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My Body
Jon Togo of "CSI Miami" on L.A. Gyms, Boxing, and Body Dysmorphia
Golden Oldie alert! Reaching back to late summer 2009 for a classic from our My Body series. ~ The Eds.
I used to do Pilates for exercise when I first moved to L.A. I was really good at it. It was all the Beverly Hills housewives and me. The place was called “Pilates Plus.” This French guy ran it, and he used to grab all the cougars' asses who were in the class while they were working out. It was a great workout, but I couldn’t take all the yentas. It was fifteen Joan Riverses and me.
I haven’t been to the gym in a long time. I box now. The regular gyms in L.A. are horrible. Literally, Fabio works out at my old gym. Once I saw Vin Diesel working out with a giant wooden staff. It's so douchey, it's unbelievable. It’s irritating and horrible. Once I was in a spin class and the teacher was like, "This is why you don’t work as actors! You don’t push yourself!”
I like the idea of going someplace where what you do for a living doesn’t matter. When you go to a boxing gym, you’re treated the same same no matter who you are. There’s no posturing in boxing. You can put on any front you want, but, once you get in the ring, you have to back it up. Everyone is really friendly, but they beat the shit out of each other. I get my ass whipped all the time. Some of the guys I train with fight for a living, and they have nothing to prove. There’s something very America about it. It’s like jazz. It’s a throwback sport. It’s the hardest workout there is. Because you’re working out and trying to not to get punched in the face at the same time. It would be like if you were holding a position in yoga trying to breathe and relax, and at the same time the yoga teacher was kicking you in the face. But boxing doesn’t hurt. It’s not a painful experience. You wear so much padding. You learn how to do it. I got the shanan punim. I got the money maker. I can’t get hit in the face. All the actors wear headgear because they don’t want to get punched in the face.
My Body
Starlee Kine On Fruit And The Landmark Forum
Starlee Kine is an American public radio producer and writer. Her work has been featured on "This American Life" and "Marketplace." Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine. She is currently working on a book about self-help titled, "It IS Your Fault".
Health stresses me out. I don’t feel very healthy, and I don’t have health insurance. It seems like it’s hard to get healthy. My sister is obsessed with health and nutrition. She endlessly works out. She wakes up at five in the morning and goes to Starbucks. Then she goes to the gym and does boot camp. She’s gluten free, dairy free and soy free. She really obsesses. But I don’t regularly do anything healthy. I mean, I don’t eat unhealthily. I don’t eat fast food. But I don’t eat anything nutritious. I don’t eat greens every day. I’m afraid of fruit. I don’t like pulpy, sticky kinds of fruit. I don’t like to have them on my plate. If I’m sitting at a table and someone’s eating fruit, I have to position my glass so I don’t see it.
Yoga Retreats
02 Yoga Retreat in Maya Tulum
- Who: 02 Yoga, a very cool-sounding blend of Astanga Yoga with a vinyasa flow format. 02 was created in 1998 by Mimi Louiero, a Boston-based, nationally certified, 20-year yoga practitioner who has been practicing for almost fifteen years.
- What: Two 2-hour yoga classes every day. Between classes swim, SCUBA, snorkel, walk or bike to the Mayan ruins. You can also just get a massage or mellow out on the beach.
- Where: Maya Tulum
- When: January 16-23 & January 23-30, 2010
- Why: Maya Tulum is beautiful, and it's also hilarious. A once-upon-a-time rustic little retreat center, it's now become a full-blown bourgeoise bohemian enclave of health and spiritual wellness. It's also as pretty a place as you'll ever visit. And 02 yoga sounds perfectly retreat-worthy—just rigorous enough to get your heart rate up, but not totally exhausting. Plus, doesn't the thought of eating fish tacos while relaxing in a palapa post-chataranga sound sort of amazing?
- How much: From $1,635-$1.980
- Link: 02 Yoga Retreat in Maya Tulum
Topsy-Turvey
Just Because
“I may make a cave, in a mountain of gold, or in the water of the nether regions; I may remain standing on my head, upside-down, on the earth or up in the sky; I may totally cover my body with clothes, and wash them continually; I may shout out loud, the white, red, yellow and black Vedas; I may even live in dirt and filth. And yet, all this is just a product of evil-mindedness, and intellectual corruption. I was not, I am not, and I will never be anything at all!”
