This travel yoga mat weighs much less than a regular one and folds up to the size of a newspaper

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YOGO

If you want to stop your traveling from breaking up your workout regime, you might want to look into one of YOGO’s Ultralight Travel Mats.

It’s a super-compact design that folds into a small rectangle (about the size of a newspaper) and has straps attached for easy carrying and hanging it up to dry or hose off in the shower. It’s still a full yoga mat once unfolded, but you won’t get the same foamy bulk as a traditional mat.

Plus, many Yogis will like that the principles of yoga aren’t sacrificed to make the tools they use during their practice; the mats are made of a dense, natural tree rubber foam and for every mat sold, YOGO plants a tree in Central America and provides training in organic farming to local communities (which is another sustainable way to combat deforestation).

In my experience, the compact, lightweight makeup (2.4 pounds in comparison to traditional 7 pounds) makes it ideal for traveling and storing anywhere, especially for those of us who have limited storage space.

Some quick facts:

What it is: a lightweight, compact yoga mat with great grip meant for easy packability.
Things it’s good at: grip, packability, traveling, long-lasting.
Who will want it: travelers, urbanites, small apartment owners, and those 6 a.m. yoga class warriors who head to work right after.
Concerns: some reviewers mentioned a rubber smell, slippage. Thinner than a traditional mat.
Bonus fact: It's made out of natural tree rubber foam and every mat sold means one tree planted in Central America.

My personal opinion is that it's pretty much the ideal travel yoga mat, and if you're willing to trade some cushiness for a compact, lightweight mat that goes anywhere, and you're okay with that convenience coming at a $60 price tag, you'll want to try this.

While it does pack up into an extremely small, light rectangle, the natural rubber provides a great grip, particularly on carpets you might find in hotel rooms (which provides a nice complimentary cushioning to the thin material). It's easy to attach to backpacks and hiking gear (as I plan to do with mine when I travel out of state this fall hiking), and it folds up and into itself, so the outer layer doesn't touch the side you use. It's extremely easy to clean (with the handles making it seamless to hang up and rinse off in the shower and the material extremely fast-drying), but if you're moving around and don't always have the time to wash it off, you can still keep the dirty section separate from the outdoors or your belongings. The complete ease of this mat in comparison to traditional ones means you can also hit the morning yoga class, wash this off in the shower after, and pack it up to stick in the tote you bring to the office.

YOGO

The added bonus of a sticky, "grabby" surface is an improvement in performance thanks to traction. While some of the overlapping complaints of unhappy customers were slippage (though one of the most-mentioned benefits for others was the contradictory exceptional no-slip grip), I didn't experience any even though that's normally my complaint with mats.

One commenter described himself as a 6'3," 240 lbs. guy and said "This mat works great for what [sic] my rhino like yoga sessions! It is very thin but provides tremendous grip and holds for me in downward dog with zero slippage. I use it on a linoleum floor where I live for work (overseas) and it doesn't slide at all." He also mentioned that it takes seconds to fold up and throw in his pack.

In response to one reviewer with this problem, the YOGO mat designer said "I practice yoga 3-4 times per week with my mat and have experienced similar slipping sometimes when I haven't washed it in a while. I'm curious — have you tried using any oil-free soap (like Dove or a natural citrus-based soap) to clean your mat on both sides, hang dry it, and then test the grip again?" So if you grab one and experience slippage, you might want to check if that applies to you, or if that fix might solve the problem.

Some users mentioned an unpleasant rubber smell. My mat did smell faintly like rubber for the first few days, but after airing it out I don't notice the scent anymore. If the smell bothers you, you can try what I did or even throw the mat into the washer on the gentle cycle with warm water. If that doesn't work, customer service is predominantly said to be responsive and helpful.

YOGO

Some things to keep in mind, in my experience, are the thinness of the mat and the buckles, both of which ultimately outweighed any negatives due to what comparative advantages they added. The thinness of the mat is what makes it so easy to pack and travel with, and arguably the reason you would purchase this one, anyway. It does mean less cushioning, but that was a trade-off that I was happy to make to be able to bring it anywhere. It also takes up about zero room in my closet, unlike the other mats I've had. I didn't expect to notice the buckles on the mat, but I'm almost 5'7" and typically use the entirety, so I did know they were there even though they never hindered movement/poses. However, those buckles are what makes the mat so easy to carry, hang up, and attach to other gear, so for a travel mat, I was more than happy to have them included.

If you love yoga or want to get into a workout that goes where you go (and doesn't rely on heavy weights or excess tools to be effective), the YOGO Ultralight Travel Mat is absolutely worth looking into. In my experience, it was lightweight, easy to pack, and had great grip as well as seeming durable.