tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14165623545026056562012-01-05T14:36:18.360-08:00As the economy tanks and the media landscape gets weirder and weirder, Living L.A. Vida Yoga is my attempt to stay grounded. Here I'll muse about the things I care about -- food, asana, beauty, fashion, the L.A. yoga kula -- and, of course, a little bit more.L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-85307628817267022562012-01-05T14:32:00.000-08:002012-01-05T14:36:18.388-08:00

In spite of a rough start, the winter vegetable bed is finally ripe for harvest. The whole post-planting period seemed so innocent until I realized that those captivating and beautiful white butterflies with just two black polka-dots were really nasty, ominous warnings. They signified CABBAGE WORMS.  Such an ugly name for such a pretty face...isn't she stunning? How could her spawn cause so

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-87739166773588604962011-09-28T11:38:00.001-07:002011-09-28T11:38:50.003-07:00

Recipe Courtesy of Judy Kameon, who makes Crispy Kale for her son Ian and friends too. One bunch of Kale, cleaned and deveined.  Olive OilSalt Pepper Preheat Oven to 350 degreesLay Kale leaves on cookie sheet, they can overlap a bit but don't layer. Drizzle evenly with olive oil  Season with Salt and Pepper Bake 15-20 minutes until crispy (times may vary in different ovens). Leaves are ready

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-70412983538929839062011-09-24T11:07:00.000-07:002011-09-28T11:40:08.315-07:00

The last taste of summer hangs on the vine. 

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-72061350594104487852011-09-13T20:43:00.000-07:002011-09-13T20:47:52.672-07:00

Remember the He-Man Woman Hater's Club? I love the Little Rascals. This clip is from a short entitled: "Mail and Female." Enjoy.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-65253091483520166662011-09-10T18:44:00.000-07:002011-09-10T18:55:55.144-07:00

Here's some breaking Fashion Week news I gleaned from Women's Wear Daily: designer and long-time yogi Vivienne Tam is launching her own line of yoga clothing. Pictured here is one super suave unitard. She's introducing the line with a live yoga demonstration/installation featuring Rodney Yee (once called a "yoga stud-muffin" by Time magazine) and his wife Colleen Staidmen Yee. (On another note

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-83692377076091756662011-07-26T11:51:00.000-07:002011-07-28T11:34:38.332-07:00

I just discovered a piece I wrote for Elle Decor that's now available on-line. It's one of my favorites, mostly because the featured designer Eric Hughes is a dear friend (and it's a good, chic renovation story). Hughes, who once worked as a Hollywood executive shepherding serious cult classics like Bride of Chuckie and Bring It On, fled the film business. After a sojurn in India, he came home

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-68933485256425910282011-06-16T15:57:00.000-07:002011-07-26T13:38:21.142-07:00

Nearly 10 years ago I wrote a cover story for POZ Magazine about microbicides -- the gels, lotions, foams or suppositories that could help women protect themselves from STDS, like HIV. At the time, the reality of such an antidote to HIV was just emerging from scientific buzz into a potential reality. But the dearth of research monies was still an obstacle potentially dashing the hopes that one

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-1956709031346123192011-04-25T15:52:00.000-07:002011-04-29T17:43:22.347-07:00

My new favorite Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles posted this swell excerpt from Thom Anderson's never released film Los Angeles Plays Itself. This section about the Modernist homes of Los Angeles and the film villains who have lived in them, features appearances by Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig, John Lautner and Frank Lloyd Wright. Enjoy the show.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-5667716699280508792011-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:002011-04-18T22:12:33.599-07:00

Lately, I've been lazy about my home yoga practice. Motivation eludes me but with my new Apple T.V. I decided to take it easy and look for free yoga video podcasts that essentially do the sequencing for me. All I have to do is roll out my mat and follow along.  So I browsed around, found snippets here and there -- a sequence from everyone's favorite controversial yogi Tara Stiles (who I really

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-61217681543423516112011-04-02T13:18:00.000-07:002011-04-03T15:02:33.347-07:00

