As a yogi, the place you may be spending most of your days is the MAT. And I’ll be honest, the search for a great mat can be daunting. It’s not the easiest of tasks, especially when you’re a newbie! I don’t blame you one bit. When I first started, I preferred spending $15 on a TJ Maxx mat in comparison to the pricier brand name mats ranging in price from $60-90.

After a few months of my students asking me for the best mat advice (and me giving a completely biased opinion), I decided to reach out to a few mat companies so that we may all try out a few mats and decide which mat we collectively liked best, as a Shala and as individual practitioners.

The three mats that I reviewed were: Afirmats, Jade & Manduka.

Affirmats was definitely my favorite mat. I loved the colors, the saying {I received the “i am free” mat}.

I was pleasantly surprised when this mat arrived in the mail. I had found out about this company on Instagram (side note: I love social media!) and knew nothing of the thickness, nor had I ever stepped foot on one of these mats. I loved the design and really wanted to know what the rage was all about. I’m so glad I did!

One of the reasons I enjoyed this mat so much was the texture, the medium thickness and the ability to slip around a bit. As a Prana Flow teacher, there is a lot of movement and flow on the mat and I appreciate not feeling as though I’m on a sticky mat when I’m transitioning from low plank to upward dog or moving between other poses.

I’ll be honest, the Jade mat wasn’t my favorite mat. When I received it in the mail I first noticed how thin the mat appeared in comparison to the other mats that were sent along. After using it as my travel mat for a week or so, I noticed that the mat was beginning to peel around where my hands lie in downward dog. I am really rough on my mat as I practice and teach every day, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of mat that would be able to hold me in my practice.

Manduka is a huge brand name in the yoga mat industry and I really wanted to get my hands on one. A lot of my colleagues and fellow yogis own Madukas and LOVE them. Often, the only complaint I hear from everyone is how heavy the mat is – in some cases the mat shipped to their home weighs 4 pounds!

When deciding which mat to review, I thought I would go for the Maduka Eko which is one of their lightest mats. I figured I would eliminate the only complaint I’ve heard and start with a nice “lightweight” mat.

The first thing I noticed is that although it is the lightest mat in their collection, it is still very heavy. The moment I stepped onto this mat I told my students it felt like I was walking on a cloud. It is soft and a really thick mat. Great for my students that have joint problems and anyone looking for a little more support.

The only con that I have for this mat is that it is super sticky. For someone who frequently does sweaty power yoga classes or is interested in having a slightly sticky mat for the support of not moving around the mat, this would be a great feature.

I am grateful to not only the mat companies that had me review their products, but also to my students who hopped onto the mat and took them each for a spin. It was nice to have a collective set of opinions wrapped into this post as I believe it makes this a more honest review. Although all these mats were sent to me as a sponsored post, all opinions are real and they are my own and those of my yoga students. I appreciated the opportunity to try new mats and take them all for a test drive!

I hope this review allows you to start the journey of buying your next mat!

Sending you lots of love, light & soulful sweat!
Namaste,
Jenny

This post is sponsored by Affirmats, Maduka & Jade.