Yoga Equipment Guide: Mats, Blocks, Straps & More

Mats, blocks, straps, balls, and the clothes you practise in — reviewed honestly, with real specs instead of marketing copy. This hub gathers our buying guides, care tutorials, and brand checks so you spend money once, on the right gear.

Almost every page that ranks for yoga equipment is a shop category: it tells you what exists and what it costs, never which version survives three classes a week or which one you can skip entirely. That is the gap this page fills. Yoga needs far less kit than the marketplace implies — a mat, and eventually one or two props — so the useful advice is usually to buy fewer things and better ones, in the order your practice actually asks for them.

Everything below is grouped by what an item does for you rather than by department, with a link through to the full guide whenever you want the long version.

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Bestseller No. 1
Amazon Basics 1/2 Inch Extra Thick Exercise Yoga Mat with Carrying Strap for Home Workouts and Fitness, 74' x 24', Black
Amazon Basics 1/2 Inch Extra Thick Exercise Yoga Mat with Carrying Strap for Home Workouts and Fitness, 74" x 24", Black
Extra thick, cushy floor mat in Black for yoga, gym, and everyday exercise; Durable foam construction offers stretchability and springs back into shape
$22.28 Amazon Prime
Bestseller No. 4
Gaiam Premium Yoga Mat, 5mm Non-Slip Exercise Mat (Sunburnt)
Gaiam Premium Yoga Mat, 5mm Non-Slip Exercise Mat (Sunburnt)
DIMENSIONS: 68"L x 24"W x 5mm Thick
$24.99 Amazon Prime
Bestseller No. 5
Gaiam Yoga Mat Classic Print, 4mm Non-Slip Mat (Pink Marrakesh)
Gaiam Yoga Mat Classic Print, 4mm Non-Slip Mat (Pink Marrakesh)
DIMENSIONS: 68-Inch x 24-Inch x 4mm Thick
$24.99 Amazon Prime
Bestseller No. 7
Amazon Basics 1/2 Inch Extra Thick Exercise Yoga Mat with Carrying Strap for Home Workouts and Fitness, 74' x 24' x 0.5', Pink
Amazon Basics 1/2 Inch Extra Thick Exercise Yoga Mat with Carrying Strap for Home Workouts and Fitness, 74" x 24" x 0.5", Pink
Extra thick, cushy floor mat in Pink for yoga, gym, and everyday exercise; Durable foam construction offers stretchability and springs back into shape
$22.28 Amazon Prime
Table
  1. Yoga mats: the one purchase that matters
  2. Props: blocks, straps, and the yoga wheel
  3. Yoga balls and balance props
  4. What to wear: pants, shorts, and socks
  5. More equipment guides
  6. Brand and app checks
  7. Frequently asked questions

Yoga mats: the one purchase that matters

If you buy a single thing, buy the mat. It is the only piece of equipment you touch in every pose, and it is the one where a bad choice is felt immediately: a slippery surface turns downward dog into a grip contest, and a mat that is too thin makes kneeling poses something you dread. Our yoga mat hub collects every guide we have on the subject, from materials and thickness to the questions people ask after their first month of practice.

For the shortlist itself, start with the best yoga mats comparison — it is where we weigh grip, cushioning, weight, and how each one behaves once it is sweaty. If you practise in hotels or on the road, the trade-off changes completely, because a mat that folds into a carry-on gives up most of its cushioning to do it; the best travel yoga mats guide covers that compromise on its own terms.

Then keep the thing alive. Most mats are retired years early because nobody cleaned them properly, and grip is the first casualty of built-up body oil. We split the care advice in two, because the answers really are different: how to clean a yoga mat for the routine wipe-down after class, and how to wash a yoga mat for the deeper cleans, including what a washing machine will and will not forgive.

Props: blocks, straps, and the yoga wheel

Props do not make poses easier — they make them available. A block brings the floor up to your hand so your spine can keep its shape; a strap lends you the reach you have not built yet. Both are cheap, both last for years, and both are the fastest way to stop forcing a shape your body is not ready for.

Start with the yoga blocks hub for what to look for and what to substitute when you are travelling and left yours at home. The yoga strap guides cover the same ground for binds, shoulder work, and hamstring openers. The yoga wheel is the one prop we treat as optional: it is genuinely useful for backbends and chest opening, and genuinely easy to misuse, so it belongs later in a practice rather than at the start of one.

Restorative practice adds a second family of props — bolsters, blankets, and a meditation cushion for seated work — which are about being held in a shape for several minutes rather than reaching a new one; buy them when your practice actually goes there, not before.

Yoga balls and balance props

An exercise ball sits oddly between yoga and general fitness, which is exactly why it is worth a page of its own. It is used for supported backbends and gentle stretching, for core and stability work, and — the reason a lot of people buy their first one — for pregnancy and postnatal practice, where sitting on a ball is often more comfortable than sitting on the floor. Sizing is the part people get wrong, because it is driven by your height rather than by the label on the box. The yoga ball hub covers sizing, the anti-burst question, and what a ball can sensibly replace in a home setup.

What to wear: pants, shorts, and socks

Clothing is where the most money gets wasted, because it is the easiest thing to buy on looks alone. The test is boring and reliable: can you fold forward without the waistband rolling, and can you invert without the top falling over your face? Our yoga pants hub is the biggest of the clothing sections, with fit, opacity, and squat-test coverage, and what yoga pants are actually made of explains why two pairs that look identical behave nothing alike once you sweat in them.

For warm rooms and summer practice, yoga shorts solve the heat problem and introduce a coverage one, and what to wear to hot yoga deals with the specific case where everything you own becomes soaked. Yoga socks are the small fix nobody mentions: grip socks are what make a studio floor, a hotel carpet, or a borrowed mat usable at all. If you want the whole wardrobe in one place, the best yoga clothes pulls the categories together.

More equipment guides

The rest of our gear coverage — towels, eco-friendly materials, specific mat brands, and the questions that come up once you have been practising a while. Shopping for someone else instead? Gifts for yoga lovers is built around the things that do not need a size.

Brand and app checks

Before you buy from a name you have not heard of, or hand a subscription your card details, we check it. Is CRZ Yoga legit? and is Everyday Yoga legit? look at two brands people meet through cheap leggings and then wonder about. On the app side, the Yoga-Go cluster is dominated by one practical question, so we answered it properly: how to cancel Yoga-Go.

Frequently asked questions

What equipment is needed for yoga?

A mat, a pair of blocks, and a strap cover almost everything a general class will ask of you. Bolsters, blankets, and a meditation cushion belong to restorative and seated practice, and a wheel only earns its place once backbends are a regular part of your week.

What equipment is required for yoga?

Strictly, a mat — and even that is optional on carpet or grass. Studios lend props, so you can start with one purchase and let a few weeks of practice tell you what is actually missing rather than guessing in advance.

What is a good gift for someone who does yoga?

Props travel better than clothing, because none of them need a size. A strap, a pair of blocks, a mat towel, or a mat bag are safe and genuinely used; mats and leggings are personal enough that most people would rather choose their own.

How do I know when to replace my yoga mat?

Grip is the signal, not age. When your hands creep forward in downward dog on a mat that is clean and dry, the top layer has worn through, and no amount of washing brings that surface back.

Last update 2026-09-10. Price and product availability may change.

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