REDEFINING BALANCE PR 2014 ~ getting trashy in paradise

“look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” ­ - Albert Einstein

REDEFINING BALANCE PUERTO RICO ~ adventure retreats in paradise filled with surfing, yoga, rock climbing, slacklining, AcroYoga, Thai Massage and... trash collection?! Yup, we got a little trashy this year...and it felt darn good!

Every year these retreats seem to rise above and beyond with regards to the incredibly talented, outgoing cast of characters who travel from countries around the world and join some of the locals from Rincon to create such an amazing weeklong experience.

The idea had crossed my mind about emphasizing the importance of environmental awareness as one of the principles behind Redefining Balance as a concept to integrate people back into the outdoors. Teaching in an environment where the water is so clear and the rock quality is so pristine allows us to provide amazing experiences with incredible photographs for students to remember. The hope is that these experiences will also help to create appreciation for these parts of the world and inspire small individual acts of conservation and mindfulness to live a more eco conscious and sustainable life when students return to their hometowns.

Our past retreats have always included beach clean ups and emphasized the importance of carrying reusable bags, a personal water bottle & to­-go ware to help reduce single use plastic consumption. This year we took personal sustainability efforts to a whole new level and actually made it a “challenge” complete with awesome prizes donated from eco­conscious sponsors.

Based on a “trash tour” that I did 5 years ago to fundraise for children living in trash dumps in Cambodia, the Redefining Balance eco challenge was a one week elective “choice” that the students could take on in which they would be responsible for holding on to all of their personal trash from the week that was plastic or styrofoam (basically anything that would float in the ocean). A big part of the reason for focusing on this particular type of “floating trash” was to raise awareness about the North Pacific Trash Convergence, a large land mass of trash floating in the middle of the ocean. Students who chose to take on the eco challenge strived to keep all of their trash for the week to under the size of a small or gallon sized Zip lock bag.

Many accepted the challenge and in the end 19 students (of the original 35 on the first retreat) had bags to show for the final awards ceremony. We celebrated the last day of the retreat and the closing of the eco challenge with an outdoor party catered by our friend’s Chilling & Grilling taco truck and Brooklyn Cleanse juice bar...both of whom brought reusable plates and glasses for all of the food & drinks! And to top it off, thanks to goal zero we were able to power a turntable and mixer off of solar panels, a battery pack and portable speakers so as to throw in some live music from one of Rincon’s favorite locals, DJ Don.

All in all it was an amazing way to wrap of the first retreat and the first ever group eco challenge which then had many students from the second retreat also requesting that they get to do the eco challenge as well. It was kinda awesome...people were actually requesting the ability to carry their own trash for the week!

Our second retreat, called Redefining the Inner Balance, has all of the same activities as the original Redefining Balance but with a group half the size and a focus on daily meditations based on the 5 elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. Kadri leads the group through amazing meditation techniques to help you to tune in to these principles and then we apply connection to the elements when we are out climbing (earth), slacklining (air), surfing (water), acro & yoga (fire) and practicing thai massage (ether) to release all those sore muscles!

For Redefining the Inner Balance the eco challenge was renamed the “eco meditation” and rather than competing for prizes students were encouraged to just observe their actions and see what came up with regards to trash and consumerism. It was really cool to have the group get together for the closing group circles at sunset and talk about their experiences with trash and what was challenging, especially in a town where so much of the food is still served on styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. 

All in all the eco awareness spread throughout town with local businesses actually changing the way they served food simply because so many students complained about the disposable single use straws, plates, glasses & utensils. Rincon is slowly catching up and working towards a plastic bag banaswell. And on behalf of all the students who helped make the Redefining Balance PuertoRico 2014 season possible we are donating 5% of our proceeds from the retreats to the Surfrider Foundation & the Access Fund two amazing organizations that fund initiatives to preserve surf breaks and climbing areas around the world.

Special thanks to prAna, goal zero, coco hydro / big tree farms, Joshua Tree Organics, Ocean State of Mind, the uncharted studio and Raw Revolution for sponsoring the 2014 eco challenge and for all of their amazing prizes & support.

And congrats to CHELSEY GREENE for winning the eco challenge with just one plastic straw to show for a week’s worth of trash!!!

