I'm willing to bet that New Yorkers rent more mats per capita than any other place. That's mainly because though the tubular tote or mat poking out of a bag says "I take care of myself in a cool way," it's also one more thing to schlep around town. Which is why I've been intrigued lately by the ways around this.

Myself, I recently bought a super lightweight, eco Hugger Mugger mat to carry to classes, while my heavy jute/rubber thing is retired for home practice only. But even that seems like a pain sometimes. Some other options:

1) Yogitoes nubby/absorbent towels are suddenly everywhere, covering nasty rental mats across the city. Stacie, my fellow blogger in L.A. recently posted about the founder, who created these when a rental mat "smelled like wet dog." Gaiam also appears to carry a version.

2)I haven't given Yoga Paws a try yet, but they make loads of sense and fit in a smallish handbag. They're just little sticky coverings for your "paws," a.k.a. hands and feet.

3) Lululemon's "Supernatural" travel mat is uber-thin and made from natural rubber; it folds to about the size of a large, thicker manila envelope.

4) Gaiam's reversible travel mat is an interesting towel-mat hybrid, with sticky natural rubber on one side, microfiber towel on the other. And it weighs just a pound.

How are you solving the mat-schlep dilemma these days?