By Celestine McGee

Yoga is an ancient practice that has gained recently popularity in the western world. It encourages physical and mental wellbeing through posture, strength, discipline, and meditation. Pilates also helps establish a mental and physical well being in those who practice it. Some of the benefits of yoga or pilates is building lean muscles, relieving stress, toning abdominal muscles and improving balance. Yoga and pilates are becoming increasinglypopular throughout the Chicago area and the following local venues sell various gear such as clothing, mats, and other tools to make the most of your practice.

(credit: moosejaw.com)

Moosejaw 1445 W. Webster Chicago, IL 60614 (773)529-1111 http://www.moosejaw.com

Moosejaw is the ideal destination for all of your athletic wear needs, and carries a selection of yoga apparel suitable for the entire family. Moosejaw carries brands like Prana, North Face, Ibex, Marmot and Sanuk, in addition to a great array of yoga mats, towels and shoes to maximize well being in ones yoga or pilates practice. Moosejaws products also extend to outdoor apparel for hiking, climbing, skiing and water sports.

(credit: bloomyogastudio.com)

Bloom Studio4663 N. Rockwell Chicago, IL 60625 (773) 463-9642 http://www.bloomyogastudio.com

Bloom Studio not only provides yoga classes for yogis of all skill levels, but also has a store on site which sells yoga gear and clothing. They exclusively carry the line for the yoga lifestyle,Be Present.These clothes are so comfortable, fashionable and perfect for your practice that youll likely find yourself wearing them off your mat. Bloom Studio encourages a healthy lifestyle, regardless of age or experience with yoga, so if you want to experiment with different branches of yoga or simply discover your Om, Bloom Studio is a great place to start.

(credit: londomondo.com)

Londo Mondo 1100 N. Dearborn Chicago, IL 60610 (312) 751-2794 http://www.londomondo.com

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Best Places To Find Yoga And Pilates Gear In Chicago

People News

Aug 27, 2012, 5:01 GMT

Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell loves yoga.

The 36-year-old actor - who has had trouble with drug and drink addiction in the past - admits he is now a reformed character who loves to exercise and make the most of his life.

He said: 'It's helped to stay away from the cocaine and the whiskey. Life moves in cycles. I'm not going to say there was a particular day or time when things changed, or even that I'm a different man.

'I enjoy the work more. I enjoy being a dad more. I enjoy doing things I never thought I'd enjoy, like yoga!

'Everything's by design, even if you think it's not. I can't say I sat down and said, 'Right, I am going to reinvest'. I know from talking to some friends and different people that it looks as though I've tried to redesign my career but it's not really like that.'

Now, Irish-born Colin listens more to what people have to say more after seven or eight years of 'chaos'.

He added to the Observer magazine: 'I am living with me more now. You can get caught up with everyone patting you on the back, and some people slagging you off. I am not saying I was ignored and that people didn't answer my phone calls, but it was chaos for seven or eight years.'

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Colin Farrell's yoga love

New yoga iPhone apps to take your practice on the road

Posted August 27, 2012 10:30am by Kate Currin Tags: Health, Stress Relief, yoga, fitness, exercise

From work stress to pregnancy nausea, yoga workouts can help alleviate a lot of conditions. Finding the right type of yoga routine to fit your individual needs can also be difficult. Before you buy a bunch of yoga DVDs or invest in a pricey yoga studio membership, try some of these recently-released or updated iPhone yoga apps. They are much more affordable and you can do these yoga practices anywhere!

Yoga is a great way to unwind and relax especially after a hard day or life-altering event. Yoga helps you slow down your breathing and connect with the world around you. You breathe in and breathe out all the negative thoughts floating around in your head while stretching your hard-working body. Whether you do yoga every day already or have never even tried one yoga pose, take a chance with the Let It Go Yoga app for iPhone ($1.99). This calming app will have you chilled out in no time.

Are you yoga lover on the go? Then you will love to take the free YogaWorkout.com PRO app for iPhone with you wherever you strike a yoga pose. This yoga app is perfect for fitting in a quick yoga break in your office or in your hotel room while traveling. The Detox Flow is just the right yoga workout to get you back on track after a long night out with friends. Try the Gentle Hatha Sequence when you wake up to get the day started on a positive note.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Are you behind on your yoga practice? The Simply Yoga app for iPhone ($2.99) offers two levels of yoga routines with three length options. The 20, 40, and 60 minute yoga workouts give you the ability to fit in a yoga workout every day. The app offers six prepared yoga routines or gives you the ability to customize your own yoga workout. The in-depth pose descriptions make the Simply Yoga app perfect for beginners to use along with a studio yoga practice. Impress your yoga teacher with at-home learning on your iPhone!

Tired of the same old yoga practice? Think you can come up with a better flow? Try your hand at creating your own yoga flow practice with the Yoga Creator app for iPhone ($4.99). Yoga gurus and teachers will love this app to customize new classes on the go. Teachers can send new yoga routines to students via email using the Yoga Creator app.