For more pics & info on Redefining Balance please visit facebook.com/redefiningbalance or follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/redefiningbalance

As for the rest of the retreat adventures...we’ll let the pictures tell the stories Enjoy!
~ adi

photos courtesy of: Brian Mosbaugh // slacklinemedia.com, Ryan Martin // of­rion.com, Kadri Kurgun // kadrikurgun.com, Danielle Robidoux // daniellerobidoux.com, Tamar Melen and Richard Baimbridge

 

Redefining Rest

It is interesting to look back, especially as the new year approaches.  
The past three days, the weather up here in Bend, Oregon has been nasty.  And after a solid week of training it seemed like a good time for a rest day.  But instead, for some reason each day we resisted the temptation, and ventured into the outdoors to train.  We almost made it through Wednesday, but ended up at the gym for an 90 minute lifting session as a "warm-up" for an evening yoga class.  Thursday was bitter cold, with unseasonal downpours, and high winds.  Certainly we would have been justified in hunkering down next to the fire with a good book, but someone got the idea that the conditions were just about as close to what we'd experience in the upcoming Patagonian Expedition Race, and the idea stuck.  A cold, wet (but somehow still fun) 3 hour training ride on our Ellsworth mountain bikes ensued - complete with fartlek pushup sprints at the end.


Friday, however we were all determined NOT to train.  Our bodies had certainly been sending "rest" messages for days, and finally we listened.  But by mid afternoon we were going pretty stir crazy, with random guttural screams and spontaneous wrestling matches erupting around the house.  The rest day seemed to stretch on forever.  


Is I tried in vain to go to sleep, I wondered if why I(we) were like this.  If it had always been this way.  I certainly feel lazy much of the time, and enjoy sitting around with my morning coffee till it is late in the day. But something seems to always push me out of that place of physical contentment before too long.


An hour later, still unable to sleep, I was sorting through old computer files, and stories I'd written.  I came across a movie I'd made over two years ago...and it seemed all to familiar...
(the text below the movie is what I wrote that day....)





The day after we finished our monster AcroYoga teaching weekend, we were in desperate need of a rest. And we tried, but YogaSlacker Dan had flown all the way from Minnesota to Arizona for the Acro workshop, and we couldn't let him go back to the cold north bitterness without showing him exactly what sort of things he'd be missing....so we kept the climbing to 5.10 and 5.11, and since Chelsey was teaching yoga classes all day - there were just three of us so we all got a bit of rest while the others climbed. The routes were all long (35m) and really really disgustingly sustained. As someone in the video says - "we are gonna need another rest day after this rest day..."




May you all have at least some relaxing moments on this last day of the year....


Jason

First Ever YogaSlackers Teacher Training: 23 New Jedi Ninja Warriors Ready to Unleash the Force…

Some thought it could never be done. Others questioned what we would teach and why? But despite the non-believers, YogaSlackers went forth and delivered the first ever official teacher training, probably one of the most vigorous and diversified out there, with great success. This marked the first time that all of the original YogaSlackers from across the country were in attendance to share their stories, skills and craziness in the same place and same time and witness the transformation of the next generation of slackers into jedi ninja warriors of balance, acro and adventure skills. And get ready… as the next generation of YS teachers are fierce, super fierce!

The 10 day training offered students a vigorous schedule of yoga, slacklining, daily conditioning (Harder, Faster, Stronger anyone?), advanced acrobatics drills and partner work. With our friend Stacey holding it down in the kitchen and offering super nutritious meals and snacks we were all able to go strong through the 15 hr days of training, conditioning and practice teaching, oh yeah, and doing a 7 hour adventure race including mountain biking, trekking and rappelling through a really fun course taking us to Mexico and back. The adventure race experience was offered about half way through (when most trainings probably would have offered a rest day) and everyone rocked it- perhaps in part due to the 40 minutes of hardcore YogaSlackers unique conditioning circuits every day indoors and on the slacklines.

One of the greatest parts of the location at Liberty Advance (a super awesome and creative retreat center located in the desert just an hour outside of San Diego) was the freedom to build and develop the ultimate slackline experience.

We set up over 15 locations for daily practice slacklining and practice teaching as well as a rodeo line - a super slack slackline that dips down in the middle creating a ton of swing back and forth, a 60 ft long line, 170 ft super long line and probably everyone’s favorite- the water line set up across the Liberty Advance pool (see video below).

Through daily practice on these various lines the YogaSlackers teachers developed some of the most well rounded slackline skills and abilities of anyone we know. With advanced acrobatic conditioning drills, calibrations and flows in the afternoon the teachers worked with each other to push their abilities in basing, flying and communication as they developed muscles unique to balance and co-ordination so as to also parallel the work done on the line.

