's kick ass first real life human day of the New Year: 5.5 miles ran, kitchen, dining, and bathroom cleaned. In that order. Then dancin' & laughing with the boys (no drankin')! I'm in love with this day.

A very cool guy who makes everyone laugh. Once you meet him, you will want to be his friend right away. He is super cute and very good-looking. He has amazing taste in music, clothes, food, everything. Every girl secretly wishes that he could be her boyfriend and everyone knows he likes commitment (and just broke up with his gf). However strange and weird he may be, he's perfect. In his own little way, he is perfect.

I’ve been asked by my students if yoga is a religion, and I’m hard pressed to answer. If religion is concerned with the cause and nature of the universe, then yes, I guess yoga is a religion. But, then, so too is string theory. It seems everyone wants a piece of the yoga pie, and folks are indignant if they’re left with crumbs. So, to whom does yoga belong?

The Washington Post Online has a read-worthy article from Aseem Shukla on the “Theft of Yoga”:

“Yoga is identified today only with Hatha Yoga, the aspect of yoga focused on postures and breathing techniques. But this is only one part of the practice of Raja Yoga that is actually an eightfold path designed to lead the practitioner to moksha, or salvation. Indeed, yogis believe that to focus on the physicality of yoga without the spirituality is utterly rudimentary and deficient. Sure, practicing postures alone with a focus on breathing techniques will quiet the mind, tone the body, increase flexibility–even help children with Attention Deficit Disorder–but will miss the mark on holistic healing and wellness.”

Mr. Shukla sits on the Hindu American Foundation’s board, and they released a position paper decrying the “theft” of yoga from Hindu culture. If you ask me, it sounds like a lot of sour grapes. Don’t we want everyone to have access to the divine? After all: Namaste means “the divine in me recognizes the divine in you.”

If you were to ask the American Yoga Association about all of this business, they’d tell you that yoga predates Hinduism, with tales of stone carvings with people in asana:

No one knows exactly when Yoga began, but it certainly predates written history. Stone carvings depicting figures in Yoga positions have been found in archeological sites in the Indus Valley dating back 5,000 years or more. There is a common misconception that Yoga is rooted in Hinduism; on the contrary, Hinduism’s religious structures evolved much later and incorporated some of the practices of Yoga.

Why are we being so grabby for a piece of the yoga-as-religion pie? Why does a study of the self with the aim of simply being the very best version of ourselves we can be need to be owned by any one world religion? I mean, even some Torah, Quran, and Catholic inspired yoga is popping up:

The idea of combining yoga and the rosary came to him in late 2002 while he was working on an Advent calendar. One window said “Do Contemplation.” Another said, “Pray the Rosary.”

“It happened in prayer,” he says. “Sometimes in contemplative prayer I would just try to rest in the presence of God.”

Conventional Catholic breathing and praying traditions, such as saying “in God” while inhaling and then “out me” while exhaling, inspired Galentino. The idea of incorporating Hail Mary occurred to him almost by accident.

“I found myself combining the two,” he recalls, “contemplative prayer with the rosary.”

The eights limbs of yoga are all about finding truth, the self, and our relationship with universal oneness.

I’m not a catholic, a hindu, a secularist, nor a heathen. Neither am I christian, pagan, nor orthodox anything. I’m just a yogi.

I’m a firm believer in the transformative powers of yoga, and the powerful effects of adhering to the system of raja yoga. Not lying, being disciplined, and not holding on to more than you need: these are the principals to which I adhere, and these are the principals of yoga.

Heads up Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Bad Mamajamas of all colors and ilks: I love you. We can share yoga.

Om!

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame. ~Henry David Thoreau

I’ve been burning a dark, cold flame.

This week, I spoke to my classes about one of the different kinds of yoga that exist outside of the physical, specifically touching on the yoga of the heart: Bhakti yoga. While I worked on cracking open my student’s heart center (figuratively and litereally), a friend allowed obesity to end his life, a car came purposteriously close to endangering mine, and I couldn’t deadlift as much as I would have liked.

My inner monologue had begun to feel like crabs in a pot, only able to take so much of the flame before it came to a shrill scream. I nearly lost it on a couple who cut in front of me in line at Whole Foods with 18 items in the express lane.

Erica tells me I have white people problems.

She’s right, and it makes me laugh when I remove myself from my own malarkey. As I find myself noting the steam coming from the cracks in my exterior enamel, I’m reminded to return to my breath.

I didn’t flip out on the couple. Barely.

The next time you find yourself nearly going over the edge, as I nearly did, I would encourage you to disconnect from the anger by observing your breath. Allow your focus to shift from an outside perspective to an inner one. The outer circumstances can’t always provide you with the context required to make an adequate, informed judgement call on whats happening; however, a look at your inner fire can access why you are responding in whatever a manner it is you’re responding.

I find that compassion, sometimes called karuna, is harder when you’re not as happy with your innerworld as you might like to be. Was I really mad at the couple, or upset at Big Rob’s death?

You don’t have to like the person pissing you off, thats not what I’m implying, but it might be a good call to ask what good your inner anger is doing you. Or, equally valid, what its doing for those that have to deal with you, Oh, and for those that do love you.

The more love we’re able to give the more we’re capable of receiving. Compassion goes a long way to helping love those that we might not actually like, as it reminds us that we are all made of the same stuff. We’re all bound by one self– one huge love.

Bring awareness to all of your actions, and love openly.

Watch what happens.

I love you.

is madly in love with Jake Shears.

Welcome home my love.

sweat out some serious somethings today! Thanks so much, Peg Mulqueen for giving Kelly Ferraro and I such a good date night.

wants someone to make him a shirt that says "Potential New Boyfriend" on it. And a dude who gets the song reference (and maybe a floor to toss said shirt upon).