The floor of your practice

A yoga rug marks out the place where you practice. Roll out a mat on a bare floor and it's just a mat; lay it on a rug with a lotus, a line of chakra colors or a rising sun, and that corner of the bedroom or living room becomes a small yoga room you look forward to stepping into. Our yoga rugs are printed velvet rugs, soft enough to sit, kneel and lie on for floor poses, breathing and the final rest, and they all go in the washing machine. They aren't sticky mats, so for standing poses and flowing sequences you lay your own yoga mat on top. That pairing, a rug that makes the room and a mat that gives the grip, is how most people use a yoga carpet at home.

Yoga rug, yoga mat or Mysore rug?

Three different things share the name, and it helps to know which one you're looking for:

• A yoga mat is a thin, grippy pad of rubber, PVC or TPE, made so hands and feet don't slide in downward dog or a lunge. We don't make these.
• A Mysore rug is a thin, handwoven cotton rug from the Ashtanga tradition, named after the city of Mysore in southern India. Practitioners lay it over a mat, and the cotton soaks up sweat. We don't make these either.
• A printed yoga rug, which is what we make, is a decorative area rug for the room you practice in: a soft surface for floor work and a calm design that sets the mood, with your mat on top when you need grip.

If you came looking for a cotton yoga rug to put over your mat in class, a Mysore rug is the right product. If you want the room itself to feel like a studio, keep reading.

Yoga rug designs

Design	The look	Best in
Chakra line	Seven colored circles from red to violet down the length of the rug	Yoga rooms, runners, bedrooms
Lotus	A single open flower in pink, white or gold	Round rugs, meditation spots
Sun salutation	A row of pose silhouettes against a warm sunrise	Morning practice corners
Tree of life	Roots and branches mirrored in a circle	Living rooms, studios
Flower of life	Overlapping circles in fine sacred-geometry lines	Minimal rooms, studios
Moon phases	New to full moon in a curve across a night sky	Evening and yin practice
Jungle leaves	Monstera and palm leaves in deep greens	Plant-filled rooms, sunrooms
Soft neutral	Sand, oat or sage with a quiet border	Shared rooms, Scandinavian spaces

Sizing a rug around your mat

A standard yoga mat is about 24 × 68 inches, roughly 61 × 173 cm, and long mats run to 72 inches or more. That makes sizing simple:

• 4×6 ft holds a standard mat lengthwise with about a foot of rug on either side, enough to reach your arms out in a wide-legged fold.
• 5×7 ft fits a long mat with room left for blocks, a strap and a bolster, and space to step off the mat for seated work.
• A custom 5′11″ × 8′ rug fits two standard mats side by side, for couples, a parent and child, or a small private class.
• A round rug of 5.2 or 5.9 ft (160 or 180 cm) makes a circle for seated stretching and breathing, the closest thing we print to a round yoga mat.

Custom sizes go up to 5′11″ × 10′, including long, narrow runners, so a rug can match an awkward alcove exactly.

Which practices suit a velvet rug

A soft rug is at its best for the slower, floor-based side of yoga. Yin yoga, where poses are held for several minutes close to the ground, feels warmer on velvet than on a bare mat. Restorative yoga, built on bolsters and blankets, needs a comfortable base more than grip. Seated breathing practice, gentle hip and hamstring stretches, and a long savasana at the end of a class all work directly on the rug. For sun salutations, warrior poses, balances and vinyasa flows, where hands and feet carry your weight, put your sticky mat down first. And for hot yoga, skip the rug altogether: velvet holds moisture, and a sweat-soaked session belongs on a mat and a towel.

Layering a mat on a rug

If you'll practice with your mat on top, choose Standard: 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m². The thinner pile makes the steadier base, and the back grips wood and tile floors, so the rug doesn't creep while you move. Lay the rug flat and smooth before unrolling your mat, and check that the mat sits still before you start a flow. Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m², is the softer choice when most of your practice happens on the rug itself, such as yin, restorative work and seated meditation.

