So, I started teaching yoga classes for my friends and family recently and went out and bought a bunch of yoga mats so the newbies could practice in style on the comfort of their own mats. I thought this would be a nice thing to do, but the problem was schlepping all those mats around. Carrying a couple of yoga mats along with all the yoga gear you need for a class takes more than two hands and a great deal of coordination.

Thanks to the stylish folks over at Saltbox, I now have the perfect solution. I got the opportunity to take their Getaway bag (in my favorite shade of green) for a test-drive this past weekend and packed up my yoga clothes, a water bottle, my laptop, speakers, cell phone, essential oils, class notes, and three yoga mats. Even with all this cargo, there still was plenty of room in the bag, and it all fit comfortably over my shoulder. I have to say I felt pretty damn vogue walking into my yoga classes with this smart-looking, stylish bag slung over my shoulder!

Don’t you just love this color of green?! The Getaway bag comes in five different styles for a total of 21 different colors/patterns.

On the inside of the Getaway bag there are two deep zip-up pockets on each side to put things like your phone and wallet. I used the bag fully open, but there is a center clip you can use to turn the bag into a cool slouchy pouch bag that makes a really big purse, and you can detach the handles and arrange them any way you like.

If you are going to use this bag for carrying a yoga mat, please note that the mat will stick out a bit, but it securely held the three mats I placed in it without a problem. This bag is going to be my go-to yoga-gear bag, and it will also get a lot of use when I jet away for exotic weekend getaways and for days at the beach (on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie!). The canvas is extremely durable, and I can tell it is going to soften and become just like a pair of my favorite jeans—except my jeans aren’t waterproof like the Getaway bag.

Saltbox also offers handbags, wallets, carryalls, and I love the fact that their bags are cruelty-free. They use a variety of plant-based fibers and man-made synthetics to create their products in small batches, which means that each piece has its own unique qualities.

In the spirit of the season, the generous folks at Saltbox are sharing the love and offering one of my lucky readers at either the Daily Downward Dog or here at MariaMedia the chance to win his or her very own Getaway bag. You get to pick which pattern and vibrant color you like! Here’s what you gotta do to win:

Required: Sign up for the Saltbox e-mail list. Send Saltbox an e-mail at studio@saltboxnyc.com with “Maria invited me to join your list and enter to win my choice of a Getaway bag!” Please put your e-mail address within the body of the e-mail, and make sure it is not hyperlinked (plain text, please).

Required: Leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite Saltbox collection is.

Extra steps for good giveaway karma: Saltbox is an emerging design company and needs our help to grow! Please either a) Fan them on Facebook or b) Follow them on Twitter and tweet “Thanks to @downwarddog for the chance to win a Getaway bag from @saltboxnyc, I want one in ______. [Fill in the blank with your color choice found on Saltbox’s Web site.]

If you can’t wait to win and really want to purchase the Getaway bag, here is a discount code to get 20 percent off any Getaway bag until the end of December: GA20DEC

Everyone is a winner in this giveaway, because after the lucky winner is selected, all those who participated in the giveaway are going to get a really cool extra-special kerprise from me. Ooh, I bet you can’t wait to find out what this is!

When you are up at the Saltbox Web site, check out their newest zig-zag design called Cinnabar. I am loving those colors (hint, hint, honey, if you are reading this…).

This giveaway is open to all U.S. residents, and you can enter through Thursday, December 16 at noon when the winner will be randomly selected.

It’s been a while since I’ve said hello to those of you who are nice enough to stop by and check out MariaMedia. I’ve enjoyed meeting so many cool people and appreciate your continued support.

MariaMedia was formed to be a journal of my journey into my new professional life. It has been eight months since the blog launched, and when it started I was cranking out close to 10 blog posts a week! Wow, that was exhausting but therapeutic as I wrote about the things I’m passionate about and the media that matters to me.

