Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

OMG it was a seemingly long journey to my loving this mat because of its slippery nature at first. Now it is my main mat and I adore it. At first, I could not break in this mat satisfactorily for the first three months and spent a lot of time amazed that this company gets away with selling one of the most expensive mats on the market--given the lack of grip when you start using it. I had to have faith that I could do away with the slick outside layer as I followed all instructions--salt, sunning the mat, and putting it in a pool a few times. I even put it in my gigantic clothes washer on cold, which was a potentially stupid thing to do both to the washer and mat, but I was desperate to break up that layer. I stomped on it with shoes on and I beat it with sticks to break up or abrade its surface a bit. I also cleaned it religiously every day after yoga class to try to get rid of the film or whatever it is that is slick on top of the mat. I frankly don't know which of these measures helped but now it is the best mat ever because it is not slippery or slick during yoga in any way and it looks great because it is obviously very tough and will last forever. My other grippier mats that came that way out of the box now look terrible while the Manduka Pro still looks like it is new and it is a year and a half later! I still wonder that Manduka can't break these mats in for us BEFORE selling them to us as it is an expensive mat, but I now forgive them as it is a great mat.