Yoga with Props: Making Your Practice Accessible
Props aren't just for beginners; they are tools to help you find stability, safety, and deeper alignment. Let's make your practice comfortable, starting right where you are.
This is our wall of props at the studio. I see these not as crutches, but as tools for exploration, support, and deeper stretching in every yoga asana.
Using a yoga strap is a great way to gently open the quadriceps and shoulders in a low lunge. Props help us work with our body's unique needs.
Here I am using a strap and pillow to support a bridge pose. This modification helps in engaging the right muscles while keeping the neck and shoulders relaxed.
A yoga block provides stability and height in this low lunge variation, allowing for a deeper and safer stretch. It's about taking time and using grace.
This video shows how a block can be used to add challenge and build strength in an arm balance pose, helping to elevate the practice.
Using a block under the foot and the wall for support in this lunge variation helps to open the hips and lengthen the spine safely.
A yoga strap can be a great friend in balancing poses. It helps create stability and allows you to focus on alignment and breath.
This mobility exercise uses a block to ensure proper alignment and engagement while moving between a wide-legged stretch and plank pose.
This mobility routine for the hips uses a block to guide the movement, ensuring you get a safe and effective stretch.
A simple sequence using blocks to support the knees and back, helping to improve mobility and flexibility in the hips and spine.
About Yoga with Props: Making Yoga Accessible
Using blocks or straps is not a shortcut; it is a way to honor your body’s unique needs today. Whether it is a block under your hand in Trikonasana or a strap to help open your shoulders, these tools let you bypass frustration and actually feel the pose instead of forcing it.
Often, we think yoga is about forcing our body into a 'perfect' shape. I see it differently. Props—like the high-density blocks, wooden bricks, heavy metal backless chairs, and Kurunta rope walls we use in my Hauz Khas studio—are essential extensions of your practice. They provide the support needed to hold a pose longer, allowing your nervous system to relax and your muscles to release tension.
When you use a prop, you are not 'cheating.' You are creating space for breath. If you are struggling with a slip disc or back pain, a chair or a wall-mounted rope station can provide the traction and stability you need to move safely. In my classes, we use these tools to build core strength and glute engagement without compromising your alignment.
Whether you are working on hip mobility with a block or using a strap to safely deepen a lunge, the goal is always the same: finding ease in effort. Yoga should not leave you feeling strained or discouraged. It should leave you feeling connected and balanced. If you are hesitant to start because you think you are not 'flexible enough,' these tools are exactly why you should get on the mat. You do not change your body to fit the pose; we adapt the pose to fit your body.
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