Rubber Yoga Mat

“Yoga’s not getting anybody a job,” said Wendy Enelow, an executive career consultant in Coleman Falls, Va. “What the yoga studios do – and I think kudos to them – is if you physically feel better, your head’s going to feel better and you’re in a better place to manage your job search.”

Practicing yoga is believed to reduce stress and improve concentration. Some studios offer special classes to help veterans work through traumatic experiences and women cope with pregnancies.

Can’t make it to the weekly class? The studio in New York – and others in cities such as Chicago and Berkeley, Calif. – have given unemployed people discounts on other sessions. At Integral, that means paying $10 per class instead of $17.

Yogis follow a granola-crunching code of honor at the free classes in New York and Columbus.

My business plan — a mix of traditional yoga and indoor cycling — wasn’t working. I didn’t believe YAS could make it as a Spinning studio alone. And I didn’t want it to: I love the combination of yoga and indoor cycling. I’ve been combining the two activities since the 80s, basically running from one gym to another. That’s why I created YAS.

So what do you do if half of your business plan isn’t working? Well, in my case, I regrouped and changed — fast. I created my own style of yoga called Yoga for Athletes® to fit my clientele of Type-As and athletes that came to spin. I cut the class to an hour. And I trademarked it.

It was the best thing I could have done. Combining indoor cycling with my own brand of yoga distinguished YAS in the fitness world.

Of course, by focusing more on the athlete side of the business, it did mean losing some of my traditional yoga clients. But sometimes you have to lose some customers to make sure you’re focused on the right ones.

Now, my instructors have to teach both Yoga for Athletes® and indoor cycling. I started my own training classes to teach instructors how to deal with athletes (and Type-A personalities in general).

The idea is that the individual will be able to hold the pose for a longer period of time, opening the body through the passive stretching that this form entails. The benefits of mind, body and yoga classes are numerous and may help individuals with several unique goals or who are suffering from various conditions. One condition that has been treated through this exercise is infertility. Certain restorative poses are considered beneficial to fertility and have helped many individuals overcome infertility.

What yoga really does is harmonize the body and mind. Yoga is said to offer more benefits than exercise because it keeps the body in coordinated motion, with the mind in focus. It works with the aid of meditation to achieve mind and body harmony. This is basically training the mind to give proper commands through focusing. It is unlike most of our activities governed by a conflicted mind. A mind that processes a lot of conflicts is a mind in stress.

The meditative nature of yoga helps you to achieve emotional balance by disconnecting you to what is happening in your surroundings. By ignoring distractions, you can seek internal calm, and this is tremendously beneficial.

Through restorative yoga or mind and body classes, many individuals have reduced their stress levels, allowing them to sleep better and find relief from anxiety, depression or other physiological ailments. Many fertility clinics even offer these classes to help patients going through fertility treatment relax and improve their chances of success.

Yoga is known to have many benefits. What many people may be shocked to realise is that the most common type of yoga mat is made from toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This is the most dangerous plastic from an environmental health perspective. It creates dioxin (a very potent carcinogen) in its production, use and disposal. With this in mind, how many yogis would then feel comfortable in their downward dog?

Unfortunately, the PVC mat is still a popular choice as it is cheap, comes in a range of colours and patterns and it is machine washable. So even if the yoga student isn’t convinced that the toxins are bad for their health they might weigh up that the mat is thin with little cushioning and releases a chemical smell. Compare the plastic mat with ecological options.

PVC has been called a major environmental health disaster because of the cancer-causing byproducts such as dioxin that are created during manufacturing. Plasticizers that are added to make the PVC flexible (so we have fold-able, roll-able mats rather than stiff mats) also may cause health problems. And currently, recycling of PVCs is rather difficult and expensive, so most PVC products end up in the landfills, possibly leaching out toxic chemicals into the landfill.
If the practice of yoga is supposed to help make us more aware of healthy choices for ourselves, and by extension, make healthier choices for our environment, how can we, in good conscious, continue to buy yoga mats made from PVC? What other alternatives are there?
Eco friendly yoga mats are truly good yoga mat and many of us like to practice on it. These green mat standard ones are far better than those stinky, toxic, PVC-laden mats and strongly recommended by many pros.

