HOW PLANT BENEFIT'S IN YOUR DAILY YOGA!!

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International Yoga Day Special 


Ever Wondered what is the role of Plants in your Yoga!!
Here Is How You Can Get The Best Out Of Yoga With The Help of Your Surroundings !!

Yoga may be one of the most universally relevant exercise regimens for the person trying to recover from illness or injury. It also helps people get in shape and build their balance, and can be performed by people of all ages. You may not, however, considered the benefits of plants in your yoga environment.

Purity

Purity of mind, of body, of lifestyle, even of breathing leads the yoga practitioner to greater health. A stronger body and spirit result from purity and discipline that you achieve through your exercises

As you even out your mind, thinking, and speech, you can bring orderliness to your life, clearing the way for energy to flow around and through you.

As part of the flow of energy, plants can aid in the purity of your yoga environment. This is possible not only from a metaphysical standpoint. While there is much to be said for the placement and types of plants in such an environment, the pure, scientific fact is that plants purify the air. 

NASA and university scientific studies have proven that the air in your home can be purified by plants. They absorb gasses in the room through surface space on the leaves. The absorbance of these gasses makes it easier for them to synthesize light, turning it into energy. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, converting it to oxygen. This creates a more healthy atmosphere in the room, with more oxygen-rich surroundings. But, plants don’t stop there with their intake. They also absorb VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, that are gases exuded by some of the fabrics and chemicals that surround us. Plastic and many fabrics exude Benzene. But, plants can absorb these gases and convert them into oxygen.

Pesticides and cigarette smoke also contain Benzene. You may have encountered the experience of such chemicals coming into your home and polluting the atmosphere. Plants can help to counteract that damage. There are many VOCs, that can enter your home. These VOCs are in fabric softener, dish soap, and even makeup. Formaldehyde and ozone are also VOCs that are present in many products that we use every day. Plants can purify indoor air through a process called phytoremediation. Not only do the leaves and roots of the plant filter out the gasses, turning them into oxygen, the microorganisms in the potting soil help to break down these pollutants.


What Type?

So, if you were going to buy or hire plants, which ones should you go for? In general, the more leafy plants are better at purifying air. Ferns, for example, have a great deal of surface space. The ruffled leaves increase the surface space available for converting gases, and the small, plentiful leaves also contribute to surface space. The fern is especially adept at converting formaldehyde to oxygen. 

The rubber plant has large leaves, and is very sturdy and hardy. This is another good formaldehyde converter, pulling the gas from the atmosphere polluted by gases from laminate flooring, carpeting, ceiling tiles, and gas stoves. Pothos Ivy is another great choice of plants for you yoga environment. The sturdy plants are lovely, and can grow in just about any condition. English ivies have smaller leaves, and can be trained to grow around topiary forms, while the pothos ivy can be allowed to trail or wrapped around an obelisk topiary.

Areca palms actually help to increase the humidity of your surroundings. This can provide valuable balancing of climate control versus the need for moisture to maintain healthy tissues. The palm is also great if you are allergic to dust, because of the hydrating effect it has on the atmosphere. The dwarf banana also transpires moisture at a tremendous rate, making it great for hydrating a room.

The peace lily is one of the most versatile and resilient plant to have in your yoga environment. It converts many different VOCs, including trichloroethylene, benzene, formaldehyde, and alcohol.

Visibly Calming

Plants have a way of presenting visible calmness into a room. Rather than presenting clutter, the shape, scent, and purpose of plants can offer focus that takes you closer to nature. Your yoga environment should be relaxing, inducing calm. The noise producers in your home, whether those be the television, a roommate, or kids playing, should be in a different part of the house. 

Light in the room should be as natural as possible. In fact, the more natural light you can have in your yoga environment the better. The sun has a purifying effect, and creates life in the plants you include in the area.

A calming color on the walls of your yoga room will continue to bring a sense of peace, as well as encouraging you to relax as you begin your exercises. 

Make your room as natural looking as you can. The more plants you have, the better, with the ruffles of leaves breaking up the visible plains in the room, breathing with you as you work out. You will become more aware of the faint scent of the greenery and the potting soil, breathing in the purified air from the plants as you go through your routine. The balance achieved both visibly and physically will enrich your life. So why not add plants to your yoga environment to get the most from your yoga workouts!

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CHOLOROPHYTUM HOUSE PLANT

The spider plant is wonderful house plant, they are tough making them great houseplants for beginners.

The Chlorophytum comosum (the botanical name) is one of the most common yet popular houseplants. It is also one of the “Top Clean Air Plants.”

Spiders not only are tough indoor plants but they make wonderful “test plants” for those looking to learn about house plant care.

“Spider care” is easy and most of the time only flat out neglect can kill them.

Overall, the Chlorophytum is a quick grower putting out “babies” on long stalks, variegated strap like leaves coming from its center of the plant.

Their spider-like long stems leaves come from the plants’ center with usually green edges and a white stripe running down the middle.

Some varieties have white edges and a green central stripe. When buying “spiders” look for clean, untorn leaves with no brown tips.

Most of the time the Chlorophytum plants seem to find its home indoors in a hanging basket where it makes an attractive display.

