Practice at Home
Yoga Props — Blocks, Straps, and Bolsters
Props are not training wheels. They bring the floor closer and let the pose fit the body, not the reverse.
A block raises the ground to meet your hand. A strap lengthens an arm that cannot yet reach a foot. A bolster holds the body so it can rest. Props make poses accessible, sustainable, and honest.
How to practise it
- Use a block under the hand in standing poses so the chest can open without straining.
- Loop a strap around the foot in seated forward folds to keep the spine long.
- Sit on a folded blanket in cross-legged poses to tilt the pelvis and free the low back.
- Rest over a bolster in restorative shapes so no muscle has to hold you.
- Choose the height that lets the breath stay easy — that is the correct amount of prop.
Common mistakes
- Refusing props out of pride. The advanced practitioner uses more props, not fewer.
- Using a prop that is the wrong height and fighting the pose anyway.
- Buying an elaborate kit before a mat and two blocks have earned their keep.
Props are generosity, not compromise.
In the studio, and at home
The prop shelf is one of the quiet luxuries of a good studio — a rack of blocks and bolsters that lets a room of different bodies all find the same pose in their own proportion.
Props are generosity, not compromise. They let the practice fit the body you have today, which is the only body the practice is for.
Questions we hear
Some poses, always; others, less over time. Either way, using a prop well is a sign of a mature practice, not an immature one.
Thick books for blocks, a belt or scarf for a strap, firm cushions for a bolster, and a folded blanket for almost everything else.