5 steps to choosing a good mat
Let me start by saying that the most important and best place to meditate is the place you will meditate. Yes, the message here is just do it! While it doesn’t always feel like it while you’re doing it, nothing will make a greater difference in your mental and physical wellbeing than making the effort to meditate every day. (you can read more about the benefits of and how to meditate here) If that means curling up in your child’s upper bunkbed, go for it. For a lot of people, it means having a special place to do that meditation and one of the things that helps mark that space and makes it sacred is a meditation mat.
Make the mat only for meditation
You know that places and things hold energy. Just as you can walk into a room and know that people have been fighting there or pick up a child’s teddy bear and know it’s loved, a meditation mat holds your personal energy and the vibration of your meditation. After just a little while, when you sit on the mat, it nudges you to meditate. That means the mat should be only for you and only for meditation. I actually use separate mats for yoga postures. I tend to have one in several rooms so i can do postures in various places. But my meditation mat is only for meditation.
Make it a natural fiber
Probably like yours, several of my postures mats are made of poly materials that absorb shock and let me lie down without my dinosaur backbone hurting. But my meditation mat is a small rectangle of silk that i can unfold on the floor or a chair, depending on how i want to meditate that day. I’ve had cotton mats and they’re great, but my favorites are silk. Find something that hasn’t been used for anything else (even an all-cotton towel) and make it your mat. The natural fibers are friendlier to your energy.
Make it easy to move
While you might have to roll up your postures mat and sling it over your shoulder, you want your meditation mat to be easy to fold up and move. I actually have two meditation mats — one i use only in my meditation space and one for travel since different places have their own vibrations. I carry the travel mat in a little zipper bag.
Put the mat on something comfortable
A square of silk isn’t going to be comfortable on most floors, so for your meditation space, get a cushion of even a backrest to make your meditation easy. I use a floor sitting backrest that i love. Here’s a link to the exact one i have so you can see it. I put my mat on the seat and can sit comfortably for hours. I even do my Ayurveda classes sitting against this backrest. I also put my mat on a chair i have in my meditation space if i want to b e up off the floor.
Make your mat something you love
Have fun picking your mat. I chose my fabric and had a friend who sews make two mats for me. But lots of online shops have meditation mats. Just check the fabric. Let me know what you picked!