Keeping up with your yoga practice during a trip can be challenging if you don’t have a foldable yoga mat for travel. Imagine carrying around your bulky mat, taking up half of your backpack or luggage. That always kept me from bringing my yoga mat, even though I would have loved to continue with my routine when traveling.
Therefore, it was about time for me to get a travel yoga mat. And that’s when I came across Mikkoa – a sustainable brand offering lightweight, compact, foldable yoga mats. Sounds great to me. But does it meet the expectations?
So when my next trip to Portugal where I would join a yoga retreat came up, I was curious to give them a try. And here’s my Mikkoa travel yoga mat review.
Table of contents
Mikkoa foldable travel yoga mat review
Practice on my Mikkoa travel yoga mat | pictures by Anne Bonsack
Why a travel yoga mat?
Before we delve into this travel yoga mat review, you may wonder what you need one for.
In my case, I was about to go on a trip, during which I joined a yoga retreat for a week. Not sure if they would supply enough mats for all attendees, I knew that I’d better bring my own.
Besides, it’s also more hygienic to practice on your own mat instead of borrowing one on which hundreds of different sweaty feet have already practiced.
But well, there’s no point in bringing a normal yoga mat that’s not only bulky but also heavy when you’re traveling. That’s for sure.
Having a mat small enough to easily fit my bag, even if I’m traveling light, was my goal.
Besides, having a foldable yoga mat is also useful for hot yoga classes where you may want to bring your own mat to put on top of a studio mat (some bring a towel, but that can get really slippery once you start sweating).
Enough reasons to get a foldable yoga mat or travel yoga mat? So let’s look into Mikkoa’s models and see how they perform.
Hard facts about the Mikkoa travel yoga mat
Looking at the selection of beautiful, colorful yoga mats on their website, I already had a hard time choosing one. Simply because they’re all incredibly pretty.
But what else do you need to know about the Mikkoa travel yoga mat?
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Size | 183 × 68 cm (or 72 × 26 inches) – which is a bit longer than many other mats
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Foldable | can be closed down to a small package of 24 × 14 cm (or 10 × 6 inches)
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Thin | around 1.5 mm thin
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Weight | 900 grams (or 2 lbs)
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Material | natural rubber bottom, vegan microfibre suede top that is sweat absorbent
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Sustainable | Produced without any harsh chemicals
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Washable | Machine washable in cold water, hang to dry after wash
As this is a travel yoga mat review, I don’t want to bore you with only the details, but share with you my own experience and opinion when trying out the Mikkoa travel yoga mat.
Happy flow | pictures by Anne Bonsack
Mikkoa travel yoga mat review
A foldable yoga mat for travel?
Indeed, I was surprised at the small package when my foldable travel yoga mat arrived. As I am usually traveling light, having a compact yoga mat for travel is perfect for me. You can fold it or roll it up. Both worked fine for me and gave me enough flexibility on how to pack my bag.
But not only does it easily fit into any backpack or tote bag, the Mikkoa mat also doesn’t have a single crease upon unfolding. That’s something that I really love, as it can get really tight in my backpack or duffel bag. And sometime’s I just have to cram my things into my bag.
A lightweight yoga mat for travel?
As surprised as I was about the small size of the foldable yoga mat, I was also surprised about the weight. Honestly, it didn’t feel super lightweight to me at first – with almost 900 grams.
But once I compared it to other travel yoga mats out there, I found out that this is completely in the usual range. The lightest models I found out there were travel yoga mats at around 700 grams. But those are also much shorter (only around 1,70 m in length) which doesn’t provide the same comfort as a large mat does. Just think about a nice, relaxing Savasana with your whole body comfortably stretched out on your mat.
There are even travel yoga mats out there weighing around 1.45 kg. That’s definitely too heavy in my opinion.
So with its 900 grams, the Mikkoa model can indeed be defined as a lightweight yoga mat for travel.
One thing that you have to keep in mind with a lightweight and foldable yoga mat – this also means the mat is very thin. Otherwise, you simply wouldn’t be able to fold it up.
So on a hard floor, better have a towel at hand that you can put under your knees for some asanas.
If you can, try using it on a carpet or on the grass in a park. Much better for your knees! And I just love the vibe in parks when traveling.
A foldable travel yoga mat that easily fits into any bag
A washable yoga mat for travel?
Being able to wash your travel yoga mat is a huge bonus, especially when you plan to use it for hot yoga classes. Also, after a trip I like to throw the whole inside of my backpack into the washing machine.
As I chose the bright Cosmic Flow design I was even happier to find out that the yoga mat is washable. Already after the first few yoga sessions, I discovered smaller stains (from incense sticks) and soon also larger ones (from practicing outdoors and from my feet).
