10 Amazing Gifts All Yogis Will Love
“The reward for doing yoga well is simple—you get to do a better job at living a fulfilling life.” — Randal Williams
Yoga is so much more than just a physical practice. When starting a yoga practice, most people find that it starts to seep into their bones. It comes out in the way you speak to yourself and others, how you react to a variety of emotions, how you dress, how you spend your time and money, the books you read and the activities you spend your time on. It takes over and becomes a big part of who you are because it changes you…..for the better.
Everyone has at least one friend that practices yoga and is always telling you how great a restorative class would do you, or have a friend that is a teacher that gives breath work advice when you are having a bad day, or stretches you out when they can see you have been hunched at your desk all day.
In this article, we have a look at a few unique gift ideas yogis love and some old reliables no yogi can live without!
- Props for their at-home yoga studio
“It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.” B.K.S Iyengar
No yoga practice would be complete without us of props. Beginner or more advanced, injuring prone or not, tight hamstrings or uber flexible, everyone can benefit from adding yoga props into their practice.
- Yoga blocks bring the floor closer to us and are fantastic to sit on for meditation or to grab onto in postures where we would otherwise have to be touching the floor, think Triangle pose.
- Blankets and bolsters help provide support during restorative yoga for deeper relaxation
- Sandbags weigh the body down.
- Yoga straps assist in deepening our stretch and protecting us from over-arching and allow us to hold our postures for longer.
2. Book about Ayurveda
“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and the cause of prevention of disease”. - Thomas A Edison
The concept of Ayurveda can be found in breaking down its Sanskrit meaning. Ayur means life and Veda means science; The science of life.
The basic premise of Ayurveda in the past was that you cannot achieve enlightenment if your health was not in order. This message is still true today. You cannot live an overall healthy life if you are not eating right for your body and living in a way that is in balance for you.
Ayurveda looks at our lives holistically, everything from what we eat and how those foods affects our bodies, how much sleep we get and when we are sleeping, to our characteristics and what happens when we are in balance with those characteristics and when we are not and believe that when these things are not balanced, this is when we are not living our best.
unless you have your health in order how are you going to achieve enlightenment.
What is amazing is that we more often than not, practice Ayurveda practices without even knowing it. Some people like to go to bed early and get up early so that they rise with the sun. Some people start their day with a large glass of water or maybe even warm water with lemon and much more, all these little practices are part of the Ayurvedic system and everyone can benefit from it.
Practical Ayurveda: Find Out Who You Are and What You Need to Bring Balance to Your Life is one of the best books on Ayurveda around and covers aspects like food yoga and meditation practices.
- A Personalized Yoga Mat
“The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” - Sakyong Mipham
Our yoga mats play more of a role than we think when it comes to our practice. For myself besides using my for yoga, I sometimes consider my yoga mat as “my space”. I work on my mat but propping my laptop up on blocks, I read on my mat and the mat that I use in my practice was hand-chosen because of how I like to practice and what would be special to me. Sometimes to gift someone with a yoga mat is a little tricky because tastes are specific. Personalized yoga mats are a new concept and the idea is to alter the mat to make it your own. Either by adding a beloved quote or an image that will make one want to get on their mat. Cork yoga mats are the perfect material for this and don’t hurt that it is easy to clean.
The Samadhi Initiative offers all natural cork yoga mats, personalized and custom made with choice of design, mantra, saying, branding etc.
- Meditate with Mala Beads
“The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a centre of peace.”– J. Donald Walters
When it comes to meditation techniques, we are spoilt for choice.
Meditation practice with mala beads is a very simple one and helps calm the monkey mind by giving us something to focus on. A traditional mala contains a total of 108 beads, once of which is different from the others in some way either by being bigger or a different texture. Repeating a mantra or positive affirmation either out loud or in your mind as you turn each bead through your fingers until you come back to the first bead.
- A Hanging Belt
“Sometimes you have to let life turn you upside down, so you can learn how to live right side up.” - Proverb.
Effective yoga practice combines strength, flexibility, mobility for your physical body and increases focus, concentration and relieves stress mental body. Nowadays the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating an at-home yoga space. Much of the equipment we use at the gym, can sometimes only be found at the gym. One of the most versatile pieces of equipment is a hanging belt that can be used for yoga as suspension belts to assist in inversions or go into back-bends safely. They can also be used as TRX cables to improve strength too.
They are also fantastic because you can hang them off of most supported structures, like a tree at the park, wooden or metal beams and more. FromBaliWithLove is our favourite hanging belt range.
- Good quality funky yoga pants
“Yoga pants; because jeans are stressful and you don’t need that in your life”. - Unknown.
Everyone knows that feeling when you find the perfect pair of yoga pants.
They are comfy and fit snugly, and you look and feel great in them. We love to live in our yoga leggings as our everyday wear because they are so comfortable. Looking for yoga gear that is good enough quality that it will not have to be replaced after a few washes will ensure that we save money and materials. Even better are workout clothes that are suitable for working out and wearing out. Best of both worlds.
- A Class Pass
“Allow yourself to be a beginner, no one starts off being excellent”. - Unknown
We all have a class we would really just love to go to. We have been googling the studio for months, keep reading the class description and keep saying how next week we are going to leave work on time and go! Sometimes though, as is with life, we get busy, we forget or we have other important things that need our attention.
- A Session with a Mentor
More than mere teachers, mentors are often emancipators, freeing artists from poor technique, clouded vision and personal uncertainty.” - Paul Soderberg
Mentors, especially in the yoga field are helpful in all sorts of ways. If you are a yoga teacher they can be someone who passes their knowledge and skill on to you, so that you will become a better teacher. If you are a person that loves to practice yoga and wants to be challenged that can help you set higher goals and hold you accountable. If you are someone who just wants to learn how to be more confident, have better self-esteem and generally feel better about yourself, mentors help you to see the beauty in you and grow what you already have while helping you break down any boundaries that you have.
We all want to learn more, grow and become a better version of ourselves, but sometimes we turn to google to help us fix our lives. A mentor works with you and guides you and provides that human connection that we seem to miss.
We do not know everything. There is a beauty in not needing to know everything. There is a freedom in not need to possess all the answers to every question or dilemma in the history of the world. And sometimes, to be able to gain clarity, a different perspective, a fresh way of looking at a problem or to get out of our own heads we need to be able to speak to another person who will be able to help us navigate through our lives.
Whether you are a new yoga teacher or someone who has never taken a class before and would like to experience a beginner yoga class in the comfort of your own home, head over to Vula Yoga where you will find a wealth of information for every kind of yogi!
- An Eye pillow
“The quieter you become, the more you hear.” - Rumi
There is nothing better than having your very own lavender-infused eye pillow handy right at the moment of savasana. These little pillows make the final resting pose oh so sweet and shields the eyes from rays of the sun. The lavender presents a pleasant relaxing scent and the weight to of eye pillow rests heavily on the eyes making the final resting pose that much better. They are also great to pop into the microwave to heat up right before bedtime too!
- A Workshop Pass
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”- Benjamin Franklin
Workshops are great because for the most part, they can be twice or three times as long as a regular yoga class. They usually have a theme but cover a variety of experiences. They are an opportunity to learn something new, have fun, engage with the teacher and other students and expose you to a lot more than in a standard class. They are also great for testing the water if you are thinking of trying a new sort of yoga path and are wanting to learn more.
Leave a comment