Essential Yoga Props for Every Yoga Practice

Yoga props can help keep you safe and stable during classes or your own at-home practice. For newbies, they’re instrumental in getting started and feeling comfortable. But even if you’ve been doing yoga for years, they can also help you achieve even harder challenges as you continue to progress.

Yoga specialist and retired pediatrician Johanna Goldfarb, MD, E-RYT 200, explains which props to keep on hand and how they can help anyone on the mat.

Why use yoga props?

Yoga props come in all shapes and sizes. They’re designed to help:

• Maintain good posture
• Improve stability and balance
• Deepen your stretches
• Reduce the risk of injury
• Fine-tune your alignment and positioning

Even if you’re a seasoned practitioner, using yoga props can help you explore new challenges and overcome obstacles in your routine.

“The purpose of props is to make the practice of yoga available to everyone, no matter their present level of flexibility,” says Dr. Goldfarb. “As a yoga instructor, my mission is to make the asanas, or poses, accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of their starting level.”

The types of yoga props you’ll use might change depending on the kinds of yoga you’re doing. For example, blocks and straps are universal go-tos, while restorative yoga tends to use blankets and bolsters more often than other types of yoga. Dr. Goldfarb breaks down how (and when) each type of yoga prop can be most helpful.

Essential yoga props for all levels

A yoga practice can help increase your strength, flexibility and balance (and can even be spiritual for some). Props can help you deepen your practice. And they can make poses more accessible to a wider group of people, at any age or stage. Whether you’re starting out for the first time, or you’re a seasoned practitioner, these yoga props are often beneficial.

Mats

Yoga mats are so essential that people often don’t think of them as a prop, but they’re instrumental to every practice. Mats provide a non-slip surface to reduce the risk of slipping or falling while you’re moving from one yoga pose to the next. These mats are often made with cushioning that you can grip or sink into as you sit, stand or bend.

“You may want to step off your mat in balancing poses, as they add challenge to the pose, or stay on the mat and use the added challenge to balance,” notes Dr. Goldfarb.

Yoga mats are extremely helpful for poses like downward dog, where it’s key to avoid slipping.

Blocks

Yoga blocks are typically made of foam, rubber cork or wood. You may use them to:

• Shorten the distance between your hands and the mat when you’re in a standing or bending pose, like triangle pose or balancing half-moon pose
• Improve your alignment and avoid putting your back at risk as you bend forward
• Provide support under your head and neck when you’re lying down
• Engage or strengthen your muscles by holding them between your thighs during bridge pose or your feet during boat pose
• Add additional comfort and support if you’re not able to come all the way down to the floor for child’s pose

“Instead of straining to reach the floor or struggling to stay in alignment, you can use a yoga block to train your muscles or provide stable support,” says Dr. Goldfarb. “Over time, as your flexibility and strength increase, you may want to use shorter blocks or turn them on their side.”

Straps

Yoga straps make stretching more accessible by lengthening your reach, which can also help relieve muscle tension. They act as an extension of your limbs when you’re holding a pose, which can be especially helpful if you have a limited range of motion because of stiffness.

Consider, for example, a seated forward fold. With a yoga strap around the balls of your feet and the ends of the strap in each of your hands, you’re able to keep your spine and shoulders aligned. There’s no need to force yourself to bend forward; you just breathe deeply and sit as tall as you can. Even sitting up straight, you can stretch the muscles of your legs by pulling on the strap with both hands.

“A strap can make this move much more effective for people with tight hamstring muscles,” illustrates Dr. Goldfarb. “Without the strap, it’s possible to reach forward, but it may be at the expense of curving your back in an unsafe way. The strap allows us to maintain a straight back with shoulders relaxed and down, not curving forward. The strap makes the pose much easier and effective.”

Yoga straps are usually made of materials like hemp, cotton or nylon and come in a variety of lengths, usually six- to 10-feet long.

Yoga props for restorative and advanced practices

Yin yoga and restorative yoga are sometimes considered advanced practices because they require persistent mental focus to hold poses for longer periods of time. Cushions and bolsters can increase the comfort of poses, making them more comfortable to hold for longer periods.

Blankets

Blankets are great for providing warmth if you’re lying down during a restorative or meditative practice. They can also provide additional support when they’re folded under your:

• Knees
• Wrists
• Hips
• Butt
• Back (allowing your chest to open)

“Blankets can provide extra cushioning when you’re kneeling or on all fours, or you can sit on them to support the hips,” says Dr. Goldfarb. “Blankets can make sitting in cross-legged poses easier for some people.”

Bolsters and pillows

Bolsters can be used as a softer alternative to yoga blocks in a variety of ways:

• Seated or reclined poses: Sitting on a bolster helps support your hips in poses like hero’s pose or malasana (yogi squat).
• Savasana (final resting pose): A bolster under your knees helps create space in your lower back. This allows your body to relax more and can provide relief from lower back pain for some.
• Heart-opening poses: In poses like a supported restorative backbend, lying back on a bolster instead of lying flat on the floor allows your chest, shoulders and abdomen to open while your head, neck and spine are fully supported.

Other yoga props

If you’re taking a yoga class, you’ll likely have access to several yoga props. But if you’re at home or don’t have access to props, try these other substitutions:

• A rolled-up towel can sub in for yoga blankets to provide more support.
• Neckties or T-shirts are all helpful alternatives to yoga straps.
• A large stack of heavy books or a rolled blanket can substitute for yoga blocks.

You might need a prop today, but find that a month from now, you no longer need it. Or you might have go-to props for every practice. Your comfort and stability matter most, even as you continue to progress — so do what works best for you. Sometimes, using a prop increases your enjoyment of the pose.

“A prop can become optional, or you may continue to use it if it fits your practice,” says Dr. Goldfarb. “Either way, props can make your practice more satisfying by helping to promote the correct alignment and improving your flexibility so you can accomplish your personal goals.”