All You Can Do With The Strap

We don't use props because we are weak, but because we are wise. A yoga strap is a simple yet powerful prop that can help make poses more accessible, comfortable, and effective. By extending your reach and supporting proper alignment, straps allow you to explore postures with greater ease while reducing unnecessary strain. Whether you're working on flexibility, stability, or body awareness, a yoga strap can help you move mindfully, deepen your practice, and find more space in your poses regardless of your experience level. Grab your strap!

Transcript

Hey everyone, My name is Wendy. This is our third video, I believe. And. . . You know I probably should do this when I'm postnatal but I just couldn't wait to show you a few tips you can do with a strap. For this video you will need a strap. If you don't have a strap find something that's similar Could be a belt, Could be maybe a sarong. Or a very large g-string or something that you have in your wardrobe. So here's what I prepared earlier. We have a strap here. Make sure it is. Open. And I've got a second one just in case you feel a little bit restricted with, For example, The hamstrings, So you can double it to have even more length. Don't worry about the blocks or the bolster I'm just using them because I'm a bit lazy but you don't have to do it. Wait, Before we do this, Drop it. Have your hands down onto your lap. And maybe close your eyes or at least half close them. Just take a moment to be fully, Fully present in your body. I like to use the word or the words. Undivided attention to the Self. See if you can gather all of that attention and send it right back to you. Deep inside, Hard body. Mind and now we hear that all the time. And let the breath speak on your behalf let the breath be the primary focus so that everything else can just fade away in the background. Maybe think and feel the words. Lighter mind. Heavy your body. An open heart. Lie to mind. Heavier body. And an open heart. If it helps you to feel even more centered, You may take your hands to the center, Palms touch and your thumbs nestle into the sternum. Wherever you practice right now. Feel into your environment whether you are between walls or like here, Outdoor. Bowing your head slightly to the heart. Even though you remain tall and spacious in your posture, Even though you have this confidence in your posture, You want to also feel the humility, The sensitivity of your presence, As you bow the mind over. Towards the bus of the heart. Together we'll take a big big breath in from the bottom to the top you inflate the upper body and open the mouth, Exhale. Invite your thumbs to touch the third eye. Namaste. A warm welcome to you. This is Kenzo. 39 weeks is a big, Big baby now. And uh. . . I might actually cover up that. So you don't have to look at the big bump and the veins. All right, So. We'll begin by having a strap. To the top of the left shoulder. And imagine this is a very expensive French handbag. And you're about to take the subway. I don't know if you've been to Paris but it can be a little bit intense at times and they absolutely love the tourists and the money. So you want to keep that handbag really close to your body. So we're going to join the two sides of the strap together. Using your right hand so make sure you do the same side as me so that it's clear with the left and right side the right hand is going to just press down here trying to relax the left shoulder And then swap hand, The left hand is going to hold onto the two sides of the straps. You can return your right hand down onto the lap. Nothing else to do, Just take a moment to feel the shoulders are levelled. When you're ready, The only job you need to do is to bring the right ear down to the right shoulder. And that's it for now. Just feel the head heavier over the right shoulder. Pay attention that the left shoulder isn't lifting, Keep it nice and low, Creating lots of space from the left earlobe all the way to the left shoulder. Bailu, You wanna come and say hi? Come here baby. Can you come and say hi? Good girl, That's my love. Oh, It was Mellow. And once you have the right ear down to the right shoulder, You can stay here. Or maybe you find some tiny motions. Side to side. Maybe up and down. Whatever you do make sure it is Slow. Mindful. The best bit, I think, Is when you bring your chin towards the right armpit. And then you lean your head back slightly. So it's a very small, Subtle motion. That provide a lot of sensations though and it's up to you about how receptive, How sensitive you allow yourself to be in the art of stretching, Not just the skin. But the muscles, The joints, The fascia. All beneath the skin from the skin to the bones really feeling to What's happening? What's taking place? Then to come out, It's best if you use your right hand on the right side of the head. So you don't use any muscles to push the head back on top of