Yoga Journal is pleased to offer a scholarship program for those that need assistance attending this winter yoga conference in San Francisco. This scholarship program is intended for yoga teachers, with limited income, who currently teach (and volunteer) yoga to underserved populations within their community.

Yoga Journal shares how practicing yoga changes lives daily. These upcoming “Share Your Yoga” conference scholarships are intended to support the participation of yoga instructors that earn a low-income that is active in contributing their unique teaching abilities to those that can not afford it. Below are the application instructions.

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Thanks so much to all of the fine folks who helped out with tips and suggestions! Below the fold, you’ll find links to all of the posts from this series. If you feel like there’s a sort of craft that was left out, definitely hit me up!

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As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

This week, we’re taking a look at the aches and pains that come with metal- and wood-work. All of that sawing, filing, hammering, and drilling is rough on your arms and shoulders, and you’re probably feeling pretty groggy after focusing for so long. Here are some yoga poses to help you bounce back!

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As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

This week, we’re looking at the aches and pains associated with hours of scrapbooking. All of that cutting, gluing, and hunching over the table is tough on your body. Maybe you’ve got a little bit of eyestrain from focusing on little details, too? Don’t despair! We’ve got some poses just for you.

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Craft show season is getting close, and that means all of you green crafty biz owners are probably working overtime to get merch ready for the upcoming fall shows! Any sort of repetitive action is tough on your body, and crafting is no different. Rather than pop an over the counter pain medication, why not take some time to relax and stretch the soreness away with some yoga poses targeted at the places that take the most abuse?

As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

Since I’m not a soapmaker myself, I hit up my pal Tracy Perkins of Strawberry Hedgehog for tips on soapmaking aches and pains. She said that what gets her after hours of making soap is carpal tunnel pain, sore feet, and an achy lower back. Never fear! Here are some poses to help balance that out.

With all of these poses, the idea is not to push yourself to the point of pain. You just want to gently stretch and strengthen your muscles. If something hurts, back off a bit until you get to a comfortable place. You’ll get much better results if you listen to your body.

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As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

This week we’re taking a look at the aches and pains that come with hours of knitting or crochet. From what you guys had to say on Twitter, it sounds like all that yarn work hits ravelers hardest in the wrists, fingers, neck and chest. Never fear! Here are some poses to help you recoop a little bit.

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Sweat drips from my nose, rolls down my chin and runs off my chest- landing on the floor with pride. The air is thick. Mirrors, fogged over. Essential oils soak into my pores, filling my body with peace. I rest my wet forehead on my mat as I breathe through pigeon, opening up my hips farther and deeper. As I listen to the mellow music, tears begin to run down my face. Sweat and tears cover my cheeks, melding into each other, creating one beautiful masterpiece of raw spirituality. Just as confusion begins to flood my mind, not sure as to why I’m crying, the teacher explains we hold emotion in our hips and it may surface in this stretch. After she says that, we move on to a new pose and my crying fades. I’m at one with my body; my mind is nowhere but the present. This is serenity.

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Craft show season is getting close, and that means all of you green crafty biz owners are probably working overtime to get merch ready for the upcoming fall shows! Any sort of repetitive action is tough on your body, and crafting is no different. Rather than pop an over the counter pain medication, why not take some time to relax and stretch the soreness away with some yoga poses targeted at the places that take the most abuse?

As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

This week’s set of poses is for the seamstresses. These are postures aimed at stretching and strengthening those sore arms, legs and feet, and upper back and neck that take a beating after hours over the sewing machine, the cutting table, and the ironing board.

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As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

To kick things off, let’s take a look at common aches and pain that jewelers experience. That’s right, jewelry-making friends! I feel your pain. You know what I mean: that achy lower back, sore neck, and stiff hands after a marathon crafting session. Here are some poses just for you.

