You’ll know you’ve discovered the very best yoga mat in your apply when it retains you so snug and regular in your ft that you simply barely discover it. Sliding on sweaty arms? By no means. Curling up on the ends? Not a factor.
Your mat is the spine of your yoga routine, whether or not you favor lessons at house or at an area studio, so we consulted specialists about easy methods to discover a tremendous one. Amongst our prime picks are editor favorites, together with a number of SELF Dwelling Health Award winners. And when you discover a mat that works for you, think about including yoga blocks and different useful props to your apply.
Our prime picks
- Finest General: Manduka Professional Yoga Mat, $138
- Finest for Scorching Yoga: Lululemon The Mat, $98
- Finest for Asana Yoga: Alo Yoga Chakra Warrior Mat, $138
- Finest for Taller and Larger Our bodies: JadeYoga XW Fusion, $200
- Finest for At-Dwelling Use: Bala The Play Mat, $99
- Finest Finances Choose: All in Movement Premium Health Mat, $30
On this article
Store the very best yoga mats
Our picks had been made that will help you glide.
Finest General: Manduka Professional Yoga Mat
This Dwelling Health Award–profitable yoga mat comes advisable by a number of instructors for its superior consolation and further cushioning. Holly Perkins, CSCS, calls it the Rolls Royce of yoga mats: “I like that it feels so substantial and doesn’t transfer on the ground—it stays caught! It’s thicker than most yoga mats, so it’s [also] nice for power workout routines, however not so thick that your ft stick in and are unstable,” she provides.
Jackie Skinner, a yoga teacher in NYC, and Jake Panasevich, a yoga teacher and health-science journalist in Philadelphia, additionally love the Professional mat’s thickness and stability. They each level out that it’s on the heavier aspect, although, so it’s higher if you happen to drive to a category or apply at house. That mentioned, I’ve owned this mat for 5 years—it nonetheless feels model new, by the way in which—and I depend on the Manduka’s Yoga Commuter Mat Service to sling it over my shoulder, which works like a allure.
Measurement: 71 x 26 in | Thickness: 6 mm | Weight: 7.5 lbs
Finest for Scorching Yoga: Lululemon The Mat
Lululemon’s rubber yoga mat is reversible, with a easy aspect and a grippier, textured one which’ll forestall your arms from sliding in sweat, even if you’re training in a sauna-like studio. Panasevich obtained a number of years of use—in indoor and out of doors lessons—out of his, and he’s fast to suggest it. “It offers sturdy grip, so that you don’t slide, and ample padding,” he tells SELF. “It’s lots huge for these with broader shoulders and taller of us, but not awkwardly cumbersome.”
Our Dwelling Health Awards tester sang this mat’s praises after testing it for at-home Pilates and barre exercises. “The tough, textural design and grippy floor allowed me to leap up and down for burpees and transition from standing to sitting exercises,” she mentioned. “Even with leaping jacks, the mat by no means slipped, which I skilled with many low-quality mats.”
Measurement: 71 x 26 in | Thickness: 5 mm | Weight: 5 lbs
Finest for Asana Yoga: Alo Yoga Chakra Warrior Mat
The design on this mat isn’t only for ornament—it has an asana grid etched into it, so you possibly can verify your alignment all through class. Plus, the floor texture is right for more durable flows: “It offers a non-slip floor, which implies if I take a sweaty sizzling yoga class, I don’t want to fret about slipping round on my mat,” Kylan Fischer, founding father of Flexible Babes and a yoga teacher in Sundown Seaside, California, tells SELF.
Measurement: 74 x 26 in | Thickness: 5 mm | Weight: 8 lbs
Finest for Taller and Larger Our bodies: JadeYoga XW Fusion
Jessamyn Stanley, an award-winning yoga teacher, writer of Each Physique Yoga, and founding father of The Underbelly yoga app, beforehand advised SELF that this extra-long XW Fusion mat from JadeYoga is her go-to. “I can’t suggest it extremely sufficient—it’s costly, however price each penny,” she mentioned. Because the model’s widest, thickest, and longest mat, it’s designed to suit and assist of us with bigger and taller our bodies.
