HOW TO CHOOSE MY YOGA MAT?
Choosing a good Yoga mat is essential if you want to dedicate yourself to YOGA or PILATES without machinery. The reason we encourage you to invest in a good mat from the beginning is because if you use a 10 or 20 euro plastic, you are probably going to slip or the mat is going to slide on the floor with your movements and you are not going to be comfortable, you will be demotivated.
The 4 fundamental factors to choose mats are:
- The Style of Yoga you practice or want to practice: Each type of Yoga has characteristics that involve a different mat. For example, for the practice of BIKRAM, the perfect mats are MICROFIBER (because the surface of the mat has a “towel”) and it absorbs your sweat while you are in the room exercising at more than 35 degrees Celsius temperature.
For the practice of VINYASA FLOW, POWER YOGA, ASHTANGA, ROCKET YOGA and JIVAMUTKI, as they are dynamic yoga styles, you will most likely need a microfiber one as well (as a result of the sweat on your hands and feet).
There are other more spiritual and static types of Yoga such as YIN YOGA, HATHA YOGA, PRENATAL and RESTORATIVE. In these cases you could opt for an ecological PU mat, since you will not slip even if you do not sweat at all.
And from what you read, you can see that sweat is key to choosing your mat and that is why we go to the next factor.
- Sweat on hands and feet: Sun salutations are the best sequence in yoga to identify whether or not you can choose a mat. When you are a beginner, you still don’t know how to work the center of your body and it takes a lot of effort on your hands and feet to avoid slipping.
Precisely when you are a beginner is when you are most grateful to have the mat adapted to your needs, since when you become a more experienced yogi, you manage your gravity better and you can play to try with many mats without this intervening in your practice.
If you consider that you sweat in your hands and feet since the beginning of yoga classes, your perfect mat is the microfiber one. This will have a non-slip effect every time it is damp from your sweat or you spray it with water. Many people do not sweat at the beginning of the practice, but they do sweat as it develops (in these cases if your mat is microfiber you can spray it at the beginning of the class) and thus you will always have a good grip with this mat. If you identify with these aspects, you will see options for MICROFIBER MATS in our PREMIUM COLLECTION.
In the event that you never sweat or that your body warms up and sweats at the beginning of the practice, but your hands and feet do not sweat much, your best option is an Ecological PU mat. They are the most used internationally and you can see many well-known brands with this type of mat. We have 2 collections with this material on NATURAL RUBBER. If this is your case, you should see the following relevant factors to know if the CARAIBI PRO or a mat from the NATURA GRIP collection is more convenient for you.
- Thickness and measurements: Your physical characteristics also play an important role in choosing the mat. If you are a tall person, you are surely looking for mats over 180cm long to be able to make the SAVASANA fully lying on the mat. If your height is standard you will not have so many inconveniences to choose from, but it is clear that if you are tall you will also be heavy and the thickness of your mat must be enough to cushion each position. Therefore, in this specific case we recommend the CARAIBI PRO mat.
If your height is standard or average, the measurements of the mat will not be a problem, but taking into account your weight and the discomfort you have felt in your knees and wrists during the asanas (you should look for more or less cushioning). If you are light you can buy a 3mm mat and if you are heavy better a 4mm or 5mm one.
Normally in the brands of yoga mats you will see this filter to know the models that have each thickness. You shouldn’t buy a mat larger than 6mm because the thicker the mat, the more it will throw you off balance.
- The place where you will do your practices: The weight of the mat! It is important because it is true that carrying things from one place to another if they are heavy can be uncomfortable. Then you also need to know where you want to use your yoga mat.
If what you are looking for is a mat to leave at home or in the study (it does not matter the thickness and weight because you will not transport it frequently). If you plan to buy one to take from home to the studio frequently, the best is a 3mm one because they are not very heavy to transport and if you are resting your knees in one position and you feel discomfort (you can always bend it at that point of support). In the event that you are a traveler and you really do not have stability at home or in a specific area, it is best to catch the TRAVEL MAT, it is only 1m.
If you have any questions, you can also make a purchase and return it in the best condition within 15 days of receiving the mat. Remember that you can contact us by online chat or our email info@caraibi-shop.com.