So after my trip, I was curious if I would be able to remove all of them in a cold wash. And I have to say: All the stains were removed easily. A huge plus for Mikkoa’s yoga mat for travel!
A sustainable yoga mat for travel?
Trying to travel as sustainably as possible, having a travel yoga mat that contains or is produced with harsh chemicals or plastic would be a no-go for me.
So I was happy to discover that the Mikkoa travel yoga mats are earth friendly, as they contain no harsh chemicals, no PVC, no TPE, no silicones or phthalates. And they are vegan-friendly.
Besides, Mikkoa is really one of those companies I love to support. A small independent business with a passion for sustainable living, mindfulness and the environment.
They plant one tree for every purchase, so you can help restore forests when buying a travel yoga mat at Mikkoa. Beyond that, they donate $1 for every sale to Greening Australia.
And in case you’re wondering if it’s sustainable to order from an Australian brand when you’re based in Europe or in North America. They ship from the UK and the US. So your mat doesn’t cross the whole globe in order to arrive in your hands.
A faithful travel companion| pictures by Anne Bonsack
A non-slippery yoga mat for travel?
Let’s dive into the juicy part of this travel yoga mat review! Creating a non-slippery yoga mat is not an easy task, as it also depends very much on where and for which kind of yoga you use it. Some mats provide the perfect surface for Yin or Hatha, but once you’re in a hot room and sweat a lot, they get very slippery.
Also, there are yogis who sweat faster and those who don’t lose a single drop of sweat during their practice. So I was very curious about this aspect.
Looking at the Mikkoa yoga mat for travel, it has a very soft top surface (vegan microfiber suede) and a rubber base. The rubber bottom provides a great grip on hard floors – so definitely no slipping on the ground.
But the soft top left me wondering if it would actually be non-slippery and give my feet a stable underground during practice.
Well, with a tendency to have very dry skin and my body taking a lot of time until eventually sweating, I found my feet slipping a bit during my first few downward-facing dogs in my Ashtanga practice. Moving forward with my asanas, it improved a bit, but still wasn’t satisfying.
Checking Mikkoa‘s website again, I found the key: “Give your mat a spritz of water prior to use to enhance grip.” Apparently, the microfiber surface becomes more non-slip with a bit of water (or sweat), as opposed to traditional yoga mats that get more slippery with moisture.
Aww what a difference! So make sure you use this trick before your practice (most yoga studios provide sprays to clean your mat). However, especially when traveling, you may not always have a spray at hand.
Side note: I haven’t tried using the mat during a hot yoga class yet, but the microfiber surface is supposed to soak up the sweat. So I can imagine that it provides a great underground for hot yoga classes.
Nonslip? | pictures by Anne Bonsack
Verdict: Is the Mikkoa yoga mat the best yoga mat for travel?
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons:
Pros
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Lightweight – With around 900 grams, it’s really lightweight in comparison to many other yoga mats for travel
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Foldable into a compact package – When rolled or folded, it gets small enough to fit into a small bag
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Long – Even though it can be folded quite small, it’s longer than an average travel yoga mat
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Vegan & earth-friendly – No harsh chemicals used and no animals harmed
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Washable – Can be machine washed (cold wash)
- High quality – The mat is finished to a high quality and is durable, so I can imagine that it will be long-lasting
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Sweat absorbent – The vegan microfiber suede top is perfect for hot yoga classes
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Sticks to the ground – No slipping due to the natural rubber bottom
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Free shipping – With shipping centers in Europe and the US it arrives quickly and at no costs
Cons
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Slippery at first – You only get a proper grip when you spray some water on the mat’s surface (which may not always be at hand when traveling)
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Very thin – Bring a towel to put under your knees for some asanas (is the case for all travel yoga mats)
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Bright design not very resistant to stains – My version got dirty quite quickly, so pick a more colorful one (but I have to say that the stains were gone after washing)
All in all, I can say that I’m happy with the mat, even though I can only compare it to the ones my travel buddies use. Looking at the high-quality product, I’d consider Mikkoa one of the best travel yoga mats out there. The only thing I wished was that it’s more slip-proof because you don’t always have the option to give your mat a spritz when you’re traveling and want to practice outside.
Where to buy it?
You can purchase the beautiful Mikkoa travel yoga mat on their website. Any of the designs is 79€ / £69 and there’s free shipping to the US and to Europe, which I really appreciated. And when you sign up for Mikkoa’s newsletter, you even get a 15€ discount.
Yoga helps keeping your balance while traveling | pictures by Anne Bonsack
Disclosure: I was gifted this mat in order to write an honest review. Everything mentioned in this article is my honest, personal opinion from my experiences with the Mikkoa yoga mat.
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