How To Clean Your Yoga Mat

We all spend a lot of time on our mats, and that means that there are a lot of germs accumulating on it. Good health for your yoga mat is necessary if you’d like to keep on practicing care-free. I’m not gonna talk about the things that it can cause, they’re not that bad, but it’s better to avoid them. And it’s quite simple to do as well. All you’ve got to have are a couple of essential oils and you’ll have an organic, home-made mat spray.

Essential Oils

Essential oils are practically unmissable when it comes down to every yogi. We are all using them, whether it’s from putting them into a diffuser, or when we are preparing our foods. Of course, you’ve always got to be careful using them as every type of oil has its own purpose. 

If you want you can learn how to make your own essential oil on this page. However, these days essential oils aren’t that expensive anymore. There are a lot of organic oils available, but you have to be careful and know about when something can be called organic in your country. Regulations are different in every country and this means that if your country is loose with calling something organic, it might not be.

If you look on the internet for some organic companies you’ll probably find them very quickly, but if you don’t like to search then I can already tell you that the Doterra products are the real deal. They are very concentrated and they all have 100% organic materials inside of them. This also means that you need less of the same product as well, which makes up for the higher price you pay for it.

Mat Hygiene

You probably already know that good hygiene for your mat is quite crucial for yourself as well. The tendency to sweat during your yoga practice. You walk the studio floors with your bare feet before going onto your mat, and there are a lot more ways that you carry germs onto your mat. In this article, I’ve already mentioned that lending out your mat isn’t such a good thing to do. But that doesn’t mean you are in the safe zone. Taking care of your mat is an extended version of taking care of yourself as well.

I often put my mat into the washing machine. The instructions on it said it was possible and I found it the best way to give my mat a deep rinse. Of course, I put the machine on a hand wash as I don’t want it to get wrinkled. Before you put your mat in the machine, be sure that you’ve read the instructions. Sometimes it’s possible that your mat can’t stand high temperatures. Another thing that might be helpful then is to put it into a bucket with water and detergent (these days you’ve already got great ecological detergents available). If you are looking for an alternative on washing detergent, I can recommend strongly to use Indian wash nuts!

Another thing that is good to do every now and then, is to put your mat in the sun. Hang it on a rack where it can catch some wind as well. The sun is a good killer for bacteria. It damages the DNA beyond repair and therefore you’ll have a great natural detergent. The only thing you’ve got to watch out for is that you’re not drying your yoga mat on a humid day, as this might even attract more bacteria. 

With that said, there are a couple of things you can also do to make your own DIY-spray to rinse your yoga mat!

DIY: Yoga Mat Spray

It’s actually very easy. The first thing you’ve got to have is a spray. I use a plant spray as there haven’t been any detergent products inside, which makes it free of chemicals. If you don’t have that, or you don’t want to purchase it, you can use whatever detergent spray as well. Just make sure that you clean it out properly before you start making your own mixture of natural detergent.

When you are making your Mat Cleaner, you have to make sure that you choose the right essential oils. This means that one of the essential oils that you’ve GOT to use, has to be anti-bacterial. It doesn’t make any sense of course if you are going to clean your mat if your spray doesn’t actually contain something that kills the bugs on your mats.

Here are five anti-bacterial essential oils you can use as the base of your mat spray:

1. Tea-Tree Oil
2. Peppermint Oil
3. Eucalyptus Oil
4. Oregano Oil
5. Citronella Oil

After using one of these you could use any kind of essential oil you’d like to add. Just make sure it’s not a weird combination that will actually knock you off the mat because of the scent ;).

Here is a list of a couple of great combinations that I’ve tested out for you!

Base Instructions

But first of all, it would be good to have a bit of a base from where to start. Normally you should’ve gotten your spray ready already, but now we still have to make sure that we have the rest. Besides the Essential Oils that you’ll be using, it’s also good to get some distilled or purified water in your house. Besides that, a clean dry cloth and you are ready to begin!

• Sprays are normally about 16oz or 0,5l big, so this is the amount of water you’ll need
• Essential Oil mix (down below)
• Dry Cloth
• (vinegar optional)

Power Spray

This combination is especially great for those who are doing Power Yoga or any type of yoga where you’ll be sweating a lot. This mixture is not anti-bacterial, but it’s also anti-fungal and anti-microbial. With this combination, you don’t have to worry about yourself anymore if there might be something hiding inside your mat. 

• 1 drop of Peppermint Oil
• 2 drops of Citronella Oil

Besides its nice smell and strong functions, this spray will also repel mosquitos! So great in areas where you’ll be doing yoga outside!

Evening Relax

This mixture is great for people who are practicing yin yoga. Not only will it be a good cleaner, but because of it’s relaxing properties, you’ll also experience a deeper yoga class yourself! Just make sure that you’re not so relaxed that you’ll fall asleep ;). It’s also great to open up your nostrils, so this one is effective as well while you have a runny nose.

• 2 drops of Lavender Oil
• 1 drop of Eucalyptus Oil

Viva Italia

This mixture has some Oils that you’ll typically find in the Italian kitchen, but here we won’t put them on our pizza. Basil is a great anti-bacterial herb as well, and it is even anti-viral. This means that when flu-season begins, it’s best to use this spray if you don’t want to get sick.

• 1 drop of Basil Oil
• 1 drop of Oregano Oil
• 1 drop of Thyme Oil

C-Shot

Citrus plants do good as well on your mat, they contain a lot of vitamin C, so most of these essential oils are also drinkable. Just make sure that you check the package of the bottle first before you start ingesting it! They are great to use if you’d like to get the summer in your house again, they will vitalize your yoga practice and you’ll get that summer haze feeling again!

• 1 drop of Lemon Oil
• 1 drop of (sweet) Orange Oil
• 1 drop of Lemongrass Oil

I’ve added here the lemongrass oil as the other two aren’t anti-bacterial.

How To clean my Yoga Mat?

Well, the best time to clean your yoga mat is right after your practice, this is to prevent the bacteria from growing and this way you’ll have the greatest chance that your mat won’t be smelly too! It’s good to use a dry cloth, spray a couple of times on your mat and wipe it off. 

You do have to be careful, I’ve used the spray a couple of times before doing my yoga practice, but that wasn’t advisable at all. The oils will put a sort of filter on top of your mat which makes it slippery. So make sure that after you’ve used the spray that you let your mat dry properly before using it again!

Conclusion

That was it, for now, I hope you enjoyed reading about cleaning your mat, and I’ll be hoping that you’ll be cleaning your mat as well ;). What I didn’t say in this article, is that if you put vinegar into the mixture as well, you’ll get a proper cleaning detergent, which is natural. This also makes that you’ll be able to clean your house in an ecological way by just using a couple of drops of essential oil.

If you already have some oils at home, you can already start experimenting right away! I’m always curious about getting to know new great combinations! So let me know in the comment section down below which is your favorite combination!

And for now,

Nama-stay Wonderful!