[Spiritual]

On the 21st of June we will observe the third International Day of Yoga – a worldwide tradition that started in 2015. The dedication of an entire day to this spiritual practice was instigated by the Prime Minister of India in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.

The longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the Summer Solstice, was the chosen date for this event due to the significance it holds around the globe.

Since the inception of International Day of Yoga, there has been something of a division in opinion as to what this day is really about. Some people seem reluctant to allow the Indian government to dictate their fitness choices, and believe that it is simply an extreme PR stunt by the country. However, others have embraced International Day of Yoga as a celebration of all that yoga embodies.

Regardless of the significance that this day holds for different people, it is true to say that the practice itself is acknowledged, appreciated and practiced by many, many millions of people!

Today we would like to honour this ancient discipline by sharing some interesting facts about yoga with you!

Breathing

Many centuries ago, yogis believed that humans only had a limited number of breaths!* It was thought that our number of breaths was allocated at birth, and once they had all been used up then the end of life would come. This is one of the reasons that practitioners of this spiritual practice advocated slowing down – both in terms of life and with breathing! Today we also know that slow, deep breathing is extremely beneficial for lowering stress levels and promoting a sense of calm.

People

A study completed in collaboration between Yoga Alliance and Yoga Journal in 2015 suggested that more than 36 million people in the United States alone practice yoga! The number of people practicing yoga worldwide could be as many as two billion, according to a guru from India.*

Teaching

Teaching yoga is becoming a popular career choice, with close to 53,000 yoga teachers being registered with Yoga Alliance. However, the number of teachers around the world is obviously much greater! There are many incredible benefits to this kind of work and considering the huge numbers of people who practice yoga, it is almost certain that more and more people will embrace teaching yoga as a job in the future.

Chakras

The purification and rebalancing of the chakras in the body is an often under-appreciated but seriously powerful advantage of practicing yoga. By keeping positive energy flowing through the chakras, the body is better able to maintain optimum physical and mental health.

You can click here to read more about the chakras and how you can also balance them through the colours you surround yourself with. The colour of the clothing that you select for yourself each day is the perfect place to start.

Age is No Obstacle

Tao Porchon-Lynch is officially the oldest yoga teacher in the world at 98 years old!* Tao has held this record since 2012 when she was 93, and continues to teach yoga to this day. Currently residing in New York, she has been practicing yoga for an incredible nine decades.

Tao believes, “When you are in touch with the breath there is no such thing as age.”

[Creative]

Yoga and meditation are two practices that go hand in hand. Even if you have only dipped your toe into the yoga pond for a single session, then the chances are this will have incorporated at least a short period of meditation. You will therefore already know how beneficial this is!

There are many benefits of meditation for the mind, and you certainly don’t have to be a yogi in order to meditate!

Whether you choose to meditate on your own, or to participate in a group meditation, the advantages of doing so in terms of your mental health are not to be overlooked. Even finding just five minutes each day to meditate can help you to slow down, process your day and alleviate any negative emotions and feelings that may be present.

Stress Relief

Giving yourself permission to focus only on the present moment by embracing a moment or more of meditation is an amazing way to combat stress.

Studies have shown that meditating can change the way that your brain and body respond to stress. This has an incredible knock-on effect on how prone to depression you are, as well as helping you to maintain a more positive disposition.

The science behind this potential for changing the response to stress is that meditation affects the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system within the body which is responsible for releasing hormones and controlling the heart rate.

Mindfulness

Being able to train your mind to live in the present moment is beneficial for many reasons. First of all it can better enable you to know yourself, as you will become more aware of the things that you think and feel. You will turn auto-pilot off and act with intention.

 Secondly, it can help to turn the volume down on those thoughts and feelings that you didn’t invite in in the first place. This means you can pay attention to those things that will actually serve to enhance your happiness.

Additionally, mindfulness can increase your self-awareness and improve your attention span, helping to boost your productivity – whatever that means to you!

Alleviating Anxiety

Meditating has been shown to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, and can help to create a calmer and more peaceful mindset.

People who struggle with anxiety disorders often turn to medication in order to help them manage their condition. However, it is being increasingly shown that meditation could be a much more natural way to treat the issue. Meditation and anti-anxiety medication can also be used in conjunction in order to enhance the relief sought.

Ready to Meditate?

Whether you are freshly inspired to give meditation a try after reading this article, or you had already been thinking about it for a while, then there is no reason that today can’t be the day you get started.

You can click here to browse our range of activewear to find something comfortable to wear. Creating a comfortable and peaceful area where you can meditate uninterrupted is the second step. This will more than likely be in your home somewhere, but you can also choose to meditate outside if the weather is being kind to you!

