How to Clean / Wash Yoga Mat

Why and how to clean yoga mat. Gyms and Yoga Studios have a lot of fitness equipment and they regularly clean them all. On the other hand, if I talk about home exercises, we never focus on cleaning our fitness equipment due to a lot of reasons like shortage of time, laziness, etc. Due to this, we suffer from different diseases or allergies even in the case of yoga mats. A question arises here how do you clean a yoga mat?

Let’s look a little deeper at how to clean yoga mat

It’s not too difficult to clean our Yoga mats if we are doing it regularly. Yoga Mats are the perfect ground for germs or bacteria because while performing yoga exercises, especially the hard ones like Bikram we sweat a lot. All this sweat is absorbed by our yoga mat and it fills with germs and unpleasant odor. Especially, if we are using the thick yoga mat in which liquid can easily be absorbed. In this way, we convert our eco-friendly mats to a mat that is filled with germs.

So, it is worth putting some time into cleaning instead of suffering from different diseases. Regular cleaning removes the dirt, dust particles and sweat from the Mats making it more reliable, hygienic and eco-friendly. But you need to do it regularly.

How to Clean / Wash Yoga Mat

Yoga practitioners who live in hot weather or warm rooms should clean their mats thoroughly and if they are using open-cell mats or thick mats, then they need to clean them regularly.

Several methods can be used to clean the Yoga Mat at home.

Ready the mixture of vinegar and water to quickly clean up the mats. Get 50% Apple cider vinegar and 50% water. Make the mixture of both ingredients.

The solution is ready, now you can wipe down your mat. Now put it in the open space to dry. This is the simplest cheapest and quickest way to clean Yoga mats. This method will work perfectly if you are cleaning your mat every week.

How to Sanitize Yoga Mat

You can buy mat sprays a ready-to-use spray available in the market or from the mat’s manufacturer. Most mat manufacturers also offer Sprays for cleaning mats like Manduka which offers cleaning sprays for PVC mats as well as for rubber mats. Make sure it contains the essential oil to disinfect the germ thoroughly. Clean your mat with the help of a spray that’s the shortest way to clean it.

Soap and Water Mixture

If you don’t want to buy anything from the market, you can make it at your own home. Take the required warm water 2-3 cups and put a few drops of dish soap in it. Mix it properly and now you can use it to clean your mat. Through some drops of this mixture on the mat to clean its surface first then take a piece of cloth and dip it into the water and clean your mat with it. After that, you can clean it with another dry cloth.

Can I put my Yoga mat in the Washing Machine?

Yoga mats cleaning in washing machines are not recommended except when the manufacturers give you the instructions about it. Because mostly the materials are not much suitable for cleaning in the washing machine. But if you want to wash it at your own risk without the manufacturer’s instructions then you can use a little amount of mild detergent with a very gentle cycle to clean it.

How to Dry a Yoga Mat Quickly

Don’t put the warm or wet mat away because, in this way, it will become the right ground for breeding bacteria. Always, dry your mat first before putting it away and never use a dryer for this purpose. You can use the wall to hang your mat or the back of the chair to dry it.

How to Clean PVC & Rubber Mats

PVC Mats

Mostly PVC mats are sturdy and easy to clean. As PVC mat cells are closed that’s why these material mats hardly absorb dirt and germs. So, if you clean your PVC mat regularly then I think you will not need to deep clean the mat in the future.

Rubber Mats

Rubber mats are open-cells mats that’s why we need more care in cleaning these mats. Rubber mats are used widely as these mats are eco-friendly and non-slippery just due to pure natural rubber material. Due to the open-cells, these mats have a strong grip which helps us to stay safe from slipping.

Always make sure, to never clean these mats with hard soap or any detergent because it will destroy the slip resistance which is the most important feature of these mats. You can use different sprays as well as the cleaning agents offered by the manufacturers.

Now I expect that I have answered the question How to Clean / Wash Yoga Mat? If you have any questions, you can leave a message in the comments section.