Adam Levine 

 Men’s Health Magazine- March 2013

Adam Levine 

 Adam Levine has the “Moves Like Jagger.”

BUT in his March 2013, Men’s Health cover shoot, he reveals a whole different set of moves.

YOGA.

 

 Strength, Focus, Balance

With his back extended into a crescent, he is balancing on his head and “twisting around himself like a cruller”

    

“…and even more of them since 2011 when he took up residence as one of four coaches  in comically over-sized, rotating red chairs on the singing-competition show The Voice, a runaway hit for NBC. A brief hour ago, he was relaxed and goofy, gamely striding through the photographer’s frame, flexing his tattooed arms and flashing muscleman poses. BUT this is different; It’s yoga. And when it comes to yoga, Levine doesn’t mess around.”

-Men’s Health

YOGA

“Yoga is the union of two Sanskrit concepts: abhyasa and vairagya, focused effort and surrender”

-CHAD DENNIS

 (Loquacious yoga teacher and fitness instructor and Adam’s personal trainer of 5 years)

Assume a yoga asana-even one as simple as the standing straight-leg, feet-together toe touch- and you’ll see what he means. 

“Part of you  wants to give up and part of you wants to push further. But if you give up, you won’t make progress, and of you push too hard you’ll hurt yourself.  In yoga, you’re searching for that ever-shifting edge between these two counterproductive extremes.”

Abhyasa- Focused Effort

Before “The Voice,” before Maroon 5, Adam Levine was just a kid who wanted to be a rock star. In the mid 90’s, he started working with voice and performance coach Steven Memel. Memel remembers the days he would receive panicked phone calls from Levine hours before a performance because his voice was a wreck from partying. When talking about Levine’s early potential, Memel is blunt: “He had an intensity about him and a unique quality in his voice.” But he never thought that Adam would become a star.

“If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again.”

Maroon 5

10 years, a lot of musical experimentation, and one failed album later, Adam Levine hit it big with Maroon 5’s “Songs About Jane,” in 2002. The album was personal to Levine; inspired by a recent breakup, but sometimes the best music comes from heartbreak. “Jane” highlighted Levine’s unique voice with an impressingly high expressive register and slick production values. The music was just straight up good music, and provided listener’s with new songs that they could listen to again and again. “Harder to Breathe“ and “This Love” were songs that you could sing along to with friends, while “Sunday Morning” was just a feel good song.

Then there was,“She Will Be Loved.” A song full of emotion; a song where Levine had clearly poured his heart out. I remember being a teenager and hearing it over and over on the radio.

“Jane” went multi-platinum, won Grammy’s, and has sold over 5 million copies in the U.S.

Maroon 5’s latest album, “Overexposed” has become an instant hit featuring the songs “Payphone” and ‘One More Night”

And I’m sure we have all heard, danced, and sang along to “Moves Like Jagger”

What does Levine’s former voice coach have to say?

“He’s learned how to play the stage now. His voice gained flexibility, agility, and nuance from all the touring. Plus there’s an arrogance, which may be neccessary for people to have-or cultivate-to be that successful. (Meant as a compliment) Under the scrutiny of so many eyes and ears, you need a degree of self-possession even to get up in the morning.”

–Steve Memel

Adam’s Balancing Act

 To say Adam Levine is busy is an understatement.

CURRENT STATS

Maroon 5 Front man currently on a 30 city North American tour

Coach on NBC’s “The Voice” (Season 4 Premiered Monday Night)

BFF of fellow “Voice” coach Blake Shelton

Aspiring Actor who just wrapped filming of “Can A Song Save Your Life?” with actors Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly 

Just launched his own fragrance line for men and women

Fashion Icon

Boyfriend

“Object of Lust” to legions of female fans, myself included

Blake and Adam get to work on the new season of “The Voice”

How Does Adam Find Balance?

“Adam is very driven. He always wanted to jump to the hardest version of the poses, even if he wasn’t ready.” But after after 5 years of dedicated practice, Adam has a whole new attitude. “He’s more patient. He understands that its a process and not a means to an end.”

-Chad Dennis on His Client

Like Performing, or Having A Stressful Job

(Does Being A Rock Star Count?)

A Good Yoga Practice

Strikes a balance between executing a thought-out plan and staying flexible, in more ways than one.

Maybe that’s why the ancient art suits him- and ANY MAN driven toward perfection, in the gym or at work. “It’s an arena in which busy guys can slow down, shut out all the voices clamoring for their attention, stop striving for a while- and do a serious workout at the same time.

His patient approach to his yoga practice, like his career, has grown in gradual increments-

one workout, one pose, one breath at a time

and finally culminated in a level of mastery.

Vairagya- Surrender

Not only has yoga allowed the singer to maintain an incredibly toned physique; it’s basic principles can be applied to his personal and professional life.

“I have a hard time sitting still. I can be all over the map. Yoga has given me the ability to be more focused and make better decisions that come from a clearer place.”

-Adam Levine

“There’s a very specific yoga cliche: Eat these foods, wear these clothes, believe only these things,” Levine says. “I don’t want to be that.”

He just knows his yoga practice works for him.

“It’s made me more successful.”

“I love it and don’t know what I’d do without it.”

-ADAM LEVINE, ON YOGA

“Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine is a multitasker; rockstar, budding actor, king of reality TV. How does he hold it all together? With a centered attitude and a crapload of yoga”

-Andrew Heffernan, Men’s Health Magazine