Back to the Mat: Where’s the Stick?

I’m one of those unlucky yogi­nis who strug­gles with sweaty hands and feet dur­ing yoga classes. As class pro­gresses, my sta­ble foun­da­tion becomes unsta­ble, espe­cially for strong poses held for a minute or longer — things like a low lunge, down­ward fac­ing dog, or a war­rior pose. I need a yoga mat with bet­ter stick.

As my prac­tice improves, I’m get­ting bet­ter at bring­ing energy up from my hands and feet to my core — but I tire more quickly. Legs start to shake, my poses lose their integrity.

Using the right mat can help, but I haven’t yet found the per­fect solu­tion. These days I’m exper­i­ment­ing with two dif­fer­ent com­bi­na­tions, for dif­fer­ent class styles.

For more in-depth dis­cus­sions of yoga mats, based on per­sonal tri­als, see: the quest for the per­fect yoga mat, the quest (take 2), and still wait­ing for the per­fect yoga mat.

The Yoga Mats Teachers Recommend

Obser­vant teach­ers who see me slip­ping will rec­om­mend switch­ing to a dif­fer­ent yoga mat. Although teach­ers have dif­fer­ent pref­er­ences, they tend to rec­om­mend either Jade or Man­duka brand yoga mats.

As a result, I now own and use two dif­fer­ent mats for class. Before head­ing off for class, I’ll choose the one best suited to today’s teacher — her yoga dis­ci­pline and what she tends to empha­size in the way of asanas:

• Jade Har­mony Pro­fes­sional Mat — for use in mod­er­ately sweaty classes (vinyasa flow, when poses will be held only briefly)
• Man­duka Black Mat Pro — for use in Anusara classes that focus on core build­ing and strong poses held for long peri­ods (where sta­bil­ity counts)

Nei­ther mat fully solves the prob­lem, but for dif­fer­ent rea­sons.

The Jade Har­mony mat has a longer “mean time before slip­page”; how­ever, it deforms as it warms. So the Jade mat tends to be less suited for Anusara-style asanas with its focus on solid foun­da­tions and oppos­ing actions. The Man­duka never deforms, is always rock solid, but my hands and feet slip much ear­lier in class unless I’ve taken pre­cau­tions.

Mat Covers Can Help

Because nei­ther mat is sticky enough on its own, I’ve tested dif­fer­ent mat cov­ers, with vary­ing degrees of suc­cess. Here’s my cur­rent “class for­mula”:

• Vinyasa flow: Jade Har­mony mat plus Man­duka eQua hand towel
• Anusara: Man­duka Black Mat Pro plus Yog­i­toes Pre­mium Skid­less Mat-size Yoga Towel

For Vinyasa Flow

Dur­ing classes with lots of sun salu­ta­tions or other flow­ing sequences, I’ve found that Manduka’s micro-fiber hand towel does a good job keep­ing hands or feet sta­ble. I’ve used a sin­gle towel, but am about to try plac­ing two tow­els on the mat, one for hands and one for feet.

Manduka’s longer mat cover is less effec­tive dur­ing vinyasa flow sequences — it wrin­kles too eas­ily. (This may not be an issue for skilled yogi­nis who jump and float eas­ily from one pose to another, with­out grace­less foot drag­ging.)

When pos­si­ble, I pre­fer to bring the Jade Har­mony mat to class because it weighs a pound or two less than the Man­duka mat, rolls up nicely, and is easy to secure with a vel­cro strap. (That said, it took a cou­ple of months before the rub­ber smell dis­si­pated enough for me to ignore the Jade mat dur­ing class.)

For Anusara

My pre­ferred solu­tion for Anusara classes is the Man­duka Black Mat Pro with Yog­i­toes skid­less mat towel, which almost fully cov­ers my yoga mat.

Even after two years of use and mul­ti­ple wash­ings, the Yog­i­toes towel remains rea­son­ably absorbent, and the rub­ber feet keep it firmly in place — most of the time. It can wrin­kle dur­ing fast-paced sun or moon salu­ta­tions, so it some­times needs adjust­ing dur­ing class.

What I don’t like is the some­what bumpy feel of the rub­ber pro­tru­sions on the reverse side of the Yog­i­toes mat towel. This sort of spoils the zen-like beauty of the Man­duka mat.

The wrinkly mat towel is the rea­son my vinyasa teacher tells me to bring the Jade Har­mony mat to her classes.

I keep hop­ing that some­day I’ll find a yoga mat that doesn’t com­pro­mise on sta­bil­ity while retain­ing its stick­i­ness for the dura­tion of the class. Per­haps this is just a fan­tasy…