Ryan Ferguson

Each year in July, great fanfare envelopes our nation as we join together in celebration of a basic human right: freedom.

For Southwest Florida resident Ryan Ferguson, the concept of freedom resonates more now than it has in at least 10 years.

On Nov. 1, 2001, Kent Heitholt, sports editor for the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, was slain in the newspapers parking lot around 2:10 a.m. Two years later, a young man named Charles Erickson began publicly sharing recurring dreams that he and his former classmate, Ryan Ferguson, were involved.

What followed was viewed by many as a series of finger-pointing, confusing confessions, questionable police work, awkward eyewitnesses and a prosecution team hell-bent on solving the case.

The result: 19-year-old Ryan Ferguson was sentenced to 40 years in prison based almost exclusively on eyewitness accounts from teenage dreamer Erickson and Tribune janitor Jerry Trump who, at trial, gained the ability to positively identify Erickson and Ferguson.

Erickson, through a plea bargain, received a 25-year sentence.

With the assistance of civil rights attorney Kathleen Zellner, Ferguson returned to court. In April 2012, Trump and Erickson faced possible perjury charges and admitted on the stand they had lied at Fergusons original trial.

Fergusons conviction was vacated by the state of Missouri on Nov. 5, 2013, on the basis that the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense team. At age 29, he was released on Nov. 13 after spending almost a decade in prison.

Just like the millions of other Americans who pursue careers, make their own choices and stand by their ideals, Ferguson had his freedom.

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Business Class: Ryan Ferguson is taking freedom seriously

Last week something of a kerfuffle broke out on Twitter between physicist-slash-TV presenter Brian Cox and self-help guru Deepak Chopra over the issue of quantum physics. Chopra made a particularly ill-advised offer of a large amount of money to anyone who could prove his understanding of the issue was incorrect, to the delight of those who are well aware that his understanding of the issue has long been incorrect.

For those unfamiliar with Chopra, he is one of the world's best-selling authors - a respected endocrinologist who, in the 1980s, discovered mysticism, and philosophies of healing and consciousness. He has authored dozens of books, founded his own "Centre for Wellbeing" and, after appearing on Oprahwith his friend Michael Jackson,became a bona fide celebrity in his own right. His acolytes think him a genius, or even a prophet; his detractors believe him to be a danger to public health for pushing alternative medicine (with no experimental proof of effectiveness beyond the placebo effect) as an option for dangerous diseases like cancer or AIDs.

The former magician James Randi has made debunking paranormal and pseudoscientific claims - which he calls "woo" - into a career, and famously offers a $1m prize for anyone who comes forward with such claims so they can be proven under experimental conditions. Since it began in 1996, hundreds have entered, and nobody has won. To that end (and fed up of what he sees as disrespect towards the world's ancient belief systems from "militant atheists"), Chopra issued his own "one million dollar challenge to the skeptics" last month:

Before you go around debunking the so-called paranormal, please explain the normal. How does electricity going into the brain become the experience of a three-dimensional world in space and time? If you can explain that you get a million dollars from me. Explain and solve the hard problem of consciousness in a peer-reviewed journal, offer a theory that is falsifiable and you get the prize."

He also penned a column for theHuffington Post, going into more detail about his issue with Randi and his "cronies":

Skepticism, as a gadfly movement, consists of angry people who play "gotcha," adopt an air of smug superiority, and generally alienate anyone who comes close to them. So why confront them in the first place?

As one of the major confronters, I'd say that my primary goal is to defend the truth of spirituality. The world's wisdom traditions are just as precious as science. To lump them together as arrant charlatanism (as if Buddha and Jesus stand on the same level as a stage magician or con man) is grossly misleading. To dress up this hostile attitude as scientific and rational only deepens the deception. In the familiar metaphor of Elmer Gantry, the fire and brimstone preacher who was a greater sinner than those he preached to, the skeptical movement is much more close-minded and blindly irrational than anyone they expose.

...

Sane people stay away from dogfights, and for years I stayed away. But it turns out that a positive good can be achieved by going after the skeptics. Let's leave aside the whole question of God, faith, miracles, and the so-called supernatural. These things have been incendiary for a long time and arouse stubborn resistance on both sides. The real issue is exactly what my offer focuses on: What is consciousness, how does it create reality, and how far does this reality extend?

It is worth stating here that I actually agree with Chopra when it comes to big-A Atheism, which has become more than merely a rational response to a culture of evangelical anti-science Christianity - instead it is now a vociferous and furious anti-religious movement, and often a home for those with anti-Semitic and Islamophobic views. I also, as an atheist, do not deny that there is value in spiritual belief and practice.

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Latitude Festival

KUCHING: AirAsia X Bhd yesterday announced the commencement of four times weekly flights to Narita from Kuala Lumpur while Thai AirAsia X also will flying from Narita and Osaka to Bangkok respectively.

AirAsia X commenced flights to Japan in December 2010 to Tokyo (Haneda) and flights to Osaka commenced in November 2011. It increased its initial three weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo (Haneda) to daily in June 2012.

At a press conference in Narita yesterday, Azran Osman-Rani, chief executive officer of AirAsia X said, AirAsia X is responding to the strong and growing travel demand to and from Japan.

The airline has recorded on average 89 per cent passenger load in the first half of 2014, proving the strong demand for the route since the commencement of its inaugural flight in November 2011. Overall, the airline has carried over one million passengers to and from its Japan routes and Japan contributes over 12per cent of the airlines total revenue to date.

The additional flights from both AirAsia X and Thai AirAsia X would further provide our guests from Malaysia and the surrounding region to Japan and from Japan to South East Asia and beyond the flexibility in their travel with better connectivity.

