Cleaning Your Mat

About once a week, someone asks me how to wash their yoga mat, so here's a quick run-down.

Before we begin, please note that this is just for a regular yoga mat.  Specialty mats, such as Manduka, Lululemon, etc have specific instructions from the manufacturer that should be followed.
But if you have a regular mat, you can pretty much follow this procedure:

1-Washing the mat
If your washing machine is large enough to accomodate your mat without folding & squishing, this is the easiest way.  Just use a gentle cycle with a VERY little bit of soap.  Otherwise, it will be hard to get all the soap out.
If your washing machine, like mine, is too small, you'll need to wash your mat in the bathtub.  Just run 3-4 inches of warm water.  Place your mat in and add a small amount of your favorite cleanser.  I use Young Living's Thieves Household Cleaner, which you can order online, or buy here at the studio.  Then scrub your mat gently with a brush.  Finally, rinse your mat well.  I usually take mine outside & spray it well with the garden hose.

2-Drying the mat
On a warm, dry, sunny day, the best thing to do is hang your mat up outside somewhere.  If that won't work, you can actually dry your mat on the air-only cycle a couple of times.  Then, hang it over a shower curtain rod overnight.

This should help restore some of the stickiness to your mat, and get rid of all those foot germs!