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Yoga Equipment |
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Lois McEwan is a freelance writer and editor who works for The Sunday Times and The Times, among others. She has practised yoga for more than a decade. Here she picks the top five aids for one of the world's oldest exercise systems Click here for Yoga Equipment Overview.
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Yoga belts, blocks and pillows may be so much window dressing, but everybody needs a mat. Most people start off on a “sticky” mat, and Yogashop's EcoTex is reasonably priced, bio-degradable and guaranteed free of harmful substances. What more could you want?
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Anyone doing dynamic yoga, such as Ashtanga or Bikram, will need a slippy, cotton mat - they didn't have sticky mats in India's forests when they invented yoga 5,000 years ago. Yogashop updates the traditional dhurrie with a latex backing to stop it slipping across the floor - and at half the price of some cotton mats. 
Internationally recognised as one of the most comprehensive manuals available, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha gives clear illustrations and step-by-step directions for more than 400 practices, from the simplest to the most advanced. If you buy only one yoga book, it should be this one.
Sri Dharma Mittra, who founded the Dharma Yoga Center in Manhattan, is famous for his poster of 908 postures, some of which he invented, and has developed his own system of yoga. Every student can learn from his DVD of the Maha Sadhana, with practices tailored for different levels of ability and timeslots.
Derek Ireland trained many of today's great Ashtanga teachers - and he can teach you. This double CD of a 100-minute taught class is not for beginners, but is ideal for intermediate students familiar with the primary series who want to work at home or make the transition to self-practice.