One of my passions that brought so much joy into my life these past few years is yoga. MariaMedia started out with weekday daily yoga musings called the Daily Downward Dog that eventually morphed into its own Web site, The Daily Downward Dog. If you haven’t visited the D.D.D., please do. I’m really proud of the way it is turning out and the community of fellow yogis I’ve met and shared with.

In true Maria form I’m taking that passion for yoga one step further, and I have started yoga-teacher training. I want to share my love for yoga and how it has helped me heal my back pain and relieve stress. I’m not kidding myself; I’ll never teach a power yoga class, but I’m going to rock out with yoga for inflexible people who want to grow spiritually and feel amazing.

My yoga-teacher training classes meet one day a week and one weekend a month for the next six months, and I have to tell you I am loving this deep dive (ha ha, I always hated that word when I worked in Corporate America) into the wonderful world of yoga. I’ve always known that yoga is so much more than the physical poses, and it is really cool to start understanding the practice on a deeper level.

I love making up new words, and now I get to learn the meaning of all those Sanskrit words that are so fun to say, like “Sup-Ta Bad-dha Ko-Na-Sana” (Supta Baddha Konasana). I’ve never been good at science, so I have to admit, the yoga anatomy sessions are a bit overwhelming.

So, what does all this mean to you? Well, because I need to dedicate more time to my teacher training, I’m not going to kid myself that I can still keep up the pace of the blog postings I did in the past, and I definitely need to halt production of my Web series No Songs for Men (yeah, the money that used to pay for NSFM production is now paying for my yoga-teacher training tuition). You’ve probably already noticed that the postings have dwindled off a bit, but I promise to keep MariaMedia alive with occasional postings, and someday I’ll finish up the story of the Code Cherry gals when I have the time to keep the episodes cranking out on a regular schedule.

Thanks again for your continued support, and, please, if you are spiritual in any way, send me a little love and encouragement as I go through my yoga-teacher training. This has been a fun journey so far, and I can’t wait to see where my passion for yoga takes me next.

At her eightieth birthday party, Sophie Tucker (a.k.a. The Last of the Red Hot Mamas) was asked to reveal her secret of achieving a long life. She replied: ”Keep breathing.”

Damn, I was hoping she would say it was a few glasses of red wine every day, but nevertheless, Sophie must have been a yogini at heart because she knew understood the power of pranayama*.

Like most people that work at a computer all day, I have very tight neck and shoulder muscles and frequently experience pain in my lower back. I practice yoga to help relieve my back pain, and I recently started directing my pranayama breathing into my lower back and problem areas during yoga class (primarily during savasana). Since I started this breathing practice I’ve noticed a huge difference. My back has never felt better, and the tightness and pain in my shoulders are diminishing.

So I started to think, is this back pain relief all in my head, or is my directed breathing activity really medicinal?

I did a little research on the phenomenon and got really excited when I read that during meditation, if you allow your mind to focus on a particular part of the body, the blood flow to that body part increases, providing an abundance of oxygen and other nutrients into those cells.

So, it wasn’t all in my head. There really is something to this focused breathing, and it is having a positive impact on my well-being. I’ve been flooding my aching back with natural healing ingredients fueled by the gift of my breath. Plus, this deep breathing also leaves me in a calmer state and reduces my stress levels.

Do you have back aches and pains in your body? Try a little meditation with guided breathing and you never know, you may just add a few more years to your life!

Photo: Jonathan Natiuk (Isn’t that a cool picture? According to Jonathan those are real lungs that were plasticized!)

*Pranayama: Broken down into plain English, pranayama means breath control. Breathing comes natural, but we can control our breath with special methods of inhaling and exhaling to gain physical and mental benefits, and to alleviate stress.

Trudie Styler is a lucky lady! Not only is she married to one of the hottest rock musicians, she looks fabulous in her mid-fifties, lives in this incredible villa in Tuscany, and gets to practice yoga with her husband, Sting! She also happens to be a pretty cool lady who is an organic farmer, does a lot of great work as a human rights activist, and promotes green practices.

