Make your own all-natural, homemade yoga mat cleaner

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Yoga is often sold as meditative and relaxing, but we’ve all been there, right? Struggling to hold a stance, sweat dripping from your chin and pooling in patches under your arms and onto the mat below as your partner navigates through downward dogs and warrior poses seemingly with ease? Yep. Thought so.

When the session ends, you vacuum-roll up your damp, smelly mat and get outta there, revelling in the endorphins and happy hormones that make you forget all about your partner’s earlier claims that they’d “never done this before either”, leave it to fester for a week without a second thought. Everyone sweats, it’s not a big deal.

Sure, everyone sweats, but not everyone knows how to get a clean yoga mat naturally. Or how to make a DIY yoga mat cleaner. Whether you practice at home or go into a studio, having a homemade yoga mat cleaner up your sleeve is a real treat. And once you’ve done it once, you can repeat this yoga mat spray DIY project whenever you need to.  

How to make a DIY yoga mat cleaner

Whether you’re recuperating after animal yoga for kids or getting ready to perfect your very own downward dog, being able to get a clean yoga mat naturally is essential. The more you use it, the more your mat will get clogged with a cocktail of grime, sweat and bacteria. That won’t stop you from using it – it's just a bit of sweat! But finding the best way to clean yoga mat surfaces is not only sanitary, but it will make the mat last longer too. With this yoga mat cleaner recipe you’ll get some great results.

First up, gather together your ingredients:

• Water
• White vinegar
• A few drops of tea tree oil – if you’d rather make a DIY yoga mat cleaner without tea tree oil, try lavender, peppermint, or citrus oil

And your equipment:

• A spray bottle 
• Plenty kitchen towel

Now, the method for a yoga mat spray DIY:

1. Pour the water and vinegar into the spray bottle, 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water. Fill the bottle up to three quarters of the way, depending on how much you need (you can always make more).
2. Add the essential oil of your choice. Depending on the size of your spray bottle, you’ll want approximately 5 to 10 drops. 
3. Make sure that the bottle top is screwed tightly (unless you want to decorate your ceiling!) and shake to mix. This is the safest and best way of combining the mixture.
4. Spray on your natural yoga mat cleaner liberally, making sure to get an even coverage.
5. Wipe and pat it down with a sheet of Plenty kitchen paper to help dry. 
6. Once you’re happy it’s dry you can roll your mat up, ready for the next session.

How to keep your yoga mat fresh

A clean yoga mat is great, but you don’t want to have to scrub at it to get rid of grime regularly. The following key tips will help you reduce the amount the mat needs cleaning:

• Clean it frequently. Let’s start with a counter-intuitive tip. In order to reduce the amount of time it may take cleaning your mat, give it a quick spray more frequently with your natural yoga mat cleaner. In the long run, a quick spray will save a lot of hard work cleaning a mat that’s had many bodies sweating away deep into the inner core of the fabric.
• Wear sweat-wicking clothing. This type of clothing helps wick moisture away from your body, and ultimately helps prevent it dripping down onto your clean yoga mat.
• Wipe as you go. Similar to the first point, wiping your mat down with Plenty after you’ve finished exercising will reduce the need to use your homemade yoga mat cleaner to do a deeper clean down the line.  

Follow these tips and use the yoga mat cleaner recipe and your sweaty old mat will feel fresh and clean for far longer. Namaste!