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Beginner yoga students often find it difficult to get into certain poses. To support you in your practice, you can use a “yoga prop.” Yoga props are support tools which help you get into and stay longer in a certain pose. They are also useful for students who may have tight muscles or recovering from illness

Even more experienced yogis Here are some of the more common props or tools used in yoga.

1. Yoga Mat

Although not technically seen as a yoga prop, a good quality yoga mat is essential. Yoga mats come in a variety of sizes, styles and colours. Yoga mats can be made from organic, natural fibres which have been made with little impact on the environment, to man-made plastic mats. What ever style, type of mat you use, please make sure, it has a non-slip surface and is padded.

2. Yoga Relaxation Eyebags

Yoga eyebags can be made infused with lavender to promote a deeper relaxation. You simply place them over your eyes to block out light when you are laying down in relaxation pose.

3. Yoga Blocks

If you have tight hamstrings or a stiff back, you may find it uncomfortable to sit on the mat. To help ease and support you can sit on a block. This helps to lift the pelvis up and lengthen and support the back which makes it easier for you to sit cross-legged on the mat.

4. Strap

Straps are very useful to help you “stretch that extra bit more” in a challenging pose, for example in the seated forward bend you can place a strap around the soles of your feet and hold the strap as you stretch forward.

5. Sandbag

This is an interesting prop to use. You place a sandbag on parts of the body, this helps to deepen your posture.

6. A Chair

Absolutely essential for students who are very inflexible, maybe overweight, disabled or elderly people who are exercising for the first time. Seated yoga enables you to do the same pose as the rest of your class, participate at your own level and still be part of a regular class example, you can do seated cobra whilst the rest of the class does the full floor yoga pose.

If you feel too old, stiff or disabled in some way, try to use a yoga prop. it will give you the extra support and assistance you may need to deepen your yoga practice.

Maybe your doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or best friend told you Yoga would be good for you. You have heard so much about Yoga; it seems that Yoga is a “cure” for almost anything. The more you hear, the more confusing it is to understand what Yoga is all about.

Should you go out and buy a Yoga book? What would be the best Yoga book to buy? If you visit the local book store, you see hundreds of Yoga books, CD’s, DVD’s, card decks, and kits. Should you buy a copy of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali or buy one of the “for dummies” Yoga books?

Below is an overview of Yoga, which may help you decide your path of Yogic study. There is no right or wrong path of Yoga study, but be selective when you choose a Yoga teacher, Yoga book, or Yoga class..

You should first realize that there are many styles of Yoga. There are nine major styles of Yoga; many more styles exist, as well as many sub-styles. The nine major styles of Yoga are Bhakti, Hatha, Jnana, Karma, Kundalini, Mantra, Raja, Tantra, and Yantra Yoga. Each style emphasizes unity of body, mind, and spirit.

The literal meaning of Yoga is “union” or “unity.” If we can unify the body, mind, and spirit in harmony, we can achieve tranquility. One of the main purposes of Yoga is tranquility through improved health due to a holistic approach to life.

India is the birth place of Yoga. There are many written works about Yoga, but the origin of Yoga dates back thousands of years. Yoga is the “mother” of most of the world’s health maintenance systems. Asian martial arts, with an origin from the Shaolin temple, and Pilates, can trace their ancestry back to Yoga.

The “higher forms of Yoga” are said to be Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, and Raja Yoga. Each of these four styles is a complex subject, within themselves, and I cannot do them justice by a summarization.

Hatha Yoga sub-styles are the most prolific outside of India. Most new Yoga practitioners will learn a Hatha Yoga sub-style first. Hatha Yoga, and its many sub-styles, primarily emphasize physical health, which will likely result in improved mental health. Most Hatha Yoga classes, outside of India, do not approach spiritual health.

Nevertheless, Hatha Yoga is seen by fundamentalists as an “export of Hinduism.” In some rare instances, this may be true, but most Hatha Yoga teachers are content to teach improved health for body and mind.

Therefore, when you choose a book, or local Yoga teacher, be aware that the Yoga teacher or Guru is a guide – but you have a right to know which direction you are being guided to. The Yoga practitioner learns to expand his or her mind and make independent decisions “along the way.”

Yoga is non-threatening to religion. If a Yoga instructor teaches intolerance, of any kind, that is not Yoga. Unity is not sectarianism. We have to learn to appreciate diversity, and we should never tolerate prejudice. Prejudice and intolerance are often the cause of crime and wars.

On the “Grand Scale,” the goal of Yoga is world peace through unity.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications