It's time for another Mantra Box® unveiling! If you're new around here, the YBC Mantra Box® is a quarterly discovery box program that shines the spotlight on small businesses in the health and wellness industries. Each box comes with a mantra to inspire your life both on and off the yoga mat. If you're following a special diet, you're able to choose from Vegan/Vegetarian, Paleo friendly or "I eat all the things". We only sell 150 of them, so be fast if you're ready to pre-order your winter box, which will ship on February 22, 2017. They're close to selling out and if that's the case when you go to order, no worries because this reveal is a little different - we are hosting a giveaway of one full box! Scroll all the way to the bottom for more.
The mantra included in this box was: Breathe intentionally.
I wanted to take a minute to remind us all to breathe this holiday season. Not just, you know, breathe like we normally do - without really noticing it - but to be more mindful and conscious about how we breathe. I hoped that the phone clip case for workouts would help us to remember to really notice how we breathe when we are active, and that the figgy pops would help us be more mindful about our breathing when we eat, and that the rose clay mask would remind us to take a deep breath and relax during self-care. Here's a closer look at the companies we featured this season:
Manitoba Harvest founder Mike Fata
Manitoba Harvest founder, Mike Fata
Personal Mantra: We ♥ Hemp foods, promoting health & wellness and fostering positive change for the community & environment!
Why the company was started: Mike Fata, CEO & Co-Founder Informationon his before/after story can be found here.
What does the company do to give back? We are a BCorp certified company, we give many donations to local food banks, we send millions of samples to events all across North America. We've donated to the United Way, the Canadian Red Cross Foundation and other natural disaster events.
Product included in box: Hemp Hearts
Retail value: $15.99
Jordan S. Rubin, founder of Garden of Life
Garden of Life founder, Jordan S. Rubin
Personal Mantra: Empowering Extraordinary Health
Why the company was started: Garden of Life’s commitment to health goes beyond offering some of the most effective nutritional products in the world. We are interested in building relationships with people to help them transform their lives to attain extraordinary health. By combining the best of nature and science, the Garden of Life brand offers a path to healthy living with premium products that are supported by education and innovation.
What does the company do to give back? Garden of Life pays it forward by working with Vitamin Angels, SOS Children's Villages, WomenHeart, the National Parkinsons Foundation and the Whole Planet Foundation to help those in need around the world.
Product included in box: Organic Plant Collagen Builder
Retail value: $23.07
Beauty By Earth Founders
Beauty by Earth Founders: Ryan Greve, Prudence Millsap
Personal Mantra: Love can change the world.
Why the company was started: Beauty By Earth was created by two friends asking a question that is so often considered these days: how can you find health and beauty products that are safe to use around young children? Like so many parents, we found it incredibly difficult to find products that were effective, easy to access, and natural. So we figured why not make them ourselves? We are dedicated to the idea that got us started: inspiring beauty and nurturing health. We’re thrilled to bring the items that have enriched our lives and improved our wellbeing to you and your family.
What does the company do to give back? We are passionate about giving back - read all about it here.
Product included in box: Lip balm
Retail value: $10.99
Gurus founder Prem Thomas
Gurus founder: Prem Thomas
Personal Mantra: Don't give up. It took 3 years for me to get our sandals from concept to a reality. You'll face a lot of roadblocks when starting a business or brand, but anyone can do this if you don't give up!
Why the company was started: Gurus was started when out founder, Prem, saw an ancient wooden sandal on a trip to India. After learning about its history, he redesigned the sandal and made a new version using natural rubber sourced from his grandfather's farm. Gurus are the best flip-flops: they mold to your feet over time and you don't have to scrunch your toes. After being embraced by the yoga community, Gurus launched a sustainable, non-slip cork yoga mat.
What does the company do to give back? Gurus plants a tree for every product sold through a non-profit partnership with Trees for the Future. Our tree plantings are focussed on education and sustainability to increase the impact of trees on local communities.
