Archive for » June, 2009 «

Jun
10

Give-Away! $150 Green Beauty Starter Kit from Beautorium

MommyOm is so delighted to be partnering with beautorium, the natural and organic beauty emporium. So delighted, in fact, to kick off summer, a very lucky MommyOm reader could win a Green Beauty Starter Kit with over $150 worth of top green beauty booty!  As well, continue reading to see how all MommyOm readers can enjoy some beautorium goodness!

newgreen-beauty-starter-kit

Beautorium takes the guesswork out of going green:

  • Choose from 20 brands and over 600 products—each hand-picked and carefully screened according to 5 strict criteria to ensure you get the most ethical and effective experience.
  • Unique “Good –to-Know” Guide gives you the low-down about each product. Shop by brand, category or beauty issue.
  • Free beautorium natural tote bag and samples with every order over $50; Free shipping over $100!

Satisfaction Guaranteed or your Money Back!

To enter this great prize draw, simply email mommyom and leave your name and e-mail address, or leave a comment below, to enter the contest and sign up for the beautorium newsletter.  Note:  only US shipping addresses will be eligible for the draw.

As a wonderful bonus, MommyOm has agreed a unique coupon code that will give you 15% off your first purchase at beautorium*.
Shop at www.beautorium.com and simply type the coupon code mommyom at the checkout page to receive your discount!

The give-away is only happening for the next couple of weeks, ending June 30, 2009, so enter today!

*Offer valid against full price stock through to end June 2010.

Category: Giveaways!, green, Products  One Comment
Jun
09

New Yoga Ticket Added to Wanderlust Festival

Festival also introduces outdoor rock-n-yoga classes taught by John Friend and Shiva Rea

For those looking forward to their weekend at Wanderlust, the festival just got even better.  With the additions of a new ticket option and two new free classes, there is even more action to schedule during the three-day event, happening July 24-26 at Squaw Valley USA in North Lake Tahoe.

Bringing together the world’s leading yoga teachers and a top-tier music line-up, Wanderlust boasts two days of music with Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, Girl Talk, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and more, all from a stage perched atop the Sierra Nevadas.  Yoga enthusiasts can take classes taught by renowned instructors Shiva Rea, John Friend, and others from the Bay Area, New York City, and beyond.

The new ticket option, called Pilgrim, will extend the Seeker Saturday/Sunday music + yoga experience to include a day of VIP-level yoga on Friday.  For those looking to practice in an intimate setting with the likes of John Friend and Shiva Rea without purchasing the full-blown VIP Sage pass, this ticket is the answer. The Pilgrim ticket will be available Tuesday, June 9, priced at $164.50.  It can be used in combination with a previously purchased Seeker ticket, or on its own as a one-day yoga retreat.  More ticket options and information is available in the Tickets section at www.wanderlustfestival.com.

By popular demand, Wanderlust has also added two large outdoor classes that bridge the music and yoga experience at Wanderlust.  John Friend will lead a devotionally rocking class accompanied by fantastic live music with Jai Uttal, and Shiva Rea will team up with Michael Franti to teach On Fiyah: Energetic Vinyasa for All Rebel Rockers.  Located at the festival’s Globetrotter Stage in the Village, this venue has space for up to 1,000 people and is a great opportunity to have a mass communal yoga experience.  Both classes are free to all music + yoga ticketholders and will not count toward each day’s class maximum.

Also added to the Seeker yoga schedule are two Anusara classes.  Rock Your Heart Out is a tandem taught by Elena Brower of New York City and Christina Nones of Miami. This class will emphasize backbends, arm balances, hip openers, and forward bends, and will be paired with the haunting layered strings of Garth Stevenson.  The second, titled Got Soul: Arm Balances and Backbends is a tandem taught by Sianna Sherman and Kenny Graham with MC Yogi providing music for the journey.

Wanderlust is produced by Velour Music Group, in conjunction with C3 Presents (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival) and Starr Hill Presents (Bonnaroo, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival).

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Category: Events, Spirit  Leave a Comment
Jun
08

Shake, Shake, Shake! Utkatasana…

utkatasana-yoga-art-chris-carter-020908-137x255

Chris Carter, Artist

This is a posture I really do like…  oh yes.  In fact, it’s a posture I play with a little to give the old thighs something to really scream about!  As I near the end of my series of Sun Salutation A, I’m already anticipating the bliss in the delicious agony that is Powerful Pose… or to some, Awkward Chair Pose.

It’s a posture that challenges your focus.  Not unlike other postures, there’s a lot going on at once.  Utkatasana requires- no, demands- attention to everything happening in your body, with muscles calling out in unison, in synchronistic pleasure and pain, from nearly head to toe.

I really couldn’t describe it any better than the lovely Shiva Rea does here, so I’ll let her do the honours of offering the posture step-by-step.  I’ve included a little video supplement too…

Credit for watercolour yoga imagery goes with thanks to Chris Carter, watercolour and ink artist.

Category: Postures, Practice, strength  2 Comments
Jun
04

Yoga For Kids? You Bet!

Those of us who know, understand and feel what yoga does for our own mental and physical health certainly agree that yoga can do the same for our kids… maybe more.

Category: Blog  Leave a Comment
Jun
02

So Angry I Could Spit… Where’s My Mat?!

angryThere are moments in this life… work-at-home husband, homeschooling the kids,  large dog, three new kittens, impending spousal unemployment (read: formerly work-at-home husband somewhere-on-the-golf course)… where the tension just seems to mount.

In mere moments, fear, frustration, and just the build up of stress and anxiety, plain and simple, yanks you by the sharp tongue, unwillingly of course, to that place where all bad energy resides and manifests in bad attitude, negativity and sometimes- ahem- just nasty, toxic interactions with those close to you (read: husband).

We’ve all heard the sage advice to ‘count to ten’, of course.  But my question, as the aspiring yogini I profess to be, is how can my practice enhance my ability to manage my frustration… retard my tendency to fly off the handle… or ease my propensity to suffocate on my anger in seething silence.

I meditate.  I practice.  But sometimes… sometimes… in the heat of the moment… is there something, yogically, I can draw on, to provide me with much needed support to get me through it without letting my anger undermine that which I am working so hard to control?

Or should there be?

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Category: health, Meditation, Spirit, surrender  Leave a Comment