Old Yeller

No, sillies, not the movie - my mat!  But the stories are similarly sad.  Is a yoga mat worth crying over?  I've had my yellow mat for 4 years - I bought it the spring after my second son arrived.  I love my yellow mat - we've been through many ardho muhka savasana together - so many that there are dark patches where my hands and feet go!  I learned how to do a proper chaturanga on my old yellow mat (I'm still working on perfecting it, Diann!).  No one else in class ever has a bright yellow mat like mine - I think the instructors and classmates got to recognize me ("oh, here comes that girl with the yellow mat - I hope she doesn't unroll that smelly old thing next to...oh darn!  She did.")  The horizontal white lines kept ME in line. Yes, friends - kept, for a divot right in the middle of where my hands go has widened a bit, getting worse over the course of the summer.  I've had to replace my old yellow mat.

This was a struggle - but one that I knew was coming.  When the divot first appeared, I immediately began searching online for stores that sold my yellow mat.  Nothing, but I had time.  Then the divot got a little larger.  I checked out places that made custom yoga mats - still none that offered "yellow" as a base color...and even then, you couldn't add stripes anyway.  The divot turned into a flap - I was in a panic.  I wasn't going to find my yellow mat anywhere.   I was going to start from square one.  I needed to do research.

I read reviews online.  I poured over ads in Yoga Journal.  I took note of which mats were used in yoga studios (a lot of them use Jade mats).  I tried to spy which mats were used by the instructors on my yoga DVDs (even in slow motion, my eyes couldn't see - but Shiva Rea uses Jade).  I asked people.  I read more reviews online. 

...AND, I settled on a Manduka eKO-lite.  check it out here Boy is this a thin mat.  It is very eco-friendly with it's complete biodegradability.  Low carbon footprint - it's made of natural tree rubber - and has a cool design.  It's smelly. 

I haven't had a new boyfriend in a long, long, looonnngg time, but I've got to imagine this is what it's like.  There's a mourning period as you get over the loss of your old one (mat or boyfriend).  You need to acclimate yourself to the new texture (mat.  well, maybe boyfriend, too)  You need to get used to the new smell until it becomes undecipherable to your nose (mat...and definitely boyfriend!).  At the end of the day, hopefully it's an improvement over what you've had, and hopefully it'll stick around for a while.

Yellow is associated with the Solar Plexus Chakra (it's called Manipura).  Its lotus has 10 petals, and is a Fire element (hey, like me!), associated with Power and Will, control, competence, and success.  Manduka does not make yellow mats (why not?!?  It's a great color!).  So, what color did I choose?  Denim - very close to Indigo, which is associated with the Third Eye Chakra (it's called Ajna).  Its lotus only had 2 petals, and is a Light element, associated with clear sight and insight.  I'll let you know how it goes...my only regret so far is that my mat is the same color as everyone else in class.  Hey, I guess we all are working on looking inward with clarity... 

Yes, I did cry at the end of Old Yeller.