Hot yoga is so hot. Seriously, it’s hot—but damn so are those yoga pants and that booty in them!

As a society we have collectively become more interested in Eastern spirituality, food, culture, rituals, etc. Yoga has become one of the most researched topics and most sought after activity in many cities. There are yoga studios on every corner in some towns. Online yoga communities are everywhere on Facebook. #yogaeverydamnday people! People are relentlessly on Instagram showing off their inversions or pretzel-esque moves.

I personally have been taken over by the “craze” and being in a teacher-training program, I am engulfed in all that is yoga. Being engulfed in all that is yoga also means the new “yoga fashion” will be ever present in my everyday life.

Sadly part of this yoga lifestyle I am referring to is the insane marketing to fellow yogis to pay $90 for some stretchy black pants, that—yes, do make my ass look amazing, but that’s besides my point—-so many companies are robbing us yogis, some blindly.

It is understandable if the clothes are made of organic materials, withhold the copious amount of sweat our bodies produce throughout our practice, can sustain the twists and stretches without tearing and the profit supports a good cause (feeding the starving, sheltering the homeless), but when there are small children slaving away so I can have an Om symbol over my breasts, I’ve got to stop and say no to that designer.

Many companies are profiting on the yoga lifestyle. Marketing on our spiritual journey.

It is a smart business; there is no doubt about that and no harm with that. We live in a free world where we can sell and buy what we want. And in no way am I condemning any business for profiting or making a living off of the yoga market—I am simply asking all of my fellow yogi’s and yogini’s to be more conscious about what you are buying and why you are buying it.

If it is good quality, evokes certain energy or memories within oneself or helps you to feel comfortable with yourself— by all means proceed. It if is just because it’s what’s hot, your friends would be jealous, you want to impress someone…check your intentions before you buy that.

Yoga isn’t about what you wear, where you got your spandex, how much you spent. It’s about the journey on the inside.

In your soul you can manifest all the wealth in the world and those yoga pants that cost $90 mean nothing. Hell, your ass will look good on its own because of your yoga practice physically altering your body.

We live in a materialistic and product driven society—and I myself struggle with wanting the magical unicorn leggings or the lotus mala seed, but I find that it’s not about what I wear to yoga, or what I’ve bought, but my own spiritual journey.

Life is an everyday yoga practice—so this concept carries out to me in my purchases of my everyday clothing. Buy from companies that have good intentions, that want to change the world in which we live in with the profits of our hard earned dollars.

And know that it is not what you have that makes you you. Your clothes, your water bottle, your mala, your slender rock hard body—it’s just a shell and extras that are covering what is truly beautiful and priceless—your beautiful loving, nurturing, caring soul.

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photos: Imgur