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Namaste! Welcome to our December Edition of Conference Connection.
What do 1970, Austin, TX and arthritis have in common? Read below to learn how these three things were the foundation for
Judith Lasater's yoga practice.
Also this month, Dayna Macy literally and figuratively shares self kindness in her exclusive story Self-kindness and Spicy Ginger-Pear Cake.
Finally, with the holidays right around the corner we'd like to share with you what we're grateful for this season.
The Yoga Journal Conference Team's Top 10 Gratitude List:
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10. Savasana... enough said.
9. Yoga pants. They're just SO comfy!
8. The opportunity to practice yoga daily in our San Francisco office.
7. The positive and constructive feedback we receive through our surveys after each conference.
6. Our passionate scholarship recipients who teach yoga to underserved populations.
5. The local yoga communities in each of our conference cities.
4. Our generous conference sponsors without whom these events wouldn't be possible.
3. Our dedicated volunteers who keep everything running smoothly on site.
2. Our talented presenters, some of whom have supported the conferences for more than a decade.
1. All of you, our wonderful attendees, who travel from near and far to spend this time with us.
Wishing you a Healthy and Happy Holiday Season,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Senior Conference Manager
Heidi Hill, Conference Marketing Associate
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
Sara Mesing, Conference Marketing Coordinator
2008 Boston Conference
Sheraton Boston
May 16 – 19, 2008
Registration is now open for the Boston Conference!
Take a class with Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Patricia Walden or Rodney Yee. Engage in panel discussions between master yogis. Earn Continuing Education credits for yoga instructors. Bring your kids to family yoga. Learn how to manage a studio in the Business of Yoga Intensive. Rock out during the benefit concert with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. Cruise the Yoga Marketplace for the latest yoga products, stylish yoga wear, CDs, dvds, books and more.
Opening the Conference this year, designer Donna Karan, will give a keynote address on how she became an advocate for well-being through her Urban Zen Initiative (www.urbanzen.org). Dr. Dean Ornish will give the Saturday morning opening welcome address.
The Yoga as Medicine day will kick off with remarks by Yoga Journal’s medical editor, Timothy McCall, M.D. Dr. Bijoy Khandheria, Mayo Clinic cardiologist and lifelong yogi will discuss how to blend traditional and complementary approaches to health. Matthew Sanford, an Iyengar-style yoga teacher who is paralyzed from the chest down, will also speak on integrating a mind-body approach to health care.
Click here to register and for more information.
5th Annual San Francisco Conference
Hyatt Embarcadero
January 18-21, 2008
The San Francisco Conference is only 4 weeks away, and popular classes are selling out.
Spaces are still available for the Monday lunchtime keynote by Dr. Dean Ornish, "The Power of Yoga as a Doorway for Transformation: Personal, Genetic, & Social". Free and open to public. Pre-registration required. There is also limited space available in our Continuing Education for Teachers Program.
Also available are tickets for the solo performance by native San Franciscan, Michael Franti of Spearhead. Net proceeds benefit YouthAIDS and Power to the Peaceful. Not to be missed is Saturday night kirtan with Suzanne Sterling and Shiva Rea's Yoga Trance Dance with DJ Dragonfly. Net proceeds benefit Trees for the Future.
Click here to register and for more information.
by Dayna Macy
I've been thinking a lot about self-kindness lately. Maybe that's because the universe has been klonking me on the head with messages.
I go to an alternative M.D. for a checkup and her prescription was "BE KIND TO SELF" (literally -- she wrote this down on a prescription pad, in all capital letters). At Yoga Journal's Colorado Conference, I took a yoga class with Ana Forrest and though Ana knows I'm afraid to kick up into Handstand, with her help, I do. As I'm upside down, she says, "Never say another unkind word towards yourself again."
The Dalai Lama once commented that he was surprised at how judgmental Americans were -- both towards others and themselves. I can relate. I work with my habit of judgment daily, and I've come to believe that it's based on some misguided belief in perfectionism.
Perfectionism says, "My handstand stinks." Self-kindness says, "You go girl! Keep on kicking." Perfectionism says "Why bother playing the piano when there are so many more accomplished musicians in the world?" Self-kindness says, "I love music! I play because it brings me joy."
