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Welcome to the September edition of our Conference Connection. This month we asked Dr. John Douillard, Director of the LifeSpa School of Ayurveda in Boulder, CO,
to write an exclusive article. And as you'll see below, Dr. Douillard gives some fantastic insight as our bodies move from summer to fall.
We're also featuring an autumn vegetable and heirloom bean soup recipe plus exclusive savings from our conference sponsors.
Lastly, in case you missed it last month, we've added a new audio clip available to all conference alumni!
Click here to download
Rodney Yee's opening keynote address from our 2005 Grand Geneva conference.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Conference Manager
Casey Ruby, Conference Coordinator
Jenny Andrews, Conference Sponsorship Associate
Yoga teachers and practitioners from around the country want to help the victims of Katrina. Rather than feeling hopeless, many yogis and yoginis are putting their compassion into action.
Teachers are donating class fees to charity and collecting goods for food banks, as well as devising ways to help flood-afflicted yoga studios eventually rebuild their businesses.
If you'd like to practice karma yoga and be of service to the relief effort, you have many choices.
Amurt, an international group of yogis and other volunteers, is providing food and stress management. The group may also open its national retreat site in Willow Springs, MO, to hundreds of refugees.
HurricaneHousing.org is matching up thousands of refugees with people who are offering space in their own homes. The American Red Cross,
Americares Foundation, and Operation USA are providing food, shelter, medical aid, and counseling.
Eventually, Habitat for Humanity will help people rebuild homes.
And the Noah's Wish Organization is rescuing pets that were left behind.
We will be collecting donations for the American Red Cross Katrina Relief Fund at the Estes Park Conference.
Estes Park Conference
Our 10th annual conference in Estes Park is just 2 weeks away.
We are thrilled with the response to this conference. It is sold out, with the exception of some Main Conference single classes,
the Friday evening Krishna Das Concert, and the YouthAIDS benefit concert with
Ben Taylor. The Iyengar Intensive has been sold out for quite some time,
however, there are still opportunities at the conference to listen and learn from Sri BKS Iyengar.
Tickets for satellite feeds of Mr. Iyengar's Opening Keynote and Conversation are still available.
If you are unable to attend our Estes Park conference but would still like to have the opportunity to hear Sri BKS Iyengar live, he will be touring the U.S. immediately following Estes Park.
Visit www.lightonlife.org for complete tour details.
We will also be selling the unedited version of the Iyengar Intensive through a DVD. If you purchase a copy of this prior to or at the conference, it will be $99. After the conference, it will retail for $150. More information to come at the conference.
For those of you who are attending Estes Park, the message board is open for ride sharing and room sharing options.
San Francisco Conference
Registration is open for our annual San Francisco Conference!
Click here for more information, including a faculty list and registration. Be sure to register early to get your first choice of classes and events.
The San Francisco message board is open for ride sharing and room sharing options.
Boston Conference
Our second Conference in Boston will be for April 7-10, 2006 in the heart of downtown Boston at the Sheraton Boston.
Registration will open in December 2005. Look for more information in the October edition of Conference Connection.
Once again we've teamed up with Goodness Design to bring you the "10 Years of Forward Thinking and Backward Bending" 2005 Estes Park Conference Tee.
Be sure to pick one up while you're there and sport it in style!
Conference t-shirts (shown here) will be for sale at the registration desk and at the Yoga Journal booth at the Estes Park Conference for $20.
Autumn Vegetable and Heirloom Bean Soup
Brimming with the flavors of autumn, it's perfect for sharing with friends and family.
Click here for the recipe.
Editor's Note:
Dr. John Douillard is the author of The 3-Season Diet and Body, Mind, and Sport, which has sold over 60,000 copies and has been printed in six languages.
His book Perfect Health for Kids, was released early last year,
followed by The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage. John received his Ayurvedic training in India and holds a Ph.D. in Ayurvedic medicine from the Open International University. He is the former Director of Player Development for the New Jersey Nets in the NBA.
He co-directed Deepak Chopra's Ayurvedic center for eight years and has trained over 2000 Western doctors in Ayurvedic medicine. He launched a preservative-free Ayurvedic skin care line in 1998, and an Ayurvedic herbal line for health professionals in 2003.
He has been teaching Ayurvedic medicine, natural health, fitness, and nutrition internationally for seventeen years.
Currently he directs the LifeSpa School of Ayurveda and practices Ayurvedic and chiropractic medicine at LifeSpa in Boulder, Colorado, where he lives with his wife and six children.
Dr. Douillard will be teaching at the upcoming conference in Estes Park, as well as at the Boston Conference next spring.
By Dr. John Douillard
Did you ever wonder why the squirrels eat nuts in the winter or why there are so many apples harvested in the Fall? According to nature, each season and its harvest have a very specific role to play when it comes to maintaining our health. Winter's warm, heavy harvest of grains, nuts and root veggies insulate us from the cold and rebuild the body during a long winter's rest.
Come spring, leafy greens, sprouts and bitter roots rid the body of all the stored winter fat in preparation for the most active time of year - summer.
