Yoga sessions cleanse your body and mind. Yoga enhances your concentration levels and improves your immune system. Most yoga classes require you to carry a yoga mat.
Yoga mats serve three purposes: hygiene, comfort, and support. Clean yoga mats protect your body from the germs on the floor, provide you a certain degree of comfort during practice, and offers an extra grip to perform advanced poses.
Therefore, a clean yoga mat is important for a yoga class to provide you all the benefits that yoga can offer you. However, with the constant body contact and sweat, yoga mats can be unhealthy for you if you don’t clean them regularly.
Yoga Mats Are Home To Disease-Causing Germs
If you are falling too often, like a cold or an unusual skin infection, then you may want to get your yoga mat checked. Yoga mats are home to a variety of disease-causing germs.
This is because your mats are in direct contact with your sweat and others’ sweat. They are exposed to impurities present in the air and viruses and other germs that may stick on without you even realizing it.
These germs thrive in hot, humid, sweaty environments, which is typical in a yoga class. Bacteria and viruses can survive on the surface of yoga mats for days, maybe even weeks. You may be more prone to these germs if you share your yoga mat with a friend.
Your face, arms, hands, legs, etc come in touch with yoga mats; therefore, you may be prone to conditions like acne, toenail fungus, herpes virus, and staph and strep infections. They may also be the reason for your frequent colds and flu. Some people have also picked up Athlete’s foot or plantar warts from unclean, shared mats.
Sometimes, that funny order you smell when you walk into your yoga class is because of dirty yoga mats. Bacteria causes a cheesy smell that you would find familiar in a locker room.
Therefore, keeping your yoga mats clean regularly is as important as personal hygiene is to your good health. So, now you understand how essential it is to wash your yoga mat. Here is what you need to know about washing your yoga mat.
How To Wash Your Yoga Mat
When you purchase a yoga mat, always look for the manufacturer’s instructions on how to go about washing the mat. In some cases, washing may differ because of the materials used.
For Lightly Soiled Yoga Mats
Steps To Wash:
- Use a spray bottle, damp sponge, or a cloth rag to apply a solution of two cups water and four drops of dish soap.
- Rub the soiled areas well.
- Wash the mat with clear water.
- Use a towel to manually dry the mat.
- Later, hang it to air dry.
For Heavily Soiled Yoga Mats
Steps To Wash:
- Dip your yoga mat in a solution of warm water and mild detergent.
- Make sure you use very little soap or any residue to avoid a slippery surface.
- Hand wash your mat and rinse it in clean water.
- After squeezing the excess water, place your yoga mat on a clean, dry towel.
- Roll the mat and the towel together to absorb the moisture.
- Sometimes, stepping on the mat will allow more moisture to get absorbed into the towel.
- Unroll the yoga mat and hang it to air dry.
Some Tips To Keep You And Your Mat Germ-Free
Cleanliness is essential in yoga: it keeps you healthy and disease-free and avoids the spread of germs to others as well. Therefore, good personal hygiene is important even for yoga classes. Here are some tips to keep you and your yoga mat free of germs.
- Invest in a good-quality yoga mat. This way, you will not have to borrow it from your friend or use the ones that are available in the yoga studios.
- Disinfect your yoga mat before and after each use. Even though it may be your own mat, you may never know what germs are present on the floor.
- Wash your hands thoroughly before and after every yoga class.
- Sometimes, laying a clean, dry towel on top of the mat can reduce your contact with the mat directly.
- Wearing yoga shoes or socks may also help reduce the formation of bacteria and germs.
So, the next time you attend your yoga classes, make sure to carry your clean yoga mat to keep yourself germ-free. If you use props like blocks, rolled blankets, etc for support, make sure to wash them regularly, too.
