Designer Yoga Mats

Displeased with the lack of design in yoga mats, Doreen Hing created Plank to bring a playfulness to the culture and philosophy of yoga that was both fun and attainable to serious yogis as well as the average joe. The result: a collection of high-quality images that make statements about the yoga world rendered onto eco-rubber mats. 

Cobra pose, a prevalent posture in almost all styles of yoga, is represented by snake slivering through bright green grass. Shag, featuring handprints in thick, old school carpet, could represent someone firmly planting their hands in downward dog or perhaps something a little more naughty (yoga can increase sexual energy, after all). Pills, which features bright pills spilled across the mat, makes a statement about the healing physical and emotional properties of yoga in a fun way. And my favorite of the collection, Plank features an aged piece of wood with a half-eaten blueberry muffin on one corner. For me, the wood not only represents plank pose, but sometimes the serious, judgmental and negative thoughts that can come up during practice. The muffin is a reminder to not take it all too seriously and to enjoy life.

Plank yoga mats retail for $95 and can be purchased at plankdesigns.com.

California-based Yogamatic is sot of like the Threadless of the yoga world. You send in a photo or image and Yogamatic prints it on their non-slip, thick antibacterial yoga mats. I think I first heard about Yogamatic a few years ago, but it wasn't until the vision board workshop with Mandy Ingber at lululemon that I really understood how awesome this concept is. You can create something that shows your sense of humor or as Mandy showed us in the workshop, something that inspires you to never lose sight of your goals and dreams - whatever you want to reflect or be inspired by when you get in the yoga zone is just a few clicks away! 

Yogamatic owner William Cawley also sent me a pic of their latest custom product, which I think is so ingenious! It's a customizable travel mat or yoga towel (almost like YogiToes) for a hot practice that easily folds up into the carrying case (included with your purchase) in the picture. How cool is that? Come on! The towel is also a great way to add a bit of flavor to your current mat (perfect for those Manduka or Jade diehards). 

A custom yoga mat from Yogamatic is $85 and can be purchased at Yogamatic.com. In addition to yoga mats, the company has another division called Shortomatic that prints custom board shorts.