The Yoga Chant - Summer 2007

Towards a More Earth-Friendly Yoga Mat

By Glenda Morrison, yoga instructor
Body-Mind Workouts

For many yoga practitioners, our yoga mat is a refuge and a foundation; a friend of our practice. My yoga mat is a very precious possession. The hours I have spent on my classic rubber sticky mat and the integral part it had played in helping my body open and stretch successfully makes it very dear indeed.

Several months ago however, niggling second thoughts began to develop.

It is true that nothing gives a yoga practitioner more secure footing for critical alignment in asanas than the sticky rubber compounds that go into a classic yoga mat like mine. Few would argue the importance of good footing. So what's my problem? Like many I am becoming more and more aware of the ecological impacts that living my life have on my environment and the planet I inhabit. I have begun to turn a careful eye to many of my practices and have felt good about reducing my personal consumption and pollution. It was in this reflective mood that I began to look at my own dear yoga mat in a slightly different light. I must have always known that it is made of petroleum based textile, only now it came home to me how “un-yoga” the material itself is. Being unable to switch to a more natural "yoga-esque" textile to produce safe comfortable yoga mats, I began to look at the next best thing. I began to look for earth-friendly, recyclable materials.

Recyclable textile means that mat material can be produced in such a way that it carries none of the unfortunate toxic compounds that go into regular mats and that make them unsuitable for recycling. Being able to safely recycle my yoga mat once it is worn and needing to be replaced, feels good to me. I found that if an item follows the global Oeko-tex 100 standard, then dangerous impurities have been eliminated and the item has been produced in an environment where emissions and waste are kept to very stringent minimums.

Feature Product Karma Eco Mat

Body-Mind Workouts also provides a long line of earth-friendly yoga props and supplies including: wooden bricks, wedge boards and meditation benches; meditation cushions and eye pillows made of organic flax seed and 100% raw silk linings; hand-rolled bolsters of 100% cotton liners and 100% cotton padding; 100% cotton yoga straps; 100% cotton Indian Blankets. Body-Mind Workouts is committed to supporting earth-friendly yoga practice. Please support earth friendly products when next you purchase your yoga supplies!

Namaste