One of the questions I get asked the most as a yoga teacher — other than “can you teach me how to touch my toes?” — is:
“What yoga mat should I buy?”
Buying a yoga mat — especially if you’re relatively new to yoga — is actually pretty hard. It’s a super personal decision! Every yogi’s body needs something different, and while “yoga mat” sounds like a simple request… it’s definitely a little more complicated than that.
There’s a lot to take into consideration when buying a yoga mat.
What kind of floors do you practice on? If your floors are solid wood, you might need a denser, thicker mat. If your floors are padded, you can likely get away with a thinner, lighter mat.
Do you practice in a heated studio? The amount you sweat during practice — amplified by heat and humidity, of course — affects the grip you’ll need. Additionally, if you focus solely on hot yoga, you might prefer to top your mat with a designated mat towel, which means you might be limited in what size mat you can buy.
How tall are you? If you’re tall or tend to take up a lot of mat space, you may need a longer-than-usual mat. However…
Does your studio have mat markers? If your studio designated where you can lay out your mat, you may be restricted from buying longer or wider mats.
How far do you live from your studio? Do you drive, walk, bike or take public transit there? Mats can be heavy and bulky, and if you’re lugging yours across the city without a car every day, it can get taxing!
If you’re brand new to practicing yoga, I definitely suggest either renting or borrowing a mat from your studio or from a friend if it’s possible, before committing to purchasing a high end mat. If you find that you truly love yoga, just take the plunge and buy yourself a nicer mat from the get-go, rather than cycling through cheap mats that wear out easily. I wish I’d bought my high end mat sooner rather than later. It would have saved me a lot of money I spent on cheap mats, and is so much better for the environment!
With that said, three of the biggest mat brands in the yoga community are Manduka, Jade and Lululemon. We sell all three at CorePower Yoga, and — while I only own and routinely use one of them — I have practiced on all three before, so I feel comfortable enough to offer up my experiences and reviews!
(Pst! Affiliate links below!)
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MANDUKA
I’ll preface this with a full disclaimer: I have a Manduka PROlite Yoga Mat (average retail: $92) that I personally purchased for myself. With that said, I absolutely love it. I’ve had it for a little more than a year, and it’s seen more than 225 hours of studio time. (I told you: I spend a lot of time on my mat!)
There are a lot of reasons I love Manduka. The site offers a “find your perfect mat” quiz, where you can input details about your practice, and it will help you select a mat that best fits your needs. I feel like my PROlite is the perfect balance between weight and support — it’s not too heavy to carry from home to work to studio to home on the bus/ L, but it’s also not too thin for an hour-long vinyasa class — although my studio does have cushioned floors. It has a closed-cell design so it doesn’t absorb sweat (I usually practice in a heated room), which makes it incredibly easy to clean. It also lays flat when it’s unrolled.
Manduka also offers a free mat recycling program! It’ll accept any yoga mat, so if you’re upgrading an older, cheap mat, you can do it sustainably.
Of course, there are a few cons to Manduka mats. I truly do love mine, but they’re not perfect for everybody. The biggest con is the break-in period. Straight out of the box, this mat is insanely slippery. The first time I took my brand new mat to a studio practice I was sliding all over the place in downward-facing dog. Manduka recommends using salt, sunlight and regular practice to break your mat in, but the first few months (yes, months) of practice were so incredibly slippery I almost gave up and threw my mat out. However, once you do break your mat in (repeated practice really is the best way to do this), your Manduka mat will only get better with age. Mine still looks absolutely pristine. Another con is… the closed-cell design. Sweat pools instead of absorbing, which — while it’s a pro for cleaning — can be annoying during practice if you sweat a lot and don’t like to use a towel.
JADE
Jade is another reputable yoga mat retailer, and the brand’s Harmony Mat (average retail: $80) is a bestseller. Ironically enough, the Jade brand was actually created to solve a problem that frequently plagued other yoga mats: Slipperiness. With that said, Jade mats offer the absolute best grip you’ll find in a yoga mat.
Jade also offers a slightly more limited selection of mats and totes the Harmony as its go-to bestseller that works for just about everyone. It’s slightly
Additionally, Jade is very environmentally conscious. Its mats are made with natural rubber, are free from PCVs and are completely non-toxic. Also, Jade plants a tree for every yoga mat the brand sells. How cool is that?!
The cons? Jade mats just don’t seem to be as long-lasting as Manduka mats. Users report flaking and crumbling after only about a year of use. Because I don’t own a Jade mat, I can’t personally comment about the longterm durability of these mats.
LULULEMON
Finally, Lululemon — the Canadian brand that’s synonymous with Western-style yoga practice. Lululemon has a few different yoga mat styles available, but its two most popular are The Reversible Mat 5mm (average retail: $68) and The Mat 3mm (average retail: $58). The only difference between the two, of course, is the thickness. the 5mm is 2 mm thicker than the 3mm. (Math!)
First of all, this mat is — like the name says — reversible! There’s a slightly more slippery side, and a slightly tackier side… so depending on your practice, one side might work better that the other on any given day.
The cons? These mats scuff and stain so easily. It’s very rare that I don’t see a scuffed-up Lulu mat covered in sweat/ makeup/ oil stains during any given yoga class. Additionally, they have a very strong rubber/ plasticky smell that sometimes takes a while to fade.
The 3mm mat — while great for traveling — can also perform poorly during practice. It has a tendency to crease and bunch up with fast and frequent movement. However, the 5mm doesn’t seem to have this problem.
OTHER MAT SUGGESTIONS
While I don’t have any experience with the following brands, I’ve had students suggest Liforme, Gaiam and Alo mats as well. I’ve never practiced on any of the above, but definitely give them all a look when you’re doing your research!
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So! There you have it. Three of the most popular mats in the yoga community, and my thoughts on each, along with some crowdsourced opinions and observations.
Namaste!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.
This post has been edited since its original publication date in order to ensure content is still relevant. While the timestamped date on this post reflects the date it was originally published, it was last edited:
March 20, 2023.
