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Hybrid Eco-Mat by Barefoot Yoga – A Good Choice for a Light Mat

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IMG_1542aRecently, Barefoot Yoga offered to send me one of their products to review for you. I selected the Hybrid Eco Mat, since I’m always looking for environmentally friendly yoga products. My full review follows, but the bottom line on this mat is that it’s priced right, very light, and would be easy to tote around; however, if you like a really sticky mat or a lot of padding and don’t mind spending quite a bit more for something more hefty, it may not be for you.

The Hybrid Eco-Mat I received is a pretty color purple they called Violet. When I received the mat and took it out of the packaging the first thing that I noticed was a slight plasticky smell. This didn’t surprise me, as the mat is made of a poly resin. After I left the mat laying out for several days, the smell almost entirely dissipated.

I also quickly noted that the map was very light. It is certainly much lighter than the (far more pricey) Manduka black mat that I regularly use. This made the eco-mat more comfortable to tote to class, and I think if I was regularly taking public transportation to my yoga classes I might prefer a mat of this weight.

I’ve now used the mat for several vinyasa practices, including gentle and more vigorous sequences. The first use, I noticed that the mat was rather slippery when compared to the Manduka. My hands were sliding quite a bit in downward dog and I felt like I had to use extra effort just to keep them still. However, I’m sure this was excellent for my core! After a couple of uses, the mat seemed to become less slippery. So, I assume that part of the slipperiness at first was the coating of the new mat, which I didn’t wash off as the site advises (as I cleverly only looked after). After a few uses, while it still is less sticky than my usual mat, it is certainly acceptable.

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Eco-Mat

Another difference between this mat and my standard mat is that the eco-mat is thinner. The Manduka is only about 2.5 mm thicker than the Eco Mat, but I do notice this difference. Because I have rheumatoid arthritis, I need some degree of padding between my hands and feet and the floor. So, I think if I were to use this mat regularly for an active practice, I would probably want to place a rug on top of it, particularly on days when the arthritis is worse.

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Manduka Black Mat

While the reduction in thickness makes the mat somewhat less comfortable on sore joints, it does allow you to feel the floor beneath the mat during practice. This may make balancing poses easier and facilitate a greater connection to the ground.

The Hybrid Eco-Mat is made of Polyolefin, a poly resin. And, it is worth noting that Barefoot Yoga states that this mat is fully biodegradable.

The eco-mat runs at about $30 (currently on sale for $23!) for the standard 68 inch length, so it is very affordable, and shipping speed is quite fast. You can purchase the mat at http://barefootyoga.com.

I hope this review has been helpful and feel free to let me know if you have additional questions about this mat.

Namaste,
Lorin

 

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are my own based on my experience with this product.

My inSens – An Incense Lover’s Review

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A few weeks ago, we received a complimentary trial package of incense from My inSens. After opening the very luxurious package, much of it disappeared into Ms. VeganAsana Jr.’s room. A young-adult lover of incense, she’s been burning it non-stop since then. What follows is her review, with my additional comments in italics.

Good incense should be more than just a candle replacement. When I light incense, I expect it to change the feeling of a room. And the incense from myInsens does that, and more. Started up in 2011 by Kaivan Dave, each incense aroma is attached to a specific emotion, be it happiness, serenity, or even sensuality. Each scent is relaxing, and a welcome change to my day.

All of the incense burn wonderfully—lasting, on average, about 30 minutes. But the smell lingers even longer. I can testify to this. Even when the incense was burned in G’s room, the upper floor of the house retained the scent for hours. This would make these incense sticks particularly good for studio use, as they could be burned, extinguished, and the scent would linger through a class. The scents are strong enough that, for some of them, I noticed that when my sinuses were particularly grouchy, it wasn’t a good idea for me to be close to the burning stick, but the scent from a distance didn’t bother me and was still pleasant.

Each aroma has a specific colour, to differentiate them from all the others. My personal favourite scent for the samples was myJoy, which is intended to boost positivity and generally make the user more joyful. It has a very pleasing rose-like scent, but one that isn’t too overpowering. Each of them has a certain subtleness that spoke of the high quality. MySensuality had a lovely raspberry undertone that was distinct from the usual incense smell.

