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Bicycling.com: Yoga for Cyclists | Bicycling Magazine

Click the above link for a great quick read and a few poses for biking!

My husband loves to road bike - in fact we both love to bike on road and off road and have many memories of long rides together to nowhere in particular (way before kiddies of course!). My hybrid mountain bike has gathered a bit of garage dust these days since my hip injury (and the fact that my youngest child is not ready for a 2 wheeler or long rides and my oldest just got off training wheels! excuses excuses right??!!) So, I long for the days of nice long rides in the dirt (or on the road) - I will definitely incorporate the poses suggested in the latest issue of Bicycling mag so that SOMEDAY SOON we'll get out there again! In the mean time, since my husband is out there a lot, these asanas will definitely get him stretched in no time - Men sometimes get intimidated by even attending a yoga class from the sheer physical limitations of not being so flexible...but in the 20 years I have been doing yoga, I have attended many classes with male students and some with pride/competitive nature left at the door, they do extremely well. We can all, male or female, really step up our ability and growth in our favorite sports if yoga is made a habit - it's perfect injury prevention!

Lotus Stones

Mama's Home Tie Dyes

Baby, it's getting cold outside, but boy we can sure hold onto the rainbows of summer with Mama's Home Tie Dyes. We love her stuff and are proud to offer her line to our customers!
Now through November 15, 2010 get a FREE pair of Bamboo socks with every Mama's purchase on our site over $50.00 - ENJOY and bring out your inner Hippie and rock your tie dye at your next yoga class.

We are excited to offer our customers the full line of amazing inspirational towels from Canadian designer, Baktuli.  We cannot wait to use them at our next Bikram class! These towels are stylish and luxurious, made using premium lightweight Turkish cotton. Each towel is inscribed with an inspirational quote to honour yoga's mind-body connection, and encourage positive mental attitudes during practice.

The over-sized towels match the dimensions of a yoga mat, and have been designed to ensure maximum yogi grip. They are fashioned out of Microban so they are anti-microbial, stain resistant, and moisture absorbent. That means more style and function, and less funky!

Baktuli is “the” perfect yoga towel, yet the colourful towels are also great for after a workout, at home in the bathroom, or the beach (maybe you have a hot vacation planned for this holiday or winter break!). These towels are a wonderful and inspirational gift for your favorite hot yoga lover on your holiday gift list! Please leave us feedback on these - we'd love to know how you like using them.  Check out the cute designs!

http://www.suite101.com/content/yoga-for-cyclists-a50792

Hippie Health: Yoga

Moon Days


Practicing Ashtanga Yoga over time makes us more attuned to natural cycles. Observing moon days is one way to recognize and honor the rhythms of nature so we can live in greater harmony with it.

Moon Days 2010 new moon    full moon January 15 January 30 February 14 February 28 March 15 March 30 April 14 April 28 May 14 May 27 June 12 June 26 July 11 July 26 August 10 August 24 September 8 September 23 October 7 October 23 November 6 November 21 December 5 December 21

Courtesy: http://www.ashtanga.com

Prayer Beads / Japa Malas: The mala is a meditative tool used in Japa Mantra Yoga to disengage our thinking mind so that we are free to perceive from a place of infinite awareness, what the Buddhists refer to as the heart-mind. Malas are generally made from different earth materials possessing certain properties which, when used with the recitation of the right mantra to focus our intention, can profoundly shift our energetic vibration. On a mala, or set of mantra counting beads, there are generally 108 beads, or some fraction of that number. Many wonder: Why are there 108 beads on a mala? There are many symbolic reasons for the 108 beads - click here.

Below are some ways to use malas to explore our unlimited potential to manifest peace, love, abundance, and health.
How to Use a Mala
Sitting in a comfortable position, with the eyes closed, the mantra is repeated silently or aloud. All thoughts are released from the mind with our focus continuously directed toward the mantra. The breath should be very slow, deliberate, and deep. Hold your mala in your right hand and use your thumb to "count" each mantra by touching the bead during the recitation and then lightly pushing the bead away on completion and moving to the next bead. The index finger is extended and should not touch the mala. The practice begins at the summit bead (sumeru) and continues around the loop until the summit is reached again. The summit bead is never counted or passed over, so when we reach the summit bead we reverse our direction on the mala and proceed around again the other way.

To empower the mala and the mantra used, japa (mantra meditation) should be practiced each day for 40 continuous days. When the mala becomes empowered it can be worn or lightly placed on oneself or others to transmit the energy of the mantra as well as the energetic qualities of the mala. When you use a new mantra with a mala, this energy becomes replaced, so it is recommended to use a new mala with each mantra if possible.