Chakra designs

In many yoga traditions, the body has seven chakras, or energy centers, along the spine, each linked to a color: red for the root, orange for the sacral, yellow for the solar plexus, green for the heart, blue for the throat, indigo for the third eye and violet for the crown. A chakra rug lines the seven up down the length of a rectangle or a runner, so they sit roughly where you lie. It's one of the most colorful yoga room decor ideas, and the gradient from warm to cool looks good even to someone who has never heard the word chakra.

Lotus pose, lotus flower

Padmasana, the cross-legged lotus pose, takes its name from the lotus flower, which grows out of muddy water and opens clean above the surface. That image is why the lotus appears in so many yoga studios. A lotus rug can be a single flower at the center of a round rug, where you sit, or a scatter of small blooms on a pale background. In soft pink and green, it suits a bedroom corner; in gold on deep blue, it looks richer in a living room.

Sun salutations

Surya Namaskar, the sun salutation, is a sequence many people repeat every morning: reaching up, folding forward, stepping back into plank and rising again. A sun salutation rug shows the sequence as a row of simple silhouettes against a sunrise of orange and gold. It's a cheerful design for a morning practice corner and a gentle reminder to roll out the mat. Placed beside the mat rather than under it, the whole sequence stays visible while you practice.

Trees, leaves and the natural world

Vrksasana, the tree pose, asks you to stand on one leg with your roots down and your branches up, and trees run through yoga imagery for that reason. A tree of life rug, roots and branches mirrored in a circle, is a balanced, symmetrical design for a living room or a studio. For a sunroom or a yoga space full of plants, jungle leaves in deep greens bring the plants down to the floor.

Sacred symbols

Some yoga imagery comes from living religions. The Om symbol is sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and many people would rather not stand or step on it. If that matters to you or to people who use your space, choose a lotus, chakra or nature design for the floor instead. Our zen and spiritual rugs and mandala rugs have more designs in the same spirit.

Home yoga room ideas

A home yoga studio doesn't need a spare room. A few things make any corner work:

• Clear a patch of floor at least as big as your rug, with nothing to knock into when you stretch your arms out.
• Put the rug near natural light if you can; a window makes morning practice easier to start.
• Keep blocks, a strap and a bolster in a basket at the edge of the rug, so setting up takes seconds.
• Add one plant and nothing else on that wall. A busy wall pulls your attention while you hold a pose.
• In a shared living room, a quiet neutral rug works as everyday decor and turns into a practice space when the mat comes out.

Studios and teachers

For yoga studios, a printed rug at reception or in a quiet corner of the waiting area sets the tone before class begins. A custom rug can carry the studio's own logo or name in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′, as long as the artwork is yours. Studios that run kids' classes often like a bright chakra or sun design, where children can sit in a circle for the story at the start.

Practicing with children

Family yoga is easier on a rug big enough for two. A 5×7 ft rug or a custom size fits a parent's mat beside a child's, and a colorful design gives younger kids something to point at between poses. Standard's non-slip back keeps the rug in place when small feet jump from pose to pose.

Gifts

A yoga rug is a thoughtful gift for someone setting up a home practice, a newly qualified yoga teacher or a friend who already owns a good mat but practices on a bare floor. A soft neutral or a lotus is the safest choice if you don't know their room; a chakra line suits someone who loves color.

Choosing colors

Color changes how a practice space feels. Sage, sand and soft blue keep a room quiet for evening yin and breathing work, while terracotta, saffron and gold feel warmer and suit an energizing morning flow. If your mat is a strong color, pick a rug that contrasts with it so the edges of the mat stay easy to see, which helps when you step forward from downward dog.

Your own design

Want a mantra in your own handwriting, a photo of the beach where you first practiced or your studio's logo? Our custom rugs print your design in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′. Please only send artwork you have the right to use. Custom rugs can't be returned, so check text and spelling before you order.

Sizes, shipping and returns

Rectangles come in 2×3, 2.6×3.9, 3.3×5, 4×6 and 5×7 ft; for yoga, 4×6 and 5×7 ft are the sizes that hold a mat. Round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across. Every yoga rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey, and US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders; custom rugs can't be returned.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let the rug air dry flat, away from direct heat. After a warm, sweaty session, a wash keeps it fresh; between washes, vacuum on a low setting. Our rugs are for dry indoor floors, so keep yours inside rather than on a deck or patio for outdoor practice.