Everybody experiences a slip or slide on their yoga mat from time to time.
You’re on your yoga mat in a particular posture, and you notice your hands or feet are slipping or sliding a little bit. It’s an annoying experience which compromises your ability to hold a pose and distracts you from what’s really important: the here and now of your yoga practice.
If you’re practicing on an old yoga mat, you might think it’s time to get a new one. That would be a wise investment, as yoga mats do wear out over time. So if old faithful has lost its luster, it’s time to buy a new yoga mat.
But you might find yourself in the opposite situation; namely, you just bought a brand spanking new yoga mat and you’re trying it out for the first or second time. Suddenly you feel your hands or feet slip or slide a bit, and you get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
“Oh no,” you think to yourself, “I hope I didn’t get a lemon. What’s wrong with this yoga mat?”
More likely than not, there is nothing wrong
It’s a normal concern for someone testing out a new mat. The good news is that, more likely than not, there is nothing wrong with your new yoga mat.
“But I’m slipping and sliding all over the place, just like Paul Simon,” you exclaim. “How can you tell me there’s nothing wrong?”
Well, I can’t tell you with 100% accuracy that there’s nothing wrong. But in the majority of cases, you will be dealing with one of two simple explanations. So I’m going to break these two cases down for you.
Case #1: Your yoga mat requires a break-in period
The first explanation is that your new yoga mat needs to be broken in. Think of a new pair of leather shoes. They might chafe your feet for a week or two, but eventually the leather softens and you’re left with a comfortable pair of durable shoes which will give you years of enjoyment.
The same principle is true for many types of yoga mats. When fresh out of their packaging, these mats have a slight protective film which must wear off before the yoga mat achieves its maximum grip.
So if you have a new yoga mat, you need to allow several weeks of daily practice before the film wears off and the yoga mat attains the level of traction you need for your practice.
You can speed up the break-in process by rubbing the mat with a cotton cloth before and after practice. You can also try spraying and wiping the yoga mat down with yoga mat cleaner.
But you don’t need to do anything special to break in the yoga mat. Just use it as much as possible, and you will see the traction improve within several weeks of regular practice.
(And, really, shouldn’t you be practicing every day?)
Case #2: You are practicing hot yoga (bikram yoga) with sweaty hands or feet
The second explanation is that you are practicing hot yoga, also known as bikram yoga. In hot yoga, you are practicing in a heated room which causes you to sweat profusely.
Under these conditions, your hands and feet will become very sweaty. Taken to an extreme, you might even find yourself in a dripping pool of sweat. All that moisture needs somewhere to go; otherwise, your hands and feet will certainly slip and slide.
Some yoga mats are porous and, being porous, they will soak up the sweat like a sponge. People practicing on this style of yoga mat will experience less slipperiness. But the flip side is that your yoga mat will accumulate the sweat and all the microbes that come along with perspiration. If that’s the case, you’ll need to clean that yoga mat on a regular basis.
Many people prefer yoga mats which will not absorb moisture, such as a yoga mat made from Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE). TPE yoga mats simply cannot absorb moisture because of the molecular make-up of the material. That makes them clean & hygienic, but their disadvantage is that the sweat will accumulate in pools on the surface of the yoga mat.
That moisture needs to be mopped up, and this is the perfect situation for a hot yoga towel. Place a yoga towel over your mat and it will absorb the sweat you throw off during your practice. When you’re done, you can just toss the towel into the washing machine and you’re ready to go for the next time.
By using a yoga towel, you make sure your hands and feet don’t slip or slide, and at the same time you keep your yoga mat nice and clean. And what was that expression about cleanliness? Cleanliness is next to — what? Well, you get the idea.
So, you have just learned the two most common reasons for slipping and sliding on a yoga mat. You are now empowered with the knowledge required to tame that yoga mat and get on with your practice.
Enjoy the process — and namaste from Dusky Leaf!