Our Story

Brian and Kathy McCarthy have been married for 29 years and reside in Santa Monica, California. The idea for The Root Board started in March 2020, during the beginning of the Covid-19 quarantine.

Like many others during that time, Brian and Kathy found themselves freshly unemployed, and with new-found time on their hands and lots of motivation for self-reflection and consideration of life’s next steps. It was a challenging period of time, made worse in that Kathy felt her yoga practice slipping away. The distractions of being at home and the instability of the mat on carpet interfered with the yoga experience to the degree that it simply did not deliver the same physical and mental release that she’d come to rely upon.

In yoga, it's so important to still the mind, focus, breathe, and land your peak pose and yogis need a space free from distractions to get there. It became a family project to improve Kathy’s yoga space.

The first step was to find the zen in a small living space with wall-to-wall carpet. Through trial and error, Brian designed and built a solid yoga platform made from bamboo, which tactilely replicated the experience of the yoga studio. It dramatically and immediately enhanced her practice and created the perfect foundation for a great place of wellness.

Bringing The Root Board to market has been a family collaboration. The engineering of the board, the brand "voice" and the design have been created with the help of their talented kids: Clara, Maggie and Kellan.

"We are a small business with a big heart and we are so excited to share The Root Board with our yoga community."

What Is The Root Board?

The Root Board is an essential tool for your at home or at large yoga practice. Designed by yogis for yogis, The Root Board is a beautiful bamboo platform on which to roll out your mat. Stabilize your flow, land your peak pose, and wring out every bit of goodness your practice has to offer.

Yoga, Anywhere

Now available on Manduka.com. Learn more here.