|
|
| I've been a subscriber for a while now. A few months ago the magazine underwent a change in leadership and I am just curious what others think of the results. For me, this once great magazine has become nothing more than another glossy Cosmo clone. It's sad, really. I just received the new issue and was amazed at how thin it has become. Opening the pages only lowered my opinion. Gone are the articles on true yoga, meditation, etc. Instead, we have articles about celebrity tricks for fighting stress. The last issue wasn't much better with it's gitchy list of yoga benefits. I looked through a back issue from the spring and the difference is more than noticeable. The photographs are glossy and staged now. Even the models, once healthy-looking yogis have been replaced by what looks like a mal-nourished runway model. Maybe it's just me. |
|
| |
|
| I concur with you 100%--a bunch of ads too--even with info cited as "Definitive guide to (whatever)." Yep, whatever pays to be there. The local Barns&Nobel has quite a few smaller yoga pubs--however, they seem to mostly cater to the more mystical yoga areas--and of course, stuff like netti pots--sheesh...and they're ALL in the woman's mag section...I kinda feel odd when there...like in the lady's undie section at Nordstorms or something. |
|
| |
|
| I am not a reader of YJ but have seen a few older issues and was really, really, put off by the glitzy advertising burying some really useful articles. I shudder to hear what Tsaklis is describing.
I subscribe to Ascent magazine which deals primarily with the people who practice yoga and perspectives on their lives, as well as interviews with accomplished people on many topics. Very little on the details of Hatha yoga and the advertising is limited to immediately inside the front and back covers.
the current issue online: http://www.ascentmagazine.com/toc.aspx?page=read&subpage=current
Lavteal |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
Hey fellas,
First of all, Yoga Journal is not for men. It's for women. No doubt.
I've heard it described as a magazine about women in leotards, but that's
probably a bit too harsh. They only run pretty men in YJ...no sweat, no body
hair.
Second, yes, it is like Elle or Cosmo. In leotards.
I find it to be a bit of mishmash in philosophically, and a bit more new agey
that intellectual. But I like to read the New Yorker, so they probably
aren't look for me in their target audience.
I do like the anatomy column they run. That's actually solid stuff.
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I think the anatomy column is why I still buy YJ. Julie Gudmestad is a wonderful teacher and I highly recommend you go to one of her workshops if you get the chance. As a physical therapist, her view on the body and how it works gives her different insights which can be really interesting. At one workshop I attended she talked about learning to do backbends properly and the difference in the yoga backbend and the gymnast backbend (Christine you will recognize this). She said female gymnasts come into the physio office talking with each other about how many back surgeries they've had - before they are 20 years old  If that doesn't make you learn to lengthen the lumbar, nothing will  |
|
| |
|
| Tourist, I like the anatomy column too. I was very disappointed w/ the lack of "meat" in the new edition... and isn't this the 3rd edition in a row to have some kind of "if you do yoga, you will be thin" article on the cover? I'm discouraged by that. oh - and all the fashion ads... don't like those, either, but I think I've pointed out that I would if only some of that stuff came in my size! also, the constant pushing of the kings and queens of yoga (yee/corn/gannon/life/rea) really bothers me. They made Anusara sound like a joke, they hardly ever promote conferences by other sponsors and they exclude too many excellent teachers
I just saw the charter issue of "Breathe" and I'm subscribing, but it's a mishmosh, not just Yoga. I read Yoga magazine from the UK (which dh's coworkers usually pick up for me, but it's available at B&N), I don't much care for Yoga International, and Yoga 4 Every Body is ok, but likes to promote pilates and yogafit stuff, too. |
|
| |
|
| If you want to see the real commercial angle take a look at Fit Yoga.
I do enjoy the new Practice at home column with Cyndi Lee. She does routines differently that the studios and it gives me a variety for home practice. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Gruvemom - 2005-02-20 1:48 PM
I'm discouraged by that. oh - and all the fashion ads... don't like those, either, but I think I've pointed out that I would if only some of that stuff came in my size! also, the constant pushing of the kings and queens of yoga (yee/corn/gannon/life/rea) really bothers me.
Yeah, like I'm going buy a tofu b/c it's promoted by Rodney Yee...
....this is why we need Iron John Yoga. 
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Fit Yoga made me regret the $ I spent on it.  |
|
| |
|
| Looks like there's a market for a new yoga magazine. |
|
| |
|
| Guys, please try to see it from a professional point of few, like a publisher/editor. The field of yoga may be wide but it has its boundaries nevertheless. There are already hundreds, if not thousands, of yoga books and other publications on the market. All the knowledge is out there, available for us to buy from the shelves.
And now imagine you have the task to produce a magazine about yoga, fill it with interesting articles that are of some value for the reader - month by month by month. It's not like a motoring magazine where you can always count on new models to come out, new tyres, new engine technologies and lots of other stuff. Compared to that there's not too much happening in the world of yoga. Let's just say yoga is no good news.
