There’s a great article on U of M’s online newspaper that covers the workshop and its many benefits.

For Eshitha, “[yesplus has] been really helpful in my life to be centered and not be distracted with my thoughts,” she said. “I’d get freaked out a lot for exams so it has really helped me focus and get a lot of sleep.”

Saturday, April 30
4:00pm PST / 7:00pm EST (8:00pm Argentina time)

To watch the party
Click here 15 minutes before the event: http://www.youtube.com/artoflivingtv

Get a taste of the Yoga Rave experience
Watch a Yoga Rave video or visit the Yoga Rave MySpace

About Yoga Rave
Yoga Rave is a unique party, free from alcohol and drugs where the body only responds to the stimuli from the music, yoga and meditation. Instead of a traditional rave full of drugs, in a Yoga Rave people get intoxicated by music, dancing and meditation. The music of Yoga Rave is led by Nicolás Pucci & Rodrigo Bustos of the So What Project! from Argentina. It is a new interactive entertainment experience that blends between sounds and silence, movement and stillness, a total connection with your body through the music, and active meditation. Yoga Rave and So What Project! are part of a worldwide campaign for a non-violent and stress-free society by The Art of Living Foundation, founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. More information: www.artofliving.org

The platform, identity and strategy were built by a multi-talented team of 6 San Franciscans in less than 24 hours. With a total lifespan of 7 days from start to finish, the event embodied a sense of urgency to take action while the tragedy was still fresh in the hearts and minds of the public. All in all, the event was a fantastic success, consisting of over 60 businesses in 10 countries all over the world and raising many thousands of dollars for aid.

Visit our site at www.shopforjapan.com to learn more about the project, our team, and to explore the businesses who chose to be Shops for Japan.

I work for Google and my primary job is to develop search on Google Maps. Next to me sits the Google Crisis Response team. Naturally, I’m interested in their work and what they are set out to do. The crisis response team’s mission is to provide help to a disaster struck area as soon as the disaster strikes. Eager to help them out in any way possible, I have made efforts to give them  visibility on maps. We started off during the first disaster they tackled – the Haiti earthquake. Since then, we have been very active with the BP Oil spill, Pakistan floods, China earthquake, Chile Earthquake, Australian Floods, New Zealand Earthquake and Japan earthquake. I’m sure I’m missing a few.

The concept is simple: as soon as the disaster strikes, for relevant searches, for a few days, I provide a box on google maps linking to the crisis response page and relevant maps. It’s actually not a hard thing to do. But in my own way I have been able to provide them much more visibility and involvement with users. For instance, in the last week or so, our Japan crisis response box alone (you can see it here: www.google.com/maps?q=japan ) has sent over 1.6 million users to the crisis response page. Although I cannot divulge the amount of money raised via this, I can say that the amount raised by this simple link is well above my wildest expectations. Not just that, it has provided a lot of encouragement to the crisis response team.

I feel a tremendous amount of gratitude when I think that I’ve helped this cause in my own small way. Opportunities are out there. We simply need to grab them. It’s a highly  empowering realization that we can help in more ways then we imagine. We don’t need to boil oceans to make an impact. Our simple actions can help others immensely. What action can you take?

Stephen McCain Bio
Always the kid performing on the jungle gym during recess in elementary school, Stephen McCain had a fearless curiosity for what he could do with his body. He immediately fell in love with gymnastics after his mom enrolled him in a local gym after witnessing the U.S Olympic Team’s success in 1984. Stephen immediately began setting extremely high goals for himself and made the decision everyday to make sacrifices in his life for the sport of gymnastics. His work paid off and he started competing internationally by the age of 14.

Stephen was heavily recruited by the countries top NCAA gymnastics programs and accepted a scholarship to UCLA. In his freshman year, McCain became an All-American, won a NCAA title, and made the U.S. Elite Senior National Team. Unexpectedly, UCLA dropped the men’s gymnastics program due to Title IX. McCain decided to concentrate his focus on the Olympics and education but the demise of the program proved too hard to overcome and he missed the 1996 Olympics.

After missing the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, McCain was devastated and decided he needed more than physical talent and hard work to accomplish his goals. He needed a mental framework that would allow him to relax and control his thoughts and emotions under any circumstance. He began studying Yoga, Meditation, Hypno-Therapy, Visualization, Sports Psychology, and Neurological Conditioning. He also decided he needed to delete every distraction possible and resume his training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 2000, McCain had mastered his work and achieved his life long goal of making an Olympic Team. Two weeks later, in the best shape of his life, he crashed on a dismount while training for the Games in Sydney, Australia. After almost being pulled from his spot on the team, McCain overcame two severely sprained ankles and helped lead the U.S. team to the Olympic Finals, while also making the All-Around finals.

