Big Yoga Mat Bag for easy travel

This Big Yoga Mat Bag makes carrying your mat a hassle free affair

It features a large compartment and 3 smaller pouches. Special ventilation design keeps your mat fresh smelling and odour free.

For me one of the biggest pet peeves traveling to and from the studio is juggling my various yogi gear. With this contraption it frees up my hand to do more important things like grab a double mocha.

Tale from the oven- Bikram yoga

So I attended my second hot yoga session last week, and even though I consider myself in relatively good shape, I will admit the urge to bolt to the exit came up multiple times while I was inside the studio. A little more about the hot yoga style I'm challenging myself to- it's called Bikram Yoga, and here in beautiful Vancouver, Canada, it's extremely popular. There are Bikram yoga studios everywhere in our city, and many more hot yoga studios of other forms.

A quick primer on Bikram- it's basically hot yoga practiced in a contained room heated to 40 °C (104 °F), with humidity in the 40% range. A standard Bikram class lasts 90 minutes (yes, not 1 hr), with students performing 26 postures twice. In that sense it's more rigid than other styles of yoga, but apparently each posture specializes in healing and improving a certain part of the body.

I'm determined to continue Bikram yoga for a few more weeks before deciding whether it's for me. Hopefully my body will begin acclimatizing to the punishing heat inside the studio soon.

Non slip, sweat absorbent towel for hot yoga practitioners

Large non slipping towel gift for hot yoga

Made of special microfiber, it soaks up sweat like a sponge, and comes in a variety of colors, my favorite being pacid blue. It has excellent grip and won't budge under your feet, so you can focus on just your poses and nothing else.

This was given to me by a friend for Christmas, and just in time. I took it to my second Bikram class, and boy did I notice an improvement over my old towel.

My first hot yoga experience-it was hot!

I've been practicing yoga for a few years now, first at home, and for the two years, at a studio. It's always been in a large room, and as my body has come to expect, room temperature environment. Well, I decided it was time to broaden my horizon a little bit and try out something new.

Hot yoga seems to be the hot trend for yogis these days, and I have several friends swear by its benefits. I'm skeptical at best, but it's always important to keep an open mind. Last week I allowed my friend to drag me into a hot yoga studio, and the experience was, as I had expected, hot, as in clothes completely drenched, body sweating more than I imagined biologically possible kind of hot. The temperature in the room was close to 40 deg Celsius I was told. I'll blog more about my experience later, but for those curious about what hot yoga is, I found the following video rather informative:

Eco-friendly large yoga block for balance and strength

A yoga enthusiast's best companion, a block makes a great gift.

It's made of 100% cork, deriving from renewable oak trees. The large surface area of the block and textured material gives you the sturdy foundation you need to perform more advanced yogi moves with confidence.

Many poses such as triangle or even downward dog requires a lot of flexibility and extension to perform properly. I use this as a booster seat for doing these poses, providing that much needed reach and support.