This entry was posted on Aug 13, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.
One in every of yoga follow’s nice items is its emphasis on balancing. Poses resembling Vrksasana (Tree Pose) are an integral a part of nearly each type of follow. The power to stability is an important a part of wholesome growing old, and it may be useful to develop balancing abilities as early as potential. 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 greatest yoga mat for balancing?
The Finest Yoga Mat for Balancing Relies on Your Intention
Counterintuitive as it might sound, the mat I normally use for educating yoga—even in lessons the place we follow a lot of standing balancing poses—is the Final Cushion Yoga Mat. At ⅜ inch, it’s the thickest mat Hugger Mugger presents. (I alternate between this mat and the Para Rubber Yoga Mat (3/16″)).
Why would I wish to make it tougher on myself? I follow balancing poses to domesticate and keep my balancing abilities. 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 abilities—by balancing in difficult conditions. So, to perform my goal in practising balancing poses, the most effective yoga mats for balancing are the thicker, more difficult ones.
As a result of I’ve a longstanding relationship with Hugger Mugger Yoga Merchandise, I’ve purchased many mats from them over time. I discover that balancing on various kinds of surfaces—and mats of various thicknesses—is vital for constructing balancing abilities. So typically I follow on thick mats, and typically I follow on skinny mats. I additionally place my mats on varied surfaces. Whereas wooden and surfaces resembling concrete are probably the most dependable, I believe it’s useful to follow balancing on smooth, squishy surfaces, resembling carpeting, as effectively.
It’s vital to respect the place you’re. In case your stability is mostly unstable, practising on a thinner Yoga Mat is an effective place to start out. As soon as you are feeling steady in balancing poses on a skinny mat, then you’ll be able to start difficult your stability on a thicker mat.
Balancing On and Off the Yoga Mat
Practising yoga on varied mat sorts and flooring sorts will not be the one strategy to hone your stability. Listed below are some options for taking your balancing follow off the mat:
- Observe balancing in various kinds of footwear—thick soles, comfortable soles, skinny soles, and so forth. Except you often put on heels, I wouldn’t suggest practising yoga in them. (For that matter I might suggest avoiding or minimizing carrying heels basically, due to the havoc they wreak on the integrity of your musculoskeletal system.)
- Observe outdoor. Mountaineering trails are not often utterly stage. Strolling, and practising balancing poses, on uneven surfaces problem your ft to stability differently. Subsequent time you are taking a hike, cease for a minute or so and follow a one-legged balancing pose—Tree Pose appears applicable if you’re within the woods—on an uneven floor.
If you happen to’d wish to be taught extra in regards to the components of growing steady stability, right here’s a latest weblog.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced educating in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe 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.