Listen: Beautiful podcast about Zen & Art featuring John Daido Loori, Roshi.

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.

I read over at The Worst Horse about a new show on TLC called The Food Buddha. The writers at The Worst Horse sum the show up pretty well with an emphatic, “Zzzzzzz.”

I have to agree with them.

Hey, I love food. I love Buddhism.

But, calling a guy who’s not a even a Buddhist The Food Buddha because he has a “Zen” like quality? What’s next, The Kitchen Christ, a show about a guy with a penchant for sandals who demystifies Middle Eastern cuisine over at Lifetime?

Yuck.

Just not a fan of the new lululemon advertising.

Very fantatic envato productivity site workawesome.com just published a new post I wrote on why everyone needs a manifesto. Give it a read and then write yourself one.

Here is an excerpt:

One really awesome way to give your personal productivity a nice boost is to get your very own manifesto. Not to be confused with the mission statement, a manifesto is like the mission statement’s tougher, cooler older brother or sister. The awesome one that everyone likes, everyone respects and everyone emulates because they’re totally punk rock and better than you at everything.

Don’t let the most famous manifesto dissuade you either. Yes, I know Karl Marx wrote one. But so did Guy Kawasaki, career renegade Jonathan Fields and designer Bruce Mau. In fact, there is a whole website dedicated to people’s manifestos on various topics ranging from change and achievement to creativity and how to give a compelling presentation.

A manifesto is a bold statement, or extended mantra, that sets a tone for your day, your career, heck, even your life. It’s a road map to awesomeness that should induce a surge of adrenaline pulsing through your body with each reading.

Read the rest of the post here. And then get to work.

Shambhala Sun reviewer asks if Buddha was an Atheist.

I love the way this song swings. Great writing music, too.

There is an elegant solution for everything.

I just published a piece over at the very cool productivity site, WorkAwsome. Here is an excerpt:

Imagine stopping in the middle of a busy work day, kicking up your feet on your desk, sitting back, arms cradling the back of the head in daydream mode. Now imagine that this is one of the best things you could do in the course of a busy work day.
It’s okay, let them stare. Because the truth is that your blank stare at the wall is just what the mind needs to slow down, clear out some of the clutter and give the creative brain the opportunity to open up to better thinking, greater creativity and maybe even the next big idea.

Stop by the site and give the post a read. Give the rest of the site a read, too. You’ll find Work Awesome to be full of great work productivity tips. Plus, it’s a fun read.