{"id":86582,"date":"2017-01-24T20:19:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T01:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=86582"},"modified":"2017-01-24T20:19:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T01:19:57","slug":"right-at-home-design-meets-downward-dog-in-new-yoga-mats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/01\/24\/right-at-home-design-meets-downward-dog-in-new-yoga-mats\/","title":{"rendered":"RIGHT AT HOME: Design meets downward dog in new yoga mats"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"RIGHT<\/a>
RIGHT AT HOME: Design meets downward dog in new yoga mats (Photo: adifansnet\/\u00a0flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While comfortable clothes and the right teacher are important, a cool mat can make yoga more enticing and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Forget that plain, boring slab of rubber; yoga mats now come in a variety of designs. You can stretch on a faux sand beach or rippling lake, or do your cobra on a faux Persian carpet.<\/p>\n

Here’s a roundup of some of the most stylish mats (choosing a favourite may be harder than aligning your chakras):<\/p>\n

Yoga Design Lab’s Horizon mat features a photo print of a sunset over gently lapping waves. The Tribeca Sand mat has a prismatic pattern in warm jewel hues. (www.yogadesignlab.com <\/a>)<\/p>\n

Scenic vistas are also brought to you by Yogamatic, where waterfalls, beaches and deserts are depicted in vibrant digital prints. One mat with a hypnotic image of swimming carp is by Los Angeles photographer Jennifer Cawley. Or her sepia-toned image of Edward, a teddy bear plopped on a comfy-looking bed, would help soothe a stressed-out stretcher. City dwellers might like the views of the Chicago or Manhattan skylines. A portion of sales of a mat printed with luscious orange slices goes to New York’s Food Bank. (www.yogamatic.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n

Designer Sophie Lenninger of Oakland, California, creates eye-catching mats, including one referencing Uzbek Suzani patterns in a palette of pink, green and aqua. Aztec motifs of rain clouds and cactus flowers enliven her El Nino mat. And she’s got a range of mats for children too, in happy Hawaiian, Southwest and Provencal prints. (www.magiccarpetym.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n

Surfboard artist Drew Brophy has illustrated some kids’ mats with hip ’60s-style prints of suns, rainbows, turtles and waves. (www.spiritualrevolutionyoga.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n

Brooklynite Kyle deWoody, founder and creative director of gallery and art shop Grey Area, commissioned work from seven artists for a collection of yoga mats. Among them are Daniel Arsham’s haunting tonal image of the moon in inky outer space, and Eric Cahan’s sunset over East Hampton, which creates a meditative mood. (www.thegreyarea.com <\/a>)<\/p>\n

Yoloha Yoga’s cork mats, with simple, laser-engraved dream catcher and wildflower designs, can be personalized. (www.yolohayoga.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n

You can store your rolled-up mat in a neat bag, like the one from Brogamats that looks like a log. Or channel your inner \u201cHunger Games\u201d character by toting your mat in a bag that looks like a leather quiver. (www.brogamats.com <\/a>)<\/p>\n

Some pretty mat bags and yoga ball covers are made by the Thai and Nepali women artisans of Global Groove, a fair trade organizyogation. There are ikat, peacock and geometric prints in low-key colour palettes, all made of 100 per cent cotton. (www.alternativesglobalmarketplace.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While comfortable clothes and the right teacher are important, a cool mat can make yoga more enticing and enjoyable. Forget …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":86586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11807,14200],"class_list":["post-86582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","tag-yoga","tag-yoga-mats","mauthors-kim-cook","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}