This Week's Yoga Playlist
8/25-8/31

1. When It's Good - Ben Harper
2. Finale [Nickodemus & Osiris Remix] - Baby Mammoth
3. Oriental Wind - Ilhan Ersahin
4. Focus on Sight -Thievery Corporation
5. Camote - Novalima
6. Shadows of Ourselves - Thievery Corporation
7. California Soul [Diplo Remix] - Marlena Shaw
8. Army of Me - Bjork
9. Heard It On The News - Ex-Centric Sound System
10. Roda [Bombay Dub Orchestra Remix] - CeU
11. Gela - Abyssinia Infinite
12. Alla (Bahtimga Lullaby) - Sevara Nazarkhan

Recently Read

The Spiral Staircase - Karen Armstrong
You Do Not Talk About Fight Club - Read Mercer Schuchardt, editor
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Moola Bandha: The Master Key - Swami Buddhananda
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way - Bill Bryson

"Derek Beres is part reporter and part prophet standing in the middle of the eye of the World Music storm that is raining new musical genres on the Earth today, each one fused by the love of song and spirit." - Krishna Das

"Derek Beres is a terrific writer whose work is replete with penetrating insights and gem-like details...Beres adds a unique perspective to our cultural mix, and Sound Against Flame deserves to reach a large audience." - Daniel Pinchbeck

Derek Beres is one of the leading figures in international music in America, working in numerous facets of the industry, from journalist and DJ to producer and presenter. He has published four books to date, and has contributed to dozens of magazines and websites regarding the traditional and digital realms of global music. He has toured internationally, playing alongside some of the most important figures in the scene today. Well versed in international music, he is equally adamant about world cultures, devoting his life to the path of yoga, Eastern philosophies and world mythology.

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EarthRise Yoga @ Yoga Month
Yoga Month is a grassroots, community-based national campaign to educate people about the health benefits of yoga and to inspire a healthy lifestyle. Yoga Month is a year-round campaign and will peak Sept. 2008 with the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour and with millions of health & social conscious individuals practicing yoga at thousands of yoga studios and homes around the world. Derek will be teaching his signature EarthRise Yoga workshop there, alongside some amazing instructors scheduled throughout the day.
Metropolitan Pavilion | 18th/6th Ave
Sunday Sept 7 | 9-11 a.m. | $25

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EarthRise Yoga and Global Beat Fusion in Toronto!
Derek will be heading to Canada on September 26 to DJ at Eccodek's record release party for his latest, Shivaboom. The following day he will be teaching a two-hour EarthRise Yoga workshop during the day, before leading a 90-minute EarthRise class while his good friend Richard "Medicine Man" Martin DJs. The night will cap off with a late-night dance party with Richard and Derek DJing, all inside the beautiful Yoga Sanctuary.

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Derek's fourth book, Sound Against Flame: The Process of Yoga and Atheism in America, is out now! Sound Against Flame is an insightful and inquisitive look inside two emerging cultural ideas gripping the modern American consciousness: yoga and atheism. While seemingly opposed in numerous contexts, author/yoga instructor Derek Beres uncovers a common foundation as startling as it is revelatory to practitioners of any, or no, faith. Using the concept of neti-neti as a bedrock—the idea of “not this, not that” that is the foundation of yogic philosophy—Beres looks beyond the inherent duality proposed by many religious traditions to drive to core teachings. Knowing that belief is actually a lack of experience, and that once the individual has had an experience there is no need for belief, this thoughtful survey of modern consciousness and religion is a call to do away with abstract idealizing. Instead it offers an opportunity to turn toward what is real and accessible at this very moment. For more information click here.

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Page-2-Print launches at East Side Community High School in Sept 2008
Partnership with Rayo, an imprint of HaperCollins, provides support for pilot program

Page-2-Print, a revolutionary new program, aims at educating high school students on all aspects of the publishing industry. The program was created by two authors/publishers intent on empowering younger generations with the knowledge of all facets of publishing, focusing on underserviced youth with lots to say but little awareness of where and how to say it.

Taking advantage of incredible advances in technology, Page-2-Print will teach students: writing, editing, graphic/web design, book layouts, marketing, PR, public speaking, social networking, planning author readings, and overall presentation of their work. The elective program picks ten students, who will learn the entire process of writing, editing and publishing a book. Partner-publishers will provide professionals to come in and educate the children on their specific roles, and at the end of the year their book will be published by Outside the Box Publishing, the company created by P-2-P's co-founders, Dax-Devlon Ross and Derek Beres. Their partnership with Rayo will facilitate the students' understanding of how to work within the publishing industry as a whole. For more information visit www.page2print.org.

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4th Annual GlobeSonic Sound System on The Hudson
FRIDAYS 7-11pm: September 12th
Riverside Park South | The Pier on 68th Street & the Hudson River | Free

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Nas Gets Sly on Fox on His Latest
By Derek Beres

With Fox News receiving some well-deserved bad PR of late -- from their photographic doctoring of two New York Times staffers to the backlash against their aggressive public relations techniques -- there is no better time for critiques of the machine that has taken the idea of "objective" media to a whole other level. Considering that the network's ability to churn bad press against their detractors is rivaled only by the Scientologists' practice of suing whoever speaks badly about their "faith," more critical feedback is needed.

It's little surprise that this poignant rant comes from Nas, a rapper already in the spotlight due to the name of his forthcoming album, Untitled -- the actual name is Nigger, but after much flack (from Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and others) he bowed to pressure, stating, "the people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it." On the track "Sly Fox," he lets loose a lyrical tirade that proves to be one of the best social critiques of his nine-album career. While Jay-Z has often proclaimed himself the king of the double-entendre, Nas is equally worthy of this crown.

Nasir Jones is one of the few men in hip-hop whose career is not only lasting, but consistently relevant; fans look forward to each album, while other rappers the same age are often met with the question: "He's still around?!" Nas not only has a penchant for titles -- his last album, Hip-Hop is Dead, was equally discussed and philosophized -- his ability to condense complex topics into manageable sound bytes without losing their depth of discussion is unmatched.

As Dax-Devlon Ross argues in his newest book, The Nightmare and The Dream: Nas, Jay-Z and The History of Conflict in African-American Culture, Nas is an icon in a lineage of icons that have bravely spoken to and about the black experience in America over the last century. While the predominant figures involved in his discussion are political thinkers, Ross argues that since the passing of King and Malcolm, and after the slightly successful torch-bearing by Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan, the flame of black consciousness was passed on to the hip-hop generation. And while many of the so-called "political" rappers proved to be nothing more than entertainers trying to fill the vacancies left in credible leadership who shied away from engaging in serious political dialogues, Nas has made this record his platform to speak from that very pulpit.

Read the full article on the Huffington Post