For some of you Christmas is around the corner with its tradition of giving presents to your loved ones.

I’m not really into this ultra consumerism, specially in those troubled times, but let me share with you a few amazing ideas for you yogis or your yogi friends:

BOOKS

– yoga faq (by Richard Rosen). Richard answers many yoga related questions in this book, with his well known sense of humor. From asanas to philosophy, Richard’s knowledge is vast. A must read for anyone who loves yoga

– The yoga plate (by Tamal and Victoria Dodge) an amazing vegan cookbook where i’ve found my favorite banana bread recipe. Tamal is a well known yoga teacher and his entire family is vegan. They all share their recipes in the book. Most of them are easy to make with ingredients easy to find.

– More plants less (by Max Lamanna) a fantastic cookbook with many insight on how to reduce food waste and how to regrow your food. It will give you great ideas and opportunity to have fun with your kids by using his tricks.

YOGA CLOTHES

I really am into the french brand CAUR paris at the moment. Super ethical, and gender neutral. The leggings are super comfy. http://www.caurparis.com

Other yoga related website i recommend for my french readers:

http://www.yogisonroadtrip.com

http://www.maboutiqueyoga.fr

YOGA MAT

I will give you my top 3 at the moment. They are not cheap, but they are all earth friendly and with a very good grip

Liforme, a brand from UK you will easily find worldwide

Arpi, a brand from Hong Kong

Jade, a US brand ( best grip ever)

YOGA CLASSES AND TRAINING

What an amazing idea to give the gift of yoga. Now that almost every teachers offer online practice, why not offering an experience instead of another object? I might have written about this before, but most of you know I’m totally against 200h online trainings. I think we really need to be present in the same room to understand how asanas and hands on assist work. Therefore i suggest more short trainings to deepen someone’s practice or for someone who’s already a teacher.

– Krista Cahill, the most precise and kind teacher I’ve ever had, offers with David Egelin, a 4 week ends online 20h training on Zoom in February, from Ashtanga to Vinyasa. Check http://www.yogaclubboston.com for more info. (I’m already registered 😜)

– Nest Yoga Oakland hosts amazing teachers as well, such as Annie Carpenter, Richard Rosen, Leslie Howard and many more. http://www.nest-yoga.com You can buy 1 class, or a pass for a few classes on zoom, and even an unlimited pass for all the classes in replay! Having the opportunity to try a class with those incredible teachers from your home is a true gift.

– Obviously you can also contact me (cheyenneyogamc@gmail.com) I offer Zoom classes or 1 to 1 in person if you happen to be around Monaco!

BEAUTY PRODUCTS

I’m not using a lot of beauty products, but when I do I want them to be cruelty free and mostly organic. My favorite brands are:

– Drunk elephant (I really love their anti pollution tainted cream)

– Kopari beauty ( my favorite deodorant)

– And I really like the homemade soap by @sowoolsocool you can find her on IG.

I’m sharing with you this list of things I like, I hope it will inspire you. And to be precise, I am not receiving any discount or anything, I just share what I love for free 💝.

Happy holidays!

Even though I’m not american, I think it’s my duty as a yoga teacher and as a citizen of this world to bring awarness on The Yamas Ahimsa: Non harming. Non harming in any situation, non harming someone because he or she has a different tone of skin for exemple. Being racist is wrong, not talking about how racism sucks in the world today is wrong too.
🇫🇷Même si je ne suis pas americaine je pense que c’est mon devoir en tant que prof de yoga et citoyenne du monde d’amener votre attentions sur le principe yogi de Ahimsa: Ne pas faire de mal. Ne pas faire de mal pour une quelconque raison, ne pas faire de mal quand une personne a une couleur de peau différente par exemple. Être raciste c’est franchement odieux, et ne pas parler de combien le racisme est odieux, avec ce qui se passe aujourd’hui, ben c’est odieux aussi.

blacklivesmatter

Let’s imagine something: you are in a plane, or a train, or lying on the beach and you take a nap. The pilot, flight attendant or lifeguard snap a picture of you and post it on social media. He (or she) is proud to show the world how relax people are when they travel (or sunbathe) when he or she is in charge. Wouldn’t it be weird (if not creepy)? How would you feel?

Let’s imagine another thing: your kid is at school, working, and the teacher takes a picture of your kid, post it on social media as a proof of he or she being a good teacher, the kid looking like he (or she) is really focusing on the exercise. How would you feel about it as a parent?

Now imagine (or remember if it has happened to you) you are in a yoga class, and the teacher takes picture of the practitioners, are you staying totally natural, focusing on your breathing, staying in tune with the sensations in your body, or are you trying to go a little bit deeper to look better, or because your neighbor goes deeper and you don’t want to stand out you’re forcing a little bit more even if it hurts, and even though, as your teacher probably told you, each body is different and you should left your ego aside.

Speaking of ego, what are the teacher’s motives? Is it keeping memories of a good class, or is it something different?

Now let’s imagine one last thing, you are let’s say in headstand your balance starts to feel precarious, how is your teacher going to help you while holding a phone or a camera?

I know I’m not gonna make a lot of friends with this article, but I don’t have a good opinion of teachers who are taking pictures during class, specially during savasana, and who post those pictures on social medias or on their website. In fact I avoid going to their class. I recall someone in particular, a famous yoga teacher from LA. I really wanted to take his class but I never did because he was posting videos of his students in savasana.

What is savasana? A moment of profound relaxation, where you are supposed to let go of everything and release all tensions to allow your body to benefit of the practice that just happened. So you are eyes closed lying on your back and relaxed, don’t you think it’s creepy that people take pictures of you in that moment? And post them? Don’t you think it’s somehow a violation of your intimacy? Because that’s how I feel, and I couldn’t completely relax knowing that while i’m vulnerable lying down, eyes closed, somebody might film me.

Yoga is supposed to be a sacred moment, and the teacher is supposed to hold a space where you feel safe. How can you tune in yourself when someone snaps pics of you? Are you really gonna stay focus and natural?

And you, yoga teachers, are you 100% sure your students are gonna stay focus and not trying to go deeper (and potentially hurt themselves) because they know you are going to publish pictures of them? Do you really think they are totally letting go in savasana knowing you’re probably holding your phone and making videos? And most importantly are you really sure you are doing your job of teaching yoga while filming, or may be more the PR part of it? May be ask yourself: Why is it you’re doing that? Isn’t that ego?

I understand taking pictures or videos in a workshop, or festival, or training setting, with everybody’s consent. I also understand filming and promoting an event, you gather people that totally know why they are here, it’s a promotional class, and films and photos will happen.

What I don’t understand is when it happens during regular classes. Students deserve respect, their practice deserve respect, we live in a world that emphasizes so much on how we look like, can’t we, as yoga teachers, provide them with 75 minutes where appearance has no importance, where the inside is more import than the outside? And where smartphone and cameras do not belong? Isn’t that our job in the end?

May be, if as a teacher you really feel you have to take pictures, ask some volunteers after the class, while they are still warmed up to do a couple of poses? Just a thought….