Yoga Paws: The Yoga Mat You Wear

With summer comes … VACATION! Woohoo! You’re off to the beach, the mountains, the countryside, a campground, another continent! Of course, you want to keep luggage to a minimum, especially when flying. Even travelling by car, there’s only so much you can take along.  A yoga mat, even a travel mat, isn’t the easiest thing to pack, but what yogi can go for more than a day or two without a downward dog, triangle pose or exalted warrior?

For any yoga enthusiast who travels, Yoga Paws may be the greatest thing to come along since sliced (whole wheat) bread!  This clever yoga accessory works in place of your mat yet is small enough to fit inside your pocket.  Whaaat, you ask?

What are Yoga Paws?

Yoga Paws fit  onto your hands and feet to provide grip and cushioning while practicing yoga poses. The hand unit fits like a bicycle glove with finger separators that help spread the fingers and stabilize your hands within the glove. The foot unit fits like a half sock that covers the ball of the foot to the arch. A Velcro strap fits around the heel to hold your foot firmly inside the sock and its Lycra/Spandex material comfortably adjusts to a variety of sizes.

They’re comfortable with a high level of elasticity, but fit snugly to keep you from slipping. The Paws have a cushioned, super absorbent towel lining that provides cushioned support and absorbs dirt, oils and perspiration (so they work for even the sweatiest yoga practice). There are no internal seams to cause discomfort or irritate your skin.

And to top it off, Yoga Paws are eco-friendly! They’re made from durable, TPE yoga mat material that’s free of chlorides, latex and PVC. They come in a small box with minimal packaging. A handy mesh carrying bag is included that can be used for machine washing your Paws, although hand washing is highly recommended.

How to Use Yoga Paws

Just strap them on and you’re good to go. They’re great indoors or out, so take them with you wherever you go. Your paws will provide a firm grip on hardwood floors, carpets, outdoor decks, sandy beaches, or grassy fields.

Yoga Paws also offer versatility. You can use your Paws along with a traditional mat for added traction if you find yourself slipping during a hot yoga or power yoga practice. The gloves can be used by themselves for other exercises, as well. For example, they can provide a cushioned grip while lifting weights or doing pull ups.

You will need some padding for resting poses and for cushioning your spine, knees or hips, but a towel or blanket should do the trick.

Yoga Paws Care & Maintenance

Cleaning your Yoga Paws regularly is highly recommended (think about all the sweat and oils absorbed in the towel lining … ew!). They’re easily cleaned by turning them inside out and washing them in cold water and gentle soap. Then air dry. Washing after every use with a quick five-minute sudsing will maintain they’re longevity.

Yoga Paws are available for men and women in sizes that will fit most everyone. They are available at Nitty Gritty Fitness for $28.95 or from their home website, Yoga-syz, for $34.95.

For any yoga traveler, Yoga Paws is a must have. Now, no matter where your life takes you, you can take your yoga practice along!

Natural Fitness is a company that takes conservation very seriously. Their products are made of natural, sustainable and recycled materials. The yoga mats are made from natural rubber; yoga blocks from cork and bamboo; yoga straps and mat bags from hemp; and the handles on their rubber resistance tubes are made from recycled plastic. The packaging for every product is made from recycled paper.  In addition, they have initiated the Zero Impact Program - for every Natural Fitness product sold, in some area of the planet a tree is planted where it’s most needed to help moderate the climate, improve air quality, conserve water and harbor wildlife. Past projects have included areas of Asia, Africa and the Americas. Even the Natural Fitness website is “green” — it’s completely powered by solar energy.

One of my favorite products made by Natural Fitness is the exercise ball.  They have two grades – one designed for use with most exercise programs that is burst resistant to 300 lbs, and one that is designed to withstand the most rigorous exercise regimens that is burst resistant to 600 lbs.

Natural Fitness exercise balls have slightly textured surfaces that provide grip and keep you from sliding. Most PVC products utilize plasticizers that contain phthalates to make the material soft and flexible. but phthalates have been proven to be harmful to the environment and pose health risks to humans.  Natural Fitness developed a non-toxic, phthalate-free plasticizer for its vinyl products. This makes the ball somewhat stiff at first, which is probably why the instructions say to inflate it to 80% of its recommended size, let it sit for 24 hours and then fill to its full volume. This gives the vinyl time to “rest” before inflating fully.

I found the included “fast pump” easy to use until I got to the last few centimeters. Then it seemed as if air was escaping through the pump every time I pulled the handle up. So I hauled out my handy-dandy rechargeable air compressor (that I keep in my car for emergencies) and finished filling the ball that way. I probably should have just used it from the start, but I wanted to test the hand pump.  A plug kit is included in the box, so you can use whatever method you want to inflate the ball. Just be careful not to over inflate it.

The textured surface isn’t sticky – animal hair and dirt don’t cling to the vinyl.  I noticed a bit of a smell at first, but it wasn’t offensive and does fade.

