Yoga Mat Review: Manduka pro® Yoga Mat
Score: 🙏🙏
Cost: $120
Size: 26” x 71” x 6mm
Weight: 7.5 lbs
Appropriate for: All kinds of yoga, towel required for even mildly sweaty classes.
Pros: Durable - this is the mat you buy for a lifetime. Thick and sturdy, but not cushiony.
Cons: Becomes a slip and slide when you get one drop of sweat on it. Heavy!
I bought my first Manduka mat the first year I started a daily Ashtanga practice and hated it for years. It was so slippery! I scrubbed it with sea salt and diluted white vinegar, advised by the internet that the mat comes with a slippery chemical coating that, once it wears off, unveils a stickiness that feels like home.
10 years later, there is finally a stickiness to the mat, but it disappears if I start sweating at all, necessitating a towel. Laundry issues aside, the thickness of the mat makes for a comfortable surface, but may not be squishy enough for more tender joints.