This entry was posted on our weblog and I wanted to share it with Gaia members (let me know what you think of the topic):

I am a mother of a eight year old and would like to introduce my son to the practice yoga some of the concepts in yoga conflicts with my Christian’s teaching and I struggle with that, being able to crams one’s mind free from taught is a very relaxing experience but is not encouraged as it is considered to provide door ways for negative ( evil ) manipulation by others. therein lies my conflict I want my son to have the skills to deal with the stresses of life in a healthy and sane way and I believe yoga can do that,can you shed some light on this

Hi Onika,

You ask a very powerful and important question. Being raised in a fairly strict Christian household, I can definitely understand your initial concerns. Hopefully, upon further reflection, you will understand that yoga would be a wonderful addition to your son’s (and your) life. Yoga simply brings us to our center, so that we can honor our bodies and cultivate a stronger connection to the Divine, regardless of our religious affiliation. In this sense, yoga is good for Christians and non-Christians alike.

As we teach it, yoga is simply a set of tools to help us find our inner divine nature (this is reflected as a peaceful, relaxed, happy state.) With that said, some yoga classes are definitely dogmatic – meaning they hold the energy and teach the concepts of certain religious groups. Other classes are completely devoid of any sense of spiritual uplift at all, which I personally find deeply disappointing. But the most interesting classes, and the best teachers, seek to inspire the student toward a deeper connection to their spirit.

All the great yoga teachers have clarified that Yoga belongs to no one religion, or no one set of people. It belongs to everyone. After all, it’s about your breath, your mental focus, and your spirit. To new students trying to figure out how to understand all the options when starting a new practice, I always encourage them to find their teacher first – the style of yoga often seems less important once they find an inspiring teacher. By the way, we’ve seen articles on Christian Yoga, so that may be an interesting way for you to explore your faith and your Divine connection.

I hope these words have been of help. Your son does deserve to have all the tools necessary to keep his radiance and energy throughout life. Fortunately, he has a very caring mom! - Bill

PS: Be sure to visit our site and blog at: http://www.practicalyoga.tv/blog.asp

The Guru is You Blog

I was at a social function recently, and was asked the question: "What do you do for a living?" Sometimes I'll simply say: I teach yoga. This time, however, I said: "I'm a Spirit Trainer". Then, with a bit of thought and a quizzical look in their eye, they replied: "Hmm...what's a Spirit Trainer?"

Good question. Spirit Training is a term Jeff coined several years ago when we decided to start our company and commit to being teachers. We both decided that we wanted to teach yoga to help uplift students, rather than just get people in shape.

Not unlike personal fitness training, Spirit Training is the act of helping people tap into their personal strength. But in our case, we specifically help you reach for your spirit, through the practical application of breath, mental focus and physical exercise. If you add up one part fitness trainer, one part yoga teacher, one part meditation teacher, and one part visionary for the student, they would add up to what we do as Spirit Trainers.


In fact, there are many among us who are inherently "spirit trainers". If your goal is to help uplift those around you, you are in the business of spirit training. If your goals are connected to the act of supporting others in reaching their highest wellbeing, then you're a spirit trainer. If you can look beyond the immediate shortcomings of an individual (say your teenage child who is behaving badly), stay focus on the vision of their inherent goodness, and support them in the highest way possible, then you are a spirit trainer.


Truth is, we need more spirit trainers on the planet. Whether you are a motivational speaker, an auto mechanic, or a parent, if your goal is to lead by example, and you work to see the pure potential in another person, then you have the qualities that make up a spirit trainer. As you go out into the world, know that your presence makes a difference. When you choose to uplift another, you are sending out a wave that will have a definite, powerful effect on your personal world as well as the larger world around you.
As Maya Angelou has stated: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
When you leave people feeling uplifted, you will have made all the difference in the world.

- Bill

PS: If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to sign up for our daily national newsletter with EverydayHealth.com - it's called Yoga for Every Body. Enter your email and subscribe! http://secure.agoramedia.com/manage_subscriptions.asp

Hello again,

People come and go so quickly around here! I just realized that I hadn't been to "zaadz" in a while, then realized that all the emails I was getting was from Gaia....wow. So, here we are! Congrats to the new owners. (Gaiam Rocks!)

