DIY Eco-Gifts For The Yoga Enthusiast On Your Holiday List

A regular yoga practice can be a welcome stress reliever. Yoga provides an opportunity for relaxation and quiet reflection that calms anxious holiday bodies and minds.

Whether the yoga enthusiast on your list practices slow-paced Hatha Yoga, or hot, hot Bikram Yoga, I bet they would love these 3 handmade yoga items:

1. The complementary practices of knitting and yoga make this Knitted Yoga Mat Bag an inspired gift.

2. Your yoga enthusiast will love these supportive, softly-sanded handmade Wooden Yoga Blocks.

3. I just love these Yoga Pose Cookies (hint, hint). Here's a healthy gingerbread cookie recipe that is sure to have a heart opening effect on your yogini.

For 8 more yoga gifts CLICK HERE.

Namaste.

Photos: Baked Ideas, Canadian Living, Yoga Direct

DIY Eco-Gift For The X-traordinary Techie On Your Holiday List

Do you have a techie on your list that goes to extraordinary measures to repurpose electronic items that would otherwise be relegated to the landfill? I bet that person has a bunch of dead computers lying around (doesn't everyone). When a dead computer gets thrown away, it does not biodegrade. It just lives in its toxic hole and continues to die a slow death - Yikes!

Computers can be reincarnated, and 62 Projects To Make With A Dead Computer (and Other Discarded Electronics), by Randy Sarafan will have your techie turning dead computers, printers, cell phones, iPods and keyboards from trash into treasure. They'll even learn how to make an iMac terrarium, a laptop digital photo frame, a mouse pencil sharpener, and a slew of amazing new creations.

Who knew?

Photo credit: Amazon (...but buy it locally if you can)

DIY Eco-Gift For The Worker On Your Holiday List

What's a worker with an eco-conscious to do when each day you look over your computer, and notice the wastebasket of your officemate fill up with crumpled paper, junk mail, faxes, post-its, newspapers and plastic water bottles?

The new year is the perfect occasion (excuse) to deploy an eco-agenda on a work space. Want to give a satisfying gift? Give a worker something that gives a green nod to the planet.

Do you know someone who uses a number-a-day calendar? Those calendars throw out 365 sheets of paper a year, and continue the cycle of paper waste.

Give an EcoBotanical Calendar and ring in a sustainable new year. Print 12 plantable pages made from 100% post-consumer waste and soy or veg-based inks. When the month passes, your office worker can plant the seed infused page outside the office window and enjoy the view - wildflowers instead of a mountain of landfill waste.

CLICK HERE for 15 ways to curb office waste.

Photos: Botanical Paperworks

DIY Eco-Gifts For the Vegetarian and Vegan On Your Holiday List

"Passionate" is too lightweight a word to describe how some folks feel about the dietary decision to become a vegetarian or vegan. It is a distinction that I think a lot of people don't understand. So, let's curb the confusion and set the record straight:

People tend to have a clearer idea of what a vegetarian is, but when someone mentions being a vegan, all sorts of questions arise. The VegeKitchen explains,

"Vegetarians avoid meat, fowl, and seafood; vegans avoid all animal products in the diet, including eggs, dairy products, and honey. They also avoid any animal products in daily life. No leather, no wool, and no cosmetics tested on animals. For most vegans, ethical factors weigh in equally, if not more so, as health and environmental issues. Concerns for animal welfare and the embracing of a more compassionate lifestyle means that in general, any products that are animal-derived or that contain animal byproducts are avoided."

Like most cooks, vegetarians and vegans have food-stained funky folders stuffed with tried and true recipes. Plus, there are loads of cooking websites and blogs with tasty meatless recipes. Why not turn those recipes into a cookbook for the vege/vegan on your holiday list? DIY Vege/Vegan Cookbook

Creating a personalized cookbook for a vegetarian or vegan from their own recipes will show them that you respect their dietary decision. Making a cookbook is easy with the TasteBook. It is a straightforward site that collects and organizes recipes and creates a published cookbook. Yum.