the birth of a community

A Vibrant and Diverse Community That Has Supported Us From the Very Start

As Yogi Times celebrates 25 years of service to its readers, we look back at the growth and development of the community.

The Conversation That Sparked YOGI TIMES

A few years ago, I was sitting on the beach in Santa Monica, bragging to my partner about all of the ideas that were constantly swirling about in my head and all of the magnificent things I was going to do someday.

While I was going on about my future glory, I noticed that the whole time I was talking, his eyes were fixed forward, out toward the crashing ocean waves.

I kindly asked him if he had heard anything I had said. He turned to me, and with a semi-smile, gently told me that he was living in the here and now, listening to the waves, feeling the sun, and breathing the crisp air.

Astonished by his answer, I asked if I could at least get some feedback on my ideas. He said they were great, but instead of talking about them so often, I should do something about them.

The truth hurts. I was a little bruised by his candor, but it didn’t take long for me to realize what a blessing this short conversation had been for my future. I swallowed what was left of my ego and decided not to “talk” anymore about resolutions and ideas. I simply had to go for them one day at a time.

I stayed in the moment, pouring my desire, perseverance, and faith into an 8.5 x 11 inch stack of paper where I share my passion for life, yoga, and this glorious world we live in. Yogi Times was born! – Sophie Parienti – Editor In Chief, Editor’s Word, Yogi Times Magazine July/August 2004

Humble Beginnings: From Newsletter to Magazine

For the last 15 years, Yogi Times has provided a voice for an ever-expanding consciously minded, socially and environmentally aware community, which, like the magazine itself, has become more diverse, more vibrant, and more colorful with each passing year.

But far from the glamorous launch parties and red carpet events enjoyed by many of the new titles gracing the newsstands and supermarket checkout lines, Yogi Times had a somewhat humbler beginning.

The first issue of its printed version was an eight-page, two-color stapled newsletter printed at Kinko’s in Santa Monica, California.

The staff included a French-born, surf-loving yoga teacher who came to the United States as an au pair at the age of twenty-four and a funky Japanese exchange student, with a great talent for graphic design and the indefatigable work ethic of her country’s culture, who was looking for an outlet for her creativity.

When the two met through a mutual friend, the creative spark was instantaneous.

After many late nights spent brainstorming and asking “what if,” this unlikely pair began their journey with one iBook laptop equipped with a Japanese keyboard, $800, and a big idea. 

Evolution and Growth: Staying True to the Mission

Yogi Times has gone through many evolutionary changes over the years.

But from its inception as a few stapled pages of quick reference, fun facts, and yogic inspiration for Los Angeles yoga enthusiasts to its present incarnation as a leading lifestyle digital media, the core mission and purpose of the original magazine has not changed.

From the very start, Yogi Times has been committed to providing the community with an objective forum where it can express and exchange ideas, experiences, information, and wisdom, creating an uplifting, inspiring, and educational resource based on yoga’s principles that can benefit everyone. 

Making Yoga Accessible to All

In order to fulfill this ambitious commitment, Parienti determined that Yogi Times would be a complimentary magazine and today a free online information hub.

“I wanted to find a way to make the positive influence of yoga and its principles available to everyone,” she says. “It was important to me to find a way to pass on all of these great ideas and knowledge in a way that would not exclude anyone.”

As a free online media, Yogi Times enjoys a very special relationship with its advertisers who make up the lifeblood that keeps it going. Parienti acknowledges their importance all along the way.

“It has been such a blessing for me and for everyone at Yogi Times to be able to partner with so many amazing and inspired businesses and entrepreneurs, both on an international and local level, who are all striving for the same things we are promoting on the website: healthy, balanced, sustainable living.

Without the support of all of them, from the smallest local yoga studio to multi-billion dollar international corporations, there wouldn’t be a Yogi Times.” 

A Community-Driven Publication

One of the things that has helped serve its readers is the fact that nearly all of the writers who fill the pages of the magazine each month with their wisdom, intellect, and eloquence are not only experts and leaders in their fields but also live, play, and work in the same community as their readers and share the same passion for healthy, sustainable living. Parienti explains, “I’ve always sought out writers who understood and were familiar with the communities the website is serving.