the spine. Release your two hands onto the lap, Just take a moment, Don't worry about the strap just yet, Just take a moment to feel any difference between left and right side of the neck. So maybe the left side feels a little bit more how to say, Maybe more vibrant, More alive. More warm, More young as well. We'll take it to the other side. I encourage you to change the cross of the legs so we work with evenness between left and right side of the body. So take that expensive French bag, Let's place it over the right shoulder now. And make sure you have the same lines on both sides. The right hand will hold on to the two sides of the strap. So nice and tight, Nice and close to the body. Not sure if you can hear the birds here. The birds of Australia. They're loud, Very loud. So keep that right shoulder nice and low, As low as the left. They're leveled. Once it's nice and tight here, You can bring left ear to left shoulder without lifting the right shoulder. Keeping that tension of the strap with the right hand. Keeping the right arm close to the body. Left arm does absolutely nothing, You can relax it. And just feel the weight of the brain Suffices. Too. Give you a sense of space and ease. On the right side. Slow, Steady breath. And your lateral flexion. It doesn't have to be the whole spine. It could just be the cervical spine. Laterally bending. If and when you want more and start to include more movement. Remember we start from left to right. Exploring. Maybe we lift it up and down. Relax the jaw as you move the neck. Take a moment to explore. How much you can move but how much you get to feel. Into the neck, The bridge from heart to head. It needs to be clear of tensions. So that we have really clear communication from the heart directly to the head. Once you feel you've spent the same amount of time here. We can draw the chin towards the left armpit. Maybe have a little sniff? There's always an armpit that smells more than the other one. I think mine is the left one. It doesn't smell bad, It just smells more. And then we may lean the head slightly back. Now don't decapitate your head, Just enough traction backward. Ah, That felt so good. With your left hand, You're going to return your head where it belongs. On top of the spine. Release your two hands flat onto your lap. Do nothing. Maybe close your eyes. Feel a little bit more neutral head directly on top of the spine on top of the pelvis really bathe in this feeling of after-effects. I hope you feel it too, A little bit more ease. All around the neck now from shoulders to ears. From heart to head. And when you're ready to open up your eyes, Do so. Let's grab the strap. Now we're in for a little bit more fun now. So we're going to fold the strap in half. And then you have your hands like so, So the palms facing forward I like to start with a bit of this I don't know why I find it so. . . It's giving you a bit of satisfaction to feel how strong you can be and the sound as well. Wait, Can you hear it? Now we'll take a side bend, So we'll go on a side bend to the left hand side, Keep the right sit bone heavy onto the balsa and your gaze could be down if the neck is a bit fragile, The neck could be directly forward. If you feel good, Maybe take the gaze up at the top hand. And feel the side stretch from the right hip all the way to the right pinky finger. All the way to the right earlobe. Now either you stay here or we may introduce a twist as well. So from your lateral flexion, Can you turn your torso to face towards the floor on the left hand side? So roll the right shoulder down. And you can work with opening the chest, Maybe even bending through the right elbow looking back. And then again closing into your rotation facing the left side lengthening your two arms as you take your side bend bending the top elbow looking over the right elbow And do one more into your twist. Maybe a little further, Maybe your hands are leveled. And final side stretch. Use your next inhale into the right side of the lungs. So it acts like a bit of a parachute effect. Bring you back with more ease. Take a little break in between sides so you actually feel what you've done. I feel it. Do you feel it? It's like. . . It's like you just earned an extra organ on the right side or something. It's quite nice. Now we take our arms forward like a zombie, And then all the way back up. Ah, I forgot, Change across of the legs again. So prepare here, Lengthen a little bit more. I like to think of a re-dance, Side to side, Getting more height. And then we'll take our side bend to the right. Try to keep your arms lengthened. And at the same time feel the curve all along the left hand side. Like you created an arch on the left. Try not to collapse into flexibility you really feel about. Lengthening, Strengthening, Before you even start. Dive into your flexibility. Once you've got the length here, We can turn to face the right side adding a bit of a