We've all come to love quinoa for it's health benefits and it's culinary attributes. More than a complimentary chewy, nutty dish, quinoa is a perfect amnio acid-balanced protein, a superfood that has for centuries sustained the Incas of Bolivia. But recently, I was disconcerted to read in the New York Times that our enthusiasm for this seed that is harvested from the Andean plant pictured here,

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-65424990641419772042010-12-20T18:16:00.000-08:002010-12-20T18:16:51.541-08:00

  Lately our dog Bean, the fabulous mutty Poochon, has been traveling. Here he is at the Viceroy Palm Springs.   He quite liked this chair. It complimented the desert sunshine   As you can see, he's particularly fond of the Hotel Durant in Berkeley. They have a very pet-friendly policy.   They even gave him his own bed. Where should he go next?

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-80313874636554604192010-12-16T21:13:00.000-08:002011-07-26T13:44:51.709-07:00

This is your brain on meditation. Sara Lazar, Harvard Medical School Ph.D, who is one of my favorite brain researchers, demonstrated in a groundbreaking 2005 study that mindfullness meditation can help prevent the thinning of the brain that happens naturally with aging.  It also may boost thickness in the frontal regions associated with integrating emotional and cognitive processing.  Hers was

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-18544912361992985852010-11-30T19:12:00.000-08:002010-12-21T14:16:49.568-08:00

I'm a sucker for good smells, especially those that involve anything tropical  with sandalwood. As a beauty writer, I'm lucky because I get to sample new products. Occasionally I discover something special like The Organic Pharmacy's new Jasmine fragrance. No synthetics, no animal, no phthalates here folks and all sourced organically too. This sophisticated take on a floral classic instantly

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-53353807620134627022010-09-22T18:25:00.000-07:002010-09-22T19:08:57.469-07:00

When Chef Lee Gross worked at an esteemed Napa Valley restaurant cooking fine French food, he became disillusioned.  “I was cooking rich food for rich people and a I saw a lot of ingredients come through the door, especially animal ingredients, that weren’t treated with respect.  That was problematic for me,” says the New York-based chef. So began his search for a way of cooking that met his

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-90906369415102682492010-09-10T20:47:00.000-07:002010-09-10T20:52:44.069-07:00

Toronto yogi Dee Dussault likes to smoke pot and she likes yoga. She's decided to combine her two likes by teaching a Ganja Yoga class at the Follow Your Bliss studio in Toronto. The 420-friendly gathering is a bring your own weed affair where yoga is "enhanced" with pre-class tokes. The class description reads: Cannabis is among humanity's oldest and most useful cultivated crops, so it is not

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-746983886291780632010-08-19T19:16:00.000-07:002010-09-10T20:53:29.229-07:00

I bet anyone who has practiced yoga for any period of time has had a similar experience: you drag your ass to class feeling stressed, shitty, even mean. You're not kind to yourself or to others ("yeah, hear that, road rage") but for some reason, you still drag your ass to class. Miraculously you leave with a breath of relief and gratitude. You see blue sky where you once saw smog and traffic.  

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-65814716102241266812010-08-16T17:11:00.000-07:002010-09-24T09:49:38.528-07:00

I knew I liked the famed potter but after visiting the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in the Happy Valley of Ojai, I fell utterly, completely in love. Beato would like that. She was a hopeful, hopeless romantic who had two crappy unconsummated marriages and a lifetime of hot and heavy liasons with men like Marcel Duchamp and Henri-Pierre Roche -- sometimes simultaneously. In fact, this

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-77132275794141004822010-06-03T17:54:00.000-07:002010-06-03T18:01:59.657-07:00

Lately, I've been working with Richard Manion on his upcoming monograph. I've had access to some amazing Los Angeles homes. These are not small, quaint or subtle houses. They are beautiful, big estates filled with museum quality decorative arts, world-class art collections and built using exquisite craftsmanship and the best materials money can buy. Expense is rarely spared and while I could

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-79798394755356447102010-04-27T20:47:00.000-07:002010-05-03T11:22:08.364-07:00

