stimulates the nadis, the
tice—meditation, pranayama, and asana—and rely on its rejuvenating and ener- energetic channels of the subtle
body, and builds inner fire before
gizing benefits that “pranagize” my body and prepare it for the day to come. I move into my asana practice.

Beyond that, establishing a stable home practice is a cornerstone for personal The process of inner listening
is like being a meteorologist,
transformation in yoga. When I first became serious about Ashtanga Yoga for as you observe the changing
atmosphere within—noticing
and went to Mysore, India, in 1989, classes started at 6 a.m. Mysore style is self- the high pressures, the low pres-
sures, the scattered clouds, and
guided, and this helped put me on the trajectory to a regular, disciplined prac- building fronts—you become
more aware, more awake to what
tice. My ongoing daily practice enables me to stay limber and centered, while is actually happening. Morning
practice is your meteorologist’s
also allowing me to check in and listen to the shifting patterns of my physiologi- tool, the barometer for revealing
the momentary thoughts, im-
cal rhythms, my thoughts, and my emotions. This capacity to observe and no- pressions, and feelings that churn
inside. Over the hours, months,
tice what is arising lies at the root of all yoga practice. and years, this listening barome-
ter becomes more fine-tuned,
These days, I like to sit in meditation for 10 to 20 minutes before moving eventually revealing how, ulti- BOB THOMAS/GETTY IMAGES
mately, we are not any of these
into my morning asana routine. This helps me “take my own pulse” and gain weather systems. This deep
inner listening allows your yoga
awareness of my biorhythms, moods, dreams, and digestion. My sitting practice practice to become a means for
letting go of whom you think
is suffused with a spirit of inquiry, which helps ground me in the moment. you are and whom you think you
ought to be.
Where is my breath now? Which of my nostrils is more open? Which of my
Tias Little directs Prajna Yoga in
lungs is more pliable? What sensations and attitudes are arising? What are the Santa Fe, New Mexico (prajnayoga.
net). His new book The Yoga of the
expectations I have of myself? What are my hopes and fears? What thoughts Subtle Body will be published by
Shambhala Publications in May 2014.

20 YOGAJOURNAL.COM DECEMBER 2013

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om

merry ✱ Instead of a BEER open a cold PHOTOGRAPHY AND FOOD STYLING: ERIC WOLFINGER
mixers kombucha; the fizzy fermented black
or green tea comes in a variety of
If you’re cutting back on or avoiding alcohol this eclectic flavors. (Kombucha contains
season—or just want to offer options for guests
who are—here are festive holiday party drinks a trace amount of alcohol that
that are minus the alcohol but not the cheer. varies by brand.)

22 YOGAJOURNAL.COM ✱ Instead of BUBBLY mix
fresh or bottled pear juice
with sparkling water and
a few drops of lemon juice.

✱ Instead of SPIKED EGGNOG
try this vegan version: Whirl 1⁄2 cup
coconut milk, 1 cup unsweetened
almond milk, and 2 tablespoons maple
syrup in blender until frothy; grate cin-
namon and nutmeg on top. Serve cold.

✱ Instead of a HOLIDAY COCKTAIL
mix lime juice, pomegranate juice, and
sparkling water; garnish with a lime
twist and a few pomegranate seeds.

✱ Instead of RED WINE pour a glass
of varietal grape juice. Juice made from
wine-quality grapes can be found online
and at wineries and specialty stores.
Two to try: Oregon’s Draper Valley
Vineyard (drapervalleyvineyard.com)
and California’s Navarro Vineyards
(navarrowine.com).



om

WELLNESS 40 the estimated
annual economic
make THE COLD billion loss in dollars in
the United States,
less common thanks to common
colds. This includes
Some quick strategies for boosting your
immunity and avoiding winter colds. medical care, lost workdays, reduced

Hand it to mom She was right: Vitamin D in our bodies, helping productivity, and parents missing
To prevent colds, wash your hands! absorb calcium and promoting bone
Use warm water and regular soap then growth.) Exposing uncovered parts work to tend to sick kids.
rub vigorously for at least 20 seconds. of the body to sunshine between the
Also keep dirty hands away from your hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. for 5 to 30 more the number of
eyes, nose, and mouth. Touching your minutes several times a week creates cases annually of
face with your hands can introduce enough Vitamin D for most people. 1 THAN the common cold in
bacteria and viruses into the body. Conversely, sleep in a dark room (no billion the United States.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers (made lights from alarm clocks or other elec-
with at least 60 percent alcohol) tronics) so your body will be triggered 25
and sanitizing wipes help, but proper to secrete melatonin, the “sleep hor-
hand washing is more effective at mone” that enhances proper sleep. the number of colds that US adults
killing the germs that make you sick.
Go fish Studies have shown that suffer annually (school-age children
Go to sleep The National Institutes omega-3 fish oil supplements can bol-
of Health recommends that adults ster immunity (excessive amounts of suffer between 7 to 10).
sleep between seven and eight hours Vitamin C, however, have not been
every night to stay healthy and help proven effective in cold prevention).
reduce stress, which taxes the body
and can lead to increased susceptibil- CLAUDIA M. CARUANA
ity to colds.