But as nice as those smelt, the best “full-body” experience was found the most in myZen. One of the stronger, more traditional smells, it really provided me with a tranquil state of mind during my yoga practice. The scent blends with the atmosphere well, and it was the calmest I had been in a while.

Even the price is good. Though they are certainly more than your average drugstore or health-food store incense, but they do last somewhat longer in burning and definitely longer in smell. I had expected the incense to come at a price as rich as the aroma, but I was surprised. For twenty four incense sticks, it’s only fifteen dollars.

So for incense that smells great, is very reasonably priced, and really targets the points that I expect incense to accomplish? This is a completely fantastic find, and something I’m absolutely sure to buy again.

You can find myInsens at https://www.myinsens.com/

Leela – A Review of a “Game” for Yogis

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Have you ever wanted to take a meditation class with Deepak Chopra? Yeah? Me too. But, it didn’t seem likely until I was contacted by THQ to review the new yoga “game” for Xbox360 and Wii. The game, called Leela (a take on the Sanskrit word for play), features interactive mini-games designed to target each of the seven chakras. According to D.C. and the game’s creators, the focus is not on winning or achievements, but on maintaining relaxation and calm of the body while moving through the exercise levels. It also contains a guided meditation sequence, pranayama practice, and silent meditation.

To quote the game synopsis:

Harness the power of the Kinect and immerse yourself in relaxation and meditation with Deepak Chopra’s Leela. Sanskrit for “pastime,” “sport” or “play”, Leela combines physical activity with deep meditation for an immersive experience. Develop a flow state by focusing your attention on specific parts of your body to relax through seven movements. Create your own personal mandala and share it on Facebook. Achieve inner peace through an immersive experience filled with brilliant landscapes and captivating audio.

THQ sent me a copy of the game to test, and I was pretty excited about it, as were my daughters, who are both interested in yoga and meditation. Abbigael, who regularly attends yin classes with me, Benjamin, and Emmeline volunteered to help me test out the game, and also to show me how to work the Kinect (yeah, well, you know, I’m not exactly the gamer type).

Having a variety of people give the game a whirl, here are our perspectives.  It is an interesting concept for a game, and everyone said that they would play again.  Facility and experience with video games may impact how this works out.  For people who are regular gamers, and used to winning and gathering achievements in games, the focus on getting things right in each level (in a program where you really cannot “win”) may actually decrease relaxation – which is quite the opposite of the intention.  As stated by Abbigael, while her body might be moving calmly on the outside, she was experiencing a lot of frustration on the inside.  This might (might) be less of an issue for those who are not experienced gamers, and for whom winning is less of a goal.  There were varying responses to how well the Kinect system recognized movements in the game activities, but from an observational perspective, it seemed to me to be doing fairly well across the group in some levels, but not very well in others.  Playing the game for an extended period does mean standing relatively still in one spot.  For the folks in the group who have cranky knees and/or hips, it was probably not a good idea to play for a long period.  Additionally, some levels do require a pretty good level of body control.  Tight joints, tremors, or lack of full range of movement in some areas could make the different games more of a challenge, and potentially more frustrating.

The breath monitoring that is available in the “Reflect” mode was more what I was hoping for in the mini-game levels, though that is probably unrealistic to expect.  The features in that section are a nice meditative aid and could be useful for beginning students of meditation.

All were in agreement that the general tone, colors, and sounds of the game are soothing and well-suited to the purposes of each level.  The imagery is quite beautiful and soothing, with colors selected that are very reflective of the mood of different parts of the “games.”  Sounds, including music, game sounds, and vocal prompts, are well done and enhance the overall experience, really contributing to the atmosphere being created.

Overall, I would say that this is an Xbox experience worth trying out if you enjoy meditation and are interested in energy work.  It’s something that I think we’ll be doing again around tVA house.  However, go in with the understanding that it may or may not actually help you enter a meditative state, depending on your own ability to not become goal oriented or frustrated by technology in the process.

Oh, and there wasn’t as much Deepak Chopra as I expected either. 😉