Choosing a Mantra
A mantra is either given to you by a teacher or chosen by yourself. When selecting a mantra, be clear on what your intention is, and use your intuition over your intellect. You may want to try out each mantra for a few repetitions to see how it feels to you and choose the one that resonates within.
Yoga With Style offers you a wide variety of beautiful malas - check them out today!

Yoga for Kids

As much as I hate summer to end, I love the cozy feeling of fall evenings.  Here at Yoga With Style, we burn incense and candles all year long, but even more so in the Fall.....therefore, in celebration of Fall (and Halloween coming - some scents just lend themselves to Halloween!), we have put our entire "Yoga Scents" category on sale now through October 31, 2010.  ENJOY!  Limited quantities, so please order soon!  Let us know with your comments, what your favorite scents are and why.  We love customer feedback.  AND if there is a particular brand or scent you would like to see at Yoga With Style, please let us know and we will do our best to source that for you (and honor the sale of 10% off!).  We love Lavender and Jasmine....yummy.

A warm congratulations to Michelle, our winner of the October 2010 monthly free t-shirt giveaway.  Michelle is a vinyasa instructor with an extensive yoga background.  She currently teaches at Forever Fit in Centerport, NY.  Be sure to check if you have joined our Mailing List so that you can get the chance to win next month!  There's a new winner every 15th day of the month all year round.  This year, we are featuring Tees For Change....stay tuned as the Fall line of Tees for Change will be featured on yogawithstyle.com in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to Michelle!

We are so happy to have been highlighted this month by www.yogamonth.org in their monthly newsletter.  It's been an honor to help them spread the word about the benefits of yoga especially last month,  September, being National Yoga Month.  So many studios out there pitched in with free classes so that we all can participate...We will surely continue our support to this worthy cause.  Many many thanks to them!

View the newsletter here:

www.yogamonth.org October 2010 Newsletter

Yoga for Kids? 5 Tips You Should Know | Skinny Chef

We are proud of offer some really neat products by a company called Kulae.  We are specifically huge fans of their eco friendly products and are excited about their hot yoga towels.  If you are a Bikram lover and practice Bikram regularly, you know it's a challenge to keep things somewhat dry and not slip (yikes!).  Kulae makes the most amazing towels - one that is large to place over your yoga mat during your practice and one that is small for your face and body.  It's like a yoga chamois for lack of a better description (LOL!) and WAY better than some nasty gym towel...(Yuk, don't even think about it!) or your ratty old beach towel from last summer....  I highly recommend them and super glad to offer them to our customers.  

In addition, we have added their Kid's yoga mat.  We think this mat is amazing -  the mat is part of their  tpECOmat™ line and is 100% biodegradable, 100% recyclable, and contains NO PVC, NO latex, NO cadmium, NO lead and NO rubber (that means NO allergies)  Gosh, yoga moms with little yoginis with allergies are saying "Yahoo!!! one less chemically-laiden item I have to worry about exposing my children to!". Their eco yoga mats are dual layer constructed, providing two color options and two distinct, grippy surfaces for you to choose, all in one mat.   We carry both colors - tangerine and blueberry.  My seven year old is in heaven.   Kudos to Kulae!

We are so proud to have to opportunity to offer the eco-friendly designs of Foat to our customers!  Foat Design is a small, independent business, created and run by twin sisters, Kaja and Zoë Foat. As a company, Foat Design is dedicated to making durable, functional, and stylish products specifically for those who want to maintain a  healthy, earth-conscious lifestyle coupled with a modern, urban  life.  Their designs move comfortably in yoga class, and make a fashion  statement on the move - everything can be worn in or outside of class.  The fabrics are amazing and each piece is custom made to order.  We hope you enjoy the items we have selected to carry on our site - happy shopping! 
Check out Foat !!  We aim to bring our customers a nice array of handmade, custom design products and will be introducing more artisans like Foat (and last week KBD Studio) in the coming weeks.

