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The controversial plow pose during a yoga program in India By Sonja Bjelland

The yoga world seemed stuck upside down recently with a headline declaring “How yoga can wreck your body.”

The New York Times Magazine piece excerpted from a book by the paper’s science writer William J. Broad called “The Science of Yoga: The Myths and the Rewards.”

Fellow NYT columnist Maureen Dowd wrote the only piece I’ve seen that looked at the book on a whole and showed some of the contradictory and surprising findings that were not included in the excerpt.

The section included in the magazine carried some incredible examples of yoga-related injuries and started what any publication hopes for – buzz.

So much so, that other publications did roundups of the best responses to the NYT piece and it devoted an opinion section to allow six people from the yoga world to respond. Comments on the article were stopped at 700.

What was missing in those responses was addressing what the article was about – do we need to look at what we’re doing in yoga?

The village elders class at the BaliSpirit Festival By Sonja Bjelland

Instead, the responders blamed the student for not being mindful enough in practice and letting our egos run away. But it’s more complicated than that. If we want to admit it or not, bad positions and bad instruction can cause problems.

When I started this site, my first retreat was with Judith Hansen-Lasater. I still remember her saying how many fellow yoga instructors needed hip replacements in part because people tried to stack their hips in triangle pose. She encouraged us to question teachers who taught that and I’ve done that even in the last few months. After all, one of the tenets of yoga is to be “non-harming.”

Reality is the original poses were done by men and ones who sat cross-legged all day at that. Western, female bodies are different and the alignment should be modified accordingly.

I hope instead of just being defensive and keeping everything the same that this encourages the yoga community to think about anatomy and alignment.

This is all the more crucial when you’re traveling for yoga.

In a regular class you can walk away and never return. But if you’re at a weekend or weeklong yoga retreat, you’re stuck.

That’s why I had to learn to watch myself closely when I studied yoga in India. Tradition trumped modern science and some poses did not make my body happy. I found out how important it was to know if the teacher understood the human body as well as how much I had to hold back my ego while also challenging myself.

The Taj Mahal at sunrise By Sonja Bjelland

The reaction in India has been different than in the U.S. and blames it on the Western commercialization of yoga and people only focusing on the physical part of yoga, not the breathing and meditation aspects. But this isn’t a conversation that only needs to happen in the U.S.

I found Indian yoga far from safe. At 6 a.m. we were expected to roll back and forth from a seated forward bend back to plow pose and up again. This was not a slow moving thoughtful movement, but rushed.

This also came up when I attended the BaliSpirit Festival. It was hot and some classes were over my head. It’s in these elements that yes, the ego is powerful. You want to do as well as the rest of the class, especially when a teacher calls people out for being a beginner in her class – which was listed as all levels.

So no, yoga is not exempt from competition and the ego does lead to our injuries. In fact, they used to have yoga demonstrations in India where the boys studying would display their feats of strength and flexibility.

But I prefer to keep my eyes closed and listen to my body so I don’t hurt myself.

Good morning Breckenridge

With my belly on my mat, my hands grabbed my ankles and I looked up to a view of the Breckenridge slopes.

Toasty warm in the class at Meta Yoga Studios one block off Breckenridge’s main drag, I was glad to sweat a little. The prior night’s temps had hit 0 F.

Meta is one of the only designated yoga studios in town and was the best class to fit in my schedule. Summit Hot Yoga also has a variety of classes but I would have needed a place to clean up afterward. Meta wasn’t dripping-sweat level, at least for me, and has changing rooms.

Anusara trained teacher, Elizabeth, guided the full but not crowded class through a series of poses to a playlist that ranged from Jack Johnson to Kings of Leon.

Parade participants at Breckenridge's Ullr Festival By Sonja Bjelland

The Anusara style of yoga comes from John Friend who has a history in physical therapy. The focus on alignment comes through in the way a teacher in this style explains each posture giving care to detail how to protect the back and adjust leg muscles.

