Gifts for the Yogi in Your Life

While starting my christmas shopping early, I thought of a great idea for a blog- an ultimate yogi wishlist.  If you are not a yoga practitioner or are not familiar with many yoga products this could be a difficult task and you may not know where to start.  Here are a few fun ideas for the yogi of your eye.  Whether it is a christmas, birthday, or just because present these will all make a great and thoughtful gift.

10. Yoga Books: Meditations from the Mat, Nourishing the Teacher, Bringing Yoga to Life are all great reads a yogi of all levels will love  
9. Yoga Mix ((check out my Yoga Music log for some you can burn and make a mixtape of))
8. Yoga Mat Bag: for their mat and props
7. New Yoga Gear (or a gift card if your not sure about sizes)
6. Yoga Jewelry: lotus, Om, Ganesh, chakras, gorgeous stones- they will love them all!!
5. Yoga Towel for Hot Yoga : Yogi Toes makes a great skidless towel (also great for beach yoga)
4. Classes to Their Favorite Yoga Studio
3. A Donation to a Cause of Their Choice
2. New Mat : Jade, Manduka, and LuluLemon all make wonderful mats
1. Yoga Retreat : Whether a weekend at Kripalu, or a week in Costa Rica, yoga retreats can be found all over and are a great way for your yogi to relax and divulge in a little svadhyaya (self-reflection).  This can also be a nice bonding time if you go together.

Your yogi will be so impressed by your thoughtfulness and interest in something they love- happy shopping!!

3pm Pick Me Up

After an early morning, or a long afternoon it's normal to feel as though you need a cup of coffee to get you through the rest of your day and night.  Ditch the latte and instead try some yoga asana for energizing the body.  These asana can be done even if there is only a 5-10 minute break.  These non-strenuous back bends also have the ability to lift your mood.

Suggested Asana : Sphinx, Cobra, Fish

Looking for some new yoga music???

When first venturing into teaching yoga classes one of the many things that was new for me was the music.  It seemed as if everyone but me had heard of Krishna Das, Stephen Halpern, Soulfood, and MC Yogi.  Without the help of my friend Nadja and the large quantity of CDs she burned for me I am sure I would still not know many of them.
While doing some research on yoga music I stumbled across a DJ known as DJ HyFi (Ian Hyman).  DJ HyFi is a DJ for Yoga Anonymous (yogaanonymous.org) and he incorporates his love for music with his love for yoga.  He travels all over to studios and festivals to share his gifts of music and yoga with others.
Music and sounds can be very powerful healing tools, whether incorporated into yoga or listened to alone.  They are found throughout different cultures and used along side medicine and other healing practices throughout history.  Nada Yoga is a Yoga of sound and different music and sound vibrations are used in the practice to balance the inner energy or essence of the body.  I have also personally attended meditations where the Chakra or crystal bowls are played to bring harmony and healing to body.
Besides all the healing aspects, sometimes it is just great to have new music to take you to your positive and uplifting place while practicing.  Six of DJ HyFi's 1 hour etracks can be found at the link below and are free to download.  The mixes include yoga artists along with other popular artists you love.  Some of the classes are excellent for an early morning practice when you first wake up and are getting your energy going and some are more relaxing then others (awesome for a gentle class).  Whichever one you choose-they all flow beautifully.  I do recommend that if you are a teacher and thinking of using a mix in your class to just make sure you listen to the whole track first (as depending on the mix) because some of them do include rap- which may not be what your looking for in a 50+ class...but could be just a thing for a teen practice!!

I hope you enjoy, I personally love the latest Summer 2011 and Tribal Electricity track.
http://yoganonymous.org/yoganonymix/

Light & Love