Do you have a special talisman?  A charm? Something special you keep close in your wallet, purse, pocket.  Something you turn to when stressed (I think of the stress balls out there - pretty funny those stretchy gooey like ball that you squeeze...a fad)....But really, my Mom's generation had a lucky rabbits foot (real of course...now PETA would beat down our doors, thank God those are no longer prevalent - no hurting any bunnies please!!)  I carry my childrens photos with me.  The other day my daughter and I were in a metaphysical store with lots of amazing crystals and things to look at - I love visiting stores like this and my daughter loves rocks....the owner of the store gave her a smooth amethyst stone and told her about it's properties.  She kept it in her pocket for the rest of the day and it turned into her version of "the pet rock" (remember those?? we all had one...I glued eyes on mine too).  So in these days of uncertainty, economic woes and troubles all around, I have found more and more friends having something special they keep close at hand and they sort of look at it, hold it, fiddle with it in their pocket like loose change, and it serves as a calming grounding reminder of happiness and things are ok...My grandfather had a huge machine that tumbled natural stones.  He tumbled river rocks and anything that looked interesting until it was smooth as marble and cool to touch.  My daugher has a treasure box (literally a red plastic treasure box) full of his tumbled stones...so into the box went the amethyst pet rock of the day....a nice collection.  If you are in search of your own talisman and love all things yogi-inspired, check out our peace stone, or our buddha.  There is also an OM.  Each of these have meaning behind them.  On a particularly rough day, these stones can be used as part of something to hold onto while meditating as well as part of mantra or chanting.  Or...just part of the loose change in your pocket.  It might just bring a smile to your face.

Had the pleasure of taking a drive to Woodstock, New York this past weekend with the fam.  Woodstock is one of my most favorite towns (brings out the inner Hippie in all of us) and host to so many neat yoga studios (Yoga Monkey Woodstock for one which used to be Namaste in Athens....doing great now!).  I went in and out of all the nice boutiques, marveled at the tie die everything, we had a yummy vegan lunch and sat in the square.  In the square, a few guitarists gathered, randomly broke out in song and my 7 year old, a budding guitarist, was in heaven.  One musician played an amazing version of "Peace Train" - I was reminded of my college days where one of my roommates played Natalie Merchant's version of that song over and over and we loved it.  10,000 Maniacs was terrific.  My daughter's face was an expression of wonder and love.  She so enjoyed being part of the moment and watching her made my heart sing.  It was a great weekend.  Raining here now, but heard a nice fall weekend ahead after the rain clears...so with all rain, the sun comes out again. 

Since age 3, my daughter has been sleep challenged.  Once asleep, she's fine, but getting relaxed and into the bed has been the challenge (for all of us).  Children display their anxieties about life and changes in so many ways.  We as parents need to be so aware of different cues and actions that are really telling us "Mom, I am stressed out".  My daughter is so curious about everything that at night, turning the inner buttons in her mind to sleep mode has been hard.  I guess I could blame the binky...gosh had I known giving up the pacifier would be so hard, I would have thought twice about giving it to her in the first place.  My son, sucks his index finger, falls asleep like a charm, without fail, but we cannot take his finger away....so that's a whole other blog in itself.  I know so many parents face these challenges and the evening can turn into a crazy scene of tears and frustration.  SO, in my many efforts to create calm, I decided to use my own practice of meditation with my 7 year old.  We start by having "a slumber party" in bed and turn the lights off and watch a little tv.  Then, we turn the tv off and maybe read a book or two outloud (gotta time this stuff because before you know it, bedtime routine is taking up WAY too much time).  We make sure our teeth are brushed etc. etc.  THEN, we start a gentle meditation.  It's all about focusing on the breath.  She is in her bed, all tucked in, eyes closed, ready to go.  I am sitting next to the bed holding her hand (we are working on breaking this habit of the hand part, but it's been slow progress....baby steps!)  Here are some simple ways you can do this as well.   It was explained SO well in the October issue of Yoga Journal that I will give you a summary of their recommendations/article here:  "If your child is prone to anxiety or has trouble falling asleep, the following meditation practice is appropriate for 6-10 year olds.  Once they become familiar with the practice, they can do it anywhere - in bed, on their yoga mat, or in the car on the way to school....Sit comfortably together or lie down in a quiet relaxing spot.  Keep your instructions simple.  First, ask your child(ren) to place a palm on their belly and begin breathing through their nostrils.  Then ask them to feel their belly expand under their hands as they inhale, and feel the belly gently sink as they exhale.  Start with 6-12 breaths and continue for up to 5 minutes if they are game.  You can make suggestions like:  "Let your mind pay attention to your quiet breathing and the peaceful place you feel inside."  You can also ask more experienced children to being making the exhalation a bit longer than the inhalation to further activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers the relaxation response." - excerpt from "Teach your Children Well" by Sharon Sexton, Yoga Journal October 2010. 

My daughter and I are making progress.  She is excited to learn about yoga and meditation, and she has her own mat and meditation cushion too.....so, progress and breathing.....it's all good.