Are you pregnant and looking for a gentle way to stay in shape? The Pregnancy Yoga with Ayala Gill app for iPhone ($2.99) will help you embrace your changing body and prepare for child birth through gentle yoga routines. This yoga app includes routines to help support nausea and fatigue as well as enhancing connection and love.

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New yoga iPhone apps to take your practice on the road

Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Tomorrow night's "Guy Code" delves into the mystery known as yoga. I know what you're thinking: Yoga is for chicks. A manly workout consists of 45 plates clanging into each other, veins popping. Or maybe a solid run, whether it's outside braving the elements or on a treadmill with a Drago-like incline. Or maybe P90X or Insanity or Crossfit or some other high-intensity all-around hell cycle. Basically, if it involves grunting, it's a good workout. Thus, namby-pamby yoga is not a good workout. Well, you are wrong.

First of all, there are babes. Babes in tight pants spreading their legs and arching their backs and bending over RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. This isn't like going to ballet or Zumba or some other "girly" thing. There are whole cultures built around yoga. It's not some womanly workout fad. It's legit. And often filled with babes. And just by being there, the girls already find you endearing. If you're good at it, they'll straight splash for you. You can also go into Lululemon and chat up the hotties that work there. Oh, what's that, you don't know about the yoga store Lululemon? So you're unaware that all the hottest girls applying for jobs at the mall end up there. They wear yoga pants to work, dude. So you can go in and sort of know what you're talking about and strike up a convo (but you can never, EVER buy something there, that would be a violation -- unless it's to give the hottie commission thinking it'll make her want to date you).

But let's talk about the workout aspect. It is the perfect exercise: you get a good sweat going and it's like you didn't even do ANYTHING. You may think contorting yourself in a solo game of Twister is easy, but seriously, when is the last time you stretched? Stretching is hard. I bet you can't even touch your toes right now. Yoga will help you touch your toes.

Better flexibility leads to better sex, so you'll no longer cramp up when your girl wants to get fresh using one of those overwrought positions she read about in Cosmo. Plus: it'll cure you of your two-pump-chump habits, science says so.

In addition to better flexibility, it helps with breathing. Those two things will make you better at other exercises. Running just makes you better at running. Lifting makes you better at lifting. But yoga makes you better at lifting and running and humping.

You can have your free weights and snatches. I'll be in the yoga room surrounded by snatches.

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Tags Exercise, Yoga

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Yoga Is Manlier Than You Think

Colin Farrell, a 36-year old actor, recently went public about his love for yoga and how it has helped him to recover from drug and alcohol addiction.

Farrell is not the only person who has turned to yoga as a means to recovery. In fact, some addiction treatment programs use the practice of yoga as a tool to aid in recovery.

The good news is that those who are in bondage to addictions have the ability to recover if they have the desire to do so. This article will focus on how the use of yoga can aid in the journey to recovery.

History of yoga for addiction treatment

Even though yoga has been used to improve mental and physical health for over 5,000 years, it has only made its way into drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs in the last 10-years.

Five ways yoga helps those in recovery

-Impulse control

Yoga promotes impulse control, attentiveness and concentration. This is important because many people who use drugs and alcohol feel a compulsion to follow through with their cravings to use. In addition, they are more likely than others to allow their thoughts and emotions rule them and how they react to life.

-Deep breathing

Coping skills are needed for those seeking recovery, and yoga helps by teaching deep breathing that is a useful tool.

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Yoga Aids in Recovery from Drug and Alcohol Addiction

What do you call two Toronto women who standup paddle board on Lake Ontario in winter?

Entrepreneurs.

Fitness studio owner Gudrun Hardes, 48, and marathoner Diana Turnbull, 47, met on the lake and decided to start a stand up paddleboard (SUP) business.

It just made sense: Were out there in our wetsuits in December and January the only two idiots on the water and we figured were enjoying this so much, lets do it the rest of our lives, Hardes recalls.

By May they had opened WSUP, and Hardes, who has been doing yoga for 15 years, was experimenting with doing asanas (yoga postures) on a paddle board as well. They soon launched yoga-on-the-water classes at The Beach.

People just love it, says Hardes. Its really picking up everywhere.

WSUP has had students aged 8 to 72 since it began offering paddle board yoga at two locations (Woodbine and Balmy Beach) this summer.

People wanted a little more, as soon as they started getting their legs, Hardes says. With paddle boarding, you get really tight in the legs, so its a nice stretch after being out on the board.

It really helps with your balance; it makes you focus more, and helps improve your posture.

Yoga paddle boarding involves vinyasa postures, from the sun salutation to lunges. I do it just for the feel-good aspect, Hardes says. Being on the water is so calming; people just gravitate to water naturally.

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Paddle board yoga makes waves

Everyone suffers from the common cold from time to time. While there is no cure for this bothersome illness, there are things that can be done to ease the symptoms, such as taking over the counter medications and yoga poses (asanas). Yoga is a great solution for the cold because it is all natural and does not have side effects that come along with some medicines. One of the many reasons I enjoy and appreciate yoga is that it can benefit the body and mind in so many ways. Continue reading to find out how asanas can help prevent you from becoming sick and tame symptoms of the common cold once you are already sick.