Having goals and aspirations are necessary. But being a perfectionist is a burden and the ultimate joy zapper, because who you are and what you do will never be good enough.
I recently commuted to work with a journalist friend. We were talking about our lives and how radical it was to simply accept ourselves for who we are right now. "I'm middle-age," I said to her. "At what point do you say I'm good enough? When I'm fifty? Eighty? When I'm dead?" That was a rhetorical question, of course. The answer is, right now.
Perfectionism can extend to many things, including food. I love to cook, and in the past, I've sometimes fallen into the trap of food as performance. This holiday, though, I think I'll try a different tack. Whatever dishes I make for the many friends and family who will pass through our doors this December, I won't strive for perfection. But I will try to add a dash of kindness -- for others and myself -- to every dish.
Spicy Ginger-Pear Cake
- 2 cups flour
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup canola oil
1-1/3 cup pear, cored, peeled and diced
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp clove
¼ tsp ground cardamon (optional)
½ cup walnuts or ½ cup millet (optional)
Preheat oven to 350.
Sift together all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whip the eggs. Add the oil and the fruit. Stir. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, being careful not to overmix.
Spoon batter into a greased 9 inch baking pan. Bake about 25 minutes.
Dayna Macy, a writer and musician who can be found at www.daynamacy.com, is the Communications Director of Yoga Journal.
Editor's Note: Judith will be at the upcoming San Francisco Conference.
Click here for more information.
Austin, Texas, yoga and 1970 do not sound like they are very connected. But that ís where and when I began studying yoga. I was a graduate student and only in my early twenties, but was suffering from arthritis. Luckily, as a benefit of my part time job at the student YM-YWCA, I was able to take for free the yoga classes offered there, and was hoping these classes would help to relieve some of my pain. The experience of my first class was life-changing, to say the least. I felt that I had found something that was a form of worship using the body instead of only worship by prayer. The morning after my first class I got up and practiced what I remembered. It has been the same every morning since that September day in 1971. I began teaching 20 classes a week a scant 10 months later. I had found my calling.
Then one day after I had been teaching for a year, I literally woke up from dream and told my husband that I wanted to become a physical therapist in order to be a better yoga teacher. On the strength of that, a few weeks later we moved to San Francisco, CA, and I attended physical therapy school and later graduate school for a PH.D in East-West Psychology, while my husband studied Energy Policy at UC Berkeley and then went to law school. Along the years we helped to start Yoga Journal, found the Iyengar Yoga Institute, and raised three children.
These days I am excited about writing books and training teachers. In production now is a book I have written on anatomy and kinesiology for
Yoga teachers which combines my love of yoga teaching and practice and my
Training in physical therapy.
To learn more about Judith, visit www.judithlasater.com.
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Marika - Save 20%
'Tis the season to be shopping!! Save 20% on Shiva Shakti when you shop
online at www.marika.com. Stock up on holiday gifts, or treat yourself
to new practice wear for the Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco.
Use promotional code: YJSF at checkout to receive a 20% discount off all
full priced merchandise. Offer expires 2/29/08.
Shop today! www.marika.com
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Simply enter the promotional
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Calling All Yogis and Yoginis!
Do you hope to grace the cover of Yoga Journal, or daydream about modeling for Master Class?
Come to our open modeling auditions on Saturday, January 19 at the San Francisco Conference and show us your skills.
Please come prepared with snapshots of the following poses: Downward-Facing Dog, Warrior I (shot in profile),
Standing Forward Bend, Full Backbend, Headstand or Shoulderstand, and a headshot.
We don't need professional photos, simple snapshots will do. We will not accept DVDs, or photos on disk or CD.
Details about where to submit your photos will be included in the onsite brochure at the conference.
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Upcoming Conferences
San Francisco 2008
Hyatt Embarcadero
January 18-21, 2008
Registration Now Open
Boston 2008
Sheraton Boston
May 16-19, 2008
Registration Now Open
Save the Dates
Estes Park 2008
YMCA of the Rockies
September 21-28, 2008
South Florida 2008
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
November 14-17, 2008
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