There was a wonderful story in the NY Times yesterday about one man’s response to the overcommercialization of yoga.

In a world where who your yoga teacher is and whether you are wearing Lululemon has become more important than your connection to Spirit, Greg Gumucio has not bought into the hype. Instead he has created an anti-celebrity, anti-fashionista yoga in his studios called Yoga to the People. Students don’t know who their teacher will be when they take a class; they pay what they can afford to pay and as their website states: “There will be no correct clothes, There will be no proper payment, There will be no right answers … No ego no script no pedestals.”

To those who would suggest that it is impossible to balance faith and commerce, I would suggest taking a lesson from Mr. Gumucio. He has 3 studios in New York, 2 in California, has plans to expand into Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Chelsea as well as possible long-term expansion into Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles.

In the Kabbalah Centre’s neverending quest to spread the word, they have now launched Kabbalah U online. They say they are doing this because it is the most effective means to disseminate this information, which is of course try. However, if the goal was to make the information available, they would provide it all for free.

This, of course, is not the case…except for the next 5 days. Until April 30, you can use Kabbalah U for free.

To login, visit www.ukabbalah.com and enter the following:
username: april
password: april

Here you will find “hundreds of hours of classes from teachers all over the world, available for downloading & watching as much as you desire, learning new lessons each time you watch.”

Better hurry! After Friday, you have to pay $42/month!