Strap Basics: Support, Strength & Release

This tutorial introduces the yoga strap as a simple yet powerful tool to support your practice. You’ll learn how to use it to activate the upper body, create space in the legs and back, and deepen stretches safely. The strap helps you both engage with intention and soften with support, meeting your body exactly where it is. Perfect for all levels looking to build awareness and ease in their practice.

Transcript

Hello Inside Timer, This is Adriana. Today I want to show you many ways that you can use a yoga strap on your mat. But if you don't have one of these babies, I highly recommend you get one because they are very, Very useful. For your entire body. Let's first learn how to tie the strap. So you want to make sure that it's not twisted or anything like that, So I put it on my feet. And then figure out that it's not tie it around and you hold both loops together first and then pass the strap through both of them first then the top we're looking at from this perspective the top strap you lift it up and then you pass it through the other. So it's inside of that one strap. You see, Just like a belt, Just like a little belt here. And this to make it really easy to tighten the strap. And if you soften that top loop, It should make it really easy to on loop. The strap so to give it more width or make it a little bit tighter. So let's start with the upper body. There's a couple of ways that we can use it for our upper body here. So the first way is um or the first thing that i like to do is to put it about shoulder width apart here Yeah, You just move this little guy out of the way, But I'll shoulder width apart here because then it kind of gives me a little bit of activation of the arms. And first we can just lift the arms to the sky and hold them here. You might already feel how this feels more activating as if you just lift the arms to the sky by yourself. So my thumbs are in. I'm holding it in my shoulder blades are immediately closing coming a little bit closer together and my belly button is a little bit engaged Let me turn here so you can see more, But from here you can do just tiny little baby pulses towards the back. You already feel that activation on the back of the body you can add a little bit on the elbows and lift And that, I already feel that activation on the top of the shoulders, On the triceps, On your arms. I already feel the warmth traveling here. Very nice. You can also bring the strap right behind you. Again, Just holding it in with my thumbs inside and just doing this tiny little baby pulses here. Woo, You feel that burn on the back. I'm telling you, You do. A few of these a day and you're definitely going to start to see that definition on those triceps and those muscles of the arms. That's a little bit of how you can use it for the upper body, Especially if you don't have any weights or anything else. For the low body, We can also use it to activate the legs a little bit more just as supportive guys. You can come all the way into your back. You'll care. And you might have seen this before where you just put this here. And then what most people do in this shape is that they use the strap and they are really using the arms to keep the leg wherever it is. And the leg is just hanging kind of in a little hammock. And we'll do something like that later so you can see the difference. But if you really let go of the strap here and activate the leg and make it really active, Now you can hold the strap and use it as a guide to even activate that leg a little bit more. See now I'm pressing my feet against the strap. And i'm gently holding this breath here so i know what i'm pressing and it feels really activating from this place i can start to open the hip again they are not using the strap to open the leg the leg is guiding the strap to the outside but it feels really connected and activated very nice and then i bring it all the way down and across the body. Again, Same motion here, The leg is doing all the work, But the strap is giving me that little extra control, Extra support here. So that's very good on the legs. We can also use it as a little back opener, As a little back bend, And to work on the glutes. And on the low back because the core is all of this including the back of the body so I still keep it in the same shoulder width apart. And now I'm going to come into my belly. And I'm going to come into my belly and see my feet are in silence. If you have blocks here, It'll make it really, Really awesome. So what I'm doing here, I'm bringing, Sipping up my legs together. So my knees are really close together. And i am going to protect my low back but if i relax here you know the strap gets a little loose So I'm trying to bring it like right to the top of my feet, Sit the legs together. And when I press my belly button towards the floor, Not my belly button, My pubic bone. So this is relaxed and this is engaged. Relax, Engaged, Right? To protect the low back. And I like to put my elbows here, Release the head. And what I'm doing here is a little pulley. So lifting and now. Lifting and down. That's lots of work. Four the glutes lots of work for the back of the body that low back Feel this. If you do a couple of this, Nice little glutes are activated. Press that pubic bone. Very good here. This is very good prep for dancer and some of those other back bend shapes that we do. Now we can also use the strap for relaxing shapes more of a thin shape not just for activating the body So now I'm going to show you one of my favorite yin closes. My little relaxation hammock here. So for this one, You're gonna open the strap as much as you can. Because we're gonna put our feet in it. So see, I'm loosening it up. As much as possible. And you're gonna put your feet inside. We're going to come down into our backs again and now I'm gonna bring that back on my head inside the strap and if you notice here it's not on my neck is not covering my ears is literally holding the back of my head and from here my knees are bent and i have the end of the strap right here so if i feel like it's too loose i can tighten it up a little bit oh nice and i can find that place where my knees are slightly bent my shoulders are relaxing into the earth can lift this just so it feels hold it and supported and from here i can just soften into this and if it's too tight you can loosen it up A little bit. Yeah, That's better for me. All right, Very nice. I just saw you from side to side. This feels so great. This great whenever you have some sciatica pain or you know that back is just tender this is really really good to soften through the back And from here I like to go into. . . Kind of this reclined butterfly. So you bring the strap right around your waist. And loop the feet in so Now it's like right here behind my back. And then you can. . . I didn't know this track. And then coming into this reclined butterfly If you have If you have blogs, More power to you, A little support here. Oh yeah! That feels so good. I can be here forever. Anyways. Let me show you the last shape that I want to show you before we wrap up. And this is one I use quite often, Especially for all of my inside timer meditators. I sit on the little edge of my blanket to elevate the hips just lightly and we're gonna loosen the strap quite a lot. Fine. A little seat of support for our meditation seat. Oh, I took it all the way out. Let's loop it back in. Through two and then through one. And what I do here is that I bring the strap to the edge of the knees and you don't want to be depending of your seed or how. Um tied your knees are you want to find your normal meditation seat so i like one feet cross on top of the other And the strap is right behind my thighs, Not my thighs, My back, My low back. And then I'm just going to tie it into. The lower part of my knees now once i find where i wanted it to be Elevate my hips slightly. Then I can tighten it up. Right over here and you're gonna immediately feel that support on the back of the body As if you are almost reclined here. You're going to, Well, At least for me, It feels almost like I am in a little recline shape. Like if I'm holding on on the back and it makes my low back less tired when I'm sitting on my meditation shape. So this is a very, Very good use of a strap. I highly recommend it. So I hope you enjoy the different uses of this strap. I'm going to go do a little meditation now. So thank you so much for being here. Bye.