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Cleaning a Yoga Mat with Gratitude

November 23, 2013 •

Deep clean­ing a yoga mat is not one of my favorite chores. That said, it’s always an oppor­tu­nity to be grate­ful for last week’s classes, the health and time that make a reg­u­lar yoga prac­tice pos­si­ble — and the money to pay for the teacher.

yoga mat

eKO rub­ber yoga mat

It’s also a chance to exam­ine my mat for wear and year — worn spots or other prac­tice “love marks.” While scrub­bing the mat I pay atten­tion to each spot, as my hands pass over every square inch mul­ti­ple times until it’s squeaky clean.

My cur­rent go-to stu­dio mat is an eKO™ from Man­duka. Although it’s heavy this nat­ural rub­ber mat has nice cush­ion­ing and is quite grippy. Even so my sweaty hands need a micro-fiber towel beneath them dur­ing the fieri­est por­tion of the asanas.

My orig­i­nal mat, a Black Mat Pro from Man­duka, has been rel­e­gated to the room where I prac­tice at home. It’s quite worn after 5 years of prac­tice, almost daily prac­tice dur­ing the 3+ years when I used it reg­u­larly.

It is very usable for a con­tem­pla­tive home prac­tice, but its sur­face has lost much of its orig­i­nal grip. I find it too slip­pery for use in a faster-paced vinyasa class. These days I use it just a cou­ple of times a week, when unable to attend a stan­dard class.

While clean­ing my new-ish eKO mat I enjoy the smell of the mat cleaner, an organic soap from Ver­mont Soap Works. It has a pleas­ant aroma of herbs and essen­tial oils, a calm­ing scent that will linger to my next class when it dis­si­pates into the studio’s com­mu­nal exha­la­tions.

Look­ing up from my soapy hands I see that out­side it is clear, cold and sunny — win­try weather in Seat­tle. Mean­while the back bed­room is warm­ing up with a space heater, and the yoga mat calls for a late after­noon prac­tice over­look­ing a sunny wood­land park.

Life is good.

There are many things to be thank­ful for, even if the US gov­ern­ment is not one of them…

Thanks­giv­ing is just a few days away.

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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