Attendees in the class ranged in levels but was listed Anusara-inspired 1/2. With between four and seven classes a day, Meta Yoga Studio has tons of variety for locals and visitors.

A post-slopes class loosens up those hips and those shoulders tense from the cold. Specialty classes include a men’s class, one with a DJ and après ski yoga.

All blissed out, I headed next door to Cuppa Joe on Elizabeth’s recommendation. The sweet potato burrito replenished all those lost calories with black beans, eggs, pepper jack, spinach, avocado and the all important Colorado green chili.

Well of course with a chai latte on the side.

Belly full and myself relaxed it was time to see the town and take in the 49th Annual Ullr Fest, celebrating the Norse god of winter.

Warrior II pose by Susan Gill

I know we’re only 10 days in but I had not realized the difficulty of the intention I chose.

Last year, “opportunity” was easier. I took actions to create opportunities – Applied for things, made phone calls, sent emails.

“Possibility” is somewhat more passive. It requires shifting my perspective and I’ve already had to bring myself back it more than once. And it’s only Jan. 10!

I feel like putting a giant poster on my wall stating “possibilities, not problems.” I knew this was going to be a tough one when I started out. This economy and my current situation is not one calling for rose-colored glasses. And that’s not my goal. It’s seeing new ways to tackle the problems I already have because they’re not going to disappear.

To this end, I decided to take Yoga Journal’s 21-day yoga challenge.

In true me fashion, I’m starting it a day late. But I’ll do it one day longer to make up for it.

It’s sort of a yoga retreat at home. After my travels in 2010 and 2011, I kept up an at home yoga practice. But that has waned and this is a little taste of bringing that back. Sort of like how I bought spices in Asia and now cook with them to rekindle those memories.

To help focus my mindset, it’ll be good to have something pushing me to my mat everyday. Especially because Santa brought me an awesome new mat.

Cobra pose By Susan Gill

I never thought I would want yoga to be foisted on me. You know, these dreams that you’re body will tell you when to practice and you’ll just want to.

Yes, that’s true. But then there’s the slacker devil on my shoulder. Or maybe it’s the worker devil sitting there saying “You don’t have time for that today.”

In reality, it’s like writing. If I only wrote when I felt I was ready I’d never meet a deadline. All the greats have a writing schedule. You don’t wait for inspiration to hit, you cultivate it.

So I’m taking the same aim at my yoga practice and hoping that translates into not only a more lasting practice but also a daily reminder of my 2012 intention.

Life in Vietnam's Mekong Delta By Sonja Bjelland

Today’s horoscope said it would be good for me to plan travel. But where should I go?

My 2011 wanderings took me to Germany, France, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, (Layover in China), California, Illinois, Colorado and Canada, California again and Illinois again. Whew!

No, I’m not going to be quite that ambitious for 2012. Heck, I don’t even have a plane ticket purchased or method of paying for one figured out yet.

While my current housing in Colorado opens up many yoga possibilities, I also keep reading about great opportunities south of the border. So in a perfect world with a growing bank account, here are a few places I’d hit up in 2012. Where will you be heading to? Be sure to let me know, I might have found some yoga there.

1. Aspen, Co. – Every summer there are a variety of outdoor yoga options and I’m hoping to tackle at least one of them this coming summer. The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies had a few classes last summer that I’m hoping they continue this summer. One included a hike with a naturalist mixed in with yoga.

2. Wanderlust Colorado  – The popular yoga festival that already has events in California and Vermont will be adding a Colorado venue from July 5-8 at Copper Mountain this year. I’ve wanted to go since these started but haven’t lived as close to one as I do now. Tickets go on sale Jan. 24 so I’m hoping they don’t sell out before I can raise the money to go.

3. Arches or Zion national parks, Utah – My love of places such as Death Valley and Joshua Tree have me itching to check out the scenery in southern Utah. Ideally, this would entail meeting my SoCal peeps for a camping outing. But they would then have to indulge my photographic side that makes me a pretty slow hiker. And yes, I’ll be tracking down yoga there.

