Your Best Yoga Manifesto: Props are Helpers not Hinderer's

Photo found here

When I decided that I wanted to start my own Yoga program, it wasn't just because I wanted to teach more. It was because I wanted to create a space and program that I could infuse with my own thoughts and values about practising Yoga. I feel like my manifesto for the Your Best Yoga program touches on each of the values that I hope to bring to the program and I want to spend some time "breaking down" each line of it for better understanding. Today we are at line 6 of the Manifesto - if you need to catch up here's part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4! 

In my day (ie: non-Yoga)  job we talk about adapting the environment to be a good fit for a person – for example you don’t expect a person in a wheelchair to navigate stairs, you build a ramp. I’d like to think that Yoga props are the environmental adaptation that some people need in order to enjoy a safe and effective practice. When I first started practising yoga I was attending studios that didn’t use or feature Yoga props prominently, so when I was first introduced to props I admittedly was a bit hesitant to use them. I wasn’t sure how to use them or really what they were for. Since learning how props can help support the body and provide access to correct alignment for people I would definitely consider myself a prop enthusiast, however, there are some people who still hesitate to use props as they feel like they are used as a “crutch” instead of a helper. In my experience, this doesn’t have to be the case. 

When I am teaching a beginner class, if props are available, I will almost always show the pose using the prop. Why? Because props allow people to access poses in a safe and correct way that they may not be able to otherwise. I have seen many a collapsing Triangle pose, where the persons chest is facing the floor and they are trying to get their hand to the ground. By providing the block under their hand they are able to find the opening in the chest, keep the working in the legs and actually hold the shape of the pose for a few breaths. You aren’t losing out on anything or weakening your practice by using the prop, quite the opposite really. Correct alignment that allows you to open the body and access the breath is more important than “deeper” incorrect stretching, in my opinion. So I will always show the beginner Yogi how to use props, and hopefully the more they practice and the more open their body becomes, the less they may need the props – Virasana is a great example of this as people often start sitting on a high support when they’re quads are very tight and eventually they can sit on a small height or none at all as they lengthen their muscles. Alternatively, if the challenge in a pose is due to something like body proportion, they may always have to use a prop, which should certainly not be considered a hindrance or crutch. 

Tell me, are you team "Yoga Props" or do you prefer not to use them in your practice??

Yoga Props: How to Make Your own Yoga Bolster - No Sewing Required!

Yoga Bolsters are one of my favourite Yoga Props to use. When I arrive to a class and the teacher asks us to get a bolster, I know some lovely restorative poses are coming up and I'm about to feel realllllyyyy relaxed ;) Yoga Bolsters can range in price and quality of course, so I wanted to try my hand at making my own before investing my dollars in a more pricey one ($60 - $100). This home-made bolster cost me about $25.00 to make in total, and I'm actually quite impressed with how it turned out. It's firm, but not hard, and it's a good length and depth for my body shape. The entire process took me less than an hour - and that included a small crisis with the liquid stitch, which I ended up throwing away and not using at all. Keep reading to find out how you can make your very own Yoga Bolster - no sewing required! 

What You Will Need: 

IGNORE THE LIQUID STITCH! :) 

1 Foam Pool Noodle - $1.00 at Dollarama

1 Flannelette* Pillow Case - Free, as I used an extra one I had at home 

1 Bag of Cotton Batting

1 Package of Adhesive Velcro - $1.50 each (I bought two to be safe)

Packing Tape

Scissors

Sharpie marker

Measuring Tape

*You can use a cotton or other type of pillow case if that's what you have. 

Step 1: 

Measure the pool noodle and mark it with the sharpie in the middle. Fold the noodle in half and use scissors to cut it. You want your two pieces to be as equal in length as possible. Use your packing tape to secure the two pieces together side by side. 

Step 2: 

Take your cotton batting out the bag and fold it in half once so you have a double layer. Place the pool noodles on the far end of one side (not like in the picture) and roll them up in the blanket. 

Step 3: 

Secure the cotton with packing tape. 

(I also placed a long strip of tape over the rough edge of cotton so it was smooth - sorry for the lack of photo)

Step 4:

Place your bolster in the pillow case, making sure you push it all the way into one corner of the case. 

