The Yoga Expo LA {Event Recap}

Earlier this month I attended The Yoga Expo LA at the Pasadena Convention Center. It was held on a Saturday where tons of yoga enthusiasts converged for an eventful day of workshops, yoga classes & shopping.

I arrived a little late, so I missed the first yoga class that I had wanted to take. Since it was going to be another hour or so until the next one, I decided to look around the marketplace.

My first stop was to visit the Follow Your Heart booth. This San Fernando Valley-based company makes Vegenaise & other non-dairy products. You can find their products in grocery stores, as well as Sprouts Farmers Market. They also have a combination market & cafe in Canoga Park, so you can stop by for lunch & then purchase products on your way out.

After I finished sampling some non-dairy yogurt, I walked over to the RE Botanicals booth. RE Botanicals is a pure organic hemp apothecary that sells organic whole plant-based extracts. I met with Nancy & Julia to get some clarity on CBD oil because I feel like there’s a lot of confusion or misinformation about the CBD industry.

As you may know, CBD is short for cannabidiol, which is a cannabis compound. CBD is exploding in popularity, showing up in food, beverages & even personal care products. I discovered that not all CBD oils & CBD-infused products contain the USDA organic seal. In fact, RE Botanicals is the first national CBD brand to receive USDA organic certification for United States-grown hemp.

Nancy had Classic & Peppermint Tinctures on display, as well as a product for pets. Pet owners whose animals are in pain or have anxiety have been known to use this product & the symptoms lessen. If you’d like more information, visit: https://www.rebotanicals.com/.

Another cool brand that I connected with is PathWater. It is a sustainable & durable aluminum water bottle. Their amazing water bottle can be bought at retail stores for $2-3 which is basically the same price as disposable water bottles. However, PathWater is reusable! Simply wash with soapy warm water & fill it up again.

I ended up using the water bottle during one of my yoga sessions. After I finished using it, I washed it at home & now use it during my gym classes.

Speaking of fitness classes, how often do you bring a towel to the gym? If you’re like me, I bring a face towel every time, especially if it’s a cycle class (where I’m always wiping my face throughout the class) or even to my boxing classes.

I was thrilled to discover FaceSoft Towels! I spoke to Chris, the founder of the company. He explained that his towels are 100% cotton with zero twist yarn & are super soft!

They recently came out with a FaceSoft Towel that is infused with charcoal, which Chris said has an antibacterial quality.

I used the FaceSoft Towels last week at the gym & found them to be absorbent & soft! Check out their website for more information.

Over on another aisle, I came across the Teamotions booth. I love drinking tea, especially since it’s been so cold in LA (it is winter after all). The name sounded interesting to me, Teamotions – it’s like tea with an emotional healing component. Little did I know that’s exactly the concept behind it!

Rachel & Crystal, two sisters from Ojai, started the company 10 years ago. Teamotions uses only whole leaf tea, whole herbs and botanicals & all-natural organic flavorings. Since Teamotions uses adaptogen herbs in their blends, the teas are known to promote well-being & good energy.

I sampled some of the teas & ended up buying two of them – Find Strength (Passionfruit Jasmine Green Tea) & Discover Joy (Lemon Vanilla Green Tea). I’ve been drinking these teas for the past 2.5 weeks & really love them.

Rachel also hosted a Teamotions Lunch & Learn in one of the halls. It was very informative & I’ll write more about it in a future blog post.

So what classes did I take? After I finished looking around the Marketplace, I took the Face Yoga class. led by the energetic & very funny, Koko Hayashi. I had heard that this was a very popular class at last year’s Yoga Expo LA, so I was very intrigued.

Face Yoga is billed as a natural solution to help your face regain youthfulness. Some of the exercises had us contorting our faces, opening our eyes wide & sticking our tongue out.

We were all given a tote bag that included a printout of Face Yoga instructions so that you could continue the exercises at home. The idea is that you perform these exercises daily for about 5 minutes & then your face will look different in a few weeks.

You can also check out these exercises on YouTube. Would I do this again? Not sure, as I felt silly at times & although the instructor reassured us that these do work, I’m not sure I have the patience to do this daily routine. Since these exercises take very little time (and it’s not like you need a yoga mat or studio to do it), apparently Koko’s clients do Face Yoga in the car during their daily commute.

The other class that I took at Yoga Expo LA was a Boxing Yoga class. This was a high-energy class & I loved it! The instructor was awesome & I had such a rush of energy afterwards.

I discovered Cinpex bracelets at a booth outside one of the yoga classrooms. These are designed to encourage mindfulness & require you to pause for a moment to find your center. Not only do they have a practical use, but they are cute & colorful!

Thanks to The Yoga Expo LA organizers for hosting this fun event. It was a blast!

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. I received a complimentary ticket which helped facilitate this review. All images are my own unless otherwise noted. As always, my opinions are 100% my own.