Yogitoes.

Review via Leah Beltran.

 

Susan Nichols, founder of yogitoes®, has built a company with the intention to serve the yoga community—with her eco-friendly SKIDLESS® mat towel and other yoga products—while raising awareness and funds for environmental and social causes. How is it eco-friendly? Read on.

The SKIDLESS® is a non-slip towel that’s placed over your mat to prevent your mat from turning into a slip n’slide…while it also guards against face to face combat with unwanted bacteria. Lightweight, easy to store, machine washable, this towel helps to preserve the life of your mat—and your peace of mind in practice. 

What keeps you from slipping? Yogitoes® 100% silicone eco-nubs.  These non-toxic grips are a greener alternative to PVC that other non-slip towels and yoga products often use.  

SKIDLESS® products, which include hand size towels and mat towels, range in price from $30 – $65.  A portion (not sure how much) of proceeds go to worthy  foundations including 911-RAPE, Chandler Sky, Dr. Susan Love, Maryellen Gerber, Ravi Shankar, TunaHaki and YogaEd.

SKIDLESS® comes in an array of colors and missions. There is the Chakra, Deity, Earth, and Element Collections, as well as the Lavender-Rape Awareness towel and Pink-Breast Cancer towel.   

Remarkably, the company has no business plan. Instead they surrender to the flow, evolving naturally through their commitment to support the earth and all living creatures. This free-form way of running a business has actually encouraged yogitoes® to stay awake to challenges and opportunites. And as founder Susan Nichols says, the products themselves, name, and logo all came to her during “divine moments” in her yoga practice. 

Originally serving as a drishti (focal point) on the SKIDLESS® towel, the orange dot is now the company’s signature logo and continues to be present on all yogitoes® gear.

To use the SKIDLESS®, place the towel eco-nub side down on your mat with the drishti (focus point), facing forward.  Depending on what collection you choose, the drishti will look different.  For example, I’ve been using the orange ‘fire’ towel from the Chinese Element SKIDLESS® Collection, whose purpose is to encourage openness and move heat upwards. Partial proceeds from this collection go to the yogietoes® fund.  SKIDLESS® and yogitoes® family ask you to keep in mind that not stepping on the symbol is a gesture of respect for its role in assisting others around the world.

The SKIDLESS® lives up to its all its duties and can be of help to any sweaty body on the mat. Whether you bring a hand towel to class or use the community mats at your yoga studio, I recommend it highly!

By-the-by:

• In celebration of EARTH DAY (April 22, 2009), when shopping online at www.yogitoes.com, during the month of April customers receive 20% off of ‘earth collection’(four colors) mat and hand size SKIDLESS® as well as the SHIVA pillow. elephant readers use “earth09” when ordering. 
• April is RAPE AWARENESS month and a portion of proceeds from the “purple SKIDLESS®” with go to the Rape Foundation in yogitoes® hometown of Santa Monica, CA.
• The purchase of the Pink-Breast Cancer towel will give $5 to the Dr. Susan Love Foundation whose aim is to improve the quality of female health through research, education, and awareness.
• To support yogitoes® please visit www.yogitoes.com for a full list of products, specials, retail locations, and proceeds information!