Deepen Your Practice: 5 Poses With A Yoga Strap

November 3, 2019

Written by Gemma Pearce

Deepen Your Practice: 5 Poses With A Yoga Strap

November 3, 2019

Written by Gemma Pearce

A tool of great versatility, the humble yoga strap can be used so many ways. If you're starting out, a yoga strap can make seemingly impossible asanas become a little more realistic, and prevent you from injuring yourself. If you're more advanced, a yoga strap can help to deepen your practice. Yoga straps also make a great training tool, helping to reinforce positions or give you subtle cues that let you know if you're on the right track.

Here are a few common uses for yoga straps:

To increase and facilitate stretches
In binds, when you can't manage touch your hands
In seated poses, to encourage length in the spine
In balancing poses, hooked around the foot
To train for arm balances, and reinforce the correct distance between elbows

In this post, we'll look at five poses that you can try with a yoga strap, and give you some tips and videos showing how to get into them. In every pose we use the yoga strap that comes with your Ajna Wellbeing Organic Jute Yoga Mat. This strap is perfect, as it doubles as a yoga mat carrier, so when you're finished you can roll your mat up and sling it over your shoulder!

Ajna Wellbeing yoga mats come with a cotton strap that double as a yoga strap

Marichi’s Pose (or Sage’s Pose)

For the first pose we chose a twist, because twists are really beneficial for helping with digestion. If you’ve over-indulged a little, this could be just what your body needs.

Using a strap in this pose really helps to get extra rotation and length in the spine!

TOP TIPS:

1. Keep reaching through your extended leg as you twist.

2. Try to lengthen through your spine, right from the base to the crown of your head.

3. Keep your weight equally distributed between your sit bones.

4. Use your strap to deepen the rotation in your spine, as well as to broaden your chest.

One Legged King Pigeon

Ajna yoga straps allow you to perform advanced poses with ease

This pose helps to open pretty much every part of your body- chest, hips, shoulders, back. For this reason it can be difficult to get into if you lack flextbitiy in any of these areas. That’s where the strap comes in! On the flip side, if this pose is easy for you, you can use the strap to deepen the pose and make it more challenging.

Just remember not to push yourself too hard, it is a challenging pose!

Tip: You can always use a block under the hip of your front leg if it’s more comfortable for you!

TOP TIPS:

1. Keep your lower abs switched on to avoid sinking into the lower back. Instead, try to create space between the vertebrae.

2. Square off your hips as much as possible.

3. You can gradually walk your hands along the strap until they reach your foot

Compass pose

This poses benefits are multi faceted. You’ll definitely stretch out your hamstrings, adductors, and side body, as well as activate your core to stabilise you, but perhaps one of the biggest benefits is the that of finding focus and acceptance. You’ll need both of those in Compass pose.

Everybody and every body is different, so take it in stages and only go as you can comfortably. With the help of your strap you’ll be able to go a bit further everyday.

TOP TIPS:

1. Don’t sacrifice length in the spine for height of leg.

2. Activate your core from the beginning to stabilise you.

3. Stretch out your hamstrings, adductors, and side body before attempting this!

Bow Pose

Bow pose massages your internal organs, making it very beneficial for facilitating digestion. It’s also known to be a very energising pose, as well as great stress reliever.

You’ll likely feel your entire back being activated in Bow Pose, and your front body- abdomen, chest, and shoulders being stretched.

This pose is quite advanced, so remember to take it at your own pace. Sometimes it’s just good to see what’s possible.

TOP TIP:

Try bow pose if your feeling stressed out. This pose massages your adrenal glands, which in turn helps to reduce stress and anxiety!

Bird of Paradise

This pose is the ultimate embodiment of grace, strength, flexibility, and focus. Even if you only get half way into this pose, you’ll be improving your stability and balance.

Using your strap will allow you to lengthen through your spine regardless of how high you can get your leg.

TOP TIP:

Make energy your best friend! Reach out equally though the crown of your head, down through the floor of your standing leg (imagine you have roots growing like a tree), and out and beyond the tips of your toes on your lifted leg. This use of opposition energy will help to stabilise you.