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Three Airports Now Sport Yoga Rooms

At this point we’ve seen pretty much anything that usually does its thing outside of the airport move to inside the airport. One of these new additions to the concourses and terminals is the appearance of yoga rooms.

We’re pretty sure that San Francisco International Airport started the airport yoga movement just about a year ago, as the lotus position found its way just past the security checkpoint at the airport’s Terminal 2. A year later there’s other airports getting in on the fun as well, and this week it looks like Burlington, Vermont is joining in.

Burlington International Airport is the latest airport to add yoga room to their list of amenities. A bamboo floor and plenty of yoga mats transform the space from just another room at the airport into a little bit of a sanctuary for stressed out travelers looking to unwind before or after their flights.

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New Year's Eve / Active Travel / Yoga / → All Tags

Shhhhhhhhhhhh.

Start out 2009 in peace with Jivamukti's Silent New Year's Eve. The New York-based yoga studio won't be popping champagne at midnight, but most of the night is free--as long as you follow the rules.

After an hour-long chant-and-dance kirtan party at 8 pm, the studio will practice mauna, or silent meditation, until midnight. That's three hours, no talking. It'll cost you a cool $75 for a two-hour yoga class and vegan dinner before the party, but that's still less than most other all-you-can-drink deals in the city. Plus, no hangover on New Year's Day!

But here's what we're wondering: Jivamukti isn't exactly in Times Square but we're guessing there will be revelers aplenty in the Village. Is this place super soundproofed? Or will their particular brand of yoga give you the strength of will to ignore the chattering crowds?

Related Stories:
· NYE08: A Cool Costume Party [Jaunted]
· NYE08: Camp Out In Sydney Harbor [Jaunted]
· New Year's Eve coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: daysusan]

Fall Culture Travel / Active Travel / Yoga / → All Tags

Fall Culture Travel: Bend It Like Gandhi

Never doubt that a small group of committed, exceedingly flexible individuals can change the world: Sunday's Yoga for Peace will unite nine countries in sun salutations dedicated to global harmony.

Organized by Global Mala, a nonprofit dedicated to "uniting the global yoga community," the stretchy among us will be taking over public parks from Pocatello, Idaho to Zagreb, Croatia.

Even if the solstice-oriented event doesn't achieve world peace in our time, you could do worse than getting a little fresh air, say in Madrid's famous Parque del Retiro, and working out those computer-related kinks.

Related Stories:
· Participating Cities [Yoga for Peace Official Site]
· Standard Miami's Friday Night Yoga Nights [HC]
· Back of the Envelope Guide: Woodstock Film Festival [Jaunted]

[Photo: banno]

Hudson Valley Escapes / Hudson-Valley-Map / Restaurants / Yoga / Airplanes / B&Bs / Festival Travel / → All Tags

Hudson Valley Escape: Rhinebeck

Two hours north of New York City, Rhinebeck is best-known as a retreat for holistic healing types, but it's also a chilled-out getaway with a variety of options, whether or not you're up on your yoga chants.

Rhinebeck is home to the Omega Institute, a hippie wellness center where you can take yoga and reiki classes, or, if that's way too mainstream for you, sign up for "ecstatic chant" or "touching divinity."

On the way-less-relaxed side of the spectrum, there's the Old Rhinebeck Aerodome, a museum of antique aviation that offers rides on a 1929 open-cockpit biplane.

No matter how you're getting your kicks in Rhinebeck, here's our guide to the rest of town:

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Northern California Travel / Yoga / Hot Springs / Spiritual Travel / Spas / → All Tags

Hippie Travel: Harbin Hot Springs

"Hot springs" means different things to different people. To a group of four college kids on their first cross-country road trip, it means local girls with cheap cans of beer and stealing away for a moonlight walk and getting some nookie under the stars.

Turns out, we were wrong and innocence was our bliss, but enough about us. There are lots of legit, albeit trippy, places out there such as Harbin Hot Springs, about two-and-a-half hours north of San Francisco.

The retreat center is also open to the public, and it's the perfect place to experience a weekend of hot and cold soaking, yoga, massage, vegetarian cuisine and embracing your inner animal spirit. This is the kind of place you go by yourself without telling anyone, live through the old third eye for a week and come back able to lift refrigerators and put your leg behind your head.

Accommodations at the 1,600 acre center range from outdoor camping to "dome" accommodations that look like they came from the Tatooine school of architecture.

Related Stories:
· Harbin Hot Springs [Official Site]
· Yoga coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Luiza]

New-York-Spas-Map / Spas / Yoga / → All Tags

New York Spas: Finding Our Doshas

Tranquility in the big city might sound like an oxymoron, but we decided to suspend our disbelief long enough to check out The Chopra Center & Spa, located in a gold and saffron-hued subterranean space at The Dream Hotel. The primary draw? The facility was co-created by renowned wellness guru and self-help specialist Deepak Chopra, an endorsement that actually gave us some hope we'd be walking away feeling healthier--if not less stressed.

We went for a balancing facial based on the principals of Ayurveda, an ancient Indian science that attempts to harmonize one's mind-body type, or dosha. As our therapist did the assessment of our type, we asked so many questions that she had to gently remind us that Ayurvedic healing is something best experienced--not understood through the mind. So we settled in on the table and completely relinquished control for the next 80 minutes as she steamed, massaged and moisturized our congested skin. We surrendered so much that we actually drifted off.

In addition to facials, the Chopra Center has bodywork treatments and other spa services. Guests can also sign up for yoga classes or join in on complimentary guided meditation sessions. We would have stayed on to explore the pathway to enlightenment, but you know, we had to hightail it back downtown before our dry cleaner closed.

Related Stories:
· Chopra Center & Spa [Official Site]
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· The Dream Hotel [HotelChatter]

Hippies / Yoga / Drugs / → All Tags

Why the Beatles Quit the Ashram

The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced Transcendental Meditation to the west 50 years ago. Now about 89, he's never talked directly about what caused the rift between him and the Beatles. It was their touting of him and his northern India ashram that helped make him into an international celebrity. By 1968, though, all the Beatles but George Harrison had rejected him and his teachings. The usual reasons given for this are that the Beatles found out that he was much more concerned with money and making passes at their female friends than with spiritual matters.  

But according to new claims by Deepak Chopra, it was the Maharishi that did the rejecting, and he did it because the Beatles and their friends were taking drugs. Shocking, we know. The full quote, from today's Times of India, after the jump.

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