Even yoga mats go to heaven

How many yoga mats do you have? One, two, four? Have you considered recycling or upcycyling or re-using your mat? Even yoga mats go to heaven!

RECYCLING or UPCYCLING
Heartspring Yoga is now an authorized centre for Recycle Your Mat, a great new company founded by yoga practitioner Stephanie Spano in Eugene, Oregon. Her goal is to recycle 1 million yoga mats in 2009! You can drop off your old yoga mat (and peruse our collection of new ones!) along with a recycling fee of $5.00. The mat will either be donated (along with the recycling fee) to the yoga and meditation programs that we are involved with through Freeing the Human Spirit, or bundled and shipped in bulk to Reycycle Your Mat.

RE-USING
There are a lot of things that you can do with your old yoga mat, including:

• cutting it up and using it to keep pet dishes from sliding
• putting it in the bottom of your vehicle trunk to keep things from sliding
• rolling it up loosely and tying it for a garden kneeler
• placing it under an area rug to keep it from sliding
• any other ideas? Let us know and we’ll add to this list!

What happens to the mats sent to Recycle Your Mat?
In 2008, more than 50% of mats collected by Recycle Your Mat were upcycled into other products, including yoga products! More than 30% of mats collected were donated to local community programs. The remaining mats from 2008 are slated for upcycling in 2009.

Be sure to clean your mat before dropping it off to us (call first):
“If your mat is lightly soiled, spray a solution of 2 cups water and 4 drops dish soap on a clean cloth. Rub the soiled mat areas. Wipe the mat with clean water, wipe dry with clean towel, then hang to dry. If your mat is heavily soiled, submerge it in a solution of warm water and mild detergent. Thoroughly hand wash the mat and rinse in clean water. After squeezing out the excess water, lay the mat on a dry towel and roll the mat and towel together. Stepping on the rolled up mat will squeeze more moisture out of the mat and into the towel. Then unroll and hang to air dry.”