Last month, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a “state of calamity” as Guatemala experiences the worst drought in 70 years. Approximately half of the population lives below the poverty line and 50 percent of children are suffering from chronic malnutrition. But these are only the surface casualties of a vulnerable nation ravaged by 36 years of civil war, genocide and now, the encroaching drug war spilling over from the northern border with Mexico.
Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Savidge hosts Anita Isaacs, Carlisle Johnson and Sam Lowenberg. Some highlights of the conversation include:
WIDE ANGLE explores the often misunderstood role of midwives in the U.S. We learn about who they are, what they do and where they practice. While midwives attend births in most of the world, physician-attended births are the norm in the U.S.
NYC24: AcroYoga Flies Off the Mat and Into the Air
NYC24.com: AcroYoga Flies Off the Mat and Into the Air February 2008, multimedia story
From clowns and trapeze artists to business analysts and advertising executives, AcroYoga is attracting more practitioners with its playful and therapeutic atmosphere. AcroYoga blends partner yoga, acrobatics and Thai massage.
Friday Night Turned Upside Down
By Lisa Biagiotti, Philip Caulfield, Kenan Davis & Lizzie Stark
Hanging upside down, balancing in midair, acrobatic poses and massaging strangers are all part of Jake Brenner’s Friday night plans. He’s not a bat, a circus performer or a masseuse, he’s an AcroYogi.
For the past six months, Brenner, 27, has spent Friday evenings with a growing community of more than 25 regular practitioners who use their bodies to “fly” at Om Factory, a holistic wellness and yoga center in the Fashion District.
“It’s about meeting a bunch of people, trying new things and playing safe and responsibly,” said Brenner, a marketing director.
From clowns and trapeze artists to business analysts and advertising executives, AcroYoga is attracting more practitioners with its playful and therapeutic atmosphere. AcroYoga blends partner yoga, acrobatics and Thai massage.
“This is my second time ever,” said Jules Bertrand, 38, an advertising executive who came to one Friday night session with a friend. “I think everybody is talking to everybody and the classes are getting bigger. It’s so much fun — it’s flying.”
Unlike regular yoga classes that focus on one breath and one body, AcroYoga takes the practice off the mat and into the air in what looks like a highly skilled Romper Room party.
“It ignites the child in us because we are present,” said Jenny Sauer-Klein, a co-founder of AcroYoga who lives in San Francisco. “To physically be lifted in the air is a sensation we haven’t had since we were children. It automatically makes people smile.”
Along with the child-like giddiness comes fear because the flier is often positioned upside down on someone else’s feet. Safety and support are priority in the classes, where the operative word is “down” — a signal for the base to ease the flier to the floor.
’s about helping out people when it’s their first time,” Brenner said. “Because when you see it, it’s very intimidating, and for everyone to feel so supportive and so confident, it makes you feel like you can do it.”
New York has the second largest AcroYoga community in the world, topped only by the activity’s birthplace, San Francisco. Om Factory is the only New York location with a regular AcroYoga schedule, offering three classes a week. But Adi Carter, who was recently certified as an AcroYoga instructor, plans to start a class in Brooklyn.
Jason Nemer and Sauer-Klein created AcroYoga in 2004. They have certified 70 AcroYoga instructors worldwide, but plan to cap certification at 108 after the 2008 teacher training. In order to become a certified AcroYoga instructor, applicants must already be certified to teach yoga, and must have expertise in massage or acrobatics in order to qualify for the 16-day teacher training.
“We really think of AcroYoga teachers as a family,” said Sauer-Klein, 29. “We really want to cultivate individual relationships.”
While some traditional yoga instructors are interested in AcroYoga, some question whether this acrobatic-styled activity is authentically yoga.
“It sounds like something you would do at Equinox or at the sports complex on the West Side Piers,” said Patricia Perez, 38, owner of Shiva Yoga Shala on the Lower East Side.
Sauer-Klein doesn’t believe AcroYoga is a substitute for a solo personal practice, but rather an opportunity for deeper self reflection and a way to relate to other people.
Erik Cummings, 35, who teaches Bikram yoga — yoga practiced in a room heated to over 100 degrees — said he would try AcroYoga. “I do other types of yoga and it’s good to mix it up and see what other people think and try different styles,” he said. “If it makes people happy, who cares?”
