How to Clean and Disinfect a Yoga Mat Naturally

My husband and I recently joined the YMCA so I can take their fitness classes to rebuild my balance and muscles for my adult beginner ballet class.

Given my recent history of buying a new stuff for working out and eventually quitting, I’m making do with what I have until I get past my ”what have I gotten myself into? I don’t think I like this” hump. In the meantime, I’m borrowing the yoga mat Husband has to do floor exercises at home. Sharing is working well since we use it at different times. It doesn’t hurt that we aren’t cluttering our space with extra stuff either.

Although there is one teeny, tiny problem with two people sharing the same exercise mat. IT REEKS OF TWO PEOPLE WORKING OUT AND SHARING A YOGA MAT.

I became aware of our problem during my second Face Plant Piyo class.

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I asked Husband when was the last time he cleaned his yoga mat. “You can clean yoga mats?” he answered.

That’s when Google and I researched if you can and how to clean a sticky yoga mat.

How to Deep Clean a Sweaty Yoga Mat

For every person who recommends washing a spongy yoga mat in a front loading washing machine and/or putting it in the dryer, there is another person who says not to do it because the mat will get water logged. The same goes for washing a workout mat in a bathtub full of water and mild detergent.

Yoga mat funk be gone!

Fine with me. We have a rip in our mat that I don’t want to widen with a spin in the washing machine.

There are yoga mat cleaners you can buy  but the spray I tried out after class wasn’t designed to do the deep clean this fetid mat needs.

You will need:

Spray bottle

Water

Shampoo or dish washing detergent - I am using plant based dishwashing liquid for this tutorial

Bathroom shower curtain rod

Old towel


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Make it:

1. Mix 1 part shampoo to 3 parts water in the spray bottle. Basically you need some sort of mild detergent type cleaner because detergents are formulated to cut through grease and body oils unlike traditional soap. That’s why I used the plant based shampoo I had on hand, Dish washing detergent will work too but to use that meant I had to take a long and arduous journey downstairs to the kitchen and I didn't want to risk it.

2. Hang the yoga mat over the shower curtain rod.

Hang time!

3. Lightly spray the yoga mat with deep cleaning yoga mat cleaner and wipe the cleaner off the mat with a towel

4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 on the other side of the yoga mat.

5. Allow the yoga mat to hang dry. It shouldn’t take too long to dry because you aren’t soaking and waterlogging your mat with cleaner.

How to Make Daily Disinfecting Yoga Mat Cleaner

To keep our yoga mat from stinking up the place, our choices are:

1. Never sweat during a workout and get heat stroke

2. Spray the mat down with a natural cleaner after every use.

You can buy yoga mat cleaning wipes or make your own yoga mat cleaning spray if you like.

Non toxic yoga mat cleaner!

You will need:

Spray bottle

Water

Disinfectant – either rubbing alcohol or vodka (use the cheap stuff since you aren't going to drink this recipe.) 

Optional: a few drops of essential oil with a historical reputation of having anti fungal and antibacterial properties such as lavender, tea tree, or thyme essential oil.*

• Or you can leave out the essential oil if you just want to kill the stink and don’t want to replace it with another smelly funk (right there with you. I can’t stand the smell of tea tree essential oil.)

• Or you can use your favorite essential oil to just make it smell pretty. That’s OK too

Make it:

1. Mix 3 parts water to 1 part disenfectant - either rubbing alcohol or vodka - in the spray bottle.

2. Add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice to the mixture, or not, it is up to you. I'm using lavender essential oil in my daily yoga mat cleaner because I like the smell and need the extra reported antibacterial properties to kill the sweaty funk.

3. To use: Lightly spray the yoga mat with yoga mat cleaner after class wipe the cleaner off the mat with a towel

* I’m not an aromatherapiest or someone who is trying to sell you a specific brand of essential oils. use whatever brand you like.

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