—Sri Guru Granth Sahib
Yoga Drama
Don't Touch Me
A man in Boulder is suing his yoga teacher for an unwanted adjustment. Said correction, he says, was done "unexpectedly and without permission." He blames his instructor, Luke Iwabuchi, for injuries that caused him a torn meniscus that required surgery and extreme "physical, mental and emotional pain and suffering." He also says that the studio should be held responsible for promoting teachers who alter students poses without permission. Iwabuchi is a teacher at the Ashtanga Yoga studio founded by Richard Freeman, who was one of the first Ashtangis to bring the practice to America.
Unfortunate one-off case, or specter of litigeous yoga culture to come? Turn down those Bikram saunas! Sterilize those sticky mats! Hike up your insurance premiums. Much as it's tempting to wax hysterical, we hope and expect this was merely an accident, along with angry response, and not the beginning of defensive yoga.
Practical Eating
Brussel Sprouts
It's been several weeks since we last celebrated the Brussel Sprout along with Rafael Nadal's triceps. Time to revisit. Brussels, recall, peak from Autumn through early Spring, i.e. now. Small as presents, green and earthy tasting, they're like vegetable candy.
Yoga Retreats
Insight Yoga Retreat in Bali With Sarah Powers
- Who: Sarah Powers, author of Insight Yoga, creator of two instructional DVD's and co-founder of Metta Journeys, an organization that offers yoga retreats to women and children in developing countries.
- What: Five hours of yoga daily. Breakfast, brunch and several dinners included.
- Where: Fancy COMO Shambala Estate in Bali, frequented by the likes of Donna Karan and Dr. Robert Thurman, Uma's super-cool Dad.
- When: December 10 - December 16
- Why: Because Sarah Powers is a famous, real deal yogi who incorporates Taoist and Buddhist philosophies into her practice. And Bali is stunning and spiritual, while the COMO Shambala is a bourgeois-bohemian utopia.
- How much: From $1,210.00-$3,515
- Link: Insight Yoga Retreat in Bali With Sarah Powers
Good Intentions
Training For Tots
Born on Park Avenue, but, dammit, they're not going to be spoiled. Or fat. Straight out of Gossip Girl or Woody Allen film: Rich Manhattan parents are hiring personal trainers for their kids, some as young as five years old.
My Body
A.J. Jacobs On Steel Cut Oats and David and Goliath
A.J. Jacobs is an editor-at-large at Esquire magazine, and author of two New York Times bestsellers. He is currently working on a book called The Healthiest Human Being In The World.
Health means freedom from disease, longevity and a positive sense of well-being. I’m writing a book on the quest to be the healthiest person alive. I changed my diet and my exercise and my attitude. I’m seeing a trainer. I’m seeing gurus. I was never interested in the body. I basically saw the body as a way to carry around my brain for most of my life. I think it’s a Jewish way to look at the world. The stereotype is that Jews are about the mind, and not the body; and we’re all scrawny Woody Allen types. Look at David versus Goliath. David is a skinny guy who uses his intelligence and wit to kill the big body builder. I was always happy to be the scrawny guy.
I wasn’t the worst eater because I have high cholesterol. I would eat healthy food, like fat free cookies and anything that said fat-free, even though it had tons of sugar. Now I've got my steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. It’s just disgusting to eat. I put it in the microwave with water, and I eat it. It’s completely tasteless. Its gag-inducing. But I’m learning if you eat something twenty times you start to think it’s okay. I pretty much eat whole foods for the rest of the day. Nothing processed or packaged. Nothing with any Latin chemical names in the ingredient list. Just simple words that any eight-year-old would know. I eat quinoa. I’m going to buy tumeric today. I just read two pro-tumeric articles. It’s good for your brain. I drink coffee which I probably shouldn’t, but I found enough pro-coffee studies so that it’s probably okay. It’s good for your brain and for inflammation. You can find a study to rationalize any behavior. I’ve been able to rationalize a couple of bad habits. Drinking two coffees a day. A glass of red wine. I also eat one chunk of dark chocolate a day.
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Workout
Back on the Saddle
Was a very debauched weekend as far as working out was concerned. Spent the past three days in Portland at a wedding. Exercise included: driving in a Porsche Carrera 911, taking a 1/2 horse back ride up a dusty mountain trail, eating wedding cake and all sorts of white flour, breaking a 10 month coffee fast and lots of naps! Really need to get back on it today...
