Category Archives: Women's Issues

How to Find the Perfect Yoga Mat

Image By AuroraeYoga.com
Image By BalaYoga.com

Image By BalaYoga.com

Today my much-anticipated yoga mat arrived. I’d been wanting a new mat for a few weeks, but had lacked time to research my options. My old lime green Gaiam mat was starting to get holes in it and it seemed to have lost all of its oomph when it came to cushioning. It lived a nice, long life. I bought it in college after all. I have such great memories with this mat. I used to sling it in it’s mesh bag across my back before riding to campus on my bike. I’d get boba, go to class and go to yoga afterwards. Good times.

In the last month I’d peruse the mat selection at my yoga studio, which has a wide variety of colors, lengths and thickness, but only a couple of brands. Over the weekend when I nearly slipped during class because my mat is losing some grip, I figured it was time to explore Amazon.com to find a good one quickly since many of the mats at YogaWorks and on YogaJournal.com’s shop were too pricey. I would let the reviewers on Amazon help me decide.

And, honestly, I just didn’t want to pay $70-80 for a yoga mat. I mean, sure, I use it every day — especially because of my 28-day yoga challenge, but what are the real differences among brands like Gaiam, Manduka, JadeYoga, Agoy and Aurorae? Turns out, there are many and it can be pretty overwhelming.

I couldn’t have dreamed I would spend hours and hours reading about yoga mats, yoga mat companies and reviews by other yogi shoppers seeking the zen of a perfect mat. I agonized over the materials, prices, colors, lengths and thickness. The more I read, the more difficult my choice became because I knew TOO much. I had fallen down the proverbial rabbit role — not knowing that shopping for a yoga mat would be just as confusing and disarming as Alice’s fall through the looking glass. And that’s just it, choosing a mat was more than just selecting a useful piece of athletic equipment; picking a mat says something to your fellow yogis. It demonstrates your style, feelings about the environment and shows what kind of practitioner you are — if you choose a boring color, or a mat made out of PVC, instead of eco-friendly products or get the wrong length or thickness, you could totally look like a novice (or just someone who doesn’t care about the landfills filling up with discarded mats).

Maybe I’m over thinking it, but I wanted my mat to reflect me, my practice and my needs as an athlete. I also didn’t want these yoga toes leaving too big of a carbon footprint. So, what did I do? Here’s a quick cheat sheet I came up with so you don’t obsess the way I did.

My Tricks For Picking the Best Yoga Mat:

1. See the mats in person. Visit a yoga mat retailer and touch every type of mat. Get a feel for the texture, lengths, colors and thickness. Make note of what you like and what you don’t.

2. Do not make an impulse purchase. Avoid the temptation of walking out of the store with an overpriced mat. Do not buy one.

3. View options online. Go home and check out the online selection of mats on Amazon.com.

4. Narrow selections immediately. If you have Amazon Prime, you might as well filter buy Prime products only; especially since you were so eager to by that $80 mat earlier at the store. This way, you’ll get it in two days once you decide.

5. Go for the best. Sort your search results by the highest rated reviews. Begin reading about each type of mat and starting thinking about what you need in a mat. How thick is your current mat? Is it long enough? What would make your practice better?

6. Make it a 50-50 choice. Choose two mats that seem like the top rated products. Check out their websites to make sure they are legit and aren’t offering a special promotion that is cheaper than Amazon.  Begin reading the reviews for both mats. Read the best ones, read the worst ones — make sure you also read the comments on the reviews. You’ll want to see how people respond to negative and positive review in case they disagree. I would also make sure there are a lot of reviews, if there are only a few, it might be a sign that it’s a new product or a bad one.

7. Budget.Consider the amount of time you spend using the mat and the amount of money you want to invest in your practice. Also consider how long you think the mat will last and if the price point fits into the amount you have to spend.

Image By Aurorae

Northern Lights Yoga Mat By Aurorae

8. Talk it over with a friend. Tell a friends you are trying to find the best mat for your buck and then describe both mats. Tell your friend the pros and cons that matter to you and then see what he or she says about your options.

9. Make a decision. Ultimately, you need a mat, so once you’re pretty sure which mat will work best — buy it.Make sure there’s a good return policy in case you find it doesn’t work for you after all.

10. Try it out. Be your own best reviewer. Once the mat comes in the mail, try it out in the studio. If you have problems that can’t be fixed based on the reviewers notes return the merch, yogi! You have that second choice waiting for its test run.