I am happy to share that our company, PracticalYoga.tv,  has partnered with EverydayHealth.com to provide the content for their "Yoga for Every Body" newsletter. This had been fulfilled by Yoga Journal, and we are thrilled to offer our own audio and video yogic content through this partnership.

We feature Yoga Quickies(tm) - yoga in a minute for people on the go. There are iPod and mp3 video tutorials and experiences (who really wants to just read about yoga anyway?) as well as Audio downloads - like the "Emotional Balance Meditation" and "Cross Crawl Crunches Audio Workout" (visit http://www.practicalyoga.tv/shownewsletter.asp?newsletterID=2935797 - this page has links for an entire week's worth of our signature content.)

We are excited to be able to offer yoga and wellness techniques to people around the world (it seems like every country except for Russia). We'd love to have your thoughts, as well. Go to the above link and listen (or download) the content, and send me your thoughts. We've been getting very solid response, and we are always looking for ways to improve the experience.

Until next time.
Bill Donnelly

First off, thanks for the friendly notes and comments about my last post. As you may know, I teach Practical Yoga, and we created Yoga Quickies to help busy people do a little mindfulness exercise everyday. It's yoga in-a-minute for people on-the-go! We have a number of these short video postures and suggestions on our DVD "Practical Yoga for Everyday People" (http://www.spiritrainers.com) - and the ones posted on Zaadz are FREE for you to enjoy!
 If you like them, share them with a friend or tell a fellow Zaadzster about it. I'd love to hear your comments - try the frogs or the Humming Meditation with a partner and tell me what your experience was! - Bill

I teach “practical yoga”. I have to ask: Is yoga really practical?

My first yoga class in 1992 was a mixed blessing. I really enjoyed it, but I wasn't quite sure how to make it part of my life. I was still a 2x/day gym bunny, and was pretty happy with that. Over the years, I explore different classes. To be honest, sometimes the "beginner" level classes were so difficult I just overdid it, even though I was in really good “workout” shape at the time. This overreaching, in turn, caused me to wonder why I wanted to do yoga in the first place – was it for “others”? It wasn't until I connected the spiritual and esoteric side of yoga with the physical workout that the light went off in my head…and heart.

Years later, I was invited to attend a kundalini yoga class by my partner Jeff. Over the next few months, needless to say the practice really rocked my world. It seemed that I had come home, that there was a practice that made the mundane workout into a sacred movement joining breath, posture and mental focus. LA is filled with profoundly powerful teachers who inspire. I was introduced into a number of esoteric meditations, breathing techniques/pranayam, and the yogic lifestyle.

When we set out to create our TV show, we wanted to share with the world what we had learned. But I also knew that middle America might not be particularly comfortable going the route I did – it often was construed as a “cult” in many circles. I also knew that I had no agenda for converting people into believing my own personal beliefs. I knew I had to share these tools for wellness and connection with spirit. Could all that we had learned, which were in actuality simple basic steps and actions to transform your life, be translated into practical steps for everyday people sitting at work, in their car or at home? It was a bit risky. Many of these practices are sacred, and I had no intention of sullying them out of a desire to “get out there and change the world.”  I actually wanted to serve, and in that I had to find a way to offer the tools without a personal agenda, per se.

It was a big leap of faith, and yet there was no question in my heart that this must happen. I had always seen it in my mind’s eye. I knew, since my early teens, that I would be on TV, I knew that I’d be sharing something important and uplifting. I didn’t’ know that I would also produce this show that would fulfill my life’s passion (I actually thought that I was supposed to be an actor).

Yoga belongs to no one religion, or group of people. Certain groups “hold” the energy and keep it pure by passing it down with strict guidelines. Yet in reality, Yoga is a living and breathing thing – always (as Ernest Holmes would say) “open at the top”. It adapts as people adapt. It changes as the needs of the people change.

So, this brings me to the topic of this blog today. Is yoga really a practical practice? I’ve had many students and non-students alike ask me recently whether yoga is the real deal. Does it really help, or is it just another fad? Really good question. On the one hand, there are simple yoga bunnies – those who tend to appreciate the acrobatic aspect of the workout and minimize the deeper internal spiritual side of the practice, or ignore it altogher. As teachers, they offer little in the way of help to the spirit for their students. No meditation. To turning your mind toward the Infinite/God. Just a good ol’ workout that will give you yoga-butt. Great. But if you are turning to yoga to get a better set of tools for dealing with life, yoga-butt will do little to further your goals (no more than, say, a typical workout at any gym).

