Alignment Mats

Your guide to safe and proper yoga postures

Alignment mats are the newest member in the growing family of yoga mats. Correct positioning is the most challenging element for every yoga practitioner - particularly beginners. Recognizing the vital nature of performing proper postures, alignment mats are mainly designed by three manufacturers worldwide - Tapas, YogaForce and Agoy.

Tapas brand alignment mats are made by Hugger Mugger, an American Yoga and Pilate’s manufacturer. Tapas mats look more like a map than a simple mat. With their beautiful symmetric Aztec design, the intersecting lines form 45-degree and 90-degree angles across the mat’s surface. These alignment directions help to position the hands and feet properly when performing standing yoga postures. The stair step alignment patterns offer spacing options for your hands, knees and feet in poses like downward facing dog, kneeling and inverted yoga postures. Depending on the thickness (1/8-inches and ¼-inches) alignment mats cost from $40 to $50 online.

YogaForce yoga mats are quite unique in their shape, compared to other yoga sticky mats. Instead of the standard rectangle shape, the mat is wider at one end to accommodate the width of your shoulders. YogaForce mats have rounded corners and four bold orange colored lines on one side to guide your hands and feet during yoga workouts. The size of a YogaForce alignment mat is designed to measure 20 or 30-inches x 68-inches with ¼-inch thickness. You can find YogaForce mats for about $50 online.

The simplest alignment yoga mat is from Agoy. These 100-percent cotton hand-loomed rugs were originally made in India. On one side of the rugs, there are 10 non-slip woven ridges at either end that form a central line to assist with 7 different color chakra dots. These help keep your postures in alignment. Natural cotton Agoy rugs are always ideal for sweaty yoga practice, because of their great absorbency, in addition to the fact that they can be washed easily. The price of an Agoy alignment yoga mat is around $40 online.