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Washing Yoga Mats: A Better Work Out than Actually Practicing Yoga

Today in, ew, are you honestly for real? news, dirty yoga mats are disgusting, nasty, and can likely leave you with some grungy foot disease or skin rash. Which is not as well reported as the recent epidemic of “foot in mouth disease” but is still, according to the Styles section, a very important topic.

Reporter Abby Ellin interviewed doctors and yoga practitioners, and even a yoga studio or two, to uncover the real dangers of the communal aspects of yoga. According to the Times article, one Long Island podiatrist has seen a 50 percent spike in athletes foot and planter’s warts (bet that chocolate croissant is tasting yummy right about now!) and he blames dirty exercise mats. (Not as bad as what Lindsay Lohan‘s Long Island gyno has seen … but that’s not the point.)

If the thought of putting your face on a yoga mat where some guy’s sweaty crotch touched doesn’t make your cringe, consider the concept of “BYOYM” is not only economical, but could also save your foot from falling off.

Yet, people don’t think about these things. The yoga mat doesn’t go with the new Balenciaga, so on and so forth. So, you’d think these yoga center could just have the decency to keep non infected mats around for those who don’t care to lug their own all over town.

???????Every night we clean the mats with an antibacterial yoga spray??????? and hang them to dry, Ms. Lobo said. ???????Weekends, we put them in the washing machines with Dr. Bronner????????s Soap. It????????s a lot of manual labor.???????

So, Ms. Lobo can stand on her head for 18 hours, wrap her legs behind her neck, fast for two days a month … but the manual labor of washing yoga mats? Now, there’s the real work-out. Fuck, who even needs yoga? Just volunteer to wash the mats and you’ll be looking like Gisele in no time.

Communal Yoga Mats: Beware of Germs [Abby Ellin, New York Times]

Jul 27, 2006 · posted by · Link · Respond

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    No. 1
    jrrice says:

    What the hell is “yoga spray”?

    Posted: Jul 27, 2006 at 9:38 am

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