Depending on which yoga camp you're in, props may or may not be your thing. I believe that they can be extremely helpful, especially after an injury or when first starting a yoga practice. Either way, its important that YOU decide what's right for YOU.
Below are some of my favorite ways to utilize one yoga block in your practice.
Improve Your Strength & Stability
Place a block under your standing leg during a one-legged pose and feel the stabilizer muscles up-level the workout. Try it with Tree, Dancer or Standing Figure 4 (pictured below).
As you improve the strength throughout the ankle and knee joints, your overall balance will improve as well. Why does this matter? Balance helps not only with standing, but also walking, running and correcting safely when you almost roll an ankle. Pretty important stuff!
Increase Your Flexibility
Are forward folds pretty "easy" for you? Try adding a block to increase flexibility by extending the distance of the floor from your hands. In a standing fold, place the block under your feet and continue reaching towards the floor. This will not only make you reach further for a deeper stretch, but will also encourage your hips to stack over the ankles and utilize the abdominal muscles for stabilization.
For a seated fold, place the block at the soles of your feet. This will allow you to reach for the end of the block and use it as leverage to deepen the stretch.
Improve Your Posture
Getting a little lazy in your Mountain Pose? Use a block in between your thighs to activate the legs and improve your posture. Squeezing the block allows you to tune into externally or internally rotating your thighs (depending on your musculature) to distribute weight evenly between both feet and lift both arches. Once you find the appropriate activation for you, keep the block during your Sun Salutations and notice the difference.
Don't have any yoga blocks? Check out the blocks from Gaiam and Hugger Mugger - two of my favorite brands for yoga mats and props!
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About the Author:
Tiffany Lord is a corporate yoga coach and founder of Love + Asana, a virtual studio launched in 2016 offering workplace wellness sessions, workshops and program design. Her sessions incorporate movement and mindfulness focusing on benefits for stress relief and chronic pain. Tiffany’s fun, approachable style makes classes feel like you’re hanging out with friends while also improving your mental and physical health.
She is an E-RYT with the Yoga Alliance and currently enrolled in a 500-hour training with Yoga Medicine focusing on yoga applications for common range of motion issues. Continuing education in meditation, breathing techniques, myofascial release, yoga for COVID-19 recovery and training as a massage therapist help make her sessions relevant and beneficial to clients who want simple movement and mindfulness techniques that improve their quality of life. Her articles on wellness through yoga have been featured in online and print publications, such as fyi50+ and CO Yoga + Life magazine.
Questions? Contact Tiffany at loveandasana@gmail.com