Category: Yoga

Officials target Bikram Choudhury’s studio. The magnate accuses the city of harassing him. Over the last 20 years, controversial Los Angeles yoga magnate Bikram Choudhury has turned his signature brand of “hot” yoga into a worldwide, multimillion-dollar industry. But it was Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo who turned up the heat Thursday, charging the popular yogi with 10 criminal safety violations at his La Cienega Boulevard studio. Delgadillo said Choudhury repeatedly flouted notices from the city’s fire and building and safety departments that his converted warehouse studio had insufficient fire exits for the number of its students. Inspectors in

As Susan Bordenkircher sees it, Christians for too long have kept yoga on the mat. In her new book, “Yoga for Christians,” the certified group fitness instructor and a devout Methodist argues Christians should change their posture and stretch their concept of worship to embrace yoga. Long controversial in some Christian circles, yoga is fast gaining adherents through the new wave of “Christian yoga” across the nation. “What we are attempting to do with a Christ-centered practice is fill the heart and mind with God, becoming ‘single-minded’ as Scripture calls it,” Bordenkircher says. “With our focus off ourselves and on

This may not be music to Swami Ramdev’s ears. But top physicians of the country believe yoga cannot be a substitute to medical or surgical interventions. This may not be music to Swami Ramdev’s ears. But top physicians of the country believe yoga cannot be a substitute to medical or surgical interventions. “Yoga helps prevent stress-induced cardiac problem. It relaxes your mind and body muscles and acts directly on your heart, but yogic exercise cannot be the sole modality for treating the disease,” opined noted cardiologist Dr PC Maoria. He was speaking on the sidelines of the 61st conference of

Inside the makeshift yoga studio, a large cross hung on the wall. As the parishioners at New Community Church in Northwest Washington stretched their arms above their heads into the mountain pose, the instructor reminded them, “Faith moves mountains.” When they joined hands to chant, they did not say, “Om,” the yoga mantra. It was “Sha-LOM.” The latest incarnation of yoga, a discipline that began 5,000 years ago as a set of spiritual exercises with origins in Hinduism, is for devout Christians and Jews. In a small but growing practice, churches and synagogues are offering yoga as a tool for

Yoga is undergoing something of a boom in Japan at the moment, but contorted business practices by some of the more twisted elements of society are making the ancient art a painful practice, according to Shukan Bunshun (9/22). New yoga studios are popping up all over the capital and it’s no longer rare to see women carrying their mats as they scamper around the streets of trendier Tokyo districts like Shibuya, Aoyama and Daikanyama. Never slow to pick up on the latest fads, Japanese now into yoga have created such incredible demand that there’re not enough teachers to sate their

With yoga becoming increasingly popular in China, a yoga exhibition planned here will feature Indian trainers. The ‘2005 China International Yoga Show and Conference’ to be held in Beijing from October 21-23, will provide the Chinese people an opportunity to learn about yoga and healthy living, director of the exposition, Brian Zhang said. “Preparations are going on smoothly and we are getting good response from yoga groups from many countries, including India,” Brian said. The show has the backing of the Indian Embassy in China. “Yoga is now popular in China and more and more Chinese youngsters want to practice

A former American practitioner of yoga has perhaps for the first time cast the fitness regime in a narrow Hindu religious context and offered a “Christian alternative”. “From experience I can say that yoga is a dangerous practice for the Christian and leads seekers away from god rather than to him. You may say, ‘Well, I’m not doing any of the meditation stuff. I’m just following the exercises.’ It is impossible, however, to separate the subtleties of yoga, the technique from yoga the religion. I know because I taught and practised hatha yoga for years,” Laurette Willis. Yoga Most westerners