There was also an arts & crafts portion of the training composed of making outfits out of a slackline keeping in mind the YogaSlackers motto "it's not a thong" as a key element to the design process.

Thankfully the hot tub (with optional late night sing alongs) eased tired muscles, as did the spontaneous dance parties, late night movie sessions with “slacker stack” cuddling as everyone piled on the floor and couches under whatever yoga props we could find. Some of us displayed true slacker form and continued to sleep on the floor all through the night until the next morning and it’s good to know that the essential slacker skill of floor crashing resonates well with the group.

As I look back on the training it is definitely with a bit of sadness that it is all over. Watching these students transform into super strong ambassadors of slack I realize how privileged YogaSlackers is to have these 23 rock stars going back into the “real” world to share the practice along side us. We started teaching yoga on the slackline simply because we found it super fun (and super addictive)…I don’t think any of us imagined it would come to this and this teacher training surpassed our wildest dreams. The experience of meeting and working with everyone is worth more than words and the memories will stay strong for generations to come. We wish them all well and look forward to spreading the slackage to new heights in the upcoming months and years.

May you go forth and prosper in the name of slack!

-Adi & and the YS crew: Jason, Sam, Chelsey, Dan, Paige, Paul

And BIG THANKS to our amazing sponsors for supplying product (especially caffeinated and high energy product!) to keep the students and teachers going through the 10 days…big ups to:

Raw Revolution, Steaz, Sambazon, Power to Go, U Hydration & nuun, Java Juice, coco hydro, tarma, hydroflask, Ellsworth bikes (for bringing out super sick mountain bikes for students to demo on the adventure race course) and prAna- a company that believed in YogaSlackers from the very start and supported the journey even when it was just a dream…thanks for helping us to make it an ever changing awesome reality!

YogaSlackers - slacking for a better world

Photo credits: Sam Salwei / YogaSlackers, Ryan Martin, Ariel Mihic, Laura Miles, Ron Avitzur

YogaSlackers Holiday in MN

Dan here, the one from Minnesota, the team has been on me to write a blog about what is happening up in MN so here it is!

Like everyone else who is involved with YogaSlackers I wear many different hats.  I am a slackliner, rock climber, acroyogi, uncle and the list goes on.  One unique hat I wear is I am also an economics professor.  I use most of my breaks from school to travel with the team and then do whatever I can to stay active when school is in session.  So needless to say after I gave my last exam this semester I jumped on a plane and headed out to CA to put my "YogaSlacker hat" on for a week of work and play.

In the mix of taking care of the business side of YogaSlackers, Sam and I found a bit of time to play.  We even spent an evening with some of the San Diego acro crew.  All of this acro fun made me think that maybe I need to start looking for a more serious acro partner in Minnesota.  When I got back to Minnesota the search was on...

The search actually started up in North Dakota.  I met up with Kathryn, an old friend from college, and we spent a morning coming up with a fun little flow:

But, like most North Dakotan's, Kathryn moved away after college and now lived in Atlanta.  Having a partner who is only in town twice a year isn't going to work.  Time to head back to Minneapolis and look in my own back yard.

When I returned home I was very hopeful.  I found someone that I could meet with once or twice a week, she was full of energy, excited to learn and took to it right away.  Once again we made a little flow:

Unfortunately Sam pointed out that acrobatics isn't quit as impressive when the flyer is your 3 year old niece.  I guess the search will have to continue...

Acro Acro Everywhere

As Chelsey and I prepare for our big teaching weekend in Tucson, I look back on the last month and see that it has been FULL of Acro.  From Santa Barbara to Steamboat Springs, Denver, Estes Park (with all the slackers!), and now Tucson...

And this is not the end.  Next week we finish off with the Divine Play AcroYoga festival in Oakland.
Somehow in the midst of all this upside down time, we are also training for the Adventure Racing National Championships - so time has been short.  Blog production has been slow.  Video editing even slower.

But yesterday, the moons of m4v, AVCHDlite, and imac all aligned.  Things started to whir and spin in the universe of Imovie and Adobe.  And by morning, two new yogaslacker films were born...

So here they are - one looking at the past, and one toward the future.

YogaSlackers Meet with Superheroes in Amsterdam

Team YogaSlackers members Jason and Chelsey spent some time training with acrobatic legend Spiderman on Monday, while team member Dan bartered for continued support from the Sith Lord, Darth Vader.  The slackers ran into these two legends while exploring Amsterdam in search of the perfect slackline location.