And on Friday night, AcroYogis trickle out of Om Factory headed for another flying and Thai massage session in an apartment uptown.
Queens Chronicle: Tai Chi is winning over converts to exercise
Tai Chi Is Winning Over Converts To Exercise
By Lisa Biagiotti, Chronicle Contributor
11/01/2007
(Lisa Biagiotti) Dino Blanche leads a Tai Chi class, at Linden Park in Corona, for PTA members of PS 16, which is also located in Corona.
At the Cardiac Health Center in Fresh Meadows, Harold Normich’s eyes trace every movement of his body as his reading glasses dangle from side to side. He has been practicing Tai Chi for three years – nine times a week, an hour at a time.
“The doctors have taken me off most of my medications,” said Normich, a 75-year-old veteran who suffers from chest pain and has had two knee replacements. “I weighed 237 pounds when I started. I haven’t felt this good since my late 40s, early 50s.” He now weighs 177 pounds.
Tai Chi appears to be growing in popularity for young and old, thin and overweight, and sufferers of disease or abuse. Various ethnic and age groups find the practice appealing.
“The gamut of interest runs from children to college students,” said Dino Blanche, a 47-year-old, African-American Tai Chi instructor in Elmhurst. “As people’s health conditions are growing troublesome, with obesity and diabetes, it’s not just for the elderly.”
Research and studies have shown the health benefits of Tai Chi, ranging from reduced blood pressure and heart problems, improved functionality for chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis and osteoarthritis, to general stress management.
“Three or four years ago we took a close look at complimentary cardiac care,” said Dr. John Nicholson, medical director of the Cardiac Health Center. “But we wanted to make sure that everything we did in a parallel program was evidence based. Tai Chi and yoga were definitely evidence based and important for people in cardiac rehabilitation.”
This ancient Chinese martial art combines moving meditation, exercise and self-defense. In the various styles of Tai Chi, practitioners repeat sequences of circular movements while focusing on breathing.
To engage imagination and jog memory, some instructors describe movements with poetic, metaphorical animal movements, while others, like Blanche, use descriptions like “squeeze a lemon in a cup.”
Tai Chi was founded on the Taoist belief that good health results from balanced chi (life energy).
“Your body is the number one depository for anything. If your body is strong and your heart is soft, you are ready to face any problem,” said Grandmaster Wang Rengang, 42, who runs a martial arts studio, International Dachengdao Inc., in Elmhurst.
Wang, of northern China, said that Tai Chi isn’t only physical exercise, but should be practiced to cope with stress and mental well-being. He is scheduled to teach Tai Chi to emotionally disturbed children at a local treatment center.
According to Blanche, who has been teaching Tai Chi since 1995, interest is on the rise among battered and abused women in post-traumatic, stressful situations.
“Instead of taking a pill, you can take a moment to practice breathing and movement,” Blanche said. “The first line of self-defense is that you can calm yourself down.”
He currently teaches Tai Chi to the PS 16 PTA at Linden Park in Corona on Wednesday mornings and recently presented a workshop to public school teachers on how Tai Chi and stress management methods could help students perform better on tests.
“Children have a means to relax themselves, and Tai Chi can help deal with building confidence,” Blanche said. “I envision Tai Chi to be in every public school.”
He has been practicing martial arts since 1971 and teaches his two children, ages 7 and 13, the practice.
There are several opportunities to practice Tai Chi cheaply or no cost — at health centers, Buddhist temples, senior citizen centers, parks and libraries. At the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing, approximately 150 local residents gather at 8 a.m. every day to do Tai Chi, according to Marketing Manager Scott Stefan.
On Saturday mornings, Wang instructs a free Tai Chi class for about 35 practitioners at the Elmhurst Library, where free classes have been offered for over 15 years, primarily due to the neighborhood’s 40 percent Asian population.
Jean Suchanek, who was born in Korea and lives in Middle Village, sat outside the Elmhurst Library reading about the free Tai Chi program.
“I bought the CD roms, but they didn’t help me, so I gave up,” said Suchanek, 59. “When you get older, it is easy to accumulate (weight). Instead of watching CNBC on Saturday mornings, my husband and I can come here and do Tai Chi.”
