I have things I've bought that I loved for about six weeks.
At the time, I was completely convinced. I loved the color, loved the way it looked, loved whatever it was about it that made me decide I needed it. Then, somewhere along the way, I stopped loving it quite so much.
And then there are the things I've had for years that I would choose all over again.
I think about that a lot with yoga mats because they're not something you use once and put away. You see your mat over and over again. You touch it with your hands and feet. You kneel on it, sweat on it, carry it around, roll it up, unroll it, and sometimes leave it sitting in the same corner for a few weeks while life gets busy.
A mat can be beautiful when you click "add to cart" and still turn out to be something you don't particularly love living with.
So instead of asking, "What yoga mat should I buy?" I think there's a better question to ask:
Will I still be happy I bought this two years from now?
That changes what you look for.
Start With What You Actually Like
I have never understood why yoga mats are so often treated like purely functional equipment.
Of course they need to function. That's non-negotiable. But you're also going to look at the thing hundreds of times.
We talked about this recently in our blog, Why Are So Many Yoga Mats Boring? I don't think something you use regularly has to look like generic exercise equipment. At the same time, I wouldn't choose a mat simply because a certain color or design happens to be everywhere right now.
Trends move quickly. Your yoga mat probably shouldn't.
Instead, look at the things you've naturally been drawn to for years.
Maybe you've always loved dark botanicals, old books, wildflowers, abstract color, celestial designs, quiet landscapes, ravens or gardens. Look around your house. Look at your closet, the art you've collected, the notebooks you buy, even the coffee mug you reach for first.
We usually leave ourselves plenty of clues about what we actually like.
If you've loved something for ten years, there's a pretty good chance you're not suddenly going to hate it next spring.
Choose from there.
Pretty Isn't Enough
This is probably an obvious statement coming from someone who spends an unreasonable amount of time thinking about what yoga mats look like, but I love a beautiful mat.
I want to unroll something that makes me happy.
But I don't want to practice on something uncomfortable just because it's pretty.
You can fall in love with a design online and realize during your first few practices that your knees hurt. Maybe the mat doesn't have enough cushion, it moves underneath you, or your hands start slipping the minute you get warm.
That beautiful design becomes considerably less charming when you're fighting with your mat through Downward Dog.
For me, a good yoga mat has to do both. I want to love looking at it, and then I want to mostly forget about it while I'm practicing because it's doing its job.
Part of the reason I'm so particular about that is because Darin and I learned all of this the long way.
Big Raven Yoga Really Started With Frustration
I'd had the same plain black yoga mat for about ten years.
I practiced on it for thousands of hours, and by the end it had wear marks where my hands and feet went. It wasn't beautiful. It wasn't particularly interesting. But it was comfortable, dependable and very much mine.
Then someone accidentally walked off with it after a class.
I figured replacing it would be easy. Ten years had passed. Surely yoga mats had gotten better.
Instead, I found myself frustrated by what was out there.
So many mats looked exactly alike. Others were thin enough that my knees felt the floor underneath me. Some were slippery once you started to sweat. Towels bunched around my feet. And some mats simply didn't seem made to last very long.
I didn't want to keep buying something I knew I'd eventually have to replace, and I didn't want to choose between a mat that worked well and one I actually liked looking at.
Darin and I kept talking about it, and eventually those conversations turned into, "Well, what would we make instead?"
That question took us more than two years to answer.
We tested different surfaces, bases, thicknesses, sizes, weights and ways of printing the artwork. There were plenty of versions that weren't quite right. We practiced on them, changed things, tried again and slowly figured out what mattered to us.
We wanted enough cushion to be comfortable on knees and joints. We wanted a mat that stayed put and a surface that could handle a sweaty practice without needing a towel on top. We wanted something substantial enough to withstand years of regular, real-world use.
And I wanted beautiful artwork.
Not as an afterthought. I didn't want to have to choose between "this mat works well" and "this is the mat I actually want."
That's ultimately how Big Raven Yoga mats came to be.
Spending that much time figuring out what makes a mat worth keeping also changed the way I think about buying one. The things that catch your eye when you're shopping aren't always the things you'll appreciate most two years later.
Usually, it's the quieter stuff that wins.
Buy for the Way You Really Practice
It's very easy to shop for the person we're planning to become.
She's practicing yoga at sunrise every morning. She's carrying her mat to a beautiful studio five days a week. She's doing hot yoga on Tuesdays. There may even be green juice involved.
Then real life shows up.
Maybe you practice twice a week in your bedroom. Maybe Saturday morning is your class. Maybe the dog walks across your mat every single time you put it down. You might practice outside all summer and next to the woodstove in January.
That's the person your mat needs to work for.
Think about where you actually practice and what tends to bother you.
