4 yoga essentials every beginner needs, according to YogaSource co-founder Emily Hyland

Not necessary for beginners, but great for setting the tone, Hyland suggests using an essential oil like De Mamiel. She called herself “very scent-oriented,” and De Mamiel’s Altitude Oil has been part of her yoga ritual for close to a decade. 

“This is a delicious oil,” she says. “It's a lavender, frankincense, like pine lemony. Really grounding but also invigorating. Like I cloak myself [with it].”

She first discovered the oil through her first yoga teacher, Joanne Silver, and it quickly earned a permanent spot in her routine. 

“She was using it, and then I loved it so much that I started using it, and I've probably been using this for close to a decade,” Hyland says. 

Nowadays, using the oil is one of the ways she signals that it’s time to settle into her practice.

“I like to put this on right before I practice,” Hyland says.  “I like to use this if I'm doing some work on folks in like a restorative, or if I'm working with someone one-on-one and they like to have touch and have scents, hovering it over their noses, using it as I'm giving them, you know, a shavasana assist or whatnot.”

“I find that olfactory connection really, really helpful. So this is like a ritual way to get into that space of moving.”

First things first: the mat. Having one that’s comfortable is important, but safety is also a top priority for Hyland. That’s why she trusts the Half Moon Bmat. 

She likes them so much, she has five back-ups on standby and even bought them for her yoga studio. And while other brands have earned her approval, she calls this one her “absolute gold standard” for “durability, traction, and safety.”

“I am someone who's very sweaty,” she says. “And even if I'm not sweating, my hands for some reason are always moist. And I have been one of those people that will slip [on the mat].” 

After a too-close-for-comfort slip at a hot yoga class, she realized it was time to find a mat she could really trust. Enter the Half Moon Bmat. 

“Their whole line of props is amazing, but their mats, they're rubber and like super, super grippy,” she says. “They're not sticky, but very traction-y, highly durable, well-crafted yoga mats.”

“I really cannot speak highly enough about this particular product,” she says. “So I think one of the things if you're investing in a mat and you're newer to your yoga practice, a yoga mat can last you for years and years and years if you get a good one. I wish I had discovered these mats years ago.”

“You wouldn't necessarily think Aritzia is the place to go for movement,” Hyland says. “That's a place where you might go for fashion or a workpiece. But their leggings are so soft. The fabric is so soft on your skin. And I feel like they're relatively breathable and they fit really well.”

Personally, Hyland likes to focus on aesthetics and functionality, and Aritzia’s Butter line checks both boxes.

And these aren’t leggings she’s replacing every few months. Some of her pairs are already “pretty old,” and they’re still holding up. 

“There's not really any pilling or anything on the legs, you know, that often will happen,” Hyland says. “These are also stretchy but just so freaking soft. I can't get over how nice they are. They both hold up really well.”

For her top, Hyland turns to a favorite from Free People that checks another big box for her: staying power. “It can work for many years,” she says. 

“When I had more breast tissue before my surgery, it worked really well as a bra and now it works really well as a shirt,” she says about the crop top. “And same thing, it's fitted, it doesn't chafe or anything like that.”

That snug fit is exactly what she looks for on the mat. “In yoga, you typically want things that are a little bit more form-fitting so that sleeves aren't getting in the way when you're moving around.”

It also has the soft, stretchy feel she prefers for movement. “I'm sure there's some, you know, there's synthetics in all these modern clothes, but it has a cottony feel, but it also is stretchy.”

“I wash these, I go through these a lot, and they really hold their form on many washes. Like it's a good long-lasting, durable piece of movement wear.”

She also loves how the brand represents the real people buying and wearing their clothes.

“I feel like Free People has done a good job in particular of expressing an array of different bodies in their clothing over time that's evolved,” she says. “And so I really respect and want to lean into supporting that, even if they are all bigger companies.”