As I sit here eating my daily chocolate fix, I discovered that researchers at the University of California, San Diego just published a study that suggests people who crave chocolate may be depressed. "It's possible chocolate has antidepressant effects and that's why they are eating chocolate," researcher Beatrice Golomb told the Wall Street Journal.  "I think many of us believe chocolate

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-16732544163979143792010-04-15T23:24:00.000-07:002010-04-15T23:27:06.340-07:00

I posted last June about Dahn Yoga's creepy lawsuit that outed all kinds of unsavory allegations -- some that involved toilet water, others about improper sexual conduct.  It's one of Living L.A. Vida Yoga's most popular posts and it generated passionate responses.  Now it appears Dahn Yoga founder Ilchi Lee has resigned. Forbes reports that the lawsuit "has taken a toll on the leader". In a

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-68991632418692465112010-04-13T13:57:00.000-07:002010-06-03T17:03:47.838-07:00

Just when you thought you were doing a good thing for your health and the planet by eating a veggie burger, Mother Jones blogger Kiera Butler reveals the "dirty little secret" of the "natural" soy industry.  She reports on a study released by the Cornucopia Institute that finds widespread use of Hexane in soy products.  In case you're wondering, Hexane is a solvent derived from crude oil that the

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-45900276263189583862010-04-03T10:56:00.000-07:002010-04-03T10:56:36.388-07:00

First bloom. It's rose season, yes it is, and a few weeks ago I gave my rose bed a makeover inspired by an article in the new and improved Organic Gardening magazine. In hindsight, it's an obvious change really; I switched my rose bed from a fussy monoculture potential pest festival into a multi-culti growing patch with companion plants. So please join me in welcoming the first bloom and their

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-83313719941313007262010-03-03T20:30:00.000-08:002010-03-04T11:28:05.202-08:00

Tonight we ate our first head of homegrown lettuce. I thought it was almost too pretty to eat but of course we did. I added some radish, goat cheese, roasted hazelnuts, carrots and tossed it with an olive oil and sherry vinegar dressing. Fresh and delicious. It doesn't get any better than this.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-45353014645647030242010-01-30T09:57:00.001-08:002010-02-08T09:17:14.509-08:00

It doesn't always turn out perfectly. But that's okay. It still tastes good.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-21514101227909576712010-01-13T15:26:00.000-08:002010-01-15T16:37:50.742-08:00

Oh no, according to the L.A Weekly's L.A. Daily blog, the Bodhi Tree bookstore will close in a year. Sadly, another bookstore bites the dust and we're all left to fend for ourselves on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble. Even my neighborhood Borders is closing.What I'll miss most is the Bodhi Tree's used bookstore. Over the years, I've found some great library additions like Yoga for Americans

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-10935404096632884032010-01-11T18:44:00.000-08:002010-01-13T17:00:17.656-08:00

Inflammation is a wellness buzzword with much research linking its destructive effects to auto-immune diseases like arthritis, diabetes and lupus as well as heart disease, Alzheimers, Parkinson's and other age-related ailments. Time magazine called inflammation The Secret Killer and there are anti-inflammation diets (low carb, less animal proteins), anti-inflammation supplements (fish and flax

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-83587824601710898012010-01-05T18:44:00.000-08:002010-01-06T08:42:19.533-08:00

It's bread baking season; the time of year when I crank up the O'Keefe and Merritt and warm the kitchen with yeasty scents. I've been playing around with the simple crusty bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007). My adaptation includes whole wheat flour and flax meal that not only assuages white flour guilt, but adds a

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-44592024231234182662009-12-04T18:12:00.000-08:002009-12-05T09:47:27.664-08:00

Kudos to Naomi Pfefferman for her profile of Alicia Silverstone in the Jewish Journal. Silverstone, who is promoting her new book The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight and Saving the Planet, discusses everything from Hebrew school, how she used to "freakin' love gefilte fish and matzo ball soup", and the animal-rights movement's controversial comparison of the holocaust

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-15672692921198624792009-11-30T18:53:00.001-08:002009-12-01T10:04:32.504-08:00

