25 Jun 4 reasons for using yoga props
Many of you wonder whether yoga props are really necessary during your yoga practice. My answer is always: yes and no. There are yoga styles that don’t use them at all. Ashtanga yoga can be a great example, cause during this particular practice there is neither place nor time for using any props. Such yoga is focused on meditation in motion, intensive warming of the body that results in total cleanse. Precision of the asana is less important.
There is also Iyengar yoga. During such yoga practice many various props are heavily used. I was “raised” as the Iyeangar yogi, so I’m more than used to using props from the very first moment on the mat. That is why I want to convince you that props can be very helpful and it’s advisable to use them, at least from time to time. Below I give you four reasons for using yoga props:
1. Making asanas accessible despite body limitations.
If you have ever tried performing full version of supta virana with limited range of motion in your lower back or knee injury, you know that this asana can be inaccessible if you are not using any props. Do you want to do a headstand but you’re experiencing neck problems? Yoga props will allow such modifications of any asana that so that it will become accessible despite your body limitations.
2. Improved and deeper relaxation in restorative poses.
If you’re performing savasana, or corpse pose, yoga props will allow you to relax more deeply. During restorative yoga practice yoga props are used in order to achieve a sense of deep relaxation by supporting or opening selected parts of the body.
3. Understanding the correct body position in a given asana
If you do not quite understand how to move shoulders away from ears in the position of a downward facing dog, a harness made from a strap will explain it better than verbal instructions or manual correction from the teacher. In case it is not clear how to rotate your hips in the mountain pose, properly fastened strap will come handy. If you do not know how your feet should behave in standing poses, strategically placed yoga blocks will teach your feet the correct position.
4. Possibility of deeper and more consious work in the asana
Thanks to appropriate use of yoga props, you have the possibility of deeper and more consious work in asana. A strap will allow pulling your leg closer to your chest in supta padangusthasana. A bolster, a yoga chair or a yoga block will help opening the chest in many backbends. A strap, gymnastic ladder or a rope and a blanket will allow you elongating spine and torso in a downward facing dog in a way that is impossible to execute without yoga props.
In the next posts in this series I will describe the most basic yoga props such as blocks, blankets, straps and bolsters. I will give you some advice concerning the props that are worth having at home and show you how you can replace props, if you don’t have them.
No Comments