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This article first appeared in our Consumer Revolution issue of My Green Pod Magazine, released on 19 Dec 2019. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Women are constantly bombarded with messages that we are either not enough or too much – whether we’re talking looks, intelligence, abilities or emotions.
For Anna Challacombe and Charli Anne Thompson, enough is enough: they want women to be unapologetic about what they want, feel and need, to embrace their innate female power ‘to birth anything’ and to join a global sisterhood of women who are demanding more.
Together Charli and Anna have created a range of yoga mats to serve as everyday reminders of your needs, desires, beauty and power.
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, these stunning mats are now available on Anna and Charli’s just-launched website, More. They have been designed to help you release the burden of life’s responsibilities in a celebration of self-expression.
As well as being a powerful anchor for the most unapologetic version of you, each yoga – or ‘Pleasure’ – mat is beautiful, comfortable, functional, high-vibe, non-toxic, washable, vegan and eco-friendly – clearly more than just a yoga mat. With a sustainable tree rubber base and a gorgeously soft recycled ‘vegan suede’ top, the mats offer great grip while absorbing sweat, oils or any other fluid.
Anna knows a thing or two about yoga mats. She chose to design her own after struggling to find a mat that was both beautiful and eco – then founded Blisscloud yoga mats to make them available to all.
In 2018 Anna wanted a new mat design to add to the award-winning Blisscloud collection. ‘I wanted this mat to be unique’, she explains, ‘a celebration of what it means to be a woman.’ Anna had a Skype call with designer and artist Charli, and seeds were planted over what turned out to be a long conversation.
Click here to find out why the More. crystal-infused water bottle is a My Green Pod Hero
‘Suddenly this wasn’t just about a mat any more, it was a movement’, Anna tells us. ‘We realised we were both craving connection, tribe and growth; we wanted acceptance and inclusion and we wanted to offer it to others. My mind was opened and I understood that this was way beyond having a vulva.’
One design turned into five – the five designs turned into a Kickstarter campaign and in September the More website was launched. In the same month, More scooped a Janey Lee Grace Platinum Award for its Mermaid Dreams Eco Travel Yoga Mat.
The More online store features mats, organic cotton T-shirts, tote bags and lots more, and is also a space where women can unapologetically embrace pleasure and self-love and share stories with sisters.
Anna and Charli believe that through those unique stories we will learn and grow into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a woman in this world. It’s their view that when we allow ourselves personal space to let go of societal expectations, to feel good in our bodies and share our journeys together, ‘magic happens’.
‘This is why it was so important for me that The More. Collective includes and celebrates ALL women and those who identify’, Charli tells us. ‘Womanhood is however you feel it in your body and heart and not for others to define – men, or anyone! I believe in the right to full self-expression and the need for our traditional women’s spaces to be opened up, to create a beautiful, diverse and loving sisterhood.’
Click here to view the full range of yoga mats, accessories and more.
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