Top 4 Yoga Props & Bolsters

Today I’m going to discuss yoga props. Yoga props come in a mind blowing array of shapes, sizes and density. Not all of them are very useful, some are useful for a few classes but then your body will adjust and they lose their efficacy. I’m going to focus on the tried and true props that you can use in your practice forever and have a wide variety of uses. I prefer the yogavni brand, they are firm enough and they are high quality and will last a long time. They also come apart making them easy to keep clean.

top 4 yoga Props and Bolsters are:

Pranayama bolster, It is rectangulare 21 inches long x 6 inches wide x 4 inches high. If you’re only going to get one bolster this is the one to get. I can use this one everyday.

The 10 inch wide X 28 inches long round bolster. They shouldn’t be too soft but you also don’t want it to be foam roller firm.

The 7 inch X 22 inch long round bolster. The 7″ round and the 10″ round work wonderfully together. I rarely use the 7″ on it’s own.

3 inch and 4 inch blocks. It is important to have a variety of sizes. Often when using props an inch here and there can make all the difference.

How Do They Work?

To understand bolsters you need to understand fascia, I’m not going to delve too deep into fascia in this article but I will be posting an essay on fascia soon. For the purposes of props and bolsters you need to understand that you must hold a pose for 90 to 120 seconds to begin to affect fascia. I find holding the pose for 5 minutes is the most effective. To achieve this you need to be able to be comfortable in an uncomfortable position and still have healthy blood flow.

Next is spine health. I think it’s become abundantly clear that sitting is one of the worst things you can do to your spine in our current reality it is almost impossible to avoid sitting for long periods of time. This means we need to put the time in to correct the ills of sitting. The human spine over a relatively short span has begun to change its curvature and we need to get our J spine or primal spine from our youth back. Props & Bolsters are an excellent way to facilitate this.

Now it’s time to talk about hips and shoulders. Oftentimes in the attempt to stretch our hips and Shoulders we end up aggravating your spine. This is because your hips and shoulders are very strong, much stronger than your lower back and it’s going to break at its weakest point. So it is important that you get your spine in natural alignment and stabilize it so you can isolate to your hip flexors and your shoulders. Align and stabilize your spin and then go to work on your hips and shoulders.