8 Best Yoga Mats for Carpeting

Everything is becoming an “at-home” project these days, whether it’s working from home, exercising from home, socializing from home, etc. Of course, much of this was due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but it was trending before COVID. 

Technology at home is becoming so affordable and convenient that there is no reason to go somewhere else and spend tons of money over weeks and months when you now have everything that you need at the house. We even have our fitness tracker wearables.

Performing your yoga routine inside the privacy and comfort of your own home is incredibly convenient. However, you need a mat. If you already have carpeting throughout your home, you probably already know how itchy and irritating that can be, with a god yoga mat being highly preferable.

Of course, you will need some low-profile carpeting, and if you have that long carpet from the 1980s, you may not be able to get the best out of your yoga mat, regardless of which one you go for. Yoga mats are designed to stick to hard surfaces, after all. So what are your best options? 

Our 8 Best Yoga Mats for Carpet

Of course, everybody is in a hurry these days, so if you don’t have time for our in-depth review of the best yoga mats for carpeted floors, you can just skim through our complete list here. 

  1. Manduka Pro Yoga Mat 
  2. Manduka Pro Lite Yoga Mat
  3. YOGO Mat
  4. HemingWeigh Yoga
  5. Heathyoga Synergy Yoga Mat
  6. Heathyoga ECO-Friendly Yoga Mat
  7. Jade Yoga Harmony Yoga Mat
  8. Clever Yoga Mat

Some of these mats are extra thick, some have a higher level of grip, some are great for those who have to deal with back pain, and some are great all-around. The best thing about compiling a list of the best yoga mats for carpets is that there is something here for everyone. 

While even a good carpet can be very soft and feel great under your bare feet, it isn’t the best thing in the world for yoga since you have to lay down on it, and the material isn’t kind to your skin, especially over the long term. 

Pros and Cons of Yoga on the Carpet

Most of the time, yoga is done with a mat on a hard surface, whether wood, tile, concrete, laminate or whatever. But, if your entire house is carpeted, you’re at a disadvantage unless you want to rub up against your carpet or do yoga exercises in the kitchen or bathroom. 

Fortunately, there is nothing wrong with using a yoga mat on the carpet. It may not grip as well as it would on a hard surface, but there is little doubting that the additional padding is comfortable. 

It’s also warmer. Sure, a mat minimizes the cold from hard surfaces on winter mornings, but even a mat doesn’t hold and release heat. The mat will often turn as cold as a hardwood surface unless your body is sitting on it constantly. 

If you are dealing with joint problems or sustained a recent injury, the double layer of padding will be more than welcome. You’ll also build and tone muscle better since the mat will move around some, requiring you to adjust and hold your place with more strength than you usually would. 

It also means balancing exercises in your yoga routine will be more difficult, which is good. It requires more focus, effort, and strength, none of which are harmful. Depending on the carpet and the mat, it may be uneven, which is not always suitable for certain yoga routines. 

There will also be a degree of friction between the mat and the carpet, so moving the mat around is imperative since you don’t want to wear out the carpet in one place. 

ProsCons
Warmer surface, especially in the mornings
Extra padding
More joint support
Builds and tones muscle more effectively
Forces you to focus and balance yourself better
May wear out the carpet if you leave the mat in place
May feel uneven at times

1. Manduka Pro Yoga Mat

Out of our list of ten best yoga mats for carpet, the Manduka Pro is probably the best of them all. Like several yoga mats on our list, the Manduka Pro is manufactured with eco-friendly materials so that you can make your purchase with that added incentive in mind. 

The fabric feels excellent underneath you and is entirely free of chemicals. Even if your yoga routine is sweaty, you don’t have to worry about sweat and any off-putting chemicals from the mat causing skin irritations. The mat feels clean, cool, and durable. 

Manduka uses a “closed cell” surface structure, so you don’t have to worry about sweat soaking into the surface. It does mean taking the extra time to wipe the mat down after you finish your routine. 

While the Manduka Pro mat will grip the carpet fibers pretty well, it’s not the same as grabbing the surface of a hard floor. The Manduka is manufactured with a dot pattern design that makes it resistant to slipping. 

