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Why are you here? This was the lead question in Carol Horton’s post Why Yoga Blogging Matters on elephant journal a couple of weeks ago. It generated a some interesting responses here, here and here, and of course, got me thinking about why I’ve re-entered the yoga blogosphere and what I’m doing here. In preparation for it’s all yoga, baby: the next generation (my pet name for this new phase of being) and next month’s Yogging Heads panel discussion at the Yoga Festival Toronto, here are top 5 reasons I nurture this little corner of the internets.
1) Community – This has been the most exciting thing about blogging. I’ve loved connecting with practitioners and teachers from all over North America, and from other places (such as Emmanuelle from Belgium while she was in Montreal last fall!). This little blog has been my tool for connecting to not just the yoga community, but my local community as well and I’ve ended up getting involved with the Montreal Girl Geeks and WordPress communities.
2) This is what I know – through years of practice, living in an ashram, editing a yoga magazine, being involved in online conversations, dialoguing, debating, and then more practice, I’ve managed to build a body of knowledge about yoga, and I continue to be fascinated by how it fits within North American culture. My inner cultural studies geek likes to observe and analyze, and I’ve come to see the world through a yogic framework. This is my place to comment on what I see. Read the rest of this entry »
WordCamp Montreal 2010 cupcake break! (image via montrealtechwatch.com)
A little shameless self-promotion here, but just wanted to let y’all know that I’ll to be speaking at WordCamp Montreal, a WordPress “unconference” this weekend (July 9/10). This little blog is powered by WordPress and I think it’s an amazing tool for self-publishing, connection and community. In my professional life, I’ve been doing a lot of social media/blogging consultation work for non-profit organizations, so I’ll be offering my accumulated knowledge to a greater audience. I truly believe that blogging is a powerful medium for non-profits and I know that many organizations are lacking the resources to utilize it. I’ve learned a few tricks over the past couple of years and have figured out some useful ways to systematize blogging – it’s all yoga, baby has been my testing ground, actually, and I’ve applied what I’ve learned to the organizations I’ve worked for.
I volunteered at WordCamp last year and have attended a few other tech community “camps” in the past couple of years. As a noobie and non-techy, I’ve always been impressed by the sense of community and accessibility of these events. I also think that they’d make a great model for yoga gatherings, rather than the corporate conference and music festival models which are currently in place. Imagine, a gathering of yogis that is user-generated, open, participatory and self-organized. YogaCamp? Yes, please! Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Canada Day! Did you know that the Canadian yoga community is getting a bit of a reputation for being intelligent and innovative? It’s true! It’s also true that the conversations in the yoga blogosphere (an act known as “yogging”) are helping to push the contemporary North American yoga community in new directions. Yogging as a practice will be explored in a special panel at the Yoga Festival Toronto (August 19-21, 2011) which I am very happy to be part of, along with Carol Horton and Bob Weisenberg.
In preparation for this panel, I’m going to be investigating what it means to be on the cutting edge of a supposedly ancient tradition, why I blog about yoga, and what blogging can contribute to the practice, and you can keep up with all the action here on it’s all yoga, baby. Carol already got the party started on elephant journal with her provocative post, Why Yoga Blogging Matters.
I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 Yoga Festival Toronto and it was one of the most inspiring and affirming yoga gatherings that I’ve ever been to. Here’s an introduction to the festival, with an interview with the organizers, and my post-festival roundup.
Oooh, what a year! 2010 has seen some very big conversations go down in the yoga blogosphere. Yoga and Christianity, Hinduism, commercialism, sexism… the whole spectrum! Meanwhile, the bloggers continued living their lives, deepening their practices and writing honestly and fearlessly. I’ve rounded up a few of my favourite posts over the past 12 months – it was such a robust year, with so many strong voices, that it was hard to narrow the list down to just 15. But I did, and here it is. (These posts are in no particular order, by the way. And feel free to list some of your faves in the comments!) Read the rest of this entry »
Me, girl geeking it up! I talk with my hands, apparently. (image via Alexandra Dao)
Last week I had the massive pleasure of talking about “The Yoga of Blogging” for the September Montreal Girl Geek Dinner (since I’m a girl and a yoga geek). I was amazed at the number of people who turned out, most of whom weren’t even my friends. About 50 geeky and yogic girls (and a few boys) showed up in the cozy basement of Brutopia for my talk (and I will never cease to be amused by the fact that I talked to a bar full of people about yoga).
The only way that I can describe the talk is that it was like a blog post come to life. It was even structured like a blog post: I talked for about 30 minutes, and my talk was followed by a Q&A period (just like a comments section). I started off by introducing myself and it’s all yoga, baby, my reasons for starting the blog and how I made the transition from editing a yoga magazine to blogging about yoga (which wasn’t too difficult, actually).
As I was preparing for my talk, I realized that blogging is part of my spiritual practice. My asana practice is a process of self-investigation, fueled by a desire to connect with myself and other people. Blogging, for me, has become an extension of this investigation. It’s also become a place to investigate yoga itself, and its permutations in North American culture. I think that I do this because I have a tendency to view most things in life through a cultural lens (I enjoy doing this, btw, it gives me energy and a sense of purpose).
The greatest rewards of this blog are the conversations and the sense of community. Blogging has been a tool for finding and building community. I’ve discovered an online network of people who are writing and thinking about yoga; they’re questioning and debating, exploring and engaging, and the conversations have pushed my concepts of yoga. These people are also fun, witty and entertaining, and they enrich my life. Read the rest of this entry »
it's all yoga, baby 
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