Responsible for the content of a yoga magazine, and its profits, you don't want to hear the infamous "Trump quote" from your boss. So of course you're going to write about every little thing that has something to do with yoga and of course you'll jump on every new trend or style. Of course you'll be happy for every related company that is willing to place its advertising on your empty pages. Of course you'll cover celebrity yogis and other fashionable threads. And of course you'll produce a lot of useless crap.
Honest, what would YOUR yoga mag look like?
|
|
| |
|
| I still read the YJ. In fact I just renewed my sub. The reason I got it was one for networking in my area. Second something interesting to read. I do agree it has a very high estrogen factor. I can see your point a ****ed if you do and ****ed if you don't on the mag making money. I liked and enjoyed when they got into some politics of Hot Yoga legal stuff and copyrights.
Or the article of the Marine major in Iraq and all the heat they got after that article. Which made me read his article a couple more times 
|
|
| |
|
| It has gotten a lot more commercial in the last few years, but so has yoga (in the US at least)! As a newbie, I didn't understand most of the articles but I read them all anyway, hoping to become part of that world someday. I found it pretty intimidating. But nowadays, there are SO MANY people interested in trying yoga for the first time, and YJ seems to be trying to appeal to them more. Perhaps YJ is now the "gateway drug" to more hardcore yoga! Whatever gets people to try it is okay with me . . . if they find it to their liking, they will continue and become serious, and if not they will move on to the next exercise fad.
For more philosophical articles, I really like the gentle tone of Yoga International. It's put out by the Himalayan Institute and I just can't get enough of it!
Jean |
|
| |
|
| Obviously they have to make money, but it's not necessary to turn off long-time readers to do so. The last issue I happened to pick up was November, and I wasn't thrilled or disappointed with it very much. It's like Christine says all the time to "take what you like and leave the rest"...But I understand completely. Natural Health magazine used to be GREAT!!! Thick, informative, and very diverse. When I first started reading it incorporated bits and pieces from so many disciplines, and had tons of recipes for vegetarian/vegan meals, beauty products, cleaning products...In the past 2 or 3 years they've had a couple of different editors, and now every cover tells us "how to de-stress and de-clutter your life". Well, I don't wanna! Don't tell me what's wrong with my life- I already know that part! Yoga Journal, like Natural Health should be about helping those who really care get the information and provide practical informatin as to how to use it. So there. Ugh, my yoga-buzz from this afternoon (I almost fell asleep in the middle of the asanas!) is now tempered. |
|
| |
|
| jeansyoga - 2005-02-21 12:27 AM
But nowadays, there are SO MANY people interested in trying yoga for the first time, and YJ seems to be trying to appeal to them more. Perhaps YJ is now the "gateway drug" to more hardcore yoga!
Jean
Excellent point that! I think that indeed a magazine will loose it's appeal for more advanced yogis anyway, so they care more about their core group of readers, which are newbies. Take for example our very own Neel, he as a very wise guruji posted a time ago something like "don't read - practice!"
|
|
| |
|
| I really did not expect this many responses. Of course they are trying to make money, etc. My point was, and I think this was echoed by Gruvemom, that the magazine has declined greatly over the last three or four issues. This decline coincides with the change in leadership. It really seems to me that the new editor and staff are taking much more of a "women's magazine" approach. Cyndi Lee's column was a great example. I pulled a back issue... in this case August '04, which was the last issue under the old editor, and this column's model was an attractive, and healthy looking woman. She was certainly not underweight by any stretch, and was probably overweight by magazine standards. She is photographed demonstrating asanas in a very nice, but sparesly decorated room. In the current issue the equivelant column features a model that is so thin and so overdone with a fake tan, that it's just silly. She is photographed going through Cyndi's sequence while competing for frame space with oddly placed flowers that make no sense whatsoever.
The "meat" article in the August issue? A lengthy, well-written article on the buddhist culture of Bhutan. The article went on to win an award for travel writing. The "meat" article in the current issue? How such notables as Dennis Kucinich and Mehmet Oz beat stress through kind of doing yoga... sort of. That's really all I was getting at. Of course there are going to be adds, gloss, etc. But it seems the new direction is a little overboard. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 517
Location: New Jersey | I agree with what's been said about the models being used in Yoga Journal, especially thecover models. In the past few issues it has seemed like the models were less the "real people", and more like professional cover models. I also don't like the fact that there have been alot more ads in the magazine lately for thngs like cars and wine. I am a subscriber to YJ, and while there have been alot of changes to the magazine recently, I still plan to renew my subscription. I really like the anatomy of a Yogi column, and also the home practice column by Cyndi Lee. They have also had some good articles on meditation which have helped me since I recently started meditating. I do notice an emphasis on yoga for weight loss, but itseems like the motivation behind those articles, are still healthy, ie: losing weight for your health, as opposed to losing weight to look good.
Samantha |
|
| |
Yoga Journal
