SURFASANA YOGA MATS

Impermeability: thanks to their natural anti-bacterial cork top and natural rubber bottom Surfasana™ Mats show an exceptional impermeability. Water, sweat and other liquid do not penetrate the cells of the mat and stay on the surface. This makes the cleaning of the mat very easy as only a gentle brushing with a wet towel is required to clean up after most practices.

Surfasana™ mats are made only of stuff that grows on trees and that you can actually pronounce! That is “natural cork” and “natural rubber”. Period. And of course, both are naturally grown:

• Cork is harvested by hand from cork-oak bark and is a fully natural and sustainable material. It takes about 12 years for the first harvest to occur and can then be harvested every 9 years, without causing any harm to the tree. Considering that each cork oak tree has an average life span of 200 years it is a highly natural renewable resource. Cork removal from the tree also provides for enhanced exceptional Co2 fixing and removal from the atmosphere. So, by consuming cork you are actually helping the fight against climate change.
• Natural rubber is produced by tapping rubber trees for latex, yielding up to 19 pounds of natural latex per tree, every year. It is a natural process that starts when the tree is 5 to 6 years old and can last up to 28 years thereafter. Every 30 years or so, the tree dies and is replaced by another 10. Each tree yields 2.1 cubic meters of wood as biomass and produces easily biodegradable litter. Natural rubber trees require fewer chemical fertilizers, water and pesticides than monoculture wood like teak, for instance. Natural rubber trees retain biodiversity as a tropical plant and co-exists with other species allowing for intercropping.
• Last but not least, both cork harvesting and natural rubber tapping are done manually and require skilled manual labor, generating higher than average wages, hence creating tens of thousands of sustainable jobswith decent income in tropical regions.

Cork is naturally hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial and anti-fungal. Indeed scientific studies show that cork offers high antibacterial activity against many bacteria and fungus, sometimes up to 100% efficient in bacterial reduction.  

While an “antibacterial” agent kills a large range of mild bacteria, an “anti-microbial” agent may offer a much wider array of protection acting as an antibacterial, antibiotic, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral agent all-in-one.

Thanks to its antibacterial and anti-microbial properties, natural cork provides a safe, comfortable and natural surface for our practice. It also eliminates the need for chemical disinfectants, PVC or other potentially harmful material.

While meditation, surfing and yoga are often offered side by side everywhere there are waves, Surfasana™ brings them together into one practice, onto one mat. Flowing on mats carrying actual surfboard shapes helps us naturally build muscle memory, flow and proper foot/hands placements and alignment – a feat that was not possible before (unless you carry an actual surfboard to your yoga studio). 

While surfing is often described as one of the sports with the smallest increments of progress, Surfasana™ Mats aim to increase these increments significantly by enabling surfers and yogis to bring their practice from the mats to the waves in one seamless flow.

By using only natural organic cork and natural rubber produced by trees, we naturally contribute to fighting climate change as both cork oak trees and rubber trees absorb millions of tons of Co2 from the atmosphere every year. 

It is estimated that every year cork oak forests retain up to 14 million tons of CO2, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, one of the main causes of climate change.  

The rubber tree or Hevea Brasiliensis is even more amazing from that perspective. While a typical tree can fix and absorb 21Kg of Co2 per year the Rubber tree can fix over 33Kg per year, or 1 metric ton of Co2 carbon over its 30-year life cycle. One acre can in turn add an incredible 150 tons of carbon credits during the same time.

“The uniqueness of the rubber tree is its ability to fix CO2 almost instantaneously into a hydrocarbon on a daily basis, … The tree is a natural solar panel trapping energy from the Sun, propagating a chemical reaction giving a hydrocarbon, while releasing Oxygen to the atmosphere and accumulating a timber resource.” says Dr Sunil E Fernando in an impressive study.

Actual surfboard shapes are drawn directly from some of the most popular and classic short boards out there: fish tail, round tail “potato chips”, diamond shape…  Some of our designs even incorporate exact footpad placements, and all board designs respect the correct length and width dimensions for 5’.6” to 5’.9” shortboards. In our design, functionality always came first to enable actual surf moves practice, but design and beauty was never very far behind. We strive to create art pieces that will be as beautiful hanging on a wall than under your hands and feet.