{"id":60,"date":"2020-09-15T09:50:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/?p=60"},"modified":"2020-09-15T09:50:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:50:18","slug":"mats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/mats\/","title":{"rendered":"Mats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mats are a pretty simple thing. At least, I thought so when I started my practice. I had a thin, generic mat I\u2019d purchased at a big box store several years ago. I bought it to use for some back exercises and stretches. Nothing strenuous, nothing demanding\u2014of the mat, or of me. It served me just for for that use for the few years I\u2019d had the mat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I began my yoga practice, I used that mat. It only took a few months (practice twice a week, occasionally three times toward the end) before the mat started to shed. It developed little pits and dents, and rubber crumbs came off it. It wasn\u2019t very grippy, but I didn\u2019t mind that much because I could slide my foot when going from Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) to Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana A or Virabhadrasana 1) easily, and I wasn\u2019t moving into any poses in which I really needed my foot to stay put. The crumbs, though, were another story; moreover, I could see the mat was disintegrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally, getting a new yoga mat should pose little difficulty. Some (many?) of the local studios also sold supplies, and there was always the Internet. This wasn\u2019t normal times, though. This was early spring 2020: thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the yoga studios were closed and the online mat folks were sold out. At least, all the places I looked online, places that had mats with many very favorable reviews and the qualities I wanted (like real rubber) were sold out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s a yogi to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several weeks, I did the only thing I could do: kept practicing on my old mat. I wasn\u2019t going to the studio since it was closed, and it didn\u2019t occur to me then to try to borrow a mat from someone. I had an exercise mat that had been my sister\u2019s, but it\u2019s much thicker and spongier than I wanted (I figured I would have more difficulties in balance poses with so thick a mat). I checked the online stores of the mat companies, and they continued to be backordered. Their supply chain had dried up just as their demand soared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in late May, I stumbled on something. JadeYoga<\/a> had available a small supply of mats made specially for Pride Month. Hey, it was a mat, from one of the vendors I\u2019d been checking that had been rated highly, it was the thickness and size I wanted, they seemed to be environmentally conscious. (Finlay Wilson<\/a>, the yogi behind Kilted Yoga, worked with JadeYoga to design the mat. JadeYoga donated $5 to Lambda Legal<\/a> for each of these mats they sold. Works for me!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d found my new mat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been about three months since the mat arrived. It\u2019s a bit thicker than my old mat, seems to be much better quality, and is grippier than the old mat. My JadeYoga mat is certainly holding up better than my old mat, too. And even though it\u2019s a bit heavier than my old mat, I took my JadeYoga mat with me when I flew myself across the country for a month\u2019s family visit in July (that\u2019s a story unto itself, or maybe two or three; I might write about it later). I wanted to continue my practice and so much preferred the JadeYoga mat to my old one that the extra bulk didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like my mat. So does Linus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n