twist. Keep breathing as you twist, Don't stop. Come back into your side bend, Let's bend the left elbow looking back And then back into your twist and turn and again into your side bend each time maybe you find an extra centimeter somewhere somehow and the left arm And finish with your last twist. A little bit more level with the hands if you can Side bending, Bring the breath into the left side of the lungs, Left rib cage. Bring your body back to center. And strap drop ah hands drop Ah, That feels good. We'll do same, Same but different. Have your hands again on the strap. And we're going to do just twisting side to side. Now I'm sure you're going to do a much better twist than I will unless you also expect. A sole otherwise as you exhale twist over to the left hand side take the gaze as far back as you can so the body can follow and then twist and turn over to the right looking behind you as well Center. Exhale, Lift. Inhale, Center. XR right. Inhale center. If it works, A little faster. Side to side. Now hopefully you had a meal a while ago. Otherwise your meal will come onto your mat. Make sure you don't throw up, Because you can go a lot faster. Whee! You can go as fast as you wish, As long as you're mindful. Woo! And then you start to slow it down until you come back to stillness. I mean, Nice, I'm saying nice. I can't see you, But I'm sure you're doing a good job. Unless you're just watching me eating your popcorn right now. Let's open the strap nice and wide now. So definitely wider than you had it before and definitely wider than your own shoulders. I'm sure you've seen this one before. It's very popular in yoga. We'll take the strap nice and tight again over the head. Maintain a neutral spine, Don't exaggerate the back bend and then we take the strap back behind us keeping our arms lengthen all the way down. Again, We go up and we go forward. Now either you continue here. . . If you want more you add a backbend so it could just be the gaze up maybe you open up your heart your throat you lift Ah. And as you exhale, Bring it back forward, Downward, Crunch a little bit more, Tiny little ball, Flexing forward. Inhaling strap goes forward, Upward, Backward, Leaning backward, Full inhale. And full exhale as you do the opposite. Continue for three more rounds, Take your time. I'm just doing a fancy bit of tea right now. Oh, This is absolutely disgusting. Guess what I'm drinking? The pregnancy breastfeeding tea called raspberry leaf tea. Tea? It's a. . . It's missing something. Okay, You done yet? All right, Let's say you're done. So you've done everything. Now, We could do also a bit of flossing. So the strap is open. Actually no, I changed my mind. Let's close it in half again. And there's not really any rules, Just think about flossing the shoulders the same way you would be flossing your teeth. So access a little bit more. Areas, All around the shoulders. Whee! Don't overthink it, Just feel into the motions. Keep breathing as you move. Oof. And lift up. Maybe you take the strap more open again. Go to where you don't want to go go to where you don't want to stay and stay there so really keep that tension squeeze the shoulder blades back together feel like you want to break your strap in half push push out out out out squeeze the shoulder blades back together open the heart and release everything. Hopefully you should feel like you've got 21 years old shoulders, Hopefully. Okay, I wanted to show you a couple more little exercises you could do with a strap. This one is going to be you can actually work without any props underneath, Extending the right leg out to the side. So just treat this like a Janushirshasana. Except instead of folding directly over the right leg we're going to fold sideways over the right leg so it works best if you have about your two fists distance apart between the foot and the thigh. So leave a bit of room between foot and thigh. Once you have this, You can. . . I like to kind of fish. I'm gonna go fishing my foot No? Try again? Almost okay, So you fish your foot and you have it below the ball of the foot So the arch of the foot here. Join the two straps together, Left hand is going to hold on to the two straps like this. Now the right arm is going to go inside the right leg and think about pressing against the right leg pointing the left elbow up to the Literally the sky now. And push back. So the strap is giving you so much tension to work with. It's actually helping you to get deeper into your side bend. So push the right leg with the right arm, Lift the left elbow, Take the gaze up if that works, Let yourself fall down. But at the same time, Think about lifting up with the left elbow, Lifting up and back. If you have the space right hand may even come onto the left knee and you find that you help yourself twist even deeper here. Slowly, Slowly we'll roll ourselves forward and down between the two knees, Hands on the floor, Let go of the