$347 Yoga 'Smart Mat' Acts As Your Instructor, Takes Your Measurements And Tells You How To Pose
The future might hold individualized yoga mats — ones that mark your positions, talk to you, and tell you what to do. If you prefer to work out at home than at the gym or at a yoga class, this expensive yoga mat might be for you.
“SmartMat” can double as your teacher and score-keeper, guiding you to make the right calculated moves and improve your pose, balance, and alignment. It was developed by Yogis and engineers who claim that an individualized approach to yoga can help practitioners improve their poses as is best for their bodies, since every yoga teacher is different and may not adhere to techniques best fitted for you. When you first get your SmartMat, you go through a “calibration” process, the founders explain. This is when you put in some info like gender, height, and weight; the mat will then take measurements of your arm span and limb ratios.
“I wanted a way that I could receive personalized yoga instruction without having to go to an outside class or a private teacher,” Neyma Jahan, the creator of SmartMat, said in a video on Indie Go Go.
You can put SmartMat on three different modes — In-Home Private Mode, which involves the yoga mat actually instructing you on how to improve your alignment and balance, and keeps your score. In Class Assist Mode will keep scoring you — and providing you with visual aids on alignment and balance — when you’re in an actual yoga class, but will remain silent to avoid disturbing others. Finally, there’s Zen Mode, which will appear like the yoga mat is completely off — but it will record your movements for later analysis.
According to their Indie Go Go page, the founders explain that SmartMat is “consciously built with a Piezoresistive layer inside the ‘yoga’ mat. The result is a seamless experience with a mat that can roll up and go right on your back. SmartMat connects to your SmartPhone or Tablet via a standard Bluetooth profile to provide realtime feedback and analytics.” This is pretty cool — but the yoga mat currently costs $347. For yoga enthusiasts hoping to improve their practice, though, it could be a good investment.