Product included in box: Conservation bracelet
Retail value: $5
Coupon code: YBC15 for 15% off through January 31, 2017
Made in Nature
Company: Made in Nature
Personal Mantra: Real Food. Real Flavor.
Why the company was started: For more than 25 years, Made In Nature has taken a stand in the name of real food and has grown into the #1 organic dried fruit brand in the United States. Now with a full lineup of Supersnacks, Made In Nature continues to kick refined sugar to the curb and go all-out organic in everything we do. We do right by our planet, support our farmers and we skip the gross stuff like sulfur; artificial additives colors and flavors; GMOs; and synthetic preservatives pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
What does the company do to give back? We work closely with dedicated farmers around the world to help them grow the best tasting organic fruit. We are committed to helping farmers transition conventional farmland to organic and increasing the supply and availability of organic, non-GMO produce.
Product included in box: Figgy Pops. Figgy Pops can be purchased at select Whole Foods and Costco stores, or on madeinnature.com. You can find other Made In Nature Supersnacks across the U.S. at major retailers and grocery stores, including Target, Costco, and Walmart.
Retail value: $4.99
Coupon code: Use code YOGABYCANDACE for 25% off your purchase.
Wonderful Things Factory (theWTFactory) founder: J Keith Hall
Personal Mantra: Pray. Grind. Play. Repeat.
Why the company was started: Wonderful Things Factory originated with the idea for the SlimClip Case, our flagship product. The idea was something that I thought already existed but after an exhaustive search for a slimline iPhone Case that would clip to my workout shorts without adding any added bulk - I found that the product didn't exist. The idea became a real physical product and a reality and I found that others felt the same way I did about armbands and fanny belts so.....
What does the company do to give back? 15% of gross sales from our PINK SlimClip Case goes to Komen for the Cure.
Product included in box: SlimClip Case
Retail value: $30
Coupon code: YogaByCandace - 15% OFF at theWTFactorySHOP.com
Sun Basket
Sun Basket Founders: Adam Zbar and Justine Kelly
Personal Mantra: The scene from "The Sheltering Sky," by Bernardo Bertolucci where the dialogue goes something like this: Kit Moresby: Tunner, we're not tourists. We're travelers. Tunner: Oh. What's the difference? Port Moresby: A tourist is someone who thinks about going home the moment they arrive, Tunner. Kit Moresby: Whereas a traveler might not come back at all.
Why the company was started: Sun Basket was inspired by our founder Adam Zbar, who after founding his first start-up, found himself 50 pounds overweight from spending too many afternoons eating burgers and fries with his engineering team, and pizza late night on his way home from work. Told by his doctor that all his vital signs were going in the wrong direction, Adam started to work-out again (running, surfing, and whatever he had time for in the morning), and re-taught himself how to cook and eat food. While Adam figured out breakfast and lunch, he struggled to make healthy dinners that still tasted good -- his go to was broiled chicken and a boiled vegetables, which was healthy but oooh so bland. In Chef Justine, he found a kindred spirit who helped him realize his vision of creating an easy way for busy people to make cooking at home easy, nutritious, but above all also delicious!
What does the company do to give back? Every week, Sun Basket donates thousands of pounds food to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, and to the New Jersey Agricultural Society Farmers Against Hunger.
Product included in box: $30 gift card to Sun Basket meal delivery service.
Joanne Yoo of Almondon, designing a sketch for the collection
Almondon founders: Richard Yoo & his daughter, Joanne Yoo
Personal Mantra: "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."
Why the company was started: Richard and his daughter, Joanne, started Almondon with the goal of providing high quality products with simplistic yet beautiful designs fit for any activity. Richard’s strong background in manufacturing along with Joanne’s study of design inspired them to design, create, and manufacture their own activewear with designs that were both functional and comfortable while remaining fashionable and affordable. From thereon out, they observed the contemporary lifestyle and powered through long, experimental periods of studying fabrics and fit in order to provide the best quality activewear that women could incorporate into their everyday lives.
