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Downward Dog Days in NYC: Tuesday is my Yoga teaching day

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Tuesday has become my day of double yoga volunteering. Chelsea Recreation Center Today I taught my first BOOMA! Yoga class at the Chelsea Recreation Center, 6-7pm. BOOMA! is what I wanted to call it, for want of a less ageist word than "senior" or "50+". But when I arrived at the center,  sure enough, a flyer stuck above the counter simply said "Senior Yoga Tuesday 6pm". The staff told me it was a bit of an oversight and they'd try and correct it.  Two woman who'd spotted the flyers came looking for my class - one from the Dominican Republic and the other from Mexico. Que bueno! Yet another opportunity para practicar mi Espanol! The 5th floor art room is a nice space for yoga - one of those rooms with smooth blond wood floors. If I narrow my eyes I might almost hallucinate I'm in the sumptuous studios at Equinox, where the membership is 20 times more expensive, and if you can afford it, you love it. But this is the "everysoul&q

Come on down (dog) ... BOOMA! Yoga taught by me.

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I'm now teaching yoga Tuesdays 6-7pm, starting May 4, Chelsea Rec Center, 25th and 9th NYC. Best thing ... it's free to members, and membership is a recession suppression super deal - $75/year, $10/year for seniors - pools, access to all sister centers etc. I was asked if I would teach a senior class, since their needs are underserved a world where we worship the youth we all lose ... Since I already teach at Hudson Guild Senior Center, I'm aiming this class at Fit 50+.  And I've called it BOOMA! YOGA to be less ageist. (f-o-g-i-s did cross my mind but I'll wait til I'm 50 before I dare float that one). So don't expect any serious pretzel moves, but feel perfectly free to upstage me, as Colin Freestone, one of my customers, is doing in this picture. Colin's a long time yogi who offers yoga to cyclists on the trips he leads to Indonesia . So yes! Cyclists welcome - in which case bring on the pretzels or you might find yourself looking like

The rebirth of the rebirth of Cool: New York Theater Ballet

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"We all like to think to ourselves, I could do that , right?" The opening post-performance remark by dance teacher Sarah Stackhouse was telling. Alluding to the ever-escalating razzle-dazzle of modern dance performance (Circ du Soleil? Momix?), she spoke of the virtue of winding back to something accessible, something perhaps even we could do ... I was offered tickets to see Signatures 10 , a performance by the New York Theater Ballet. This outfit is sometimes confused with the New York City Ballet by barackberrying blow-ins with short attention spans (like me). I had no idea what I was about to see, no time to Google, and more importantly, no idea what this little dance company was really all about. From its "About": New York Theatre Ballet was founded in 1978 by its artistic director, Diana Byer. It is the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the United States ... has earned acclaim for its restoration and revival of small masterworks by great cho

Bless my Folder!

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I took my tikit to the annual  Blessing of the Bikes . "Need a top-up from my water bottle?" I asked the Rev Tom P Miller, as he sprinkled holy water on the hundreds of assembled bicycles. But apparently it was like the loaves and fishes ... plenty to go around, and then some. Don't forget to bless the folder! I said. And he did.

Stunning Bike Friday TV Ad: Rob jumps 102,000 Feet unfolding a bicycle

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I'm thrilled to be part of the the team tha made this happen: About the ad Thanks to the many customers and supporters who funded this ad!

Downward Dog Days In Arizona: Desert Camp 2010 Done and dusted!

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Bike Friday Desert Camp 2010 is done and dusted. Check out the full montymedia . I should say "done and frosted" - for the first time in my 7 years of attending this camp, the weather was chilly and ominous, threatening to force us jointly and severally into the luxe sag wagon. Which of course we did - the tour leaders scooped us up in the van as we struggled along in amazing Scott-in-the-Antarctic headwinds.  Just look at this sky ... I taught a morning yoga class each morning and in the afternoon on 2 occasions. It was quite an eye opener to note very fit cyclists struggling with even basic flexibility - which makes me even more determined to develop my cyclists' yoga class ... I held the class form 7-7.30am, which provided time to do little more than a warm up and some standing poses. On a couple of days I offered a 1 hour class in the afternoon. The routine included lots of vinyasas (knees/chest/chin to make it easy), and lots of twists: Ujayi (ocea

Any Old Iron: a true Brit friend opens a Lower East Side store

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Right: "It's very gay!" said friend Justin (also very gay). A reworked jacket by Red Mutha. MOVIE:  March 4 soft opening Hot on the platform heels of reminiscing old times with former roommate Julia Clancey , I followed up next day by attending the soft opening of her brother Andrew's new Lower East Side store,  Any Old Iron. It's been 13 years since I crashed on Andrew's sofa on my way from End to End in the UK, and he's since become a "curator" of men's fashion - vintage, eclectic, avante-garde - 100% True Brit. I walked in the door and noted that Andrew hadn't changed one bit. He's the same warm, welcoming and 'tude-free Andrew Clancey from when I knew him - just a little bit older, like all of us (sigh). His collection of unisex clothing includes the brand Red Mutha from Brighton, UK, which specializes in "reworking" old jackets. Meaning,  take 1 destined-for-Goodwill jacket, do a bit of nipping and tuckin