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Booma Yoga: The babies, not the boomers!

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Do these look like 50+ boomers to you? Nope. My Booma! Yoga class is getting off to a slow start at the Chelsea Parks and Rec Center - and today's monsoon-like rain didn't help. Meanwhile downstairs, the aerobics class was packed and in full swing. What gives? I suspect it is partly little flyer the center prepared. * The time slot is 6-7pm, which  suits me and younger folk, but not seniors. * The poster says 50+, which suits seniors, but not younger folk. So it's keeping both groups away. I'm going to ask them if they can tweak it to ... BOOMA! 50+ YOGA All ages welcome No wait, let's K.I.S.S. that goodbye and make it EASY YOGA. Because it's a class that will suit newbies AND seniors. I waited a while, not really minding that no-one was turning up - I am offering my time as a service, and the commitment to do so is as much a part of my contribution as teaching the class itself. Besides I can always catch up on some Barackberrying. Enter

Super Senior Cyclists @ Hudson Guild Community Center

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It's the end of the first week of my post-Bike Friday life, and I yet I still find myself subconsciously doing things one could call "work related". Since May is National Bike Month, I came up with the idea of giving the seniors at the Hudson Guild - where I volunteer teach yoga - a little thrill by riding it around their lunchroom. "Great idea!" said Yehudit Moch, the activities director, tasked with the tireless work of coming up with programs to keep seniors active and engaged. "Let's called it Folding Bike Fun, and do it at 12.45pm, towards the end of lunch, before they disperse." For disperse they do - the attention span is short, and hearing and vision loss doesn't help. The night before the demo I had this last minute idea to invite some local senior cycling friends to the show. Four names came immediately to mind: Tod Moore (72), a bicycle tour guide who rides every year in France; Jesse Brown (70), former president of t

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!