What does the company do to give back? We support our community by showcasing local professionals, yogis, and fitness enthusiasts in our photoshoots. In 2017, we will also be donating our sports bras to low-income women unable to afford sports bras through the Brem Foundation's "Re-Bra" Breast Cancer Awareness Event.
Product included in box: Bra cups and $30 gift card included. Can be combined with other offers. No expiration date.
Retail value: The bra cups are $8, and the gift card is $30.
Coupon code: YBC20 for 20% off, no expiration.
Jivana Ayurveda
Jivana Ayurveda & Yoga: Tracy Adkins
Personal Mantra: Be Real! I originally wanted this to be the name of my company because it described my products: all real ingredients, as well as personified myself - just "real" and "normal" - a regular mom with kids, trying to survive everyday, hoping I'm parenting the "right" way, being a "good" wife, honest friend, etc. I aim to always be humble, grounded, grateful, and real; teach my children to have integrity, dignity and to do the "right" thing even though it is usually the hardest thing. Be nice, be kind, be honest, have integrity: BE REAL.
Why the company was started: As a mother of 5 girls, Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner, long-time yogini, practicing Ayurvedic Counselor (practitioner in training), and developer of Jivana Ayurveda and Yoga skin care, I have a mission to provide hand-crafted, high quality organic products at a cost that makes them accessible to everyone. My business started inadvertently while I was trying to find a natural way to treat my baby's eczema. From there, a couple products were born, and friends began purchasing them. Since then, I have expanded my product line, created an online store, and currently hold local workshops educating others about how to "Live Yoga" and "Live Ayurveda" in a modern world. I am a small business owner with big dreams; a woman, entrepreneur, and mother with an honest, grounded lifestyle; and have a passionate goal to provide quality, all natural products, and sound Ayurvedic advice to all those who seek to grow and learn. My hope is that I may use Jivana Ayurveda and Yoga as a platform to educate, inspire, nurture, and nourish the lives of my girls and all others to whom the universe connects me.
What does the company do to give back? We support our community by showcasing local professionals, yogis, and fitness enthusiasts in our photoshoots. In 2017, we will also be donating our sports bras to low-income women unable to afford sports bras through the Brem Foundation's "Re-Bra" Breast Cancer Awareness Event.
Product included in box: Rose clay face mask
Retail value: $16
Coupon code: YBC10 expires 12/31/16 10% of entire order!
Lizzie King checking quality assurance for Smells Like Home
Smells Like Home founder: Lizzie King
Personal Mantra: Create a life you love, which you'll also find on Smells Like Home's thank you cards. It's so easy to fall into a pattern or mindset that you have what you've been dealt and that's your life. It doesn't have to be that way, you can live however you want. You don't need anything besides a vision and a plan for the next step to do whatever you want in life.
Why the company was started: In college, I went to business school so that I could 'learn to be my own boss' and feared settling with a mediocre career and life. Fast forward a few years and I was doing just that, but with the added responsibilities and stressors of young adulthood. It took a refreshed mind set, some time and some guts but I quit that job and started following my own path in life, leaving what I didn't want or need and absorbing what I did. SLH happened (and is happening) during that and is symbolic to peaceful living and enjoying the adventure.
Product included in box: Smells Like Home sticker and $5 off coupon
Retail value: $4
Coupon code: WELCOME, $5 OFF, March 31, 2017
YBC Mantra Box® Giveaway
We are giving away a Fall 2016 Mantra Box®! All you have to do to enter is let us know, down in the comments section below, what kind of products you'd like to see in a future box. Are there are particular small businesses we should know about and reach out to? Then, just go to the rafflecopter widget below and check off that you've left a comment. A winner will be picked at random next Tuesday and announced here, so be sure to check back! If you have an email address you use for promotions, feel free to use that one because my entering to win, your email will be shared with the sponsors in the box. Thanks for supporting the companies that support YBC!