The Manduka eKO yoga mat offers something new for eco-conscious yoga practitioners–a natural-rubber, closed-cell mat that’s designed for durability and comfort, yet decomposes completely at the end of its useful life without leaving a footprint in landfills. The 3mm thick eKO mat is made from non-Amazon-harvested tree rubber, and boasts a patented manufacturing process that’s completely free of oil-based products, toxic materials, foaming agents, and the type of plasticizers commonly found in other eco mats, such as TPE and POE. At the same time, the natural rubber in the eKO mats is latex-free and non-allergenic, so you needn’t worry about allergies hampering your yoga routine. This particular yoga mat is 71 inches long and 26 inches wide–4 inches longer and 2 inches wider than most yoga mats. Designed and manufactured with the same level of quality, attention to detail, and respect for the environment that sets apart all Manduka products, the eKO mat comes in four brilliant colors: moss, lava, aqua, and sand.

The Manduka eKO Lite yoga mat offers something new for eco-conscious yoga practitioners who are on the go – a natural rubber, closed-cell mat that is designed for durability and comfort, and will decompose completely at the end of its useful life without leaving a footprint in landfills. Intended for traveling ease, the eKO Lite is standard size and lightweight. Free of toxic foaming agents and plasticizers commonly found in TPE, POE and other rubber mats, the eKO mat is designed to be kind to the earth and your practice. Note: Like any natural rubber mat there is an initial scent which will fade after an initial break in period. A new mat should be left unrolled when possible to accelerate the break-in period.

• Eco-friendly 3mm yoga mat made from non-Amazon-harvested tree rubber
• Most durable, eco-friendly mat available today
• Free of oil-based products, toxic materials, foaming agents, PVC, and toxic plasticizers
• Developed over 3 years by yoga teachers
• Measures 68 inches long and 24 inches wide; scent-free after break-in period
• Product Dimensions: 68 x 24 x 0.1 inches ; 3.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000VW1G96
• Item model number: EKO (3mm)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  

Manduka eKO Lite 68-Inch 3mm Eco-Friendly Yoga Mat

I love this mat! I was really hesitant to buy a new mat since I had been using and loving my other mat for so long (a Baptiste sticky mat by prana) but it had holes in it so it was time. This mat is thicker, which makes such a difference in cushioning my knees in a low lunge and even my wrist bones in down dog. It doesn’t feel sticky but I haven’t slipped. I have learned to trust the amount of friction between my skin and this mat even though it lacks that sticky feeling. (I sweat easily but do not practice hot yoga.)
The vertical alignment bar really quite useful. I find it helpful for my set up in down dog as well as lunges and trikonasana. My only complaint is that the alignment bar isn’t perfectly in the middle of the mat. It is off by about a quarter of an inch which is subtle but kind of bugs me visually if I’m having one of those days where it’s hard to let go! The bar is still perfectly useful and I find I align with it rather than the edges of the mat so it doesn’t matter that it is slightly off center.
I hand washed the mat when it arrived despite the fact that it didn’t have an odor or a residue as far as I could tell.
I’m really happy this mat is TPE (thermoplastic elastomer)since TPE is biodegradeable and recyclable.

We made the Agile Eco Yoga Mat with these standards in mind: highly functional and durable, yet lightweight and biodegradable with a sense of fun and style. Functional characteristics include 2 grippy, patterned surfaces with embossed vertical alignment bar to keep you centered in straight when it matters. Made of recycleable Thermal Plastic Elastomer, and Latex-free, PVC-free. Size: 1/4″ thick x 24″ x 68″
Agile Eco Yoga Mat, 1/4