Our Zen Timepiece’s acoustic 6-inch brass bowl-gong clock is the world’s ultimate alarm clock, practice timer, and “mindfulness bell.”

It’s exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece’s progressive tones, you’ll never want to meditate any other way.  It serves as the perfect meditation timer and alarm clock . Available in 5 wood styles, including bamboo.

Grounding, Balance
Finding balance in the midst of challenge is exactly what we try to achieve in our daily lives — and the practice of yoga is one that seeks to help us do it. One of the first things people notice when they bring their yoga practice outside, says Van Otten, is that unlike the flat surfaces we’re used to, the earth’s naturally uneven terrain presents its own challenge. You have to become more tuned in to where you’re putting your feet, with an eye out for rocks, tree roots, divots, and inclines. This constant conversation between mind and body keeps you mentally as well as physically engaged.

Earth Exercise
1. Begin in Mountain pose, bringing hands into prayer position.

2. Visualize breathing in the energy around you and breathing out love. The idea is not just to discard tension and anxiety but also to build reciprocal energy between you and your surroundings.

3. Reach your arms as high as you can, with heels planted and feet flat. Next, try reaching higher on the right side, then the left, three times on each side.

Sometimes it’s hard to see that yoga is far more than a physical activity confined by time, space, and a mat. Too often we rush to class to secure a spot on the studio floor and begin our practice without taking note of our surroundings. We may compare our poses with those of others; we can get distracted by people wandering in and out of class or maneuvering for elbow room.

By getting out of the studio and into nature, you can experience yoga as it was originally intended. “Being outdoors gives you access to a whole other world of sensations. It helps you feel part of a boundless existence, at one with an intelligent and sympathetic universe,” says Garrett Sarley Dinabandhu, president of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts’s Berkshire Mountains. The pure unpredictability of being outside and exposed to the elements can strengthen an existing practice or inspire a new one, Dinabandhu says.

Working with Michelle Van Otten, owner of Ultimate Outdoor Fitness in Los Gatos, California, and E. Barrie Kavasch, an expert in Native American wisdom and author of “The Medicine Wheel Garden,” we’ve developed a unique yoga-based routine that’s meant to be an out-of-studio experience.

You can see next week’s deadlines and responsibilities building up like a wave about to crest.

Take a few moments of silence to coil your energy before you dive into another week. This pose helps ward off the Monday-morning blues, inviting energy into your body and mind.

Supported Fish
What It Does
Stretches the shoulders, neck, and chest; improves posture and deepens breathing, countering a forward hunch. Opens the heart and the throat chakras, bolstering courage and encouraging authentic expression.

How to Do It
Set your Zen Yoga Timer in Bamboo to chime after 5 minutes.  Roll up a thin blanket and lie on your back, resting your shoulder blades on the blanket. If your head doesn’t comfortably reach the floor, place another blanket or small pillow underneath.

Let your breath rise and fall naturally, and stay here for 5 minutes, or as long as you like.

adatped from Body + Soul, 2010

Now & Zen’s Yoga Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

This multipurpose pose stretches and releases tension in key parts of your body (shoulders, legs) while at the same time strengthening and toning them. Make it part of your regular practice and feel your energy soar.

Here’s How To Do It
Start on all fours on a yoga mat, with your hands aligned with your shoulders and your knees directly under your hips. The tops of your feet should be on the mat.

Inhale, curl your toes under, and spread your fingers. Exhale, raise your tailbone, and push into the mat with your hands. Elongate your spine, and straighten your legs. Keeping your head neutral and your back flat, activate the muscles in your arms and legs. Push your heels down toward the floor. Hold for four to five breaths. Bend your knees and relax. Set your Zen Yoga Timer to 30 seconds.

Refine Your Technique
As you incorporate the pose into your practice, use the following strategies.

1. Spread your fingers as wide as possible, pressing the base of your index fingers into the floor.

2. Keep your head between your arms or let it hang, whatever feels more comfortable.

3. Lengthen your spine, lifting your sitting bones up; imagine someone pulling your hips and back.

4. Keep your knees straight, but not locked. Hold the outer thigh muscles firm, and roll the upper thighs slightly inward.

5. Your heels may or may not reach the floor; keep stretching them, but don’t strain.

6. Hold your shoulder blades firm, drawing them in and down, toward your tailbone.

adapted from Body + Soul Magazine, November 2009 by Tania Hannan

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

At the end of a jam-packed day, you finally arrive home — exhausted. But with your mind still abuzz, rest seems impossible.

When your brain gets stuck in high gear, wind down with a simple seated twist, suggests Jasmine Tarkeshi, cofounder of Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in New York City and San Francisco.

“With this move, you fully tense up and release your muscles before twisting,” says Tarkeshi. “The combination wrings out both physical and mental stress. With your mind and body now free from the day’s tensions, you’re ready to enjoy a relaxing evening and a good night’s sleep.”

Seated Twist
What It Does
Cleanses the body of negative, wound-up energy; rejuvenates and calms the nervous system; relaxes the back muscles, spine, shoulders, neck, and hips.

How To Do It
1. Sit cross-legged and place a blanket under your hips for support. Breathe slowly and deeply through your nose. Inhale for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four.   Set your Zen Yoga Timer to repeatedly chime every 30 seconds.  Continue the exercise 12 times.

2. Inhale and tense all your muscles, from your face to your feet, then bring your shoulders up to your ears. Exhale through your mouth, release muscles, drop shoulders, and stick out your tongue (optional), letting go of all anxiety and stress. Feel your sit bones sinking into the floor.