I love my Manduka Mat – it's my favorite mat for practicing Yoga and Pilates at home and outdoors (you might recognize it from my videos). It still looks like new even though it's been nearly two years, and it's seen a lot: moving, traveling, practicing on forest grounds, stones, sand, shells, and it even got soaked with salt water (more than once). By now, I got my whole family into (and onto🙃) Manduka mats, and they all love them: amazing cushioning supports the joints but is still not too thick for balance exercises! But if you get a new Manduka mat, you might think it's too slippery, so I want to share ways to break it in.
Manduka suggests the salt scrub method (watch the video from Manduka here), but I've never tried it.
The first (and most straightforward way) is to wipe your mat (I like to use the Botanical Mat Cleaner from Manduka) and then: practice, practice, practice! That's what my partner did, and it worked well!
The second way (and what I did) is to put it in the sun for a couple of hours (this works best in summer). What works even better is to take your practice to a sandy ground or a beach if you have one close by – the sand will give it an extra scrub :) Don't forget to clean it afterward, though!
With that being said, if you're into sweaty practices, a mat towel or the Manduka GRP Adapt might be worth looking into! We have one at home, and it's non-slip.
I hope you find this helpful!
Check out some of my Videos featuring the Manduka Pro Mat!
