Not sure what to think about the new Lululemon campaign.

Is yoga become just another consumption machine?

It’s a booming business to be sure as new brands pop up at an amazing rate. So what does this mean for yoga?

Will it get usurped by consumerism and lose it’s way in the process?

Or, is the commodification a good thing—a way to widen the audience, increase awareness and grow? Certainly the mainstreaming of yoga can lead to awareness as Oprah and other national sources have put an important light on the health and well-being benefits of yoga.

Others have suggested that the growth will lead to a watering down or stripping away of essential elements that make yoga what it is. At some point is yoga nothing more than another form of exercise akin to Pilates or Kickboxing? That remains to be seen.

Read the post I wrote for Elephant Journal about this topic. Below is an excerpt:

As fast as yoga grows in popularity in the west, yoga brands are exploding on the scene with equal intensity to satisfy our cravings for yogi stuff. According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans are now spending a staggering $5.7 billion a year on yoga classes and products according to a 2008 survey by Yoga Journal. That’s an 87% increase from 2004.

The growth of yoga and yoga classes is great, beautiful, inspired. The idea of more and more Americans getting off the couch, getting in an hour of yoga, reducing stress, finding balance, is a fantastic shoulder-width sized step in the right direction for so much of what ails us as a largely sedate nation.

But what about all the new brands? What about the trendy factor? Yoga is very trendy. It’s also cool and hip and that scares the hell out me. Could yoga simply become another expensive hobby for snobby rich people driving SUVs and Swagger Wagons?

When I attend my $15 Ashtanga class at the local shala, you know the cool one with great chai, gorgeous wooden floors, high ceilings and the giant dancing Shiva statue at the entrance, I see affluence everywhere. From the chic bags and mats to the growing range of really sexy, extremely expensive yoga clothing, yoga is a sacrificial cash cow of opportunity to enterprising yoga companies.

A hot topic with many opinions. This isn’t meant as a critique of any yogi or aspiring yogi regardless of their decisions regarding how they practice or approach their practice. Instead, the post is meant more as an observation and a cautionary tale about motivation and the trend that finds businesses too often capitalizing on people desperately in search of meaning for their lives.

Just not a fan of the new lululemon advertising.

Great post over at Elephant Journal on what yoga is really about.

I’ve got a new post over at Elephant Journal about my struggle with giving up pizza. It’s my one big, cheesy, saucy, yummy hurdle on the road to being Vegan.

Here’s an excerpt:

I’ve been vegetarian for a couple of years now. I slowly let a vast array of meats fall away as I settled nicely into the very comfortable dairy and eggs only category (octo-lavo-something or other, right?). That was fine for a while. But alas, I now feel a tug toward the next step and find myself faced with the toughest food choice ever: Vegan or pizza?

I know what you’re thinking: Hey Coe, they have vegan cheese and vegan pizza now.

And there lies the potato starchy rub. You see, I love, love, love pizza. I’ve driven miles, hours even, to try great pizza. One of those long drives was to try a vegan pizza. Which is why I am now struggling so much with the final big step into culinary moksha. The vegan pizza, while decent, just wasn’t pizza-esque enough for me.

Read the rest at Elephant Journal. It is good to support the Elephant.

I’ve taken a few Bikram yoga classes. Great workout, but yoga?

I heard a term recently that struck me. In a podcast by Gil Fronsdal, primary teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California, he referred to a phenomenon in the spiritual publishing industry known as Bed Stand Buddhists. It seems that there is a sizable number of people out there who love to read about Buddhism, who love the way the literature, whether it’s one of the Sutras or contemporary writings, makes them feel. There is a sense of peace found in the writings, but this is as far as they go. Bed Stand Buddhists never take the big next step which is from bed to cushion.

Maybe the reason this struck me so much is that I am desperate to apply and actively engage in my practice – both on the yoga mat and on the cushion with my meditation practice. However, I love books, love the intellectual challenges of philosophy and various spiritual writings and if I’m not vigilant about things I could easily succumb to the lure of purely intellectual exercises at the expense of what matters most: engaged practice.

I’ve been a Bed Stand Buddhist and theoretical Yogi as much as I’ve been an engaged, active, practicing one. Yes, I meditate and practice yoga often, but I also spend a lot of time reading books about Buddhism, reading books on yoga, both topics are profoundly interesting to me. So, how do I balance my curiosity with my desire to live by the words and ideas I so frequently immerse myself in?

I find it easy to lapse into passivity. When I’m honest with myself, I’m far too often guilty of forgoing practice in order to better prepare for practice. Preparation is highly overrated. Yes, techniques matter. How we breath matters. It’s also important that we have in place solid foundations for our yoga and meditation. However, at some point, we have to jump. I’ve meditated for years. I’ve been practicing yoga for a few years now. What I’ve found is that regardless of progress and profound insights and success, I’m still drawn to books for that other missing insight, that key secret that’ll make it all easier. But, it’s not easy. It’s hard, frustrating, beautiful, transformative and profound work. And at the end of the day, all we have is ourselves. And we’re responsible for our progress.

Maybe I’m too hard on myself. That’s okay, too.

I just received Edwin F. Bryant’s comprehnsive edition of The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali’s. The book is filled with a history of commentaries and insights, as well as the original Sanskrit as source material and should make for a tremendous study reference on yoga philosophy and vedic culture.

It’ll be fun to work through it.

It’s All Yoga, Baby, a great yoga blog I’ve recently discovered, has a great review of A World Out of Balance, a yoga book I’m eager to read. Written by Michael Stone, this book brings the ancient aphorisms of Patanjali into our modern context.

One thing I really like about her review is the opening paragraph which calls attention to something that also has bothered me about the ultra-hip, self-absorbed yogi class. She writes:

One of the drawbacks about being a yogi blogger is that I get regular exposure to some of the most tasteless and depressing aspects of yoga in Western culture (and y’all know what I’m talking about, because I can’t stop myself from commenting on it). Crass commercialism, hypersexualization, narcissism, branding… it’s enough to sometimes make me wonder why I bother with this practice.

Which is why I’m so grateful for Yoga for a World Out of Balance: Teachings on Ethics and Social Action (Shambala Publications, 2009). The latest book by Michael Stone, a Toronto-based yoga teacher, psychotherapist and author, puts to rest my unease about current developments of yoga and assures me that it’s a practice that is not only worthwhile, but essential for modern life.

Agreed. I’ve been put off more than a few times by self-absorbed yogis who are more into image and posing (not the asana kind) than any kind of true practice that leads to change or realization.

I’m off to find this book. I’ll write my own review at some point down the road. In the meantime, check out the

This is an ad from a recent Manduka campaign.

Just imagine if we could actually follow through on this simple idea.