Excited onlookers cheered as Spiderman helped hone the hand-to-hand handstand skills of Jason.  He noted, "it's all in the squeeze, Jason, you really have to grip tightly".  Advising Chelsey, spidey noted that "with great power, comes great responsibility; you've got to be patient with your partners, you can't hold their weakness against them."  Jason was excited to 'fly' Spiderman for real, "we've been fans for years, this is such an honor!"

The YS racing team has had many recent successes in racing, but they did not miss an opportunity to hedge their bets.  A deal was struck with the Dark Side representative - Darth Vader - who shared his philosophy "let the anger flow through you."  The move surprised many, as the YogaSlackers have traditionally prided themselves on associating exclusively with conscientious and ethical organizations.  This development is certainly controversial, and only time will tell how it affects the racing career of Team YogaSlackers.

YogaSlackers in Amsterdam...

As Sam recovers in good company stateside, Chelsey and Jason are in Holland for the Dutch Acro Fest, and then being joined by Daniel for some crazy adventure (more on that coming soon) in Scotland.

In our many hours trapped in the airport, Jason spent much of his time editing through footage from the previous weekend.  So here are a few of the results, with the more complicated ones (with all the students presenting the flows) coming soon.

THERE IS A NEW PAGE ON THE BLOG!  Look up at the top for a page with the 4 flows we've featured in workshops so far! There are videos, and the whole flow written out.

Final Note - Dutch Acro has not even started and we've already been compiling new material and doing lots of hand-to-hand!  Good stuff.  I hope my body can handle it!  Luckily, if the airline does find our bags, we'll have lots of KT tape to see us through!
Here is the Nada Aneka Astra as envisioned in it's entirety - long slow beautiful 9-minutes...

MUSIC BY VIVE - check them out!

Nada Aneka Astra - the flow of many weapons

In truth it is way to late for me to be writing this.  Nearly 1 AM, but after such an amazing weekend with such amazing Acroyogi's here in Tucson it is hard to sleep.  It was an incredible time for us to be teaching and playing and collaborating and learning from our peers.  Thanks from the deepest truth in ourselves to those that took this journey with us, or have taken any of these flying acro-trips with us - Moby Dick flow, Tattsvadarzin, Abu Dhabi Dreams, or Nada Aneka Astra......


As the melancholy of post acro depression sets in, I can only think of two things to cheer me up...

1. We are already planning for the next one...
2. Chelsey volunteered to wake up at 5 AM to take Lux to the airport!

A special thanks to Chip, Joe, Jill, and Lux for all the help behind the scenes, and in front of them.  Thanks as well to KT tape for keeping many of us healthy and flying through a difficult weekend.  Jai!

YogaSlackers teacher training - Spring 2011....

Redefining Balance through Slackline Yoga and AcroYoga- Kriplau Retreat April 18-23 with Adi Carter and Holly Coles (inversion master!)

Take your practice off the mat and ignite your sense of adventure...

Redefining Balance, designed for people who love challenging their bodies, is an exploration into the core center of the body, the source of balance on and off the yoga mat. You will delve into your core and build strength as well as awareness.

Daily vinyasa yoga will develop and deepen your arm balances, inversions, and backbends. Afternoon sessions will explore AcroYoga and Slackline Yoga (where balance is relative to what you are practicing on).

AcroYoga uses the therapeutics of Thai massage alongside the strength and power of acrobatics. You will learn how to base, fly, and spot each other safely in yoga poses that transition the flyer through the air on the feet and hands of a partner. You will also learn the practice of “slackasana,” yoga poses on a slackline (a one-inch thick piece of tubular webbing, tied between two fixed points that creates something between a tightrope and a trampoline).

Ultimately, you will discover that balance is the result of energy, focus, and the ability to connect to everything that surrounds you.
CE Credits

This program is eligible for :
23.5 credits for athletic trainers (BOC), $20 additional charge
23.5 credits for yoga instructors (YA), $20 additional charge

more info: http://www.kripalu.org/program/view/RBAL-101/redefining_balance_through_acroyoga_and_slackline

"Lev"itation is born

The first synthesis of the skills of the YogaSlackers and one of Prana's other athletes - Lev Pinter. This transpired late at night after the closing of the OR winter show, It was a slow process, starting with an attempt to teach Lev some basic Acro (star) and then with Chip and Jason trying to invent a "double navasana" acro balance. One of the failed attempts there led to the discovery that a star to two high transition might be possible. As the night got longer, we worked out the tweaks, with our acrophile hosts (Sandi and Bob), out photog (Ben Fullerton) and the core team all present. After numerous great spotting saves (Lev could spot me on a highball death boulder anyday!) Lev and Chels got it clean. Thus "Lev"itation was born.