Which mat did I choose, you ask? I went with the Northern Lights Yoga Mat by Aurorae because it had the best reviews I’ve ever read about a product. I had narrowed it down to Aurorae and Manduka mats because both had the best reviews. I ended up choosing the Aurorae mat because it was $45 as opposed to Manduka’s $84 for the BlackMat Pro or $63 for their PROlite. Plus, Aurorae has unbelievable customer service. In dozens of reviews the CEO of the company responds to people thanking them for reviewing his products or if there is negative feedback he wants to understand it and send it back to his company, and he gives away free stuff to entice his customer to remain loyal. And, it’s completely free of anything toxic or polluting when it’s produced or discarded. I also adore the ombre dip-dye effect in the colors. It’s so soothing!

On the other hand, Manduka has a lifetime guarantee for their mats, which is amazing, but I just couldn’t pass up this smaller brand. Plus, the Aurorae mat is machine washable and has a focal point to help you balance during tricky standing poses. Tomorrow I’ll test it out and if I don’t like it, I can always return it. According to YogaJournal, it’s when I have multiple mats that I’ll know how serious about yoga. Ha, finding one is enough for me right now. If anyone has thoughts about buying yoga mats, I’d love to read them.

Make 28 Great

Birthday Candles

A gal’s birthday makes her think about a lot of things — the past (Where did my twenties go and why do I still feel 21?), the future (What does it mean to be in my “late twenties?”), and how I can make this my best year yet (Get back to writing, you dork.)?

You see, last week was my birthday and I was lucky to share it with my sweet co-workers and kind friends, and of course my generous husband who planned a surprise trip for me to San Francisco. I couldn’t ask for more. It was a fun weekend — delicious seafood, time with family, and lots of walking around one of my favorite cities… but there’s something about my birthday that always makes me reflect on what I’ve done with my life and where I’m going next.

I know I’m not the first person to feel this way, I bet we all go through it one time or another. Even rocker Sammy Hagar once said: “Every year on your birthday, you get to start new.” I think a guy with an album called “Livin’ It Up!” might know a thing or two needing a fresh outlook.

So, how do you start a new path and make the next year better than the last? I have a few ideas.

As a kid I believed I would be married by 25, with a baby by 28 and running my own magazine by my thirties. Yikes. Clearly, my young self was overly ambitious and completely unaware of the time and efforts required to cultivate relationships, a family and a career, while still pursuing an education, having a social life and maintaining an exercise regimen and doing laundry. Life takes time, especially when trendy delicates need to be hand-washed.

I think some birthdays, like the turn of the new year, bring pressure and anxiety, when they should actually be rewarding and liberating. Who wants to be analyzing their 12-year-old self’s life plan while feasting on a crab cake in North Beach? Not me. Ok, clearly it was me, but here’s me trying to be older and wiser. I’d like to plan some things that I could do before I turn 29. Sure, I’d like to say I’ll finally make that trip to Paris or learn to design and sew my own clothes, but let’s be realistic, here. That’s a lot of expectations to put on myself in a mere 365 days. I can think of one, realistic goal for the year, and I’ll be honest, it directly supports and relates to my new year’s resolution to take better care of myself: Make a commitment to doing things that make me happy.

Often I, like many others get distracted and bogged down by obligations, laziness, routines and work — when sometimes a better choice, even a small one, could make me happier. Leaving work when I promise myself I will. Taking a moment to relax without feeling guilty that I should be doing something else. These types of things impact how we enjoy our days and I need to make sure I make choices that benefit my happiness over everything else.

My trip to San Francisco for my birthday reminded me of this — things don’t have to be so planned or focused on specific goals. I may not run a magazine or learn how to sew, but that’s ok. My goals right now are simple. Be myself. Spend quality time with people I love. Make my home more beautiful and tranquil. Take time to relax. Cook healthy and delicious foods. Go to yoga. Write every day. I don’t need much more.

I, like many others, get so wrapped up in my daily routines and tasks. It’s easy to forget that happiness is something you can create yourself at anytime, anywhere. Why blow out the candles by making a wish, when you can actively choose to change your life.

Great things come to those who work and play hard. I’ve had 28 years to practice and I’ll keep going until I get it right. Starting now.

Any one else game to give it a go with me?

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Ode to Transitions

Photo Credit: travelmoore.wordpress.com

In order to tell you where I’ve been over the past few months, I have to share how I got here.

Most of the biggest transitions in my life over the past five years began and ended in a taxi cab. When I moved to New York City after graduating from college, I was filled with excitement and a young naivete about journalism as I stood in line at the airport waiting for a cab. I had never been to New York, but I was moving to Manhattan to become a writer — more specifically a journalist, and later, after hard work, I wanted to become the editor of a women’s magazine. I had it all planned out. I was going to conquer this foreign and unwelcoming city — even though I was just 21-year-old and had grown up in a rural Northern California town without a stoplight (or cabs, for that matter).

