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A beloved Arizona yoga teacher who vanished after he set out for a would-be romantic meetup with a blind date last month has been found dead. The body of Marcus Freiberger, 45, was discovered at a rock quarry in Phoenix, about 6 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, on March 19 — nearly one month after the scheduled date, AZ Family reported, citing the Phoenix Police Department. His sister, Tina Hall, broke the news of her brother’s death on Tuesday in a heart-wrenching Facebook post. “It is with a heavy heart that I share the tragic news that Marcus...

A new investigative podcast series for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds has uncovered shocking allegations of sexual exploitation, grooming and trafficking, linked to the teachings of convicted sex offender and ‘bad guru’ Gregorian Bivolaru. The 72-year-old Romanian is spiritual guide to thousands of students at yoga schools affiliated to Atman - the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation. ...Miranda first joined tantric yoga classes at Tara Yoga Centre near Old Street, London, in 2017. After becoming involved in a wider movement of Gregorian Bivolaru’s followers, she says that within two years, she found herself at the centre of an international...

An aspiring actress was swallowed to death by a giant wave while doing cliffside yoga on her vacation in Thailand, local outlets report. Shocking footage captured Kamilla Belyatskaya, 24, as the wave swept her away at the island of Koh Samui, overlooking the Gulfside of Thailand, during a meditation session on a pink yoga mat, according to the Khaosad English. Belyatskaya, a Russian-born tourist vacationing in Thailand with her boyfriend, was unexpectedly struck by the wave Friday afternoon. The footage showed her struggling against the currents and succumbing to the frothing waters. A bystander went into the water to attempt...

Older women struggling with urinary incontinence can benefit from regular, low-impact exercise, with yoga as well as stretching and strengthening showing benefits in a new study. After 12 weeks of a low-impact yoga program, study participants had about 65% fewer episodes of incontinence. Women in a control group doing stretching and strengthening exercises experienced a similar benefit over the same time period. The benefits are on par with the effects of medications used to address incontinence, the researchers said. The study compared two 12-week exercise programs: 121 participants were randomly assigned to yoga, and 119 to a physical conditioning control...

Fashion designer gets security after threats for yoga at Golden Tempple. A Vadodara-based fashion designer has been provided police protection in the wake of death threats received by her after she performed yoga at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, an official said Monday. Fashion designer and social media influencer Archana Makwana performed 'Shirshasan' at the temple on June 21 to mark the International Yoga Day and posted pictures of it on social media which went viral, drawing criticism, abuses and death threats

A new study found Kundalini yoga provided several benefits to cognition and memory for older women at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, including restoring neural pathways, preventing brain matter decline, and reversing aging and inflammation-associated biomarkers—improvements not seen in a group who received standard memory training exercises. In the study, a group of more than 60 women ages 50 and older who had self-reported memory issues and cerebrovascular risk factors were recruited from a UCLA cardiology clinic. The women were divided evenly. The first group participated in weekly Kundalini yoga sessions for 12 weeks, while the other group underwent weekly...

New research suggests that the physical postures, breathing exercises, and mindfulness practices of yoga may benefit individuals with back pain. In the study, 10 women with and 11 without chronic low back pain underwent an 8‐session yoga program over 4 weeks, with the first session conducted in a clinic and the rest delivered with a tele‐approach. Women with chronic low back pain experienced a significant decrease in pain intensity, as assessed through a 10-point visual analog scale (an average pain of 6.80 at the start, dropped to 3.30 after the sessions) and through a spine-related measure called the flexion–relaxation phenomenon,...

After 12 years of planning and construction, the largest Hindu temple outside India in the modern era is ready to open to the public in Robbinsville, New Jersey If stones could talk, sing and tell stories, Yogi Trivedi believes the marble and limestone that adorn the spires, pillars and archways of the stunning Hindu temple in central New Jersey would compose a paean to the divine. The tales these stones tell are those of seva (selfless service) and bhakti (devotion), which form the core of the Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism, said Mr. Trivedi, a scholar of Hinduism at...

Fox News California teachers union pushing for homeless access to school parking lots amid looming strike The Fresno school district says it does not plan to meet the union's demands Kassy Dillon October 5, 2023 A teachers union in California is pushing for the Fresno Unified School District to allow homeless families to park their cars in high school lots amid a looming strike. The demand is included in the Fresno Teachers Association's "last, best, and final" contract offer to the superintendent. The document also asks for the district to allocate $500,000 for security in the lots. "We do not...

Jillian was a preacher’s daughter, but what she was learning at church didn’t explain her mystical experiences. So she got involved with metaphysics and the quest for truth, with her “life goal” being to “achieve kundalini,” which she had heard led to enlightenment. What she discovered was the terrifying demonic nature of kundalini yoga. Jesus led her into the Bible, repentance, and to salvation. Jillian no longer does yoga of any kind, and she warns people that yoga is pagan idolatry that can’t be recreated or scrubbed to fit into Christianity.

