Yoga Mat for Balancing: Which is Finest?

One in all yoga apply’s nice items is its emphasis on balancing. Poses similar to Vrksasana (Tree Pose) are an integral a part of nearly each type of apply. The flexibility to stability is a vital a part of wholesome getting old, and it may be useful to develop balancing expertise as early as attainable. Standard knowledge has it {that a} thinner Yoga Mat (⅛ inch or much less, or 1.5mm to three.5mm) is most conducive to staying on our ft throughout one-legged balancing poses. The thinner the mat, the much less your standing foot goes to wish to make changes. However is that optimum? After nearly 40 years of yoga educating, my unequivocal reply is: it relies upon. So what’s the finest yoga mat for balancing?

The Finest Yoga Mat for Balancing Depends upon Your Intention

Counterintuitive as it could sound, the mat I normally use for educating yoga—even in courses the place we apply a lot of standing balancing poses—is the Final Cushion Yoga Mat. At ⅜ inch, it’s the thickest mat Hugger Mugger provides. (I alternate between this mat and the Para Rubber Yoga Mat (3/16″)).

Why would I wish to make it more durable on myself? I apply balancing poses to domesticate and preserve my balancing expertise. Certain, I can extra simply carry out balancing poses on a thinner mat, however I wish to problem my stability. That’s the best way we construct balancing expertise—by balancing in difficult conditions. So, to perform my goal in practising balancing poses, the most effective yoga mats for balancing are the thicker, tougher ones.

As a result of I’ve a longstanding relationship with Hugger Mugger Yoga Merchandise, I’ve purchased many mats from them through the years. I discover that balancing on various kinds of surfaces—and mats of various thicknesses—is essential for constructing balancing expertise. So typically I apply on thick mats, and typically I apply on skinny mats. I additionally place my mats on varied surfaces. Whereas wooden and surfaces similar to concrete are probably the most dependable, I believe it’s useful to apply balancing on delicate, squishy surfaces, similar to carpeting, as properly.

It’s essential to respect the place you might be. In case your stability is mostly unstable, practising on a thinner Yoga Mat is an effective place to begin. As soon as you are feeling secure in balancing poses on a skinny mat, then you may start difficult your stability on a thicker mat.

Balancing On and Off the Yoga Mat

Training yoga on varied mat varieties and ground varieties is just not the one solution to hone your stability. Listed here are some ideas for taking your balancing apply off the mat:

• Follow balancing in various kinds of sneakers—thick soles, comfortable soles, skinny soles, and many others. Except you repeatedly put on heels, I wouldn’t suggest practising yoga in them. (For that matter I might suggest avoiding or minimizing carrying heels usually, due to the havoc they wreak on the integrity of your musculoskeletal system.)
• Follow outside. Mountaineering trails are hardly ever fully stage. Strolling, and practising balancing poses, on uneven surfaces problem your ft to stability another way. Subsequent time you are taking a hike, cease for a minute or so and apply a one-legged balancing pose—Tree Pose appears applicable while you’re within the woods—on an uneven floor.

Should you’d wish to be taught extra concerning the components of growing secure stability, right here’s a latest weblog.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced educating in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Follow and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third guide is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.