Yantra Mat Review
It seems to me that my two year old has become the resident customs official and postmaster general of my household – nothing gets through the door without her say so and pretty much all post gets opened and inspected by her before it is handed over to its rightful owner with a flourish and a “hereyougodaddy” or “hereyougomummy”. My latest delivery was no different, though it did elicit an extra “Ooooh, very knobbly” before she gave it to me. That sums up one side of the yantra mat – a new breed of acupressure mat that was designed in Sweden and was one of the most popular Christmas gifts over there last year. And as yoga has moved from east to west over the centuries, so the yantra mat has moved from slightly more east of the UK, to the UK. And I have one to review – sent to me by the kind people at theyantramat.co.uk.
Close up of yantra mat's lotus flower spikes
You can’t really go anywhere these days without tripping over an acupressure mat of some sort or another. There’s a fairly popular “shiatsu” mat that I always seem to see in shopping centres and advertised in newspapers these days. You know the kind that looks somewhat like an obscene torture device that runs off the mains and tends to have a couple of rotating fingers swathed in black cloth that kind of creep me out……Well, the yantra mat is nothing like that. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of those. My first impression was that it looks nice – my review copy was a rich purple, with a nice mandala on one side. Nothing creepy, and no batteries required.
At its heart, the yantra mat is a fairly simple device – a cotton cover over a foam mat, but with the added benefit on one side of the mat of little plastic lotus flowers that each have 42 “spikes” to stimulate acupressure points when you lie or sit on it. The mat itself is about the size of your back and each lotus flower is about the size of a 50p coin. Using it is pretty much self evident – the instructions are cool, but really, if you can’t figure out how you are meant to use it yourself, don’t get one 
So, the little lotus flowers are obviously the unique selling point of this mat – some of the literature talks about how it is based on the same concept as lying on a bed of nails, which, apart from being the staple of physics tricks and strong man antics, is used by some yogis as a meditation device. The yantra mat is billed as a modern bed of nails for today’s yogi.
A fakir on a bed of nails
The Yantra Mat is for anyone who wants to have more energy and increase their wellbeing.
So, what’s it actually like to use? Well, I did a little research before my mat arrived in the post and a number of people say it is a little uncomfortable to start with, but then after a few minutes it becomes a pleasant experience. I have to say, it was never really uncomfortable for me. I started off intending to spend thirty minutes on the mat. The sensations were pretty much what you would expect – some tingling and warmth from increased blood flow, and actually, the first time I tried it, I fell asleep on it! So I guess that attests to its relaxation properties. You can use the mat on bare skin, but for me it was best with a cotton t-shirt on between me and the spikes. The spikes themselves are fairly sharp, so my advice is not to wriggle around on the mat.
I found the mat to be pretty comfortable to lie on, and a great way to chill out – a touch of lavender essential oil and a yantra mat is, in my opinion, an excellent combination to set you up for a chilled out evening. My favourite way to use the mat though, is on my chair. It’s completely flexible so it just moulds into the shape of the chair and I think it helps to bring your attention to your posture while you are sitting at the computer. In fact, I’m sitting on my yantra mat while I’m typing up this review. I also quite liked just standing on it in a pair of socks; the lotus spikes pressed into the soles of my feet quite nicely.
I’ve been using the yantra mat for about a week now, and I have to say, I rather like it. It slips easily into my practice because I don’t really have to make extra time to use it or take away time from what I was already doing – popping it on my chair while I work is great and it can just be incorporated into my sitting or lying meditation. I would say it’s a winner.
A yantra mat
A big thank you to www.theyantramat.co.uk for sending me a mat to review.
How to fall asleep
I just spent about 30 minutes lying on one of these which has been sent to me to review…..
End of the week, I’ll post up my thoughts on it
Yoga to the people
WRXPEUBVF3HF
I found Yoga to the People at the simply peachy.
How awesome is the idea? Seriously. Someone should open one of these in London!
There will be no correct clothes.
There will be no proper payment.
There will be no right answers.
No glorified teachers.
This attitude towards teaching and learning, not just yoga, but anything and everything in the Eastern Arts – be it taichi or five tibetans or yoga or meditation, anything really, is exactly how I feel. Get this stuff out there. Give it to the people. Don’t guard these things like you are some sort of latter day mystic who deserves the knowledge more than anyone else. I’ve paid a lot over the years for my tuition in various arts. Some of it was worth every penny. Some of it was just a blatant rip off. Some of it was free – at least in terms of money, paid for in sweat and training. The best teaching I’ve had has always been from teachers who weren’t greedy or blinded by money.