I’ve always wanted to do celebrity yoga, so I couldn’t resist picking up her Warrior Yoga DVD. I plopped in this DVD about a week ago while my sister was visiting, and we both jumped on our yoga mats to enjoy a yoga workout and a little voyeuristic journey into Trudie Stylers’s yoga world. We both were also holding out hope that we would get to see a few shots of the tantra-tastic Sting as part of the package and we weren’t disappointed.

Yoga Workouts

The yoga workouts on the DVD consist of one 45-minute yoga workout with Trudie Styler and her fitness guru, James D’Silva, and a shortened 25-minute express version. The two go through an organic flow of yoga postures, with James’s calling the shots and providing wonderful verbal clues with his incredibly calming voice. The video was shot at Trudie and Sting’s beautiful, ecofriendly Tuscan villa, II Palagio, with the rich acoustic guitar sounds of Sting playing “Fields of Gold” and other music from his Songs from the Labyrinth CD in the background.

My first impression was that I really liked the flow that James put together. It was different than anything I’ve done before because he takes you through a long sequence of poses on one side before moving to the other side. I recommend you watch the video first before trying it, as there were a few poses I’d never experienced, and his version of mountain is different than what we practice here at my villa in Ohio. There are a few challenging areas in the flow, and I wish that James had provided some variations to the poses for people who are new to yoga (and for inflexible people like me).

One variation that James brought to the table was brining the hands down from above to your head, to your lips, and to your heart and then moving the hands out forward in an offering. The flow seemed more meaningful as my hands grazed past my head and lips and I felt my heart press out of my chest.

My sister and I were amazed that neither Trudie nor James broke out in a sweat during the workout. It must have been cold that day in Tuscany, because the two of us were sweating like crazy. This is a total-body-strengthening yoga practice, with plenty of time spent holding positions, so you will be challenged.

The express is a condensed version of the 45-minute workout—perfect for a quick yoga fix—and it will make you break a sweat. I’m going to use this in the morning when I only have a few minutes to get my back stretched and my body moving.

The only real issue I have with this DVD is that the workout did not include a savasana session, but I do have an insider’s tip for you. After you finish the workout, go ahead and lie down in savasana. The DVD will move to the menu page, and Sting is singing a mellow version of “Message in a Bottle” in the background. It made the perfect soothing accompaniment to my own self-guided savasana.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Guided Meditation with Trudie

When we did the DVD and saw that it featured a meditation session with Trudie Styler, my sister and I both got excited about the opportunity to om with Trudie. Imagine our disappointment when the meditation session was Trudie sitting in a field of lavender, with James’ voice leading us through the meditation. Well, actually—no offense to James—it was really nice.

A few days later I checked out James’ meditation sequence and was delighted to find that Trudie was offering up the guided journey as he sat in the field of lavender. In her lovely English accent, she had me breathing in rays of sunlight and breathing out into the depths of the ocean. It was an incredible meditative journey, and, Trudie, thank you. I did find my inner peace! I’ll be going to this DVD often for my daily meditation—shanti.

But Wait, There’s More!

The bonus tracks on this DVD are really cool. There is an interview with Trudie, James, and also one from Sting. The interviews give you a nice peek into the making of the videos and Trudie and Sting’s core beliefs about exercise, living a healthy lifestyle, and their involvement with the Rainforest Foundation and the UNICEF Ecuador Water Project (a portion of sales from this DVD go to this organization).

I love what Trudie has to say about giving yourself the gift of exercise. “We’re given one body in this life. It’s our precious vehicle, it needs maintenance, and it needs to be empowered.”

You also get a glimpse into the making of Sting’s album If on a Winter’s Night. In a couple of the interview shots, Sting has a beard, which I didn’t care for (looks a little too Grizzly Adams for me), but don’t worry, there are also shots of the clean-shaven Sting we all love, and the CD sounds pretty amazing too.

The DVD does a good job of selling the other workout DVDs that Trudie and James did together. I’m especially curious about the Sculpt & Tone Ballet DVD, as I’d really like to visit the inner ballerina in me, and the Cardio Dance Flow and Pilates workouts look like a lot of fun. James is a classically trained dancer from the Royal Ballet, so I’m thinking the dance elements have got to be good.

