Grip Tip

When it comes to finding the right yoga mat for a your yoga practice, your sweaty hands need to know they can rely on the grip factor of the material beneath you.

The initial feel of cork underneath your palms is often that is feels smooth to the touch. The cork texture provides a soft, subtle extra padding backed by natural tree rubber (perfect for sensitive knees). The unique grip offers a seamless transitions from upward dog to downward dog.

Here are our top tips for optimising your grip:

1. Activate the best grip with moisture
   
   The grip is best activated with sweat or moist hands - which is perfect for sweaty yoga palms, so make sure your hands are slightly moist before starting your yoga practice. If you don't have clammy hands (lucky you:p), lightly spray some water where your hands and feet go to activate the benefit of the waxy substance Suberin, naturally found in the cork.

   The cork mat provides an excellent base that makes it easy to roll over the toes from chaturanga to upward dog, and again to lift up and slowly roll over the toes to down dog with smooth transitions.

   Perfect for Vinyasa, Hot yoga, Ashtanga, Power Yoga and during your own yoga flows.

   And our favorite part is that they’re eco-friendly. Win, win!

   By savasana, you might just be a cork convert ;)

2. Avoid Lotions & Oils
   Drop the lotions and oils before practice. Lotion and oil coat the cork surface and can make it feel more slippery! So make sure you don't bring this on your new non-slip friend. (If you do by mistake, take a look at Our natural cork yoga mat cleanser here).
   
3. Body Alignment
   As a beginner to yoga, most people find that they slip more. As we progress and learn how to properly distribute our weight with proper body alignment in our yoga practice, we slip less.
   
   As our balancing and grounding abilities improve, our feet and hands are more firmly planted on the yoga mat. Even with sweat and lots of movement, the body is more familiar with where to apply pressure, body weight and body alignment, creating better stability.
   
   If you have the opportunity for a yoga teacher to look at the poses where you feel yourself slipping, this is of great value, as they might suggest some small changes to your body alignment to help ground yourself to the mat. 
   
   
4. Cleaning your cork yoga mat
   Last and not least; keeping your mat clean and fresh can do wonders for your grip. Dirt and sweat can sometimes coat the surface of the mat, layering on top of the grippy cork, so giving your mat a clean is key to maintaining its grippy surface.
   
   Cork is inherently antimicrobial, but you still have to do your part to keep those oils from building up on your mat.
   
   Our DIY natural cork yoga mat cleaner is excellent for keeping your cork yoga mat neat and fresh, ready for any yoga adventure. Best of all, you can make it in your own kitchen! Click here for the recipe!