Workout
Oh My Sore
I meant to get up at 6:45 today but snoozed until 7:20 which meant I had to cut the Mysore series short, after badhakanasana I backbended then started finishing poses. Normally my practice takes a good hour and a half, this morning it was only one hour..
Workout
Post-Quinoa Glow
I made a big batch of quinoa the other night and saved a lot of it in my refrigerator. I know it's one of those faddist trendy superfoods but I always feel great after I eat it. For breakfast this morning I prepared it with coconut milk and farmers market peaches and for lunch I made a salad of quinoa, tuna fish, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado.
Workout
I love to swim
Saturday I splashed around a lake in Cold Springs, then swam a bit out to a buoy. I'm sort of ashamed to say that was my excercise.
Workout
yoga!
i practiced mysore yesterday for the first time in three weeks, was totally embarassed. forgot the last part of the series, had to ask for help, mind was raching. remembered that this is why they call it a practice... one day at a time. my schedule is wonky these days, don't know if i'll be able to make it in the mornings.... my goal is to get back into it at least three days a week.
Not To Be Missed
Hot Daytrips: Fort Tilden Beach
I used to say that going to the beach in New York was like walking
around the Lower East Side on a crowded afternoon in a bikini. Long Beach, Jones, Robert Moses...they all seemed a cacophony of smoking drunk hipsters in Ray Bans flaunting their tattooed legs and screaming Fleet Foxes songs. That is, until I discovered Fort Tilden which was built in 1917 to protect the city from sea and air attacks. Now it sort of protects you from the crowds.... It's a pain to get to, and so most always empty, aside from a few dog-walkers and lazy suntanners who pretty much keep to themselves. Even at the height of summer, you'll get a 50-yard stretch of beach to yourself. I went yesterday and discovered that Ft. Tilden rocks the autumn too: The mist was misty and the breeze was breezy, and the light was wonderful. You could hear falcons and hawks in the distance. The trick is simply to solve the transportation problem....
New York
It's a great bike ride from Brooklyn - pretty easy.
" More comments...Not To Be Missed
Jessica S. Stickler At Greenhouse Holistic
I'm a creature of habit and a yoga snob to boot, so if someone suggests I try out a new studio I'm usually like: no way. But lately I've been more open-minded— maybe it's the change in seasons or something. The past few Saturdays I've gone to Jessica S. Stickler's class at The Greenhouse Holistic Center in Brooklyn and it's awesome. Jessica's a Jivamukti teacher, which means she's got of a bit of a take-no-bullshit-bulldog vibe. The class itself is great. Rigorous asana and good assists, plus you're in Brooklyn on a Saturday morning which is the best way to kick off the weekend— none of that helter-skelter Manhattan jungle vibe that city studios have. One thing about Jessica that annoys me: the first time I went to her class she played a tape of Julia Butterfly Hill reciting a speech about the dangers of cutting down trees, and she gave us what seemed to be an uber-lecture about living a meaningful life. I wasn't into it. But otherwise the class is a solid, strong and excellent way to spent a Saturday morning. Jessica S. Stickler at Greenhouse is not to be missed.
New York
Not To Be Missed
Ruth Lauer-Manenti at Jivamukti
When I first arrived in New York, I saw a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow in the tabloids standing outside Jivamukti Yoga on Lafayette. I had never done yoga, and I went down to explore. What I remember of my first class is that my arms wobbled, and that Ruth Lauer-Manenti, a gladiola of a woman with a Brooklyn accent, walked over to me and touched my toe tenderly. For days afterwards, I felt sore and amazing. I went to Ruth's class every Monday night for years. Eventually I discovered The Shala very close to home, and I started going there instead.
One Monday evening recently, I wandered back into Jiva. Sure enough, Ruth was teaching. The room was packed. Ruth's singing was, as ever, haunting. She gave a "dharma talk" about relationships and "satya," the Sanksrit word for truth, and people cried. By the time the actual physical yoga started, the room was humid with sweat and tears and adrenaline. Ruth's series is complex and hard as hell. There is no wayward relaxing or child-posing in her presence. She makes you hold each pose for ages, and just when you think you're off the hook, she calls out some new crazy series that makes your muscles twist and torque in an almost-orgasmic fashion. I left that class vowing to return the next week, and return I did. Ruth, how could I have abandoned you for so long? Ruth is not to be missed.
