Get More Intimate with Your Yoga Mat

When I spoke with Shelley Gordon, founder of Love My Mat, I mentioned that I teach yoga, but I didn’t mention the status of my yoga mat. I was prepared to humbly learn. 

The eco-chic yoga mat cleaner she makes has citrus extract, lavender oil, and tea tree oil.  It’ll make your yoga mat stop smelling like your feet.  And if you’re like me, you don’t always notice that your mat is basically like a giant sock. Maybe we’re not as mindful as we think.

Shelley at one point was just like us. When she started the company, it was only after a revelation that she had not cleaned her yoga mat after four years of intense practice. So she started experimenting.

“I looked at recipes and products but nothing seemed natural enough. I played with recipes and finally developed this organic mat cleanser.” 

Voila. Gross, disgusting mat be gone. Hello mat that’ll help to sway you into a glorious lavender-scented savasana.

“I think it’s an intimate relationship that you have with your yoga mat. You’re on it at least a couple of times a week; your entire body is involved in it.  It’s like not having a shower for years [if you don’t clean it].” 

She recommends giving the mat a good deep clean at least once a year and to maintain its health with daily mat cleaner. Think of it like brushing your teeth.

Shelley also walks the walk (or perhaps tadasanas the tadasana). She teaches yoga at Goodlife and yoga therapy at a chiropractic clinic for various ailments or injury, including what she calls “closed chest syndrome.”

After she did the yoga show in Toronto, she became inspired to expand on her product with hand-sewn yoga bags and eye pillows that she creates with her mother. I asked how she liked working with her mom:

“We have a good relationship. It forces us to make time for each other.” 

Shelley has many plans for the future of her company from bolsters to “sitting pretty” meditation pillows. You can order her products online at www.lovemymat.com. 

Now if only she created a spray for a dude’s gym bag.

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Courtney Sunday has two cats and a boyfriend who are very patient with her health and wellness obsessions. She teaches yoga, Pilates and indoor cycling and gives Thai massages through her Toronto business Om at Home Yoga. When she is tuckered out, she takes up the sport of sleeping.