Video: When to Use Yoga Props

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Props are good tools to use for yoga stretching as long as you know the proper time in which to use them. Learn some tips about using stretching props from our professional yoga instructor in this free video.

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Video Transcript

Stretching effectively and appropriately has a lot to do with honoring your body's limitations, and your body's past injuries. So, we're going to talk a little bit about when to use props when you're stretching. When should you use a block? You should use a block whenever you're sitting in a seated pose, either an easy pose such as this one, Baddha Konasana where your feet are together. Any pose where you're seated with your legs straight or bent. You can use, this is Paschimottanasana, you could, we're going to do Janu Sirsasana. Any of those poses; you use a block when your knees are popping up above the level of your waist in order to drop them down. Sit on the block with the knees dropped down below your belly button. You can then, properly align the spine without having your pelvis sinking under and you would be reaching forward this way. So, anytime you feel as though you're having a lot of discomfort in the hips and your knees won't go down and your legs won't straighten and you're sitting like this, Sit on a block or a blanket and allow the knees to settle down. When do you use a strap? You use a strap anytime we're doing something where we're reaching for the toe and it is inappropriate for you to grasp the toe or the foot with your hand. In those cases, you use a strap. Place it around your instep and it grasps the two edges of the strap, then gently pull forward. That's when you use a strap. And, another time, when do you use a bolsterer blanket? You use a bolsterer blanket anytime you're lying on the floor and you have discomfort in your lower back. You can place the bolsterer or the blanket under your knees to bend the knees ever so slightly so that the lumbar spine, the lower part of the back sinks down onto the floor and you don't have an uncomfortable curve in your spine. So, if at anytime during these sequences you feel a kind of discomfort. Look at your props; say should I be using a bolsterer? Should I be using a block or a blanket? Don't be afraid to do that. You have to respect and honor what's going on with your body. You can, I'll try as we go through these to remind you of using props. But you should have them available, and you should pick them up as you need to.

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When to Use Yoga Props

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