Adam Skolnick - Author, Journalist, Artist and lifehacker

Finding Bliss on Bali – Yoga, relaxtion and belonging

Evocative sounds filtered through the open-air yoga pavilion as I completed a sun salutation at Bali’s Como Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri: the sunset song of tropical birds, the rolling thunder of the Ayung River, the faintest chant originating from a Hindu temple…

Posted on Apr 25th, 2010
0 comments

Inside The NFL’s Muscle Factory

Oakland Raiders rookie Darren McFadden had a simple goal: to be the fastest and strongest running back in the NFL. So he put on 15 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks. Here’s how…

Posted on Jun 22nd, 2010
1 comments

Kundalini Matriarch

Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa, the first Kundalini Yoga teacher in America not named Yogi Bhajan, is a tiny elder with boundless energy. Born in 1929, she explored spiritual realms long before the Beatles met the Maharaja. Her seeking led her to cultish communes and astrologers, to Sufi celebrations and Vedanta lectures, and finally, on Christmas Day, 1968, to her teacher.

Posted on Jun 22nd, 2010
2 comments

The Pride Of Islay

If you travel to the southern end of the Inner Hebrides archipelago in Scotland, you’ll find a rocky, windswept isle with more than 130 miles of spectacular coastline, huge communities of otters, seals and marine birds, and 3,500 people who love their Scotch whiskey. And they should. After all, their island’s name, Islay, is synonymous with single malt production, and whiskey is the hub of the local economy.

Posted on Jun 22nd, 2010
2 comments

Scratching the source

Hip-hop culture may be coming to a yoga studio near you. Take Bala Yoga in Los Angeles. On the first Friday of every month a DJ is invited into the expansive loft space on La Brea to spin during a two-hour yoga class, the proceeds of which are donated to a local non-profit. Intriguing concept, and it works.

When I attended, I was a bundle of tension and nerves. Work and love drama had me beneath the wheel. At first I was distracted and found it hard to focus, then the music cracked me open.

Posted on Jun 22nd, 2010
2 comments

In Pursuit of Tranquility

I was in an ancient, temperate rainforest standing on a ledge perched 150 feet over Fitzsimmons Creek, a pristine, boulder-strewn stream that divides Whistler and Blackhomb Mountains in BC. Fog clinged to the ancient cedar and fir trees on the slopes of Whistler Mountain, and it felt like I’d found the most vibrant and fertile place on earth.