Manduka eko Yoga and Pilates Mat

The best yoga mat I have purchased. Great grip, love the material, and design. It does have a slight smell on arrival, but that soon wears off with use. . Definitely recommend.

I've purposefully left it quite a while to review this product as I wanted to break it in and test it out before giving a fair review. Quite frankly this is the best yoga mat I have ever bought. When it arrived it did have that "yoga mat" smell but after a couple of days of airing this soon disappeared. It's a robust mat, comfortable, definitely non-slip and after plenty of sweaty, hard core yoga and Pilates sessions holds its own in comparison to other mats I've had in the past. I genuinely love using this. I bought the blue which looks great and I've even had comments about how good it looks and feels. I am one very happy customer.

When my old mat started literally falling apart, I started researching for a new mat. I wanted a mat that would give me more stability (less slipping), especially when my hands and feet were sweaty. I settled on the Manduka Pro, but it was slippy. Luckily wonderful Amazon were able to sort out a return and I settled this time on the Manduka eKo. It is a revelation. Poses I have been doing in yoga for years are an entirely different experience where I can focus on the pose rather than an entire focus on keeping my hands and feet from slipping. Before I sent back the Pro, I was using grippy gloves and socks in an attempt to work with it. The freedom of being able to return to bare hands and feet is a great relief. I do use a small Manduka grippy towel with it just because I have it and have got used to using it when doing downward dog under my hands but it's not necessary. No extra padding is required for Pilates class roll ups and the beautiful colour makes me feel I am about to dive into a peaceful lagoon. Highly recommended.

Well I have to say I am quite impressed by my first venture with a Manduka Mat. I am a long term Jade Harmony yoga mat user, I think I got through three of them over the last 3/4 years and I do love the Jade and still do but I was ready to try something different and a friend recommended the Manduka. First major difference is that the Manduka has a sealed finish, whereas the Jade is open celled. If you look at the edge of the Manduka you can see that internally it still has this natural homeycomb effect that the Jade has, but in the case of the Manduka the external surface is sealed and has a type of textured surface, which looks like a wave pattern, it's quite attractive to look at IMHO. Anyhow I was sceptical at first as to how grippy this surface would be since grip is very important to me and I do sweat a lot. But you know what I took a 90 minute vinyasa class a few days ago and I was dripping sweat onto the mat but my grip did not slip. One thing I will say is that due to the sealed surface, the mat does not absorb the sweat, it tends to puddle on the surface (I told you I sweat a lot) but I don't find that an issue, I just wiped the mat once or twice during the class and during full on Bikram style classes I still have to lay a towel down but that would be the case with any mat. Manduka do tout this sealed effect as being more hygienic, my Jade did tend to get more saturated with my sweat after an intense class so I suppose that is a point. I have heard that this mat should last longer than the Jades have for me, they have tended to start to wear out after a year or so. I do think this Manduka will probably be longer lasting, if I experience something to the contrary I will come back and update. As for the smell, it is quite strong fresh out of the wrapping and that smell is still there ten days later, although lessening, but I don't find it to be a rank smell, it's quite nice really, I like natural products. SO all in all I am giving this mat the thumbs up, I am over 6'2" so I appreciate the extra width and length but at the same time it is not to the extent that I feel like I am hogging floor space in class. I may also go for the eco lite mat as a travel mat, would like to see it first hand first to check out. By the way, I did also consider the Liforme Yoga mat, a couple of the girls at my shala have them and love them and I would still recommend the Jade to anyone considering a great and grippy natural rubber mat, but for now I love my new Manduka. Namaste people, Mark.

This is one of my favorite mats. It's light enough to transport to and from classes, but thick and heavy enough to feel durable and support your joints during practice. I am very happy that it is eco friendly as well. This mat is quite grippy. I have a manduka pro series mat that is very thick and heavy, which I only use at home. I've had that mat for years, but found it has always been a bit slippery for me as soon as I sweat at all. I tend to sweat a bit more than the average person, however, so a hand towel is an easy fix though. At present, my eKo Lite seems to grip better for me compared to my other Manduka pro, lululemon, and various other yoga mats I've tried. As for the smell some people have mentioned, I found that faded within a few days of airing it out. Every yoga mat I've ever had, which is at least 5 before this, have had a smell to start so this didn't surprise me. I've been using it at least 2-3 weekly for a few months and it doesn't smell at all now. Assuming it stands the test of time in terms of wear, this mat will become my go to!

Comes with minimal packaging and good information about the environmental credentials. The rubber smell does lessen after airing outside (as it suggests you do). Nice and soft but I occasionally feel like I might be about to slip out of my downward dog (although I haven't).

After 3 months of exploration and indecision about should I buy Jade, Liforme, Infinity by DesignLab or Calyana it was Manduka EKO that finally prevailed. Time will tell how good that decision was but for now I can only tell I am very happy with my purchase. Grip is amazing and only thing I’ve noticed that people use to downvote this mat is smell...Well, this is natural rubber so it smells like one when you receive it but not so terrible and it really reduces with each day. I would say it will be gone after week or two completely (I do spray it with 50/50 water/vinegar mixture so maybe that does the trick). Anyhow.. I am 174cm tall and this mat is perfect size for me. Weight also doesn’t bother me because I will not travel miles to my yoga studio and for that half an hour walk it’s fine. But that’s already personal preference...like everything else is, right?! :) At the end-I love mine <3

I've been practicing yoga for over 20 years - and have not purchased a new mat in about 15 (as my millenium one still is of a very good quality). I'm a bit circumspect regarding the craze for 'new and better' - and also attempt to reduce my own consumeristic imprint... HOWEVER... after three minutes on this mat I was totally sold! It's SUCH a difference from my old and cherished millenium mat!!! In the interval between ordering this manduka eko mat and receiving it, I've read many scary reviews - people complaining about the smell and what not. I was thinking: oh NO! maybe I have to return it! .... AND THEN: surprise! the natural rubber smell reminds me of roasted barley or millet - so it's actually, in my particular case, a very pleasant smell! The mat is simply fantastic (besides-the color is mesmerizing ) - all in all... a treat to practice on. I wonder how on earth did the yogis of 2000 years back managed without such a mat :-) I thought this is a good example of how science can be used (and not mis-used). So, thank you Manduka team! I'm really grateful to be practicing on this wonderful mat!