Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Ommm, Now and Forever by MARGARET DICKSON As a woman of a certain age, I have come to believe I know myself pretty well I am far from alone in making yoga a central part of my life and routine. and am rarely surprised by what I think or what I do. Baby Boomers began flocking to various forms of yoga when the Beatles did I shocked myself recently, though, by in the mid 1960s, and the tide has been snagging one of the Precious Jewels for swelling ever since, including athletic what amounted to a 48 hour jaunt up the "power" practices and Bikram — yoga road to Washington for … get ready ... practiced in a room heated to 90 degrees or a Smithsonian exhibition on yoga in art so. We Boomers are such yogis that books through the ages, grandly titled, Yoga: The are now coming out to help us continue Art of Transformation. and adapt our practices as we age. Boomer It was terrific, and I brought home the Yoga: Energizing the Years Ahead for Men fat, hardbound, coffee table suitable, $55 and Woman by Beryl Bender Birch is one catalogue to prove it. Our quickie road trip of these, hoping to move Boomers along also confirmed once and for all that yoga is the continuum from more physical to more an important part of my life and that I will spiritual practices. likely practice it in some form as long as I Yoga, of course, is not everyone's cup of can move my muscles. tea. But then neither are triathlons, polo, This is certainly not what I expected. mountain-bike racing or sitting on the sofa Growing up in the South, I imagined drinking martinis and savoring chocolates. playing tennis or golf, going swimming or If we are able to find any activity that water skiing or perhaps bicycling or just strengthens our bodies and soothes our taking pleasant walks as my lifelong pursuits. Baby Boomers began flocking to various forms of yoga when the Beatles did in the souls, that has got to be a blessing. mid 1960s, and the tide has been swelling ever since. I have tried all of those activities and still New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd ride my "comfortable" bike and stroll addressed yoga and the Boomers' ongoing Lilly the Lab, but nothing has spoken to me like yoga. It is non-competitive, love affair with it several years ago, a column which generated more than a challenging both physically and mentally and, on occasion, it leaves me with a hundred comments from Times readers, both yoga lovers and yoga haters. much welcome sense of deep calm and peace. Yoga has taught me that I am not Here are a few. competing with anyone but myself and that my body and my mind are the only "Oh brother. I'd rather have a couple of martinis than listen to a yoga teacher ones I will ever have and that I must treat them kindly. For me, it puts the rest for an hour instructing me to make my body do things it doesn't want to do on of life in perspective. a dirty mat with crummy music …we Baby Boomers are the most obnoxious So how did a traditional Southern girl like me become a devoted practitioner generation that ever lived. No wonder the 20-somethings can't stand us." of the ancient art of yoga? "We can learn to relax our bodies and minds, and we need to regularly, for My own yoga journey began about 15 years ago when a neighbor invited our health and well-being. I wonder why this simple idea, with many years of me to attend her yoga class. I went largely out of curiosity. Far from a wiry, research and common sense behind it, still makes people … well, nervous." self-sacrificing guru, the yoga master was a former 82nd Airborne paratrooper "Get a dog. No nagging, no alimony, no university tuition, always glad to and martial arts expert who has practiced yoga for four decades. I was hooked, see you." probably because I was so shocked at what stretches and movements I could And, finally, the winner of my newly minted Maureen Dowd Ever-Clever not do and positions I could not hold. My immediate reaction was "If other Award… people can do that, then — by golly — I can, too!" I have been in that class ever since, through three location moves and "I'm raring to discard my toga, outlasting every other student as they came and went. I go to other classes as Resume my old practice of yoga, well, particularly when I travel, and have learned different yoga traditions and End sexual disorder, techniques and what my body and mind prefer — stretching and perfecting Put frayed nerves in order, MARGARET DICKSON, Conpositions as opposed to more aerobic, fast paced sun salutations. Yoga has seen Pretend that I'm not an old foga." tributing Writer, COMMENTS? me through the sale of a third generation family business, the departures of the Namaste. Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Precious Jewels from the nest, five political campaigns and countless ordinary stresses of the human condition. Celebrate Valentine's Day With Us! Valentine's Day Special 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-3pm Surf-n-Turf for Two $39.95 Reservations Accepted Serving Fayetteville For Over 50 Years! Focus on the Family 20 Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Contest & Request Line: 910-764-1073 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Keeping the Main Thing ... the Main Thing. visit us online www.christian107.com JANUARY 22-28, 2014 UCW 5