Posts Tagged ‘Mind And Spirit’

Yoga Blocks, What Are They Good For?

You’ll remember to place your yoga blocks in your yoga bag once you’ve discovered their many benefits to your practice. But, before we review the many benefits of yoga blocks, it’s a helpful idea to review a bit about the good things Yoga, itself.

What Yoga Practice Can Do for You

Yoga helps you in awakening your inner body and enlivening your outer body! Doing each pose perfectly requires your undivided attention, and such focus enhances your mental awareness. Your “outer body” profits as each pose nourishes, energizes, and revitalizes every cell, fiber, and tissue as a result of enhanced breathing, flexibility, strength and alignment. The goal of yoga practice is to create a union between the body, mind and spirit.

Patience is not only a virtue, it is the “key” to mastering a yoga pose, especially when combined with ample time and commitment. No one is a master the first time they try to do anything. But, slowly over time, as you practice and make an effort to perform each pose perfectly, without pushing yourself too far physically or beating yourself up mentally, you will notice that you are developing flexibility, strength, and energy physically and feeling more peaceful and clear mentally.

The best environment for doing your practice is a clean, graceful place with a bare floor and available wall. Remove any distractions from your yoga environment. Ideally, you should not eat for at least 2 hours before practicing. If you find you need to eat, then try to eat something light, such as a piece of fruit, but no more than 1 hour before you start your yoga practice.

Be consistently mindful of how your body feels, and stop or pause if you encounter any pain or discomfort while trying out a pose. Then try again.

Yoga props and accessories, such as yoga mats, yoga bolsters, yoga straps, yoga blocks, yoga mat bags, and even a yoga towel are made with the intention to assist you in moving deeper into a pose, in performing a perfect pose, and in practicing in a healthful way.

Yoga Prop Benefits:

• Pain relief and body comfort

• Prevent injury

• Stress relief and relaxation

• Encourage appropriate alignment

• Ease and flexibility of movement

• Open up the joints

• Develop awareness and understanding

Yoga Blocks

Unfortunately, on occasion before a beginner can start to know the benefits to mind and body that yoga supplies, discomfort in attempting to do a few of the yoga poses will cause them to turn away from a beneficial yoga practice. Yoga blocks can assist in improving your alignment and, in the process, make you less strained during your yoga practice. Several standing yoga poses include one hand being on the floor. In other words, the floor can appear to be a long way down for a novice. Think of a yoga block as adding length to your arm. By placing your hand on the block, you will be able to do the standing poses correctly while you are in the process of developing your flexibility. A yoga block is a wonderful transitional aid.  In addition, several sitting poses make use of a yoga block.  A yoga block assists you in going a lot farther in your practice, and maybe even in your life. Who could ask for more from something so “square.”

Yoga blocks come in several different materials. To name a few: Foam blocks are durable and lightweight, an effortless add to your yoga mat bag! Wooden blocks are also lightweight and hollow, yet essentially indestructible (even Fido would find one hard to destroy!). And, then there is the environmentally friendly cork block.  An added bonus is that the natural texture of the cork gives a little extra traction.

Yoga blocks are generally sold individually but, for versatility, you’ll probably want to buy several.

Benefits of Yoga Mats and Bags

A yoga mat will take the slip and slide out of your yoga practice by providing the stability you must have to do each pose with balance and poise. But, before we applaud the benefits of this most essential of yoga “props,” as well as discuss yoga mat bags, let’s talk a little about Yoga, itself.

Yoga Mind/Body Benefits

Yoga practitioners have discovered that habitual yoga practice awakens both mind and body! As you clear your mind to give your undivided attention to each pose, you awaken your “inner body” awareness of the present moment. Habitual yoga practice encourages a healthy body through proper breathing for more oxygenation, greater flexibility for ease of motion, added muscle strength for confident movement, and perfect alignment for enhanced energy flow. The goal of yoga practice is to create a union between the body, mind and spirit.

