So How Special Is Your Yoga Mat?

Mindfulness and calmness are two of the most popular adjectives that people usually associate with yoga. Termed as “one of the most ubiquitous symbols of yoga’s commercialization”, every single yoga mat signifies the rise and rise of yoga in the Western and European countries over the past several decades, starting from the thirties.

Fast forward to 2021 and you would find an all-pervasive presence and acceptability of this ancient Vedic meditation methodology. People from all parts of the world are gunning for the superlative positives that it offers along with an astounding development of one’s physical, mental, and psychological wellbeing.

For one, yoga mats are not only meant for doing yoga but they can also be used for meditation exercises like Zen and Tai-Chi, and to do aerobics every day. You can keep working on one such mat to have a better experience.

There are a lot of benefits of making these mats an integral part of your workouts, as follows:

1. Yoga is all about preserving the positive charges in your body. These mats provide insulation so the positive charges accumulated in your body during meditation do not flow back to the earth.

2. They provide thermal insulation.

3. They provide you with strong and firm support.

4. They are in line with the current fashion trends

5. They are available in many variants and are cost-effective

Probably the best way to use a yoga mat is to work with an online yoga trainer. With the sphere of contactless services growing around the world, it sure makes a lot of sense to stay in shape under professional guidance. Here’s a free guide to getting you started on the right note.

We are offering a simple six-point checklist for you to make a smarter buying decision. Before that, we would like to ask you to identify the exact stage you are at in terms of being a beginner, intermediate, or expert. Ascertaining this stage would be crucial to the results you might derive subsequently.

You should go with a mat that is stretchable, offers firm and padded support, easy to carry around, has better non-slip and anti-skid properties. It should also be washable and is free of nasty toxins. Last but not least, it should also be attractive enough so it goes well with your style statement.

PS: You should make sure that it is good enough to be taken to outdoor places like gyms, parks, beaches, and yoga studios. If you haven’t even started with this ancient Vedic meditation technique, you should read this article to know what you are missing out on!

Here’s the checklist:

1. Beginner:

a. You should be doing some simple forms of Yoga. You should thus go for a mat that is between five and eight mm thick.

b, If you are rather going for the more strenuous or advanced forms of exercise or meditation, you may settle for something that’s between four to six mm thick.

2. Intermediate:

a. Your goal could be to boost your concentration or lose some weight faster, you should also choose a mat that is four to seven mm thick.

b. You can also choose a special type of mat that offers extra padding of rubber at its base for better grip and comfort.

3. Expert:

a. You have a straight-out option of choosing a mat that is at max six mm thick.

b. You would be interested in long hours of meditation or aerobics, as such you should especially go for something that is made of natural substances like cork or jute.

Also read: Yoga Poses For Max Benefits In The Least Time

It won’t be too difficult for you to browse through those attractive and colored yoga mats on Amazon or Flipkart without paying any regards to their attractiveness. Useful as some of them are, you should be wary of buying a mat with a poor quality because it can hurt you in ways more than one. They can cause you backache, affect your posture, and may even leave you with chronic back pain in some cases too.

We would like to remind you that mats are supposed to offer a firm structure to your workouts and meditation sessions, and as such, it is important for them to be comfortable and sticky to a certain measure. They should not be too thin or too light that they cause you an issue while sitting. Secondly, they should also not be made of toxic materials like PVC and sulfur.

PS: Working out on a mat of spurious quality would only cause you more harm than good, especially over a longer period of time.

You may choose from high-quality TPE, reversible TPE, or Natural Rubber and Cork-based variants. These are some of the most popular yoga mats on online stores like Amazon and Flipkart too. All these variants are made of top-quality materials and are made to withstand prolonged hours constant use.

Available at a super affordable price range between INR 1590 and INR 1990, these mats are trendy, eco-friendly, suited for fitness-minded men and women alike, and come with enhanced anti-tear and anti-skid features. These mats are also wider, longer, and more durable than most of their counterparts.