For 14 years, yoga instructor Anamargret Sanchez has taught a free community class at Legion Park in Miami's Upper Eastside neighborhood. It started with 20 people and grew over time, to the point where attendance can easily top 100 and regulars have braved hurricane watches and COVID-19 lockdowns to meet under the oak trees on Saturday mornings. Sanchez livestreams the sessions so those who can't make it in person can participate on Instagram. The first Saturday of 2023 drew an especially large crowd — the weather was lovely, and only seven days into the new year, resolutions still glinted with...

Los Angeles, California city officials announced a new public safety initiative which implements yoga, meditation and healing circles to homeless communities as an alternative form of unarmed policing. The initiative's launch cost the city of Los Angeles $2.2 million in city funding. At a briefing on Monday, Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who chairs the City Council's public safety committee, announced the Project TURN initiative-which stands for Therapeutic Unarmed Response for Neighborhoods. The initiative aims at providing trauma training and services to 100 community intervention workers to tackle retaliatory violence. "Community-based public safety workers are regularly exposed to high trauma environments and...

However, have you ever wondered what it’s like to do yoga in space? Samantha Cristoforetti, a European Space Agency astronaut, has the answer as she posted a video of performing yoga at the International Space Station (ISS). Cristoforetti is seen doing yoga by following an instructor of Cosmic Kids, a platform for mindfulness for kids. Wearing elastic bands for assistance in zero gravity, she is seen doing an ‘eagle pose’ by criss-crossing her legs and trying to balance herself by bending a bit. In August, Cristoforetti had shared a video of weightlifting aboard the ISS. She shared how astronauts exercise...

Burial site of devout Catholic artist Peter Paul Rubens is shrine to yoga ANTWERP, Belgium (ChurchMilitant.com) - The historic church of St. James in Antwerp is now home to yoga enthusiasts chanting Hindu mantras below the main crucifix, with the altar and pews removed to cater to the new initiative. With the approval of Fr. Bruno Aerts, the parish priest and vicar general, the organizers promote Hinduism under the guise of weekly "yoga classes," teaching participants to sing Hindu kirtans (a call-and-response style devotional song) during the sessions. Promoting PaganismFather Aerts has posted an advertisement for the yoga classes just...

According to Mattel: “This meditation-themed doll celebrates one of her favorite ways to recharge using lights and sound — mindfulness meditation. The set comes with a Barbie doll, a puppy and four cloud emojis. Kids simply press the button in Barbie doll’s necklace to activate one of five guided meditation exercises that use light and sound effects to inspire their own practice. “Her puppy helps her visualize — insert one of the cloud emojis into its head to represent a meditative thought bubble, then switch it up for new meditation inspiration. The puppy helps Barbie doll focus with visualization: place...

The controversial psychiatrist who said that she fantasized about shooting white people during panel at Yale University in April has doubled down on her attacks saying white people are 'psychopathic' in a new interview. Dr. Aruna Khilanani, who runs her own practice in Manhattan, delivered a talk titled Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind virtually to medical students and faculty back in April after being invited by Yale School of Medicine's Child Study Center. Khilanani made stunning statements during her talk, including admitting she has had violent fantasies about shooting white people.

Jessamyn Stanley is a yoga instructor and “body activist.” Jessamyn is making headlines for some reason after blaming white supremacy for polluting yoga. Seriously. This happened. PEOPLE reported: Jessamyn Stanley needs you to know what yoga is really about – and it’s not the poses. In her new book Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, the yoga instructor and body activist shares reflective personal essays that touch upon everything from racism to the cultural appropriation of American yoga, from consumerism to cannabis. And while the timing couldn’t be better considering the current cultural climate, the idea for the book came to...

Jessamyn Stanley needs you to know what yoga is really about - and it's not the poses. In her new book Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, the yoga instructor and body activist shares reflective personal essays that touch upon everything from racism to the cultural appropriation of American yoga, from consumerism to cannabis. … The book explores the existence of white supremacy and cultural appropriation in American yoga. "I would venture to say that everything in our collective society is rooted in white supremacy. I am sure there are many people who would disagree with that, and honestly I don't...

For several decades now, American society has operated under a false assumption that banning prayer in public schools is irrevocable settled science.Two recent bills before state legislatures have shone a new light on a half-century of controversy. In Alabama, a 30-year ban on the teaching of yoga has been dropped, and in Florida state officials are seeking to make two minutes of silence for prayer or reflection a mandatory part of school days.Both of these developments are positive steps to fill a hole in the education of our children. Put simply, they open the door to a restoration of prayer...

For Melissa Shah, yoga has always been entirely Indian. Her first memories of the practice don’t include top buns, athleisure wear or even exercise. ... ...Shah said she felt a sense of belonging in learning unfiltered yoga among other South Asians in Queens, New York, where she grew up. But when she started visiting white-dominated studios outside her community, she says she felt excluded and uneasy, like she was participating in a foreign practice. ... ...South Asian instructors like Shah say they’ve been working to “decolonize” an industry that for decades has centered white elites.... But the cultural appropriation runs...