I was sad to hear that Los Angeles Times reporter Christine Daniels died this weekend. Daniels, who was a revered sportswriter previously known as Mike Penner, bravely came out in a 2007 Los Angeles Times column about his transition from man to woman. He wrote:I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-47228259464491563382009-11-12T11:47:00.000-08:002009-12-01T10:02:35.931-08:00

I Need a Yogi, preferably one with a predilection for perv-ottasnasa.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-59806031112516030232009-09-16T17:12:00.000-07:002009-09-16T18:40:54.048-07:00

Thanks to Facebook and my friend Alison Van Pelt (an accomplished painter and yogini), I stumbled upon this new You Tube series called Posers which profiles yogis like Van Pelt, Mariel Hemingway, Skinny Bitch co-author Rory Freedman, Jennifer Aniston's yoga teacher Mandy Ingber, Vinnie Marino and many more. Enjoy.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-68972850704583529782009-09-06T13:05:00.000-07:002009-09-06T20:41:24.515-07:00

Robert Fontenot is taking LACMA's cast-offs and transforming them into a series of works he's calling Recycle LACMA. For example, a colorful Korean robe has become some kites, a long James Galanos coat is now pair of car seat covers.I first read about Fontenot in the Wall Street Journal where I learned that he bought some textiles and costumes at auction when LACMA "deaccessioned" them from the

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-31900983422726174692009-08-21T14:51:00.000-07:002009-11-13T20:26:39.626-08:00

Don't miss the August 31st HBO premiere of Mitch McCabe's documentary Youth Knows No Pain. I interviewed McCabe recently for an anti-aging piece I did for the Los Angeles Times and while I knew I liked her then, I saw the film a couple nights ago and was mesmerized by her reporting style. Her ultra-casual manner, intense curiosity, and subtle wit created the perfect venue for her characters to

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-68053322108963489962009-07-09T20:34:00.000-07:002009-07-12T15:16:05.312-07:00

My colleague and friend Elizabeth Kadetsky published an absolutely stunning piece in the New York Times this week that made me cry and warmed my heart. Tackling the reality of her mother's Alzheimer's disease, she beautifully weaves the reality of this recent diagnosis into an essay about living in the moment -- yoga style. That's all I'll say. Just read it, please. Here's a teaser:My sister

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-49793218301998280092009-06-12T20:38:00.001-07:002009-06-12T21:44:12.253-07:00

In this month's L.A. Yoga, Sam Slovick interviews Dahn Yoga founder Ilchi Lee and oddly there's nary a mention of the disturbing lawsuit that was filed against Dahn Yoga and its Health Centers (there are 130 schools around the world). I've heard and read about allegations of weirdness from the Dahn camp for years so I was surprised to see L.A. Yoga gave Dahn any play.Now, courtesy of Yoga Dork,

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-10636424033951656202009-06-08T20:19:00.000-07:002009-06-08T21:14:38.538-07:00

Last week I took a yoga class from Rainbeau Mars at Sonya Dakar in Beverly Hills. The highlight: a pretty red Manduka PROlite mat that I got as a gift (goody bag perk).Okay Yoga Geeks, we know we're all VERY particular about our mats. My purple Hugger Mugger jobber is over 10 years old and it was my mat of choice until...the Manduka eKO Mat came into my life. But that sucker weighs-in at 7

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-25898813645860952732009-06-03T20:36:00.000-07:002009-06-03T21:25:15.942-07:00

I've been following the story of Laura Ling and Euna Lee -- two journalists imprisoned in North Korea who, whether they like it or not, are now at the center of the United States diplomatic efforts to curtail North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Their trial starts tomorrow, and as I was poking around the web getting the scoop, I found this excerpt from a letter Ling sent her family.When I first

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-58399076176612890862009-06-02T20:42:00.000-07:002009-06-02T21:07:40.712-07:00

Since I'm a produce nerd, I was delighted to get Tasting Table's email missive today about Veggie Trader -- a free resource that helps us share what we grow. Now over 3,000 strong, with a respectable presence in Southern California, Veggie Trader can connect you with other urban farmers in your area so you buy, sell or trade what you harvest. Hey, I'll trade you a peach for a plum!