If you're frequently carrying your mat somewhere, weight matters. If you're practicing on a hard floor, cushioning becomes considerably more important. If you sweat a lot, you're going to care about grip very quickly. Sensitive knees can turn a beautiful super-thin mat into a purchase you regret.
There isn't one perfect yoga mat for everybody.
The better question is what would make your practice more comfortable.
Buy for that person.
She's the one who's actually going to use it.
Pay Attention to What It's Made From
Materials aren't nearly as interesting as artwork when you're scrolling through yoga mats online.
Give them a couple of years.
A yoga mat gets used. Really used.
It gets stepped on, stretched across, rolled tightly, carried around, stored, cleaned and occasionally forgotten somewhere it probably shouldn't have been.
Over time, materials start telling you exactly what you bought.
Some mats begin peeling or cracking. Edges start breaking down. Surfaces lose their grip. Cheap materials stretch, compress or simply start looking tired.
And suddenly that inexpensive mat you bought because it seemed like a good deal needs to be replaced.
Sometimes buying the cheaper option twice isn't actually cheaper.
That doesn't mean everyone needs the most expensive yoga mat available. Price alone doesn't tell you whether something is good.
Look at what you're actually buying. Check the materials, construction, base, surface and care instructions. Read reviews from people who have actually practiced on the mat for a while, not just someone who unboxed it yesterday and thinks the color is pretty.
You're buying something you may put hundreds or even thousands of hours on.
It's worth knowing what it's made from.
Think About Your Knees Five Years From Now
Thickness sounds pretty boring on a product page.
Four millimeters. Five millimeters. Six millimeters.
Then you kneel on a hard floor.
Suddenly millimeters become interesting.
A little extra cushion can make a huge difference, particularly if you have sensitive knees or practice on hardwood, concrete or another hard surface. At the same time, more isn't automatically better. You still need stability underneath you.
This is another reason I wouldn't buy a mat based entirely on how it looks.
Imagine it after the newness is gone.
It's a random Wednesday. You're tired. You almost didn't practice. You finally unroll your mat and come down onto your knees.
How does it feel?
That's what you're buying.
Give Yourself Enough Room to Move
It's easy to look at yoga mats online and assume they're all roughly the same size.
They're not.
And you probably won't think much about a few extra inches until you're constantly scooting forward because your feet are hanging off the end or repositioning yourself in the middle of a practice.
Before you buy, check the actual measurements.
Product photography can make a mat look much larger, thicker or more substantial than it really is. Grab a tape measure if you need to and see what those measurements actually look like on your floor.
This isn't the exciting part of choosing a yoga mat, but Future You may be very pleased that you checked.
Ask Yourself Whether You'd Choose the Design Again
Here's something I think is worth doing before you buy.
Imagine the yoga mat you're considering isn't new anymore.
You've owned it for two years. It's been sitting in your house all that time. You've seen it 300 times and practiced on it through winter mornings, summer evenings, good moods, bad moods and those days when twenty minutes on the mat was about all you could manage.
Would you still be happy to unroll it?
When I look around my own home, the things I still love aren't usually the things I bought because they were fashionable.
They're the things I was genuinely drawn to.
The old piece of furniture I couldn't stop thinking about. The book with the beautiful cover. The artwork that reminds me of something. The colors I've apparently been choosing my entire adult life without consciously deciding to.
Personal taste has a much longer shelf life than trends.
Your yoga mat can work the same way.
A Good Mat Removes Little Reasons Not to Practice
Your yoga mat isn't going to make you practice.
I wish it were that easy.
It isn't going to make you more flexible or magically improve your balance either.
But a good mat can remove a few tiny annoyances.
Your knees don't hurt. Your hands aren't slipping. You have enough room to move. You aren't straightening a towel every five minutes. You aren't noticing pieces of the surface flaking off onto the floor.
And yes, maybe it's beautiful enough that you genuinely enjoy seeing it unrolled in the middle of the room.
Those things matter because most yoga practices aren't happening on perfect mornings with an uninterrupted hour, beautiful light and nowhere else you need to be.
They happen on ordinary Wednesdays.
Twenty minutes before dinner.
Saturday morning before the rest of the day gets started.
The evening when you almost talked yourself out of practicing but decided ten minutes was better than nothing.
That's when having a mat you genuinely like matters.
Choose the Mat You Want to Keep
There will always be another yoga mat.
Another new color. Another trend. Another feature you're suddenly supposed to have.
You don't need to chase all of them.
Find the mat that feels good, works for the way you actually practice, is made well enough to stay with you and looks like something you won't get tired of seeing.
If you're choosing a Big Raven Yoga mat, take your time looking through the designs. We make our mats to order, and there are a lot to choose from. That's intentional.
Some are quiet. Some are weird. Some are dark and moody. Others are colorful, botanical, playful, unexpected or a little hard to categorize.
Don't worry about choosing the one that's most popular.
Notice which one you keep going back to.
That's probably your mat.