When Dean's grandfather emigrated to the United States in 1904, he founded an oriental rug business. At the time, they produced rubber pads that went under the rugs to keep them from slipping. Years and years later, B.K.S. Iyengar was in the United States doing a demonstration on an oriental rug, but he was slipping - a student took away the rug - leaving the pad and the first yoga mat. JadeYoga began in earnest in 2000 to solve the slipping issue with the first natural rubber yoga mat.