There are so many amazing people with so much to offer right at our fingertips, and it is such an honor to be able to give them a voice. I also didn’t want Yogi Times to be a media that presents itself as the authority on any subject, with writers saying what I want them to say, telling readers what they should or shouldn’t do or what is right or wrong.

I wanted it to be a public forum by the community and for the community, where people can express ideas, even unpopular ones, and have the opportunity to receive feedback and input about their points of view from the people they are reaching out to.”

As a result, the website has maintained a refreshing sense of objectivity and openness that remains closely tied to the collective consciousness of the community.

Because of this close connection and accessibility, the issues, concerns, and trends that are important to the community at any given time become the issues, concerns, and trends that are portrayed in the pages of Yogi Times.com.

Parienti explains, “I want the readers of Yogi Times to understand that this is their lifestyle media.

By putting their passions, thoughts, and ideas down on an email and sending them to us, they have the power to shape and mold this media and inspire everyone who sees it.”

From Yoga to a Holistic Lifestyle

After the first year of publishing Yogi Times as a magazine, it became clear that the readers were interested in more than just what happens on the mat in the yoga studio.

They wanted to know how to apply what they learned during their yoga classes to the other 22½ hours of the day when they simply live their lives.

With such a vibrant and diverse community to draw its inspiration from, the magazine quickly evolved from a yoga newsletter into a lifestyle magazine for the modern yogi that examines how we can apply the lessons and wisdom of yoga to our modern lives, covering everything from what we eat to what we wear to where we go on vacation and how we get there.

There are few places in the United States that can rival California in its concern for the environment and promoting sustainability.

As a result, Yogi Times has adopted this as an inexorable part of its identity. It is a natural extension of the yogic principle that encourages living life in balance.

Balance is sustainable. Imbalance in everything from our emotions to our economic and material consumption is not. With this principle as her guide, Parienti has invited experts in dozens of fields to provide accurate and useful information about how we can create healthy, holistic, sustainable lifestyles.  

Introducing Eco-Fashion: A Bold Step

A provocative innovation that occurred in this evolution toward covering a holistic sustainable lifestyle was the introduction of fashion into the magazine.

Some of those who consider themselves to be yoga purists were unhappy with this move, questioning what fashion has to do with yoga, particularly after the first Yogi Times Eco-Fashion Issue in September 2005, featuring a cover story by eco-fashion activist Summer Rayne Oaks and the magazine’s first multi-page fashion spread by award-winning photographer and director Ron Hamad.

But, as everything in our lives is interconnected, the choices we make with regard to the clothes we buy have an impact that reaches across the globe.

Like it or not, fashion is a huge part of American culture, and the fashion industry has an environmental footprint greater than any Manolo Blahnik. According to Parienti, “Fashion is an opportunity for us to express our personal sense of taste and style.

It can be a fun way to say something about ourselves and express the feelings that are inside us. I think of the fashion pages in Yogi Times as a grown-up version of playing dress-up in your parents’ closet.

There are things you might not wear, and sometimes it’s over-the-top, but it’s always fun and beautiful to look at, which to me, is what fashion is all about.” 

Eco-Fashion’s Growing Influence

Any magazine exploring the sustainable lifestyle would be remiss to exclude the growing number of fashion designers who are creating a viable market for organically grown cotton, alternative sustainable fibers like hemp and bamboo, socially responsible production, trade practices, and repurposed materials.

From Rodeo Drive to Wal-Mart, eco-fashion is growing and groundbreaking designers and labels are revolutionizing our clothes as well as our understanding of the impact they have on the world around us.

One designer leading the way in this revolution is Deborah Lindquist. When she began sending high-end garments crafted from a combination of high-quality organic, sustainable materials and repurposed and recycled fabrics down the runway, most people in the fashion world, to say nothing of consumers, had never even heard of organic cotton or entertained.

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