I have very strong opinions about yoga mats, if you are interested, read on.
I have recommended Lifeforme mats to my students. I like them for their alignment markings. They really help people know where to place their hands and feet. They are also very attractive. One of my students said that her “Pink Gratitude Mat” made her smile every time she took it out of her bag. That nice feeling will carry over into your practice. But what I don’t like about them is that they don’t fold up easily. They bubble up when you try to fold them in half if you need extra cushioning for Sirsasana (Head Stand). Besides, you can draw your own alignment markings on a yoga mat. (Ask me how)
A Pink Gratitude Lifeforme yoga mat with alignment markings
Those of you who practice with me in my home studio know that I have small mat pieces on all of my yoga chairs. That’s because most of my students have mats that don’t fold very easily. In an Iyengar class, you are expected to have a thin mat that you can fold easily into fourths or even eights and it will sit nicely on a yoga chair seat.
Sometimes you need a to fold your mat and put it on a yoga chair for poses like Chair Sarvangasana (Chair Shoulderstand)
To do Chair Sarvangasana, I have a mat folded into 8ths and a folded blanket on my chair seat.
As an Iyengar yoga teacher, I get frustrated when students don’t have blankets to use. Instead, they buy thick and heavy yoga mats. Or, some students will even have two mats stacked on top of each other, but they don’t have any blankets. I get it; they want cushioning. But I think students would be better served by having one thin mat and a couple of blankets.
Thick mats are good for cushioning, but the truth is that you don’t always need cushioning everywhere. Thickness under your wrists and hands is not good for your wrists in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog). When the hands are placed on the floor, the fingers are usually lighter than the wrists. The wrists tend to sink into a cushioned mat. This puts the wrists at a more acute angle, increasing the pressure and sometimes pain on the wrists.
Thick mats are wobblier and make balancing poses more challenging.
When I was a younger yoga practitioner, I didn’t have any problems with my knees or the tops of my feet on the floor. But, as I’ve gotten older, the hard floor hurts. I didn’t buy a thicker yoga mat. I just use a blanket under my bony parts.
With a thin mat and a couple of blankets*, 2 blocks and a yoga belt, you have a very versatile yoga kit. You can use a blanket for cushioning. You can fold a blanket or two and make a bolster. With a couple of blankets, you can make a support for Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand). With 2 mats, you have, well, 2 mats.
Lugging around a heavy yoga mat can be a drag. Two blankets rolled into a mat would not be any bigger than two rolled mats and it might even be lighter. It is definitely more versatile.
The two rolled mats weigh 5 lbs and all you have is extra cushioning for your whole body. The thin mat and two rolled blankets weighs 3 lbs. You have enough cushioning to pad your knees and tops of your feet. Do you need extra cushioning anywhere else? Also, you have blankets that can be used to make a bolster, or a platform for Sarvangasana…
I have a heavy, extra big yoga (but not thick) mat at home that I love. But I never take it anywhere. It stays put because it’s just too big and heavy. I also have several other mats in different thicknesses and sizes. Plus, just about every other yoga prop you can think of.
I don’t expect you to throw out your current yoga mat, but the next time you are in the market for a new yoga mat, consider a thin light mat and invest in a couple of yoga blankets, especially if you want to do Sarvangasana in class. Sirsasana and Sarvangasana are important poses. As Geeta Iyengar says in her book: Yoga in Action: A Preliminary Course,** “If you practice asana, it is unpardonable not to do inversions.”
I’m researching lightweight yoga mats for travelling. I hope to do a couple of trips next year. I am testing the following three yoga mats:
Jade Yoga Travel Mat. $65, 68” x 24” 1.5mm thick, 2 lbs.
Gaiam Yoga Folding Travel Mat. $25, 68” x 24” 2 mm thick, 2 lbs.
Manduka eKO Superlight Yoga Mat for Travel. $52, 71” x 24” 1.5 mm thick, 2 lbs.
By the way, in the articles and reviews I have been reading about using a travel mat, the reviewers talk about using their yoga mat on the beach. I do not recommend doing that! It is very hard to get the sand out of a yoga mat. Yoga mats were designed to use on a hard, flat floor. Travel mats were designed to be lightweight and foldable to be able to pack into your suitcase. They were not designed to be used on sand. If you go to the beach to do yoga, use a towel. When I’ve done yoga out in the woods, I just keep my hiking shoes on for standing poses and sit on my microfiber towel for seated poses. I often carry a small, cut piece of mat in my back pack for headstands. It comes in handy for other things, too. But, I do not put my yoga mat on the ground! Ever! Unless I am about to trash it.
*I typically don’t ask students to buy yoga bolsters right away. Having a bolster is a great yoga accessory, but, like a heavy yoga mat, you can’t do anything else with it. With a couple of blankets, you can make a bolster. But, if you just have a bolster, you can’t make a support for Sarvangasana.
**Yoga in Action: A Preliminary Course $25 + $10 shipping from the IYNAUS bookstore.