With Christmas Eve approaching fast, the annual hunt for the best and most thoughtful gifts becomes more intense by the day. Do you have a passionate yogi among your friends that you’re still struggling to find the perfect Christmas gift for? Stay zen – I have rounded up the best gift ideas for every budget for your favorite yogi or yogini! Smiles under the Christmas tree are guaranteed!
Mindfulness journal
Christmas time also heralds the beginning of the new year, so it’s the perfect occasion to gift a planner for the next circle of the Earth around the Sun.
Mindfulness journals are a wonderful alternative to regular planners and calendars. In fact, they’re much more than just booklets to note appointments and birthdays in. Mindfulness planners are designed to help you create a roadmap of your passions, visions and dreams, to identify your strengths and overcome your weaknesses, and develop productive habits and routines to manifest the life you want. They include goal-setting tables, self-improvement exercises, motivational quotes, inspiring pictures, periodic check-ins to reflect on your personal progress, and sections for creative writing and doodling. Your favorite yogi will love this meaningful companion that helps them set positive intentions, reflect consciously and find and follow their purpose in life!
Coco & Lime’s favorites:
Subscription for an online yoga platform
How amazing would it be if you could gift your yoga bestie a private class with a world-renowned teacher? Or support them in cultivating a daily asana or meditation practice? Well, with many online yoga platforms you can. Online classes bring the yoga studio right to your yogi’s home, so they can practice anytime and as often as they want.
While there are many free videos available online, subscription-based sites usually give you a larger selection of classes and access to extra content like asana 101s, guided meditations, and sometimes even personal counseling. You can choose from countless classes to find the one that feels just right for you based on yoga style, duration, level, focus, or your favorite teacher. A subscription typically costs between 10 and 20€ per month and can be canceled anytime.
Coco & Lime’s favorites:
Hand-made yoga mat spray
Scented sprays are wonderful aids to set the tone for your practice. You can use your favorite spray as an air refresher to stimulate the senses and increase wellbeing on the mat, or to help you focus on your intention when you meditate. Most sprays also have ingredients with disinfecting properties, so they provide a natural way to clean your mat post-practice.
Mat sprays are super-easy and relatively inexpensive to make and can be concocted with any combination of aromas. In short: they’re the perfect home-made gifts for your favorite yogi. The basic ingredients are water, alcohol and essential oils (use high-quality organic oils for best results). My favorite one of course includes coconut and lime aromas to inspire a yummy Caribbean vibes and transform every yogi’s mat into an imaginary beach.
You will need:
- spray bottles (use tinted glass ones if you can because they will preserve the ingredients better)
- large glass jar or bowl to mix the stock in
- distilled water
- pure alcohol (can be replaced with tea tree oil which has good antifungal and antibacterial properties)
- organic essential oils (coconut and lime aroma in this recipe)
Before you start mixing the ingredients, clean the spray bottles and pumps with hot water and let them dry completely. For 100 ml of spray solution combine the ingredients using the ratio below (adjust the volumes accordingly if you want to make more or less mixture for the total number of bottles you want to fill).
- 75 ml distilled water
- 25 ml pure alcohol
- 10 drops essential coconut oil
- 6 drops essential lime oil
Mix thoroughly to blend the components (you can use disposable wooden chopsticks from your last take-away to swirl the mixture). Fill into the spray bottles using a funnel, close tight and attach a pretty label listing the ingredients and instructions for use. Before using the spray on a yoga mat, make sure its surface material tolerates essential oils and won’t get slippery or spongy by them. Most mats are compatible, but you want to make sure you don’t ruin one by using it. Test the spray on a small patch on the bottom side a of your mat first to make sure it doesn’t affect the surface negatively.
Retreat vouchers
The greatest gift you can give somebody is time. Even better when it’s feel-good time. Going on a yoga retreat for some days of undisturbed self-care can be the most refreshing ritual for body, mind and soul. If you would like to send your yogi friend on a retreat but don’t know where and when they’d like to go, retreat vouchers are the perfect solution (especially if multiple people are pooling money for a gift). Several specialized travel platforms offer mindful holiday packages from Ischia to Rishikesh, with a focus on asana, meditation, ayurveda, reiki, holistic wellness and many more. You can be sure you’ll find an option that will leave your yoga friend forever grateful.
Coco & Lime’s favorites:
Yoga pants
They say that money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy yoga pants, and that’s about the same thing. Every yogi will agree that you can never actually have enough yoga pants, and I’m sure your favorite yogi wouldn’t say no to new pair of pretty leggings either.
Instead of buying expensive yoga pants from a big popular brand, why not support a small business and shop hand-made this year? There are bunches of talented clothing makers who offer the most beautiful hand-dyed, -printed and -sewn leggings on crafts platforms like Etsy or Dawanda. Some even sell unique designs, so no one else in the world except the gift recipient will have the same. And what’s more: shopping with small businesses is a two-fold gift; not only do you make your yoga friend happy, you also help a creative soul share their passion by supporting their dream!
Coco & Lime’s favorites:
Asana cookies
Homemade baked goods are certainly the most delicious gift you can make to your loved ones. Food gifts are everyone’s favorite, and you don’t have to be an expert baker to create yummy delights. Yogis will enjoy the sweet treats even more if you swap the usual star- and heart-shaped Christmas cookie cutters for ones in asana shape. The options range from Warrior 2 and Extended Side Angle to Tree and Triangle pose cutters, and they work well with any preferred cookie and gingerbread dough. When your cookies come out of the oven you can get creative with the decoration: coat them with melted chocolate or your favorite icing and sprinkle sugar pearls or chopped nuts on top. They look exceptionally pretty when stacked in little cookie boxes or wrapped in transparent paper and adorned with an extra asana cutter as a decoration.
Mala beads
How could a Christmas gift list be complete without every yogi’s favorite necklace? Mala beads are mindfulness on a string, and they can be immensely powerful tools for yoga and meditation practice. Presenting your favorite yogi with a mala is like giving them good energy, protection and spiritual guidance all at once. Use my mala selection guide to find the perfect combination of gemstones and colors for every intention, or simply opt for a gift card for a customized mala necklace or bracelet for your yoga friend.
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