September is National Yoga Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness of the health benefits of yoga and inspiring people to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. But as any yogi will attest to, the effects of yoga reach beyond just the physical practice, impacting every facet of our lives from our mental wellbeing to the way we interact with the world. Here at Corc Yoga, we believe that even something as simple as your yoga mat can embody the passion, environmental consciousness, self-care, and dedication to community that yoga imparts in us.

In honor of National Yoga Month, we would like to share with you a bit more about the inspiration and story behind Corc Yoga.

When our founder, Christine Moghadam, first conceived the idea for Corc Yoga, it wasn’t the result of months of market research or focus group studies. It was, like many things in life, a happy intersection of coincidences.

Passion

In 2016, Christine was at a crossroads in her life. With pain and loss at home, she decided to tap into her inner adventurer and visit a place that called her heart – Portugal.

Environmental Consciousness

For Christine, learning all of this and getting to see the trees and the people who harvest them in person was what really planted the seed for Corc Yoga in her mind. With a life-long love for nature and a new-found love for Portugal, she knew that her future would involve these magnificent trees and the people they supported.

Self-Care

As soon as she arrived back home, the brainstorming began, and it didn’t take long for a concrete vision to form. Christine knew she wanted to use cork. She knew that she wanted to create something beneficial and embrace sustainability. And to bring it all together, all she had to do was look within.

Throughout her life, Christine struggled with mental health. During her teenage years and into early adulthood, she dealt with stress, issues regarding body image and self-esteem, eating disorders, and chronic pain. Over time, and with far too much trial and error, she finally found that the best way for her to find balance mentally was by finding balance physically through yoga.

Since realizing how much of an impact yoga made in her own life, Christine has been on a mission to share the benefits of yoga with others in hopes that they might find a useful tool in their self-care journeys earlier than she did.

And so, the decision to unite cork and yoga could not have been any more fated.

Dedication to Community

It started with a yoga mat, and now our lineup includes a yoga block, a mat sling, and even a backpack. As Corc Yoga has grown, so has our commitment to the community. Being able to offer an eco-friendly product to the yoga and wellness community is reward enough itself, but in addition to that, we also give a percentage of every purchase back to the community that started it all and support youth mental health organizations in Portugal.

Thank you for joining us on this journey towards sustainable living for the mind, body, and soul. We can’t wait to change the world together, one mat, one person at a time.