Like I said, someone should open one of these in London. I would be so down to help out there.
The Five Tibetans
I’m never sure what to make of the story in my dog eared copy of The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth by Peter Kelder. Some of it reads like an absolute fairy tale, but there is no denying that the actual exercises presented make a really good, if brief, set of yoga. I’ve always found them to be particularly good in strengthening the spine and core of the body and really, as a routine for the average person, they are more than enough. But the story in the book, oh the story!
When I first picked up a copy of the book (a good few years after I originally learned them), I was more than ready to believe all manner of paranormal, more than ready to ascribe mythical powers to a simple set of yoga. Maybe I just wanted it to be true; that you could actually attain eternal youth. I am a lot more practical now than I was back then. Probably more skeptical and a touch cynical when it comes to marketing anything that is considered alternative or complementary, but I still love the Five Tibetans.
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Dream Yoga and Lucid Dreaming
Most spiritual traditions recognise the importance of dreams and dreaming and often there is a method for using dreams to further explore and develop oneself. I’ve always loved the term Dream Yoga; for some reason it sparks my imagination. Most Dream Yoga, be it from the Tibetan Buddhist traditions or from the Yogis or just from the good old New Age world comes down to finding a way to have Lucid Dreams. For those of you who are not familiar with Lucid Dreams and Lucid Dreaming, these are dreams which you consciously control. That sounds strange to a lot of people who have no experience with lucid dreaming, and some may find it incredible to think that they could actually control their dreams. But that’s exactly what lucid dreaming allows you to do. Continue Reading
The Yoga Cult
An interesting article about a cult that used yoga as one of its draw cards. And in a similar vein, here’s a little something on Fake Gurus.
There’s a lot of thought provoking info in both of those articles. It is always sad when people use something like yoga to basically enslave others when true yoga is really a mechanism for allowing you to free yourself. I guess it all boils down to a healthy scepticism. Sometimes in the complementary/spiritual/alternative therapy realm, people are too quick to just accept what a supposed guru says. Be careful who you follow.
The Ultimate Downward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog on Adho Mukha Savanasana is such a yoga staple. It is one of the most recognisable yoga postures and there isn’t a yoga practitioner around who doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) train this one daily. It’s there in the sun salute, so you really have no excuse. This asana is excellent for all sorts of things and can help calm the mind and relieve stress. It’s great for stretching out the shoulders, calves and hamstrings and general strengthening. It’s also purportedly great if you suffer high blood pressure, asthma, sciatica and can relieve menopausal symptoms. The calming effect on the mind can help with insomnia and the stretch into the arches of the feet helps people with flat feet. The list of goods for this posture simply go on and on.
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What we do to others, we do to ourselves – The Ghandi Neuron
This is absolutely incredible – I’m not much of a scientist, but if I understand this talk correctly, these mirror neurons mean that we really are intrinsically connected to everyone else and what we do to them, we do to ourselves as well. Most every religion talks about compassion and “do unto others”. Many spiritual practices cultivate compassion and kindness to others – many even encourage kindness and compassion to one’s enemies – and they are right because we only harm ourselves by harming others. On the flip side, when we help others, when we give them kindness and compassion, we are giving back to ourselves as well.
How cool is that?
Way of the peaceful warrior
You can’t read Dan Millman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior without making comparisons to Carlos Casteneda. It has such a similar feel to it in some ways, but without the drugs – erm I mean legitimate use of peyote as a spiritual eye opener.
Seriously, I guess Millman gets sick of hearing that, but everyone I know who has read the books says the same thing, so I think he is kind of stuck with the comparison now. Anyway, being a bodyworker, the part of the Peaceful Warrior that really sticks out in my mind (even though it must be 10 years since I read it) is the bit where Socrates is showing the kid how to massage and how tight his body is, even though he thinks he is so supple. The comparison to the cat where you can feel through the moggy’s muscle right to it’s bone is brilliant and really epitomises what we strive for – a strong body, that is at the same time devoid of any unnecessary tension.
Anyway, like all things in this day and age, the book was turned into a movie, which I haven’t seen yet. Looks to have some rather cheesy moments in it, but I do like Nick Nolte, so it might be worth a watch.