Measurement: 80 x 28 in | Thickness: 8 mm | Weight: 9 lbs
Finest for At-Dwelling Use: Bala The Play Mat
Cute and curvy, the Play Mat is price contemplating for anybody with annoying aches. “Common yoga mats typically depart my wrists in ache as a result of they’re simply too skinny and do not shield my joints from the ground almost sufficient,” SELF’s senior commerce editor, Sarah Felbin, says. “My Bala mat, nevertheless, is so thick that I can do downward canines and solar salutations with out lacking a beat. It has simply the correct quantity of cushioning, however does not really feel squishy, both.”
It’s on the heavier aspect, so we suggest maintaining it at house—fortunately, it’s fairly sufficient to go away out. However if you wish to roll it up and take it on the go, SELF’s commerce director, Shanna Shipin, is a fan of the matching scrunchie that retains it from unfurling.
Measurement: 71 x 26.5 in | Thickness: 5 mm | Weight: 8 lbs
Finest Finances Choose: All In Movement Premium Health Mat 15mm
In the event you’re not an enormous yoga individual however nonetheless want a mat for Pilates, think about the Dwelling Health Award–profitable All In Movement Premium Health Mat. It’s made particularly for floor-based exercises, with further cushioning (15 milliliters!) for delicate joints. Our tester, who used it outdoors and indoors for quite a lot of exercises, confirmed this, saying it prevents stress from build up in her arms, knees, and ft.
The textured floor offers sufficient stability for a lot of workout routines, though the mat’s most likely too thick for balance-heavy exercises. The included carrying strap makes it straightforward to tote round too.
Measurement: 72 x 24 in | Thickness: 15 mm | Weight: 3 lbs
How we picked the very best yoga mats
A fantastic yoga expertise begins together with your mat. To ensure we’re solely recommending top-tier choices, we requested yoga and health instructors which mats they personally use and which actions they’re finest for. Plus, SELF employees examined a number of choices for months (some even received Dwelling Health Awards!) to crown our ultimate winners.
What to think about when selecting a yoga mat
A thicker mat is right if you happen to’re training on hardwood or primarily utilizing it for flooring poses and stretching. With sufficient supportive cushioning, you possibly can focus in your yoga apply, relatively than on uncomfortable stress factors.
Then again, some individuals could discover it simpler to stability and circulate extra dynamically on a thinner mat (usually below 4 millimeters). “Take heed to your physique: A thicker mat may really feel far more snug in your delicate knees, otherwise you may discover that you simply’re sinking an excessive amount of and wish one thing flatter,” Annie Strikes, a registered yoga teacher at Alo Strikes, tells SELF.
Most traditional yoga mats are 71 or 72 inches lengthy, however you will discover choices which are each shorter (68 inches) and longer (80 inches). In the event you’re on the taller aspect, it might be price searching for out an extended mat that’ll accommodate your physique, since many yoga poses contain a large stance (assume warrior II, downward canine, and goddess pose).
In the event you sweat so much or steadily go to sizzling yoga lessons, utilizing a mat with a non-slip floor will help preserve you from sliding round. Search for choices made with open-celled supplies like polyurethane foam, which is further absorbent. (You’ll nonetheless wish to usually clear your mat to stop micro organism buildup.) Bringing a yoga towel is one other method to keep away from training in sweat puddles.
There are additionally textured yoga mats, which characteristic grippy nubs alongside the highest that may give you extra stability. “You can too get mats with twin surfaces, that includes a easy floor on one aspect and textured grip on the opposite,” Chelsea Jackson Roberts, a yoga teacher at Peloton in NYC, tells SELF. In the event you apply each sizzling, fast-paced yoga and slower flows, a extra versatile possibility is perhaps your most suitable option.
A thinner, light-weight mat is right if you happen to typically take your mat on the go as a result of it could pack away simply. Thinner mats ought to have the ability to slot in carrying straps, roll up into your yoga mat or health club bag, and even fold down into compact squares.
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