As the "airplane plant" throws out long stalks or stems it will produce small flowers followed by the decorative hanging "babies"

The young plants when rooted can be replanted and transplanted outdoors and used summer bedding, but when planted this way they will need protection from direct sun.

The Chlorophytum originates from South Africa and grows easily in hydroculture (growing in rocks). Keep it well fed and pot-bound. When its stems fill the pot, and when the white, wormlike rhizomes bulge over the surface, it can divided easily.

Spider Growing Basics – Light

It will grow in most locations though its variegation is most pronounced when the plant is near a window. Keep away from midday sun.

Temperature

Very tolerant of a variety of temperature ranges.

Soil

A good soil mix like one used for African violet care or one used in hydroculture.

Repotting

Likes to be pot bound. It’s all right to remove some of the fat white tubers or rhizomes if they fill surface of the pot.

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CALATHEA PLANT AND CARE INSTRUCTIONS

When Calathea is grown as a house plant it sometimes goes by the name Peacock Plant,Zebra Plant or Rattlesnake Plant because of its leaf markings, but it's much more common to stick to its latin name of Calathea.Occasionally you may find it labeled as "Prayer Plant" but this is probably a mislabel as the "Prayer Plant" is strictly a Maranta and therefore belongs in the Marantaceae family. Although (and we promise it won't get any more complicated than this) the Marantaceae family also includes the Calathea genus, so basically the plants are both closely related, they look very similar and essentially have the same care requirements.

There are several house plants which are grown exclusively for their foliage, and the Calathea is one of these. The leaves and plants themselves come in many shapes and sizes, each one will normally have gorgeous looking ornately patterned leaves, on occasion the markings can look almost artificial or painted on by a talented artist. The leaves tend to stand stiffly away from the main plant and if you are attentive you will notice that they change position slightly during the day in response to changes in temperature and humidity or moisture requirements. We could ramble on about how beautiful they look, instead however look around this page at the photos which hopefully capture just a little of the available variety.

This plant is not grown for it's flowers (which tend to be rare indoors anyway). That is true for all Calathea's except for C. crocata otherwise known as the "Flowering Calathea" which within the last few years has become incredibly popular and desired. It can be costly but the unique large number orange flowers and inherited good looking shaped (although plain) leaves often makes it worth the expense. If you plan to stick with the foliage as the focus then look out for C. makoyana, C. insignis / C. lancifolia, C. leopardina and C. zebrina.

All that beauty comes with a trade off however and that is in the care requirements. This is not an easy house plant to keep if you are inexperienced or prefer low maintenance house guests. The care instructions are detailed in full below, and while not overly special or difficult, the plant is not forgiving if you mistreat it for long periods of time.

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Calathea Care Instructions

Light

No direct sunlight for Calathea's otherwise you will lose the markings. On the other hand very dark spots need to be given a miss as well. A North facing windowsill would be the first choice here, but any other situation will be acceptable providing you can provide shielding from the direct sunlight these places would receive at some point during the day.

People often come unstuck with the Calathea when it comes to its watering requirements. This plant demands to be moist at all times, but not "wet" or sitting in water. This means regular small amounts of water during the growing seasons as soon as the surface starts to dry up. Although the plant will let you off a little and accept less water when things turn cooler and darker as Winter approaches and takes hold.Watering

Humidity

Like your watering approach, humidity is really important to for a healthy and attractive looking Calathea. They all require high humidity and failure to provide this is one of the main causes of failure. Young or naturally small varieties would be excellent choices for a Bottle Garden. If this isn't an option you need to find other ways to increase humidity, regular misting of the leaves, while helpful is unlikely to be effective long term in a very arid place. If you are serious about keeping this plant indoors have a read of our humidity article.

Feeding

Feed every fortnight during the growing season with a half strength proprietary houseplant fertilizer. None in Winter and avoid leaf shine products especially those with fertilizer included.

Temperature

Healthy and vigorous plants will result from warm to high temperatures with reasonable ventilation but without strong droughts. As a minimum aim for 15°C - 21°C / 60°F - 70 °F. Never lower than 10°C / 50°F.

Re-potting

If growing well, look to re-pot every year or every other year during Spring or Summer into fresh potting soil. If you want to propagate your Calathea (see below) you can do this at repotting time, although the overall "bushy" look will be drastically changed.

Propagation

Propagating large Calatheas is quite easy by division. Divide the plant by half (or into smaller pieces if you have a very large plant to start with) and pot each new section into it's own pot. Then keep the divisions shady, warm and moist by covering the pots with plastic. Once you can see new growth starting remove the plastic and grow as normal.

Speed of Growth

Moderately fast growth.

Height / Spread

Indoor Calathea's can reach a good age and size with correct care. The Flowering Calatheawill reach a smaller size of 30cm / 12in or so where as the others could be double that at 60cm / 2ft.

Flowers

The majority of Calathea's do not flower, or rather they do not flower indoors and this is because the conditions aren't suitable for them to do so. The exception to this is C. crocata which is sold not because of its leaf markings or shape, but because it does indeed produce wonderful orange flowers that wave above the plant's basic foliage.C. crocata will repeat flower again if you maintain good conditions as instructed above.