I heard that Christy Turlington has a hugely sucessful Yoga clothing/acessories company called NUALLA.

Its good to know that we have supermodels helping to bring Yoga to mainstream America....

I actually hate that. Yoga is becoming some sort of a fad, instead of a serious effort to gain spirituality or trying to achieve absolute reality.

I would rather have a 50 year old moustached guy talking about how to achieve absolute reality than have a super model who talks how to lose weight with yoga.

Yes Christy is a beaut. She doesn't have a problem representing yoga despite her background as Catholic. My personal take is that the more kinds of people who do yoga the better. It doesn't have to be always the baldy moustached swami in a loincloth..

i do ashtanga yoga. been 3 years now. i really like it. yeah i agree. the more ppl do yoga the more they can strengthen their bodies & also feel peace. my favorite asana is downward facing dog. its so good for ur back.

My favourite is the upside down padmasana. I love the balance required on the neck for this posture.

This one :


Source:Ashtangayoga.info.

Good news.

Wow, Christy is HoT!!!






She looks Indian in this picture.....





Here's a Yoga picture of her....

Nice photo of Baddha konasana, one of my favourite asanas. Christy published a book about her own discovery and journey into yoga, titled 'Living Yoga - Creating a Life Practice'. The book covered her own reasons why yoga has become such an important and daily part of her life. It also describes her experience with Hindu devotional practices and rituals. She participates in important pilgrimages including one of the most important rites in Hindu calendars - the Kumbh Mela.

Other celebrities who have made yoga a part of their lives include Willem Dafoe, Oprah Winfrey, Sting, Madonna...

There's even a statue of Kate Moss doing a yoga posture which went for auction recently... I don't think Moss is a yoga practitioner though..she just posed for her hands and feet and face.

Yogas awesome! I want t stsart taking lessons so bad but my dad wont pay

yoga is already in mainstream america for a while now.

most americans dont even know that the origins or yoga are indian...they associate it with east asian culture, like in that mcdonald's commercial for the "asian salad." it's so unfortunate.

^^well Christy Turlington knows that it's orgins is indian and it comes from hinduism

One can only hope that people try to learn more about Yoga and realize that India has so much to offer the world!

I agree that yoga shouldnt turn into a fad just because its fashionible. It seems alot of New Age types in the West like to bastardize other peoples religious beliefs. Quite a number of them like to water down and distort what is held sacred to others.

And make alot of money out of it too... anyways... it's thanks to these New Agey types that Yoga, Zen, Buddhism and Tantra has seen a revival in the West.

Here's another mystical yogic pose I like :





Sorry to rain on your parade, but yoga predates hinduism.

I see which direction you are coming from, but according to that reasoning yoga predates even the universe.

Strictly speaking (in historical terms) the first Yoga text dates to around the 2nd century BC by Patanjali, and prescribes adherence to "eight limbs" (the sum of which constitute "Ashtanga Yoga") to quiet one's mind and merge with the infinite.


Hinduism, on the other hand, is at least 5,000 years old (if not older).



This concludes today's public service announcement.

Mostly misleading and pseudo forms of it. There are however some authentic schools/systems in the West.

eg. Most yoga schools/books in the west are watered down compare to the yoga schools taught in the India ( doing asanas are great but its only stretches if they dont include the other disciplines; they should also include tratikam, meditation, pranayama etc.)
eg. Most Tibetan Buddhism in the west are from authentic sources. Most Indian types of Tantra in the west on the other hand are Western fabrications of Indian Tantra. (Tantra in the west is view as being about only sex. Where as in India Tantra consists of many occult rituals, casting spells, vashtu, ayurvedic medicine, divination, contacting spirits & ghosts, exorcism etc. and sex is view as only a small part of tantra).

Interesting topic!

There have been yogic scriptures even before Patanjali - it's juz he was the first to consolidate them into compendium in 2nd century BC.

'Hinduism' is based on the Vedic scriptures which date back to 1500BC; much older than Patanjali's sutras of course. But by no means was the concept 'Hinduism' mentioned in those texts.

‘Hinduism,’ is a term that came much later than these first Vedic and yogic texts. ‘Hinduism’ is a term that started to be used in the late 16th Century to categorize the diverse spiritual beliefs and practices encountered in India.