I highly recommend Trudie Styler’s Warrior Yoga DVD. It left my sister and me feeling invigorated, centered, and fully present as we got the added bonus of hanging out with Trudie and Sting for the afternoon.

“If one is going to change things, one has to make a fuss and catch the eye of the world.” —Elizabeth Janeway

Elizabeth Janeway was a successful American author and critic who lived to be 91 years young. She was an amazing woman, and we’re going to hear more from her with a complete Women Who Rock profile next week.

Aah, change. You gotta love it. To say I’ve undergone a great deal of change in the past year would be an understatement. I’ve changed careers, the way I approach work and life, become a yoga fanatic, started writing a Web novel No Songs for Men—and am loving every minute of it.

I’m kind of a change junkie. I thrive on it. Love to mix things up and do something I’m afraid of doing every day (thanks, Eleanor Roosevelt, for that lovely quote). So, I couldn’t leave a good thing alone here at MariaMedia; I had to change things up, and today I’m officially announcing that the Daily Downward Dog (D.D.D) is going to be moving to a new home at http://www.dailydownwarddog.com. It’s time for the D.D.D. to spread its wings and morph into the kick-ass yoga-inspired Web site it needs to be.

I’ve been making quite a fuss over the new D.D.D. these past few months, and now I really hope to catch the eye of the world with the new D.D.D.

Actually, the song “Changes” by David Bowie is one of my all-time favorite songs. So, on that note, I’ll leave you with some video footage of David performing this classic live. Look out, you rock ’n‘ rollers, the D.D.D. has changed!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Image: Gabriel Pico

Stop by every weekday for the daily quote from Women Who Rock. Your daily serving of fun, attitude, and brilliance courtesy of an amazing woman!  Check out the Women Rock category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and merchandise from these great women. Thank you for clicking on the ads when you visit to help fund this site!

I want my MTV! Wow, I’m showing my age with this one.

Do you want your Daily Downward Dog (D.D.D.)?

Are you wondering where the hell the D.D.D. is?

Well, something really exciting has happened (for me, at least). The D.D.D. was feeling a little cramped over here at MariaMedia. It needed a bigger yoga mat to grow in its yoga practice. After months of URL hunting, packing, moving blogs, setting up the menus, and building new fixtures, the D.D.D. is ready to announce its new address at www.dailydownwarddog.com.

If you click on the D.D.D. at MariaMedia, you will be redirected to the brand-new Daily Downward Dog site. Go on, click it; I know you want to check it out.

With its cushy new digs, the D.D.D. will have a place to expand on special topics, like healing back pain with yoga, demystifying yoga, and the best yoga music videos. I’m also really excited that the Daily Downward Dog will feature a marketplace where you can find affordable yoga products. You don’t need a pair of hundred-dollar black stretchy pants to achieve bliss. The D.D.D. does all the work to find you outstanding yoga products with the best prices.

America, demand your D.D.D.! You don’t need to call your cable company; it’s free 24 hours a day and in stereo. Too much is never enough, so be sure to also follow the D.D.D. on Twitter (@downwarddog) and Facebook.

It’s time to pick up your mat and set it down at the new D.D.D.! We still have a few more boxes to unpack, so be patient as we settle into our new digs. We’re looking forward to seeing you.

Here’s one more MTV promo video, just so I could get a look at the younger tantra-tastic Sting (is that red hair he’s sporting?).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well, I got my bubble burst this past weekend. I’ve been working out a lot lately with a mix of yoga, Zumba®, bike riding, and long walks on the beach. I felt like I was getting in pretty good shape and my body was toning up. That is until I was thrust into the Vermilion Harbour Triathlon, held August 14 and 15, in Vermilion, Ohio.

