Outtakes from Upcoming Yoga DVD - the Discipline series

Just going through some footage during the start of Post Production for the new YogaSlackers DVD - the Discipline Series. Found some fun b-roll footage and put together three clips of some basic instruction on variations for 3 arm balances. It was pretty scary on the rock, as just out of frame in the front was a 15-foot drop into a rocky wash. Ah the things we do for film. It was certainly a focused shoot, but not a relaxing one. There is a good wipeout at the end of clip #3. And different music. None of this is the actual DVD soundtrack....

ABU DHABI wrap up!

A brutal battle in Abu Dhabi led to the YogaSlackers barely squeaking by with a place in the top 20 in a field of 40 of the best teams in the world. They also took fought hard and took home the honors (and cash that comes with it) as the top Rookie team from North and South America....read the whole gripping story here on the Wend blog! Special thanks goes out to Team Checkpointzero/Inov-8 who raced strong and pushed us hard. They also were super friendly and helpful when we needed it most! Congrats to Dirty Avacados and Crested Butte too - strong USA teams all.

Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge - Report

Team member Eric reporting...

My first adventure race seemed a lot like a reality TV show. It was a situation where their isn't any point in asking how far away is the end or how much longer the suffering may last. You know you are in it for the duration-you will finish, and you will finish together as a team. End of story.

The race was a 6 day stage race, which means that unlike an expedition-style adventure race, there is the assurance of a meal and at least some rest at the end of every stage. On the other hand, it means that the entire field is hammering hard during the entire racing period, and that the harder you push, the earlier you finish the stage and the more rest you get prior to the start of the next stage. "Keep the motor running and the wheels on" became my mantra throughout the race...

See the race website (abudhabi-adventure.com) for details and video clips of this amazing course.



The first few days were heavy with paddling. I've never paddled like this, but the rest of the team wouldn't let that get in the way of completing the whole paddling course. Drill-sargeant Dan spent the better part of two hours calling out timing, tips, and techniques. Towards the end of the ~90km paddling course, I started to get it! Sink or swim really does work.

After the amphibious prologue and the following paddle days, it was out to the desert, for a 120km romp through the desert. What better time than December for a unforgiving romp through pure desert? Chelsea joked (she seemed pretty serious about it...) that she was paying for her sins, but wouldn't tell us what they were. I just kept repeating to myself, keep the motor running and the wheels on. By the end of it, all we could think about was the mysterious place where all of our water was coming from: Al Ain.



The rest of the race was a blur, charging through the same desert on bikes, a stumbly desert night section, the climb to the top of the 3000ft Jebel Hafeet, the ?group ride we almost missed back down, and the 5k jog to the finish...

An amazing experience for me, this race had moments of visual grandeur, physical exhiliration and exhaustion, comedy and frustration, growth of friendship, and redefinition of personal limitations...



As I write this, two of our teammates, Jason and Chelsea, are still in Abu Dhabi after their passports were stolen while relaxing on the beach after the race. Such a bummer, but really the only mishap of the trip. Team Yogaslackers ended up with a 19th place finish out of 38 teams, and second of four American teams. They also received the "Rookie Team of the Year" award for Western hemisphere teams.

Sam and Neville update

here's the link - the boys had an awesome second day (amazing, since neville didn't even know what roller blades were and the day started with a 5 k sprint on them!) and finished 3rd for the day.  apparently they won something.  i think the next two days will favor their 'adventuring' strengths.  way to go guys!

Malaysia Adventure Race Day 2

Sam Here

Neville and I had a great second day. Despite me Pushing him on the roller blade for 6 out of the 8k. (making up for the 10k he pulled me on the run and bike the day before). We came off the blades in about 10th place then it was into a 1.3 k upstream river trek/boulder hoping/swimming we over took 3 teams due in part to Nev's strong swimming and helping hand then it was a short up hill on road and into the jungle... for 5k up and down hill trek.

The first Km of the Trek was going great we figured the lead teams were way a head by this time... so we Just locked in a good pace and started going we quickly drank up the last of our water but were not too worried an hour in we started to hear voices we figured it was the rappel site which meant water and a change of pace biking... but as we got closer to the voice all we found was a team we passed them and then another and another and another and then we ran into the France/Austrian we followed them on singly machete trail threw dense spiky rattan trees, they made a wrong turn and Nev quickly passed them... with in 10 min we were right behind the 1st and 2nd place team.

Now for the down hill threw the jungle the most exciting part for me I love downhill.... This was amazing it was like skiing running jumping flying and swinging like Tarzan...we were in and out of the river sliding down natural rock waterslides, swimming trough clear cool water in the 30c degree air it was so refreshing then back to 3-4 meter jumps down clay hill sides (Inov-8 212's rock best shoe ever) again so much fun. then the corse turned up hill again... I went on like this for 3 hours it was suppose to take 1hr 15min...

Nev here now..

We made it to the rappel in 1st place less then 20 mins to food we thought...
'After 1 more km we came to our bikes and No aid station, we were both hanging out for food so not really concious and pissed off about the aid station that was meant to be there. we left the bike transition in first place with spirits high. We both needed food. So about 5km into the bike we stoped at a dairy shop for some much needed food, with the camera crew and police surrounding us Sam goes into this store and grabs two ice chocolate iceblocks, two chocolate bars and a bag of chips. So we basically stoll food and ate it on the bike. Over the next 20km we experienced some hot rolling under the sun and a few cheers from the locals.
The end off the bike came down at the edge of the mangrove after eptying the food and water out of the box we finally left in 3rd place out around the local fishing villages. During the paddle we basically lost 3 min over the swiss and malaysian teams we ran the final 1km in socks this winding around a bit before it opened out to the finish. We finished 3rd for the day with two teams not finishing due to a time cut off at the absailing.


Overall standings