Congratulations Shannon on winning the Yoga Journal / Athleta Talent competition. She was selected out of the five finalists who got to that place by people's votes and out of over 2500+ participants who registered and submitted photos.
If this is to happen again I would recommend to the organizers that they give people the ability to search/filter by style, and that the styles are defined and predetermined. As it was, you had to browse through over 300 pages to chose and vote!
Shannon won a spread on the September issue in which teacher Kathrin Budig (who became very famous after the controversy over the beautiful advertisement pictures for yoga socks showing her nude in challenging poses) has her go through a sequence. The sequence is not online, guess it is for "print only" at least for now.
For some reason I thought the winner would appear in the cover but that is not the case, my bad. Alanis Morrissette covers the September issue, and the overall theme is music in yoga.
The competition brought out a lot of feelings from the yoga community including disappointment by some yogis who think that the magazine has not been very good at portraying diversity in it. I somewhat agree, yet I also realize they are a 'for profit' magazine, and they need to follow a business model to make money. And what sells, well, sells. On the other side of the coin there are people who are very happy with the way things are. Hard to please everyone.
I am not defending not advocating the magazine, but I am happy for the winner. It is a good opportunity for her to raise her profile as a teacher although I am a bit disappointed that they introduced her as a 'model' rather than a yoga teacher (in the spread).
I guess if we were all editors of Yoga Journal we would have millions of different magazines. Hey, we do, they are blogs!
How do you feel about the competition / results etc?
If this is to happen again I would recommend to the organizers that they give people the ability to search/filter by style, and that the styles are defined and predetermined. As it was, you had to browse through over 300 pages to chose and vote!
Shannon won a spread on the September issue in which teacher Kathrin Budig (who became very famous after the controversy over the beautiful advertisement pictures for yoga socks showing her nude in challenging poses) has her go through a sequence. The sequence is not online, guess it is for "print only" at least for now.
The competition brought out a lot of feelings from the yoga community including disappointment by some yogis who think that the magazine has not been very good at portraying diversity in it. I somewhat agree, yet I also realize they are a 'for profit' magazine, and they need to follow a business model to make money. And what sells, well, sells. On the other side of the coin there are people who are very happy with the way things are. Hard to please everyone.
I am not defending not advocating the magazine, but I am happy for the winner. It is a good opportunity for her to raise her profile as a teacher although I am a bit disappointed that they introduced her as a 'model' rather than a yoga teacher (in the spread).
I guess if we were all editors of Yoga Journal we would have millions of different magazines. Hey, we do, they are blogs!
How do you feel about the competition / results etc?
I am trying to be understanding of all sides but i cannot help feel that the winner should have at least been on the cover! I dunno, i have mixed feelings about YJ. I think there needs to be more than a few yoga magazines out there! to show people that YJ is not a proper representation of what the true nature of yoga is all about.
ReplyDeleteActually, I wonder why they even put Alanis Morissette on the cover, considering (a) she's not a yoga teacher, (b) the variation of Ustrasana she is modelling borders on being downright dangerous; isn't twisting during backbends supposed to be really bad for the spine? Granted, she might not actually be twisting, but she sure is very close to getting into a twist... Is Yoga Journal saying that if one is a celebrity, one can get away with doing possibly dangerous/anatomically unsound variations of yoga postures?
ReplyDeleteI agree that if they do this again in the future, there has to be a better filtering or narrowing system. I understand their desire to keep the entry system open to all, but although I participated in the voting, it wasn't practical to review ALL the entries before doing so. I don't begrudge Shannon the victory, though. From the video, she looks like a genuine & down to earth gal. @MegP4
ReplyDeleteTeeg, yes I agree, I am thankful for blogs in that way, in that they expand the view a little, and focus on different traditions and on practices of people from all stages of life. I also thought, assumed that the winner would have been in the cover, but apparently that was just my projection, it did not say that in the rules...
ReplyDeleteNobel, I guess they are trying to bring a celebrity to gain more readership, then again, that is my guess... as per her pose,that's funny, maybe this is a pose that feels like yoga to her, I am not sure what it might be like to photograph a celebrity. I understand that her brother is a famous yoga teacher...
Meg, yes, totally, it was impossible to filter by traditions or styles or anything really... very hard to even browse through all of them.
The fact that the person wasn't on the cover kind of defeated the purpose. They could have had her be with a "celebrity" or even like on the back cover or something. The person is still kind of lost in there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that is what I thought as well Shanna,that was the prize I expected... a spread inside is not so much of one really... oh well...
ReplyDeleteClaudia, thanks for posting this, as otherwise I would have never realized that the talent search winner was in this issue! I, too, expected him or her to be on the cover.
ReplyDeleteYJ does what it does well . . . but we definitely need other voices, images, and conversations about yoga. That's why blogging is so great already and even more promising in terms of what it could be - open, accessible, creative, and democratic!
As an aside, as I looked through YJ to find the talent search article, I couldn't help but noticing this copy: "The modern yoga woman has at least as many aspects as the goddess Durga has arms. In these pages, we celebrate three of the ways that you show up in life." Hmm, I thought, what's this? A nod to the call for diversity in yoga! But when I turn to the article, what do I find? Three pages of outfits and accessories, NO human beings at all, only products and prices! Really, you just have to laugh and take it in stride: "Vegan Mary Janes in faux suede and faux crocodile, Olsenhaus, $225." Oh yes, Durga would be proud!
Carol, that is funny, Durga would be like: you whaaaa? ha ha ha.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more, I am very grateful that the community of bloggers is so broad and accessible, and when well utilized and directed also very, VERY useful as a learning and sharing tool. creative and democratic are good words too...
Thanks for the Twitt! :-)
Nobel, I thought the same thing when I saw the cover - that it looked dangerous (and not so flattering really). A celeb is fine, but getting her to portray a potentially harmful pose? Is it really even a pose? Just added to the "fakeness".
ReplyDeleteAs for the YJ contest. I was very interested in learning more about this winner, and hearing about her practice, views on yoga or anything really. They could of done a really great article on her. Why not dive a little deeper into a "contest" that, lets admit, was based on the "visual".
In fact, I bet everyone who reads YJ, would have like to see a little snippet of the diverse pictures that were entered into the contest to celebrate the "yoga for all" aspect of yoga. I hope they do a diversity issue to make it up to us :)
Hi DY, now that I think about it you are right, I WOULD indeed have loved to hear more about her too, learn about her practice and how she learned and what she focuses on in her teachings... and it could have made a great article if they have had that with the other sort of runner uppers and a few others as well, and have them share and talk.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been a great way to make community.
I have a feeling that this more an 'Athletica' thing rather than a Yoga Journal, they partnered with them and as far as i understand they also provided prizes...
Who knows, I suppose if YJ is reading and paying attention to the blogsphere they will have lots of ideas of how to do it better if they are ever to do so...