Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

THE GOOD: Performance! I'm a vinyasa teacher and I teach 10+ classes a week and also keep up a vigorous personal practice, so I need a mat that can really perform. I work with a lot of jump-throughs, arm balances and other precarious poses requiring serious grip of my mat, and I just love how secure and confident I feel on the Jade Harmony. It's nice to be able to do things like jumping into bakasana from down dog without worrying if your hands are going to slide out from under you! I have to get insanely sweaty to feel even the slightest hint of slipperiness. I know some people complain about slipping when it gets really sweaty, but if you know of any surface in the world that does not become slippery when soaking wet, make a yoga mat out of it and get rich, baby! Until that day, this is hella-grippy and if I know I'm going to be sweating buckets I just bring a hand towel, duh. THE REALLY GOOD: Jade is a great company and you can feel good about spending your hard-earned money on their product. By now you've read about how they plant a tree for every mat they sell, how the mats are made in the US (hooray for US jobs!) and that they are completely biodegradable (hooray earth!). THE FINE PRINT: First, you must never, ever leave this mat exposed to direct sunlight. Put it in the trunk of your car, covered. Use an old junky mat for outdoor practice (or just touch the actual earth for once... dirt is cool!). Sunlight will RUIN the stickiness of a Jade mat. It does say this on the label and the website, but I forgot and left my first one in the backseat of my car and the part that was exposed totally dried. I've seen other people ruin theirs too so don't do it! Second, this mat is made from natural rubber and is biodegradable which means it will BIODEGRADE! How long yours will hold up depends on how hard you work it and for how many days a week. With my teaching/practice schedule (see above), I get about a year out of one of these (I've had three). Eventually I wear grooves in the places where my hands and feet go in down dog and then little bits of rubber start coming off. At that point, I accept that my mat's time has come and treat myself to a new one. If you want a forever mat, get the Manduka Black Mat Pro. It will never break down, but you will need a towel if you're super sweaty. Also, it's extremely heavy. The Jade mat is made with open-cell rubber, which is why it's so grippy. Other eco-mats are closed-cell, so while you may have a more environmentally friendly mat, you'll be slipping more. Some people worry about the cleanliness factor of the open-cell construction.... In my experience a quick wipe-down after class using a spray bottle of water with a few drops of tea tree oil is fine for daily maintenance, and once a month or so you can submerge it in your bathtub with a splash of vinegar and then hang (not in the sun!) to dry. Try rolling it up in a big towel and stepping on it to get the initial water load out... it will dry faster. Happy practicing!