Also great: Lululemon The Mat 5mmPhoto: Michael Murtaugh

Lululemon’s The Mat 5mm is a versatile mat that provides ample support in regular and hot yoga settings. It’s slightly thicker than our top pick and has a less pungent smell, but is harder to store and travel with. We found that sweaty body parts often stick to the surface, and it attracted more dirt and showed more signs of wear than our top pick. It’s also the heaviest of our picks (and the larger size option, The Big Mat 5mm, is heavier still).

It’s versatile, with two differently textured surfaces. The Lululemon mat has two sides—one smoother that has more traction, and a grippier side made of natural and synthetic rubbers that we found has a bit less traction but still didn’t cause much slippage. The rubber side is akin to the feel of JadeYoga Harmony Mat, although its material is less sticky and squishy. One tester remarked: “It’s not grabbing me, but I don’t slip on it.”

We found the smooth side was wonderful for gentler practices, while the grippier side was better for more intense workouts. During hot yoga sessions, sweat didn’t bead up on the mat, which enhanced our stability. The rubbery smell wasn’t as bad as that of the Harmony Mat, but it was still noticeable at least for a week after first use.

Lululemon’s The Mat 5mm is double-sided. The polyurethane side (above) is smooth but not slick. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

It’s great for knee support. The Lululemon mat is slightly thicker (5 millimeters) and heavier (over 5 pounds) than the Harmony Mat, and 3 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the standard 68-inch mat; we could feel that extra bit of cushioning, particularly when on our knees.

It’s durable and withstands tough conditions.This mat can serve faithfully for years. One tester said: “I have moved with it across the country, thrown it in the back of my car where it sat for days at a time in 100 degree Austin heat, and trekked it through snow down Brooklyn sidewalks to class. I think mine is nearly a decade old and is still in great shape.”

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It stains more easily. Compared with our top pick, this mat attracts more dust and is more susceptible to staining (some colors come with a dark, marbled pattern on one side, which can hide these deficiencies). One tester who’s had the mat for five years has noticed discoloration. Lululemon says to wipe the mat clean with a damp cloth and air-dry.

It can be sticky when wet and doesn’t unroll as nicely as our top pick. Beware: sweaty skin sticks to this mat. The mat did not show much memory when unrolled, and it curled at the ends a lot. A company spokesperson told us the mat should never be rolled up when wet—this can cause the mat’s layers to peel or separate.

Budget pick: Yoga Accessories 1/4" Extra Thick Deluxe Yoga MatPhoto: Michael Murtaugh

Cheap yoga mats are a dime a dozen. But the Yoga Accessories 1/4″ Extra Thick Deluxe Yoga Mat stands apart. It compresses more than denser mats and doesn’t provide optimal traction, but it provides enough grip and cushion (6.2 millimeter thickness) for most exercises. It’s made entirely of PVC and is odorless. At 74 inches long, it’s 6 inches bigger than most standard mats, which is good for taller people. It also comes in extra-long-and-wide (84 by 36 inches), extra-long (84 by 24 inches), and extra-wide (72 by 36 inches) sizes.

It’s a lightweight, easy-to-carry mat. Despite this mat’s extra length, it’s relatively lightweight at just 3.6 pounds. You won’t get as tight a roll as with our top pick, but it shouldn’t unroll much during transit. (A strap or other mat-carrying device should keep the roll tightly in place.)

This PVC mat is easily portable, but it’s slicker than natural rubber mats. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

It’s best used in dry conditions. This mat provides some stickiness and feels best with dry hands and feet; it can be somewhat slick when wet.

It holds up well over time. During daily usage, our testers didn’t note any fraying or shedding from the mat bits. One tester has used the Yoga Accessories mat for two and a half years for yoga, HIIT, and other workouts. It can be easily cleaned with soap and water. (On its website, Yoga Accessories carries Vermont Soap Yoga Mat Cleaner.)

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It is unlikely to last as long as our other picks. And this mat might be more difficult to dispose of since it’s made of PVC. Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, said that flexible PVC not only contains plasticizers but “heat that may be used in recycling can release hydrochloric acid,” and both factors make it difficult to recycle. “PVC is the most harmful plastic for communities where PVC is made and disposed of,” added Erika Schreder, science director for Toxic-Free Future. Although our testers didn’t experience an unsafe amount of slippage, several customer reviews have said the mat feels slick.

What is the most environmentally friendly yoga mat material?

Many companies that make yoga mats try to appeal to environmentally conscious, wellness-focused shoppers. For this guide, we considered mats made of various rubbers, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), cork, and other materials. No yoga mat is without environmental impact, and the experts we spoke to said that if you’re concerned about sustainability, the best advice is to choose a mat that will last a long time.

