Shopping for a Yoga Mat

Are you asking for a new yoga mat this holiday season? Considering Manduka, Jade, Lululemon? What features are most important to you? I tried five top yoga mats, evaluated them on ten criteria (including weight, material, traction, and price) and put the results into an easy to read chart. Which is just the kind of thing I love to do. I hope you find it helpful.

Though some may disagree (see these comments), when I recently revisited Lululemon's The Mat for a hot yoga class, I was pretty impressed. I got plenty sweaty, yet found myself with great traction throughout. Although I love my Manduka for most other classes, The Mat outperformed it in the heat.

If you're still on the fence, check out which mats our readers recommend.