It seems to me that my two year old has become the resident customs official and postmaster general of my household – nothing gets through the door without her say so and pretty much all post gets opened and inspected by her before it is handed over to its rightful owner with a flourish and a “hereyougodaddy” or “hereyougomummy”. My latest delivery was no different, though it did elicit an extra “Ooooh, very knobbly” before she gave it to me. That sums up one side of the yantra mat – a new breed of acupressure mat that was designed in Sweden and was one of the most popular Christmas gifts over there last year. And as yoga has moved from east to west over the centuries, so the yantra mat has moved from slightly more east of the UK, to the UK. And I have one to review – sent to me by the kind people at theyantramat.co.uk.

Close up of yantra mat's lotus flower spikes

You can’t really go anywhere these days without tripping over an acupressure mat of some sort or another. There’s a fairly popular “shiatsu” mat that I always seem to see in shopping centres and advertised in newspapers these days. You know the kind that looks somewhat like an obscene torture device that runs off the mains and tends to have a couple of rotating fingers swathed in black cloth that kind of creep me out……Well, the yantra mat is nothing like that. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of those. My first impression was that it looks nice – my review copy was a rich purple, with a nice mandala on one side. Nothing creepy, and no batteries required.

At its heart, the yantra mat is a fairly simple device – a cotton cover over a foam mat, but with the added benefit on one side of the mat of little plastic lotus flowers that each have 42 “spikes” to stimulate acupressure points when you lie or sit on it. The mat itself is about the size of your back and each lotus flower is about the size of a 50p coin. Using it is pretty much self evident – the instructions are cool, but really, if you can’t figure out how you are meant to use it yourself, don’t get one

So, the little lotus flowers are obviously the unique selling point of this mat – some of the literature talks about how it is based on the same concept as lying on a bed of nails, which, apart from being the staple of physics tricks and strong man antics, is used by some yogis as a meditation device. The yantra mat is billed as a modern bed of nails for today’s yogi.

A fakir on a bed of nails

The Yantra Mat is for anyone who wants to have more energy and increase their wellbeing.

So, what’s it actually like to use? Well, I did a little research before my mat arrived in the post and a number of people say it is a little uncomfortable to start with, but then after a few minutes it becomes a pleasant experience. I have to say, it was never really uncomfortable for me. I started off intending to spend thirty minutes on the mat. The sensations were pretty much what you would expect – some tingling and warmth from increased blood flow, and actually, the first time I tried it, I fell asleep on it! So I guess that attests to its relaxation properties. You can use the mat on bare skin, but for me it was best with a cotton t-shirt on between me and the spikes. The spikes themselves are fairly sharp, so my advice is not to wriggle around on the mat.

I found the mat to be pretty comfortable to lie on, and a great way to chill out – a touch of lavender essential oil and a yantra mat is, in my opinion, an excellent combination to set you up for a chilled out evening. My favourite way to use the mat though, is on my chair. It’s completely flexible so it just moulds into the shape of the chair and I think it helps to bring your attention to your posture while you are sitting at the computer. In fact, I’m sitting on my yantra mat while I’m typing up this review. I also quite liked just standing on it in a pair of socks; the lotus spikes pressed into the soles of my feet quite nicely.

I’ve been using the yantra mat for about a week now, and I have to say, I rather like it. It slips easily into my practice because I don’t really have to make extra time to use it or take away time from what I was already doing – popping it on my chair while I work is great and it can just be incorporated into my sitting or lying meditation. I would say it’s a winner.

A yantra mat

A big thank you to www.theyantramat.co.uk for sending me a mat to review.