Although the back-to-school (or work!) time of year is fast approaching, let us not forget that we’re still in the sweet spot of summer – perfect for beaching, paddleboard yoga-ing and yoga festival going!

Take a look at our fav picks below for a yoga festival look that brings together style and function seamlessly.

The Look:

For any festival go-er (yoga or otherwise!), day to night mobility is a must – and the look above captures exactly that. Pair the vibrant and fun Practice Pant Ink Brush OM with the Mindful Tank Lucky Bamboo for a combination that offers extra warmth on your legs when the cooler evening temperatures set in, but will keep you cool with the lightweight tank during the hotter parts of the day.

Feeling extra chilly in the evening? Throw on a stylish and supremely comfortable Hybrid Wrap for extra warmth!

The Accessories:

Hmmm…where to start?

How about with the basics – mats!

For a mat that’s lightweight and easy to keep clean on the go, our favorite is the classic Hybrid Mat. Throw in a pack of Yoga Mat Wipes for a sweet smelling mat even in the most outdoorsy of settings!

And, for an even more comprehensive collection of props to address all your festival needs – whether you’re squeezed into a not so roomy tent or practicing solo on a grass hill – try it paired with a Mysore Practice Rug! This is our go-to yoga superstar for ultimate slip resistance, traction, and texture.

(Looking for a combo deal? Check out our Yoga Packages!)

To top off your ensemble, throw all your props into a stylish and sturdy Indian Pattern Yoga Mat Bag (the classic Panipat Pattern pictured above) and hit the road!

Or, for a super soft feel, try out our Cotton Velvet Mat Bags. They’re sturdy, breathable, and made from 100% cotton, but with the plush feel of velvet.

Come visit us at BarefootYoga.com today to find all of your festival needs!

Posted under Eco-Friendly Yoga Products, Health and Fitness, Mysore Practice Rugs, Yoga Gift Ideas, Yoga Mats, Yoga Supplies

I kicked off week 6 of my Yoga Revival with an outdoor yoga session. I have a slight nagging pull in my right upper hamstring from when I “came out of waterskiing retirement early in July.” I feel its presence when bending forward, and so I brought a tennis ball to my yoga mat to massage it along with all the muscles in that lower back and buttocks region. It is a meditative challenge to breathe through such deep massage, and I followed this with gentle hamstring stretches – laying on my back, using a strap while extending each individual leg straight up, then about 45 degrees to the side.

I was happy to feel extra flexibility when I began my standing asana practice. Along with the sound of birds and breeze in the trees, my warm up helped create a grounded feeling that only deepened through my whole 50 minute practice. I have used the tennis ball to knead out sore muscles in a couple of practices since Sunday, along with a brief warm-up using a strap – with similar positive results. I find keeping it brief is helpful, because when I get too comfortable, it becomes harder for me to get going on my sun salutations – which require fortitude, tenacity, and sweat.

Since getting back into a regular yoga practice at the beginning of the summer, I have spent more time doing the “in between” poses that sometimes have been neglected in my yoga practice. I do have some of that type A inclination to jump into things quickly – that fervor over Pattabhi Jois’s call to action – “99% practice, 1% theory.” But I find an extra breath with a lift here, and a pressing down there – is always beneficial. And so in between my first forward bend, and jumping or stepping back to “Chattarunga,” I am conscious to take a moment to lift my knee caps, press down with my heels, and lift my toes and my sternum, while looking up – before going into a deeper forward bend. Sometimes I go up and down like this 5 times before continuing.

And there’s no question – my asana practice is a good warm up for sitting meditation. I try to end all of my asana sessions with at least a 5 minute sitting meditation, followed by sivasana. So my well-used 15 year-old sari zafu was with me, and I ended my practice with a sitting meditation, followed by sivasana.

I’m still trying to work out my life schedule in a way where yoga fits in more naturally and automatically. These days I generally cram it into my very busy life with some difficulty. But even crammed in, I always feel better from yoga practice, and a little warm up goes a long way.