In the heat of the summer, nature makes sure we do not get overheated by offering cool and refreshing harvests of sweet fruits and green vegetables. At the end of summer when the heat in the body increases due to a process called thermal accumulation, nature responds with a shipment of the most cooling foods of the year -
apples, pomegranates, watermelons, and grapes. Let's say we ate hot spicy food all summer and carried excess heat into fall and winter.
This would cause the sinuses to start drying out in August allowing pollens and pollutants to irritate the mucus membranes of the sinuses. Reactive and excessive protective mucus would be produced which would predispose us to allergies such as hay "fever" or a "back to school" cold. The excessive and reactive mucus production is a perfect breeding ground for a bacterial or viral infection.
These colds shouldn't be blamed on "back to school days"; rather a susceptibility to a cold due to a lifestyle and diet totally against the grain of nature's intention.
As we enter the fall season, our sinuses will naturally dry out and predispose us to getting a cold. Try Nasya after your Neti! Many are familiar with the technique of Neti - where a warm saline solution is gently poured into one nostril and allowed to drain out the other nostril. This technique will clean the sinuses, but as it is a salt water solution that is used, it will leave the sinuses more dry.
This dryness can potentially trigger the production of reactive mucus creating the perfect breeding ground for your next cold. Nasya is a practice of oiling the sinuses by sniffing sesame oil deeply into the sinuses. This lubricates the sinuses so they are less likely to produce reactive mucus.
Nasya - Using a Q-tip, swab both sinuses with warmed sesame oil (cold pressed). After you liberally apply the oil, sniff deeply two to three times until all of the oil is absorbed. Repeat this procedure two to three times until you feel yourself tasting the oil in the back of your mouth. Do this morning, evening and during travel throughout this fall and winter.
In the old days, most of the physical labor was tackled in the early morning hours before the sun was too hot. Farmers ate their biggest meal at mid-day when the digestion was strongest and they did light duty in the afternoon to avoid the heat. Studies have now shown that muscles are strongest in the morning hours, making an early morning workout a body's best medicine.
As September can be one of the hottest months of the year, exercising vigorously in the heat of the mid-day sun will only contribute to carrying excessive heat into the cold and flu season of fall and winter. The best times for exercise or yoga practice, are around the sunrise and sunset when the body is cooler and in fact stronger.
Certain body types are more susceptible to heat intolerance. The Ayurvedic word for these summer body types is Pitta. A hot Pitta type person, eating hot spicy food, in the hottest time of the year, is a guaranteed prescription for an over-heated system. It will eventually show up, either as irritability, heart burn, skin rashes, or the more mundane seasonal allergy or cold.
Over-exercise can also overheat the body in the heat of the summer. Chandra Bhedana is a cooling Pranayama in which you breathe in through the partially closed left nostril and out through the partially closed right nostril. This drives cooling energy deep within the system. You can do this before you exercise, or after.
To avoid over-exercise try nose breathing, while you workout. That's right, in through the nose and out through the nose. Use normal inhalation through the nose, and Ujaayi, only on the exhalation. It takes some practice but it will ensure a safe and productive workout that will enforce quality not quantity during exercise.
The nose triggers calm and repair receptors in the nervous system; whereas huffing and puffing through the mouth activates the stress receptors.
Try it! Let the comfortable rhythm of the breath through the nose set the pace, if you have to open your mouth during exercise, slow down to a pace that will allow you to maintain a nose breathing exercise rhythm.
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Light on Life
B.K.S. Iyengar is credited with introducing millions of Americans to the
physical benefits of yoga. Now, the man named by Time magazine in 2004
as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, reveals the
other side of yoga: the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual balance
that comes from its practice. Learn to decrease stress, sharpen
concentration, strengthen willpower, and stretch beyond your limits.
Using stories from his own life, humor, and examples from modern
culture, Light on Life is the culmination of a master's spiritual
genius. Available from Rodale in October wherever books are sold.
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Yogafusions - SAVE 15%
Yogafusions is excitied to join with Yoga Journal to sponsor the 10th Annual Conference at Estes Park. What an honor to bring BKS Iyengar and our community together. Join with us in celebrating the launch of The Yogafusions Yoga Therapy System at this year's conference.
Place an order at the conference, or online between Sept. 8th - 28th, and you will receive a 15% discount on any of our kits. The Yoga Therapy Starter Kit, Vata Balancing Kit, Pitta Balancing Kit, Kapha Balancing Kit or the Tri-Dosha Balancing Kit. Visit www.yogafusions.com, and enter this code: YJDOSHA.
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Clinix - SAVE 10%
Clinix Life Enhancement Center is a proud sponsor of the 2005 Yoga
Journal Conference at Estes Park.
To help celebrate this event, Clinix is offering 10% off any Ayurvedic
Therapy.
Email your name and email address to bethj@clinixusa.com and mention
this offer to receive your coupon.
For additional information on the benefits of a life enhancement center,
visit www.clinixusa.com.
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Save the Dates
10th Annual Yoga Journal
Colorado Conference
Estes Park, Colorado
Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 2005
Single classes available for Main conference.
Limited space available for special events.
San Francisco Conference
Hyatt Regency
Jan. 13 - 16, 2006
Registration now open!
Boston Conference
Sheraton Boston
April 7 - 10, 2006
11th Annual Yoga Journal
Colorado Conference
Estes Park, CO
Sept. 25 - Oct. 1, 2006
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