Like everything that grows popular, eventually a backlash begins. It now looks like we've firmly entered the era of anti-yoga hysteria. It's both amusing and sad.

The attacks and odd claims come from a variety of angles. Fundamentalist Christians, of course, have long ranged somewhere between mildly concerned to downright apoplectic over the ascendance of yoga. That's not new--or news. More interestingly, the latest hysterical misinformation comes from the mainstream media. Especially from New York Times science writer, William J. Broad.

One of the fundamental claims--amply proven through both scientific studies and personal stories--of The Bliss Experiment is that pursuing external desires and goals such as wealth and luxury is a sure-fire recipe for unhappiness. And worse, really: spiritual disaster.

The Artist just won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It couldn't have happened to a nicer film.

When Brook and I first saw the film, just after it first opened (one of the great things about LA is that limited releases and small films always play here--usually just a few minutes from our apartment), we both immediately thought it was the best movie we'd seen this year.

Most of us, particular in our society, would love to look younger. In fact, as the world is about to turn its attention to the Academy Awards this weekend--and the endless parade of youth and beauty on display--over the next few days, those of us watching are likely to become even more self-conscious than usual about our own looks and age.

This photo was taken at the Whipsdale Zoo outside of London by Marac Andrev Kolodzinski. Okay, the truth is that this otter probably wasn't really praying, he was playing with a stone and the photographer happened to catch it at the perfect moment. Still, since otters are among my favorite animals (along with pandas), I couldn't resist posting....besides, is there truly a major difference between genuine prayer and genuine play?

Yesterday, a student of mine, herself a lapsed Catholic now more of a yoga and meditation practitioner, rather indignantly asked me what I thought of Nicki Minaj's performance at the Grammy Awards last week.

This past Valentine's Day, an anonymous person created a series of skywriting images above New Orleans.

I was originally going to post this on Valentine's Day but Brook, somewhat jokingly (but also not), convinced me to give people a break and not shatter their Valentine's Day romantic illusions, especially since most people already had plans in place. So let's call this a post-Valentine's look at love.

Brook and I recently attended opening night of the new play, Buddha: A Fantastic Journey, directed by the actor John C. Reilly, written and performed by Evan Brenner. 100% of the dialogue is taken from the actual words of the Buddha (or at least a modern, English translation thereof). The play is a telling of the life story of Gautama Siddhartha from beginning to end.

The 3D release of Star Wars, The Phantom Menace hit theaters this weekend and appears to be a success. Before anyone saw it--or the other two prequels, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith--there was a lot of hype about the tremendous number of technical breakthroughs employed to create the films.

Today, George Lucas releases a new 3D version of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in movie theaters across the country. This follows on the heels of the Star Wars films recent release on Blu-Ray, instantly becoming the bestselling set of all time, obliterating all previous records. So this creates the occasion to explore the spiritual meaning of the Star Wars films. I'll do that in this post and the next, from two very different angles.

I was in my doctor's waiting room the other day and staring me in the face was the obligatory copy of People magazine (is a People subscription an official requirement for doctors to get their board certifications?), this one being a recent issue with Demi Moore on the cover and promising to give us the "real story" of her recent emergency call, breakdown, and trip to a recovery facility.

There's a belief among the more cynical of us that everything has a price, that humans can be induced to sell-out or change our supposedly most sacred and enduring values under the right circumstances or for the right price.

Today, I was at a friend's business, someone who interacts with many famous people on a daily basis. A very, very famous entertainer was there--with apologies, I just can't name names, it would be not only rude but a real invasion of their privacy, especially given what I'm about to say.....

On my way to the Sundance Film Festival, I was picked up by a car service to take me to LAX. The driver, who we'll call George, was the chatty type. He asked me what I did. I told him that I wrote spiritual books.

There's an interesting new scientific study released this week (read here for a layman's version), that supports one of the key tenets of The Bliss Experiment: that being self-centered and narcissistic is bad for you.