Essential Yoga Props for Your Practice

With Your Yoga Library you will use props to enhance alignment and elevate your practice, ensuring you get the most out of each session. Whether you’re using props you already own, sourcing them second-hand, or purchasing new ones, they are an essential part of a safe and effective yoga practice.

Why Props Matter

Props are versatile tools used to support your body in various poses, ensuring proper alignment and reducing strain. They help make poses accessible, deepen your experience, and prevent injury. They act as teachers, safely guiding us to deepen our work, our understanding of each pose and of our own selves. They support your alignment, allowing your body to move correctly and efficiently, which is key to maximizing the benefits of yoga and promoting long-term joint health.

Here’s a breakdown of how each prop can enhance your practice and suggestions for where you might choose to purchase them.

One Rectangular Bolster

Bolsters provide support in various positions, especially restorative and supine poses, to open the body gently and allow the spine to lengthen.

  • Spinal Support

    In lying positions, bolsters help imprint the capacity for the spine and shoulder blades to move in, promoting chest opening and deeper breathing.

  • Hip Opening

    In seated postures, a bolster can elevate your hips, bringing ease to your legs and lower back, allowing for better spinal alignment.

  • Restorative Poses
    Bolsters are essential for restorative practices, helping to relax the body fully while maintaining gentle opening in the hips, chest, and back.

Find it on B Halfmoon (Use discount code: ALIGNWITHJESSICA15)

Find it on Amazon.ca

One Yoga Strap

The yoga strap helps you reach and maintain proper form in poses that require flexibility and stability. It’s especially useful for supporting alignment when you need extra length in your limbs.

I suggest finding a strap between 8’-10’. Pick a 10’ strap if you are taller and broader. 

  • Flexibility Assistance

    Use the strap to extend your reach in seated forward bends, hamstring stretches, and shoulder-openers, allowing you to maintain alignment without overstraining.

  • Alignment Reinforcement

    Wrap the strap around your arms or legs to reinforce proper alignment and stability in poses like Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) or Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose).

  • Containment and Activation

    The strap can also be used to contain the arms and legs in different variations of poses, which not only supports alignment but activates different parts of the body, making it an excellent teaching tool to refine postures and body awareness.

  • Strength Training
    Use the strap for resistance work, helping build strength in the shoulders, arms, and legs while maintaining correct form.

Find it on Amazon.ca

Two 4” Cork Bricks

Yoga bricks are indispensable in bringing the floor closer to you. They are especially helpful in poses where tight muscles prevent full extension, but they also offer stability and support in more advanced postures.

  • Arm Extension
    In standing poses like Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) or Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose), the blocks extend the length of your arms, helping you maintain spinal extension without straining.
  • Stability in Balance Poses
    Bricks provide stability in poses like Virabhadrasana III (Warrior III) or Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose), enabling you to work on balance without compromising form.
  • Sacral Support
    A brick is essential in Bridge Pose for sacral support. This pose and variations stabilizes the pelvis, opens the chest, and prepares the body for Shoulder Stand category of poses.

Find it on Amazon.ca

One 3” Foam Brick

This smaller foam brick is essential for reinforcing leg actions in standing poses, especially Tadasana (Mountain Pose). It helps support a balanced pelvis, which is key for alignment in many other standing postures.

  • Support in Standing Poses
    In Tadasana and other standing poses, placing the brick between the thighs engages the legs, reinforcing alignment and maintaining a balanced pelvis.
  • Alignment Reinforcement
    The brick encourages proper leg actions that are necessary to stabilize the pelvis and spine, which are crucial for moving into more advanced poses with ease.
  • Pelvic Balance
    It supports pelvic alignment and balance in poses like Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and other standing poses that require similar leg actions.

Find on Amazon.ca

Find two foam bricks and strap on Amazon.ca

Find it on b, halfmoon (use discount code ALIGNWITHJESSICA15)

Three Yoga Blankets

Yoga blankets are incredibly versatile, used for added comfort and support in various poses, especially during restorative or seated postures.

  • Head and Neck Support
    Blankets are perfect for supporting the head and neck during supine poses, particularly in Savasana or during restorative inversions, where cervical spine support is essential.
  • Comfort in Seated Poses
    When folded, they elevate the hips in seated poses like Sukhasana (Easy Pose) or Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose), allowing for better alignment in the spine and a more comfortable seat.
  • Inversions and Shoulder Support
    In poses like Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand), blankets support the shoulders and help create a stable base, protecting the cervical vertebrae.

Find it on Amazon.ca

Find it on b, halfmoon (use discount code ALIGNWITHJESSICA15)

Or use tightly woven blankets from your household supply.

One Yoga Chair or Sturdy Chair

Yoga chairs are incredibly useful for building strength and confidence in more challenging poses, as well as providing accessible variations for those with limited mobility.

  • Assisting in Inversions
    Chairs help in accessing inversions like Salamba Sirsasana (Headstand) or supported versions of Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand), providing a stable platform for you to work on alignment and strength.
  • Modifying Poses for Accessibility
    Chairs allow for modified versions of standing poses, including Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II) and Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle), offering support and stability while maintaining proper alignment.
  • Restorative Uses
    A chair can also be used in restorative poses like Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose), where it supports the legs and helps the spine lengthen without strain.

Find it on Amazon.ca

Or use a sturdy household chair.

Questions?

Please contact me if you have any questions about gathering your props kit.

"Jessica is an excellent yoga instructor. Her spoken instructions are clear and concise. I have greatly improved my flexibility, strength and meditation since practicing with her. These classes is good for people at every level of yoga! "
Claire Boulton

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