Still Waiting for the Perfect Yoga Mat

Despite being a long-time fan of Manduka’s black mats, I’m still wait­ing for the per­fect mat. The arche­type for my per­fect mat would com­bine the best fea­tures of the Prana Rev­o­lu­tion Sticky Mat with Manduka’s Black Mat Pro, and here’s why.

Revolution: The Perfect Dimensions

Designed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Anusara founder John Friend, the Prana Rev­o­lu­tion mat offers the per­fect dimen­sions for yoga prac­tice — 78 inches long and 30 inches wide — 4 inches wider and 7 inches longer than Manduka’s stan­dard mat.

I own the Rev­o­lu­tion as well as Manduka’s larger mat, which is 85 inches long and 26 inches wide. What I’ve learned is that Manduka’s mat is longer than I need (and those extra inches add to its heavy weight). But Manduka’s stan­dard length of 71 inches is too short. This is why I find Revolution’s dimen­sions to be just right: 78 x 30.

If you’re tall, the Revolution’s larger dimen­sions make it eas­ier to achieve proper align­ment in poses like Down­ward Fac­ing Dog or plank pose. And if you take classes in crowded urban stu­dios, those added inches give you just enough breath­ing space from your fel­low yogi­nis.

Like the Man­duka black mat, the Rev­o­lu­tion has a very dense and sta­ble foun­da­tion: it won’t stretch or slip even when you’re jump­ing from one pose to another. (This sta­bil­ity is in strik­ing con­trast to some of Prana’s less expen­sive mats.)

The design-sen­si­tive side of me also prefers the Revolution’s grass green color to the sober black of the Man­duka. I also like the whimsy of the cute yel­low-green Anusara logo placed in an uncon­ven­tional spot on the mat.

I don’t like the white bloom that appears on the sur­face after a few moments of prac­tice. It dis­ap­pears right after clean­ing, but reap­pears as soon as you resume prac­tic­ing. (You can see the bloom in this photo.)

Both Mats Are Too Heavy

At almost 9 pounds each, both of my mats are quite heavy — and seem even more so while walk­ing mul­ti­ple city blocks from my park­ing spot to the yoga stu­dio. If you carry this weight over your shoul­der mul­ti­ple times a week, it can really give you a sore neck or shoul­der.

My per­fect mat would weigh closer to 4 pounds — much like the weight of a well-bal­anced lap­top com­puter.

Hav­ing said that, if your sticky mat is used only for home prac­tice, this weight isn’t really a fac­tor.

Note that Manduka’s smaller (stan­dard size) mat weighs less, 7 pounds instead of almost 9.

How Well Do They Grip? Manduka Is Better

Nei­ther mat is very sticky when brand new. If you don’t set your foun­da­tion just right, you’re vul­ner­a­ble to slip­ping even in war­rior poses. It took months of use before I stopped slip­ping on the Rev­o­lu­tion. And even so, I bring a skid­less towel to class to put on top of the mat.

I think the break-in time for a new Man­duka black mat is some­what shorter than for the Rev­o­lu­tion, but the Man­duka is also too slip­pery dur­ing its first month or two of use (even longer if you don’t prac­tice on a daily basis).

The yoga teacher who sold me the Man­duka mat advised clean­ing it daily with a rough towel and mat-friendly cleanser, and “scrub­bing the heck out of it” — her secret for break­ing down the man­u­fac­tur­ing residues that pre­vent a new Man­duka from grip­ping as well as it’s designed to do.

After each mat has been bro­ken in for a year, the Manduka’s sur­face affords a surer grip for sweaty hands and feet than does the Rev­o­lu­tion. But on hot sum­mer days or in warm stu­dios, even a well-used Man­duka is too slip­pery mid­way through prac­tice if you suf­fer from sweaty hands and feet.

Neither One Is Perfect

In my home stu­dio where I have the lux­ury of space, I go back and forth between the Man­duka and the Rev­o­lu­tion dur­ing daily prac­tice. I’ve learned to pre­fer one mat over the other for cer­tain poses — a clear sign that nei­ther one is ideal.

Maybe some­day I’ll be able to buy a mat with the won­der­ful dimen­sions of the Rev­o­lu­tion and the supe­rior grip of the Man­duka — and a shoul­der-friendly weight of 4–5 pounds.

That would be a happy day.