Practicing Without a Mat

By Brooke Hewes, 7-17-08

In April, an article posted on Ashtanganews.com brought readers’ (which are, logically, mostly ashtangis) attention to the latest fade in Ashtanga Yoga: mat-free practices. Practicing without mats or any of the other props flooding the growing yoga-goody market seems, at least intuitively, more natural. On grass or pebbles or dirt, your feet can, literally, ground into the earth. Your dristi can, literally, be the sky.

Amid what looked like a slew of April’s Fools’ remarks about performing asana on broken glass and beds of nails, people generally approved of this trend. One reader was delighted at the prospect of tossing her mat and saluting the sun with grass underfoot. Another called practicing sans mat at an Annie Pace workshop “transformative”: she “really learned about engaging, bandhas, jumping, and economy of movement…”

One reader professed love for his/her mat—which I must echo. While I have never tried a full practice on grass or any other naturally occurring substance, I have played a lot. And though certain things make sense on soft, uneven surfaces (suryanamaskara, urdha dhanurasana), certain things—at least for me—do not (garbha pindasana, kurmasana, utthita parsvasahita). I find slipping frustrating and my balance unpredictable. Still, there is something romantic, even instinctual about it. Something, anyway, worth exploring—if for nothing else, to notice the presence of frustration, expectation and a little bit less control in your practice.