Gaiam Yoga Mat (Koi Fish)

This is a lovely mat, and relatively comfortable to lay on. It does stink when you first take it out, and might give you a headache if you try to use it before you work out on it (it did me). I just let it hang over my side fence for a day and the smell had gone away significantly. It has dissappeared altogether now that I've had it for a few weeks.

This might be a good yoga mat, but it doesn't like my high impact exercises. I'm trying to find a good (pretty) exercise mat, but haven't had any luck so far. I like this one, because the pattern gives me something to focus one while I'm doing painful exercises. But the material just isn't holding up to my tennis shoes.

Thank God an order went like I expected. I just had a baby and needed a little inspiration to get back in shape. I saw this mat in an upscale eco store and they wanted [...] for it! I did a search through wonderful Amazon.com and behold my coveted mat. Ordered it on day, the next it was on the road and before I had time to even find space to work out it was here. The color is so rich and the design is extremely detailed.
I was afraid that the smell would over power my whole house but after 12 hours in the backyard, the odor was completely gone.
Now it's become a multi purpose mat due to my daughters fascination with the fish. I plan to buy two more... one two travel and another just for mommy.

I got this to give as a gift...thank goodness many mentioned the smell of it so I was prepared! OMG this mat had a chemical smell that permeated our entire house for 2 days, despite my cleaning it (both sides), rinsing it, spraying it, then needing to Febreeze the rug it was opened up on! And it still had a stink to it! On a good note the color is just fantastic--bright and cheery--and the koi really do look like they are smiling! The koi print takes up the top half of the mat, the bottom half is blank except for the Gaiam logo at the bottom edge. So some design without being distracting. This mat does seem...flimsier? compared to my HuggerMugger tapas mat of the same thickness. It seemed to stretch more doing Warrior II pose than my usual mat, and after several days the original curl has not flattened out yet. I love the pattern and color, but my preference is still the Hugger Mugger one.

Please note: If you're looking for a PVC-free yoga mat, which would otherwise be called "eco-conscious" or "eco-friendly", this is not it. Even though the description of the product says "eco-friendly", this mat is composed of PVC plastic (which is not at all good for the planet!). I have returned this item due to this!

Very comfortable even for the most difficult poses. Doesn't slip even on tile and hardwood!