{"id":1432,"date":"2007-04-05T06:45:01","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T11:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/aiee-its-sensitive-new-age-ponytail-guy\/"},"modified":"2007-04-05T08:35:21","modified_gmt":"2007-04-05T13:35:21","slug":"aiee-its-sensitive-new-age-ponytail-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/aiee-its-sensitive-new-age-ponytail-guy","title":{"rendered":"Aiee! It’s sensitive, new-age, ponytail guy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m not one to go the “[x] changed my life” route. I mean, I’ve had a ton of inspirations and I tend to think of life as a big matrix of all those internal and external factors (plus the nefarious impact of the Trilateral Commission, of course). That said, I have felt a million times better since I started doing yoga last fall.<\/p>\n

Now, my caveat is that it took a long time for me to start doing the stuff. I bought a DVD of some Yoga Journal<\/em> series a few years ago, but never bothered to pop it in the player till last summer, when my brother inspired me to give it a try.<\/p>\n

Listening to the calm, soothing voice of the instructor, I have never felt so ready in my life to punch someone out. Back on the shelf it went.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, my bro turned me on to the book that got him started, Yoga for Regular Guys<\/a>. YRG’s written by a pro wrestler<\/a>, with an intro by Rob Zombie<\/a>. As such, it doesn’t have the “calm, soothing” demeanor that pushes me into a rage. And the workouts don’t involve holding a position for 5 minutes or anything. It’s the first exercise regimen I’ve stuck with for more than a few weeks, and the results have been great: back pain’s all gone, my mood during my morning commute is much more at ease (when I work out in the morning, that is), and the official VM wife sez my ass is sagging less.<\/p>\n

So, in that respect, I guess this has<\/em> changed my life. (Not in any mystical way. I mean, while it’s nice that I feel more peaceful from these workouts, I have no desire to go the Maxon Crumb route and start “cleansing” with dhauti<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

All of which is preface to Ron Rosenbaum’s recent article on the “hostile New Age takeover of yoga<\/a>“. Ron seems to share my twitch-like reaction to the “calm, soothing” instructors, “that soothing syrupy ‘yoga-speak’ that we all know and loathe”. He proceeds to dissect the “yoga lifestyle” and its attendant fashion and accessories.<\/p>\n

But he takes it to a whole new level when he checks out a recent ish of Yoga Journal<\/em> and dissects an article called “Forgive Yourself” in which the writer obsesses over a 20-years-gone high-school friendship in a way that borders on the psychopathic.<\/p>\n

I can’t begin to do justice to Ron’s takedown of the article, the hippytrippy mindset of the editors who decided to run it, and the self-centeredness of their version of ‘forgiveness.’ You really need to read it for yourself<\/a>. I’m gonna do some shoulderstands and be Mr. Plow<\/a> for a while.<\/p>\n

(Official VM Bonus! “How to deal with dead-and-gone relationships” advice: A few years ago, a buddy of mine who was engaged told me how he sorta wished he could go back and show some of the women from his past how he’d ‘grown up’. I said, “We all wanna fix the past, but when you’re really grown up, you won’t have to worry about proving it to old girlfriends. Let it go.”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not one to go the “[x] changed my life” route. I mean, I’ve had a ton of inspirations and I tend to think of life as a big matrix of all those internal and external factors (plus the nefarious impact of the Trilateral Commission, of course). That said, I have felt a million times … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Aiee! It’s sensitive, new-age, ponytail guy!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-n6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1282,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/renaissance-monkey","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":0},"title":"Renaissance Monkey","author":"Gil","date":"January 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday night itinerary: Listen to Damon Albarn Mali Music CD Do 30-minute yoga workout Drink two G&Ts while watching Jackass Number Two Forget resolution to get started on novel","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00006EXE0","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4908,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/snow-day","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":1},"title":"Snow Day","author":"Gil","date":"February 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Blizzard-y weather out, so I'm working at home today. That's my excuse for posting a bunch of doggie pix. Trying to stay warm, I guess. Otis also writes sad poetry. Their favorite yoga position is, of course, downward-facing dog.","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"Downward-Facing Dogs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4061\/4345829201_8bd2147fce.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1171,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/my-latest-aamzon-delivery","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":2},"title":"My latest Amazon delivery","author":"Gil","date":"October 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Feel free to comment: A Midsummer Nights Dream (Arden Shakespeare: Second Series), by William Shakespeare Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition, by Milton Friedman Things I Didn't Know: A Memoir, by Robert Hughes Yoga for Regular Guys: The Best Damn Workout on the Planet!, by Diamond Dallas Page, with an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3967,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/no-news","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":3},"title":"No news","author":"Gil","date":"May 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a quiet day of trying to keep Ru from licking his wounds, ripping his sutures, or otherwise stunting his recovery. Here's our boy as the Bizarro version of Ace the Bat-Hound: And a sign that he's feeling a little better: the new yoga position of Wounded Cockroach! Thanks for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3589\/3560679363_5263a0fb83.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3161,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/low-res-2","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":4},"title":"Low-res","author":"Gil","date":"January 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My health is fine, my finances are in order and my job seems pretty secure, so I don't have much by way of \"you must change your life\" New Year resolutions. I did pretty well on my main one for 2008: post to this blog every day. There were still\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/low-res-2#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1566,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-june-29-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1432,"position":5},"title":"Unrequired Reading: June 29, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"June 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This issue will be over-and-done soon, dear readers. Till then, have some links. The AV Club offers up 10 directors you didn't know you hated. * * * Wit, wisdom, etc.: Don't eat before yoga. * * * Stossel. Brooks. The smackdown! * * * I read Under the Volcano\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0060955228","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}