Let the sun shine in Exposure to
sunlight helps regulate your circadian
rhythms, which helps you fall asleep
at night, which helps you stay healthy.
(Bonus: Sunshine on our skin is an
important ingredient for creating

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om

T R AV E L how green
is your
at one with the
CHRISTMAS
mountain TREE?

As skiers and snowboarders become increasingly interested in overall Honor the holiday
well-being, a growing number of ski resorts are offering yoga to meet guest season by planting a
tree—not chopping
demand. Experience the flow and snow for yourself this winter. one down.

ALTA, UTAH The slope-side Alta Lodge is teaches an on-snow class called Mindful Move- About 24.5 million Christmas CULTURA/ALAN GRAF/GETTY IMAGES; FANCY PHOTOGRAPHY/VEER
offering an early spring clinic ($2,091, March 2 ment SnowMotion ($249) that integrates the trees were purchased in the
to 6) for backcountry skiers and boarders, which mind-body connection of yoga with skiing and United States in 2012. To keep
includes twice-daily yoga classes that focus on snowboarding. stratton.com up with demand, Christmas
proper alignment for ski touring and downhill tree farmers plant approx-
skiing. The package includes all meals and ski SQUAW VALLEY, CALIFORNIA Yoga for Skiers imately 30 to 40 million seed-
guiding. utahmountainadventures.com and Snowboarders is a four-day workshop lings in North America every
($350, Feb. 13 to 16) offered by the new Wan- year, with about 340 million
BANFF, ALBERTA The Sunshine Village Ski derlust Yoga Squaw Valley that includes morn- Christmas trees growing on
and Snowboard Resort’s Rejuvenation in the ing and evening practice plus two days of skiing US farms at any one time. Typi-
Rockies weekend program ($653) offers twice- or riding. And the one-day Social, Ride, and cally six to eight years old
daily hatha yoga sessions. And you’ll stay in an Relax event for women snowboarders ($125, when felled, these trees—firs,
on-mountain, eco-boutique hotel, ski or snow- March 8) is sponsored by Burton Snowboards pines, spruces, cypresses,
board at Sunshine Village Ski and Snowboard and includes demo gear plus mini spa treat- and cedars—absorb millions of
Resort, and eat gourmet organic meals. The ments. squaw.wanderlustyoga.com tons of carbon dioxide from
retreats include asana, pranayama, and medi- the atmosphere in their short
tation practices to restore balance to the body VAIL, COLORADO The Vitality Center at the lifespans. But these stands of
and mind. skibanff.com Vail Mountain Lodge offers a variety of well- trees are often inundated with
ness classes, as well as Ayurvedic consulting, herbicides and insecticides.
STRATTON, VERMONT The Living Room, the massage therapy, and spa treatments. Their
resort’s yoga studio that opened last winter therapeutic “lunar flow” yoga class ($35, which One great alternative is to
at the remodeled Black Bear Lodge, offers re- includes use of all gym facilities) incorporates purchase a live, balled tree
storative, flow, and power yoga classes. Studio asanas that open hips and hamstrings. from a local nursery and plant
manager and ski instructor Jo Kirsch also vailvitalitycenter.com C I N DY H I R S C H F E L D it after the Yuletide ends. Your
tree will enhance wildlife habi-
26 YOGAJOURNAL.COM tat and absorb carbon dioxide
for many decades to come.
City dwellers, or those with-
out yards, can consider donat-
ing live trees to public parks
or friends with more space.
SARAH TERRY-COBO

DECEMBER 2013



om

IN SCHOOL

HIGHER
EDUCATION

Maryland University of Integrative
Health launches the nation’s first
graduate program in yoga therapy.

The 27 students in Maryland University of Inte-

grative Health’s brand-new master of science

program in yoga therapy come from a variety of

different practices and professions but have

one thing in common: the desire to acquire a com-

prehensive and evidence-based approach to yoga

therapy and bring it into medical settings, yoga stu-

dios, and private practice.

“We’ve got a very powerful cohort of entering

students,” says program director Mary Lauttamus,

an Integrative Yoga Therapist, who has been in

practice for five years. “Some have been teaching

asana for 20 years and others have more than 500

hours of yoga therapy training and have worked in

fields like trauma and depression.”

