Maybe yoga isn’t so great after all. This from the New York Times:

GREG E. COHEN, a podiatrist at Long Island College Hospital, hears
the same story a lot: women complaining about a flaky red bump or a
persistent itchy patch on a foot. By the time he sees them, they’re
embarrassed and horrified. A few years ago, Dr. Cohen, who also has a
private practice in Brooklyn Heights, didn’t know what to make of it,
but these days he doesn’t blink an eye.

“The first thing I ask is, ‘Do you do yoga?’ ” he said. As often as not, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

In
the last two years, Dr. Cohen said, he has seen a 50 percent spike in
patients with athlete’s foot and plantar warts. The likely culprit?
Unclean exercise mats, he said.

Gyms have long been hothouses
for unwanted viruses, fungi and bacteria, a result of shared equipment,
excessive sweat and moisture in locker rooms. Many facilities provide
disinfectant so clients can wipe down machinery, but they are often
less diligent when it comes to exercise mats. It’s common to see staff
members clean a stationary bike. It’s rare to see them disinfect a mat.

This is starting to worry many yoga practitioners who go
barefoot on high-traffic mats. Half a dozen kinds of yoga-mat wipes are
now sold nationwide, and new products like hand and foot mitts, to
protect serial mat borrowers, have hit the market.