New Holiday Cards Now in the Shop

Our latest addition to the YogaDudes holiday cards have arrived and are now in the shop! These adorable holiday cards are actually postcards. They are packed in groups of 10 and come with 10 envelopes. The front side features the tree pose among Christmas trees with the phrase "OM Christmas Tree, OM Christmas Tree.“ The reverse side of the card simply states "May Your Days Be Merry and Bright."

They cost $7.50 per pack and are also available at wholesale costs in groups of 6 or more. For more information on the YogaDudes wholesale program, please click here.

To purchase these cards from our shop, please click here. Don't wait too long. Supplies are limited and dwindle as Christmas approaches.

How YogaDudes Got its Name

We recently received an inquiry as to why a shop named ‘YogaDudes’ didn’t carry more men’s yoga clothing. It was a very good question and I thought that I should tell the story about how YogaDudes got it’s name.

Back in 2005 my husband and I were both getting very involved in yoga. Although we weren’t going to classes at a local studio we were diligently practicing at home with DVDs. We both happened to like a particular Rodney Yee video the best and we ended up quibbling over who gets to take it when one of us had to travel for business. Yes, I know we could have easily bought a second copy, but instead my husband drew himself a cheat sheet representing the entire routine. He had all the poses drawn up using adorable little stick figures. I just loved this cheat sheet so much. I couldn’t get over how cute his stick figures were and I said, “I have to do something with those yoga dudes.” Within a couple months of that statement our first yoga dudes were brought to life. We took 6 of those pose sketches and redrew them in a CAD program. From there we visited a local machine shop and had the figures cut out of stainless steel to make the yoga pose earrings. I couldn’t help but to call them “YogaDudes.” And after receiving such positive response from the earrings, the products and hence the company grew to offer many more cute yoga accessories. The name just sort of stuck.

My New Favorite Yoga DVD

This is the one that I’ve been searching for for years. I’ve been getting bored with my usual routine and with the next session of my own yoga class coming up I was looking for some new moves to add to my own routines. I live too far from civilization to easily commit to getting to a real studio, and recently pondered joining an online yoga class subscription site. But I found the answer to my prayers and it’s called Exhale: Core Fusion Yoga - Energy Flow.

I love this DVD for so many reasons. First, it’s broken into 5 separate 10 minute sessions. If you’re like me you’re probably thinking, “You can’t get enough out of doing yoga for only 10 minutes.” Well, after you try this DVD you might change your mind. Each and every session is challenging. My heart was pounding and there are some things in certain sessions that I can’t even do. Nothing thrills me more than the challenge of ‘working my way up’ to something. I’ve been doing either 2 or 3 sessions during my lunch breaks. I change up which ones and that makes my 20 or 30 minute routine different just about every day. Whatever my mood that day is what I pick for workouts.

One of the most brilliant things about this DVD is that when you first put it in your computer or DVD player it shows that useless “Consult your doctor” warning. But it somehow knows that you are inserting the disk in the same machine because that notice doesn’t show up again. Nothing annoys me more than having to wait for that to pass every singe time I work out. I just slip the disk in and bam, I am instantly presented with the menu to pick my workout. (Disclaimer: maybe it’s just an iMac that is that smart!) Can’t say enough about how much I love this. No commercials, no intro jabbering. If I only have 10 or 20 minutes to work out those minutes are precious and I don’t want to waste 2 of them waiting to get to the menu.

So you pick a work out, a title screen appear momentarily with a very quick message like “you will need a mat.” And then the work out begins and I’m telling you, they waste no time. You get busy working right away. There’s no fluffy talk about how your great your butt will look in a bathing suite. There are no reminders to smile. It’s just a militant workout and the leaders (a husband and wife team) just tell you exactly what to do. Clean, simple and to the point.

The five different sessions are:

• Energy Flow: This session really gets you warmed up and stretched out. I use it before my daily runs and I swear I have an easier time running.
• Sun Salutations 1 & Sun Salutations 2: Although there are 2 sessions for Sun Salutations they manage to be very different from each other. Both are quite challenging and go behind the basic Sun Salutations. My favorite part is the push-ups in between (something that I always used to add to my own routines). It’s quite challenging and boy does it get the blood flowing. There is actually quite a bit of core and upper body strength required to get through both of these 10 minute sessions. Doing them together is the perfect short workout.
• Chi Gong Hip Openers: I had no idea what to expect here and I was pleasantly surprised. The moves were unique, fun, and challenging. You’re going to get a great thigh and butt work out in this one. Another great pre or post-run warm up/cool down and stretch.
• Core - This is the one that I have to ‘work my way up to.’ This session requires that you have two blocks. When I first tried it I was in my office using books instead of blocks and that didn’t go so well. You’re asked to hold up your entire body weight, as you balance on the blocks, while crossing your legs in front of you. Like I said, I’ll have to work my way up to that one, but what great challenge.

There are also some great bonus sections including a warm up, a cardio yoga session, and a Savasana and stretching session. I can’t imagine anything more that could be added to this well-rounded yoga masterpiece. All three of these bonus sessions are winners. I still can’t believe how much they packed into this one DVD. You can purchase it online here. If I were you . . . I would get one!

September Desktop Calendar

I'm still not sure how it got to be September already. I swear it feels like I just made the August one last week! The precious days of summer are slipping away. Make the most of what is left! If you would like to make the above graphic your desktop wallpaper, just click on it to open the larger format graphic. Once that larger graphic appears just right-click on it and "Save as Desktop."