With yoga’s introduction in the West, many practitioners used towels or cotton mats on wooden floors.[7] Feet tended to skid on these surfaces, requiring strength just to stand still in a pose like Trikonasana.[8] In 1982, while teaching yoga in Germany, Angela Farmer used carpet underlay cut to towel size during yoga classes; she returned home to London with the material. Angela’s father, Richard Farmer, contacted the German padding manufacturer and became the first retailer of “sticky mats”.[9] The first, purpose-made yoga mat was manufactured and sold by Hugger Mugger Yoga Products in the 1990s; the company initially imported Farmer-style mats, but finding that they began to crumble with use, developed their own more robust alternative.
With yoga’s introduction in the West, many practitioners used towels or cotton mats on wooden floors.[7] Feet tended to skid on these surfaces, requiring strength just to stand still in a pose like Trikonasana.[8] In 1982, while teaching yoga in Germany, Angela Farmer used carpet underlay cut to towel size during yoga classes; she returned home to London with the material. Angela’s father, Richard Farmer, contacted the German padding manufacturer and became the first retailer of “sticky mats”.[9] The first, purpose-made yoga mat was manufactured and sold by Hugger Mugger Yoga Products in the 1990s; the company initially imported Farmer-style mats, but finding that they began to crumble with use, developed their own more robust alternative.
