Musings from Joel » Yoga

Manduka vs. Jade Mat one year later

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:07:03 +0000

Owning both of these mats and getting questions about them all the time I thought I would update where I am today with these mats in reference to my post last year. I now practice at 2 locations that my studio has here in Dallas and I have the Manduka at one Studio and the Jade at the other. The Manduka is, in my opinion, the best mat on the market. I have constantly used it for the better part of a year and it has held up flawlessly. It is a heavier more ” industrial mat” that I think is ideal for a really serious yoga practitioner. It has held its shape, has not blistered and does a very nice job of not absorbing the massive amounts of sweat I drench it with on a regular basis. I have only bothered to wipe it down with vinegar one time to remove a little stickiness. For me it is the best mat on the market. Do be aware it is not a soft giving mat. Part of its durability is the hard surface it has.
The Jade on the the other hand has really not held up terribly well. I demoted this mat to back up mat until Febuary when my studio opened up a second location. I then started using it there. While the bizarre stretching seems to have disappeared the mat is now blistering on one side. I can only assume the stretching was sweat related and giving the mat 8 months of hiatus was enough to dry it back out.
I am planning on swapping out the mat soon and purchasing another Manduka.

Lululemon Men’s Court Pants Review

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:58:53 +0000

I already own a pair of Prana and 2 pairs of Be Present yoga pants so I thought I would try lululemons since all the women in my studio rave about them. At a $100 they are pricey, but I am impressed with the elasticity of the fabric. They fit me snugly around the crotch and thighs, but I’m not a thin build and since they stretch it is a comfortable fit, surprisingly. The attention to detail, I think, is what separates these from the other 2 manufactures that I own. They have an elastic band at the waste that is stretchy fabric, rather than a material with elastic sown through it. They also have a continuous elastic drawstring with no ends so you don’t have to worry about the washing machine pulling it out during the spin cycle.

On the minus side I wish they did not have front pockets, they simply pooch out a bit and aren’t flattering. They were also long when I bought them but the store took them up for free. Problem is they are still long.

Of course the ultimate test is how they perform in the studio, which I am quite pleased with. Since they are very elastic they flex without problem, even in Utthan Pristhasana (lizard). They also do a nice job of breathing and letting me sweat since I leave a pool everyday. Definitely worth the money if you plan on wearing them often.

Be Present Men’s Yoga Pants

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:09:12 +0000

In my pursuit of some truly useful yoga clothing I now have 3 pairs of men’s yoga pants. I have a pair of Pranas that I really like but they are a little slow to dry out. I do however really like the way they fit. I had them taken in a couple of inches to get them just the way I wanted them. My yoga studio Uptown Yoga here in Dallas stocks Be Present men’s pants. These are also great pants to practice in. I bought them in size large which fits fine but they are getting a little short at the ankles. I’m 6’1″ and fit fine in the large size. It is a catch 22 I guess. I bought the pranas big and had to get them taken in to fit right then I bought these large and they are shrinking a bit. Is the American male getting so fat that any thin man 6′ or taller has get an XL to get his length and then wear a belt to keep his pants from his ankles?

Anyway I digress, the performance of my be present pants are great. I rarely have to adjust them, even when going into deep lunges. They also dry really quickly. I have been very impressed with them being dry in a 15-20 minutes after practice, which if you know me you know just how much I sweat in yoga. I’m like a shaggy dog shaking off after a dive in the lake.

The search for the Perfect Yoga Mat

Mon, 25 May 2009 13:27:29 +0000

As my practice continues to evolve and my athleticism increases on the mat I am once again on the hunt for a satisfactory yoga mat. I, like so many other started with the store bought $20 varity and used those for years. Which was fine when I was doing yoga once a week and usually not in a warm room. The sweat wasn’t much of a factor nor was the mat slipping. But as I stepped up to a daily practice this past year I quickly reached the limit of the cheap latex mats that are sold all over the place. As I started practicing in a heated studio I would drench my mat and half way through class I would slip and slide all over the mat. I decided to invest $60 in a yogitoes mat towel, which are great at absorbing sweat, I highly recommend these if you sweat a lot. But the mat still gave me issues, as it quickly started to break down and blister on the surface.

So I did my homework and decided on a Jade mat after talking to several people that liked them. I think my mistake was in talking to women who don’t sweat like a man does. I bought this mat back in Dec. and enjoyed it for several months. But the mat apparently is somehow impacted by the humidity. I’m no chemist but my mat seems to have become a lot more elastic. It could be months of sweat seeping through my yogitoes towel and it is simply moist or it could be the humidity. I started to notice this past month that my mat was moving forward in my poses. It literally was stretching out underneath me while I was in downdog. The result is a mat that seems to bend and curl at the most inoportune moments and I am constantly having to adjust it and pull it back 3-4 times in class. I joke with my instructers that I should place my mat at the back of the room and by the end of class I would be at the front.

