Best mats

[TheRealMaryMillington]

I have just seen a yoga mat that costs £135. It is cork, and apparently will last me until I'm 80 and is both indestructable yet biodegradable. Any apparently I will never again slip on my sweaty mits in down dog to the point where I nearly stove my chin in.

I will not be buying it. I am not that silly.

But what's the best mat you have used, esp for hot/sweaty yoga?

It turns out my studio are selling the 4mm manduka eko lite for £45, which does look and feel very nice. I'm dithering right now between that and the eko. The eko gives an extra 5cm in width of premium studio floor space in a very crowded class, but is a good deal heavier and also a bit squishier. I'm wondering if squishier might mean I'm less grounded and slightly more unstable. Does anyone have any further thoughts or advice?

Just to say that I agree that extra squish would make me feel less stable. Have you been able to try either out during a class? £45 is a fab price by the way.

Squished makes me less stable, too. Yoga class in a beach resort (read: not very "yoga") was on 1cm foam mats. After a few minutes of sun salutations, my arms & shoulders started to ache & I just continued on bare parquet floor.

Squishier, rather.

Thanks for your advice myrtle and cote. No, I haven't had an opportunity to try either mat out, I only got to prod a corner of a rolled up mat that was for sale. It's not ideal.

I generally don't mind a thinner mat for most things, although my knees are starting to get a bit dodgy. It may just be splitting hairs between the 2 mats in terms of thickness, so if I get the eco over the eco lite it will probably be for the width alone. I'm just not sure if it's worth the extra expense and having to lug a much heavier mat around with me.

In the end I plumped for the manduka eko lite 4mm. I ordered direct from the EU distributer, which works out slightly cheaper than my studio. Hopefully, it should arrive sometime this week.

It sounds awesome Let us know how it feels.

Cool! Which colour did you get? I'm intrigued that you can order from the distributor for an even better price, that's good to know. I really hope you love it :)

I ordered a blue/turquoise one direct from Manduka. They are 55 euro, including free delivery. I also got a 10% off code and as the euro is weak right now that will probably work out around £35. I am chuffed with that!

Oh that's a serious bargain! Well done you :) I love that colour combination too. When I got mine there were only a couple of options in stock and I went for the acai. Please report back when it comes and let us know how you get on with it :)