About Barefoot Yoga Co

Established in 1996

Thank you for your interest in our company.

It was during a long journey through India, the birthplace of yoga, when I realized the necessity of a yoga mat for my practice. Having the ability to lay it down wherever I was at that moment, on a dirt floor, or any patch of well-worn earth and just practice, was a luxury to me. Putting my face to the ground where people and animals have walked for centuries took my attention away from my yoga practice. My mat became sacred to me and was all I needed between my body and all that history.  

Doing yoga in India is as natural as breathing itself.

Walking through the streets, shoulder to shoulder with the masses, with all the senses aroused, I began to feel the ancient practice of yoga ingrained in every aspect of Indian culture, and I knew I was in the right place.  

I was artistically inspired by the infinite array of patterns and colors I saw in India. From the multicolored jacquard saris drying along the Ganges, the orange cloths of Saddhus, the decorative bindis (third-eye), holy cows, exotic fruits and vegetables, earthy spices, sweet chai, and swollen sacks of Basmati rice, to the intricate swirls and scrolls in the architecture.

This inspiration I put into the design of the original yoga mat bag in 1996, which became essential for carrying all I needed for yoga while in transit throughout India, be it on a bus, train, or bicycle to and from studying yoga in Mysore. Blended with the sea of humanity, I was caught in a wave from the minute I stepped out of the airport into a bustling Indian city, until the day I stepped back into another century as I boarded the plane to leave.

Back home, everything seems so fast-paced. It is hard to be prepared enough to conquer daily challenges, and basic life pressures seem to be ever increasing as our perceptions of the world become more complicated.

Yoga has always been an escape from mental chaos and an entry into tangible peace and self-acceptance for me.

I offer these products as tools to help achieve more peace and stillness through the practice of yoga when there is restlessness of the mind, intellect and spirit. These tools are only external props that I have personally enjoyed in my experiences. The true pathway is within yourself.

Enjoy the products. Enjoy the yoga.

Namasté,

Kelly LeFebvre
Barefoot Yoga Co

For more about Barefoot Yoga, check out this interview with Kelly in Seattle Yoga News.

"If we practice the science of yoga, which is useful to the entire human community and which yields happiness both here and hereafter - if we practice it without fail, we will then attain physical, mental, and spiritual happiness, and our minds will flood towards the Self."

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
Mysore, India