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-68959866111304444972009-05-26T11:22:00.000-07:002009-05-27T11:18:31.571-07:00

Shameless self-promotion time: this month you can find my by-line in the June issue of O magazine -- a profile of Kerry Washington and her Los Angeles apartment which was refashioned, eco-style by Danny Seo. Read the article on-line here.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-58359367727540206662009-05-25T20:31:00.000-07:002009-05-26T11:11:42.460-07:00

This afternoon, I discovered that a generous neighbor had left a pile of plump, fragrant oranges on the sidewalk (with bags too) for anyone who wanted to share his bounty. I loved the spirit of giving and enjoyed even more the fresh orange juice, which in this house, led to a cocktail or two. A perfect way to cap-off Memorial Day Weekend.I don't know my neighbor's name but I'm very familiar with

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-84178663777269000082009-05-18T22:36:00.000-07:002009-05-18T23:13:39.732-07:00

All of us in the yoga community are sad to hear of Guruji's passing. But we can be sure his legacy will live on in his students, many of whom became some of our great Ashtanga teachers. Here's Jois and some of those students in awesome You Tube glory making the Intermediate Series look just gorgeous (and easy): Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Tim Miller, Eddie Stern, Richard Freeman and Karen

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-42371800852148386362009-05-15T18:17:00.001-07:002009-05-15T21:53:49.585-07:00

I think I found the original Inappropriate Yoga Guy -- Bollywood style. And he's fantastic. Eat your heart out Ogden.

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-57452640626367441932009-04-30T21:52:00.000-07:002009-05-26T18:41:43.755-07:00

Industrial product designers at Arizona State University are busy trying to reinvent the toilet and what they've come up with is a high tech solution to an old-fashioned stance -- yes, you read it here, it's all about the squat.In fact, the designers were awarded the Breaking the Rules Silver Award from the Northwest Design Invitational (NDI) for the Flo™ -- an ergonomic, sustainable toilet

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-50269794403042410772009-04-26T09:26:00.000-07:002009-04-26T10:03:15.532-07:00

Oh no, another magazine gone, finished, doors closed, bye, bye. The Montreal-based ascent happened to be one of the finer yoga publications -- one that eschewed the commercialism of the mainstream yoga community (no leotards or celebrity yoga hype, thank you very much) and for 10 years produced engaging, well-edited and creative content.In fact, just this month ascent was nominated for a 2009

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-15912910202202498862009-04-25T18:08:00.000-07:002009-04-25T18:21:59.430-07:00

Bette Calman, 83, has been on the mat for 40 years. Read about this Australian yogini in the Daily Mail . I dare you to try this at home. Hamsasana-tastic!

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-64731357070873814392009-04-19T15:24:00.000-07:002009-04-20T10:02:41.207-07:00

Last year I wrote about elixirs for Yoga Journal. While we generally think of such brews, at least from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, as bags of herbs that often look and taste like dirt, I was pleased to learn there's a whole other liquid world designed to both nourish, heal and please the palette.I was lucky enough to interview Elise Maire Collins, a San Francisco yogini, who

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-4397002463617048202009-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:002009-04-20T08:23:33.775-07:00

It's a sad time in our media world. And it just got sadder with the shuttering of Conscious Enlightenment, Inc. which published Chicago's Conscious Choice, Common Ground in San Francisco and Whole Life Times here in Los Angeles.In this case, the news of yet another media outlet biting the dust has been strangely under-reported. I stumbled across Charles Shaw's account on the Huffington Post

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-84898809230906805452009-03-20T16:51:00.000-07:002009-03-23T12:14:12.153-07:00

Last night, during another bout with insomnia, I read my colleague E.B. Boyd's excellent interview with Raj Patel in the March issue of Whole Life Times. Patel's book Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power, and the Hidden Battle for the World's Food System, is now at the top of my reading list.According to Boyd, Patel "takes a look under the hood of the global food system to explain why one billion

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-82228859759743378762009-03-16T17:40:00.000-07:002009-03-20T21:31:16.022-07:00

