“What we want out of yoga is ourselves, not something better than ourselves.” - Douglas Brooks
What are yogi clothes, or yogi business practices?
What do we expect when we have the word "yoga" attached to any product, practice, teaching?
We recently got into a conversation with our yoga teacher about the concept of simplicity in yoga, being a practice that is concentrated on working inwards, rather than displaying skills and capabilities externally, to the world.
This notion resonates strongly with fundamental principals that have been at the heart of Ripple from day one, and we have grown and developed around them.
At the base of our business are the natural fabrics we use - different complexions of Cotton, Modal and Viscose - all breathable, healthy, and comfortable, with an inherent flexibility that allows them to move and flow with the body. Those fabrics go through a natural dying process, with vegan and non-toxic dyes, with respect to the planet and to our yogis' health.
We believe in bringing those principals into our business practices, and put special emphasis on making ethical clothing. From working with fair trade manufacturers to putting our best efforts into our customer service, we thrive to operate with an open heart towards all, and with love to the world.
With those values in mind, we find that we have something special happening in our fashion photoshoots, which is what we wanted to share with you today.
(WOW that was a long intro!)
We hope that you are as in love with our models as we are - we think they are the most amazing, beautiful and heartwarming women, and we are amazed by them again and again with every photoshoot. And we love the fact that they are not "models".
All of our photoshoots are done with yogis, mostly from our immediate environment. They are our yoga teachers, fellow students, studio employees, friends, friends of friends, fans of Ripple. We ask from them what we ask from ourselves in yoga practice - bring yourself, be who you are.
There are no makeup artists on set, no hair designers, no dressers. Our yogis come as they like, as they are comfortable. Some wear makeup, some do their hair up - and some don't. They choose the asanas they want to do, and often bring along other yogi friends to do the shoot with.
Our photos don't go through any digital manipulation, and certainly no photoshop. We don't believe in hiding who we naturally are, and don't believe in "flaws" - who would we be without our little imperfections, that hint to our unique story? They can tell us something about our diet, hormones, stress levels, our sun exposure, our genetic origins, our go-to facial expressions and so much more.
We want this post to be a little reminder to anyone reading; you are beautiful as you are, and your light shines from within out to the world.
Be you, as you are, as you are comfortable being.
