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Coolibar Asks: What Does Yoga Mean to You?

Coolibar - Yoga

We’ve been thinking about yoga a lot lately. We can’t help it. When you’re promoting sun protection, health, happiness and peace of mind, yoga just naturally comes up.

Do you practice yoga? If you do, what does it mean to “practice yoga?”

At one extreme are the hardcore enthusiasts.  You may have heard that yoga can relieve stress, improve digestion, balance the metabolism and strengthen the immune system. These folks will tell you yoga is about cleansing the bioemotional self, toning the endocrinal system, coordinating the musculoskeletal structure, creating a union between our physical and emotional beings.  It decreases cortisol and adrenalin, which co-opt the production of vital hormones! It promotes and balances neurotransmitters, and inverted postures re-balance the pituitary and thyroid glands!

Corresponding to this knowledge is a full range of classes. There’s hot yoga, restorative yoga, yin yoga, power yoga, and the list goes on.

Other people, as we’ve read, just like wearing the clothes. This is okay too; we know that not everyone wearing a North Face jacket is an experienced High Alps mountain climber either. And when you’re trying to attain a fully integrated mind and body, total comfort certainly helps.

At Coolibar we think our understanding of yoga is pretty balanced between the neurobiologists and those who just look the part.

“I just needed a form of physical activity that I didn’t dread,” says Heather Olson, Wholesale Operations Manager at Coolibar. She says she’s been practicing yoga for about two years, drawn to it by a background in dance with its balance and flexibility. “It’s a way to get a workout – and have fun.”

Coolibar Yoga
Kelly Johnson in Coolibar Banded Fitness Tee, Active Swim Tights

Kelly Johnson, Coolibar Customer Service Manager, thinks so too. “It’s a slower pace of exercise,” she says. “I’m not the type of person who likes to go to the gym and pump weights and run on the treadmill. I like the mediation aspect, too, to calm my mind, re-center and relax.”

About that last part: yoga can be especially practical if you’re living what we might refer to as a full life.

“I get stressed out easily,” Kelly says. “And I have a five-year-old. So yoga is my alone time.”

What kind of yogi (that would be, “one who practices yoga”) are you? Tell us about it!

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