Why a Good Yoga Mat Can Help You Advance
For much of its history yoga has been seen as a minimalist, often spiritual endeavor. For centuries yogis and mystics have studied and practiced using nothing more than their bodies, their minds and the bare earth beneath their toes. Yet over the years too, people have slowly and steadily introduced minor bits of equipment to help them practice and enjoy their yoga more. The first, and perhaps oldest, is the yoga mat. In years past in places such as Mysore in India people began to slowly introduced the idea of using a hand woven cotton yoga mat. First and foremost a yoga mat provides protection from the dirt. A simple cotton yoga mat does not provide much padding or cushioning but it will provide you with a means to keep your hands clean. More important it will help absorb sweat from your hands. This is really important when performing downward-facing stances (or asanas) such as downward facing dog because sweaty hands are slippery hands. And slippery hands make getting the pose right.
Another big reason that people use yoga mats is because they provide a softer surface. Many people will, in fact, choose to get a double-thickness mat because it is so well padded. That is helpful when doing especially challenging and difficult poses that put your body into really uncomfortable positions. Head stands and shoulder stands, for instance, are a lot more comfortable with a nicely padded mat. This is especially the case with novices. A really experienced yoga practitioner will not really mind what sort of mat they use, but a beginner will find it far more comfortable to have a well padded mat.
Most schools and classes have mats that can be used by those taking the classes. But concerns have been raised about germs being transmitted. Even if you aren’t worried about catching a disease, it is a far more pleasant experience to have your own mat than to use a smelly used mat that others have dripped sweat all over. Fortunately a yoga mat and nice matching yoga mat bag need not cost much and can easily be bought online.
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