Very early this morning (5:30 a.m. PT) a handful of talented (and lucky) people will get an extremely cool call from their publicist, letting them know they have been nominated for an Oscar. I’m sure for most of them, it will be a dream come true. As vapid and socially insignificant as award shows are, I can’t deny my guilty pleasure and love of the Oscars. Every year I go see all the nominated movies and throw an Oscar-night party for my friends and family, with food and drink themed around the nominated movies.
This is what they call Red Carpet Season in Hollywood, and I thought I would bring a little of that red yoga-mat glamour to the Daily Downward Dog and put out my very own nominations for Best Asana, Best Supporting Asana, Best Director, and Best Seva Artist for the coveted YOGARS!
After a great deal of self-reflection and careful review of my past year of cool yoga experiences, the Daily Downward Dog is pleased to announce the 2010 YOGAR nominees.
Best Asana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose): Pigeon proved itself again and again in 2010, with awesome hip-opening performances.
Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand): Always a risky asana to take on, this ego-pose could just pull off an upset in the best asana category.
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog): Last year the downward dog ran away with the votes and took home the YOGAR. This year the heels touched the ground, making the dog a huge contender and the critics’ choice to take home a repeat win.
Best Supporting Asana
Vrksasana (Tree Pose): It takes a lot of tree poses to gain your balance. If it weren’t for tree pose, we may never have achieved garudasana (eagle) or utthita hasta padangusthasana (extended hand-to-big-toe pose).
Balasana (Child’s Pose): Who hasn’t gone to child’s pose for support during a difficult class? You know this asana always has your back, providing a safe haven to relax and catch your breath.
Savasana: Giving tree and child’s poses a run for their money, the always formidable savasana gave a year of truly awe-inspiring and restorative performances.
Best Director
The Best Director YOGAR goes to the yoga instructor who pulled it all together to lead an incredible yoga class experience.
Deirdre Sargent: Yoga instructor extraordinaire (Yoga Lounge and LifeSource Yoga), great music, innovative classes, responsible for providing my first yoga meditation instruction in 2010 and challenging me in a supportive way to get into my first tripod headstand.
Kreg Weiss: The cofounder of MyYogaOnline, who also happens to lead some kick-ass classes like Deep Energy Flow and Cycling Energy.
Clara Roberts-Oss: My go-to video gal on MyYogaOnline. Clara has incredible flows and verbal cues all wrapped up with a great message and voice. I’m especially fond of the Moving Meditation Vinyasa Flow and Swimming in the Stream classes.
BTW, all the nominees are winners in my book. I think the best award any yoga instructor can get is a kind word expressing how much you enjoyed their class or letting them know they have helped you on your yoga journey.
Best Seva
Okay, help me out here; I’d like to get some nominations for the person or organization that is truly practicing seva. If you are not familiar with seva, it is the spiritual practice of selfless service and the desire to uplift and assist people, giving help and compassion to others with no thought of what is to gain or what is to be lost by doing so. The practice of seva becomes a path to self-realization, which is the essence of yoga.
Cast Your Vote TODAY!
The red yoga mats have been unrolled, and I’m opening up the YOGARS for additional nominations and votes, so please leave a comment below and nominate or vote for your favorite asana, supporting asana, director, and seva artist. The results will be announced on Monday, February 28.
All this YOGAR talk has got my creative head spinning, and now I’m thinking I really could take this a yoga mat farther and nominate in the categories of Best Playlist (musical score), Best Costumes (yoga gear), Best Picture (style of yoga), Lighting, Choreography, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Hmmm, stay posted…
Such a cool and funny idea! I would like to vote for Salamba Sirsasana and Balasana 😉
Oh, and what about a category for “Best yoga style”? I’d like to nominate Bikram 🙂
Girl, you are so funny! I love this!! 🙂 I hope to win a Yogar someday. Will think on these { they deserve rumination } and get back to you.
Hmmm….so many good choices but here goes:
Salamba Sirsasana
Vrkasana
Best Seva: Seane Corn for Off The Mat & Into the World http://www.offthematintotheworld.org/
And I’ll cast a write in vote for you and Ms. Y is for Yogini for yogaliciousness.
Ow, so hard, let me see…
Best asana : salamba sirsanana – has eluded me for a long time but finally it’s coming
Best supporting asana: vrksasana – love me some grounding and balancing 🙂
Best director: my lovely teachers (I guess you’ll get as many different answers as there are commenters), Manuelle Leroy in Brussels, and Claire Missingham in London (my TT teacher)
I have to say though that I love Clara Roberts-Oss’ Swimming in the Stream flow on myyogaonline too!
Best seva: I second Meredith here, and I nominate Seane Corn and Off the Mat Into the World. I also nominate the wonderful Marianne Elliott, OTM’s representative for New Zealand and Australia, I’ve never met somebody so truly kind and compassionate. And she told me something that has been brewing in my brain ever since we met last year – turns out she was right -> http://marianne-elliott.com/
And a best yoga crew for all you tweeps and peeps out there 🙂
Best asana : Adho Mukha Svanasana — because it is accessible to all.
Best supporting asana: vrksasana — one of my all time favorites!
Best director: Elsie Escobar of http://elsiesyogakula.com/ — She always winds incredible wisdom into her podcast (and, I’m guessing, live) classes.
Best seva: Eoin Finn for his Blissology outreach project (http://www.blissology.com/)
great idea! I love voting 🙂
Love this posting! You have many interesting topics that start all kinds of conversation. We all need to put together such a list and practice gratitude more often. Thanks for the reminder… you are yogalicious.
Well of COURSE, there MUST be a Yogar for BEST YOGA BLOG, right??!! And I nominate THE DAILY DOWNWARD DOG!
Love your awards, so fun. I’ll get back to you on my nominations, have to meditate on it a bit!
Love to you!
Goddess Yogini Extraordinare Maria, You are Awesome. . .and have my vote for Oscar Yogini. . .Blog Yogini Extraordinare. . .I loved all your Oscar commentary. . .Asanas with delightful description. . .I agree with all. . .all are Awesome. . .You Are Awesome. . .We Yoginis are Awesome! And I am soooo grateful for you in my life. . .so grateful for Yoga in my life. . .Om! Shanti! Peace, love & light. . .to all. . .Namaste! Jan
I have to cast my vote for Eka Pada Rajakapotasana as best asana, afterall its the cyclist’s best friend.
I’ll pass on the vote for best director. I had a candidate but she got swallowed up by life, hopefully she re-emerges in the near future.
The Yoga Academy is still busy tallying up the votes. We’ll announce the winners today, so stay tuned……
The winners have been announced…check them out at http://bit.ly/YOGARs and thanks again to everyone who voted and provided such excellent nominations! The YOGARS will be back again next year!!