{ Friday, December 2, 2005 }
Why people should try Dharma Punx, a meditation group for weirdos, pariahs and punks, described as follows on Beyond Robson (which I found through the comments on a prior post). Robson, for those of you not familiar with Vancouver, is a shopping street which has, you know, Banana Republics and Diesel stores on it. It represents the mainstream there. The cool kids in Vancouver get their clothes at Dream at 311 Cordova St. or at Eugene Choo on Main.
That's about it.
Dharma Punx is named after the book by Noah Levine, a dude who was a very pissed off, destructive, self-destructive, violent, drug-addicted criminal teenager who dug Black Flag. In jail he had a mildly unpleasant drug withdrawal, got turned onto buddhism from his dad, and began the 2nd half of his spiritual journey out of hell. "Having clearly seen the uselessness of drugs and violence, (we) have found positive ways to channel our rebellion against the lies of society. Still fueled by anger at injustice and suffering, we now use that energy to awaken to our own natural wisdom and compassion instead of for self-destruction," says Noah.
I'm hoping some of my friends in Vancouver are still reading this so they can check it out and tell me what it's all about. The one thing I've always hated about meditation groups and yoga classes is how NPR and sanctimonious the people in those classes so often are. The best yoga teacher I ever had, back when I practised religiously (so to speak) was Joe Naudzunas, who was tough and no-bullshit, intolerant of flakes and preciosity, also raced motorcycles. Sometimes he missed class because he was in traction from a crash or two. He occasionally wore this wonderful t-shirt with a quote by Kevin Schwantz, the famous motorcycle racer: "All out till you see God, then brake/". So bring on the heavy metal asanas! I wonder if spiked wristbands hurt when you do handstands, grrrrrrr.
LINK | 6:01 PM | TB
Noah Levine is awesome. He's a great speaker and worth your attention. If you haven't read Dharma Punx, I highly recommend it. He comes around here a lot as he used to live in Santa Cruz and SF before moving on to NYC and LA. His buddy Vinny Ferraro leads a group in SF. http://www.dharmapunx.com/sdates/
David Beach | December 3, 2005 3:25 PMYoga is not something that is selfeffective. It's integrated in the eastern phylosophy and anly together with it it can be effective or meaningful.
Helen | December 7, 2005 2:21 PMNoah Levine is speaking at a treatment center on Bowen Island called Orchard Recovery Center this Sunday www.orchardrecovery.com their website also shows the vancouver locations where he will be speaking this week.
heather | October 16, 2007 11:07 PM{ Post a comment }
Some of the Yoga teachers at the Yoga Loft in SF (Divisadero near Fell) are somewhat bad-ass. I like Geoffrey Roniger and Billy Konrad. Others are porridgy like you say.
ezra | December 3, 2005 7:07 AM