“The durability and useful life of yoga mats are key factors in determining their environmental impact,” Gregory A. Keoleian, co-founder and co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, wrote in an email. “The more you use a yoga mat before discarding it, the lower the impact per use (e.g. carbon emissions/use). This is one of the simplest ways to lower the environmental footprint in using a mat.”

If you’re concerned about sustainability, the best advice is to choose a mat that will last a long time.

However, there are some differences across materials. For example, PVC mats may contain plasticizers such as phthalates to lend the material its flexibility. PVC is also difficult to recycle, because the markets for recycling it are quite poor, said John D. Atkinson, an environmental engineering professor at the University at Buffalo.

Natural rubber is sourced from rubber trees, which can be managed responsibly as a renewable resource. But even natural rubber mats may contain additives, said Erika Schreder, science director for the advocacy organization Toxic-Free Future. Lululemon advertises its mat as being made with rubber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means that a third party has certified that the material is sourced from responsibly managed trees. But the company has drawn criticism for the existence of carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) above the state of California’s legal limit in its latex-containing yoga mats. Lululemon has agreed to remedy this issue, and according to a Lululemon spokesperson, the company “began phasing in reformulated latex mats into stores everywhere and online last season.”

When responsibly managed, cork is generally considered to be renewable, biodegradable, and recyclable, and may make use of byproducts from the wine cork industry. But even cork can be difficult to dispose of properly once it’s made into a yoga mat. “There is no widely available infrastructure for recycling cork yoga mats so they are likely disposed of in landfills like rubber and PVC mats,” said Keoleian. “Cork bonded to a rubber or another type of elastomer backing makes it difficult to recycle.”

No matter the material, you may be able to find a second use for a yoga mat after it’s worn out, such as for furniture cushioning or an anti-slip surface.

Other good yoga mats

If you’d prefer a heavier all-rubber mat: The Manduka eKO Mat 5mm is similar to our top pick. It is plush and grippy with a subtly striped surface texture (reminiscent of tree bark) that performed well damp or dry in our tests. The mat weighs 7 pounds—2.5 pounds more than our pick, the JadeYoga Harmony Mat—and its 5-millimeter thickness (the Harmony Mat is about 4.75 millimeters) cushioned comfortably. We didn’t get quite the locked-in-place feel the Harmony Mat provides, due to the Manduka mat’s smoother surface. But it is still plenty grippy and grounding. Like our top pick, this mat gave off a fairly pungent odor in the beginning, which eventually faded away.

If you want a cork mat: Consider 42 Birds’s The Robin Cork Lightweight Yoga Mat, which has a moderately cushioned TPE base. This 4-millimeter-thick mat surprised us, and many of our testers, with how smooth but grippy the cork felt. (42 Birds cites a 5-millimeter thickness.) The nature of cork allows you to break a sweat without sticking to the mat (making this mat a great choice for hot yoga), and its texture is more slip-resistant. Weighing about 2 pounds, this mat is considerably lighter than our picks; it’s also a bit roomier (72 by 26 inches). Note that this mat can only be rolled with the cork side on the outside or else it can crack—it’s also more susceptible to premature damage if you bend it.

If you’d like a dual-sided, latex-free mat: The Gaiam Performance Dry-Grip Yoga Mat is a PVC mat that measures 68 by 24 inches, like our top pick, but is slightly thicker at 5 millimeters. A smooth top layer did well at keeping our hands and feet in place without having them sink into the mat. “It’s plenty thick enough to support my wrists and joints for vinyasa flows or mat pilates, and while you’d still likely need a lightweight towel if you’re doing something like hot yoga, the grippy finish is a game changer for classes where you work up a sweat,” a long-term tester said. This mat has a strong odor that took more than a week to fade away, and it’s prone to sweat streak markings (although they didn’t cause slippage during workouts). It can also pick up a lot of lint and other debris.

If you want a larger natural rubber mat: The Clever Yoga LiquidBalance Non-Slip Yoga Mat is a generously sized (72.8 by 26.8 inches) natural rubber and polyurethane mat. Our hands and feet never slipped on its smooth, sticky, polyurethane surface, and it doesn’t show sweat stains much. (We tried the LiquidBalance mat in black; lighter colors may tell a different story.) It comes with a carrying bag, which is helpful considering it weighs a hefty 6.5 pounds—2 pounds more than our top pick. And it typically costs around $45 more than the Harmony Mat.

