Yoga guides and mat care

A vinyasa class asks for grip that lasts the hour, a base that does not sink in the balances, and a mat you will actually carry to the studio.

From a cut in the bark to a mat on your floor: tapping, vulcanising, the layer underneath, and the steps where a brand can quietly cut corners.

Ashtanga loads the same two patches of mat every morning. Traction that is not glue, density that does not sink, and a surface that survives the repetition.

Both are called rubber and only one comes from a tree. What changes in grip, smell, latex content and what happens at the end of the mat's life.

A former neighbourhood bazaar in Chamberí rebuilt as Kathi Rüd's teaching home: yoga, pilates, breathwork and sound under one roof, three rooms with a purpose each.

Five signs that a mat is finished, and three that look like they are but are not. Most mats get thrown away years early, and a few get kept years too long.

Live online classes by Ainara Goñi and Federica Gonsalvi: the from-home room of our Madrid guide, with the accountability of a real teacher watching.

Vinyasa, rocket and meditation with an urban energy: the studio that holds down the contemporary corner of our Madrid guide.

Ashtanga with a proper Mysore room, still rare in Madrid. The refuge Lucrecia Laurel built, and the story she told on this blog.

The home of Verónica Arroyo, one of the first teachers we interviewed on this blog. Teaching that aims at the years, not at the session.

Two products share the name. One is 1 mm and folds into a bag. The other is daily rubber you take somewhere. Which trip 1.8 kg actually survives.

Everything that works, ordered from free to expensive, plus the four popular fixes that damage the mat. Buying a new one is last on the list for a reason.