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Back to the Mat: Where’s the Stick?

November 23, 2011 •

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…

Still Waiting for the Perfect Yoga Mat

October 21, 2010 •

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. [Read more…]

The Quest for the Perfect Yoga Mat, Take 2

October 7, 2009 •

A while ago I wrote about my search for the per­fect sticky mat for in-home yoga prac­tice. I’m still look­ing, but have a more informed opin­ion based on fur­ther tri­als. It’s a toss-up between prAna’s Rev­o­lu­tion mat and my long-time favorite, the black mat pro from Man­duka. Both are top-of-the-line mats designed for seri­ous yogi­nis who want years of ser­vice from their sticky mat.

prAna Revolution Yoga Mat

There’s a lot to like about the Rev­o­lu­tion sticky mat, par­tic­u­larly its gen­er­ous pro­por­tions and rock-solid sta­bil­ity (shown here). It’s great for peo­ple with broad shoul­ders and long arms, like me.

yoga-matt-home-studio

I appre­ci­ate the fact that prAna worked with John Friend, the founder of the Anusara branch of yoga, to get deep insights into the right bal­ance of fea­tures and per­for­mance. Its aes­thet­ics are nice too, although the logo place­ment is a bit odd. In my expe­ri­ence the prAna Rev­o­lu­tion mat excels at bal­ance poses that require sta­bil­ity, such as Tree Pose, Crow or the war­rior poses.

Advan­tage: Man­duka

Now that autumn has arrived in Seat­tle, I’m less sat­is­fied when it comes to prac­tic­ing asanas on the Rev­o­lu­tion mat: the nat­ural rub­ber sur­face often feels cold and clammy under my bare feet. For bare­foot prac­tice in a chilly room, I def­i­nitely pre­fer the Man­duka Black Mat Pro.

Unfor­tu­nately, my hands and feet tend to get sweaty after 30 min­utes of prac­tice or so (or even sooner with vig­or­ous vinyasa series), and I don’t find the anti-slip qual­i­ties of the Rev­o­lu­tion to be effec­tive enough. To man­age the prob­lem of slip­pery hands and feet, I’m forced to use a yoga towel.

I’m also dis­ap­pointed with the Rev­o­lu­tion mat’s cush­ion­ing and resilience. It’s less “giv­ing” than I had been led to believe from the online reviews and prod­uct descrip­tions. When doing poses that put weight on fin­ger tips or bony knees, I strongly pre­fer my Man­duka mat. For an hour of asanas, the Man­duka offers a bet­ter bal­ance of cush­ion­ing and sta­bil­ity trade-offs. I also find the Man­duka to be less sus­cep­ti­ble to slip­ping when my hands and feet get sweaty – or maybe this is just the con­se­quence of two years’ of usage… The Rev­o­lu­tion has had fewer hours of “break-in” time.

For Yoga Classes Away from Home

Both the Rev­o­lu­tion and Man­duka mats are really heavy to carry to and from class (some­where in the 7–8 lb. range). I’ve tried both sev­eral times. Although they are way bet­ter for asanas than the typ­i­cal mats stocked by yoga stu­dios, they’ll make you work dur­ing the trans­port phase.

If you own the longer mats (the ones sized for tall peo­ple), nor­mal mat sacks are too small. As a result you either have to roll and then secure them with straps, or buy an extra-large car­rier. (Or look into sewing your own car­ry­ing bag, as I plan to do – once I find a suit­able fab­ric.)

I use the 85-inch Man­duka sticky mat at home, but find it way too big and heavy to carry back and forth. So I’ve recently pur­chased the stan­dard 71-inch Man­duka mat for use in class and keep it rolled up in my car­rier bag. It seems a shame to own more than one yoga mat, but this approach is a work­able com­pro­mise given the lack of a per­fect mat that suits all my require­ments.

Net net: the Man­duka Black Mat Pro still gets my vote as the best mat for a tall yogini.

The Quest for the Perfect Yoga Mat

June 25, 2009 •

See my lat­est post for an update on this quest.

For some time I’ve been look­ing for the per­fect yoga mat, but have not yet found it. Over time and with daily usage the mat becomes a kind of sacred place so it’s impor­tant that you find one that really fits your needs and val­ues. Here’s what I’ve learned over the past cou­ple of years. [Read more…]

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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.

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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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