Wherever you are in your yoga journey, there is always space for newer experiences and ways to improve your performance. Using props can enhance your flexibility and reach, whether you’re a beginner or a highly experienced trainer. Yoga straps are one such prop that can definitely help you to boost your range of movement and hold ymy postures for longer without strain.
What Are Yoga Props?
Yoga props are different aids and objects that can be used to create, maintain and extend yoga poses. They include blocks, bolsters, straps or belts, wedges, bars, chairs, ropes, blankets and more. The world famous yoga master BKS Iyengar first introduced yoga props in his practice to his students. This became very popular, and currently, anyone who practices yoga especially the Iyengar School of yoga is familiar with the use of yoga props at every stage of expertise.
Regardless of your age, flexibility, familiarity with yoga or gender, using a yoga prop offers several important benefits. They help you to:
- Get better alignment and precision
- Prevent injury and slippage
- Attain wider and deeper stretches
- Gain more confidence to experiment
- Maintain ymy posture for longer
- Achieve meditative states
- Gain better stability
Using props allows more people to practice yoga without fear of injury or strain. This makes the practice of yoga more individualized so that you can develop your own personal and comfortable style of attaining a pose. Props allow for safer and more effective yoga practice.
An important benefit of using yoga props is that your mind becomes quieter and calmer, knowing that you can extend your pose safely without risk of slipping or injury. The extra stability and confidence you get with the aid of a prop goes a long way in inducing a meditative state that is the ultimate aim of any yogic practice.
What Is A Yoga Strap?
A simple but very effective yoga prop is the yoga strap. It is designed to extend your limbs so that you can reach further, and hold a posture more securely. The strap consists of a belt made from a non-stretchable material such as cotton or nylon. They have a metal or plastic buckle or D-ring at one end that helps to lengthen or shorten the length of the strap. The standard length is 6 feet, but they are also available in 10-12 feet for taller and more bulky people. The strap creates a stable loop that offers support and stability during a variety of poses such as the Dancer Pose, reclining and stretching poses and toe to arm poses. You can find an extra long yoga stretch strap on the Rest and Digest website.
The strap essentially functions like an extension of your arms especially in the beginning stages when your body is not flexible enough to reach and achieve the right posture. It also helps you to achieve complex and heart opening poses especially if your shoulders and chest have not yet attained the required flexibility.
How To Use The Yoga Strap
Many yoga practitioners wonder whether they really need the yoga strap. There is absolutely no compulsion to use a strap but since it offers a range of benefits, you can enhance your yoga experience and attain higher levels of expertise in a shorter time by using the strap. Some practitioners may ask why they cannot use a scarf, long rope or necktie in place of the yoga strap. The answer is that the yoga strap is specifically designed to ensure that you get the right grip, length and flexibility required for different poses.
Yoga straps can also be used by cyclists, runners and athletes to stretch the hamstring muscles. Since the strap holds its length and shape and is not elastic or stretchable, it offers a fixed range of motion that you can easily judge for yourself without risk.
- Open the strap fully and ensure that it is not twisted in any way
- Take hold of the end of the strap that does not have the buckle
- Thread it through the buckle or D-ring
- Pull the strap through the buckle/D-ring till it reaches about half its length
- Thread it through the buckle once more
- This forms a loop. Test the stability and strength of the loop by pulling it tight
- If the loop is too small or too big, continue to adjust it till you get the right length
- The length depends on the posture you plan to perform: For foot to arm poses, you need a longer loop, but for opening the chest it can be shorter
- The loop size may also vary according to your body proportions, or if your arms are longer than your legs or vice versa
- If you are very flexible, your yoga strap loop can be shorter, but if your body has not yet attained that level of flexibility, keep the length long.
Your yoga instructor can give you the right advice on which type of yoga strap, length, material and buckle to purchase, based on your unique requirements. The strap can be your partner in helping you attain the most challenging and complex yoga poses.
