When Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon, decided to create the perfect pair of yoga pants for women 20 or so years ago he pretty much singlehandedly started a revolution. Today, the choice of clothing on offer for yoginis and yogis in Mallorca, as well as accessories and props, is mindboggling.
I always think a relatively small city like Palma is incredibly fortunate to have Sea Yogi. If there’s another place, apart from studios, to buy high quality yoga clothing and accessories I haven’t found it.
Sea Yogi was created by Croatian Matja Agbaba who grew up in London and Nina Nogulic, originally from Bosnia & Herzegovina but raised in Norway. It began as an online shop in early 2017. The yoga boutique in Santa Catalina followed a few weeks later.
“We moved to Mallorca,” Nina told me, “and knew we had to create our own business. After working for many years in digital advertising, we wanted to use our combined skills to create something we could stand behind proudly. We’d both been practicing yoga for many years, so the yoga community was naturally the first we sought out on the island. We realized there was a gap in the Spanish market for sustainable, good quality yoga gear and that’s how Sea Yogi came about.”
Now that Sea Yogi has taken off in a big way, yoga – particularly Vinyasa and Jivamukti – is something that, as Nina says, “we’d probably go nuts without. Regardless of how busy things get, we make it a priority to take regular classes at Earth Yoga, just up the street from the shop. We also unroll our mats at home.”
For Nina and Matja, running Sea Yogi on yogic principles helps them stay grounded, focused, and extremely motivated.
Sea Yogi is as sustainable and Earth friendly as possible. “In our home, we very much live by the principle ‘Own less, do more’ and we’ve applied this to the shop,” Nina explains. “This can be as simple as buying a well-made, more expensive yoga mat that you know will last for a very long time. You’ll buy mats less frequently, help reduce landfill waste, and spend the money you’ve saved on a yoga trip.”
Nina and Matja are also dedicated to giving back to less fortunate communities. In particular, they pledge 5% of their profits to their friend Cath Witten’s 100 Book Project which distributes books and equips libraries in poor, remote communities in Indonesia.
And if the price of some of the most desirable yoga gear makes you feel a little less fortunate yourself, take comfort in knowing Sea Yogi has a price guarantee. If you find the cost of one of their products cheaper anywhere else (including taxes and shipment) they will match the price, no questions asked.
Today, Sea Yogi is surfing the conscious business wave. But they were definitely ahead of the trend when it came to leggings and yoga towels made from recycled plastic bottles. As Nina says, “I would recommend them and people would look at me like I was crazy. But now there’s a shift in people’s consciousness. Yogis in Mallorca come into the shop looking for them specifically.”
Ultimately, for Nina, “Being able to run the business by our principles, close the shop for siesta and head to the nearest beach for a swim puts a huge smile on our faces”.
Sea Yogi publishes a gift guide on their website. Nina would also recommend any of the earth-friendly products here.
Her top three suggestions are:
If you have a friend who you’d love to introduce to yoga in 2019, or you’d like to treat the yoga-lover in your life, buying them an introductory class or bono cards for multiple classes is a great idea for yogis in Mallorca. All my favourite studios on the island offer them.
Introducing The Secret Writing Mantra online course
Online courses make great gifts. I launched my own earlier this year on the highly popular DailyOM global platform and I’d love it if you checked it out.
Born out of my own experience of how yoga can transform a writer’s life and his or her writing, The Secret Writing Mantra is for yogis who want to write and writers keen to discover the power of yoga.
The feedback I’m getting is that the course is really helpful, which is great. It’s also not at all expensive, thanks to DailyOm’s policy of inviting people to pay between $17 and $50 for an eight-week course.
So, if you’d like to help my Christmas extra-special and inspire a friend or loved one, please go here.