Thursday, July 05, 2001


received my black "transformer" mat from bheka! and it is awesome.

the black mat is very thick and heavy; it easily weighs 4 times what a regular yoga mat does. it is also about 3 times as thick & cushy. ah! relief for poses where you set your knee on the floor! finally you don't have to interupt yourself to drag a blanket around to cushion your knees!

when you get your new transformer mat, it does have a strong "plastic" smell. you'll have to wash it twice in the bathtub to get rid of it. further, it's not quite as "sticky" as other yoga mats. this can be good for some postures (shoulderstand) but bad for others (standing balance poses). on a very hot day you will definitely need a hand towel to keep your hands from sliding in down dog.

the nice people at bheka were frank in telling me that the mat takes a week to 10 days to break in. they're definitely right about that! my new mat is still a tad stiff, which makes folding it over for things like camel pose difficult right now.

the two sides of this mat are very similar. most yoga mats have one obviously bumpy, sticky side, and a smooth side. the transformer's sides are more alike; the textured side is barely bumpy. the people at bheka told me that they practiced on the smooth side! i'll update you on this mat next week, but so far i'm enjoying it. also, since it comes in a longer length, it may be the only off-the-shelf mat good for people over 6 feet tall.

with the mat, i also ordered the handsome and sturdy rip-stop nylon mat bag. it has a nice-sized velcro pocket on the side, and a strong barrel clasp to close the bag. all the cloth, velcro and stitching are first rate. the bag's wide mouth makes it easy to get the thick transformer mat in and out. so i recommend the mat bag as well.

finally, i got a little yoga-tard with short legs. bheka offers them with a wonderful coolmax gusset, a lovely six-way gusset sewn firmly down into the legs. this means the garment is much less likely to rip open in a warrior vinyasa, as once happened to me with a more expensive but less-well-made speedo garment. very embarrassing! (in all honesty i must say that speedo does not appear to be selling this garment any longer.)

unlike many exercise garments, the bheka yoga-tard runs true to size. so if you order a woman's medium, it really fits a dress size 8-10, unlike other lines of clothing that tend to run smaller than their stated sizes. again, i found the quality of the stitching and material to be high. the only problem i found with it so far is that the bands on the legs tend to roll up a bit in a vigorous practice. this means that you may find yourself pulling the legs down once or twice, which i didn't find too troublesome. i don't really like the feel of elastic on my legs, so i'd rather tug a bit than endure that pinchy feel, personally.

finally, the garment has a nice wide cotton shelf bra, cut to where your rib cage rounds, with a non-binding elastic band. i'm not large chested, but if you were, the extra length in the shelf would be good for you, since some women complain that the band slips up in many other garments, making them fall out underneath.

all in all, bheka has fair prices, honest shipping, good customer service and quality products. i recommend their equipment to those seeking plain, no-nonsense, practical yoga gear.

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