Mat Size, and Why Most Are Too Small

Two measurements, taken on your own floor, in about ninety seconds. Most people have never taken them and a large minority are practising on a mat that does not fit them.

The standard, and where it came from

The common yoga mat is 61 cm wide and 173 or 183 cm long — 24 inches by 68 or 72 inches.

Those numbers are not derived from any measurement of human bodies. They come from the width of the carpet underlay material that the first sticky mats were cut from in the 1980s. That is the entire origin, and the industry standardised on it.

So there is no reason to assume it fits you.

Test one: length

Lie down on your mat in Savasana. Arms at your sides, legs straight, head where it naturally falls.

Are your heels on the mat? Is the crown of your head on the mat?

If either is on the bare floor, the mat is short for you. This matters more than it sounds, in two ways.

The obvious one: the surface you lie on for ten minutes at the end of every practice does not cover you.

The one that costs you: you have been unconsciously shortening every stance for as long as you have owned the mat. In a lunge, if stepping the back foot to a proper distance puts it off the mat, you will not do it — you will shorten the stance and keep the foot on the surface. Nobody decides this; everybody does it. Over years, it builds a habitually short stance in every standing pose you know.

Rule of thumb: if you are taller than about 175 cm, a 183 cm mat is marginal and a 173 cm one is too short.

Test two: width

Stand on the mat with your feet wide, as if for a wide-legged forward fold. Now put your hands to the floor.

Are your feet on the mat? Are your hands on the mat?

If either lands on bare floor, the mat is narrow for you. The same unconscious shortening applies: you will narrow your stance to stay on the surface, in every wide-legged pose, forever.

Also try Warrior II with the front knee bent properly. If the back foot is hanging off the side edge, the mat is narrow.

Rule of thumb: if you are broad across the shoulders, or you have long legs, 61 cm is tight. 66 cm makes a noticeable difference.

Test three, for completeness: Downward Dog

Come into Downward Dog. Hands near the front of the mat, feet near the back.

Do both hands and both feet fit comfortably, with room to spare?

If your feet are at the very back edge, you have no room to step forward and back without leaving the mat, which means every transition is a negotiation with the edge.

Who genuinely needs a larger mat

• Anyone over about 175 cm. Length.
• Anyone broad through the shoulders or hips. Width.
• Anyone with long arms relative to height. Width, in Triangle and wide folds.
• Anyone who does a lot of restorative or floor work. You spend a long time lying down and the extra area is felt.
• Anyone practising on a cold or hard floor. Every centimetre off the mat is a centimetre on the tile.

Who does not

• Anyone under about 165 cm. The standard is generous.
• Anyone carrying a mat daily. A larger mat is heavier and bulkier, and if the carrying is the constraint, a standard mat you actually bring beats a large one you leave at home.
• Anyone with a small practice space. Measure the floor first.

What "larger" means in practice

The usual upgrade is around 66 × 193 cm — five centimetres wider and ten longer than the standard.

That sounds marginal and is not. Five centimetres of width is the difference between a hand landing on the mat and beside it. Ten centimetres of length is the difference between a lunge you can take fully and one you truncate.

Beyond that: some mats run to 200 cm or more, which is genuinely only for very tall practitioners and starts to be unwieldy.

The cost of a mat that is too small

Not comfort. Habit.

A short mat teaches a short stance. A narrow mat teaches a narrow one. You will not notice this happening, because the adjustment is small and continuous and you make it without deciding to. Then one day you practise on a larger surface or on a studio floor and your Warrior II is suddenly twenty centimetres longer and considerably better, and you have no idea why.

This is a real and common experience, and it is worth ninety seconds of measuring to avoid.