Pull the fabric tight around the bolster and cut the pillow case, leaving enough room to add the velcro to attach the pillow case together. Put the piece of pillow case that you cut off aside as we will use it later. 

Step 5: 

Press the adhesive velcro strip on to the outside  piece first, then pull it tight and mark where your attaching piece of velcro needs to go. You want the material to stay in place once velcro-ed. 

Step 6: 

Use the piece of pillow case that you cut off and place it over the bolster so that one corder of the bolster is in the one corner of the pillowcase. Once again, pull the fabric tightly and make your cut. 

Step 7: 

Back of bolster

I was able to simply tuck the fabric in to the velcro-ed piece and because it was flannelette, it stayed in place. You can always use adhesive velcro on this part as well if you use another type of pillow case. 

And here is the finished product!!!! 

It's really quite simple - I literally made this process up as I went along, which is why some of the photo's are missing details - and took less than an hour to complete. You can make a variety of changes to make this bolster suit your needs - add another piece of pool noodle to make it wider, wrap an old towel around the pool noodles before you roll it in the cotton batting to make it thicker etc. 

Check back in a couple weeks to see some of my favourite restorative poses to do with this Yoga Prop. I'd also LOVE to know if you make one of these yourself, so be sure to let me know by leaving a comment below, sending me your pictures or tagging me in them on Instagram @sandrayogawpg.

Check out Yoga Design Lab for some premade yoga props and be sure to look at their infinity and curve mats, specifically made for taller yogi’s!

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Your Best Yoga Manifesto: No two People will have the same Practice

... Or look the same in a pose.

I am back with another post breaking down the Your Best Yoga Manifesto (You can read about lines 1-4 here and here)! Keep reading to find out more about why I included line 5 and what it really means to me. Disclaimer: I am writing this post as my own informed opinion, point of view, based on my current knowledge  and education. I am not a doctor or someone who has studied biology, anatomy, or physiology extensively. 

If you don't look like the person in the picture  in the yoga book, you are not necessarily doing it wrong. If you don't look the same as your neighbour, friend, brother, or yoga teacher, when you move into a pose, you are not necessarily doing it wrong. There certainly is a "right" way to move into postures in terms of alignment and adjustments, but some people may enjoy and benefit from using certain Yoga props while others may not. One of you isn't wrong. There are a variety of reasons that two peoples postures - when done with correct alignment - would look different. For the purpose of this blog post I am going to focus on 3 of them: Flexibility in the muscular body, Skeletal Make-up and Body Proportions. 

1. Flexibility of the Muscles: This particular limitation is probably the most familiar and the most talked about in terms of a reason for someone shying away from yoga. The truth is we all enter our first Yoga class with varying degrees of flexibility and tightness in a variety of muscles. While I am sure, if you tried quite hard, you could find someone with the exact same tight muscles as you,  the reality is some of us have super tight hamstrings but open shoulders and some of us have locked up hips and a spine that can fold in-half backwards. Depending on the tightness you and your neighbouring practitioner are experiencing, you will look different in a Yoga pose. Take Downward Facing Dog for example - Someone with tight shoulders is often rounded through the shoulders, chest, and back, while someone with tight hamstrings can't get their heels to the ground or keep their knees straight. No one is doing anything wrong here, they're bodies will open the more they practice, they can use props to support their bodies, and over time they will likely start looking more similar in shape, but they still will not look exactly the same, because of the next two points.

2. Skeletal Make-up: Each of us are made up of femurs, tibia's, pelvis' etc. But each person's skeleton is not created equal. We are not walking around with carbon copy femur bones and knee caps, and because of this, we may not have the same abilities, simply because of the structure of our bones, and the way they are put together, which leads to my last point. (there is more information and discussion about this topic here if you are interested)

3. Body Proportions: Recently in my advanced teacher training, our instructor had us line up by height and stand with our arms by our sides. We then each had a turn to step out of the line and observe the students. It was incredibly interesting to look at two people who are relatively the same height and notice how differently their bodies are proportioned. So, lets think about Downward Facing Dog again. If you see the tutorial that I put up here, you may notice that I am generally proportionate in this pose. That is to say that my arms and upper body are the same length as my legs in this pose, so I look like an upside down "V". If someone has shorter arms they will not look like this and they won't experience this pose the same way I do as they likely feel a lot more weight in their hands in this pose. They certainly aren't doing anything wrong, but they may enjoy using props in their practice, such as blocks under their hands in Downward Dog, and their neighbour may not ever do this.  

