5 Creative Ways to Reuse Your Yoga Mat

After a long a fruitful life giving comfort to your soles, knees, and even palms in downward dog, your yoga mat is looking a little run down. What are your options?
PLEASE don't throw it away. There are so many better and more respectful paths to send your workout buddy down.
You can look for a yoga mat recycling program near you. Because of the great correlation between yogis and caring about what happens to the planet, many studios, non-profits, and yoga mat companies have figured out easy programs where you can drop off your yoga mat and make sure it does not add to the landfill.
But before you even do this, are there other uses for your yoga mat where you could keep it around?

DOGGIE DONATION: Let your yoga mat have a new life sitting under Fido. You can use as a seat/back of car liner for when your dog comes for a ride, or many animal rescue groups take donated mats to line their crates.
KITCHEN HELPER: Line your kitchen shelves and drawers with your yoga mat to stop glasses/plates from shifting - especially aesthetic when your yoga mat is a fun color! Also, if you have extra, a little square of yoga mat can be a great grip pad to open a tough-to-open jar in the kitchen. You can even make yourself a no slip mat to stand on while you wash dishes or cook.
GREEN THUMB: Use your yoga mat as a knee mat in while gardening to cushion your knees. Yoga mats can make great liners for under house plants. You can cut them to fit each plant pot.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Take it camping to put under your sleeping bag instead of a sleeping pad. Or keep the mat in your car on warm summer days for a nice picnic or beach seat. A nice little cut and folded yoga mat can be great for hard seating at outdoor sporting events.
GIVE BACK THROUGH GIFTING: Cut up to make cute mousepad gifts for your family and friends! Make creative masks for children to play with, or even create the perfect set up for an impromptu baseball or kickball game. Yoga mats make easy to carry and clean bases. Make a cute cork board gift for someone special - or yourself!

Let us know if you have any other creative ideas!

Whatever you do, try to train yourself to think first - could I reuse this or do I know someone else who could use or reuse the thing I am looking to get rid of? Next, research recycling options. If there's nothing available, maybe there is an opportunity for you to start something!