From my personal experience, true yoga, and inspirational teachers, will always lead the student toward a more honest and authentic life. That, at its core, is what yoga is. If the process doesn’t lead to this, then I don’t believe it can be called yoga. Call is yoga-related, or yoga-inspired. But this process is no easy task for anyone who has been “on the path” for any period of time. To be honest, living truthfully can be exhausting and at times unnerving. But, that is in the short run. In the long run, the gifts received from this deep practice are, from my experience, quite remarkable and maybe even indescribable. It gives me tools and techniques to encourage me to “lean” in the direction of my deepest and highest dreams and vision. It wrangles the power of my always active mind, and soothes my often over stimulated nerves (or at times stimulates my under-engaged nerves).

It is a powerful adjunct to an already existing spiritual practice. It supports a student in manifesting each “higher-powered’ vision or dream slowly and methodically, and yet with clarity and great heart-connection. Giving up the short term tomasik pleasures and numbing escapism for the long term rajistic joy of self-actualization is no small task and not for the faint of heart – and in this sense makes yoga quite impractical for everyday people. But, perhaps, we must all come to this realization at some point. Like the teen who just wants to “party” and never grow up, they ultimately wake up to the reality that this road will most likely lead to immeasurable suffering and a failed, empty life. Well adjusted adults know that this young person must do what is necessary to enter into adulthood – “grow up”, make responsible decisions, and so on. I believe that we were born to bring forward our gifts. It is an opportunity, and a responsibility. If this belief is true, then yoga becomes immensely practical. A daily practice that can lift your spirits and keep you toned-up and tuned-in…what more could you ask for?

Please share your thoughts –leave comments. I’d love to hear from you. - Bill

So, i've spent the last several years working as a producer (I pitched a fun idea for a television show - Guru2Go-  to Discovery for their at-the-time new network Fit TV - which I co-produced with them and co-hosted with my partner, Jeff Bader). I've also had the privilege of teaching Kundalini Yoga & Meditation to some of the most beautiful people imaginable. But I have to admit, being self-employed has both lifted me and challenged me to my core. But at the end of the day, what would one do? I can work for others, but nothing feels quite so deeply nourishing as creating and growing pursuing my life's purpose of service. And, with our show reaching countless people across the country with a message of self-empowerment, I consider myself a very fortunate yogi.

I have always lived outside the box, so to speak. I'm always just a little uncomfortable with life (except in deep meditation). Being gay might do that to you, but I think it's something deeper. I guess being in the world - the field of opposites I like to call it - is about structural tension. The yoga I teach feels somehow outside the box - lesser known than Hatha, and definitely more esoteric in it's practice (ironic, though, that  I see it ultimately as even more practical than hatha for day to day tools for living). That's why we created our new website (www.practicalyoga.tv) It's not about acrobatics as much as mental focus and physical/spiritual energy develpment. Keeping up in the modern age will require us to be at the top of our game, not just with firm abs but with a clear and ready mind. I'd love to hear what you think of our new site - and our Yoga Quickies...

I always tell students that hatha (the first 20 minutes of my classes) is about getting grounded, solid and strong. Kundalini Yoga & Meditation (the heart of my class) is about letting your spirit soar. Both are so important. I teach spirituality in a non-dogmatic environment. To this day, when I go to a yoga class and it skips the meditation at the end, i am always felling like "where's the metaphorical beef"?

Yoga butt is fine, but we still end up feeling like we are taking one step forward and two steps back. And, what if you are injured? What then? I've seen many a hard-bodied yogi/yogini stumble when they couldn't count on their bodies and a good workout to get them through challenges (myself included). I'd love to hear your thoughts about it. I guess this is why Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini Yoga to the west, said that it would take 20 years to accomplish with Hatha Yoga what 2-3 years of an intense Kundalini Yoga practice can accomplish. It's hard to really say, or measure this, but my experience is that with the breath, the mantra, the mental focus, the rhythmic movement, profound shift can happen in one class.

Sat Nam and Namaste!
Bill Donnelly