Standing Poses

They are included in many poses and they help to align your feet and body. This type of yoga position is especially useful in improving your posture. Standing poses strengthen your legs while simultaneously increasing flexibility in your legs and hips. They add to mobility of your neck and shoulders and they increase flexibility in your pelvis and lower back. One of most basic standing poses is Mountain Pose.

Seated Poses

These poses help increase flexibility in your hips and lower back, while also strengthening your back. They add suppleness to your spine and elasticity to your hips, knees, ankle and groin. They also encourage deeper breathing, which contributes to you feeling calm and peaceful.

Forward Bends

This type of yoga position helps stretch your lower back and hamstrings. Forward bends also release tension in your back, neck, shoulders, and increase flexibility in your spine. They often promote a sense of calmness. I find forward bends particularly challenging since I have a considerable amount of stiffness in my neck due to an old gymnastics injury. This is type of yoga position where I often use a prop such as a strap or block.

Back Bends

They open your chest, rib cage, and hips. They strengthen your arms and shoulders, while simultaneously increasing flexibility in your shoulders. They help relieve tension from front of your body and hips and they also increase spinal stability. You should always do back bends as a complement to forward bends in order to maintain balance in your body.

Balance

B.K.S. Iyengar introduced yoga prop as a means of supporting proper alignment of joints and bones during postures. Maintaining proper alignment is key to reducing possibility of injury and to allowing you to get deeper into poses. Props are especially useful for beginners, for people who do not have a great deal of flexibility, for those who are recovering from injuries, and for those with special physical needs.

Typical Yoga Props

Yoga Block – I use this yoga prop often, especially when I am doing a Forward Bend and my hamstrings are not yet flexible enough to allow me to comfortably touch my hands to floor. Yoga blocks are a great aid to help you maintain proper alignment in challenging poses. You can stack several blocks to gain height or use them to support you in certain poses.

Yoga Strap – Another yoga prop that I use often is a strap. Straps can help you reach limbs such as feet and hands during certain postures where you have limited flexibility. They help you maintain proper alignment and help you lengthen your body. I always use a strap for one of my favorite poses – Cow Pose – because I am not yet able to grasp my hands behind my back. The use of strap allows my arms to be comfortable so I can fully relax forward in pose.