Fitness, Health and Wellness

  Emotions are muddled and anxiety is running high these days everywhere in the world. The unfortunate reality is, COVID-19 has taken over most of our lives and the constant barrage of news, panic buying and in many cases, isolation is not doing our mental wellness any good. In fact, all we’ve been doing is lying on our yoga mats and try and   not  to stress eat and spiral out of control. While we’re all under lockdown, official or otherwise, here are some things you can do to ease your crisis anxiety and give your mind a sense of calm. CONNECT WITH YOUR BREATH You don’t have to be a regular at meditation to connect with your breath. There are a lot of guided meditation sequences and breathing exercises that can help calm your nervous system and shift it from the sympathetic nervous system where your body is geared up for flight or fight to the parasympathetic nervous system, or rest and digest. If you own an Apple Watch, the Calm app has great guided meditations — even a walking one s

  While we’re known for our yoga mats , Sugarmat also has a plethora of props to support your practice. The latest addition in our prop family is our Stretching Ring with artwork featuring Chasing Thoughts Away by Dana Mooney.  Designed to improve your flexibility and aid your practice, the Stretching Ring features our best-selling Chasing Thoughts Away design, an homage to the city of Vancouver, and the inimitable great outdoors of British Columbia. The ring is  compact and multifunctional; used properly, it assists you to deepen stretches, improves flexibility, and enhances yoga practice or mobility routine. How to: Deep stretches Use the yoga ring as a tool to deepen your stretches. The ring is contoured to conform to the body’s natural curvature; it provides stability during pulling exercises. You can hook the ball of your foot on to the ring, hook your hand onto the other side and stretch. Pull your arm straight, and feel the stretch down your legs.    How to: Massages Holding o

  So you already have about 3 too many Sugarmats (but is it really too many, though?), and now you’ve got your eye on our Jumble Jamboree collection. Do you really need a yoga towel in your life? We don’t mean to be  that  brand that tells you you  need  everything from us, but you really do. Beyond the obvious fact that the Jungle Jamboree collection is freakin’ pretty, here are some reasons you should check your cart out, stat.   Your yoga practice shouldn’t be a slip n’ slide sesh Slipping and sliding may be heaps of fun in the backyard at the height of summer, your yoga practice shouldn’t be it. If you’ve gone to a Bikram class in a studio, you know how slippery yoga mats can get once you work up a sweat. Sugarmat’s yoga towels have been designed to get grippier the wetter they get so they can handle even the hottest classes (or situations!). The sweatier you are, the more you need one No, a regular ole’ towel won’t do. A regular towel does not increase grip the wetter it gets, in

  Like a boss! Like a boss! Repeat after us (and do it in a mirror if it’s close by), like a boss! You’re a Yogi Warrior whether you believe it yet or not. So start believing it! And from now on when you go to yoga class, you’re going to act like one. Where are we going with this? For starters, kindness. You’re kind to everyone you meet and you have no interest in bringing people down. Next, two words, embody confidence! Walk into any studio like you own the place. Or atleast like you deserve to be there. Be confident in how you walk, how you talk and in the way you move. As with any physical activity and a lot of people around, yoga can bring up some silly insecurities. It’s your job to look them right in the face, laugh at their ridiculousness and be the Yogi Warrior that you know you are. Give Om your best shot The universal sound Om. Familiar with it? If you’ve taken yoga before, you are. Om is a mantra, a vibration that is chanted at the beginning and/or at the end of yoga class.