It all happened when I decided to get up early on Sunday morning to go out for a bike-ride workout before it got too hot. Riding along on one of my back-road jaunts, I started to see flashing lights and flags, and all of a sudden, my chosen route had put me smack-dab on the second leg of the triathlon, the 20k (or 40k, if you really want some fun) bike ride. I actually wanted to turn around, but my co-rider insisted we move forward since we would only be on the trail for a short while before we would turn off (and don’t worry, we got the blessing of the local police as they waved us through).

As soon as we turned onto the street we were instantly transported into the Tour de France Vermilion. There were people on the sides of the streets cheering us on, taking pictures, and offering us water.

We peddled along, hugging the right side of the road so as not to delay the triathlon competitors as they whizzed by us in their skin-tight biking apparel, clip-on bike shoes, and aerodynamic helmets. I swear there was not an ounce of body fat to be seen in a three-mile radius. Not only were these riders kicking our ass, they were doing so after already swimming the first leg of the race in Lake Erie. I’ve never felt so out of shape in my entire life.

At one point a buff athletic woman rode past me and yelled out enthusiastically, “You’re doing great. Keep it up.”

I yelled back to her, “Thanks, but we’re not in the race.”

I could barely hear her reply, as she like all the other triathlon participants had zoomed by me by now, but I think she said, “I know!”

Was it that obvious we weren’t part of the triathlon? I’m suspecting the combination of our Erie Kai Tavern T-shirts, non-aerodynamic baseball caps, mountain bikes, and our exceptionally laggard speed may have clued her in.

We finally made it to our turnoff and had a good laugh about being the most out-of-shape participants in the triathlon. I have to admit, the experience didn’t make me want to train to be a triathlete, but it did motivate me to push myself harder in my yoga practice and workout routines. Perhaps I could get into just a little better shape.

We decided to attend next year’s Vermilion Harbour Triathlon, but this time we’ll be on the shores of Lake Erie at Linwood Park as spectators.

Photo: Paul Chessare

Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my daily journal of cool yoga and meditation experiences!  Check out the Yoga category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and yoga products. Thank you for clicking on the ads when you visit to help fund this site!

I need to start keeping a list of my favorite music for savasana.

I wrote a few weeks ago about “Be Here Now” by Ray LaMontagne, which I think is probably one of the best songs to listen to if you need to come down a few notches on the stress-o-meter. That song is going to be on my top-ten list of all-time favorite savasana songs for a long time.

After my yoga class last night, I’m now going to add “Glitter in the Air,” by Pink, to my yoga music playlist. It’s a beautiful song with touching lyrics. Here’s the video of Pink performing “Glitter in the Air” at the 2010 Grammys. If you didn’t catch the Grammys, you’ve got to watch this video. Pink gets almost naked, flies up into the air, gets showered with water while doing acrobatics, and still manages to carry a tune—a truly amazing feat! Why can’t I multitask like that?

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I lay in savasana and listened to Pink’s voice, it didn’t make me want to get naked and hoist myself into the air, but it did bring me into a relaxed state of complete bliss. I thought about looking fear in the face and laughing at it and I wished for a beautiful endless night.

I know that during savasana, you are supposed to completely clear your mind and get into a relaxed state, but sometimes hearing calm, soothing yoga music with a little bit of a message can take me on that journey in a more aesthetically pleasing way.

If you are going to add this song to your yoga music playlist, I would recommend finding a nonlive version, as I think the clapping and cheering could be a bit distracting while trying to relax.

Do you have a favorite savasana song or a great yoga music playlist? I’m putting together a savasana party mix tape, so let me know!

“Glitter in the Air” is on Pink’s Funhouse CD.

I have to admit, I’m not a morning person. I hit the snooze button more than a few times every morning (it’s my own special way to get even with my snoring husband). It takes me a while to get functioning, and please don’t try to strike up a conversation with me until I’ve had at least one cup of coffee (my mother still doesn’t get this). Once I do get going, I tend to get my best work done in the morning, but doing any form of physical activity before noon has virtually no appeal to me.