The Natural Fitness Exercise Ball comes with a DVD that includes a warm-up, workout and cool-down, with two workout levels – beginner and intermediate. An exercise chart is also included in the kit, along with the pump and plug kit, as mentioned earlier.

When shopping for your exercise ball, be sure to choose by size, not by color. If you’re 6’ tall and you choose the 55cm ball because you like its plum color, you’re going to be very disappointed when you sit on it and your knees are level with your chin!!  Generally, the 45cm ball is for heights 4’7” to 5’; 55cm for heights 5’1” – 5’7”; 65cm for heights 5’8” – 6’1”; and 75cm for heights 6’2” and over. When you sit on your ball, your knees should bend at a 90 degree angle.  If you have extremely long legs and are short-waisted, you may want to go up a size; if your legs are short and waist long, you may want to go down a size.

You can accomplish so much with an exercise ball – increase your core strength, flexibility, range of motion, balance and coordination; and it can be incorporated into any yoga, Pilates or strength-training routine.  Use your ball as a chair, and you can work your abs and burn a few extra calories while watching television or working at your desk. And remember, by purchasing the Natural Fitness exercise ball, you get to help the planet by planting a tree!

The latest craze in athletic footwear is making an awful lot of promises.  Can a pair of shoes tone and tighten your legs, give you a perky derriere, burn more calories and get you in shape without setting a foot in the gym? Let’s examine ….

The idea of reshaping your body with your shoes is not original. Remember the earth shoes craze in the 70s?  They featured “negative heel” technology that promised natural body alignment and better posture.   And Dr. Scholl’s exercise sandal — the wooden sole and leather strap sandal that promised beautiful, toned calves.

The latest in the line of “fit” shoes are the “rockers” – MBT’s Antishoe, Skechers‘ Shape-Ups and Reebok’s Easytones. Will the other major shoe companies be far behind?  With the least expensive model starting at right around $100, this is very big business, as sales are predicted to reach over $800 million in 2010.

The rocker shoe isn’t new, but as its comfort and design has improved, so has its popularity. Rockers were initially developed for people with back pain, poor circulation, people who suffer with plantar fasciitis or for those who are on their feet all day. The highly cushioned, curved sole forces the wearer to work harder to maintain balance while the shoe takes pressure off the forefoot, resulting in relief for the hip and knee joints and immediately improving posture. The rolling heel-to-toe gait is designed to simulate walking in a more natural environment, sort of like walking on sand, activating more muscles in the feet, legs and derriere.  More active muscles burn more calories.

The theory is valid.  The question is — do they really do more than your standard fitness shoe?

In a six-week trial commissioned by Skechers and conducted by a California chiropractor, each of a dozen women were given a pair of  Shape-Ups and told to wear them during their normal daily activities and walking programs. There was no control group and the test wasn’t rigorously designed. To summarize briefly, the results showed an average weight loss of 3.25 lbs, a small loss in body fat, and an improvement in glute strength and lower back endurance.

In an unpublished study commissioned by Reebok, the University of Delaware tested five women on a treadmill with electronic sensors attached to their legs.  The results showed that wearing the EasyTone worked the gluteal muscles an average of 28 percent more than when wearing a typical Reebok walking shoe and hamstring and calf muscles worked 11 percent harder. Reebok maintains that it has collected 15,000 hours’ worth of wear-test data from shoe users who say they do notice the difference.

WLKY TV, a television station located in Louisville, Kentucky, performed its own study, which it reported on just last week. In a test similar to Reekbok’s, three subjects walked on a treadmill with sensors attached to the muscles in their legs, glutes and abs.  One wore her Mary Jane shoes and then switched to Fit-Flops and the other two wore their regular running shoes and then switched to Sketchers Shape-Ups and Reebok Easy Tones, respectively.  Their results were quite surprising — in each case the leg and glute muscles actually worked less in the fit shoes than in the standard shoes.  One positive note — the subject wearing the Skecher  Shape-Ups did show a significant increase in abdominal activity (400%).

There have been no studies to date on the long term benefits of walking in rockers.  Once the body adjusts to the unstable walking surface, the added toning effects, if there are any, may not last.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has commissioned a study by the researchers at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, to investigate the claims of the Reebok EasyTone and other “toning” walking shoes. The results of that study are expected to be available in Spring/Summer 2010.

Rockers aren’t for everyone, so you may want to consider a few things before investing in them.  (1) Wearing rockers can aggravate symptoms of motion sickness.  (2) Switching from your stilettos to rockers can cause major damage to your calf muscles and hamstrings, so be sure to do some warm up exercises and stretches before donning the shoes. (3) If you have balance problems or your feet tend to over-pronate, you may want to avoid the shoes entirely.  And (4) rockers are recommended for walking only – they aren’t safe for running, jumping or activities that require lateral movement.

As you can see, the jury is still out on this one.  If you’re in the market for a new pair of walking shoes, try them out.  Let us know what you think!