Yoga Mats - choosing one that's eco-friendly

When you put your mat on the floor it's an act of surrender.

Grab your mat. It's time.

Roll your mat on the floor.  It's me time.

Lie on your mat.  Yes.   This is Yoga time.

Union time.

All the thousand pressing issues of your life, the world and everything can fade away.  You can just inhabit the aliveness of this moment now as you enter into your world of yoga as you get onto your mat.

It's a ritual.

Although your mat is just a rolled up bit of plastic that you lay out in front of you, it's very presence puts your mind, your focus and your attention into all the wonder and mystery that can unfold on that mat.

So it's worthwhile investing in a good mat for yourself.

What is a good mat? Unless you've been living with your head under a rock, you will have some ecological awareness and the pressing issues of our time regarding pollution, recycling and use of plastics.

It's true that most yoga mats are plastic, the first mats were created in the 1980's by Sarah Chambers at Hugger Mugger.  She was developing the idea that arose in the 1970's of using carpet backing as a cushion for your yoga practice.

And so millions of mats have been made since then.  That's a lot of plastic.

Thankfully, in recent years, other more eco-friendly alternatives have come on the market.  So if you are wanting to research and find the best eco mat for you, you may be interested in this link to a consumer testing site that compares the eco-mats on the market

And remember it's one thing to purchase a mat (and super if you choose a good eco one) and let's not forget the most important thing is to use it.

Happy Practicing !

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