straps. Take a moment to feel the effects. Press into the floor. Come back up, Grab the strap. Maybe use the right hand to bend the right knee. And swap side, As easy as 1-2-3. Again, Two feet distance apart between the foot and the thigh. We have the strap here around the left foot. Join the two sides together, Right arm is holding onto the strap, Left arm goes inside the left leg. Prepare, Press against the leg, Turn belly, Ribs, Chest skywards. Point your right elbow up, Maybe the gaze goes up. Never expect the same on the other side, It's always a bit of a surprise surprise! And just start to find somewhere between ease and effort, Right in between ease and effort. So maybe the jaw can afford to relax, The tongue. Maybe you move it around. But the rest of the body, It really is in action. Even though you're in stillness, There's action and progress inside you. Turn and twist and breathe and feel. Take about two more breaths. If you did before, Your left hand goes onto the right knee, Left arm is long, Right arm is bent. We let ourselves drape down between our knees. Torso is soft, Hands down, Take a moment to feel. All right, I've got two more to show you actually. I'll give you one extra for free. Now this one we need to stand up. Yes, I know, I know. Okay, Let's do it together. Standing up. Sigh All right, So we'll have the right foot on top of the strap. Again, You want to have the ball of the foot there. The same length on both sides. We're going to practice Natarajasana with the strap, Which is more accessible for most people. We'll fold the strap in half so it's like a cross or like a v-shape now. Right foot step step forward if I do it with you it looks like this and then we bend into the knees step the left foot through and forward. Then turn the palms to the sides. Bend into the right knee more. And then imagine this is a backpack, So I'm having my strap over my shoulders. And now, Hopefully, You can also feel a quadriceps stretch as you draw your two knees closer towards each other. So I'm trying not to backbend, It's not densest pose just yet. We just want to feel into the lengthening of the right thigh and the rest of the body too, Of course. Take a moment to feel the stretch. If there's more on you. Can you now point your elbows forward? And upward. Now, I may not go as far as you will, But I'm sure you're gonna do really good. Join the two sides of the strap together. And then maybe now we'll find the interspersed so we're going to start to lean forward without collapsing the heart Really the only cue I use for dancers pose is right knee. Back and up. In this very order back and up whoa stay there I fell but don't fall And if you can, Start to walk your hands even closer towards the right foot. So ideally, Maybe, You can start reaching for your right foot with your two hands. When you had enough, Try to come out the same way you came in. So we come out in stages, Slowly, Slowly, Slowly. Right foot down, Strap of the right foot. Take a moment in Tadasana. Doing as little as you can to feel as much as you want. And if you do have two feet, We'll now place the left foot on top of the strap. So again, The same length on both sides. Let's turn this way now. We fold the strap in half. Ta-da! Bending to the knees, I'm stepping my right foot forward. Into the V shape, Propelling yourself forward. Bending the back knee, Bending through the elbows, Carry your backpack here over your shoulders trying to have your two knees close. Feeling into the stretch of the left leg first. Stay stable on the right foot. Steady gaze forward. Notice how it feels on that side. And if there's more in you again, Keep lifting your elbows up to the sky. Creating your back bend as you bring the left knee Backing up. Shares opens up. Maybe join the two sides of the strap together. Maybe you walk your hands closer to the left foot. Trying to hold the shape. Notice the amount of strength and stretch together. Hand in hand. And in slow motion we release. Lengthening the arms, Lengthening the leg, Releasing the strap. Chadasana. Palms face forward. Try not to fix anything. Just be here now. All right now oh I just had another one I really wanted to give you well let's see how we go with time okay so next one It's gonna be. . . Um, You're going to be on your back. Now I'm going to use all my props, But you don't have to do what I'm doing. Only if you want to. As we come down onto our back, We're going to do half hammock or full hammock. So the first one is to lay down. Then we're going to wrap the strap around the right foot. Now I'm going to take it aside because there's a baby in my way. But hopefully you have more space. Hold onto the straps of the two sides of the strap with the right hand. I like to bend my left knee out to the side to give me a bit of counterbalance. Otherwise, If the left leg is straight here, It works too, But I like this one. You do whatever you wish. And then we take