Yes, it is that time of the year…
The students’ mats are taken off the shelf and placed next to the desk (you can’t miss it) in the change room in the studio. Please take your (and only yours) mat home for a thorough clean, then bring to the studio and place back on top of the shelves.
Giving some TLC to your trusty mat keeps it in great shape and extends its lifetime. Wiping the mat after every use is wonderful, but for health reasons, it’s recommended to ‘deep clean’ your mat every couple of months or so. Depending on how often you practice, this could be a monthly routine or something you do with seasonal changes. If you are the type of person, who have the tendency to build up a considerable perspiration during your practice (I definitely do), you can clean the mat more often.
How to clean yoga mats?
This depends on the material of the mat and your preferences regarding cleaning products (natural, home made or store bought). I would say, first check is the manufacturer’s website for cleaning instructions and tips. They made the mat, hopefully they know their product very well. Then depending on what type of cleaning the manufacturer suggests (which chemicals or liquids to avoid etc for example mats made of natural rubber require) you can get a cleaning solution or give a look to home-made ‘recipes’, using natural, house-hold items.
Most common brands and their cleaning instructions:
- Manduka (they use different materials for different mats, so read through carefully)
- Jade Yoga
- Lululemon (Take form – although the website doesn’t go into much detail, the upper side of the mat is natural rubber, so following the related instructions from the 2 links above should do the job)
In North Sydney Yoga, we use a mixture of plant based and natural sanitising solution, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and water for cleaning the mats.