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 just barely discover it. Sliding on sweaty fingers? 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 courses at house or at a neighborhood studio, so we consulted consultants about learn how 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 can assist you glide.
Finest General: Manduka Professional Yoga Mat
This Dwelling Health Award–successful yoga mat comes really useful by a number of instructors for its superior consolation and additional 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 in case you 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 best way—and I depend on the Manduka’s Yoga Commuter Mat Provider to sling it over my shoulder, which works like a attraction.
Dimension: 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 clean aspect and a grippier, textured one which’ll forestall your fingers from sliding in sweat, even whenever you’re working towards in a sauna-like studio. Panasevich obtained a number of years of use—in indoor and out of doors courses—out of his, and he’s fast to advocate it. “It offers robust grip, so that you don’t slide, and enough padding,” he tells SELF. “It’s loads massive for these with broader shoulders and taller people, 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.”
Dimension: 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’ll be able to examine your alignment all through class. Plus, the floor texture is right for harder 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 Seashore, California, tells SELF.
Dimension: 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 informed SELF that this extra-long XW Fusion mat from JadeYoga is her go-to. “I can’t advocate 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 people with bigger and taller our bodies.
Dimension: 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 go away my wrists in ache as a result of they’re simply too skinny and do not defend 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 advocate holding 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.
Dimension: 71 x 26.5 in | Thickness: 5 mm | Weight: 8 lbs
Finest Finances Choose: All In Movement Premium Health Mat 15mm
In case you’re not an enormous yoga individual however nonetheless want a mat for Pilates, think about the Dwelling Health Award–successful All In Movement Premium Health Mat. It’s made particularly for floor-based exercises, with additional cushioning (15 milliliters!) for delicate joints. Our tester, who used it exterior and indoors for a wide range of exercises, confirmed this, saying it prevents strain from increase in her fingers, knees, and ft.
The textured floor offers sufficient stability for a lot of workout routines, though the mat’s in all probability too thick for balance-heavy exercises. The included carrying strap makes it straightforward to tote round too.
Dimension: 72 x 24 in | Thickness: 15 mm | Weight: 3 lbs
How we picked the very best yoga mats
An amazing yoga expertise begins along 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 workers examined a number of choices for months (some even gained Dwelling Health Awards!) to crown our closing winners.
What to think about when selecting a yoga mat
A thicker mat is right in case you’re working towards on hardwood or primarily utilizing it for flooring poses and stretching. With sufficient supportive cushioning, you’ll be able to focus in your yoga apply, quite than on uncomfortable strain factors.
Alternatively, some folks might discover it simpler to steadiness and movement extra dynamically on a thinner mat (sometimes underneath 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 just’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 yow will discover choices which are each shorter (68 inches) and longer (80 inches). In case you’re on the taller aspect, it could be price searching for out an extended mat that’ll accommodate your physique, since many yoga poses contain a large stance (suppose warrior II, downward canine, and goddess pose).
In case you sweat quite a bit or often go to sizzling yoga courses, utilizing a mat with a non-slip floor may also help preserve you from sliding round. Search for choices made with open-celled supplies like polyurethane foam, which is additional absorbent. (You’ll nonetheless need to usually clear your mat to forestall micro organism buildup.) Bringing a yoga towel is one other technique to keep away from working towards in sweat puddles.
There are additionally textured yoga mats, which function grippy nubs alongside the highest that can provide you extra stability. “You may also get mats with twin surfaces, that includes a clean floor on one aspect and textured grip on the opposite,” Chelsea Jackson Roberts, a yoga teacher at Peloton in NYC, tells SELF. In case you apply each sizzling, fast-paced yoga and slower flows, a extra versatile possibility could be your most suitable option.
A thinner, light-weight mat is right in case you typically take your mat on the go as a result of it could actually pack away simply. Thinner mats ought to be capable of slot in carrying straps, roll up into your yoga mat or gymnasium bag, and even fold down into compact squares.
Associated:
Get extra of SELF’s stellar product suggestions delivered proper to your inbox (free of charge!).