Over the last few years I’ve become an unabashed Apple fanboy.  It didn’t take long, but the conversion is essentially complete.  On my desk at home sits a 24″ iMac, a 15″ MacBook Pro (which I’m using right now), an iPod Touch, and an iPod nano.  Before this last Wednesday, about the only thing missing was an iPhone.  But with this week’s iPad announcement, which I’d been waiting for like Christmas day, I now have another gadget to add to my wish list.  Who knows, maybe the iPad will replace my cell phone when I move to Japan this summer.  The iPhone may become a mere afterthought.  Not nearly as expensive as most critics supposed, even the most expensive 3G capable version only costs $829.  In terms of Apple products, that’s pretty cheap, and the base model seems like a veritable bargain at $499.  The main selling point for me will be the international data plan options that should be revealed this summer.  So much for brahmacharya, santosha, and aparigraha.  Long live the digital lifestyle!

Watch higher quality version on Apple.com

On Feb 2, Daily Cup of Yoga will reach its three year anniversary as a yoga blog.  As with many a blog, the posting rate on Daily Cup of Yoga has been like a roller coaster — more like a downhill roller coaster of late.  As much as I enjoy studying and practicing yoga, I guess I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads in terms of the direction I want to take Daily Cup of Yoga.   As far as content and theme are concerned, to be honest, I’m a bit bored and underwhelmed with just blogging about yoga.

Don’t get me wrong, I still feel like blogging about yoga, but I also want to blog about other things as well.  I just feel like opening up a bit more and capturing and sharing my thoughts about a few other things that really interest me (like whether the Apple iPad will sink or soar, for instance).  Now, I certainly don’t want to abandon my core readership by veering too far away from a yoga-centered blog, but I also don’t want to always feel like I can’t say whatever I darn well feel like on my own blog.

I suppose I’m only unshackling myself from self-imposed limitations, but wanted to give fair warning that I intend to broaden the scope of content found on Daily Cup of Yoga.  Over the coming days, months, and years, expect more stream of consciousness and more posts with commentary on everyday, ordinary subjects that may or may not have a yogic twist to them.  I hope you enjoy it!

Namaste.

Let’s face it, even if your favorite yoga mat is bulletproof and will never ever wear out, there’s still a decent chance that you have a collection of yoga mats laying around the house, most likely never to be used for their intended purpose ever again. Eventually, one day you may decide to tidy up the place and gaze in astonishment at all your mats. First, you’ll wonder where the heck they all came from. And second, you’ll wonder what the heck to do with them since you really don’t need old, worn-out mats filling up the corners of every room in your house, do you?

Well, it certainly looks yogic to have a mat in every corner, but then you think to yourself there must be something practical I could do with all these extra pieces of large, spongy, colorful, plastic rectangles. The simple answer:

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

After a little personal introspection and Internet research, I compiled this list of 43 creative ways to reuse, recycle, and extend your old yoga mats’ non-yoga related usefulness. Sound fun? Get your scissors ready. Off you go:

My Personal Top 10 Reuse/Recycle Options:

1. Turn your mat into a bleacher cushion. Great for those hard bleachers when watching sporting events. Here’s how: Step 1) Cut the mat into equal pieces to make one top and bottom (the size of a newspaper laid flat); Step 2) Punch holes about every 2 inches with a paper hole punch all the way around (both top and bottom); Step 3) Take a couple of days worth of newspapers and lay them between the top and bottom (or if you have another old mat to sacrifice, chop it up and use it as the cushioning); Step 4) Use yarn, ribbon, rawhide, etc. to lace the holes and tie off. Oh yeah, pretty sweet, huh? To re-stuff, untie and add new newspaper. Easy to store, lightweight, washable, reusable, and comfortable
2. Leave the beach towel home and bring your old yoga mat to the beach instead (caution! may induce spontaneous yoga poses on the beach
3. Save your floors and roll out the old mats for the kids to do messy craft projects on
4. Along the same lines as number 1, fold mat in four, place in a pillow cover, and you have a cheap and comfy meditation cushion
5. Donate your old mat to a mat recycling program such as Recycle Your Mat, an eco-conscious organization whose goal is to re-purpose or recycle the world’s unwanted yoga mats. Apparently Manduka offers 20% discount on your next mat purchase if you go this route! Jade Yoga also offers a 3R Program where yoga students can drop off their used up and unwanted mats to participating studios who, with Jade’s help will find local resources to reuse or donate the mats. I’m sure there’s more recycling programs like these, so feel free to comment if you know of other programs that deserve a mention
6. Enjoy yoga in the wild! Use old mats as a “Guerrilla Yoga” mat alternative (okay, I just mean plain old outside yoga, but Guerrilla Yoga sounds so much more primitive). Most, if not all, “eco” mats are susceptible to damage by the elements and using them for outside practice is not the best idea. Now you don’t have to jack up your good mat doing it
7. How could the computer geek inside me resist a nice, thick, cushiony yoga mouse pad for surfing the Internet
8. I really hate rattling stereo speakers. Place cut out yoga mat squares under those noisy stereo speakers to reduce vibration rattle
9. Do you absolutely love the feel of yoga mat on your feet? Why not cut out yoga mat insoles for all your shoes. Now you’re a true yogi! Oh, wait, no your not unless you’ve tried number 10…
10. True yogis don’t wear shoes, right? Why not make a pair of flip-flops out of your yoga mat?!? Click the link and/or watch the video below for everything you need to know. You’re going to need these for going to the beach (see #2 above)

Click through the jump to see the rest of the list…