Aurorae Synergy Review

The Aurorae Synergy is a yoga mat-towel hybrid. The microfiber towel top is bonded to a PER (Polymer Environmental Resin) bottom for ultimate grip for your hands and the floor. It is five millimeters thick, and the mat is 72 inches long by 24 inches wide. It weighs 3.6 pounds, which is pretty lightweight. It comes in a variety of cute colors, mostly muted earthy tones, which are perfect for a relaxing yoga session. Read on to see how it measures up to our rigorous testing.

Performance Comparison

The Aurorae Synergy rocks a pretty standard thickness of five millimeters, but the top is just a microfiber towel that provides more grip than cushion. The bottom layer is made of Polymer Environmental Resin (PER) which provides a little cushion, but if you have sensitive knees or elbows, you may find that the lack of give is uncomfortable. This harder-style mat is amazing for handstands and poses that require impressive balance, as you do not sink into the mat.

The towel itself is nice and soft on the skin and doesn't pull or tug on you when you move from one asana to the next. While you may find your knees and elbows require a little more cushion while this can be remedied by simply folding the mat over on itself to create a thicker base. But be careful, if you fold the mat too hard, it will leave a crease.

There is virtually no structure to this mat. It is foldable and flexible, which has its pros, but it makes practicing on soft and uneven ground feel unstable. Because this mat lacks structure, it's a little too flimsy for lumpy grass or sandy beach yoga.

At the end of the day, the Aurorae Synergy is more of a towel than a proper yoga mat, so while it's mostly comfortable, it doesn't offer a lot of cushion for longer sessions spent on your knees and elbows or other boney parts of the body. It does offer ample support for flows that require firm ground.

Grip

The Aurorae Synergy is made up of two layers, a Polymer Environmental Resin base and a microfiber towel top. The bottom layer sticks very nicely to the ground, ensuring that you don't slide around during your practice. Both the top and bottom layers also get stickier over time.

If you lay this mat out in a room temperature studio (70-75 degrees F) and try to do a Sun Salutation, you're not likely to be impressed with its dry traction. The microfiber towel does not have the same stickiness as some of the other mats in this review right out of the box, but it does get better with time. One of our testers practiced yoga after rock climbing when they had chalk on their hands, ensuring they were extremely dry and the mat felt rather slippery.

That being said, when you unroll the Aurorae Synergy in a heated room, the humidity instantly makes the towel stickier, and we had fairly good traction even before the sweat started flowing. This makes it a great option for hot yoga lovers or heavy sweaters. If you plan to have a less sweaty session, spray a little water on your mat for added traction. Because it's so absorbent, you don't have to worry about moisture pooling. Unfortunately, it does take a while to dry, so it's best to unroll it and lie it flat post-sweaty practice.

If you only practice hot yoga, then the dry traction is not even really much of a concern, as there are few oppositional poses done on the mat that requires much traction. But for other Vinyasa-styles where you do (what feels like) a million Sun Salutations, good dry and wet traction is important.

Materials

As we've mentioned a few times, the Aurorae Synergy is made of Polymer Environmental Resin and a microfiber towel. Like many of the top performers in our test suite, this mat is also environmentally friendly.

You're not alone if you're wondering how this mat could stand up to repeated machine washings without falling apart. But after dozens of uses and washes, we can report that it is still in excellent shape. There is no pilling or signs of wear, the only issue we encountered during testing is a crease or two from folding the mat. Like any microfiber towel, we experienced some fading of the colors, especially if used in the sun often, but this does not affect the performance.

Ease of Use

Most yoga mats require to be wiped down after every practice, but the Aurorae Synergy is unique in that it is machine washable. With a microfiber towel top layer, it's important to wash your mat thoroughly and hang it to dry to keep odors at bay. Your mat must be washed with gently detergent on a gentle cycle, warm water, and an extra rinse cycle. You can also hand wash the Aurorae Synergy with a brush or a coarse sponge. You can hand wash if you just have a spot or two you want to clean, don't have a washer, or you don't have time to let it dry, as it takes a while to dry when soaked.

Unfortunately, the microfiber top attracts dirt and pet hairs. A coarse brush or a lint roller helps mitigate this, and so does rolling it up and putting it away so your dogs don't claim it as their own. Another inconvenient factor is that you have to wash the Aurorae Synergy by itself and hang it to dry. Sometimes it feels over-the-top to use a washer for one towel, and it can be difficult to find a place to hang a big heavy wet mat for multiple hours.

The Aurorae Synergy is 72 by 24 inches and weighs three pounds and ten ounces. The lack of firmness of this mat makes it easy to roll up tightly or fold up and put in your suitcase, but remember that folding can lead to creasing. The dimensions are large enough for most bodies and light enough to travel around with, even on a bike!

The Aurorae Synergy is a pretty versatile mat. It quickly lays perfectly flat, and it can be used inside and outside as long as you are practicing on hard, level ground, as it's not very structured.

Should You Buy the Aurorae Synergy?

The Aurorae Synergy is a versatile mat, best used for hot yoga or high sweat situations. It falls on the lower end of the price spectrum, which is great, which, when compared to its performance, makes it a great value. That being said, if you plan to practice in cooler conditions on a dry mat, there are other options that provide better grip in those conditions.

What Other Yoga Mats Should You Consider?