Denver Slacro WorkShop

It was an 85 degree day in the middle of October when Colorado weather shined on us for the first ever combined Slackline/AcroYoga workshop in Denver, hosted by YogaSlacker Sam with support from AcroYoga teacher Jen Leisch. A longtime vision of Sams has been to combine slacklining, yoga, and AcroYoga into one experience, in order to fully explore the idea of body awareness and ones own internal energy. After some late night planning sessions as well as a full run-through in the park, Slacro Workshops were ready to be presented to the masses. The day was split into two: a morning session focused on kneeling, sitting, and standing, while the afternoon was arm balances, inversions, and backbends. With over a dozen students in attendance for each part and three slacklines set up, the park became Slacker haven for the day.



Students first experienced some asana to warm their bodies up, mimicking poses that train for or can be done on a line. From here, each element was supported by conditioning, AcroYoga partner and trio poses, and then finally, taken to the slackline, where Sam explained, demo-ed, and patiently oversaw the students. Afterwards, all enjoyed a demo of some slackline vinyasa by Sam, giving everyone something to work on. All in all, a successful day in the Slacro training labs, and the first time this infused workshop style has been presented! Stay tuned for the next installment of workshops coming to your neck of the woods!

The shift to Acrobatics and back again

Our lives are never boring...

After those days of training in Colorado, we drove straight back to Arizona in a 17 hour non-stop caffeine fueled daze and started teaching yoga the next day. We then taught a magnificent group of AcroYogis in weekend acrobatics intensive, which included 19 hours of serious Acro play in 50 hours... That means that for two days, participants were doing acrobatics for 40% of the time....wow. Here is part one of the workshop in video form.

Our incredible bodyworker/therapist Charlie keep telling us to take a rest, so the next day we did. Kinda. It was a Yogaslacker rest day anyway.
Charlie keeps telling me that my adrenal glands are overworked, empty, spent.....what does that mean???

Madness at the Rendevous!!!

Sam's short and sweet report of the last week at Red Rocks Rendevous....
Started with a 3am wake up call after 3 days on the road. 3 mile run, 8 pitches of "unimpeachable groping 5.10" and epic rap through 6 parties on the same route, 5 people hanging 600ft in the air off 2 bolts. Then a 3 mile run back to the car to find out we were 40min early for the mandatory meeting.

2 hours later Chelsey and the Rest of the YS crew were first on stage to represent, soon we were doing acro yoga on stage for the group Athlete picture.

During the meeting we found out that trees were not an option for setting up the lines for our clinic so at 8pm it was off to Lowes to see what we could improvise. bending a saw horse on the first theory we decided to construct our own anchor. A 2x6 cross 3ft high. the 20ft boards were on sale so we found ourselves sawing 3'3" chunks of board using the shopping cart corral as our saw horses.

10:30pm we have been awake for 19+ hours and we are sitting in the taco bell parking lot finishing our first meal of the day and waiting for the drill to charge so we could build our first ever prototype anchor.

It worked we tested out the anchor in the taco bell parking lot. Were in bed at 1am with the alarm set for 5am.

By 7am we had fabricated 6 anchors pounded 6 20 inch steaks into the ground creating 3 working slacklines.

We taught over 75 people the basics of slacking, including 25 in rain, snow, hail and 40mph winds.

We finished up the weekend by climbing all day Monday at moderate mecca, then driving 500miles to start the next adventure.

Chelsey here following up: Sam is now in Grass Valley getting the Peace Car all fixed up, the last we heard the transplant was going smoothly and he should be here in time for our 8 hour adventure race on Saturday. In the mean time, Jason and I are running around trying to pack everything that we will need for the next 6 months... from packrafts- to climbing gear- to handstand blocks.... whoo!!

North Dakota Wind, Wealth and Wonderfullness and the Boston Globe...

Everyone keeps telling us to write a book, which sounds like a good idea but that would require us to stop creating content and put it all in one spot...well bottom line is we are slackers and we aren’t doing it anytime soon.  Plus, it is far easier for someone else to write about you, so check out the book "State by State" Tom Haines, Staff writer for The Boston Globe did.

After reading a synopsis of the 2XtM "To Cross the Moon" expedition Tom knew that his story on North Dakota wind would not be complete without at least meeting us.