A year later in 2001, McCain as the Team Captain for the World Championship Team, led the team which earned an unprecedented silver medal; the first Team Medal in 27 years for the U.S. Men’s team.

In 2002 and 2003, McCain suffered from a shoulder and knee injury that both required surgery. During his rehabilitation and downtime, he decided to enroll in the University of Colorado and earned a degree with top honors in Business/Finance graduating Summa Cum Laude. At the same time he created a successful web company with a teammate that sold gymnastics equipment and produced training videos.

In 2004, McCain was named as alternate to the U.S. Olympic Team. In 2005 he was asked to perform the gymnastics for the lead character in the Motion Picture Film, “The Peaceful Warrior.”

After 21 years of gymnastics, Stephen McCain has competed on every continent in the world with the exception of Antarctica. Among his numerous National and Internal National medals include 2 Olympic Teams, 4 World Championships Teams, and 2 Pan American Teams. His tenure on the U.S. Senior Elite National Team lasted for 13 consecutive years. In 2009 Stephen McCain was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

McCain’s gymnastics has afforded him opportunities in every form of media including Film, Television, Commercial, Show, Radio, Internet, and Print. Leveraging his physical, mental, and emotional abilities, he has found a new passion in acting.

Stephen McCain is currently in an intensive study at the prestigious Playhouse West in Hollywood, California, where he studies technique, improvisation, voice, and script writing.

His entrepreneurial endeavors include internet start-ups in sports, finance, and new media. He is a speaker and media host for many organizations including the United States Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics, Special Olympics, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Stephen enjoys playing guitar, reading and traveling.

With a new year about a month deep, it is a fitting time to stop and survey the landscape. How has last year’s reflection turned into this year’s action?

Take a look back and see how much has happened in the past year. Retrace your journey through valleys filled with challenges and difficult times all the way up to the peaks of life. The highest experiences that led to joy, bliss, and contentment.

Taking a helicopter to the top of a mountain will never feel like an accomplishment. It will never have the satisfaction of surviving the climb. Be grateful for challenges. They have made success valuable.

And as you look down from the peak, see how much stronger and more capable you have become. Recall that looking up from the valley, the mountain seemed infinitely high. So do all challenges.

This year, set your sights higher. Aim for a higher peak, and don’t forget your map.

Minutes after midnight, I land at Madras international airport, almost breathless from the heat and humidity. The air conditioned comfort of a car does little, however, to cool the tension on the streets. Here, most rules of driving etiquette have no place. Horns blare from all directions. Lane driving, left side of the road, right side of the road, doesn’t matter. Stir in some heavy monsoon downpours, and you’ve got an adventure every trip.

What’s most interesting about the chaos of Indian traffic is the mindset of drivers. As insane as they are behind the wheel, once the journey is over they forget about it entirely. That’s quite different from how we operate. How often have you heard someone, maybe even yourself, complaining about a crazy driver, or how bad traffic was, and on and on? Certainly, we don’t expect a melee on the streets when headed to the grocery store so when it does it happen, it is frustrating. However, anyone that’s had to deal with the Holland tunnel, the 10/405 junction, or the Bay Bridge can tell you they expect traffic, and it is still not fun. So knowing there will be traffic, we are no better prepared for it mentally.

Indians seem to have a lower level of emotional stickiness, at least for driving. What would life be like if we could possess this talent? During the course of a day, our emotions swing wildly. We feel joy, sadness, anger, happiness, and more. However, if you ask somebody about their day, most of the time people tend to elaborate most on the worst few minutes of their day. All of the things that went right or were even pretty cool are glossed over in deference to the unpleasant events.

It’s easier to be a passenger than stuck behind the wheel. For the driver, traffic can be a personal struggle and victory is dependent on their keen driving skills. On the other hand, the passenger can relax, listen to some music and stare out the window. Learning to be a passenger – one who is in the middle of the traffic jam, but is unaffected by it is a valuable skill. The driver and the passenger reach the destination together, regardless of their experience or mental state. Meditation brings this skill to life. With it, we can stay on the road unfettered by traffic.

An Unforgettable Peace Festival with Dance, Music, Yoga and Food

Celebrating Diversity for a peaceful tomorrow

The World Culture Festival in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of The International Art of Living Foundation. This unique event will host more than 70.000 participants from over 150 countries who will take home unique sights, sounds and tastes and the mesmerizing variety of the world continents in one place!

The Grand Celebration in the Olympiastadion Berlin as well as the World Pavilions will be showcasing through dance, music, food, literature and conferences the beauty of all World Cultures: The Festival will honour the norms and values of various cultures while celebrating harmony in diversity!

The Yoga Park will allow participants to experience the powerful impact of Yoga as a way to improve physical and mental health as well as to create inner peace. Welcome to Berlin!

WorldCultureFestival.org

World Culture Festival on Facebook