Signs and symptoms of the common cold may include the following:

A nose that is either runny and/or stuffy

Throat pain

Coughing

Mild body aches, including a headache

Sneezing

Eyes that water

Tiredness

Slight fever

Excerpt from:
Yoga Tips for the Common Cold

The Chinese company is rumored to be working on a Windows RT convertible laptop, and now it says the Yoga is on the way.

Namaste! Lenovo says the IdeaPad Yoga, its folding, reversible tablet/laptop hybrid running Windows 8, is coming soon.

The company this morning tweeted a shot of the device -- which we first saw at CES in January -- along with the simple message "It won't be long now."

The tease comes on the heels of rumors that the Chinese company is developing a convertible laptop/tablet that will run Windows RT, a more limited version of Windows 8 designed for ARM-based devices.

The Yoga comes with a keyboard that folds around almost 360 degrees to hide and transform itself into a tablet. If the Yoga and the mysterious convertible Windows RT tablet are one and the same, it would likely compete directly with Microsoft's own Surface tablets.

While the Surface can dock with a keyboard to make the transition from tablet to laptop, the real question is, can it do a sun salutation?

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Lenovo teases Windows 8 reversible Yoga tablet/laptop

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Santosh Maknikar leads yoga class at Salt Lake's Krishna Temple, Monday, July 16, 2012.

Health Classes are structured for those new to yoga and advanced practitioners alike.

The word seva means giving selflessly to help other living beings. Its more than just a word to Santosh Maknikar, founder of Yoga For People, who built the Great Salt Lake Yoga Fest around the concept.

"We wanted to make it available for everyone," Maknikar said, "affordable for everyone to explore all types of yoga."

Helping people yoga style

The Utah-based Yoga For People teaches yoga free in homeless shelters, prisons, schools and libraries in Salt Lake City and Park City. Santosh Maknikar founded the nonprofit in 2011 with the goal of making the healthful benefits of yoga accessible.

When I moved to the United States, I was surprised to see how many more people go to yoga classes in the U.S. than in India, said Maknikar, who is from Latur, India. But I was also surprised at the high cost of these classes.

Thats when he decided to make yoga available to people who had financial or health limitations.

In June, Yoga For People provided its 300th free class in just eight months. The nonprofit is always seeking to expand its volunteer base.

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Great Salt Lake Yoga Fest wants to make you feel good

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Health announced an exclusive media partnership with Wanderlust, the nation's largest yoga and music festival, to produce Yoga in the Citya one-day urban retreat held in iconic outdoor venues across the nation. Occurring on September 9 in New York and Los Angeles and on September 23 in San Francisco, Wanderlust Yoga in the City provides a retreat for city dwellers with complimentary classes from the world's top yoga instructors, live music performances, and panel discussions featuring leading wellness experts. The event series is part of the Yoga Aid World Challenge benefitting humanitarian charities around the globe that embrace the healing power of yoga.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120823/NY61674LOGO)

"Health consumers lead active lives, including practicing yoga over three hours each week, which makes Wanderlust a natural fit," said Kevin White, Publisher of Health. "Partnering with the premier yoga organization allows us to create a unique and engaging brand experience for our consumers and advertisers."

The Health Pavilion will host exclusive fitness and nutrition sessions with editors and celebrity guests, personalized cover shoots via photo booth, and offer special gifts for the mind, body, and soul. Exclusive skincare sponsor Elizabeth Arden will provide expert tips and complimentary samples of the new spa-inspired Visible Difference skincare line.

Acclaimedauthor, nutritionistand wellness expert,Cynthia Sass, will answer your nutrition questions, share delicious recipes and offer insider strategies from her latest New York Times best-sellingbook,S.A.S.S! Yourself Slim. Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in an exclusive hybrid yoga series with celebrity yogini Mandy Ingber inspired by her upcoming book, Yogalosophy: 28-day Mind Body Makeover, hitting shelves in 2013. Health's fitness editor and resident yogi, Kristin McGee, will serve as master of ceremonies at Wanderlust in the City in New York and San Francisco. Additionally, within the Health Pavilion, she will showcase yoga, pilates and core strength moves from her latest DVD S3: Strong, Sexy, and Svelte.

The 2012 Wanderlust Yoga in the City series is set to include:

September 9, 2012

September 23, 2012

The U.S. partnership between Wanderlust Festivals and Yoga Aid for The Yoga Aid World Challenge, a 24-hour global yoga relay on September 9, will begin in Sydney, with its first U.S. stop in New York for the Yoga in the City event, and end at sundown in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Pier.

For more information and to enter for a chance to win an escape for two to the Wanderlust Yoga in the City event in New York, visit Health.com/wanderlust. To register or find more information on Wanderlust Yoga in the City and Yoga Aid, please visit: http://www.wanderlustyitc.com.

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Health and Wanderlust Present Wanderlust Yoga in the City Event Series