Creative Commons-licensed image from Flickr user mosabua
I dabble in yoga. I certainly don't have a regular routine, but when I do go, I love it. However, the particular style of yoga I do is sweaty. Really sweaty. It's called Bikram yoga, and the room is kept at around 105 degrees, for a 90-minute class. So, as you can imagine, by the end of class everyone is soaked in sweat, and our towels and mats are, too. Obviously the towels get washed, but the mats...
Well, this looks like something good to try. Craftbits has instructions for making your own antibacterial yoga mat spray using vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and eucalyptus and tea tree oils. I'm curious, what is your yoga mat cleaning routine?
If I'm rolling up my mat to leave the yoga studio, I just wipe the surface down with a baby wipe (which I also use to wipe down my feet *before* my practice as well). At home I use a spay that I made using distilled water, tea tree oil, lavender essential oil and sweet orange essential oil (spray and wipe down using a rag or an old t-shirt. My mat smells lovely and I never get skeeved out having my face on the mat where my feet might have been before!
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A baby wipe is a good idea. Maybe I'll add it to my yoga bag. And that spray sounds nice! Thanks for sharing, Beth. : )
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I just do yoga at home or at friend's houses so I don't clean my mat as often as if I was going to a gym, but when I do I just lightly spray it with simple green and then wipe with a damp rag, or if it was in something really nasty/germy I use a clorox wipe.
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Put it in the washing machine on gentle cycle and hang dry.
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Do you think using the washing machine shortens the life of the mat at all? (Like making it disintegrate more quickly.) Or does that not seem to be an issue?
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