Matters of the mat

I would like to make a brief commercial interruption: The only really necessary piece of equipment for yoga is a sticky mat. In my personal opinion, a regular practitioner should have her own mat. Even if they are sprayed down after each use, the loaners at yoga studios and gyms are really not sanitary. Although the kinds of ailments you can pick up from a mat are relatively minor, who wants to get a fungus—one of the few living things that does not have a namesake asana.

In my decades of practice, I have tried a few mats. Unfortunately, the commonest ones are stinky as well as sticky, whether they're made of a synthetic or natural organic rubber. Many also start out slippery and achieve the desired stickiness only after a breaking-in period. But there is one mat that in my experience has none of these drawbacks. And that is the Wai Lana Golden Earth EnviroMat. It's a little pricey (about $40) and not easy to find (you might have to buy it online), but worth the money and trouble.

That was about 30 seconds, wasn't it?