Where to find yoga mat

This lets you dial in how much traction you need, whether you are doing hot yoga or restorative yoga, or are just someone who might sweat a lot. If you need even more real estate, the Reversible Big Mat is literally the size of a door.

These mats are on the heavy side, and the surface tends to show dust, dirt, and smudges that are hard to clean. Made of natural rubber, the Harmony mat feels like it suctions to your fingers and toes, and is especially good for hot yoga. But being rubber, it has that telltale odor, especially when new.

This mat has a strong rubber smell, at least for a while, which not everyone loves, and rubber also contains latex. If you have a latex allergy, try our rubber-free recommendation below. The PVC-made Performance Dry-Grip offers comparable stickiness, support, and cushioning to our two top picks, but without the latex. If you have an allergy to latex or dislike the smell of rubber, consider the 5-millimeter-thick Gaiam Performance Dry-Grip Yoga Mat.

It is made of polyvinyl chloride PVC and has ample cushioning and firm support that pleased our joints and grounded our standing poses. The smooth top layer, meant to wick away moisture, kept our hands and feet locked in place while allowing freedom for transitions during a flow. Not everyone wants to get all spendy for their yoga habit. In a world where these foam mats are a dime a dozen, YogaAccessories has produced a low-cost option of value. Expect to sacrifice some cushioning for that portability, though.

We found the traction of this mat to be as good as that offered by our rubber runner-up pick, also made by JadeYoga. This mat does have less cushioning than our other picks.

But if you prefer a plusher feel, our yoga instructor testers found that the Voyager stayed as secure when used on carpet or atop another mat as it did on the floor. To drill down on the trends and learn more about what hardcore yogis want in a mat, we interviewed Ashton August, founder of YogiApproved. To better understand environmental claims made by mat makers, we talked to Michael S.

Brown, PhD, of Brown and Wilmanns Environmental , a consulting firm that specializes in advising product manufacturers on how to make their products and practices more sustainable, as well as William Carroll, PhD , an adjunct professor of chemistry at Indiana University. For an update to this guide, we again checked in with Brown and Wilmanns Environmental, talking with co-founder Eric Wilmanns.

We also talked to Charles Gerba, PhD , a professor of microbiology and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona, and interviewed Tsippora Shainhouse, MD , a board-certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills and clinical instructor at the University of Southern California, to learn if a dirty yoga mat could make you sick.

Amy Roberts is a certified personal trainer and long-time amateur yogi with extremely discerning tastes when it comes to yoga mats, and nearly everything she buys. She has reviewed all manner of fitness products for Wirecutter, including running shoes , resistance bands , foam rollers , and pull-up bars.

Wirecutter senior staff writer Ingrid Skjong is a certified personal trainer and off-and-on yoga enthusiast. She has taken numerous yoga classes including prenatal yoga and knows when a yoga mat feels right and performs well. She has delved into other fitness-related reviews, for treadmills , connected indoor-cycling bikes , and GPS running watches. And as a result of the pandemic, interest in online yoga classes and virtual fitness classes in general has skyrocketed.

We also talked to the big-name manufacturers to learn what was new in their lines and to the founder of YogiApproved. We not only chose to test mats that people had reviewed well, we also aimed to find a wide variety of options in price, size, and material. We also looked at our previous yoga mat reviews to determine which products merited a second look.

Next, our intrepid yoga instructors set out to practice on each mat, evaluating overall experience while carefully weighing each of the following nine attributes:. In the meantime, we talked to environmental expert Brown to better understand the eco and materials claims made by the manufacturers, and germ expert Gerba and dermatologist Shainhouse to find out how important it is to keep your mat clean.

Finally, after our pro yogis turned in their extensive notes, we practiced on each of the top picks to get a personal feel for what attributes made each mat worthy of our recommendation. We shifted to an at-home practice, taking a variety of online classes on each mat and taking into account the full slate of criteria listed above. We even turned off the air-conditioning or spritzed our hands and feet with water to approximate ultra-sweaty conditions.

Lululemon The Reversible Mat 5mm aced our test for its impressive versatility. Sticky means it actually sticks; grippy refers to traction, created by a texture.

Getting the right padding in a yoga mat is a tricky balance. The dual-material makeup does the job well, though we found the rubber side to be even kinder to the knees. The Lululemon mat also comes in two sizes to accommodate different body types and preferences. Most people will be more than satisfied with the regular byinch mat, which is 3 inches longer and 2 inches wider than a standard mat.

It has ample space to keep you in its confines during a vigorous flow. Both are lighter to carry, rolled up, to class—the trade-off being reduced cushioning. The brand does offer a foldable travel mat, the Carry Onwards , which is 2 millimeters thick and not as strong as our pick for travel mats. Overall, this mat is a conversation starter, extremely stunning, and I always receive so many compliments and questions on it! Instructors can offer real-time feedback on poses for those who love a critique, and, of course, its AI skills track the daily progress of factors like flexibility and balance.

Alo Yoga Warrior mat. Shop Now. Yogi Bare Paws extreme grip yoga exercise mat. Heathyoga eco friendly non slip yoga mat. Yoga Zeal moon phases printed yoga mat. Sweaty Betty super grip yoga mat. JadeYoga travel yoga mat. Smiley Face. Wood Grain Design. Natural Rubber. Nitrile Butadiene Rubber.

PVC Polyvinyl Chloride. TPE Thermoplastic Elastomer. Air Dry. Care Instructions Not Provided. Clean With Water. Hand Wash. Spot Clean. Hot Yoga. Best of Baby - Online Exclusives. Carrying Case. Include out of stock. Sort by Featured. Choose options.

Free standard shipping Not at your store. Check nearby stores. Add for shipping. Shipping not available Not at your store. Check stores. Gaiam Printed Yoga Mat - 4mm. Gaiam Premium Reversible Yoga Mat - 6mm. Meister X-Thick 1. See price in cart. Free standard shipping. Yoga Direct Yoga Mat - 6mm.

People with the Gaiam call this a great choice for beginners because it has extra cushioning for comfort and support. This mat is awesome. The cushioning is perfect for my weak wrists. The design is perfect for a beginner yoga student that wants to look like she knows what she is doing.

So what if sometimes I lose balance? Classmates be so jelly. Not with this mat! At seven-feet long, this yoga mat is beloved those taller reviewers who typically find standard yoga mats too short. I got her this yoga mat and wow — she loves it.