Yoga towel

Abstract

A yoga towel is for use in conjunction with a suitable mat or converter that allows an existing mat to be retrofitted to be used with the present yoga towel. The yoga towel has one or more magnets and/or metal attached, advantageously to its perimeter and/or with a center portion of the towel. A suitable surface such as a yoga mat will have a complementary metal and/or magnet so that when the yoga towel is placed on the yoga mat, the yoga towel through magnetic forces (i.e. attraction) is held in place. Advantageously, in one form, the magnets and/or metal are strips in the yoga towel and/or yoga mat are in the form of flexible strips of magnetic material and/or metal.

Claims

1. A yoga towel and mat system, said system comprising: i. a yoga mat comprising: a unitary mat comprising at least a substrate layer, a middle layer and a top layer, the mat having a top surface, bottom surface and perimeter sides, the middle layer having a recess into which a metal or magnet is disposed, the metal or magnet embedded in the middle layer proximate the perimeter sides, whereby the metal or magnet is completely encapsulated within the unitary mat, and the substrate layer permanently attached to the middle layer, opposite the top layer, at least one of the substrate layer and the top layer being composed of a non-slip material; and ii. a yoga towel comprising: a fabric towel composed of a fabric material; and a towel metallic member being ferromagnetic or magnetized, physically joined to the fabric towel, the towel metallic member being complementarily ferromagnetic or magnetized to be attracted to the metal or magnet permanently fixed to the yoga mat, a perimeter of the towel being folded back on itself, forming a pocket and the towel metallic member being disposed therein, wherein the fabric towel is held in place on the yoga mat due to the magnetic attraction between the towel metallic member and the metal or the magnet fixed to the yoga mat.

2. The yoga towel and mat system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the top layer and the substrate layer is composed of rubber or a rubberized material.

3. The yoga towel and mat system of claim 1, wherein both the top layer and the substrate layer are composed of a non-slip material.

4. The yoga towel and yoga mat of claim 3, wherein both the top layer and the substrate layer are composed of rubber or a rubberized material.

5. The yoga towel and yoga mat of claim 1, wherein the middle layer is a foam layer.

6. The yoga towel and yoga mat of claim 2, wherein the middle layer is a foam layer.

7. The yoga towel and yoga mat of claim 3, wherein the middle layer is a foam layer.

8. The yoga towel and yoga mat of claim 4, wherein the middle layer is a foam layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a partial cut away view of a yoga towel and mat in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the yoga mat and towel of FIG. 1 along line 2-2.

(3) FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the yoga towel and mat of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 4 is a partial cut away perspective view of a yoga mat and towel in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 is a partial cross section view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

(6) FIG. 6 is a partial cut away perspective view of yet another yoga and towel in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a cross section view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

(8) FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing placement of a clip on a yoga mat in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9 is a partial cut away perspective view of still another yoga mat and towel in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9.

(11) FIG. 11 illustrates attachment of a different clip to a mat in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

(12) FIG. 12 is a partial cut away view of yet another yoga mat in accordance with the present invention.

(13) FIG. 13 is an exploded view of the yoga mat of FIG. 12.

(14) FIG. 14 is a cross section view taken along line 14-14 of FIG. 12.

(15) FIG. 15 is a plan view of an entire mat of FIG. 12.

(16) FIG. 16 is a top plan view of another yoga towel covering another yoga mat in accordance with the present invention.

(17) FIG. 17 is a cross section view of the yoga towel and yoga mat taken along line 17-17 of FIG. 16.

(18) FIG. 18 is a top plan view of another yoga towel covering another yoga mat in accordance with the present invention.

(19) FIG. 19 is a cross-section view of the yoga towel and yoga mat taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 18.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(20) The present invention is directed to a yoga towel for use with a suitable yoga mat in which the yoga towel is held in place due to magnetic attraction, also known as magnetic force, between elements in the yoga towel and the yoga mat. The yoga mat can be a specifically designed yoga mat or a conventional yoga mat which has been retrofitted to be used with the present yoga towel.

(21) Referring now to the figures and in particular to FIGS. 1-3, in a first exemplary form, yoga towel 20 is magnetically held in place on yoga mat 30 due to magnetic attraction between a towel magnetic member 21 and a metal or magnet 31 in the mat 30. As best seen in FIG. 2, a perimeter or edge 22 of the towel 20 is folded over the towel metallic member 21 and then joined to a bottom surface 23 of the towel by stitching, an adhesive or other suitable material for permanently fixing the edge 22 to the bottom surface 23, and thereby form a pocket 26 with metallic member 21 disposed therein.

(22) The metal or magnet 31 is disposed on a top surface 32 of the yoga substrate 33. A yoga mat fabric trim 34 is disposed over the metal or magnet 31 and is permanently fixed to the top surface 32 and bottom surface 35 by stitching, adhesive or other suitable material. The mat fabric trim 34 is therefore covering a portion of a top surface 32, a bottom 35 and side 36.

(23) Advantageously, the towel magnetic member 21 and the metal or magnet 31 are covered with a waterproof material. An advantage of the waterproof coating is to preserve the magnetic member 21 and metal or magnet 31 from sweat and allow the yoga towel 20 to be washed for hygienic purposes. An example of material which can be used to produce the waterproof coating includes the materials sold as Plasti Dip by Plasti Dip International, 3920 Pheasant Ridge Drive, Blaine Minnesota 55449 herein incorporated by reference.

