As you may have read on Friday’s post, I have a sore butt…or a**. Whatever you want to call it. I just spent 20 minutes hunting around for an image of the piriformis muscle, but, really it’s the muscle that can outwardly rotate your leg- like left and right. Mine is overly sore and the pain starts in my low back and wraps around to the front and then the pain radiates down the outer part of my leg, oh yeah. It’s not likely going to sideline me for very much time, but, it is a bummer!

And, on that note, I am of course —now that I have an injury—returning to yoga. I was teaching yoga all the way through last week which was prolly keeping me injury free and the minute yoga is canceled at school is the minute I show up with a sore bum.

There are SOME REALLY EXCELLENT STRETCHES TO HELP LOOSEN THE HIP JOINT area:
Pidgeon. You can do pidgeon in the traditional way or also on your back. Very important stretch.



pidgeon
Side Lying Twists! These types of twists feel great on tight bodies. You can do it dynamically – moving through each side or statically stretching!


Image Credit: InnerLight Yoga
On the foam roller, sit on it with one leg crossed and roll on it until you find the sore spot and then sit on it! A tennis ball can do the same thing, too!


Image Credit: GoFit

And, that’s all the time I have at the moment, anybody have any other stretches to recommend?

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Today, in the middle of a yoga class of 15 primary children, I was reminded of something incredibly simple and vital to my mental sanity. One breathe. Doesn’t matter what pose, if I only focus on the inhale 1, 2, 3 and the exhale 1, 2, 3, I can feel peace or calmness. Awareness of the class, the mat, and the children, but, still completely calm- one moment at a time.

Admittadly, I am not yet a meditator of any sort- even though I am thoroughly educated on the benefits…but, just the power of stopping and taking a breathe can be so soothing.  Yoga is about breathe and as a teacher, I have tended to focus on the sequence but, today, maybe I can offer that bit of calmness to a student?

Try it. I will be.

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Featured here are the Warrior 2 Pant and the Lotus top in my yoga room!

I am in love with these clothes.  Stylish, but not over the top, love the details on the leg and on the side of the top.  Prices are reasonable for yoga clothes with the top priced at $24 and pants at $54.   My only note on these is that the website says “Fits Generously” and my feelings are that they run small.   I am wearing both a medium top and pant where I usually would take a small.  However, with that being said, I absolutely adore these clothes and would highly recommend them to you.

SHABBY APPLE has provided you with a coupon code  SAFIT10off.

My next purchase will be the Cobra full-zip top to match!

P.S. These clothes were sent to me for free for purposes of review.  Thank you, Shabby Apple!

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This weekend, my focus, for my site has been to hunt around for new products, new yoga apparel, or quick bits of news…all in a mini-post(s) style!

I’m very found of Inner Waves and their products. Each piece is organic cotton, stylish and in my opinion reasonably priced for a high quality yoga product. So far, I’m loving the look of the Lokahi pant and the Wahine tank (don’t own, though!)

Organic Cotton Yoga Clothes by Fit Mommy featuring Luana activewear

This is not a paid endorsement!

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As I sit here, incredibly sore from the past weeks work, my body is begging for some yoga.  However, a high intensity Power Yoga class would be excruciatingly painful and not really what my body needs.  What it needs is basic, slow yoga with poses that are on the ground….And, Sage Rountree has just posted a video on You Tube for this exact thing.

Feel free to check it out and try at home.  I highly recommend!

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My fascination with fitness clothing continues with a product review for Beyond Yoga .   Beyond Yoga is a very popular brand of yoga clothes worn by the likes of Oprah, Reece Witherspoon, and Tori Spelling.   Beyond Yoga was founded by one woman, Jodi Guber’s whose lifelong dedication to teaching yoga lead her to create her own yoga line and Beyond Malas jewelry line.

First, I should say that I love how they look on.  I love the wide waistband, the length and the cut of the leg- all are perfect.  Second, they feel good.  You know how some materials can feel itchy…well these don’t.  They feel soft and very stretchy for my quite muscular quads!   They are also very fitted in the thighs (at least for me) which can be considered a good thing.

What I didn’t like about them was that they didn’t quite fit my body.  With such a wide waistband and the lower waist, I had trouble keeping the pants in place (it may just be my body) but by the end of the day, I was constantly pulling them up.    And, they are a bit pricey with capri’s starting at $68.  However, on the sale page, there are lots of capri’s, bermuda’s in the $40 dollar range!