With the convenience of our Fly-Thru flights, guests from our long haul network and that of the AirAsia Group may connect seamlessly to over 90 destinations across the Groups network.

The additional flights from both AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X will indeed open up new horizons for commercial activities and boost tourism in Japan and the Asean region, Osman-Rani concluded.

Nadda Buranasiri, CEO of Thai AirAsia X added, Thailand has always been a popular destination for Japanese travelers and we are pleased to offer more affordable and convenient travel options for those who wish to visit Bangkok and beyond. In 2013, Thailand welcomed 1.5 million Japanese travelers, an increase of 11.9 per cent compared to the previous year and we are confident that we can contribute to the further increase number of tourists travelling between the two countries.

Further to this, AirAsia X will also fly into Narita four times weekly and will increase to daily flights in May 2015. The airline is committed to Japan and the additional flight frequency to Narita is in line with its expansion strategy for the region.

AirAsia X will be offering promotional fares from as low as RM299 (9,990 yen) on economy and RM799 (38,000 yen) on Business Class from Kuala Lumpur to Narita, Japan. Fares are available for booking online from 8 July to 13 July 2014 for travel between 21 November 2014 and July 31, 2015.

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Beijing: India today held its biggest yoga summit in China in a bid to reclaim its ancient legacy over the iconic spiritual practice.

Yoga has, in recent years, become a rage in China but also stirred up concerns that its popularity is being cashed in by poorly trained coaches.

The six-day summit was formally inaugurated at picturesque Dali city in Yunnan Province in which renowned Yoga teachers like Geeta Iyengar, daughter of Yoga Guru B K S Iyengar and Hollywood model Yogi Cameron are taking part.

Top local officials as well as Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K Kantha took part in the inaugural ceremony.

The event is being held as part of the 'Glimpses of India Festival' to celebrate 2014 as Year of Friendly Exchanges between India and China.

Around 1,500 yoga practitioners from all over the world, majority being from China, participated in the event besides local government officials, media and academicians.

The theme of the Summit is 'Science of Yoga' during which lectures, physical demonstrations and video presentations on different aspects of yoga will be made.

Elaborating on the initiative, Kantha told PTI that as yoga is gaining traction at the popular level, there is need to teach correct techniques and engage in dialogue with practitioners.

Seventeen prominent teachers of yoga from various disciplines have been invited to take part in the summit to address the concerns that correct techniques are not followed, he said.

"These masters will engage in dialogue with yoga practitioners. This interactions will benefit them," he said.

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India Holds Biggest Yoga Summit in China

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Walking into Open Barre studio, you are greeted by all the essentials of a yoga class: big open space, mats and barefoot patrons. However, there is one other addition in this studio. Suspended from the ceiling by sturdy straps and secured by military grade hardware are a series of individual hammocks made from a stretchy, jersey material.

It's so weird. It looks like a little bat cocoon or something, said instructor Ryann Pinkerton of her usual workout scene.

This studio is tailored for aerial yoga, the latest evolution of the centuries old practice. It combines the stretching poses of classic yoga with the challenging lifting of aerials- choreographed movement in the air.

It just combines to make this fantastic workout that works your body head to toe. You'll sweat, but at the end of it you feel so relaxed. It's just a beautiful thing," said Pinkerton.

Pinkerton has the petite, lean frame one expects of ballerinas. She has an extensive background in both yoga and aerials, which is why she makes motion of pulling your entire body up into tangled positions seem so easy. Believe me, looks can be deceiving. I'm no yoga guru, but Ive taken my fair share of classes and I do some strength training.

When Open Barre invited me to try their class, I felt confident that I could keep up and maybe even relive some of my own days as a ballerina. The class started out pretty easy with some of the traditional yoga warm up stretches: versions of cat, cow and downward dog. It wasnt long though, before the skill level escalated.

As the class stretched over the hammocks, contorted into the hardest crunches Ive ever done and pulled our bodies up into gravity defying poses my muscles shook, twitched and burned with the effort. Each move, even the "easy" ones, felt like it worked every muscle in the body. However, its the core that is hit the hardest. Pinkerton told me later, that is the whole point.

"Everything radiates from your core, everything starts from there. That is your base, the beginning of your being," Pinkerton explained.

There are classes for every skill level, and the moves get easier with experience.

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Aerial yoga sweeps students off their feet

Hanna Weiss stretches during a free yoga class at Senior Center park Sunday, July 6, 2014 in Ocala, Fla. Julie Jenkins instructs a class on the first sunday of every month.

By Carlos E. Medina Correspondent

For Julie Jenkins, yoga has become such an important part of her life that she wants to share it with as many people as possible.

Thats why Jenkins began teaching a free monthly yoga class at Tuscawilla Park offered through the Ocala Recreation and Parks Department.

We started in March. The very first class we had low numbers, but today we had eight, said Jenkins, who also teaches at several gyms and offers classes to Marion County employees through their Health Happens program.

The one-hour class is held on the first Sunday of every month under the thick canopy of the parks oaks near the southeast corner of the expansive property. The classes run through October and start at 2 p.m.

Its a beautiful setting for those wanting to come outside the confines of a yoga studio or fitness center and connect with nature while we explore our own true nature, Jenkins said.

The class is offered for all levels and nothing more than a beach towel and some drinking water is necessary.

We can modify to all levels from first timers to the very seasoned, she said. Anyone who can breath can do yoga. Its really about breath. The misconception is that you need to be flexible. Flexibility really comes in the mind. The byproduct of yoga is flexibility of the body, but its not a necessity to begin.

For Holly Sadler, the class was her first outdoor yoga experience.

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Locals find peace in park yoga