Two worlds collide as disciplines meet

This is not your father's yoga.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Yoga and hip-hop aren't usually uttered in the same sentence; the two worlds seem diametrically opposed, yoga with its taint of upper-middle-class lifestyle and hip-hop with its roots in urban street culture. If there was one person who could bring them together it would be Russell Simmons, and the music-film-television-apparel mogul wants to do just that, with a new video due out next month.
"Russell Simmons Presents Yoga Live" merges yoga and hip-hop into a series of four videos that promotes weight loss, flexibility, relaxation and toning through yoga, and adds original hip-hop music. Simmons is co-founder of Def Jam Records, produced the HBO series "Def Comedy Jam" and "Def Poetry" and founded the successful clothing lines Phat Farm and Baby Phat. He is widely credited with taking rap and hip-hop to underexposed markets and into the mainstream, and with "Yoga Live" he hopes to do the same.
Better health
"If yoga could become an important part of American culture, it could promote more well-being in America and the world," Simmons said. "This could be a better, brighter cultural landscape."
Simmons says he passed up early offers to get involved in a yoga video, but agreed this time because the producer of these tapes wanted to emphasize the spiritual, as well as physical, aspects of yoga. "To practice yoga promotes peace and love and giving," he said, "which is the reason for us being here. The more I could promote yoga, the more I could give the world what was really special."
The telephone interview begins in his New York office and continues at the Jivamukti Yoga Center where he practices. Simmons credits his decade-old practice (that started as a way to meet girls) with helping him lose 30 pounds, become a vegan, cure his chronic insomnia and develop a deeper sense of spirituality. He says proceeds from sales of the first series of videos, which retail for $40, will benefit his Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
Judging by the 30-second clip made available (the series was still being edited last week), the video features an attractive, multiethnic cast; an airy, colorful set; and a hip-hop soundtrack tinged with Eastern music. Simmons chose the instructors and made sure all aspects of yoga were embraced. He doesn't actually appear in the videos, but he will be in the infomercials.