(24) In use, one aligns the towel 20 with a perimeter of the yoga mat 30. The towel metallic member 21 is advantageously in the form of a magnetic strip which extends adjacent a perimeter of all four edges 20a of the rectangular towel 20. However, the metallic member 21 can extend along fewer edges, e.g., only two.

(25) The metallic member 21 and/or the metal or magnet 31 can be composed of a flexible material which can be advantageous.

(26) Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, in an alternative embodiment, towel 20 can be used with a yoga mat 50. Metal or magnet 51 is disposed on yoga mat top surface 52 of substrate 53. A top laminate layer 54 is disposed over the metal or magnet 51 and top surface 52.

(27) Referring now to FIGS. 6-8, yoga towel 20 can be used with yet an alternative yoga mat 60 which comprises a substrate 63 onto which metal or magnet 61 advantageously extends adjacent a perimeter of all four sides of the rectangular substrate 63. Yoga mat 60 is produced by retrofitting a conventional yoga mat 63 which acts as a substrate onto which one retrofits the magnetic strip 61.

(28) Referring specifically to FIG. 8 along with FIG. 7, a mat edge clip 67 slides over a perimeter edge 66 of the mat 63 squeezing the mat 63 between top surface 62 and bottom surface 65. As with the above described mats 30, 40 and 50, the metal or magnet 61 need not extend adjacent all edges or perimeter sides of the rectangular mat in order to adequately hold the yoga towel 20 in place on the mat 60.

(29) Referring now to FIGS. 9-11, yoga mat 90 is produced by retrofitting a conventional yoga mat 93 using clip 97 (FIG. 11) which holds metal or magnet 91 in place along a perimeter side edge 96 of mat 93, by squeezing between top surface 92 and bottom surface 95. The yoga towel 20 is held in place due to magnetic attraction between the towel metallic member 21 and the metal or magnet 91.

(30) Referring now to FIGS. 12-15, in yet another embodiment, yoga mat 130 comprises a substrate 133, a middle layer such as foam layer 140 and a top, non-slip rubber layer 150. The foam layer 140 has a recess or channel 142 into which one or more metal or magnet strips 131 is/are disposed. Advantageously, the magnetic strip 131 extends adjacent a perimeter of at least two sides and may include four sides of the rectangular mat 130.

(31) Further advantageously, the substrate 133 is composed of a non-slip material. Further, advantageously the top layer 150 is composed of an anti-bacterial, non-slip rubber or similar suitable material. A suitable yoga towel with complementary metal and/or magnets such as yoga towel 20 is placed over the yoga mat 130 and held in place by magnetic force.

(32) Referring now to FIGS. 16 and 17, in yet another form, yoga towel has a plurality of towel magnetic members 221 (e.g. 221a, 221b) spaced throughout the interior area of the yoga towel rather than just along the towel's perimeter. While depicted in FIG. 16 as nine towel magnetic members, any suitable number can be used as desired or needed for magnetically holding the yoga towel 220 to a suitable mat below.

(33) Referring now specifically to FIG. 17, yoga towel 220 is composed of two layers, top layer 220a and bottom layer 220b. The towel magnetic members 221 (e.g. 221a, 221b) are disposed between top layer 220a and bottom layer 220b. The two layers come together at edges 220c and layers 220a, 220b are joined together, e.g. by sticking, adhesive or other suitable material or method. Optional sticking (not shown) around each of the magnetic member 221 (e.g. 221a, 221b) can be used to securely fasten the magnetic members 221 to the towel 220, between towel top layers 220a and bottom layer 220b.

(34) In an alternative to having two layers 220a, 220b, in a manner shown in FIG. 17, other methods and techniques may be used for attaching the towel magnetic members 221 to the yoga towel including but not limited to sticking or adhering strips of material/fabric to a bottom surface of layer 220a, forming pockets into which the towel magnetic members 221 are disposed.

(35) Yoga mat 230 is similar to yoga mat 130 in that it is composed of three layers, a bottom or substrate layer 233, a foam layer 240 and a top layer 250. Each of these layers can be composed of the same materials as those in yoga mat 130. The foam layer 240 has a series of recesses or channel 242 into which a respective magnetic strip 231 is disposed.

(36) Referring now to FIGS. 18 and 19, in still yet another form, the yoga towel 320 has a plurality of towel magnetic members 321 (e.g. 321a, 321b) throughout the interior area of the yoga towel 320 similar to yoga towel 220. However, the towel magnetic members 321 could be only along the perimeter of the towel. The towel magnetic members 321 are bonded to a surface of the towel 320 using a suitable adhesive which bonds the towel metallics member 321 to the towel 320. A separate piece of material 325 is disposed over the towel metallic members 321. The separate piece of material 325 is bonded to the towel 320 along its perimeter 325a thereby completely enclosing the towel metallic members 321 between the separate piece of material 325 and the material of the towel 320. As a result, the towel metallic members 321 are not exposed to the environment but enclosed completely between the fabric of the towel 320 and the separate piece of material 325. Optionally, the material 325 is also bonded to the towel metallic members 321. The yoga mat 330 (FIG. 19) is essentially the same as yoga mat 230 and therefore like elements to those of yoga mat 230 having increased by 100 as shown in FIG. 19 and not further described herein.

(37) One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that additional embodiments are also possible without departing from the teachings of the presently-disclosed subject matter. This detailed description, and particularly the specific details of the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein, is given primarily for clarity of understanding, and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, for modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the presently-disclosed subject matter.

(38) Although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations, apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.