the strap maybe out to the side as we take the head to the left so we experience a bit of a twist. And you can go side to side, Maybe you swap your hands. Bit more of a closed belly twist. Eventually what we want to try is to create a loop here with a strap. So loop it around. And then we have this going on. Now make sure the buckle is somewhere between the foot and the head. Not too close to the foot so you don't take your skin off. Not too close to your hair so that you don't become bald. You make sure you keep your hair. Bend your knee, Maybe take the strap behind the head. Oh ho ho ho! And then the head should feel safe. It's off the floor, It's off the bolster. You can stay here. Maybe you rock from side to side. I like to move my head a little bit side to side as well. So nice. And then you can spend as long as you wish here. If you want to pause the video and stay, Make it a yin shape, Stay here for three minutes on each leg. I'm gonna go straight to the other side but you do whatever you wish ok? So we bend the knee, We remove the strap from the head first. Than from the foot. Take a moment here, Knees point up, Maybe feet wide, Knees knocking, Hands can come onto the belly. Move on to the second side, We have the strap around the left foot. And you can start here again by holding onto the strap. With the left hand bending the right knee out and we'll take our open hip maybe turning the head to the right Get ready to change side. We take right hand to the strap. And close belly twist. Oops, Sorry plant. And then back to center. Now you can stay here, Remember? Otherwise the strap will go behind your head, So bend the knee. To help. Coming to this shape. And then we find an extension. The knee can be as bent as you wish. Don't forget, You have enough stretch here already. Otherwise just check with your head if it's safe, If it's off the floor. Maybe we take some side to side motions. Now the full hammock posture, I won't be able to show you. But just to give you an idea the right foot is going to join the strap so you are going to have your 2 feet inside the strap two legs long, Two legs are together. Once you have this if you want more you'd send your arms in between the strap like this and this is probably the best posture ever. After shavasana and child's pose of course. When you have the feet in the strap, The legs together, Your arms will just could plonk behind your head here. And you can even add a little swaying motion side to side. So it should feel like you are actually in a hammock. Then same as you did before, You bend the left knee, Remove the strap from the head first. Than from the foot. And well, First of all, Take a moment here. Now I'll show you the next two, The last two quite quickly, But of course you can pause my video. You're going to come back to sit here and come to Baddha Konasana with the strap. So you get into the strap like a little party trick. It goes in your lower back and then this end goes around your feet. As you recline it's going to feel a bit more intense so don't worry too much about making too short just yet just leave it nice and wide then recline if you want more then you can make it shorter. You pull onto the strap like you do a seatbelt on an airplane. Pull, Pull, Pull, Feet stay together, Knees wide, Hips open, Heart opened. This only works best when you have props behind you, I think. Opening the heart, Palms face up, Chest is open, Knees open. Breathe into this one it can also act like a yin shape if you want to be here for three minutes you can make it a butterfly instead of Barakanasana. If and when you had enough, The Shavasana I wanted to show you. Ease. Turning the other way around So you need some props now, Some elevation for the legs. And the strap is gonna go around your ankle so basically it looks like you're trying to kidnap yourself so you want to make it nice and tight and then get your legs on the bolster, Shovel yourself nice and close Then you lay all the way down. I'm here. Shavasana and it's really nice because the strap is keeping your legs together so the legs won't go flop out they're gonna stay on the bolster and just knowing that they're stable now you can really relax all the muscles into the legs and surrender to Shavasana. Depending when you do this class. In the knees, You roll to the side. Help yourself to come back up and finally you can remove the strap here. I'm sure after this video, I'll be thinking, Oh, I forgot to show them these ones and these ones, But I think that's enough for a video with strap. So coming back into your seat, Having your hands back together, The same way we started, We close our practice. Anjani mudra. Long spine, Spacious heart, Open mind. Coming back to this idea of a lighter mind, A heavier body and a more open heart. Take a big inhale through your nose, Fill up the air. Open mouth, Breathe out. Thank you so much guys for exploring the strap with us. Namaste.