If you need a foldable mat for travel: The JadeYoga Voyager Mat has been our favorite travel mat for several years because it folds small and provides above average traction. We’ve yet to find a really excellent travel mat, but if you need something more than a towel that doesn’t take up a lot of space, the Voyager mat serves its purpose. It isn’t slippery and doesn’t shift or slide during use, but just be aware that it doesn’t provide as much cushioning as a standard yoga mat. At 1.5 pounds, it’s barely noticeable in luggage.

The competition

This is not a comprehensive list of all the mats we’ve considered. It includes models we’ve tested that are still available.

The first thing we noticed about the Alo Warrior Mat (5 millimeters thick) is how heavy it is, weighing almost 8 pounds. That made it a bit strenuous to roll and unroll and even harder to travel to class with. The mat has good grip, but in our experience, it became slippery when it began to absorb more moisture.

The Aurorae Classic Thick Yoga Mat, made of polymer environmental resin, had divided results. It has cushiony padding, good stickiness, and included a rosin bag, which helped a bit with grip when hands got sweaty—up to a point.

We tried the 6-millimeter-thick version of the rubber B Halfmoon B Mat Strong (the company also offers 10-, 4-, and 2-millimeter versions). It is lightweight and easy to roll, and it did well in preventing indentations and scratches. The mat was very grippy when dry, but became slippery when wet and then took a long time to dry. The mat also stretched slightly when in positions like downward dog.

The Clever Yoga High Density Starter Yoga Mat is made of TPE and is a cushy 6.35 millimeters thick and generous 72 by 25.25 inches. Though spacious and lightweight, it lacks a satisfying heft. We slipped a bit on the surface, particularly when it was damp, and despite the rippled texture on the back of the mat, it didn’t stay in place on the floor quite as well as others we tried.

The Cork Collective’s rubber-base Sardinia mat is beautiful, but our testers found it too heavy (5.2 pounds) and too thin, both in terms of thickness and width (2 millimeters and 23.8 inches, respectively, according to our measurements). The company advertises that the mat is 4 millimeters thick and 26 inches wide.

We tried two 5-millimeter mats from Gaiam: the Gaiam Classic Solid Color Yoga Mat and the Gaiam Athletic dynaMat. One tester noted the Classic mat “looks luxurious and good, but is not forgiving—I don’t feel particularly cushioned.” It also curled at the ends more than other mats when rolled flat, and it attracted a lot of dirt. The Athletic dynaMat warded off dirt better than the Classic mat with its more grainy texture and is wider and longer than most mats, measuring 78 by 26 inches. It’s a decent mat if you’re looking for something bigger, but isn’t great in hot yoga.

Gaiam’s smooth Cork Yoga Exercise Mat has a TPE base, and our testers mostly liked using it. But some found themselves slipping more on this mat than on the 42 Birds Robin Cork Lightweight Yoga Mat, especially when dry. This mat also showed creases within a week.

Gaiam’s Premium 2-Color Yoga Mat and Reversible Yoga Mat are similar: Both are 6 millimeters thick and more squishy and soft than supportive. Each has a textured, softly nubby surface that lets fingers and toes grip easily. The stickiness is there, though at times it feels like literal stickiness—as if a faint coating of something were on the mat (though it’s most likely just the PVC material).

The Greater Goods Yoga Mat comes with a carrying strap. But it was prone to huge sweat stains, and when we tried some exercises with kettlebells on it, the imprint of the kettlebell company logo became smushed into the mat. “It feels oily and synthetic,” one tester observed. Others pointed out a bad smell, with one tester comparing it to the scent of gasoline.

The B Halfmoon Mighty Mat had fans among readers who commented on a previous version of this guide. Our testers were only mildly impressed by it, finding the mat difficult to unroll and the surface just okay for practice.

We tested the Hugger Mugger Para Rubber XL Yoga Mat, measuring 78 by 28 inches. Though our yogis enjoyed practicing on the extremely grippy, luxuriously thick (6.2 millimeters) natural rubber mat, they found it very heavy to haul around (10 pounds) and extremely pungent.

The Kulae tpECOmat Ultra Yoga Mat is made of a TPE material with an extra-plush 8-millimeter thickness. Some testers were big fans of the lightweight yet densely cushioned material, particularly in restorative yoga practice during long-held floor poses. But in hot yoga it was slippery, and the material stretched a bit underfoot. Its thickness makes this mat a bit unwieldy to carry when rolled up.

The Liforme Original Yoga Mat has a dual-layered polyurethane and rubber makeup, helpful alignment markings (so you know where to place hands and feet), and a high price—almost 50% more than our top pick. We really liked the mat for its stickiness in both hatha and hot yoga, its relatively lightweight construction, and the handy bag it comes in. But its thickness of less than 4.8 millimeters might not offer enough cushion for some people.