For those who didn't see this crazy story in Sunday's N.Y. Times about the San Francisco commune (cult?) members at the One Taste Urban Retreat Center who worship the big female "O" and practice yoga too, here are some highlights:A core of 38 men and women — their average age the late 20s — live full time in the retreat center, a shabby-chic loft building in the South of Market district. They

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-81304319993827726122009-03-14T08:09:00.000-07:002009-03-14T11:49:48.972-07:00

Here's the place where I pretend to edit the front-of-the-book (called FOB in the biz) of an imaginary celebrity yoga magazine called Posers. I'll share celebrity yoga tidbits I've gathered from all over these interwebs. So here I go.Yoga and having Russell Simmons as a "mentor" has saved Ashley Dupre's life. In case you've forgotten, Dupre, pictured here, was the "pro" former New York

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-79949840249482346192009-03-09T19:34:00.000-07:002009-03-10T17:17:05.158-07:00

When you're pissed, do this:MEDITATION FOR RELEASING ANGER & NEGATIVITY:Chant Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo three times.Sit in Rock or Easy Pose, with light jalandhar bandh (neck lock).Eyes are closed.Mudra: Touch each thumb to the base of the Mercury (pinky) fingers. Close the rest of the fingers over the thumbs to form fists.Raising the arms, begin a backstroke type movement over the head,

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-60569387574736596102009-03-05T19:38:00.000-08:002009-03-05T21:28:14.757-08:00

It turns out Melody Barnes, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and the person charged with leading the President's agenda on health-care, immigration, urban affairs and education, is a self-professed Yogi. According to Jessica Yellin at CNN:Barnes makes time every morning for yoga. The meditation, she says, helps get through her marathon day of meetings and briefings. As a

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-79677403444648806062009-03-02T09:35:00.000-08:002009-03-12T12:29:45.148-07:00

Apparently the folks at Moonview Sanctuary think so. So join me in welcoming Moonview's Malibu Sanctuary to the freak-out and dry-out PCH brigade that includes Passages, Promises, Milestones, Horizons and many more. I actually wrote about Moonview Sanctuary in 2005 when it first opened in Santa Monica. I was on assignment for Vogue but the piece ended up running in the L.A. Times (It's a long

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-58295722438589599272009-02-26T12:08:00.000-08:002009-02-26T12:54:14.051-08:00

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the wildly successful Eat,Pray,Love. I didn't want to like the book that traces her spiritual, culinary and romantic quests after a painful divorce because it was portrayed in the mainstream media as a form of lite chick-lit non-fiction. But I liked it, a lot. And I like this too. In this clip from Ted Talks, Gilbert muses about creativity, where it comes

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-50246168826060400272009-02-20T12:54:00.001-08:002009-02-27T17:28:58.120-08:00

This weekend is the Academy Awards and while I probably won't watch it live -- that's what the DVR is for, people -- I will be cheering for The Garden to win best documentary. It's a local Los Angeles story about a garden in south central that was birthed after the 1992 riots and grew into a 14 acre refuge and food source for a neighborhood community of mostly immigrants. When the property was

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-40716176595495951132009-01-28T16:18:00.000-08:002009-04-26T13:57:17.471-07:00

I know it's not technically asparagus season but I've been testing recipes for a spring Natural Health story. And while the asparagus I'm using may have been flown in from South America, the spears are still tasty and I figured out some fun ways to make these woody shoots the main attraction rather than delegating them to a side dish.I made an asparagus galette, asparagus and watercress soup,

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416562354502605656.post-4557069258953143702009-01-24T20:13:00.000-08:002009-01-25T12:33:53.099-08:00

For the past year and a half, I blogged for Yoga Journal's Samadhi and the City. But then the economy tanked, the media landscape got weirder and weirder and despite robust traffic and readers who actually commented, the powers that be decided to shut down our blogs.Now there's a new President, it's a new year and I'm starting my own blog. I plan to cover all the things I did for Yoga Journal

L.A. Mandalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09418258114683208571noreply@blogger.com3