Travel Yoga Mat Guide

Using a travel yoga mat makes your footloose yoga sessions smooth and comfortable just like at home or in the ashram.

Have you ever been inspired to do your yoga on a glorious beach with the sun setting and pacific surf booming in your ears? Or have you felt the urge to perform your asanas beneath the trees in the park one sunny morning?

The problem was, you didn't have your yoga mat handy.

If you're a yoga afficianado and are heading off backpacking or out of state, there's no need to miss your practice.

Just pack away a travel yoga mat and unfurl it in your hotel, remote practice hall or campsite and you're ready to bend yourself into those asanas with safety and comfort.

They're also great if you're in a public gym or yoga studio and want to put your own personal layer on top of the provided mat or floor surface. This way you can take your own personal yoga zone with you anywhere.

Most yoga travel mats are compact compared to home or gym mats being around 22- to 24-inches x 68-inches. They also weigh less, generally under 1½ pounds.

Travel yoga mats are thinner than the standard item so make sure the surface you practice on is flat and solid. They're generally around 1/16 inch thick so you can really feel the floor underneath.

If you're in a cold climate and practicing on a concrete or linoleum floor, for example, you'll really feel the cold. So they're best used on grass, carpeted on other soft, level surfaces.

Because of their thinness, yoga practitioners prefer to put a towel or blanket on top of the travel yoga mat to provide more cushioning. Other than making the mats softer, they also absorb sweat.

If you're a yogi or yogini on the move, you'll appreciate that lugging a hefty yoga mat around is no fun. Get a travel yoga mat and enjoy the pleasures and benefits of yoga wherever you are. And get all the safety and stability of a standard yoga mat at the same time.

But don't buy a travel yoga mat just for regular use - they don't provide the cushioning you need for sustained practice unless you already have a soft surface to do your yoga on.

You'll find a host of fine vendors of yoga mats online.

Now let's look at yoga mat bags, the perfect accessory for a travel yoga mat.