4. Costa Rica – Pretty sure I could spend several months searching out yoga retreats and vacation spots in Costa Rica. The country’s focus on eco-friendly and sustainable tourism has been met with a flood of yoga destinations. Fortunately there’s a website, CostaRicaYoga.org, to help narrow down the choices.

5. Montana’s Feathered Pipe Ranch – This place has captured my interest for a long time. I’m pretty sure any retreat I could go to there would be worth it. The Wisdom to Renew… Living in Luminosity retreat caught my eye because it mixes photography and yoga. That’s pretty much my version of bliss right there.

6. Yak and Yoga in Illinois – Somehow the timing just didn’t work out for me last summer to do the kayaking and yoga trip done by Fever River Outfitters based in Galena, Ill. Hopefully this next summer I can fix that.

Tenthouses at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort By Sonja Bjelland

When Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” played while Dustin Hoffman’s character stared at a fish tank, it was pensive and moody.

No fish or guitars accompanied Pico Iyer’s piece in the New York Times this last week titled the “Joy of Quiet.” But it did show how quickly our culture has turned from silence being a part of life to avoid to one being sought.

More and more people will pay a premium for a taste of what they don’t have – simplicity. Vacations to far-off destinations and “glamping” have become more popular. I think of the commercial where this group of guys is trying to find somewhere that doesn’t have cell reception. We always want what we can’t have and I can’t deny being in this group. Death Valley National Park is one of my favorite places on the planet. The lack of sounds is what stands out.

Sand dunes at Death Valley National Park By Sonja Bjelland

That behavioral shift has also sent more than 16 million Americans into the arms of yoga. Mixing what gives us a weekly or daily break with a remote location is what some studies would suggest Americans are craving right now. And hopefully they still will be when they have the money to pay for such trips.

This wanting a life without email and texting and Facebook and Twitter is not a bad thing. Technology has swarmed into our lives at a rate faster than our minds can keep up.

Considering more than 50 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people have access to a cell phone, it’s hard to go anywhere without access these days.

But now we also have a choice. We know we’re overwhelmed and can head out on a yoga retreat to a place that may well have a signal blocker just to provide that freedom for visitors.

Plaque at a park in Colorado Springs, Co.

Now that you’ve set your 2012 intention, what are you going to do to make it happen?

Or what are you going to stop doing?

The website MarcandAngel.com recently struck a cord and got their 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself spread all over Facebook.

If you picked joy as your intention, maybe you need to rid yourself of a few friends who deplete, not complete, you. And then think about what you want to bring into your life to add joy.

Could you join a MeetUp.com group and find some new friends or try a new activity?

Maybe head to a yoga class you don’t normally do and learn something.

There’s enough variety in the world of yoga retreats that you can likely find one to fit any type of intention. I’ve picked out four potential intentions and a few corresponding yoga retreats. Let me know what you’ve picked and how you’re planning to make that happen.

• Creativity: La Huerta Ganga in Spain has multi-day workshops in a variety of creative arts as well as some in yoga. Painting, creative writing, music, gardening and cooking it’s hard to choose.
• Discovery: If you’re thinking self-discovery, 10 days in silence does wonders. These are popular across the world and Agama Yoga in Thailand is holding several this year. For more general discovery of something new, the Anamaya Resort in Costa Rica has a retreat that mixes aerial acrobatics and yoga. Now that’s seriously Cirque du Soleil.
• Trust: Traveling for any reason can build trust in your self but freediving takes that to a new, well, depth. Gili Yoga off the coast of Bali is holding three in 2012. If that trust needs to be with someone else, Acro-Yoga forces you to build a bond and communication with someone else or you might just fall down.
• Compassion: The Xinalani Retreat in Mexico is holding a special teacher training for yoga with children that includes working with local children and helping a local school project.