The goal of the two-year (six-trimester) weekend

program is to offer students an education that is at

once science based and philosophically grounded. Students Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, and other classical texts to develop
a thorough understanding of the history of yoga and how it
take classes in such topics as biomedicine, the anatomy informs yoga therapy today.

of movement, physiology and pathophysiology of the vital Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD, an assistant professor of medi-
cine at Harvard Medical School and member of the Interna-
organs, and mental health and mind-body science, with an tional Association of Yoga Therapists, underscores the
relevance of such a program in healthcare today.
emphasis on learning to think critically and take part in medi-
“It’s a great step in a positive direction to formalize the
cal dialogue. “We want our students to be able to walk into a training in this way, and especially to provide these yoga in-
structors, who are already well experienced in yoga instruction,
situation with, say, a with comprehensive clinical training, including important
information on the symptoms and treatment for a variety of
“I think our graduates will create rheumatologist, and be disease states.” ALICE G. WALTON

new trajectories, developing new able to speak the termi-

research protocols. Some will nology and understand

take their work into traditional the physiology,” says

healthcare settings. It’s a very Lauttamus. Students

exciting time.” MARY LAUTTAMUS also read the Yoga

REBIRTH The ne plus ultra of FROM TOP: SARAH WILKINS; QUENTIN VENNIE
eco-friendly yoga mats
28 YOGAJOURNAL.COM
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despite being made from recycled tires. And at
eight pounds, it’s as stable as a (plug-in hybrid)
Cadillac. The company donates 10 percent of net
profits to The Minded Institute, Yoga for Hope,
and Yoga Gives Back. $145; kharmakhare.com

DECEMBER 2013

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30 YOGAJOURNAL.COM

Spreading the
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one person at a time

Many Paths, One Yoga Alliance
yogaalliance.org

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eating wisely

by Lauren Ladoceour

shelf life This year saw a new

stack of yoga-friendly cookbooks with
recipes for healthy living and eating.

TOP FIRST, A MEMORY: Like most kids, Throughout December, she’d spend
the winter holidays were my favorite. long weekends with me, making
cookbooks Not because of the decorations, the Betty Crocker’s 1970s cinnamon rolls:
celebrating, or the sweets—although sugary, soft, light, and made from
OF THE YEAR those certainly helped. No, it was the scratch. It was our thing—over which
hours I spent with my mother por- we connected and grew close. But
EDITOR’S PICKS ing over sauce-splattered cookbook this year, my mother announced with
pages in her cheery yellow kitchen. renewed interest in nutrition and

PHOTOGRAPHY AND FOOD STYLNG: ERIC WOLFINGER

eating wisely

personal health, that she would not be the mainstream—like Gwyneth Paltrow’s but they all have clear instructions for the
eating the cinnamon rolls herself. Instead It’s All Good, which spent several weeks home cook. Most important, the recipes
they’ll be going straight to neighbors and on the New York Times bestseller list. are absolutely delicious and are well worth
family members who will be expecting making with someone you want to con-
them to be delivered, as usual, with a fes- With eager home cooks keen on nect with, over the holiday season and for
tive bow on top. lighter, more sustainable fare to inspire years to come.
easy weeknight dinners and special occa-
It seems that in the past year, my baby sions alike, restaurant chefs and authors The French Market Cookbook
boomer matriarch has traded in her time- are boldly embracing fabulous morning
honored cookbooks, heavy on condensed juice concoctions, food traditions and Clotilde Dusoulier | Clarkson Potter
soup bases and light on fresh vegetables, spices from around the world, and heir-
for new titles that outright glorify season- loom grains and produce. But what strikes Light, healthy French food
ality and balanced eating. Looking at her me most while flipping through this year’s might sound like a culinary
cookbook shelf today, I see pushed to the pages of big, beautiful food (some pictures unicorn, but Parisian Clo-
front covers that promise vegan family tempting enough to lick) is how many of tilde Dusoulier says it’s hap-
gatherings, global flavors, and dining with these cookbook authors practice yoga. pening, thanks to a new class
good environmental conscience. And it of French chefs who dig their own gardens
seems hers is not the only kitchen library Yoga has a way of influencing how prac- and cook from seed to table. “This way of
to receive a makeover. titioners look at their food choices in terms eating is not a limitation but rather a
of health, energy, and sustainability. And broadening of our food horizon,” writes
As a food editor, I receive stacks of now chefs and recipe writers are sharing Dusoulier, a flexitarian who explores the
cookbooks in the mail over the course of their new, inspired food choices through romance between gastronomy and sea-
a year. In 2013, there was a bevy of releases their cookbooks. sonal produce.
that celebrate healthy eating. Once You’d expect Dusoulier to pile on the
tagged as “crunchy” or “granola with a The following are 10 of our favorite fromage in her meatless recipes, but
sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top,” cookbook titles of 2013, written by yoga instead she abstains. Carrots are spiced
cookbooks packed with recipes that are practitioners with an eye to eating wisely, with star anise and vanilla, and then
good for you are now being adopted by health, nutrition, and sometimes prac- puréed with almond milk. Portobello
tice. They’re listed in no particular order,

38 YOGAJOURNAL.COM DECEMBER 2013

LIVE OUT LOUD
EVERYDAY

ACTIVEWEAR INSPIRED BY WELL-BEING