GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

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

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

"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

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.

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!

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

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

Reconnecting with Julia in 2007 after 10 years, outside a fashion shop with bike-as-art in the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, NYC.  Update March 4, 2010 MOVIE: Julia's brother Andrew at his  Any Old Iron opening Below: Dec 2010 movie of Julia at Any Old Iron THANKS to Facebook, we can now get the low-down on long lost friends, lovers, roommates, colleagues .. . and inhale their exhaust fumes as they rocket to fame. I've been enjoying Googling the meteoric rise of my former flatmate Julia Clancey , once a hair stylist, now a top British fashion designer. Cameron Diaz, Victoria Beckham, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and a bunch of other starlets now wear her stunning couture threads. My Googling brought back some fond memories that I've enjoyed recanting below ... apologies that there are not more photos of Julia yet - they're currently in Sydney in my mother's closet, a long way from 'merica, but I'll dig them out soon and - with her blessing, share som

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of my maiden voyage to Cuba I've created a ...   Handsomest Man in Cuba Facebook Fan Page And what better way to kick it off than with this utterly stunning photo essay by photographer/editor Carlo Alcos of popular travel writing site matadornetwork.com, who read my book, bought a Bike Friday, and did his own sojourn in 2010. His dramatic shots far surpass my Kodak happysnaps circa 2000. Take a look for yourself ... more Cuba news http://www.galfromdownunder.com/cuba/blog CAMERAS Carlo uses (and you're GONNA wanna know): "A Canon 40D... my two lenses are the Canon EF-S 10-22mm and the Canon EF-S 18-200mm." Rats! big 'ones. I guess I'm gonna have to grow up ... Carlo Alcos : CUBA PHOTO ESSAY 2010 published by  matadornetwork.com My wife and I were sitting on the steps of the Capitolio when I said, "is that...is he...no, can't be." But it was. 10 years after Lynette's excursion in Cuba and here he sti

Namaste! Today I received 6 yoga blocks and 6 blankets thanks to the kind donation by Bike Friday Customer Glenn Martin  (pictured mid-Vasisthasana on Arizona Camp 2010 ) and a kind price break by YogaDirect.com. (As I said in my last yoga post, the ex-studio mats were donated by Laughing Lotus and my training was by Joschi Yoga Institute). It's gratifying to know that a dot com with a word like "direct" in it still has some human intervention to do special things for special people. Thank you Yoga Direct. The special people I'm referring to are the seniors at the Hudson Guild Community Center where I am volunteering a weekly yoga class. So far I've done 2 classes. Abilities range from belly dancers to someone in a wheelchair. It's really making me think about what really works for different bodily limitations. A lady with problematic feet could n ot do Downdog. We did Navasana (boat poses) instead - like a Down Dog upside down - no pressure on her feet a

   A picture paints a thousand gripes. Can you tell what I'm about to rant about on FastCompany.com ? Stand by ... OK, here's the rant: Packaging Design 101: Follow through ... with decent glue .  

A little video of me tramping through the icy streets of NYC for my mother and father (who are sweltering in the heat of high summer Downunder). Ever wondered what it's like to walk through an icebox? Assuming you could shrink yourself down and do just that - this comes close. One thing you gotta do - buy the right boots . This year I blew $100+ on a pair of Steve Maddens that had absolutely, positively, NO zip up the side. Why so? Step in curbside puddle wearing boots with a side zip and you'll soon know - you'll be ankle deep in water. I believe I was on my way to a talk by übernaut Joe Kittinger (first man in space, jumped out of a balloon at 102K feet etc) hosted by Forbes Adventurer Jim Clash .  Joe appears far left, Jim's in the fawn jacket. The jump has been called, "Joe's Giant Step." I tell you, the weather on the way over to the Madison Ave location soon became a blizzard - I felt like Scott in the Antarctic. Jim interviewed me in 2005