New York
Not To Be Missed
Barbara Verrochi at The Shala
Sunday Morning. You wake up sweaty and hungover in a humid, dirty bedroom. Stumble to the kitchen, pour an old box of instant oatmeal in an barely washed bowl. Check your watch— it's 9 A.M., the whole damn day lurks in front of you, and then you remember: Barbara's teaching! Throw on yoga gear, run down street with crooked smile on your face, perhaps waving your arms joyfully. Barbara Verocchi's Sunday morning class at The Shala is one of those nearly perfect vinyasa classes: Day transforming, hangover eradicating, life affirming. She begins the class by singing sanskrit. It's deep and soothing. Her voice is warm and unaffected. As she sings, last night's excesses drain out of you. You step to the front of your mat. Barbara begins calling out asanas. The flow is gentle and rigorous, and you start to sweat. It's Sunday morning and you're sweating and moving and the class is packed, but not overcrowded, and all of the sudden you feel better than you've felt in a long time. Barbara makes adjustments, though not excessively. Her secret is in her presence. She's one of the founders of The Shala, a beautiful Italian with a rockstar Ashtanga practice, and yet she remains amazingly light. There is a notable lack of dogma, and a notable presence of kid-like energy. Which you pick up. An hour and a half later you emerge from the room refreshed, and, yes, rejeuvenated.
New York
Not To Be Missed
Angela and the Chinese Natural Therapy Center
A million years ago, I was a beauty editor at a fashion magazine, and I got free massages at posh places all the time. I hopped town cars on my lunch break and sped uptown for the latest in Swedish, Deep Tissue, or "Trigger Point" techniques. Here’s a dirty secret, dear readers: Few of those massages were any good. In fact, many of them sucked. Beyond the gold-plated waiting room, the orange slices, and the ergonomic shower chairs always lurked some weary masseuse armed with expensive lotion and bored fingers. At $200 a session -- not that I was paying— I always hoped for/expected more. When that job was no longer, I figured my days of massages were over, and I wasn't heartbroken.
Then one day, while wandering down East 9th Street, I noticed a sign that read “Chinese Natural Therapy Center" outside a small storefront that smelled a bit like fish. Naturally, I walked inside. Two Chinese ladies sat on folding chairs, smiling wanly. “Massage?” asked a man who stood nearby.
Hey you guys— unfortunately, since it's a dive place, it's not ..." More comments...
Hot Weather
Top Juice Joint
Our very favorite place to cool off this summer is the Liquiteria, local health food joint on 11th Street and 2nd Avenue. It’s an amazing, breezy clean oasis that offers the most awesome fresh-squeezed juices. We typically go for either the famous cure-all, “Killer,” made from green apples, lemon and immuno booster; OR, the all-green juice of kale, spinach, celery, parsley and cucumber. While you're there, you can also buy fresh coconuts, sandwiches, raw food bars, soup, and eighty-dollar bags of bourgeois nut mix.
Pardon us for being so un-snarky, but we find it hard to be critical about the place. Next time you’re trolling the East Village during daylight hours, stop by and grab a Berry Powerful smoothie. Chances are you’ll run into a celebrity eating a tofu pop by the juice bar.
New York
try the grasshopper it is super refreshing...
" More comments...Mysore vs. Brazil
Confessions of A Close-Minded Yogi
When I was twenty-six, I found yoga, and, yes, I am one of those people. Yoga changed my life. It was amazing, and it’s been amazing, and, god willing, it will always be amazing. Aside from the obvious reasons, I like yoga because I can basically practice it in my pajamas. To give you the full picture: I'm the girl who used to smoke cigarettes under the bleachers during middle school gym class while all the other girls ran perky laps around the gym. Nevermind the few sad trips to the gym in my early twenties in Reeboks with mixtape, I was looking at a life of Marlboro Reds and aspartame. So yoga was sort of a game changer. I've been a proud yogi for years now, and I am fit and happy.
There is a slight problem, however: I can’t walk up two flights of stairs without dry-heaving. True story. Yes, I am flexible as hell, and very strong and focused, but I could not run a mile to save my life. And I worry about this. Which is why I called my friend Eliza, and told her I was coming to the Brazilian Butt Lift class she'd been raving about. Time to get the lungs pumping, the ass moving. That, at least, was the idea....
New York
Still have to get to the Shala, but I practiced with both directors ..." More comments...
those were the days
Posted in response to: Jon Togo of "CSI Miami" on L.A. Gyms, Boxing, and Body Dysmorphia
on 1 week 6 days ago by mar