Big Apple? I was ready to take a big bite.

I wanted to learn from journalists who wrote for national newspapers and magazines, and gain experience at a magazine while studying for my Master’s at New York University. And, I was ready to take whatever the city was going to throw back at me, despite never having been there before. Ever.

What followed during my first two weeks in New York, were the agonies of finding an apartment during the height of the real estate market. (We’re talking pre-recession, people!) My boyfriend, Daniel (who later became my husband) and I needed to find a true one bedroom (that did not look out onto a brick wall and had a kitchen) for under $2,000 somewhere near the Village, where I would attend class for J-school.

However, we also needed to be near a subway stop so Daniel could commute to downtown Brooklyn easily. Boy, was that a lot to ask. We had only two weeks before my classes started, but the school wouldn’t give me any money to pay for a deposit on an apartment, let alone my books. I had graduation money, which was running a little low after experiencing my first summer without a job. I had worked all through school and decided to give myself one summer free from working minimum wage. Thankfully, my future in-laws helped make the work-free summer and new apartment a reality — without them, it would have been impossible.

We finally found a place amidst the sticker shock, humid heat and our aching feet. It took a pushy broker and $10,000 to move into our first apartment in the East Village on 3rd Street at 2nd Avenue, but it was ours! Who knew we’d need three months’ rent and a huge brokerage fee to get a place on such short notice? Yet, we were starting a new chapter in our lives. The apartment was tiny, but we loved it. We didn’t have air conditioning or much closet space. No matter, our little second floor walk-up was home. We even had a view of a park — well, ok it a quiet, squirrel-filled historic cemetery, but for $2,100 a month it was totally worth it.

Fast forward through new restaurants, friends, classes and jobs — our East coast lives had rapidly changed our outlook on the world and each other. During our time in New York, I buzzed around the city reporting stories on a woman comic writer, a stabbing in Williamsburg, a young jewelry designer and then got the amazing opportunity to work as a web intern for my favorite magazine, Marie Claire. Each week was filled with new stories, books, lessons and adventures, as I learned the subway lines and fell in love with living in NYC.  And I wasn’t the only one to find a passion for my career path. Daniel worked his way up at an e-commerce start-up, got to know Brooklyn, found us cool concert venues and discovered trendy restaurants and hot spots before they were popular. It was as if the world continued to unfold before us through grid-like patterns of the city streets and the boom of internet businesses where we started to find our niche.

Los-angeles

Image via Wikipedia

Over the past few years, our lives in New York were not limited to the city. I spent part of a summer in Africa reporting stories from Ghana. Daniel moved to India for nine months to help manage a new office in Jaipur. He also traveled to Australia and New Zealand. After grad school I joined him in India for a couple months before we were married in the summer of 2008. Life continued to change.

For me, post-grad life in New York included freelancing and working as an Associate Online Content Editor for teen news network, Channel One News. For two years I worked for Alloy Media + Marketing, learning the inner workings and demands of a daily network news program and what it’s like to edit and maintain a website with a really small staff — it was the best opportunity a young journalist could attain. Writing, editing, publishing and working cross-functionally with teams in marketing, sales, broadcast, design and engineering.

I could go on and on with how much I will forever live in an “Empire State of Mind,” but living in the city that never sleeps can be tough. To be honest, some of those people aren’t sleeping because they are just out having fun — they are working second jobs, writing in the middle of the night and searching for their next big break. Mine came just before Christmas as the snow began to fall.

I was offered a job in Southern California. Daniel and I had started our careers in New York and then, on December 22, with only a few weeks to prepare, we left it all for my new job as an editor for Demand Media. So much has happened since moving to California: new jobs, friends, an apartment, two cars…. but I realized in the move I lost touch with my writing, some of my friends and great things that made my life special because I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of changes we’d made. Then I remembered that the things I love most don’t just disappear. We just have a to make a little effort and find new adventures in the City of Angels.

Glad to say things are back on track (just on another coast with significantly fewer cabs).

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Raising the Bar in Dance

Photo by Steven DiCasa

Originally Published By: InterviewHer.com on January 20, 2011

“I’ve danced my entire life,” began Lauren Pellettieri, as she described the co-founding of her dance company, Liberated Movement. “In college I was part of a student-runliberated-movement dance group for four years. I performed, rehearsed and taught classes.” After she graduated from Fordham University, she moved to Manhattan – the home to some of the most prestigious dance academies and companies – and discovered that advanced instruction cost at least $18 per class. “I was still dancing, but not nearly as much,” explained Pellettieri in an interview. “ I missed my regular routine.”