The pricey Maiya Padma Yoga Mat is generously sized (73 by 25.5 inches) and has a slightly textured surface. At 5 millimeters thick, it feels plush and supportive, but in our testing it was slippery (damp hands slid even more).

Manduka’s GRP Adapt Yoga Mat 5mm has great grippiness, doesn’t stretch, and at 5 millimeters thick, is easy to store. It’s double-sided and stood up well in hot yoga, but had a strong smell—our yoga instructor suggested not using it right out of the package and letting it air out first. One of our testers said the mat became squeaky when they pivoted and sometimes found it difficult to switch positions. Other testers also noted their skin getting stuck to the mat when sweaty.

The Manduka Pro and the thinner Prolite polyurethane mats have legions of fans who praise them for their durability, which the company backs with a lifetime guarantee. The lingering problem in our testers’ minds: The surface requires extensive breaking in before it’s sticky. The company recognizes this issue and suggests giving these mats a scrub with salt and water while breaking them in.

The natural rubber Rumi Sun Yoga Mat takes an interesting approach to grip: The mat has a cotton-fiber-blend fabric mesh set into its surface, which provides some texture. We ultimately found the mat to be almost too rough. Its surface provided a decent amount of grip during both dry and sweaty conditions, but this is not a sticky mat (we experienced some slipping).

Our testers found the SugaMat, made of recycled wetsuits, too coarse for comfort.

The Toplus 1/4 Classic Yoga Mat is another cushiony 6.35-millimeter-thick mat made of TPE. Though comfortable for floor poses, it didn’t roll out quite flat for us and felt like it stretched a bit during certain poses like Warrior 2. It has an almost sueded texture and a fairly grippy surface, and though it’s exceptionally light, it doesn’t feel substantial.

The dual-layer Yoga Design Lab Combo Yoga Mat is a towel-fused rubber mat that’s designed specifically for hot yoga—you can even machine-wash it. However, our testers struggled with its lack of stickiness when dry and wet.

Yoga Hustle’s The Mat, made of natural rubber with a polyurethane top layer similar to that of Lululemon’s The Mat 5mm, is 2 inches longer and 1 inch wider. But it’s slightly thinner (4.5 millimeters) and about $40 more expensive. It didn’t stand out as markedly better.

The Yogamatters Sticky Yoga Mat was an appealing budget option, but we found a few faults right away. One tester stopped using the mat halfway through a class when they began to slip during Warrior 2 pose. (They said they were barefoot and not very sweaty.) Other testers thought it felt thin, with one comparing it to laying “on a floor during a sleepover.”

The Yoloha Original Cork Yoga Mat, made with a foam base containing sugarcane and EVA, cracked when a tester bent the mat. Its grip and cushioning are comparable to that of the 42 Birds cork mat we like, but some testers felt that its texture was too rough.

Travel yoga mats

We’ve tested six yoga mats meant for travel. None of them are particularly great: They are too thin to provide real support. But if you want or need a mat specifically for travel, the JadeYoga Voyager Mat, which we review above, is the one to get.

The Gaiam Foldable Yoga Mat folded down nicely, but a tester complained about the PVC being very slick during hot yoga and they “actually had to stop using [the mat] 20 minutes in.”

Lululemon’s The Lightweight Mat 5mm has the same smooth but grippy texture that our yoga instructors loved on the company’s The Mat 5mm. It is much lighter to carry but also far less cushioned. Unfortunately, it can’t be folded easily—its rolled length of 26 inches is too long to fit inside most backpacks or carry-on suitcases.

The Khataland YoFoMat is bulky (it takes up twice the space of similar mats), cheap feeling (even though it isn’t cheap), and slick to the touch.

The natural rubber Manduka eKO SuperLite Travel Yoga Mat 1.5mm got great reviews from our testers for its portability. Weighing just 2 pounds, it’s nearly as light as the JadeYoga Voyager, but it doesn’t fold down quite as compactly. In hot yoga, we noticed slippage from the get-go.

The top surface of the Toplus 1/16 Suede Natural Rubber Travel Yoga Mat has a nice feel, and the mat comes in a tidy plastic sleeve for storage. But our testers were not impressed with the traction and preferred the JadeYoga Voyager Mat.

We also considered YogaPaws, a set of padded gloves and socks that could easily be the most portable mat-replacement option for traveling yogis. Unfortunately, none of our testers much liked practicing in them. Even the thinner version feels thick under your hands and feet, and the socks have a tendency to shift around as you practice.

Sri Rain Stewart, Ingrid Skjong, and Amy Roberts contributed reporting. This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.

Originally Published via Wirecutter 

Author - Seth Berkman

Original source - https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-yoga-mats/