Begin with simple five minute meditations where all you have to do is sit and focus on breathing deeply in and out. Keep your mind clear and try to keep your attention solely on your breathing. Once you have mastered the art of staying still and remaining present for short periods, you can begin to build your meditative practice. As you continue to do so, you will soon notice the benefits to your mind and other areas of your life!

[Physical]

The global clothing industry is a multi-trillion dollar business, and much of its growth is due to eco-fashion. At the beginning of clothing as we know it, humans donned clothes simply to stay warm, a far cry from the reasons behind the fashion choices of today. Today we buy clothes to match the seasons, but we also buy different garments for different occasions, moods, events and more!

It has been said that the sportswear aspect of the clothing industry has contributed massively towards the ongoing growth of the industry on the whole. This includes all kinds of items that you might wear to the gym, to yoga, or on the track, as well as a whole other host of items for every other kind of physical activity you can think of.

Fashion Conscious with a Conscience

More people are becoming fashion conscious with their activewear choices, but more excitingly, people are also becoming more eco-conscious in their fashion choices in general.

Many designers are striving to show the world that not only do they understand the consequences of mass-produced apparel, but also that they are committed to finding alternative sustainable options.

Productivity and Profit

One of the larger problems, when it comes to encouraging sustainability within the clothing industry, is that many brands want to find the cheapest production cycle possible in order to push up profits. This level of globalised manufacturing has seen the industry expand its potential for sales, without accountability to the workers or to the planet developing at the same time.

Unless more of a balance is struck between the cost of production, the price of sales and the types of fabrics being utilised for fashion, then this discord is only going to continue to grow.

Sustainability and Social Impacts

As people increasingly seek sustainable materials for their fashion choices, it is clear that people are also seeking to better understand the social impacts of their purchases. Where is their clothing coming from? How is it produced? Is anyone being exploited along the way?

Ethical practices within the apparel industry are sure to take a front seat in the future of fashion. And, this will not only equate to fairer employment practices around the globe, but will also contribute to relieving the pressure on our already over-burdened planet.

Although there clearly already exists an interest in ethical clothing choices, many still base their purchasing decisions on the price of a product, and are therefore not always aligning their beliefs with their actions. It seems that the answer to this issue will have to come from the clothing industry itself if a harmony between the two concepts is to be truly created.

Independent Retailers for the Future of Fashion

As more independent retailers emerge in the fashion world, the potential for innovation also grows, and new concepts and practices are born. Here at PAMA London we are excited to be a part of this growing pool of brands who are not afraid to not only take a stride towards genuine sustainability, but to base our entire philosophy on this concept!

Creating fashion with a conscience is at the heart of everything that we do, and we are confident that we can continue to inspire others with our efforts and our message.

Independent retailers on the whole seem to have a tendency to locally source their materials, or at least source them in a more eco-responsible way than the more well-known players do. As people increasingly look to shop from independent retailers, the sustainability concept of the industry will also be enhanced – adding up to exciting things for the future of fashion!

[Spiritual]

Keeping your energy levels consistent throughout the day is often an impossible challenge! With busy schedules and endless to-do lists, there often isn’t enough time to get as much as sleep as you need, or prepare super healthy meals to adequately fuel your body.

When you feel that slump coming on, there are several simple but effective things that you can do to refresh your mind and rejuvenate your body. And, yoga is close to the top of that list!

The following yoga poses are great in their own different ways for enhancing your energy levels and keeping fatigue at bay.

Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

This is an invigorating pose that opens the heart and energises the body. When you enter the pose, you will be naturally stimulating your nervous system, which prompts you to become more awake and alert. Because of the movements involved, this pose is especially great for those who have desk jobs. It stretches the entire front of the body, whilst also strengthening all of the muscles in the back.

To get into this pose you must first lie flat on your mat, stomach down, with your hands resting on either side. You can then bend your knees and bring your heels close to your tailbone. Try to keep your knees hip-distance apart.

Reach both of your hands back to hold onto your ankles and then lift your heels up towards the ceiling. Lift your thighs up away from the mat, and your head and chest will naturally follow.

Push your tailbone firmly into the mat as you move deeper into the pose by lifting your thighs and heels further away from the floor. Your shoulder blades should be pushed firmly towards your back, and your shoulders should be away from the ears.

Focus your gaze in front of you as you breathe deeply in and out for ten counts. As you hold this pose, you will expel stress, anxiety and fatigue from the body! After your ten breaths, lower your thighs back to the mat slowly and release your entire body back down to lying flat again.