This is discussed in another thread...

I think it's only accurate not to confuse Yoga with Hinduism. Many of the wandering sadhus who are yogis are not necessarily Hindus. Many non-Hindu folks practice yoga too.... heard of the Buddhist and Tantric sects like Yogacara? I believe Yoga has evolved into kung fu or qigong in China. The Shaolin temple was probably started by an Indian monk who travelled to China!

Yoga is juz a vehicle that enables one to attain spiritual self-realization in whatever faith you happen to subscribe to. That's what it really is.



Well, in Christy's book, you'll be surprised she does talk about sadhanas, meditation, pranayama, vashtu (indian feng shui), ayurvedic medicines as part of her life practice in yoga. Don't be too quick to sweep western yogis as unorthodox.

Yoga in India was traditionally for sunyassis (renunciates). It could have died out in India if it weren't for the hippies who trekked to india and learnt from the lineages like Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Vivekananda etc... and brought it into the realms of the millions of householders around the world. That's what I admire about Yoga. It is not a discipline that fossilized.

Yeah, this topic is pretty interesting.

Vedic Scriptures are much older than 1500 BC. That is an outdated fact from about 50+ years ago.

You are absolutely correct about 'Hinduism' though. Its a catch all term that encomapsses all different dharmic sects (aside from those such as Buddhism and Jainism which went their seperate ways long before).

Wandering yogis and Buddhists are both people who belong to dharmic faiths and while they are not "Hindus" they are of the same ethnic/religious stock. Similar to the relationship between modern Judaism and Christianity (and conversly Jews and Christians).

I guess I should have said Vedic rather than Hindu. Yoga is a Vedic/Dharmic/Aryan practice (I think I covered just about everybody there).

I didnt say All western yogis my friend. Yes there are some good info in the west but they are few. There are some yoga schools out there in India that put most western yoga schools to shame. Although I prefer info Indian Tantric practices which I find more interesting.
(btw I would be cautious with some books on pranayma as it could be dangerous if not done properly)
Does any of Cristy's book have anything on yantras,working with parad etc. ? Any good ayurveda formulas?



(btw Any info you come across on Tantric alchemy? I would also be interested on any info about aghori sadhanas and necromancy) (not that I'm into necromancy or anything but just for historic research purposes and refrence)

No her book is very much a personal journal about how yoga entered her life and became a life journey for her during all these years as she reconciled the ancient practice with modern demands of capitalism, catholicism, cat-walking etc. She mentions how the important spiritual tenets of the sutras and the sadhanas she undertook with various swamis are weaved into her life. These teachings took a real test during the course of 9-11 when she herself was in NYC to be a witness to all the horror.

I am not familiar with Tantra. Of course there are sensationalists out there who have written garbage about Tantra as nothing more than sex. But there are some good stuff too. Would suggest you look into Tibetan buddhism sources which are based in the west.

Frankly, it's very difficult to know about Tantra in its original texts - those writings are too obscure, whereas Western practitioners have copious amounts of notes to explain the historical background of the tenets. Youll be surprised that the Dalai Lama keeps a troop of western monks who dedicate their lives to interpreting and translating the masses of obscure Tibetan texts and bring them to light. Much like the monastic scribes of the medieval days.

The really good writers are people like Georg Fuerstein, himself a Tantra practitioner. Try his book Tantra-the Path of Ecstasy. (Don't be judgmental on the title).

hymmm Interesting!


I presume she actually went to India to study under various Yogis
(some authors of yoga have never step foot in India and studied under a Guru.)



I agree that there are some good info on Tantra out there. You just have to sort out all the sensationalist garbage out there.
Tibetan Buddhism is the the few sources of authentic tantric in the West I have always respected. I actually know a few people who are studying Tibetan tantric Buddhism. Indian tantric sources in the west I'm not so sure about but I'm certan there are at least some but not many.



I agree the original 'tantras' are difficult to decode and read.
There are some commentaries and good books in India written by scholars about tantra.
I'm familar with some of the texts on Tibetan Buddhism in English literature.



I'm familar with his books. I agree they are not too bad.
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) classics are good as well.
Gopi Krishna's books on his experinces with kundalini are good too.