Welcoming 2011 with fireworks on the streets of Berlin, Germany By Sonja Bjelland

Heading into these waning days of 2011 I’ve been thinking about a new intention for 2012.

Last year I came up with this idea after resolutions left me unfulfilled. Well, or just not done. As much as I love lists, I think I accomplished more with my new method.

Often a teacher will set an intention at the beginning of a yoga class or encourage you to.

Popular choices include gratitude, compassion and joy.

Those make equally good yearly intentions. But last year I needed a different focus and set my intention to be opportunity.

There’s a quote sitting on the desk I’m working at for the time being, “Opportunity never arrives, it’s here.”

This intention changed my way of thinking as I kept a look out for opportunities. Keeping it to one word made it simple. New ideas percolated and I leapt when a chance presented itself.

It pushed me so when I saw something that was a good story idea I emailed an editor and on occasion got the job. In this last year that has landed me on NYTimes.com and again in Sailing magazine.

I plan to keep that spirit and add on to it with my 2012 intention: possibility.

Keeping warm with sparklers in Berlin By Sonja Bjelland

Society could pretty much be divided among the people who see problems and those who see possibilities. Many of us fall somewhere in between the two extremes. My Virgo sensibilities put me more on the seeing problems end than seeing possibilities.

But these days I’m trying to change that. Seeing possibilities creates opportunity and we’ll watch where 2012 takes me.

Each year, it’s just one step.

But without setting an intention, you don’t have your shoes on.

So what will yours be?

Feel free to share and keep the discussion going.

Lighted tree near Heidelberg, Germany By Sonja Bjelland

After I post this I was hoping to close my laptop.

All I want for Christmas is to be present with my family.

Rarely since I started adulthood have I been able to focus on my family during the holidays. First it was internship applications then job applications and now phone calls and emails from editors.

I had hoped to get so much done before coming home that I wouldn’t have a plate full of work this season. But that’s not how it’s turning out.

These jobs equal money and while I know that’s making some of you cringe you don’t know just how little I’ve made this year.

Then there’s being present with all the family moments. Not constantly thinking about the next thing to bake or buy, but enjoying the baking and the buying. That’s easier to do when I’m not worried about checking my email and having my cell phone nearby.

Cookie success

I’ve tried to take a few yoga breaks here and there to reset myself. When I need to switch gears from writing to listening, I can do a few downward dogs. If my mind just won’t quiet, I know a short headstand or handstand will reorganize everything in my body.

It’d be great to maintain that constant “yogi” state. But yoga is a tool for helping us live in the real world. It’s good to get a tune up every now and then.

I once had a teacher joke that the real test of being enlightened is spending a week with your in-laws. It’s true being around family is when we need to pull out all our yogi tools. Those tips on being non-judgmental, opening our hearts, etc. that were discussed in far away terms at a yoga retreat this year, now is the time to use that wisdom.

So in these next few days take a child’s pose when you need to. Maybe even find some quiet room to do a headstand. Do NOT start doing downward dogs with your butt in front of fellow travelers at the airport. Yes, I’ve heard complaints about my fellow yogis doing this. There are lots of other poses to choose from.

Snowy sunset near Heidelberg, German by Sonja Bjelland

By Shirin Parsavand

First things first: I didn’t finish the 108. Not even close. I kept moving for most of the class, but toward the end I wasn’t even attempting the Chaturanga or cobra poses. (For anyone who doesn’t practice yoga, that means I stopped doing anything resembling a pushup.)

I didn’t mind though. I wasn’t aiming for perfection on Sunday, or even seeking to be challenged. I went to the class at a nearby studio to stretch my creaky body and to learn about the practice of 108 sun salutations to greet the solstice.

As this blog’s owner, Sonja Bjelland, explained in June, yoga studios often make an event of performing 108 sun salutations to mark the summer and winter solstices. The number 108 is considered significant in Eastern religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.