In practice, it works pretty well on a carpeted surface, but you can still expect some slippage, especially if some of your routines are a little more robust and active. However, the Manduka Pro is very portable as well. It’s simple to roll up and move anytime you want.

Since the friction may cause wear and tear on your carpet over time, it’s a good idea to move the mat once every few days. 

ProsCons
Resistant to slipping and sliding (bottom and top)
Great for joint protection
Doesn’t absorb sweat
Oeko-Tex material won’t fade or peel apart
6mm thick material
Very portable
Will still slide on the carpet a little

2. Manduka Pro Lite Yoga Mat

Manduka Pro has a lite version, and it’s nearly as good as the standard variation. This may be the better choice if you have a thick carpet, even if the fibers are relatively small. 

It’s slightly thinner than the standard Manduka Pro Mat, so it’s better for thicker carpets. However, it still retains all of the positive aspects of the original Manduka Pro. The surface is a closed cell, so you don’t have to worry about sweat soaking into the material. 

As a thinner mat, it’s much easier to roll up and carry off, so you have a higher degree of portability here. As a lighter mat, it may slide around a bit more on you, depending on your carpet. However, it is still a very grippy material.  

Unlike the Oeko-Tex material of the standard Manduko, the lite version is manufactured out of eco-certified PVC material, another reason to feel good about your purchase. The best feature of this material is that as it wears down over time, it gains grip, both on the bottom and the top. 

The lite version ages well, in other words, and you can expect to get a good deal of use out of it before it’s time to upgrade again. 

ProsCons
Surface and bottom gain grip over time
Lighter, more flexible, and portable material
Eco-friendly material
Closed-cell design wicks away sweat
Thinner, so it has less cushioning

3. YOGO Mat

It may not have the most original name on the list, but the YOGO Mat quickly makes it into our top 3. It’s a fragile material, so if you don’t have a lush, thick carpet, it may lack in the cushioning department, but it has arguably the best grip out of the entire group.

The YOGO Mat is manufactured from “tree rubber”. If you are unfamiliar with tree rubber, it makes for a highly sticky, grippy material that won’t slide up and down on your carpet. It’s also completely eco-friendly, as most yoga mats strive to be. 

Despite the thin material, the YOGO Mat is surprisingly supportive, especially where the largest pressure points are going to be, such as your elbow, knee, and hip joints. It has a high degree of stability since it doesn’t slide on the carpet and has a surprising level of balance. 

It’s also very lightweight and easily rolls up, so you can change your position throughout the room accordingly. Finally, you can either fold it or roll it up, and it’s ready to go, whether taking it with you on vacation or moving it from the living room to the bedroom. 

It’s not as anti-sweat as the previous pads on our list, so you will need to wash it and hang it up to air dry from time to time. 

ProsCons
Thin but still supportive
Extremely grippy
Very portable
Well-balanced
Lightweight
Not as cushioned as other mats
Requires more washing as it absorbs sweat

4. HemingWeigh Yoga Mat

The HemingWeigh Yoga is our all-around, do-it-all mat. It’s surprisingly grippy on almost every surface you can think of placing it on, which means you will love the versatility of this mat. 

It’s also lightweight and highly durable. The HemingWeigh Yoga Mat is tough to tear or rip, even if you pinched your hands on the edge of the material and tried to tear it like notebook paper. 

The best advantage of the HemingWeigh Yoga Mat is that it has the grip necessary for use on a carpet while retaining plenty of grips and balance up top. In addition, it’s a very stable pad with enough thickness to give you some additional joint support. 

Like the YOGO mat, it’s not very sweat resistant, so you will have to take the time to wash it here and there, especially if you have some high-intensity workouts. According to HemingWeigh, however, all it needs is a good wipe-down after each use. 

The one major complaint about the HemingWeigh has to do with the odor of the material. It reeks when you first pull it out of the packaging, and the odor will remain for a few days. 