Pellettieri found herself attending more yoga classes than dance because a St. Mark’s Place Studio, called Yoga to the People, offered donation-based instruction, which worked better for her budget. Then, as her need to dance grew, and she heard how much her friends struggled to pay for dance classes as well, she had an idea. What if she could create, with the help of her friends and trusted teachers, a dance initiative with donation-based classes that would fund space at a dance studio?

After doing research she discovered that such a company didn’t exist…yet. “This is New York City,”
she said, “it should exist. This is the dance capital of the world!”

Next, Pellettieri brought her idea to her best friend, Elizabeth Fielder who later helped her start Liberated Movement, and asked, “How feasible is this?”

Now, over a year later, Liberated Movement, a dance initiative founded to teach anyone with a desire to have fun, learn new technique and exercise, has classes almost every day for a suggested donation of only $5. With a variety of classes throughout the week in a Battery Park studio in lower Manhattan, seasoned dancers and first-timers alike, gather to move freely together – in more ways than one.

liberated-movementPhoto by Steven DiCasa 

There’s no membership fee, just positive attitudes, passion and a desire to sweat. “Our goal was to make dance more accessible to experience, without the expense,” explained Pellettieri . “Everyone is free to give what they want. An envelope is passed around at the end of class – all donations are anonymous.”

Classes at Liberated Movement include a wide variety like Masala Bhangra (which is taught by Pellettieri), ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, hip hop, theater dance and West African. Plus, she and her band of dedicated friends are always adding new courses like this month’s Glee themed class or their special Thriller event for Halloween in 2010.

For Lauren Pellettieri, Liberated Movement is not just about getting her dance fix. “Personally, I wanted to break barriers about dance,” she said. “Taking a dance class can be intimidating. We want people to feel welcome and comfortable. Sometimes you want to take class and just bust it out!”

To date the program has had two private donations, but runs solely on donations to pay for using space at the Battery Park Dance Studio, where Pellettieri was once an intern. Each class offers the same quality of instruction from some of the most sought after studios in the city because the instructors volunteer their time. In the future, Ms. Pellettieri hopes to expand Liberated Movement and build upon this notion of empowering women. A private space, more classes and eventually a way to incorporate a clinical practice for therapeutic movement are some of her big picture plans.

“I want to do dance and movement therapy. I would love to have classes that empower positive body image and confidence with moves that promote health.” This combination approach of physical and mental wellness will surely come – especially since Pellettieri is in the process of getting her Master’s in clinical social work. “It wasn’t something I originally saw under the umbrella of Liberated Movement, but then I realized it could encompass the entire thing.”

For anyone looking to embrace their inner dancer, get a little exercise, or simply feel liberated — check out the classes offered each week at LiberatedMovement.com. And, remember feeling good about your body is only a few steps away with a friendly group who simply love to dance.

Written by:  Christa Fletcher

LIBERATED MOVEMENT

www.LiberatedMovement.com

Book-Banning Controversy

Image By ReadingTeen.net

Originally Published By: Women’s eNews on December 13, 2010

A book-banning effort against “Speak,” a young-adult novel about date rape, is creating an uproar. A campus group is making a documentary, a Twitter feed is discussing censorship and a library group expects the controversy to attract teen readers.

(WOMENSENEWS)–A Missouri State University professor’s bid to ban a young-adult novel about date rape, among other “filthy books,” from the school district’s English courses is spurring young-adult authors and teachers to speak out against censorship in a country where more than 10,676 books have been challenged in libraries and schools since 1990.

“Teens don’t live in a vacuum,” Andrea Cremer, author of the young-adult novel “Nightshade,” wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. “They inhabit the same brutal world as adults without the knowledge and tools of adulthood. For those teens whose lives have already been affected by drugs, violence, suicide or any number of traumatic experiences–what children as well as adults struggle with–books can provide comfort, healing or simply the realization that one isn’t alone.”

One in six women will be a victim of sexual assault during her life, according to data published by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, based in Washington, D.C. Young women between 16 and 19 are four times more likely to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.

“Speak,” a young-adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a teen who was raped at a party, is on the New York Times bestseller list, was a National Book Award finalist and has received many honors, including the Michael L. Printz and Golden Kite awards.

However, Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor of business management at Missouri State University in Springfield and a fundamentalist Christian, is demanding that “Speak” and two other books be banned from public high school English coursework in Republic, Mo.

Scroggins filed his complaint in June to the Missouri public school board and wrote an opinion piece on Sept. 18, arguing that the two rape scenes in the novel should be classified as “soft pornography.”