If you want to master a yoga pose, you will need extraordinary patience, plus time and dedication. A beginner should not give up if they don’t do a pose precisely on the first try. But, slowly over time, as you practice and try to perform each pose perfectly, without pushing yourself too far physically or beating yourself up mentally, you will find that you are developing flexibility, strength, and energy physically and feeling more peaceful and clear mentally.

Choose a clean, graceful space for your practice area, preferably with a bare floor and an accessible wall. Remove any distractions from your yoga environment. Preferably, you should not eat for at least 2 hours before practicing. If you find you need to eat, then try to eat something light, such as a piece of fruit, but no more than 1 hour before you start your yoga practice.

If you should feel pain or discomfort as you try a pose, pause or stop, then try again with more mindful movement.

Yoga props and yoga accessories, such as yoga mats, yoga bolsters, yoga straps, yoga blocks, yoga mat bags, and even yoga towels are perfect for benefiting you in moving deeper into a pose, in performing a flawless pose, and in practicing in a wholesome way.

There are many excellent reasons to give consideration to using yoga props, not the least of which is that they assist in relieving discomfort, even pain, during difficult yoga poses.

Yoga props also help to prevent injury when you are sometimes tempted to push too hard to “get it right.”

Relief from tension and relaxation benefits are an integral part of any yoga practice. Yoga props can give necessary support so you’re not tempted to “stress out” because you’re unable to do a certain pose.

Another dynamic of using yoga props is that they assist you in sustaining proper alignment and, as we all know, alignment is crucial to getting the most benefits from a pose.

Yoga props help to enhance movement. When your joints move with ease, instead of “rubbing you the wrong way,” your yoga poses are more fluid. Certain props actually open space in the joints.

And, finally, we get back to one of the extraordinary benefits of yoga, i.e., the development of awareness and understanding. When you are free to focus on doing your yoga poses correctly, rather than worrying about any limitations you might be experiencing, you are more capable to experience the deeper gifts of a regular yoga practice. Yoga props can help in doing away with any limitations to your doing flawless yoga poses.

Yoga Mats

There are many benefits to using the thin, rectangular (often rubber) mat, known as a yoga mat, or a sticky mat. First and foremost, as you move into various yoga poses, a yoga mat keeps you from sliding. Its non-slip surface provides stability to your practice.

It is also made of material that gives it the “perfect” texture, the one Baby Bear would have if he practiced yoga. If you were to attempt to do your yoga practice on a surface that was too soft, like a carpet, you would find it difficult to balance or to position yourself correctly. But, a surface that’s too hard, like a hardwood floor, would make your hands, knees, and feet uncomfortable in many poses.

Most yoga mats are made of lightweight, durable latex-free rubber or natural rubber and jute fiber that provides not only stability as you practice, but insulation from cool floors. There are yoga mats on the market, however, that are more eco-friendly.  One is a new “environmentally friendly” yoga mat made of PER (Polymer Environmental Resin), a fabric that is ascribed to be more “responsive” to the environment and your health than rubber yoga mats. This particularly mat doesn’t contain phthalates or heavy metals, and its method of production is said to be completely non-toxic. However, if being “super” green is your goal, there is a rubber and cotton mesh mat available that comes straight from a “tapped” tree that continues to live.

Yoga Mat Bags

Yoga mat bags help to protect your mat and yoga supplies, and make hauling them more convenient. There is a small yoga mat bag, sized only marginally larger than your mat, that is terrific if you bring simply a few things with you to your yoga class. But, if you’re someone who feels the necessity to “take it all” with you, there are roomy, duffel-style mat bags that can hold extra accessories like yoga blocks, towels, water bottles, extra clothing, you name it.

If you’re the creative type, there are plenty of great websites that give instructions on how you can make your own yoga mat bag out of silk or other materials. Off the rack yoga mat bags are generally manufactured from nylon, cotton, organic cotton, or hemp.