How to buy a good yoga mat?

With the popularity of yoga, there are more yoga mats on the market, which is dazzling. As a "smart" consumer, what else should we consider when purchasing, apart from price?

Taiwan's senior coach Lan Li suggested that the material is the most important thing people should pay attention to when purchasing yoga mats, and it is also the key to determining the price of the mat. You must not be blinded by the beautiful colors and ignore the quality.

Before purchasing a yoga mat, you should consider the following 7 points:

1. Whether it is easy to clean

2. When laying on the ground, is it easy to smooth and will not wrinkle?

3. Whether it is sticky

4. Will it slip after sweating?

5. Whether it is easy to carry

6. Is there a "use period" marked?

7. Whether the material is environmentally friendly and whether it will cause harm to the environment and the body

Based on the above points, Coach Lan Li provided four tips for your reference:

1. Use your thumb and index finger to pinch the yoga mat to see how it is pressure-resistant.

2. Wet a small piece of yoga mat and imitate the situation after sweating to see if it slips.

3. Use an eraser yoga mat to test whether the material breaks easily

4. Pay attention to the material of the yoga mat and choose an environmentally friendly one. Traditional yoga mats are made of PVC, which is a long-term source of plastic pollution and can pollute the environment. Moreover, the smell of plastic will also affect the effectiveness of the exercise. Environmentally friendly yoga mats are made of natural latex, hemp and other natural materials. They do not contain PVC and have no peculiar smell.

After having your own yoga mat, you should not only take care of it carefully, but also clean it frequently. In an interview with the Yoga Journal, Sharbeth, founder of Hango Mogg Yoga Products in the United States, suggested that to ensure hygiene, it is best to clean it every other week.

For ordinary simple cleaning, you can use two cups of water and 4 drops of dishwashing detergent to put it into the bowl. After spraying the yoga mat, you can dry it with a dry cloth.

If the mat is very dirty, you can use washing powder water to clean it. Keep as little washing powder as possible, because any residue will make the yoga mat slippery in the future. Gently scrub the mat with a cloth dipped in washing powder water, then rinse it off with clean water. Finally, roll up the yoga mat with a dry towel, suck off excess water and dry it in the air. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)