Breaking Up With Yoga
Twenty years ago I fell head over heels – literally – in love with yoga. It was a beautiful relationship, until it became abusive.
Why I Do Yoga
I have a yogi friend that I follow on Instagram. He posts photos of beautiful, gravity-defying poses that take my breath away. How does the human body do that? I have another friend that I’ve known since high school. We both started practicing about 20 years ago, but she does it #everydamnday and can turn her body into a pretzel. These are not the reasons why I do yoga. I’ll never be able to balance on one hand or flatten my splits to the floor. But I still do it. Week in, and week out—I do it, while my body stays pretty much the same. Because there’s a more important reason…
Meditation Reverses Ageing Brains
This is cool. The Washington Post reported a Harvard researcher found that meditation can change your brain. Literally. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, put anecdotal evidence to the test and found that meditation “decreased stress, decreased depression, anxiety, pain and insomnia, and an increased quality of life.” But how long do you have to meditate to get it to work?
Top 5 Yoga Gear Essentials
Whether you’re new to yoga or enhancing your practice, eco-focused yoga gear is great to know about. In my 20s, yoga changed my life–helping me to understand that strong was more important than skinny. A few years ago, I became a certified yoga teacher, with a specialty in prenatal, which I taught for a while. Today, if I do a few yoga classes a week, my back doesn’t hurt and stress kind of rolls over me, rather than rocking my entire world. And I still get excited about the cool stuff involved—especially when it’s sustainably made, like these yoga gear essentials.
Three Bad Habits That Kill Me
As I posted a few weeks back, I’m not the eco police. I try to inspire people to positive changes, rather than harangue them. After all, my tagline is “healthier living, less judgement.” But we all have bad habits. Although mine isn’t the best thing for the environment, the damage is fairly minimal and contained. Can you guess what it is? While you’re wondering, here are three bad habits that I can’t keep quiet about any more—because they affect me, too. Are any of them yours?
Mommy Greenest Approved: PACT Hot Yoga Gear
I do hot yoga about three times a week—hot not because the room is heated, but because I sweat. A lot. And although I admire the fancy patterned pants on my hot yoga studio friends, I tended to stick to the boring-yet-utilitarian uniform of black leggings and extra-long men’s ribbed tank top. But I just discovered a new line that’s inspired me to upgrade my look for hot yoga—and life. PACT just launched a collection of fair trade certified (no fast fashion here) camis and leggings crafted from super-soft organic cotton. The styles are perfect for daily, gym and yoga wear and best of all they’re totally affordable—and even available…
Mommy Greenest Approved: lur apparel
I love eco fashion. But eco fashion can mean different things to different people: Organic, fair trade, vegan, etc. For me, recycled eco fashion is key—typically, I thrift and swap my wardrobe to avoid supporting fast fashion (and save a bunch of money). Where do I draw the line at wearing someone else’s clothes? Undergarments, swimsuits or—the sweat factor makes me cringe—yoga gear. Even though I consider workout gear essential, I still balk at buying new, wearing my ratty old yoga pants until you can literally see through the rear. (And no, they aren’t Lululemon.) That’s why discovering the new lur apparel line was such a godsend. lur apparel upcycles post-consumer plastic…
Body by Vegan
A few years ago, a friend forwarded me a picture of Alicia Silverstone. The subject line was simple: body by vegan. It got my attention. Because even though I try to exercise two or three times a week, there remains that stubborn five pounds of fat that took hold right below my belly button while I was pregnant and never came off. Now I know that I’m active and healthy, and I knock wood daily for that. But there is a vain teenager inside of every woman. And on the day that my friend sent me Alicia Silverstone’s picture, that teen spoke up. I wanted to have a body by…
