How to Travel with a Yoga Mat: The Ultimate Guide

It is not as easy as we think to find a solution for How to Travel with a Yoga Mat. In case you’re an experienced person or a newbie, carrying the yoga mat during travel ensures that you can carry on your practice to maintain fitness. But it is very crucial to know how to carry and store your yoga mat. In this article, I will try to share with you some ideas on how to carry a yoga mat during travel.

Let’s start our discussion

How to Travel with a Yoga Mat

We should always keep focusing on ease, cleanliness, and portability while traveling with a yoga mat. Various ways are available to manage your mats while traveling but It depends on the mode of transportation and your tour plan:

Travel Yoga Mat:

Always use the right travel yoga mat instead of a normal mat as the travel yoga mats are less thick and lightweight so they are easy to carry and fold. Also, keep a yoga mat bag or strap to make transportation easier and more hygienic.

Yoga Mat Bag or Strap Crucial:

Using a strap or a yoga mat bag will make your movement easy and tension-free. It is also a good option to use such a Mat bag have shoulder straps. This will protect your mat from dust, and any kind of damage while traveling.

Cleaning:

Always keep focus on your yoga mat cleaning before starting the travel. A premium-quality spray and a homemade solution can be used. You can read here in detail how to clean your yoga mat.

How to Carry a Yoga Mat with Strap

Having a strap for packing the yoga mat makes your journey very easy. Let’s take a look at how you will do it:

Adjustable Strap:

All kinds of straps can be found in the market but try to keep adjustable straps with you instead of normal ones. With these straps, you can easily adjust any size of the Yoga mat. Make sure the strap type you select can firmly keep your mat in place.

Mat Protection:

Carefully roll your mat before binding it with straps. By the way, you can read here how to roll up your yoga mat. After rolling the mat properly, place loops of the strap around each end. After placing the strap make sure it should be tightly holds the mat.

Carrying Options:

Now you have tied up your mat with a strap, you can put it over your shoulder, in your hand and even across your chest. Hold it in such a way in which you feel comfort. By these ways, you can Carry a Yoga Mat with Strap.

How to Carry a Yoga Mat without Strap

Suppose you don’t have the strap to place around your mat how you carry it. Let’s see

Mat Bag:

If you don’t have straps yoga mat bag can solve your problem. They come in different designs, starting with basic fabric bags to protected variants with extra space for storing more things. We get extra protection against moisture and filth by zipper bags.

Tightly Roll:

If you don’t have a strap or yoga mat bag then try to roll it tightly as much as you can. Because a little or compact roll can be managed while traveling.

DIY Strap:

You can use different DIY to make the strap in case of emergency for example, you can use a belt or scarf for this. To create a handle, just wrap it around the mat and firmly knot the ends. In this way, you can carry a Yoga Mat without Strap.

How to Carry a Yoga Mat on a Bike

It is not recommended to carry the yoga mat on a bike due to risk, only in case of emergency you can use these methods:

Use Strap or Back Carrier:

Use the strap to loop it around your body as a cross-body bag. In this way, you may carry the mat without losing your balance and random movements.

Use Bike Rack:

You can use the bike rack to carry your yoga mat. Fix the mat with adjustable straps or elastic cords to keep it in position. To ensure that it doesn’t move or break while riding, make sure it is securely connected.

Backpack with Side Straps:

Backpacks with side straps are also available in the market, through which we can easily hold a yoga mat safely on the bike. Only make sure the side straps are positioned evenly to avoid an unbalancing situation.

How to Carry a Yoga Mat on Backpack

The best option is to find the right Backpack for your tour if you have a plan for hiking and commuting along with a yoga mat for your convenience. Why this is the best option because most of the backpacks are built by keeping in mind the yoga practitioners’ requirements. That’s why most backpacks have the feature of straps or loops to hold the yoga mat securely.

Another best option is adjustable side straps only in case your backpack doesn’t have a dedicated yoga mat holder. You can use the adjustable side straps for holding to your rolled yoga mat. Another option is to tie up your mat on the top or bottom of your backpack.

Travel with a Yoga Mat on Plane

Travel with a yoga mat on plane can be risky and full of stress. Let’s see how we can deal with this:

The first and foremost thing to travel with a yoga mat on plan is to check your Airline Policies to avoid any kind of extra charge or hassle before starting travel. Some airlines don’t charge extra but few of them also charge. If your airline is not charging, you can easily hold it with the rest of the hand luggage. You can easily adjust a rolled mat under the seat or into the overhead bin.

Always keep a compact and foldable Yoga Mat with travel because a folding mat can be easily carried as compared to a normal rolled-up mat.

How to Fold a Yoga Mat for Travel

Step-by-Step Folding Instructions:

• Unroll the mat first on a clean surface area.
• Fold your yoga mat in half so its long edges meet with each other.
• Do the same one more time, which means fold it in half again making sure the small edges meet with each other.
• Keep folding until the mat can be easily packed in your bag to the size it is required to be.

If you are on a long tour then mat folding can create lines on it. It is important to fold and roll it interchangeably to avoid permanent damage. Furthermore, try to buy the mat with materials that do not crease easily for example TPE or Rubber material.

Foldable Yoga Mat for Travel

Before sharing some of the best foldable yoga mats that are designed only for travelers. We should discuss the key points that a yoga mat should have for travel. Let’s take a look

A travel yoga mat should be less in weight and compact. This thing will help us to carry the mat or adjust it with our luggage such as suitcases or backpacks. The second most important thing is its material. Always keep such mats that are made with durable and non-toxic materials like PVC TPE or rubber. You can read here details about TPE vs EVA vs Yoga Mat.

Pay proper attention while buying a yoga mat on its size and thickness. Your mat mustn’t be high in thickness otherwise it will be difficult to carry due to its weight.

Lightweight Travel Yoga Mat

Travel yoga mats should be light in weight and this is only possible when we choose a low-thickness mat. Try to choose such mat that is equal to or less than 2 pounds in weight. Enough load can be very easy to carry and even store in the backpack. Now a question arises here which material should we choose for the travel mat?

The best materials like TPE, PVC, or natural rubber are used to make travel yoga mats so we should choose one of these materials as per our requirements. Share your thoughts in our comments section on How to Travel with a Yoga Mat.