May 12-16, 2011 One Week Away! We'll see you next week, at the Hilton New York for five fabulous days of yoga! To learn more about classes, instructors, special events, the Yoga Marketplace, and how to register visit www.yjevents.com/ny/. Pre-Registration Events in New York City: Take advantage of FREE yoga classes, Yoga Journal prizes (including a conference day pass), and one of the last opportunities to register for the Yoga Journal Conference: New York!
Solstice in Times Square: Mind Over Madness Yoga 
Times Square, a partner for our Yoga Journal Conference: New York, would like to invite you to their Summer Solstice event.
FREE OUTDOOR YOGA CLASSES! Anyone can find tranquility on top of a mountain. Can you find it in the middle of Times Square? Join us at lucy® Solstice in Times Square on June 21st, as we find tranquility and transcendence in the midst of the world's most commercial and frenetic place, on the day of the summer solstice. Participants receive a yoga mat courtesy of lucy and a gift bag (while supplies last). For details on pre-registration class schedules, sessions on health and wellbeing, hotel discounts, and more visit TimesSquareNYC.org. 
Michael Pollan - Buy Your Tickets Now!Yoga Journal is thrilled to feature Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules, in conversation with Yoga Journal Editor in Chief Kaitlin Quistgaard. Join us from 6:00pm - 7:00pm for a VIP wine and cheese reception and the opportunity to meet Pollan personally! Enjoy the interview of Pollan below from the Pacific Sun. Presenter Spotlight: Michael Pollan Editor's Note: The following interview was originally published in the March 18, 2011 issue of Pacific Sun, written by Annie Spiegelman (reprinted with permission). 
You write that we should "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Yet the American mantra seems to be "Eat food-like
substances, as much as you can, mostly burgers." How do we encourage Americans to change dietary course?
I think that, as a writer, you do it by making food seem as appealing as possible and that it doesn't involve sacrifice. That it's about pleasure. The hard part is the "not too much" part. I try to get them to think about quality instead of quantity. There is a trade-off. It's more satisfying to eat less of more high-quality foods than eat more of low-quality foods. It's how cultural change always happens: by storytelling. I try to lead with pleasure instead of finger pointing or lecturing. You lead by putting really good food and good stories in front of people. Then you have a chance of getting them to move on their own instead of changing because a doctor is telling them to eat better or they're going to die. That's not for me to do. You've said that "When we eat a McDonald's hamburger, we're really eating a lot of oil, not only fat, but petroleum." After the meat industry crucified Oprah, aren't you afraid to talk about meat? Then I'll talk about the sun. (Laughing) The Sun Food Agenda is my shorthand for a vision of how to reshape the American food system around the values of health and sustainability. A more sustainable food system will be healthier and more diversified. We'll use less fossil fuel and we'll eat more fresh food instead of processed food. Why focus on the sun--we can't eat that. Or... can we? As I see it, if you stand back far enough, one of the big problems with American agriculture is that it has replaced the energy of the sun with fuel. That's how we've made this extremely productive monoculture. It gives us the fossil fuel fertilizer, the equipment, the worldwide shipping and the tools to process things into edible food-like substances. But we can't count on using 20 percent of our fossil fuel to feed ourselves, not in a system that is solar-based to begin with. We need to get back to the sun. How do you do that? It's a journey. It's been a journey for me learning about this issue. I've met some of the pioneering visionaries who I will talk about at the Marin Center event. Soil scientist Stephen Andrews, of UC Berkeley, says the word of our time is not plastic but microbes. Organic farmers nourish the microbial life in the soil, which then feeds the crops—instead of crack-feeding plants with chemicals. Less than 5 percent of farms nationally are operated organically, yet here in Marin we have 52 organic farms producing fruits and vegetables on a large scale. How do we persuade conventional farmers to get on the "compost and mulch" love train? [Having organic farmers who make it work and make a profit is the most eloquent statement to other farmers. We're starting to see that happen, but we also need policy changes at the federal level. Right now the system is rigged in favor of fossil-fuel agriculture. We give subsidies to the biggest monocultures—soy, corn, wheat. We need to reconfigure the incentive to make it friendlier to small-scale, diversified farmers. It's going to take change at every level, including the consumer. We need to encourage people to vote with their fork, like they do in Marin. "Cooking for yourself," you write, "is the only sure way to take back control of your diet from the food scientists and food processors." My favorite cookbooks, lately, are Jesse Ziff Cool's Simply Organic and Organic Marin: Recipes from Land to Table edited by Tim Porter. What are some cookbooks you think Marinites may enjoy? David Tanis, chef at Chez Panisse, I like his books, especially Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys. Mark Bittman's books I find really accessible. Judy Rodgers' The Zuni Cafe Cookbook is excellent, and lately I've been cooking bread out of the Tartine Bread cookbook by Chad Robertson. A scientific report by the United Nations came out last week stating that farms that employ agroecological methods—the concept of applying ecological principles to the production of food—outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production. Should the earthworms start partying like rock stars? It is happening. Marin may have been ahead of the curve, and so has the West Coast in general, but I see it happening around the country when I do public speaking. There is still a long way to go. The movement is still in its infancy, but the fact that this economic recession hasn't destroyed organic food is a very good sign. It could have if "organic" were merely a luxury. Organic sales are up even in this tough economy. Consumers could have given up purchasing organic milk and they haven't. That suggests this issue has legs. The United States is rated No. 1 in childhood obesity. But what about people who don't like kids. Why should they care? Obesity is one issue, but health is a bigger issue than obesity. And we all need to care. Eating well is its own reward in many ways. Health is about feeling good. There are a great deal of chronic diseases linked to diet. When you talk to people who have gotten off of the fast-food diet, off of the carbohydrate treadmill, less white flour and sugar, they feel better and that's what keeps them eating real food. The satisfactions of junk foods are really fleeting. The satisfaction from real food is more durable. One of my rules for kids and for adults is to break the rules every once in a while. The key is to have "special occasion" foods. That phrase should tell you all you need to know. They're not foods to eat every day.
July 7-11, 2011 Lake Geneva, WI Register now and bring the family to relax at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa while revitalizing limbs and mind. We encourage all yogis to experience yoga Yoga Journal style! Whether you are just a beginner or an experienced practitioner, there's something for everyone! To learn more and to register visit www.yjevents.com/mw/.
Sept 18-25, 2011 Estes Park, CO Registration is open! Join Yoga Journal for our 16th Annual Estes Park Conference. This year's conference will feature a 3-Day Baptiste Power Flow Immersion among other great programs like Yoga and Hiking and Yoga and Rock Climbing. To check out everything the conference has to offer and to register visit www.yjevents.com/ep/. |
 | |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
