Ayurvedic Luxuries

While I was away for training, Ayurvedic was prevalent throughout the facility, the teachings, and the services at Kripalu. I recently stumbled across a skincare line created by Christy Turlington (a fellow yoga ethusiast) and company, which bases its line on Ayurvedic traditions. In Ayurvedic traditions, there are three doshas, VATA (Air), PITTA (Fire) and KAPHA (Earth), and to achieve a natural equilibrium, we need to be balanced among all three. To find out your dosha, you can take a simple quiz here, OR if you are interested in Sundari's skincare line, you can take their skin test here.

SUNDÃRI (n. sun-'dar-ee) means "a beautiful woman" in Sanskrit.

SUNDÃRI is a collection of Ayurvedic inspired luxury skin care products suited to meet the needs of contemporary women. SUNDÃRI skin care was created by three women, Ayla Hussain, Cavan Mahony and Christy Turlington , each contributing their own specific expertise and passion for holistic skin care. Ayurveda, acknowledged as the oldest medical science in India, is a 5000 year old science of life advocating a methodology that seeks to establish ones holistic balance. Ayurveda teaches that the balancing of mind, body and spirit will ultimately lead to peace, harmony and lasting beauty. SUNDÃRI embodies the principles of this Indian philosophy by containing the purest botanicals with the application of the safest and most effective technology to create the SUNDÃRI product and treatment line.

Make Poverty History!

As some of you know, I am a grad student and last semester, I took a class called "Leadership". During this course, we had to select someone whom we thought to be great leaders in our society, and my group picked Bono. I was a bit hesitant in presenting him as our leader, because much of what I knew of him was his affiliation to U2 (and I LOVE their music). After further research, I was amazed and inspired by this man and his drive, desire, determination to make a change in this world. One of his many campaigns is ONE, which I am a member of.

We're working on a project right now where cities across the nation can declare themselves Cities of ONE. A City of ONE is publicly committed to the end of global poverty. As more cities across the country become cities of ONE, the end of extreme poverty and AIDS will no longer seem a distant goal, but rather a national priority.

Since I reside in Medford, I am asking my Mayor to make an official proclamation in support of ONE, and you should do the same. Just a handful of signatures in a city can make a proclamation happen. Sign the petition to make your city, our city a City of ONE.

Sign a petition asking your Mayor to make an official proclamation in support of the ONE Campaign.
sign petition here

It's time we do something to make a change... let's start now.

Good-bye to Junk, Hello to More Green

Do you give a dime? For a dime a day ($36/year), you can have all the junk mail you receive diminish and a tree planted each month. What's great about this idea is that it can be sent as a gift, which is much more thoughtful than something that will eventually collect dust.

As you are probably all aware, there are numerous changes we can make to make our home a cleaner place to live for ourselves and for those generations after us. This is one of the many innovative ways to make a change, unless you really really love your junk mail.

For more info, check out their website and consider offering this gift to someone you love or even for yourself!
greendimes

Shakti Rhythms

While away at the Vinyasa Yoga training with Shiva Rea, she played some awesome music throughout the practice and program. Some of the music came from her compilation "Shakti Rhythms" which is also music from her DVD "Yoga Shakti" which I've mentioned early on.

The music starts off very slow tempo and meditative, then gradually picks up with some ambient and tribal beats. This music drove motivation during my practice throughout last week, and I most definitely needed it! I would recommend this CD to anyone who enjoys the music you hear in my class. For tomorrow's class, I will play multiple tracks off of this CD. Rock on, Shiva!

Donna de Lory LIVE during Savasana

Date: July 29, 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 430P - 645P
Price: $12 + cost of yoga class ($18) = $30 total
Location: Exhale Spa (Boston - near Arlington T stop)
:: click here for more details on this event ::

Mark your calendars for this upcoming event! A live performance by Donna deLory during an extended Savasana after a vinyasa yoga practice at exhale spa in Boston. I've played her songs a few times during my yoga classes and even during my own daily practice. Her latest album "The Lover and the Beloved" is sung in Sanskrit with contemporary beats and Eastern influences. It's not distracting at all during yoga, because her voice is so melodic, it's almost a beat/tune in itself.

Exhale spa is one of my favorite studios in Boston - the yoga room is beautiful and warm, several props such as blocks, straps, and blankets are available for use, and the changing rooms have the most luxurious amenities. If you truly want to see how a yoga studio should look like, you must pay a visit to exhale.

Good-bye to stinky mats!

Hopefully, you are using your own mat for practice, but if not, cleaning your mats prior to use is very important for proper hygiene. Even if you have your own mat, every now and then, a good rinse will maintain its durability and lifetime of use.

I recently came upon an interesting concept of wipes for yoga mats by Jo-Sha. Not only do they clean your mat down, but it also leaves a nice aromatherapeutic scent of either lavendar (relax), tangerine (uplift), eucalyptus (invigorate), and peppermint (energize).

They sell for $12.00 for a pack of 20 wipes. Interesting concept! Don't you think?