I want to thank the people at Beyond Yoga for sending me these pants and I’ll definetly be a fan in the future!

What is YOUR favorite pair of yoga pants?

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Just wanted to let you all know that I am partnering with the OpenSky Project! The OpenSky Project involves hundreds of bloggers each with their own niche (gardening, beauty, fitness) having their own retail store hosted by OpenSky! It’s a very creative idea, since, we all have items in our daily lives that we can’t live without…this is just a place for us all to share our favorite products with the world.     I am blown away by the amazingly creative people on this site and I absolutely will go read about their favorite products- and I hope you will too!

My retail shop will be opening soon and I can’t wait to share with you my favorites! (But, if you’re a regular here, I’ll bet you can guess!)

I am thrilled to be included in the OpenSky project!

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Who, I mean who here shops at malls anymore?  As far as I am concerned, there are no malls worthy of my time.  The closest shopping “mall” is a mere 15 minutes away, but, I do not EVER go there.  Put me in an REI any day of the week, but, the mall?  Ummmmmm…..NO….

However, for certain date nights when I’d like something to spruce up my wardrobe- guess where I go?  Marshall’s. Do you have one?  There is also T.J. Maxx which are similar, but, we only have Marshall’s in our town.  I can always count on Marshall’s for cute, sexy “up to date” styles and tops that are within this mom’s budget!  If I need a “theme” dress for a one night function, I turn to Marshall’s.  If I want to replace my favorite jeans — Lucky “Easy Riders”, I will hunt endlessly for them!  If I need new Margarita glasses for a New Year’s Eve party, I go to Marshall’s.  It’s all about the price and the brand, for me.  If you love something, we look elsewhere?

{Images from left to right: Lululemon, Marika, Beckons Organics}

So, I was ecstatic to learn Marshall’s was sending me shopping!   I was to shop at my local Marshall’s and blog about what I found.  How cool is that?! As you know, I live in yoga clothes six days a week and have formed a opinionated view of yoga clothes!!  At my local Marshall’s, the brands for workout clothes include Marika, The Girls, Addidas, Nike, The North Face, Columbia, and Eco Yoga (just to name a few) and I was all set to buy this line by Marika or more pants by The Girls, when I found an awesome line of clothes called Eco Yoga (images unavailable).  Actually, I took like six pairs of yoga pants to the fitting room to test out.  5 pairs of Marika and one lone pair of Eco Yoga cotton pants.  The Marika pants look really cute on the hangar, but, not on me- and they didn’t even fit!  “Eco Yoga” are made of  35% Sustainable Bamboo, 55% Organic Cotton, 5% Spandex.  Can I just say the feeling of organic cotton versus synthetic is amazing?  Not only did the Marika line not fit, but, they felt itchy and scratchy on.  Long story, but, I was able to buy one pair of pants (retails for $78.00) and two cute organic t-shirts all for $50!  I’m so in love.

My only “complaint” about Marshall’s is that it is PACKED with products and it can be a bit of a needle in a haystack kind of shopping…but, when you find that gem for $20 or less, it is OKAY with me!

One other note, I’ve never tried on or worn Lululemon yoga pants (at $98 a piece), and  I am perfectly content with that!

Do you have a story to share about your local Marshall’s? How many of you shop there?  Love it, hate it…share here, thanks!

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Lots to say tonight, but, little energy…Happy to say though that hubby is on the mend from BIG issues on the weekend, and that’s helping me feel better about the universe in general.

Cheap Yoga Mats are one thing that just WON’T cut it when it comes to doing yoga.  Feet slip, mats stink, material feels icky, etc…

Just found out about a great program, you may have heard of it- but it’s called Recycle Your Mat.  You can take your gently used PVC mat (that you hate) to a local studio and DROP IT OFF.  Recycle it.  It will either be used for community programs or will be upused into new materials.

You can also ship your mat directly to:  Recycle Your Mat, 4777 Larkwood Street, Eugene, OR 97405.

For those of you who are interested, Manduka will give you 20% your next order when you recycle your old mat.  FYI, I love my Manduka mat and would love to get one for my hubby…so am planning on mailing his old Target mat in!

What steps are you doing to be green in 2009?

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