A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who was dealing with some personal issues. She felt depressed and cynical, but she knew that she didn’t really want to live that way. I recommended one of my favorite books to her, Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is a book that I read often, and it talks about how to be more loving and therefore at peace in the world.
When I mentioned it, she sighed and said “I’m sure it’s a great book, and I like books like that. But when I read them, the positive feelings only last a day or two and then things are back to normal.” At the time, I kind of laughed and said something to the effect of, “Well, you should read it anyway.” But her comment stuck with me, and I’ve been thinking about a lot, especially in terms of The Yoga Experiment.
When we are taking in nutrition for our bodies, we don’t eat one large meal and decide that it is going to last us for a few months. No, in a few hours we are hungry again and we need more food. So it is with positivity, loving thoughts, and spiritual inspiration. We can’t read one book or article and expect to be good to go. We have to feed our souls every day. Christians have their quiet time and Bible study, Muslims bow and pray to Mecca several times a day, the Buddhists meditate. Just because a person is not entrenched in a religious tradition doesn’t mean that they should deny themselves the benefits of setting aside time each day for contemplation and study.
It could be argued whether yoga is a religion or not. You can definitely practice yoga as just another exercise. You warm up, cool down, and sweat in between. It gets your heart pumping and makes your muscles stronger and more flexible. You could reap many benefits throughout your life if you just leave it at that. However, if you are willing to explore the other dimensions of yoga, you will find first and foremost that it is all about the breath, and that the different postures and movements are all just a part of the meditation. As Jack Kerouac said in his “Belief & Technique For Modern Prose,” “Believe in the holy contour of life.” For me, this is what yoga is becoming: a way to step outside of myself and my very small petty problems and glimpse that holy contour every day.
I can’t always be practicing on my mat, though. So, during the day, any time there is a lull, I’ve been leafing through different periodicals to stay inspired. While I’m waiting for someone, while I’m eating, while I’m cooking, while I’m (ahem.) going to the bathroom… I’ve been using these short periods of time to refocus my energy and keep my priorities in check. Here’s what is in the current rotation:
Yoga Journal (Published 9 times per year, $4.99 on the newsstand): This is by far my favorite yoga magazine out of any others that I have tried. Not only does it illustrate new series of poses every month, it also explains the philosophy behind each of them. I like how it reviews new books, DVDs, and products, but doesn’t try to sell me something on every page, like most mainstream magazines do. In each issue, they interview renowned yogis and yoginis (and some normal people, too!) to discuss how they fit their yoga practice into their life. The cover model this month is Trudie Styler (Sting’s wife.) It is always interesting to me to read about how people got started doing yoga and the revelations they have had along their path. Yoga Journal is my desert island magazine now; it does the best job of illustrating what it is to be a true yoga practitioner.
Yoga Magazine (Publishes 12 times per year, $4.99 on the newsstand): Yoga Magazine is published in London, so it has a nice British flair. 
This is also a wonderful magazine. Like Yoga Journal, it also focuses on the different asanas, but it also goes more in depth about different modalities of complementary medicine. It seems to be a little more “woo-woo,” embracing things like energy therapy and psychic development, which I love to think about. While it covers a lot of the same ground as Yoga Journal, it provides an alternative view.
Athleta Catalog (Published whenever, free): I like this one for purely shallow reasons. The catalog features beautiful 20-and 30-something yoginis in cute stretchy clothes doing crazy yoga poses (like the one at right). In the weeks that I have been practicing yoga, I have realized that nothing is out of reach. “Practice and all is coming,” Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the creator of Ashtanga yoga was known to say. I like to imagine that one day, that will be me in the pages of that catalog, displaying strange feats of strength and flexibility.