What Should You Look For in a Bikram Yoga Mat?
Donna had been taking a traditional yoga class for years. She started in a beginner class and has worked her way up to more challenging poses offered in an intermediate-level class. Because she has been so involved in yoga for years, she had a huge selection of yoga clothing for women in her closet as well as an Ashtanga yoga mat. With so much yoga gear on hand, she didn’t think she needed to buy anything special when she signed up to take a hot, or Bikram, yoga class.
So Donna went to her first hot yoga class and soon realized that she didn’t have quite the right gear after all. After just a few minutes in the class, she realized that the traditional mat she had always used wasn’t really suited for a hot yoga class after all. Are you interested in knowing what makes a Bikram yoga mat different than other mats? Here are the key features of this type of mat:
• Extra Sticky. Many of the traditional mats on the market today are designed to be slip-resistant, and this is key to your safety during the class. However, your mat is going to get saturated with sweat in hot yoga, so you want a mat that is extra-sticky and adhesive to the floor even when it is wet.
• Extra Absorbent. A Bikram yoga mat is designed to be absorbent, and this is key because in a hot yoga class, you will be sweating quite a bit. You don’t want sweat all of the floor, so you want a mat that will absorb your wetness.
• Composition. One of the most popular materials for this kind of mat to be made from is a tightly woven cotton, which has the features of being comfortable, absorbent, slip-proof, and washable. Other materials you can find these mats in include bamboo, foam, and others.
Hot yoga is an intensive and very challenging class. You will be sweating a lot, and your body will be challenged to the peak, so you want to have the right clothing on and you want to have a bikram yoga mat, too. You are sure to enjoy your hot yoga class, but you will get more out of it when you bring the right mat to class with you, so spend some time looking for the right mat that is designed specifically for hot yoga.