In this picture sits my 15 year-old sari zafu on top of my 1/8” hybrid eco-mat, which sits on top of my Jammu rug.

Posted under Eco-Friendly Yoga Products, Health and Fitness, Meditation, Styles of Yoga, Yoga Mats, Yoga Supplies

I am now more than a month into my Yoga Revival. It began with a free outdoor class on the Solstice, which was the first international yoga day as declared by the United Nations last December. My goal was to have a ‘regular yoga practice” – and so far I do! Woo-hoo!!

“Talk to me in a year,” immediately pops into my head. “It’s only been a month.” In my adult life I’ve had periods of serious dedication to yoga – but moreover, I’ve been rather a dabbler. Particularly over the past 8 years since becoming a father.

Many people have been surprised. They assumed since I’m part owner of a yoga supply company that I must do yoga regularly. I did at times in my life. And, I suppose in my mind I have told myself that I am practicing yoga daily. Generally I do – even if just for a tiny piece of the day while waiting for the microwave, or the water to boil. And there are times when I am waiting in line for something, and feel a little impatience starting to grow, and turn inward, and listen to my breath, while staring at a little speck on the wall (“drishti” definition here. Source: Drishti Yoga Journal article)

On a particularly turbulent coast to coast plane ride the other day a thick line of people formed in front of me when the air smoothed out and seatbelt sign finally went off. It was a big claustrophobic crowd in the aisles, then a dad and his toddler cut the line, and we were all trying not to look at each other, and it felt like the oxygen might be running low in that tight little space. I logged about 10 minutes of meditation, and almost took a picture of my drishti point, or some sort of selfie, but I feared someone might wrestle me down in the aisle because of suspicious activity. People were probably already a bit suspicious by the way I was smiling about this.

I believe these are valid, very useful moments of yoga practice. There are 8 limbs to Yoga after all, lest we forget. Here is a good description of them by Yoga Journal:  http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/the-eight-limbs/

Reading over this reinforces something I know and love about yoga. It is BIG. And it is comprehensive. It is spiritual. I’ll never forget when my East coast Catholic mother was visiting in San Francisco in the late 90’s, and she was flipping through the Yoga Sutras sitting on the couch. I thought she might be just judging that here was further evidence of my deepening plunge in hippy oblivion. But much to my surprise, she was pleased by the similarities in the messages of the Yoga Sutras to what she had learned in church all those years. Her acceptance made me so happy.

For my purposes now – I am NOT looking at the BIGNESS of yoga. When I set out for a Yoga Revival in June, I intentionally set my sights on small (half hour) increments of yoga per day. When I first started practicing yoga regularly in the early 1990’s I was recovering from having a disk (hastily) removed from my lower back (L4-L5).  My yoga teacher friend visited and showed me a SHORT yoga routine that took roughly a half hour, stretching and strengthening muscles all around my back, without straining it. She made some crude stick drawings to ensure I remembered the poses.  A week into this, I felt the results, and kept doing it, and the results got better and better.

The briefness of this practice (25-45 minutes) helped me to DO IT DAILY back then. But even so, when I eventually felt like I’d never had a back problem – I quit doing yoga so regularly. I have discovered through my conversations with injury prone friends and physical therapists that most people stop doing their rehab exercises once they feel better – even though these are often meant to go on and on to help prevent further injury. So my conclusion is it’s our nature to take the easy way out, and so – for now at least – I need to “fight gravity” – to keep this yoga practice “regular.”

One of the best examples of fighting gravity is when my alarm goes off in the morning. Seattle’s cool nights make for some sweet sleep – so given the choice between staying in my warm comfy bed and getting into downward dog – I’m going to need some motivation to beat gravity.

Today gravity and the snooze button won for an hour, but I finally staggered to the mat, and salvaged a good 40 minute practice before work. Which means no full belly meditation tonight. And also, I have felt a balance and peacefulness from it, which might be the motivation I need to make tomorrow’s fight against gravity a bit easier.

Posted under Health and Fitness, Meditation, Styles of Yoga, Yoga Supplies