Flowers talking
Posted: June 9, 2012 at 12:14 am
A truck driver waits for customers at the Ho Thi Ky flower market
Located in a shallow alley off Ly Thai To Street, Ho Thi KyFlower Marketis one of the biggest flower markets inHo Chi Minh City.
Entering the market in early morning, I was amazed by the sight of roses, lotuses, lilies, daisies and orchids being unloaded from trucks and motorbikes from all over Vietnam and beyond. I was overwhelmed by the pleasant fragrances of hundreds of varieties of fresh cut flowers dominating the air, which gave the place the feeling of eternal springtime.
A few hours later, I returned, but was unbothered by the summer heat of high noon, cooled by the good energy of people shopping for flowers, whose minds I could only assume were full of pleasant thoughts. Despite the heat, I found the atmosphere relaxed with shopkeepers who were happily willing to let me taking photos and interview them.
Flower trading is a tough job. The markets shops open early and many do not close until after midnight, most of the shopkeepers working long hours both during the week and on weekends.
But, just like flowers they sell, there is something tender, gentle, natural and polite about these shop attendants, who spend a large chunk of their lives surrounded by the citys most beautiful flowers.
Bundles of flowers for sale at the Ho Thi Ky flower market
When I was born, the flower market was already here. Our shop offers orchids from gardens in Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Long An, Da Lat and Thailand. Prices change a bit everyday, said Duong Thi Kim Thoa, 20, a shopkeeper at a small flower stall at Ho Thi Ky.
Thoa said because it was one day before first day of a new lunar month, prices were higher.
Whereas buying fresh flowers on a regular basis is more common in northern Vietnam, in HCMC most fresh flowers end up decorating events such as weddings and funerals.
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Flowers talking
Indian-American author talks yoga’s original concepts at Lemont temple
Posted: at 12:14 am
Predicting a yoga rush in the Chicago area, Laura Jane Mellencamp moved to Naperville from Los Angeles in 1995.
I knew with the baby boomers aging and yoga shifting from a California thing to an America thing, moving to the heartland would be interesting, said Mellencamp, a yoga therapist and founder of a classical yoga studio in Downers Grove.
And she was right.
According to a poll in Yoga Journal, a popular magazine for yoga practitioners, there were 6 million yoga practitioners in the U.S. in 1994. By 2006, that number had increased to more than 16 million, according to the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
Mellencamps classical yoga form was one of the topics of discussion in Lemont Sunday at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago.
There, Rajiv Malhotra, author of Being Different, an account of Indias spiritual traditions, discussed yoga, his book, and answered questions.
Malhotra spoke to those in attendance about the popularization of yoga in America, and how American culture has consumed only parts of classical yoga.
This just makes it easier for Indian traditions to be used in a cookie-cutter fashion, he said. But the reality is ... concepts like yoga have lost their essence through translation and simplification.
Malhotra explained that even sanskrit words like om and yoga are incorrectly translated to make them easier to understand.
Its a thought Mellencamp echoed. She said she is concerned that the yoga she knows is not whats being taught anymore.
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Indian-American author talks yoga’s original concepts at Lemont temple
Seattle nonprofit puts yoga to work behind bars
Posted: at 12:14 am
by JOE FRYER / KING 5 News
KING5.com
Posted on June 7, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Updated today at 6:39 AM
GIG HARBOR, Wash. - After watching the women who calmly enter a prison activity room and spend two hours a week practicing yoga, it is hard to imagine that any one of them is serving hard time.
But several of the women have been convicted of serious crimes, including murder. Yoga classes at the Washington Correctional Center for Women provide an escape from the inmates' sometimes volatile lives behind bars.
One of the women, Alyssa Knight, wears glasses as she glides between yoga positions. She resembles a college student, not a convicted criminal, but she is now eight years into a 21-year sentence for second-degree murder.
"I just ended up hanging out with some guys that decided to rob somebody, and in the course of that, they shot the guy," she said.
It was a costly lesson for Knight, who was a college student at the time. But yoga is helping her put that lesson into focus.
"It's all about balance," she said. "Not just balance when you"re standing on your mat, but balance within, and a way to look at the world, to find peace in any situation."
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Seattle nonprofit puts yoga to work behind bars
Comparison between Life Coaching and Therapy or Counseling.wmv – Video
Posted: June 8, 2012 at 3:20 am
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Comparison between Life Coaching and Therapy or Counseling.wmv - Video
127 – Awakening Life-Coaching Services – Video
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One year after near-retirement, Grand Street coach on verge of city title
Posted: at 3:20 am
After another disappointing playoff finish last June, Melvin Martinez gathered his team together in the stands at MCU Park. There, shocking everyone from longtime players to assistant coaches he has known all his life Martinez announced his plans to retire.
I felt like they needed a new coach, Martinez said on the eve of leading second-seeded Grand Street into its first baseball final against No. 4 George Washington Friday at 7 p.m. in Coney Island. Ive had some great talent for so many years. Not to ever make the championship, maybe its the coaching. I was beginning to feel like someone else should take over.
Christina Santucci
Grand Street Campus coach Melvin Martinez nearly retired after last season, but stuck with it and has the Wolves within one win of their first city title.
