Social Workout

FIterati

Hot Tickets: Wanderlust Previews and Eddie Stern at the Urban Zen Foundation

It's rainy in New York — maybe also where you are? — and  we all wish we were partying like rock stars in Austin at South by Southwest. Whatevs. New York yogis have at least two promising events to look forward to....

Starting this Wednesday evening, Eddie Stern will teach a weekly, led Astanga yoga class at Donna Karan's Urban Zen Center. Who's Eddie, and so what? Oh, grasshopper. In New York, Eddie is perhaps the staunchest keeper of the Ashtanga yoga flame, the designated representative of Ashtanga's founder, the late Sri Pattabhi Jois. Full cultural significance detailed after the jump, but suffice to say this is opening Wednesday, and it should be an interesting scene. Price of admission $20. 

Separate and unrelated: On Saturday, the Wanderlust crowd (please recall the annual Yoga Rock Festival in Lake Tahoe) are hosting a pre-festival, momentum gathering bash at Kula Yoga Project. Two hours of "tag team vinyasa classes" with the ever-popular Elena Brower and Schuyler Grant, among others, backed by a crowd of yogi musicians. Naturally, class will be followed by a game of late night Extreme Twister. It's kind of pricey at $40, but can you really price late night Extreme Twister? Also, you get in free if you buy a Wanderlust ticket, and some of the proceeds go to cool charities.

New York

Yoga Culture

The Greenwich-Hamptons-Manhattan Yoga Circuit

Gina Norman and Stan Woodman taught yoga in Manhattan for a decade, spent a few years teaching both in-season and off-season in the Hamptons, then transitioned to Greenwich where they founded Kaia Yoga. "When we were transitioning," Stan says, "There were some days when I would teach privates in each place." In part, because some of their clients had houses in the Hamptons, apartments in the city, and houses in Greenwich. So, we wondered, is there some sort of ritzy yoga triangle with ritzy yoga culture we need to know about?

New York

Food Porn

Give It to Me Raw

Here's the latest addition for your blogroll: Give It to Me Raw, a growing web community of raw foodies, and/or all those with raw food tendencies, whether Paleo, Vegan, or (our latest fave), "feral" eaters. Yes, you may be a cheeseburger diehard, and prefer your milk homogenized, but the raw foodies are a rich trove of curiosity and smarts and fearless experimentation. If you're looking for a tip on what juicer to get (Vitamix!) or how a raw food diet can cure you of serious intestinal problems (diverticulitis!), check these guys out. 

Batwings

Gwyneth's Tracy Anderson Bootleg Video

Last we checked in with Tracy Anderson, she was getting sued by her ex husband and breaking up with Madonna. Well, today begins the counter-offensive, courtesy of Gwyneth, who has rallied a crew of celebrity buddies — Courtney Cox, Donna Karan, and Kristen Davis, among others — to give Tracy testimonials in the latest issue of Goop. Gwyneth also includes the following down-homey video of Tracy demonstrating a Tracy workout; which workout, G. says, she "did every day preparing for Iron Man," and which apparently solved her "batwing problem." TMI?! The workout looks sort of sexy and fun. It also looks like Tracy is desperately trying to communicate, via erratic arm waving, with a visiting space alien. Given that she's got mirrors on all sides, that may not be far from the truth. Oh snap!

Calm Your Mind

Gwyneth Vows to Meditate

Stick around the "wellness" world long enough, the world of athletes, nutrititonists, yogis, and spa-crazy bohemians, and you'll start to hear about meditation. That's not surprising, what's surprising is how many people — very different sorts of people — will say the same thing: "It changed my life." Several years ago, amazed at all the people I knew disappearing on ten day silent meditation retreats, I wrote a story for Fortune magazine on big time CEOs who mediate. (You'd be surprised who does!) Well, to the growing list, add Gwyneth Paltrow, who vows in her latest newsletter to pick up the habit. "My brain drives me mental," she writes. "I am going to start. Tomorrow."