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Stronger Bodies

• Build developing strength and natural flexibility to minimize injury
• Improve body awareness and coordination
• Experience the joy of movement free from competition
• Improve breathing safely

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Remember the last time you had the flu or a lingering cold? Get much done? When we’re healthy, we take our good health for granted. Despite what our politicians and healthcare providers might suggest, good healthcare does not necessarily provide good health. Our lifestyle and daily habits contribute to feeling great just about every day of the year.

Some companies provide a good healthcare plan when it comes to physician access and medical coverage. But what does that matter when the stress-filled, unhealthy environment in a cubicle – with no access to the outdoors and fresh air – ends up giving us poor health? The American healthcare system is great – perhaps the best in the world – if we crashed in our car. It’s designed for treatment, not prevention. It’s a healthcare system based on the poor health of relatively well-off people who can pay (by credit or otherwise) for the services it provides.

Given all the debate on a national healthcare plan offered by the United States, below are a few promising trends many people are discovering.

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fashionable, infused with quality craftsmanship and it’s only after the fact that one realizes their environmental aspect.

While speaking with her initially, however, we found ourselves on the subject of Ojai and the Ojai Foundation which has been teaching the arts of permaculture and sustainability back when these were “fringe” paths pursued by the hippie-culture. Ojai is the small “art town,” set back in the hills off the 101, between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. These days The Ojai Foundation is focused on “Council” a program they have been taking out to area schools in the local and surrounding counties.  What is “Council?”

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Craft show season is winding down here in the South, now that the weather is getting warmer. Those long days tending your booth take a toll on your whole body, for sure! Between hauling a heavy tent, tables, display, and merch and the 10+ hour days, your muscles take a beating. Rather than take over-the-counter medications, why not relieve your muscles a little more naturally with some yoga poses targeting the body parts that take the most abuse at a craft show?

If you have a lull at the show during the day, you might try this quick five-minute chair yoga routine around the middle of the day. A little stretching throughout the day can make a big difference on how you feel at the end of it! You can also do your body a big favor by trying not to stay in the same position all day. If you tend to sit, make sure you get up once every hour or so and walk a little bit, even if it’s just inside of your tent. If you’re more of a stander, have a seat or a squat just to give your knees and back a little break.

Whether you’re able to take some preventative measures or not, you’ll probably have stiff legs, back, and arms to deal with in the evening or next morning. Here are some poses to help you out!

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I’ve long been a fan of Ideal Bite and was excited when they introduced Mama Bite!

From family road trips to eco-friendly sunscreen to DIY crafts, Mama Bite gives you bite-size ideas for living light green this summer. Fun, healthy, eco-friendly tips are served up in a daily email each weekday.

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These hoteliers have given it some considerable thought and arrived at their  modern philosophy that, even though you’re a traveler, even though you’re away from home, you needn’t sacrifice your sense of well being nor suffer a disruption in your wellness regime.

“The owners of the hotel have me here as a liaison to help people remember how to take care of themselves,” Amber McMahon, Casa Del Mar’s Wellness Director, informs me.  She adds that the Sea Spa fully integrates the mind, body, spirit approach to wellness and services catering to all of these wellness needs are offered in their spa menu.

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Each year it seems more creative entrepreneurial types are coming up with new, irresistable ways to create gorgeous, durable bags with minimal impact on the environment. My latest discovery is OLovesM, a no-waste company that uses materials otherwise destined to take up landfill space.

Their material of choice? Yoga mats.

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Clary Sage Organics has been having blast this year! We loved their Spring offers and now for Summer the CSO team encourages us to: “Delight in spa and health treatments such as chair massage, rolfing, reflexology and more while shopping the wonderful assortment of organic clothing and taking part in our raffle.”

