This is too late for The Friday Fermentable, but the NYT has a great travel article yoga and wine retreats to be offered at DeLoach Vineyards in California's Sonoma Valley (one of my favorite zinfandel producers).
Of course, this Americanization of an Eastern practice is not without its detractors:
"Kundalini does things to balance your nervous system," Ms. Elkes said. "And then for you to go do something that changes that? It's going to affect your nervous system after you've done all this work to balance yourself. You'll soon find out that drinking and Kundalini don't go well together."
That sentiment is shared by the popular Web site Holistic Online, which states in no uncertain terms: "Yogis do not touch alcohol, since they consider it to lower the vibrations of their subtle body (astral body). This defeats the purpose of yoga, which is to increase the vibrational level so they can gradually unfold their Higher Self."
There may be much ado about nothing as participants won't be drinking while doing yoga, as stated by Rosemary Garrison, the San Francisco-based instructor who will lead the DeLoach retreats:
"I don't imagine it's going to be the kind of thing where people are drinking to get drunk, but more about enjoying the beauty of the wine and the setting, and having a weekend of healthy indulgence. Have a glass of wine, enjoy your night, get a good night's sleep and come to a really cleansing, vigorous practice the next morning. I mean, that's what a lot of my students here in San Francisco do anyways -- that's their weekend."
Sounds like a healthy approach in a great environment. But, then again, I'm not a yogi.
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sounds like my kind of vacation, except that downward facing dog gives me a headache, and i'm incredibly not flexible. but i love the idea of it and will pass it on to a few friends, thanks!
At first I thought...wine and yoga, sort of like a bad americanized mexican restaurant - but then, in reality, I think wine goes pretty well with just about anything!