Call to Ban Two Other Books

One of the other books Scroggins wants struck from high school reading lists is “Slaughterhouse Five,” the 1969 antiwar novel by Kurt Vonnegut, which Scroggins complains has too much profane language and sex for high school students.

The other is “Twenty Boy Summer,” by Sarah Ockler, published in 2009. Scroggins said the book “glorifies drunken teen parties” and sex on the beach with condoms.

He is opposed by those who argue rape is a violent act of assault–not porn–and that removing the book would infringe on students’ First Amendment rights.

“Teen readers lose their First Amendment rights as well as access to information that may help them grow intellectually or emotionally if a book is unjustly removed from their local school or public library, or if the library unjustly restricts access to it in some way,” Beth Yoke, executive director of the Chicago-based Young Adult Library Services Association, said in an interview with Women’s eNews.

Since 1990, the association has documented the removal of at least 10 books from the schools and public libraries in Missouri. However, the information provided to the group is voluntary, said Bryan Campbell, an administrative assistant for the Chicago-based Office for Intellectual Freedom, in an email interview.

He also said the group is working on a system for larger data collection that may provide a more reliable picture of book banning statistics in the future.

Each year the American Library Association, based in Chicago, recommends a variety of books to libraries, including “contemporary realistic fiction that reflects the diversity of the teen experience.”

Hundreds of books, including some recommended by the organization, are also challenged or banned from schools and libraries each year.

Between 1990 and 2009 the most common reason listed for challenging a book was “sexually explicit,” at 3,046 complaints. Complaints of “violence” numbered 1,258, according to data provided by the American Library Association.

Thousands Say Thanks

“When ‘Speak’ was published, there was some whispering that this was not an appropriate topic for teens,” Halse Anderson said in an interview with the Springfield, Mo., News-Leader four days after Scroggins attacked the book on the newspaper’s opinion page.

She added that thousands of readers had written to thank her for the book: “They said it made them feel less alone and gave them the strength to speak up about being sexually assaulted and other painful secrets.”

The highly popular young-adult author, Judy Blume, a frequent target of book banning herself, has written to the National Council Against Censorship, based in New York City, on behalf of Halse Anderson.

Ockler, author of “Twenty Boy Summer,” one of the three books condemned by Scroggins, blogged on her Web site in September and October about the dangers of censorship. She also emphasized the importance of healthy discussions among parents and their children: “Truly asking for parental involvement would mean encouraging parents to read the books in question, discuss issues and themes with their kids and come to their own decisions about what’s best for their own families.”

“I’m against book banning in schools,” Daisy Whitney, author of “The Mockingbirds,” a young-adult book published on Nov. 2 that also treats the subject of date rape, said in a phone interview. “‘Speak’ is a novel that has helped so many teenagers understand the emotions surrounding someone who has been through a traumatic experience. The reason some people have suggested banning ‘Speak’ also concerns me because in no way should rape ever be equated with sex.”

Teachers, Librarians, Parents Protest

Paul Hankins, an English teacher from Indiana, started a Twitter feed called SpeakLoudly in response to Scroggins’ complaints. A community of teachers, librarians, parents and publishers also founded SpeakLoudly.org with Hankins soon after, in September.

The controversy has also helped publicize the books under attack for censorship.

“Tell a teen that a book is banned or challenged and they will want to read it to find out why,” said Yoke, of the Young Adult Library Services Association. “So, in one way, book banning actually piques many teens’ interest in the controversial titles.”

Vern Minor, superintendant of the Republic school district where Scroggins’ complaint was received by the school board, told the News-Leader in September that “Slaughterhouse Five” was removed from the English course curriculum.

However, in a Dec. 6 e-mail with Women’s eNews, he said: “We have not made any decisions on the books in question. Our discussions are currently focused on board policy, not the three books per se. We are really trying to look at this matter from a much broader perspective than just three books.”

The school board hopes to set standards for book selection. They do not have a set time frame to implement the revised curriculum policies.

Candice Tucker and Brandon Bond, students at Missouri State, have started filming a documentary about the events, censorship and Scroggins’ “radical views.” Bond has also launched an advocacy group on Facebook called “No More Banned Books,” where he hopes to fight against “the enemies of reason and tolerance.”

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Christa Fletcher is an online writer and editor dedicated to promoting awareness about women’s issues. Her work has been featured by Channel One News, InterviewHer.com, Marie Claire and she keeps a blog at ChristaWrites.com.

For more information:

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network:
http://www.rainn.org/

National Council Against Censorship:
http://www.ncac.org/

SpeakLoudly:
http://speakloudly.org/

Speak
http://www.powells.com/partner/34289/biblio/9780142407325?p_ti