Eco-Friendly Yoga Mats

It seems that there are more and more varieties of yoga mats popping up every day! Not just plain old foam anymore. You can pick so much more than color now; with many material options and sizing, there are decisions to be made! It is important to me to try and live a sustainable lifestyle so I researched a few "eco-friendly" options.

The two mats I ended up with are cork and jute. The cork mat is from Valka Yoga and the jute mat is from Gaiam. (This is not a sponsored review.) Both of them have a rubber backing that is sustainably sourced and adds a nice 4-5mm pad.

Valka- The cork mat holds up great and easy to clean with soap and water. Cork mats are popular in the "Hot Yoga" world as the wetter they get the stickier the mat is. Not being a practitioner of hot yoga; I have not found any traction issues in every day vinyasa. The only downside is that the printing on the mat fades rapidly with use. This mat is about 2" longer than your standard mat which I appreciate being a taller yogi! A really cool thing about Valka is they plant a tree for every mat sold! Win-Win!

Gaiam - The jute topped mat has a beautiful woven pattern that adds not only visual interest but very good traction for even the slipperiest of feet. It has such a nice textural feeling. It is a standard size yoga mat so if you prefer a longer mat this may not be the one for you! This one again is easy to clean with soap and water. Highly recommend.

I hope this helps give you some insight in some alternative mat materials. I'm very curious about some linen mats that have just been introduced in the market so stay tuned for a future write up!