Yoga tips and tricks

Do you yoga? J It’s not as easy as you think it is. Sure it looks girly, but this is a very hard exercise. Try it for 30 minutes; you will sweat like a pig in Sahara Desert.

If you like to do Yoga but are lazy to drive to the gym or pay for a trainer, you can download it from websites. They usually give the lessons for free.

I am blessed enough to have an iPad, compliment from my dearest brother. So I downloaded a (then) free apps called Yoga Studio from iTunes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoga-studio/id567767430?mt=8

It’s USD 2.99 now. But I think this is a good investment. The exercise offer a good variety from beginner, intermediate, to advance. All videos are downloadable without any IAP. Isn’t that cool?

If you are a beginner, don’t push it too hard. I learned my lesson the hard way when I twisted my back during a pose called “Camel.”

So, buy a Yoga mat for 10-15 dollars in Ace Hardware (Indonesia) and get the apps for 3 dollars. It couldn't be any cheaper than that. (well, the only catch is you need to have an Apple device). All you need now is just discipline J

Tips on cleaning Yoga Mat:

Yoga mat can get really smelly, because of your sweat that drips like a waterfall. If you decide to store it after every use without any cleaning treatment, sooner or later you will smell wet sock mixed with skunk spray emanating from your mat. Washing it is a hassle, because you have to make sure that you get all the soap out of the mat. Otherwise it’s gonna be a slippery yoga session.

So what to do? I found this solution by accident. The cheapest and easiest solution is just to buy liquid antiseptic. In my country, I have this brand.

You can find this in almost any supermarket here, and the price doesn’t cost you an arm, a leg, and a kidney. Just buy the small bottle, it will last you long enough. Mix half a bottle cap (or less) of Dettol and water into a spray bottle such as below.

You can put as much water as you want, because 1 full cap of Dettol is usually for a couple gallons of water. So maybe you can play around with the amount of Dettol and water to get the best solution that will get rid of the smell. This is a much better solution for me. I used to spray the mat with vinegar and water and the mat smelled like Vinegar. It won’t go away, unlike what people said that it will. In the end I have to wash it again. Not fun -_____-‘

Hang your yoga mat on a clothes line, then spray generously with the solution. Since Dettol is an antiseptic, it will kill most of the bacteria from your sweat. I tried this, and it worked really well. There’s still a hint of smell, but it wasn’t as bad as before. If you happen to hate the smell of Dettol or any other antiseptic liquid, then don’t try this J

Good luck and happy Yoga.

Enjoy :P

Poisonous Little Balls

Almost every home in Indonesia love to use these little white balls: mothballs. They get rid of moths and give your clothes a nice smell. Little that many people know that these supposedly anti-moth household items are quite dangerous. I love the smell of mothballs like some people like the smell of glue of markers. For some reason it gives me the sensation of brand new clothes. But now I am very wary of them. A couple of days ago, house lizards decided to make my room their hang out place. I like them because they eat mosquitoes, but I don’t like¬ them because they love to use the entire corner of my room as their private lavatory. So I tried to find home remedies to get rid of them. Some involved garlic, onion, and other smelly stuff. I even find weird stuff to use such as Peacock feathers. (Right?) Then I find out that we can use mothballs to get rid of them. Perfect. I can get rid of the pests and enjoy the smell of mothballs in my room. So I spread some under my bed and a ton inside my clothes cabinet. Apparently that’s a concoction for disaster. For the first a couple of hours, I was fine and can only smell a hint of the mothballs odor. I was happy that I don’t see the lizards anymore. Soon enough, the smell became unbearable. I got a headache, and when I took a breath my nose felt really hurt. So I decided to put some of them back inside a plastic bag. Day 2, it didn’t get any better because I didn’t take the ones I put in the cabinet. I thought the cabinet would contain the smell. I was wrong. Same symptoms happened, so I opened my bedroom window and let the air out. The next morning I took them all out from my cabinet. The smell was still there, but at least my headache was gone. When I do a research, I found out that these balls are very poisonous. They contain naphthalene and paradichlorobenzene, which are basically insecticide. Mothballs slowly turn from solids to toxic vapor. So when we inhale, we inhale the insecticide. The only reason why the house lizards don’t come by anymore is that basically they are afraid of the insecticide. Now I know why I have headache and nose pain. I know that our community likes to use this item, especially the old school Indonesian community. Be aware of the danger, because naphthalene doesn’t just evaporate. It transfers to clothes and stay there. Wearing mothballs infused clothes is as dangerous as inhaling them. When I did a deeper research, these chemicals are very dangerous especially for babies and pets. So I would suggest that you start getting rid of them. Even when we throw them out, these chemical compounds are seeping into the ground to our water reservoir system. Here’s a disturbing thought: You are drinking those poisonous urinal cakes you see in the public restrooms. There is no good solution yet of how we can get rid of them properly. I am surprised that so many companies in Indonesia are still mass producing this poison. If you don’t believe me, you are welcome to do a research on your own or do the mothballs experiment like I did. So my final question now, where can I buy peacock feathers around here?