Yoga Mats Explained
A Yoga mat is an essential item for the practice of yoga. Whether you’re taking Yoga classes or practicing at home, you need to be sure that you do not slip whilst performing your yoga postures or asanas and this means you need a yoga mat.
Yoga mats come in a an alarming variety of thicknesses, colours and materials, but there are some very basic points that will help you to decide which is best for you. Please note that yoga mats are entirely different to other types of exercise mat like aerobics mats etc.
First and foremost a yoga mat should provide you with a comfortable, non-slip surface, which is big enough for you to move into a variety of postures without having to go onto the floor surface.
When you are practising Yoga, you need to be relaxed and focused, and if your feet or hands slip during a posture, or you move onto a cold floor, this does not help your practice!
The type of Yoga mat that’s best for you will depend on your age, size and the type of Yoga you are practising and personal preference.
Yoga Mats for Specific Types of Yoga
Mat choice is often a personal thing but in
Hatha Yoga – many people practice yoga for its calming influence and prefer the more meditative and less physical side of yoga practice.80cm yoga mats are often favoured as during relaxation or Savasana your whole body is on the mat and you are totally insulated from cold or draughty floors.
Iyengar yoga – tend to prefer mats no thicker than 4.5mm as above this thickness firm grounding is affected.
Ashtanga Yoga – the traditional Ashtanga practitioner would practice on a wet cotton Yoga Rug.
Bikram Yoga – In Bikram sweat is the name of the game due to the heated room and so PVC yoga mats get slippery when wet so it is common to use a towel or Cotton Yoga Mat as the grip on such mats improves the wetter they get.
thicker mats which offer more comfort may be preferrable. It is generally considered that mats above 6mm thick are too thick as if you are doing balancing postures this is very hard on a thick mat as it wobbles underneath you.
Travel yoga mats are the thinnest so that they can be folded up and put in a suitcase, these offer an anti-slip surface and little else. 6mm is considered the thickest a mat can be before it becomes too unstable for balancing postures. Thicker mat offer more comfort. Please remember that greater thickness does not automatically mean more comfort as density is equally important. Always check and compare the weight of a mat as this will indicate the density and therefore the amount of insulation and cushioning and most probably durability too. We sell mats of virtually the same size but which differ in weight by nearly 30% - you get what you pay for.
extra long mats up to 2.5m
extra wide yoga mats at up to 80cm wide as these keep you on the mat at all times and are better in Savasana for keeping away draughts from the floor
Studio mat. In June 2006 we re-formulated and tested all of our Studio Yoga Mats to Oeko-Tex level 1 making these mats independentyl tested as safe for baby use (this is the same test that would be done to verify a dummy as safe for a baby to suck). Again we believe these were the first yoga mats to pass this stringent test - vist www.oeko-tex.com for details. This type of PVC is safe for humans and much better for the environment and it is worth paying a little extra for this reason alone. In the spring of 2008 all of our Studio mats became phthalate free - the most ecological form of PVC.
Yoga-Mad Tree mat uses only natural rubber and a 100% cotton inside which is also natural and biodegradable.
TPE Equilibrium yoga mat in 2008
click here |