One of my instructors, Katherine, let me use her Manduka for a class. I noticed a remarkable difference in the mat versus mine. No movement or bunching up. The mat stayed put and I didn’t have to mess with it. I was sold and ordered one at Amazon immediately. I am now waiting for it to come in. I am thinking I will bring the Jade home and set it out to air out for a long time then put it in my trunk when I am at other studios.

Prana Mens Yoga Sutra Pants

Mon, 18 May 2009 02:49:37 +0000

It took a lot of digging and research to decide on what pair of mens yoga pants I wanted to buy. I decided on Prana Sutra pants. They cost about $70 at Amazon and are made from hemp, PET and Lycra. I am a size 36 and had read somewhere that they shrink so I got the XL. Small mistake. The XL are more like size 38 and look a little ridiculous on me. I am going to have to have them tailored in a couple of inches to fit right. But since they tie up I was able to wear them to yoga 4 times in the past week.

The first thing I noticed is that they don’t constrict my movements. I do some deep warriors and running mans and expected to have to adjust these pants every 2 seconds. The only time I had to adjust them was while we were doing a low resting lunge. The pants do breathe and I sweat through them completely everytime I wear them. But I don’t get hot in them or itchy. The most important piece for me is in my arm exercises like bakasana ( crow pose) or running man. I usually have to stop my flow and dry off my arms and legs then place 2 small tows on my knees to try to get some friction. With these pants that is no longer a problem. I just go into the pose and I’m done. In our level 2/3 class we jump from Adho Mukha Svanasana ( down dog) to Bakasana ( crow) 3 times. This is impossible to do with sweaty arms but a breeze with pants on.
I highly recommend these pants, just make sure they fit right.

My Yoga Journey

Sun, 10 May 2009 13:30:51 +0000

As I progress through my yoga practice I am oddly finding it to be more challenging. What I mean to say is this, I have been actively practicing yoga daily for almost a year where I do vinyasa yoga, which is a power yoga, in a moderately heated room with some of the best instructors in Dallas. Logic would say that after a year of daily routine you would get quite comfortable with the routine of the yoga class. Of course that may be where my logic is flawed. My instructors are good and really do vary the classes a lot. We may do the standard Namaskara A or B warm up series, but outside of that it can be anyone’s guess as to what is next. That is one of the things I really enjoy about taking yoga at this dallas yoga studio.

Unlike all the other studios I have been to, this studio actually does unusual things such as handstands, headstands, arm stands and many other difficult poses that many studios steer clear of. The challenge of course is mastering these poses. I have found that my strong suit is strength, so to speak, not so much flexibility. While my flexibility has dramatically improved and I can now put my hands under my feet while standing as well as do a full lotus pose I still have hip, back, and shoulder tightness. At the rate these are loosening up it will be a few more years before I am where I want to be. There is no doubt it is a journey and a difficult one at that.

I am looking into becoming a yoga trainer. I am not sure at this point if I want to teach, but I want to move my practice to another level and getting certified in it seems like a natural progression to me. Finding the time commitment is another matter all together.

Yoga Clothing for Men

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:40:39 +0000

I do a lot of Yoga, pretty much everyday, sometimes twice a day. And one thing I have noticed is that there really is not a good line of men’s yoga clothing out there. I suppose part of the problem is men generally don’t care what we wear. I do it enough that I have decided that I like to wear nike pro sleeveless tops, underarmour underwear and any pair of drawstring athletic shorts made from anything other than cotton. Cotton is the enemy in my eyes.
As a guy I give yoga a hard work over, my studio runs its thermostat in the mid 80′s, which is warm but not imposing. I sweat, a lot, and there is nothing more distracting than soaking wet clothes that don’t breathe and are heavy with sweat after an hour. I don’t know how other guys in my class wear standard t shirts which get sweaty and then hang in your face during down dog, not to mention end up wrapped around your neck like a scarf. Nothing cool about that. That is why I wear my clothes. My top is tight and stays put, my shorts are loose and don’t constrict ( I don’t see myself wearing the banana package tight pants anytime soon) and most importantly neither get sopping wet.

But there is a catch. While these do the job, my practice has advanced to a point where I am doing a lot of positions where my legs are inexplicably jammed on the back of my arms and I am hovering over the ground ( i.e. running man, crow, swan…) This results in sweaty skin on sweaty skin contact, which is great with the right woman, but not at all what I am looking for in yoga. The results are predictable, my legs slip and slide all over my arms, like butter in a frying pan, as I battle in vain to hold them steady. So I am back to looking for the ultimate solution again for pants that minimize this issue.

And thus my dilemma, everything out there looks like pajama bottoms and are made out of organic cotton or hemp. Not only that, they all want $60- $80 for the pajama pants. I know women are used to spending ridiculous amounts of money on yoga clothes but we men think that is ridiculous. So the hunt is on for a $30- $40 pair of pants that do what I need and look cool, but don’t grab me like a TAA airport body search gone bad.