I have worked out in the morning a few times and have always loved the way it got my blood pumping and how great I felt all day as a result. But do I drag myself out of bed early enough to make it a regular practice before work? Uh, no!

Last week I was leaving to go out of town and was thinking about how much I would miss my evening yoga classes at Lifesource Yoga, so I decided to get up early and make it to the 7:30 a.m. Early Warriors Vinyasa class. There are a lot of things I want to do in the morning, but being an early-morning warrior is not high on the list. The name of the class itself almost kept me from going.

I made it to class, but let’s just say the beginning of class was not a love fest. My body wakes up tight in the morning, and it wasn’t having anything to do with those downward dogs. My energy supply seemed deficient, and I wondered if I could even make it through the class. After a few sun salutations and positive reinforcement cues from the yoga instructor, my muscles finally decided to cooperate, and I really started to get into the yoga flow. My back even started talking to me: “Hey, Maria, this is good stuff. Why don’t you get your butt out of bed every morning and do these stretches for us?”

The morning yoga experience was completely different from my evening yoga sessions. It’s hard to get that body moving at first, but once you do it feels amazing to get those muscles warmed up so early in the day. The best part of morning yoga, I think, is that you can come into class with a clear mind. All those daily distractions and to-do’s haven’t had time to rear their ugly heads yet, allowing you to be present and focus fully on your practice (unless you have a feisty back that likes to talk to you).

If you decide to give morning yoga a try, I will give you two warnings. First, make sure you eat something and drink water before you go to class, or you won’t have enough fuel to get you through. Practicing yoga will get your metabolism going, so get ready for a healthy appetite the rest of the day. Second, you’re going to have an incredible yoga high for the rest of the day.

Are you a morning yogi or an evening yogi? When do you get the best yoga high? Let me know what time of day is best for your yoga practice.

Sunrise Photo: Jefferson Noguera

Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my daily journal of cool yoga and meditation experiences!  Check out the Yoga category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and yoga products. Thank you for clicking on the ads when you visit to help fund this site!

I recently posted some blogs that included funny quotes about yoga from celebrities. Here’s one that got a lot of hits from Chris Rock: “Why do people do yoga? To clear their minds? I embrace the clutter in my head.” —Chris Rock

And Ellen DeGeneres provided us with some insight on her yoga practice: “I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter, and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up when you sit in that silence. ‘Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight; Mama’s got the magic of Clorox Two.’” —Ellen DeGeneres

Since everyone seemed to enjoy these quotes, I thought it would be interesting to share a few more celebrity quotes, but this time from a more serious angle about how yoga has helped them strengthen their bodies, focus, cleanse, and calm their minds.

“Yoga calms me down. It’s a therapy session, a workout, and meditation all at the same time!” —Jennifer Aniston

“Ashtanga yoga has completely changed me. I try to do it every day, and the effect is amazing. It’s not just during the hours that I’m practicing. It’s about how it filters through into the rest of my life. It makes all the other bullshit dissipate. Who I am has emerged, and everything else has gone by the wayside.” —Gwyneth Paltrow

“The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren’t enough.” —Amy Weintraub

Jennifer and Gwyneth, I feel the exact same way about yoga. It has provided me with a great workout routine, it reduces my stress level, makes all the bullshit dissipate (love that, Gwyneth), and although I’ve never seen a psychiatrist or taken antidepressants, yoga is definitely my drug of choice for mood-lifting therapy.

I’ll keep searching for more quotes and inspiration from celebrity yogis, and I still need to find some quotes from one of my favorite yogi celebrities, the tantra-tastic Sting. I think I may have to dedicate a whole blog or several to Sting. Can you imagine what it is like to do partner yoga with Sting (Trudie, you are one lucky lady!)?

Image: Michael Lorenzo

If you can’t get enough yoga, check out The Daily Downward Dog for cool yoga experiences, yoga for back pain, and affordable yoga products.

Check out the Yoga category at the Cool Stuff Shoppe for great books, DVDs and yoga products. Thank you for clicking on the ads when you visit to help fund this site!