If you are interested in these special treats, please read on for details…

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I used to have a yoga bag that I was pretty proud of. It was shaped like a hot dog, with a drawstring opening and a comfy shoulder strap and it made me look like a hunter with a bouquet of arrows on my back. The problem was, I couldn’t find a darn thing in it. Everything sunk to the bottom- my sweatband, my wallet, my cherished tube of Kiehl’s lip balm that has an eternal lifespan and still hasn’t run out despite the fact I swiped it from a hotel room four years hence.

And then there was Lumi. Lumi stands for “Love you, mean it”, and let me tell you, they really mean it. These courageously affordable bags are designed to help you carry things in style- including your better self. Each handmade bag comes with a cell phone pocket (but only if you promise to keep it on silent), a section for your water bottle and a homemade eye pillow coordinated with each bag.

Lumi’s are green-made in Paris from leftover swaths of fabric from the creator’s interior-decorating dad. (Are you feeling the love yet, or what?) Plus, toting your Lumi bag is a charitable act. 5 euros from every sale goes to benefit the Ãdhãra-Shakti collective: a grassroots organization that helps serious yoga students participate in yoga retreats at the divine YogAriege, even if they are seriously broke.

Don’t live in France? Pas de problème! Chantal, the multitasking wunderkind behind the Lumi bags, will send you one by mail. The bags are 29 euros within Europe, and 37 dollars to the United States. Want something special? Ask for a custom order! Lumi loves you back. 

Photo credit: All photos used by permission by Chantal Tacoronte-Perez.

  

 Traveler, painter, and a mean hand with a sewing machine, Chantal began practicing Yoga in Miami and went on to study Iyengar yoga with Vladimir Ferrerio Gonzalez while she lived in Havana as the Hampshire College Cuba Program Coordinator. She is currently teaching yoga at the Centre de Yoga du Marais in Paris, while continuing her studies under Rod Stryker in the Tantric Hatha lineage to complete her Para Yoga certification.

Here, Chantal talks with us about the difference between Miami and Parisian mindsets, the eternal debate over audible sighs, and how to get your hubby to come to a yoga class. 

How did you come to teach yoga? What else might you be doing if you weren’t a yoga teacher?

I  worked at the front desk of Prana Yoga in Miami off and on between college and traveling/working in Cuba. I had just come back from Cuba and my cousin was leading the teacher training at Prana Yoga. I had always wanted to do it, and it just seemed like the next step.

If I weren’t teaching yoga, I would be teaching something else. Probably painting or working with disabled children and teens. I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but “yoga teacher” was not always the image I conjured up as I played “teacher” with my imaginary students. My make-believe took place in the form of detention with forms and grades, not straps, blankets or blocks.

Did you always follow a vegetarian diet, or did you go veggie when you discovered yoga?

When I was younger, my mom didn’t eat any red meat or anything with bones in it except for fish, which I never liked.  I learned first about veganism, then vegetarianism while I was in college learning about the planet and how much waste goes into the whole “raising of animals for human consumption” thing. It just seemed that it was more logical to eat closer to the earth.

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My moon, my man’s a changeable land...

Former actor and survival instructor, creative writer and a recovering Type A, Mark Gerow is the founder of Lunarythms Yoga™, a combination of polarity-therapy, Ayurveda, Yin and Hatha Yoga that tailors asanas to complement specific chakras associated with the position of the moon. He likes McDonald’s French Fries, drinks one cup of coffee a day and does not relate to black and white photographs of women in leotards.

When I describe the idea behind Lunarythms, people look at me like I’m a crystal wielding nutcase. But every time I take your class, the pace feels just right. What led you to organize your practice around the lunar cycles?

My background in the metaphysical began with Polarity Therapy training.  My partner at the time had grown up with a mother who was into astrology and I would hear them speak to each other through astrology references– usually about a person’s personality or a general analogy about a situation.  I began to notice the effects and rituals that go along with the new and full moons (setting intentions, conserving or putting forth energy), and one day it dawned on me that if most everything in this world is changing to include the moon’s cycles and our own human cycles, that our yoga practice could reflect these ever changing tides of life.

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