ProsCons
Good thickness level for joint support
Easy to wash
Very grippy on the top and the bottom.
Good level of stability
Stinks when you first open it Isn’t very sweat resistant

5. Heathyoga Synergy Yoga Mat

Heathyoga is a good, all-around yoga mat. While it’s not the best yoga mat for hard surfaces, it works well for carpets. Synergy mats are manufactured with thermoplastic elastomer materials that are sufficiently grippy for carpet use. 

That might sound like an environmentally dangerous material, but it’s not. It is well within the definable parameters of what is considered eco-friendly. The bottom is textured, similar to the dot design in the Manduko, which makes it very useful on carpets. 

While it doesn’t resist your sweat, and you will have to clean it occasionally, the sweat and surface combination facilitates a more comfortable and grippy surface. So, as you work out, your pad increases in stability and balance. 

ProsCons
Grippier bottom for carpet over hard flooring.
Thick and adequately supportive
Eco-friendly Improves grip as you workout
Colorful designs
Absorbs sweat rather than resists it
Not as good on a hard floor  

6. Heathyoga ECO-Friendly Yoga Mat

While most yoga mats are manufactured with eco-friendly materials, the Heathyoga Eco-Friendly Yoga Mat is the only one widely advertises it. The material is TPE, and the pads come in 5 attractive colors with unique surface designs.

Both sides to this mat are textured, so it doesn’t matter which side you toss down on the carpet as both will hold pretty well. This isn’t the most well-known mat out there, but it frequently makes its way onto top ten lists, especially for use with carpets.

The texture on the top is like a tire tread and does an exceptional job of keeping you in place and stable as you run through your routines on the mat. It’s also very slip-resistant on the bottom, so it’s one of the more overall stable mats on our list. 

It also has a decent thickness to it at 6mm, and combined with a carpet, you will have a decent amount of cushioning and joint support. 

ProsCons
Very lightweight at 2.8lbs
Eco-friendly TPE material
Very durable
Slip resistant and grippy underneath
Simple to clean
Comes with straps for transportation
High price
Doesn’t resist sweat
Has an odor when you first unpack it.

7. Jade Yoga Harmony Mat

The Jade Yoga is a bit heavy, mainly because it’s only 5mm thick. However, it has excellent grip on carpeted floors, is highly durable, and offers plenty of grip for your yoga routine. 

You get a surprising amount of cushion with the natural rubber material comprising the Jade Yoga Harmony Mat. In addition, it’s a reasonably large mat, 71” long and 24” wide, so you will have a pretty nice spread when you lay it out on the carpet. 

It’s a bit pricey but comes in many colors to accommodate the aesthetic of whatever room you decide to put it in as a natural rubber material, it’s entirely manufactured with renewable materials. 

ProsCons
Natural Rubber with a high degree of grip
Offers plenty of cushion and stability.
Sustainable manufacturing practices
Tear or rip resistant
Multiple colors
Requires routine washing
High price
Has a chemical smell when unpackaged

8. Clever Yoga Mat

This is another yoga mat that is considered to be an all-around mat. You can use it on your carpet or on your hard floor surface, which has high portability. In addition, it’s a much thicker mat than our previous number, so it offers exceptional cushioning for your joints. 

The underside is a wavy design that digs into the carpet, keeping the mat in place no matter how much you move around up top. The Clever Yoga Mat has plenty of stability, thanks to the grip. 

Despite its thickness, it only weighs 2lbs, so you can fold it or roll it up whenever you need to move it without straining yourself too much. The biggest drawback is that the working surface is very slick when you first unpack it, and it takes some time to break it in. 

It won’t take long to break in—perhaps a few yoga routines—before you notice that it is becoming more grippy and stable up top.

ProsCons
Thick material with plenty of cushion for joint stability
It comes in various colors
Very lightweight
High degree of portability
Very grippy on the bottom.
The working surface is very slick when it’s brand new.

Yoga Mats Do Work on Carpets

Some yoga mats out there may be worthless on a carpet. Fortunately, you have this list to go off of when you shop for your next yoga mat. Our list of 8 yoga mats is excellent for carpeted flooring and will genuinely surprise you with their grip, durability, and long-term effectiveness. 

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