Posts Tagged ‘Present Moment’

The Benefits of Yoga Can be Enhanced With a Yoga Strap

No doubt, once you’ve used one, you’ll find a yoga strap to be an valuable “prop” in your yoga practice. However, before we list the benefits of using a yoga strap, let’s talk a little about Yoga, itself.

What Yoga Practice Can Do for You

Yoga practitioners find that consistent yoga practice awakens both mind and body! As you unburden your mind to give your complete attention to each pose, you stimulate your “inner body” awareness of the present moment. Your “outer body” benefits as each pose nourishes, energizes, and revitalizes every cell, fiber, and tissue due to enhanced breathing, flexibility, strength and alignment. 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. Do not expect perfect poses in the beginning. But, slowly over time, as you practice and attempt to perform each pose perfectly, without pushing yourself too far physically or beating yourself up mentally, you will discover that you are developing flexibility, strength, and energy physically and feeling more peaceful and clear mentally.

Choose an uncluttered, graceful space for your practice area, if possible with a bare floor and an accessible wall. Avoid distractions, such as cell phones, during your yoga practice. For optimum function, you should not eat for at least 2 hours before practicing. If you can’t go without eating, then try to eat something light, such as a piece of fruit, but no more than 1 hour before you start your yoga practice.

Always be mindful with your movements, and if you encounter pain or discomfort as you try a pose, pause or stop, and then try again.

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 aiding you in moving deeper into a pose, in performing a perfect pose, and in practicing in a healthful way.

High on the list of the many benefits of using yoga props is that most are made to assist in relieving any pain or discomfort you might have while you are perfectly a yoga pose.

Until you’ve developed core structural strength, yoga props can assist you in avoiding injury to yourself.

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

The plumb line, that is, “head-over-heels” body alignment, is crucial in doing yoga poses correctly. Yoga props help you maintain appropriate alignment.

Yoga props help to enhance movement. Certain props create space in the joints and let the body more fluid movement without putting stress on a particular joint.

As we mentioned earlier, yoga practice is about unifying the mind, body and spirit through the development of a deeper awareness and the evolution of mindfulness. How do yoga props assist in this great goal? When you are able to simply focus your mind on doing your yoga poses flawlessly, rather than concerning yourself with transitory limitations, you will go deeper into that balance of mind, body, and spirit.

Now, About That Yoga Strap:

Whether you are a beginner and require extra help in your poses, or you simply want to get the most out of your yoga routine, a yoga strap is a excellent addition to your “yoga props.” Good flexibility is valuable in yoga practice. If you’re thinking you’re not flexible enough for a yoga practice, don’t give up. Flexibility takes a while to develop, and a yoga strap can be most useful in that development. In fact, without a yoga strap, some individuals just starting out will find certain poses impossible.

A yoga strap allows you to hold onto your limbs (the ones you can’t otherwise reach) or to hold a pose longer. In other words, a yoga strap has a variety of useful uses. For example, a yoga strap can make a hamstring stretch far more gainful if you hook it around your foot while your leg is held straight. Then as you lean forward and pull on the strap, you will get a far better hamstring stretch. If your hands are not able to by nature clasp each other, bound poses, like cow face or Gomukhasana are problematic to do without a yoga strap. A yoga strap can also be used to hold your leg in a Trikosana, to stretch your shoulder in the Shoulder Stretch Exercise, and a lot of other yoga postures.

Yoga straps are commonly available in materials such as nylon and hemp, and often have buckles on the end to aid in storage and transportation.

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.