To me it seemed counterintuitive to practice yoga vigorously at the start of winter, a season when some yoga instructors say we can benefit from a more calming practice. But any event that honors the change of seasons interests me, because it seems to belong to an ancient time. Christmas may have ties to the solstice, but whether it is celebrated as a religious or secular holiday, the seasonal change itself is seldom the focus in our modern times.

Some people do still observe the winter solstice with traditions handed down through the ages, though. Among them are Iranians and members of the Zoroastrian religion, with roots in ancient Persia, who celebrate Shab-e Yalda on the eve of the solstice.

Winter moon in Illinois by Sonja Bjelland

On that night, friends and family members sit around the korsi, a low table covered in blankets with coals or a heater underneath. They stay up past midnight, telling stories, reciting poetry and eating mixed nuts, pomegranates and watermelon.

Though I’m half-Persian, I’ve never celebrated Shab-e Yalda. But I like the idea of embracing a cold season by gathering where it’s warm and enjoying the last of the summer’s bounty. And by remembering that while winter is just beginning, the nights are about to become a little shorter.

That brings me back to Sunday’s solstice yoga class. Four instructors each led 27 sets of sun salutations, with variations from one set to the next. The room was dimly lit at the start, but after each set, an instructor lit a candle and brightened the lights to mimic the coming of the sun. We moved quickly, but there were restful pauses and new poses to learn. I was surprised at how quickly the two hours went past.

Afterward, I drove off and saw the sun poking out from the clouds and illuminating the yellow leaves on trees along a nearby bike path. I stopped for a short walk to enjoy the midday warmth and watch my long shadow as I moved along the path.

Maybe this year I will stay up until the wee hours of Thursday morning telling stories for Yalda. More likely, I will go to sleep early Wednesday and greet the next day’s sun with a few more sun salutations. Either way, I will remember to notice the subtle changes that winter brings to Southern California, and to enjoy the sun when I can.

Varkala, India By Sonja Bjelland

This last weekend I had the chance to catch up with some old friends.

One reminded me of all the blissed-out wisdom I used to impart from my perch in India. I could take a simple emailed question and turn it into ponderous thoughts on happiness and attachments.

Now I see why people go back to India every year. It’s like a filling station and I need to return to the well.

It’s been more than a year since I left India and eight months since I returned to the States. These past few weeks have been particularly stressful in an American way ­– It’s work stress. Not my traveling stress of making sure I get a train figured out or roll-with-it and it’ll be over soon kind of stress of a chicken bus ride.

Musical service known as aarti in Rishikesh, India By Sonja Bjelland

This is a strong undercurrent of financial worries topped with a dose of deadline pressure wreaking havoc on my body.

I’ve had stories to file to newspapers and magazines and following up with other publications I’m still hoping will pay me. Then I get to see if all this work actually adds up to paying the bills.

It’s a fundamental balance between the opposing beliefs that the world will take you and that you will take on the world. I try to think it’s somewhere in between.

My current weekly yoga classes and attempts at daily meditation and yoga aren’t enough to restore the line of thinking India gave me. Far away from bills and my professional ego, I just sat and wrote.

But we aren’t all meant to escape our daily lives and become hermits even if it’s helpful for a little while. Yoga is about lessons that we bring to this crazy world. It’s easy to beat ourselves up for not following them, human as we are.

Tonight I needed to attend a yoga class for a story assignment. I didn’t even want to go and kept thinking about how I needed to be writing about yoga instead of doing it. Of course I felt better after class, but the writing was waiting for me when I got home.

So how do you retain a kernel of that experience when you leave a yoga retreat or vacation?  Coming back to this space to write helps. It breaks the cycle of whatever else I’m on deadline for and allows/forces me to think about yoga. But I’m looking for more if you’ve got some ideas.

I’d like to think if the same simple questions crossed my email now I’d still hand out some wisdom with a smaller dose of the cynicism and satire that remain part of my personality. But my brain has shifted the longer I’m back in the States. I’m working faster, I’m moving faster. People see me as a bit high strung, if only they’d met me before.