The response shocked Martinez. Virtually the entire team, fresh off a humbling sweep at the hands of Tottenville, reacted with anger and disbelief. In the coming days and weeks, he was borderline harassed by players to stay, ace left-hander Gerry Gonzalez, Maryland-bound shortstop Jose Cuas and catcher/third baseman Ernesto Lopez leading the charge.
Lopez, in fact, threatened to quit and Cuas said he and his younger brother Alex came to Grand Street because of Martinez.
We wanted to win a ring with him, Lopez said. We told him, next year, our last year, dont do that to us. We were trying to do anything to make him stay.
The team went to Martinezs wife, Lori, too, begging her to convince him. Over the summer, he mulled over the decision, weighing the positives and negatives. In August, at Loris urging, he relented and decided to return.
She knew I would be depressed if I wasnt coaching, said the 43-year-old Martinez, an assistant principal at P.S. 257 in Brooklyn.
Early in September, he sent out a text to the team for fall practice. There, the teams leaders promised Martinez a title, which they are one win away from. Martinez, in his 17th season, has been reinvigorated this spring, coaching this loaded team that has won 20 straight games against PSAL foes after a surprising league-opening loss to Midwood.
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One year after near-retirement, Grand Street coach on verge of city title
Coach Jason Weekly Team Update(6/5/2012)-25% Off All Health and Fitness Products, Convention – Video
Posted: at 3:20 am
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Coach Jason Weekly Team Update(6/5/2012)-25% Off All Health and Fitness Products, Convention - Video
Medford Chamber of Commerce to hold Health & Fitness Expo
Posted: at 3:20 am
Medford is looking to combat a growing problem and the Chamber of Commerce is leading the pack with the citys first ever Health and Fitness Expo.
Obesity is a huge problem thats not just citywide, said Andrea McGrath, chairwoman of the committee organizing the expo. Its worldwide. There are a lot of businesses in the city that are in that industry, and the chambers job is to work for the community through the businesses that are in the chamber.
The Sunday expo, which is free and open to the public, will feature at least 30 different vendors and a host of activities for guests to take part in throughout the day, including Pilates, yoga, Zumba and various dancing and fitness classes.
In all the time that Ive been here, its been the best received idea by everybody, said Medford Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jodie Coyne of the event.
Medford High School varsity coaches will also donate their services for the expo, holding sports clinics throughout the day on golf, baseball and crew.
For younger kids, the New England Patriots mascot, Pat Patriot, will be on hand from 12 to 2 p.m. to take pictures.
The goals are to create the excitement for our businesses in the area, for our restaurants to serve healthy food and to see this become an annual event where we eventually take over more space, have more vendors and maybe vendors from more towns will join in, said Medford Chamber of Commerce President Charlotte Scuderi.
Scuderi said the chamber is also joining forces with local restaurants like Carrolls and Salvatores in Medford Square to offer new, healthy menu options.
The most exciting thing is were kicking off the Weight Loss Challenge, which is open to any Medford resident, said Neil Anderson, of Fitness Together, who will also be at the expo offering classes on small group training
One of the first people to sign up for this years Weight Loss Challenge is Fitness Together Medford owner Peter Petrella, who is also a member of Medfords Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
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Medford Chamber of Commerce to hold Health & Fitness Expo
Antonio Margarito announces his retirement from boxing
Posted: at 3:20 am
LAS VEGAS -- Boxer Antonio Margarito, whose career was stained by the 2009 confiscation of plaster inserts inside his hand wraps, announced his retirement Thursday.
"After twenty-two years of full dedication to the profession I love, I have decided to announce my retirement from boxing, Margaritosaid on his Facebook page. After thinking broadly and in detail with my family and my team, we have come to the conclusion that its time to hang my gloves and start a new chapter in my life. Im leave boxing but I will continue within the sport.
Margarito (38-8, 27 knockouts) was working to fight on a card in Tucson, Ariz., in July, but an Achilles' tendon injury was slow to heal, and he was also nagged by questions about his surgically repaired eye, which was originally damaged by Manny Pacquiao and subjected to a harsh review before the New York Athletic Commission cleared him in December.
Margarito lost that fight when the referee stopped the bout before the 10th round because of swelling around the eye.
It was clear that the eye would have to be reexamined, especially if he aimed to fight at a higher weight against someone such as world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
A former world welterweight champion, Margarito lost the belt to Paul Williams in 2007 at Home Depot Center, then rallied to upset the previously unbeaten Miguel Cotto by an 11th-round technical knockout in 2008.
Cotto questioned Margarito's performance in that boutafter the California State Athletic Commission confiscatedplaster inserts from inside Margarito's hand wraps just before his next fight -- a knockout loss to Shane Mosley at Staples Center in January 2009.
California suspended Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo, but Texas gave the "Tijuana Tornado" a license to fight Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in November 2010.
"I was grateful we were able to do what we could for him," Margarito promoter Bob Arum said Thursday. "We came through for him and made him financially secure by getting him the Pacquiao fight and the Cottofight."
Arum said he still believes "if anyone was to blame"for the plaster scandal, "it's Capetillo. Antonio had no opportunity to test out those wraps. I just was never going to throw him under the bus on that."
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Antonio Margarito announces his retirement from boxing
Life, Abundance
Posted: at 3:19 am
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Life, Abundance