4 best healthy and eco-friendly yoga mats + how to choose you:

It’s easy to forget how common, everyday things are to us, or to the environment.

And then you see a post on TV or on social media about a trash can at sea or plastic that causes cancer, and you vow to work naturally for good!

You buy bamboo straws. Trade-in your plastic bags for glass containers. Decide to try something crazy like wax food wraps (which, by the way, are really good).

And then a month goes by, and one day you look down at your hand and feel with fear that you have a disposable Starbucks cup!

Gross Roots Cork Yoga Mat:

The Roots Mate measures 72 “by 25” and is versatile thanks to its cork top layer and rubber bottom layer. You can use this mat to your liking, the sweater with cork layer is the perfect grip for sessions and the rubber is ideal for cool, quiet workouts. Cork absorbs moisture naturally, which means you won’t have to use a towel over the mat, making it even easier to carry your exercise with you when you travel. That said, the mat weighs about 5 pounds, despite being quite thin. It is still much lighter than most ordinary rubber mats, though (the Manduka eKO is 7 pounds).

Guru offers two natural cork mat options, the Roots Yoga Mat which has a natural rubber base layer, and the Sprout Mat which is made with TPE. Thus, the root mat cuts the leaf score, but the sprout does not.

Groom mats are made from naturally occurring, durable cork and rubber, some of which are taped to the family farms of the company’s creators in Kerala, India. The company is clearly committed to eco-friendly practices and has partnered with Trees For The Future, a nonprofit that plants trees in rural communities in the developing world to help them improve their environment. Enables to restore, grow more food, and build a sustainable future. . For each grocery product purchased, plant a tree for Trees For The Future.

 

Brentwood Home Organic Non-Slip Yoga Mat:

Brentwood Home offers the only yoga mat I’ve got with a comfortable GOTS-certified organic cotton upper and non-slip FSC-certified natural rubber base. The mat is completely non-toxic, vegan certified (via vegan action), biodegradable, machine washable, and is 5 mm thick, 71 inches long, and 24 inches wide. It weighs only 5.7 pounds. However, making it light enough to take you to classes across the city.

Thanks to the absorbent upper made of organic cotton fabric, this yoga mat is the perfect fit for those who want a little more cushion than cotton alone, and for hot yoga. The mat does not need to be cleaned and tender joints will enjoy extra cushioning.

These yoga mats are made in India and come in six beautiful colors. They’re easy to care for because you can just air them out and roll them up when you’re done. Either clean it out or throw it in the washing machine and then dry the line or dry the machine if it needs more vigorous cleaning (and to revive the cotton pile).

Brentwood Home’s Dunlop certified and comes from sustainably managed rubber tree gardens. Organic cotton is also certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard, meaning it is grown without pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers that are harmful to the environment and human health.

These mats are completely natural, completely biodegradable, and can be recycled or upcycled. There is no polyurethane or EVA foam, no PVC, TPE, synthetic rubber or adhesives. Brentwood Home is also Climate Neutral, which measures and offsets the carbon emissions of its entire operations.

Yoloha:

Yoloha has a huge selection of vegan and non-toxic eco-friendly yoga mats, from their signature alliance to their original Cork Yoga Mat + Plant Foam. Unity is made of a compatible blend of recycled cork and rubber with recycled tires. No dirty PVC!

Just a note here, recycled tires can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. But from my research, Yoloha says that mats have to be washed three times to remove heavy metals, and recycled tires are also on the underside of the mat.

They advocate zero waste, so the material left over from the creation of their mats is used to make other cork products. Even cork dust is used as fuel.

Their mats are proudly made in the United States, and thanks to their cork harvesting, they provide more than 100,000 jobs with reasonable wages.

Yoloha is active in youth organizations, experienced programs, and healthcare workers, such as Warrior Surf and Empowered Minds. They donate mats to veterans, doctors, young people, and more. They make their products more accessible to yoga instructors with up to 15% off purchases.

Mandoka e to yoga mat:

The Manduka eKO series only makes cuts, however, because these mats are made from natural tree rubber, without the use of ‘harmful plasticizers’, and are manufactured in a zero-waste process (according to Manduka). The company claims that all of Madoka’s rubber mats are free of toxic chemicals, dyes and phthalates, made of rubber from durable sources, and use non-toxic foaming agents to make the rubber soft and flexible. Have been prepared. Rubber mats are reinforced with a blend of polyester and cotton.

Madoka is a big name in yoga mats, thanks to their ever-popular ‘black mat’, Madoka Pro. Unfortunately, the Pro is made with PVC. Therefore, although it has a lifetime guarantee and claims to be made with an emission-free process, it does not reduce the Leaf Score’s recommended product.

The Madoka EKO has a cushion similar to the Madoka Pro. The mat weighs 7 pounds, which makes it a little lighter than many rubber mats. It also has a very small fold for better portability and storage.

One downside to this mat is the possibility of rubber odor. Getting the mat out (not in direct sunlight) and cleaning the mat can help, but it can still take weeks or months for the odor to go away, and the odor can spread to your hands and body. Is. Thankfully, natural rubber doesn’t smell as bad as synthetic rubber, but it does seem to be more of a problem with Madoka EKO than Prolana rubber and wool mats and Hagar but Mercury rubber mats.