Peace Of Mind

Peace of Mind

Meditation and relaxation encourage a balanced life and allow you to center yourself amidst everyday chaos. It's hard, however, to find an oasis of calm when mind and body products intended to soothe could potentially harm you, your surroundings and the environment as a whole. While hormone-disrupting phthalates and dioxin-producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) seem to find their way into everything from yoga mats to massage oils, they're not in the products below.

Product Picks:

Massage oils: Mad Gabs' Citrus or Lavender Bergamot blends, packaged in 8-oz. recyclable plastic containers, do double duty as moisturizers and massage oils ($13; www.madgabs.com, 800-547-5823). Soothe skin and relax tense muscles—and lungs—with Moon Valley Farm & Apiary's lavender-mint Body Heal Pain Relief rub ($8.50) and warming, orange-clove Muscle Rub ($10.50/3-oz. tins, www.moonvalleyhoney.com).

Aromatherapy bath oils: Awarded the rigorous "Certified Natural Cosmetic" seal in Germany, Dr. Hauschka's Lavender, Lemon, Rosemary, Sage and Spruce bath oils ($26.50/5.1-fl.oz. bottle) let you truly relax without fear of phthalates or parabens. For added peace of mind, all ingredients are organically or biodynamically grown and certified by Demeter, which requires, among other things, that farmers plant and rotate diverse crops to ensure soil health (www.drhauschka.com, 800-247-9907).

Passionate scents: Coyote Found's newest line of scented candles offers a clean-burning alternative to smoky incense or lead-wick candles. Made of food-grade paraffin (which often coats candy or cheese), with all-cotton wicks, hand-dipped Aliah candles are available as votives ($2.50 each) and pillars (starting at $7.50), and the 14 scents all come from plant essential oils. The company recycles its candle stubs and vat scrapings into their candles (www.thecandlestore.net, 360-344-4144).

Yoga mat: Rubber tapped from rubber trees provides the raw material for Jade Yoga's PVC-free, biodegradable Harmony yoga mat. Because of its open-cell construction, there is less risk of slipping when you perspire. Two different thicknesses, four different lengths and nine colors (starting at $39.95; www.jadeyoga.com, 888-784-7237).

Meditation seats: Made in the U.S. of organic materials, Northern Naturals' new meditation cushions set your mind at ease when it comes to environmentally responsible reflection. Organic buckwheat hulls fill the zafus, the zabutons are stuffed with organic cotton batting ($49.75 each) and both are covered with an organic-cotton-twill shell (www.northernnaturals.com, 888-293-3985).

T'ai Chi clothing: The centuries-old martial art is ideal for focusing one's energy, and Gaiam's 100 percent linen shirts (from $36) and pants (from $33) will help you concentrate without constriction or guilt about harmful pesticides (www.gaiam.com, 800-254-8464).