 

I arranged for Nells Nelson of Devils Lake, ND to meet Tom at the local diner Down Town, as we were running a bit behind schedule.   Side note without Nells the 2XtM expedition never would have happened.  Not only did he lone us his Ford Explorer for 7 days when our media truck broke down, he also loaned us his kite buggy when the snow melted.

Dan Norgard and I arrived first Jason and Chelsey shortly after.  We ate a quick lunch (being a vegetarian in small town ND is no easy task) and headed out to the lake to put North Dakota’s wind directly in Tom’s hands via a 12m Ozone snowkite. 

After getting an adequate feel for the wind he turned the kite back over and Dan, Jason and I spent the next hour ripping up and down the narrow strips on snow covering the lake.  We ended the day with a YogaSlacker’s Acro Yoga on Ice demonstration.

Enjoy the article.

Reaping the wind

At the top of the plains, the spirit is willing to harvest this bountiful element for energy and income

One of a new breed of

plainsmen, a snowkiter relishes

the wind sweeping him

across Devils Lake in North       Dakota.

By Tom Haines

Globe Staff  February 22, 2009

BELCOURT, N.D. - The wind out here at the northern edge of North Dakota is the stuff of curses and dreams, enough to have driven settlers stir crazy and to have sent modern men snow kiting across the state to promote the potential of wind energy.

	Discuss
	COMMENTS (1)

RELATED

• MULTIMEDIA Follow the winter winds
• US travel guide

If You Go

Summer, when wind carries the scent of growing grain, is the sweetest season in North Dakota. Winter, though, comes with its own rewards, particularly in bracing against the elements outdoors or in finding shelter in Main Street bakeries and bars.

Where to stay

Langdon Motor Inn 
210 Ninth Ave., Langdon 
701-256-3600 
Simple comforts just off the main street. Double $45. 
Sky Dancer Hotel & Casino 
Hwy 5 West, Belcourt 
1-866-244-9467 
skydancercasino.com 
Double $63.50. 
Radisson Bismarck 
North 6th Street and East Broadway Avenue 
Bismarck 
701-255-6000 
radisson.com/downtown_bismarck
Double $99.

Where to eat

The Bread Pan 
722 3rd St., Langdon 
701-256-2753 
Coffee and conversation. 
Jack's Bar 
10941 Highway 1, Maida 
701-256-5083 
Wednesday night all-you-can-eat fried chicken dinner, $7.50. 
Bistro 
1103 East Front Ave., Bismarck 
701-224-8800 
bistro1100.com 
Dinner for two $120.

What to do

Historic Fort Mandan and Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center 
fortmandan.com 
fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic 
Encounter sites of Lewis and Clark's winter journey. 
Theodore Roosevelt National Park 
nps.gov/thro

Information

ndtourism.com 
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians 
tmbci.net 
Snow kiting 
2xtm.com, snowkiting.com

The big-sky prairie is an easy place to ponder such turns of time. Consider, for example, one small stretch of highway 150 miles southwest of Langdon, and just north of Bismarck, the capital. There, near the town of Washburn and along the banks of the frozen Missouri River, sits the site of Fort Mandan, the winter home in 1804 of Lewis and Clark. A few miles farther north, a Great River Energy Company coal power plant and its sturdy smokestacks fuel modern life. The smokestacks unleash a steady plume, yet on this winter afternoon the wind quickly sends it sideways across the horizon. Just beyond, on a ridge toward the town of Center, stand dozens of wind turbines. Get up close and a single turbine takes on a kind of cosmic grace, its three giant blades gently purring like a comfortable cat. Coal smoke lingers in the distant sky, and it seems an urgent question: Is wind energy the future?

A group of young snowkiters think so, and the past two winters they surfed wheat-stubble fields and ice-topped rivers from north to south across North Dakota in an expedition called "To Cross the Moon." As Jason Magness, Sam Salwei, and Paul Cassedy rode the wind, an educational team presented wind energy and snow kiting lessons to schools and community groups. One goal was to encourage communities to organize their own wind farm interests.

"This last year was more about ownership," Salwei says. "We don't want big companies to come in and funnel the money out."

Find the full artical here...

Tom Haines can be reached at thaines@globe.com. 

Revisting old school yoga stylings

There is a rumor or legend that Sun Salutation B used to be a bit more vigorous than it is generally practiced in the modern times. Jason and Sam have been exploring the ways of the past - here is an example of Old School (think 70's and 80's) Ashtanga Vinyasa Surya Namaskar B.