Headstand Pose (Sirsasana)

Inversions in yoga are perfect for stirring up the nervous system and pushing the mind into action! When you practice Sirsasana, your circulation will be kickstarted, and you will be empowered by the accomplishment of being able to hold the pose – what better way to wake yourself up!

If you are new to yoga, and aren’t comfortable doing this pose yet, then it’s important to build up to it gradually. First learning to do an L stand against the wall will be super helpful.

In order to do this, you must come onto all fours, with your heels touching the wall. Keeping your shoulders over your wrists, you can then bend your body as though you are about to enter Downward Dog. With your body in position, you can then bring your feet up the wall, making sure to keep your knees bent.

Once you are comfortable in this position, you can straighten your legs so that your body is at a right angle to the wall. In order to maintain your shape as you hold this pose, push through your feet into the wall, engage your abs, and try to keep your shoulders away from your ears.

Once you have mastered the L stand against the wall, you can then straighten one leg at a time up towards the ceiling until you feel like you have the strength and coordination to fully enter the Headstand Pose.

At first you should aim to hold this pose for up to ten seconds. You can then build upon this in ten second increments each time you practice the pose, until you can hold it for five minutes or more! You can then begin to experiment with variations on this pose!

Yoga Poses for Optimum Energy

Regularly practicing these yoga poses can add up to great things for your energy levels, but you can also utilise them in moments where you feel your energy is lacking. Remember, it’s always best to practice yoga in supportive yet comfortable clothing. Click here to check out our range of high-performance active wear for everything you need!

[Creative]

More and more people are waking up to the fact that the production of the clothes that they love is damaging our environment. In order to protect the planet, the future of the clothing industry undoubtedly has to move into the hands of sustainable fabrics!

At PAMA London we are big fans of the incredible potential of bamboo for manufacturing fabrics, and this is evident from its use throughout our collections. Bamboo is an incredibly durable and easily renewable natural resource. Some of the main reasons that it is used for clothing production are that it is antibacterial and makes for a breathable fabric.

How Sustainable?

When considering how sustainable a fabric is, it is important to not only look at how it is grown and cultivated, but also how it is transported and processed. Every part of the journey contributes to how sustainable these fabrics actually are, and how much better for the environment they are when compared to conventional fabrics.

The Best Sustainable Fabrics

In addition to charcoal bamboo, there are some other fantastic resources that can be utilised to produce high quality sustainable clothing.

Lyocell

Lyocell, which is also commonly known as tencel, is a man-made fibre created from wood pulp. The technology used to manufacture lyocell is award-winning innovation, and is considered to be a serious achievement in the world of environmentally friendly textiles.

It is a completely non-toxic process and the eucalyptus trees used for production are always grown using sustainable farming practices. The fabric itself is super absorbent, meaning that if the use of dye is required then less is needed than with other more conventional fabrics.

Post-use, lyocell is biodegradable and therefore won’t leave a mark on the planet once you no longer have use for your garment.

Hemp

Hemp fabric is made from a part of the cannabis sativa plant, which is a plant that is quick and easy to grow. The rapid growth time means that less water is required and also that the grower has to wait less time for the plant to reach maturity.

When hemp plants are growing, they will not require any additional irrigation than what nature already provides, and the entire process will usually be organic! Similarly to lyocell, hemp is entirely biodegradable.

Linen

Linen is a fabric that is made from naturally occurring fibres taken from the flax plant. Production of the flax plant is a fairly simple process and can be grown on land that currently has little agricultural value, such as land that has poor soil. In keeping with the other fabrics mentioned, linen is also biodegradable.

Organic Cotton

Farmers of organic cotton use crop rotation instead of chemicals to ensure that their plants reach their potential. The soil used to grow organic cotton cotton will be deliberately rich with compost in order to enhance growth.

With chemical-free crops, there is always the risk of attracting insects, which can of course be problematic. Organic cotton farmers usually utilise castor-oil traps that insects will stick to, and will also often use natural pesticides.

During the first growth cycle, cotton will require a large amount of water, with the production of 1kg of cotton needing approximately 20,000 litres of water. With organic cotton, the amount of water needed will decrease after the first few years, and the soil will retain many of the nutrients it receives. When we consider that 25% of pesticide use in the world is for conventional cotton production, we can see why its organic counterpart is the only way forward!

In addition to being biodegradable, making it safer for the planet, organic cotton production is (of course!) free from chemicals, meaning the farming environment is safer for workers too.

Avoiding the use of fabrics that are harmful to our planet is a step towards helping to protect it! Check out the range of clothes on offer from PAMA London to begin revolutionising your wardrobe!