I’d like to get to yoga class in calm serenity, but more often than not, I arrive in a near-panic because I’m almost late. Suffice to say that because of it, I rarely remember to take an eye pillow — and become jealous of everyone who’s remembered theirs when we’re about to lay down for shavasana.

 

For those better at prepping for yoga class, I recommend Manduka’s eco-friendly inSight Eye Pillow. The soft pillow — covered with a gentle viscose fiber made from bamboo and knitted in Los Angeles– rests over your eyes, blocking out the light while soothing you with an earthy lavender scent.

 

Unlike my last eye pillow which was pretty much impossible to clean, inSight Eye Pillow has a removable outer cover — held together with a snap and a zipper — that can be removed for easy laundering. The inner pillow’s filed with lavender oil, organic barley, flax seed, lemon balm, and orris root. The grains and seeds are loose, so take care to distribute the filling a bit as you place the mask over your eyes — lest the two sides get unbalanced!

 

I haven’t been to a yoga class since the pillow was sent to me for review last week, but I’ve been using the eye pillow doing progressive relaxation at home, a practice I took up earlier this year and recommend highly to everyone who’s prone to anxiety. I like the subtle soothing scent and the gentle weight of the pillow over my eyes as I instruct myself to relax –

 

The one small drawback of this pillow: Because each eye of the pillow’s well weighted down with the filling — and because the nose of the pillow comes pretty far down — I’ve found that post relaxation, I end up with a temporary short red line across the bridge of my nose, where the pillow contacts my skin. The mark disappears after a few minutes though. The inSight Eye Pillow is available at Manduka’s website for $29 each in Sangria, Marine, or Midnight.