Honestly, I did not think I could compete with the existing eco brands. Well, I could and and I will, and I am so excited to announce that Lotuspad is going to be offering 3 thick adult mat colors, 2 kids colors, and 12 strap styles to start. These straps are a few inches longer than the original design I introduced last year, making them appropriate for people of all sizes.

I have been practicing on my sample mat now for 5 months, and it is honestly the best yoga mat I have ever owned. I did a little experiment last month to test the manufacturer’s claim that this high-quality TPE resists bacterial and fungal growth. I did 30 hot, sweaty power classes in one month (at the AMAZING here in Cambridge) and never even wiped down my mat once. Gross, right? Amazingly, it never even stank, even after wrapping it up and storing it in my yoga bag overnight. It has also been incredibly sturdy, with no flaking, even after 5 months of almost daily use. And its cool organic patterns makes practicing dristi much easier when you’re in low plank or standing leg split.

Can you tell I love my yoga mat? I truly believe that your mat becomes a kind of sacred space when you find a regular practice. So why not use a yoga mat that’s beautiful, hygienic, and good for the planet?

You are going to love these mats! They should be here the last week in June. Write to me at hello [at] lotuspadyogamats [dot] com and I will let you know when they’re available. I’ll also include a coupon code so you have some cash left over for your other yoga goodies!

We are so excited to announce that our new line of eco yoga mats will be arriving in mid-June. We will also be carrying a fresh new line of yoga mat carry straps. The biggest news is our expanded adult yoga mat line. I can’t even tell you how gorgeous these new mats are! I have been practicing on my sample mat for 2 months now and it’s honestly the best mat I have ever used (and I have had a lot of yoga mats!). They will be 5mm thick, with organic patterns and a choice of 3 colors (yes, we will FINALLY have an adult pink eco yoga mat!).

So enjoy the sale prices as we whittle away at our remaining stock, and please check back with us in June! If you would like a heads up about when the mats arrive, please send an email to hello [at] lotuspadyogamats.com and write “notify” in the subject line.

The straps are currently in production and will probably be available for sale starting the week of March 24th. Please contact me if you would like to pre-order any of the straps, as the first batch of all styles will be pretty small. All straps are going to be priced at $14 each. Straps shown below are: Orange, sage, red, retro blue dot, pink ladybug, purple flower power, and royal blue bandana.

After recalling millions of toys to protect consumers from lead paint, toy makers face growing pressure over another material, a plastic found in myriad playthings, from balls to dolls.

The Toy Industry Association, the manufacturers’ trade group, says polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, in toys poses no safety risks. Still, retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp. have started programs to get rid of some of the toys and other products that contain PVC, bowing to pressure from environmental activists concerned that children who chew on PVC could ingest dangerous chemicals. Some of these chemicals have been banned in the European Union and will also be illegal in California under a law effective next year.

Read the whole article here. (Wall Street Journal)

From their site:
Sky Fi recycles vintage audio equipment, repairs it, modifies it and brings it to the year 2300. Old things need and deserve love to bring them back to their original splendor and for the price of what some plastic junk at best buy costs, you can have something that functions on a level light years beyond, and have the peace of mind knowing your not supporting the further pillaging of our earths resources or the polluting of its environment. If you think an i-pod hooked up to some docking station made in Taiwan is music, then you haven’t heard sky-fi.

As it turns out, Gumby and friends were way ahead of their times - deriding the evils of insecticides, fighting development, promoting ecology, fighting factory chicken farming, and even helping sick honeybees - way back in the 1980s. (True, nascent environmentalism got going in the 1970s, think Earth Day and the Lorax, but mainstream greening took until the past few years to really catch on. In all the clips below, Gumby fights the evils of the Blockheads, who stands in for polluting evil doers everywhere. In one of the most eeriely relevant clips (not on YouTube, sadly), honeybees mysteriously start getting sick, with pesticides ultimately to blame.

Enjoy!

As the Worm Turns

All Cooped Up

The Caterpillar

We’ve seen very few yoga studios (at least here in Boston) that offer non-pvc yoga mats for in-studio use, which is why we applaud the Bozeman Yoga Center for going almost 100% green with the Lotuspad eco yoga mat. The center first contacted us when they wanted to carry a selection of our mats and straps in their new eco boutique. But after a week of teaching on our mats, the director of the studio became a “convert” to eco mats, and now the studio has a large supply of 100% earth friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable Lotuspad yoga mats for its students to practice on. Yea!

The Bozeman Yoga Center offers a wide range of classes and workshops (including kids yoga), so check out their site/blog/class schedule here. Oh, and see the happy babies practicing with their moms and dads on Lotuspad yoga mats here.

I love this quote from one of their happy customers:

“One morning upon awakening, my daughter looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes and said: “Yoga makes me happy.”

- Mother of a 3-year old

One of Lotuspad’s biggest supporters almost from day one has been Lani Rosen, founder of the fabulous Full of Joy Yoga program. We’re very honored that Lani has chosen to use non-toxic Lotuspad yoga mats for all of her kids yoga classes - taught at the very new and very awesome looking Stay and Play in Old Saybrook Connecticut. She also offers private instruction and birthday parties.

Lani was trained in the Street Yoga program for homeless kids in San Francisco before moving back to the East Coast.

Here’s what motivated her to teach:

One afternoon we were reading through [her class's] workbooks, and we came across some bunny rabbits doing exercises. “It’s yoga,” I said to them, recognizing the Downward Dog and Tree poses of the silly bunnies.

“What’s yoga?” one of the students asked me. And the rest of my life was transformed.

I showed them the yoga I was practicing, and of course, they wanted to play along. I began incorporating a few poses and some active games between lessons, and it was amazing to see the difference it made. They could focus during the lessons and were calmer and happier throughout the day. I quickly realized how powerful and wonderful the yoga practice could be for children, and I haven’t stopped playing with them since.

We hope that you’ll seek out Lani’s classes when you’re in the Old Saybrook area!

“I practice yoga at Baptiste Power Yoga, which has studios around town. It’s great for flexibility, it’s therapeutic, and great for your attitude. And it gets you some silence during your day.” -

  —  Tom Brady

Despite living in Boston, I’m not much of a football fan - but I am a huge fan of Baptiste Power Yoga, where I’ve been practicing for about 7 years. So it doesn’t surprise me that one of the most successful and talented athletes of today practices Baptiste-style power yoga regularly.

I’m sure it’s not the only reason for his success, but I can’t help but think that the spark and inspiration that comes from a regular yoga practice is an integral part of what pushes Tom past merely excellent to almost perfect (we’ll see this weekend if he can claim the “perfect” title for good!

I hope that Tom’s many younger fans take inspiration from his yoga practice and start one of their own. You never know what will give them the edge in sports, academics, or just attitude.