Basically, we can only work with what we got! I am just fine with that for myself and with any students that I teach. We need to respect our limitations, and also respect our abilities, because at the end of the day, no matter what we look like, if we are practising yoga, our bodies are able to move and support us, and that is pretty great. 

If you want to sign up for the Your Best Yoga Beginner class Spring Session, there are only 4 spots left - Sign up before April 13th :) 

Yoga Pose: Triangle Video Tutorial

Triangle - Trikonasana - is a beautiful and challenging standing posture. It stretches and strengthens the legs - specifically the quads, hamstrings, and hips - strengthens the core, lengthens the spine and the sides of the waist, and opens the heart space. Keep reading to learn how to safely move in to this posture and how to modify it to fit your needs. Check out the video at the end for visual cues! 

Difficulty Level: Beginner - Intermediate

Step one: Beginning in tadasana, facing the long edge of your yoga mat, take a wide step bringing your feet about  a leg length apart or a little wider. Check to make sure the baby toe edge of the feet are parallel with the short edges of the mat. 

Step two: With an exhale, turn the right toes out 90 degrees. Make sure that you are turning the leg from the top of the thigh so that the right knee is pointing the same direction as the toes. If it is comfortable in your body, you may try turning the left toes in slightly. 

Step three: With an inhale, bring the arms up to shoulder height. Extend through the finger tips so the arms stay long and strong!

Step four: With an exhale, side bend from the right hip crease, keeping both legs straight if possible. As you side bend, reach forward through the right arm, finding the length through the spine and the side body. 

Step five: Bring the right arm down either to the block behind the right calf, or in front of the right shin (see video for details), stretching the left arm straight up. 

Step six: Breathe and Stretch

Continue lengthening the spine by reaching through the crown of the head. 

Continue grounding through the feet and legs. 

Lift the left shoulder up and back, lifting the heart space so the chest opens. 

Try staying here for 5 deep breaths. 

Step seven: To come out, press into both feet, firming into the legs, lifting the upper body back to standing. Then release the arms, turn the right toes to face the same direction as the left, and heel toe the feet in. Give those legs a little shake out and move to the other side! 

Note for beginners: To help with stability in this pose, try it with the baby to edge of your left foot pressed into a wall. Also, if the block is too low for you to reach when on it's highest height, you can use a chair instead! 

Your Best Yoga Manifesto: Meet People where They're at

When I decided that I wanted to start my own Yoga program, it wasn't just because I wanted to teach more. It was because I wanted to create a space and program that I could infuse with my own thoughts and values about practising Yoga. I feel like my manifesto for the Your Best Yoga program touches on each of the values that I hope to bring to the program and I want to spend some time "breaking down" each line of it for better understanding. Read more about the first and second line of the Manifesto here and here! You'll notice I have skipped the third line of the Manifesto - Just do your best - as I feel I have covered that in many a blog post already :) 

My professional background is in Social Services. I have worked closely with people from all walks of life for the past 8 years, forming relationships and building rapport with complete strangers, asking them to take my help. The number one, most important rule that I would share about working successfully with people is meeting them where they are at. So what does that look like? If where you are at is not being able to touch your toes, that is where I will meet you and we won't be starting classes with deep forward folds. If  where you are at is having a sore back, then that is where I will meet you, and I will provide you with cautionary notes and modifications to ensure you won't do more harm to your back as we move through the practice. I am not coming in to our meeting with expectations of my own, you are the one leading. I am not coming to teach a class based on my needs, I am coming to teach a class that meets the needs of the participants. So this line of the manifesto, is sort of like my pledge to you, future student. I will meet you where you are at, no matter where that is, and then we will move forward  together. 

Sign up today for the Your Best Yoga Beginner class (only 8 spots left!) or one of the Slow Flow Classes - All Classes start February 24th :)