The History of Yoga Towels

In the early 1960s and 1970s, many ashrams featured carpeted rooms. The yogi Mittra noted that fresh sheets would be laid down before each practice and then students would bring their own towels to lay down over them for hygiene in the years before mats and blankets were ubiquitous. The first skidless yoga towels can be traced back to India in the early 1990s. The towels were known as “prison mats” because yogis would travel from Mysuru to the nearby prison to barter for sticky mats that the prisoners used to make their beds. Eventually, companies began making skidless yoga towels, which are particularly important for yogis who practice Bikram, a type of yoga that is practiced in a very hot room. Today, yoga towels come in a wide variety of sizes, colors, and fabrics, and continue to keep yogis’ hands and feet from slipping while practicing yoga.