Deepen Your Stretch With Yoga Props For Better Alignment

Transform your yoga practice by learning how to use yoga props for better alignment and deeper stretches. In this audio, I'll tell you how to incorporate yoga props into your routine to improve your flexibility, balance, and overall yoga experience. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced yogi, using yoga props can help you reduce injury risk, and deepen your stretches from where your body is today. So grab your yoga mat, blocks, a strap, and a kneepad and let's get started!

Transcript

Namaste everyone.

Peace and blessing to you.

I am Opinia.

Today's class is a beginner yoga class that emphasizes using blocks to help you to stretch and strengthen your body safely.

So please grab your two blocks,

A strap and a knee pad and meet me on the mat.

Going to child's pose please.

Put the knee pad down and have your knees on them with your knees apart,

Your toes together.

Grab a block,

Put your forehand on it and you relax your arms,

Dows alongside your ears and let everything drop.

Take a deep breath in and out through your nose.

Center yourself to your body,

To this moment.

May you walk away from your thoughts and go deeper into your higher self and also connect to your heart.

Remember that you are important.

Your desire is important.

May you remember when you go into the world and interact with others,

You don't forget to listen to what matters to you.

Take another full breath right here and fully exhale.

You take the block to the side,

Broaden your arms and walk them to the right.

Combine your fingertips,

Take a deep breath in,

Draw your shoulder blades together on your back and exhale,

Push the floor away from you with your fingers and stretch the left side's body.

Two more breaths,

Inhale,

Feel your back rise up to the sky,

Draw your shoulder blades together on your back and exhale,

Anchor your fingertips down and forward.

Last one,

Inhale nice and deep,

Shoulder blades come together on your back and exhale,

Push the floor away from you,

Stretch the left side's body.

Then walk your hand back center,

Continue to the left,

Broaden your arms as you need,

Forehead maybe come down on the floor or not,

Take a deep breath in,

Your back rise up,

Your shoulder blades together on your back and exhale,

Anchor your fingertips and stretch the right side of your body.

Two more.

Inhale,

Exhale length,

Allow your body to move with breath,

Last breath,

Anchor your fingertips down and push the floor away from you.

Then carefully walk your hand back center,

Take a deep breath in,

Round your back up toward the sky,

Exhale,

Arch at the end,

Cow pose,

Exhale,

Round your back up toward the sky,

Head down,

Tailbone down and gradually go down toward your heels please.

Three more,

Arch,

Cow pose,

Exhale,

Head down,

Tailbone down and go gradually down toward your heels,

Child's pose,

Two more,

With breath,

Inhale,

Go forward,

Stretch your finger,

Arch at the end,

Heads up,

Tailbones up,

Exhale,

Round your back,

Head down,

Tailbone down and go back to child's pose please.

Last one,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Follow your next inhalation and come up onto your hands and knee and big spinal circulations right here,

Five times,

One direction first,

Two,

Three,

Relax your jaw,

Four,

Five,

Chin to the other direction please,

One,

Two,

When you are here look at your palms,

See if you spread your fingers apart,

Not four,

And five,

Now come back to the neutral position,

Grab a block,

Put it right underneath your head,

Thread the needle,

Left hands go under first,

So you come high on your right fingertips,

Thread your left hands under,

The block is in front of it,

Look up toward the sky to the right,

Bring the right side of your head down toward the floor,

No,

The left side of your head down toward the floor,

Come high on your right fingertips and your elbows is bent,

Lengthening that right hip back behind you,

Two more breaths,

And two,

And then carefully inhale,

Unthread and keep turning yourself to the left side of the house,

Okay,

And just get your body to open and then kick your left leg back,

Make your right hand be on top of the block and have your right hand,

Your right knee,

And your left foot in one straight line on the bottom,

And after that move your hips over your right knee,

Turn your chest diagonal up toward the sky,

Take a deep breath in and exhale,

Push the floor away from you with your right hand,

Get the weight all the way down toward your left foot and then from there lengthening all the way out to your left fingertips,

Two more breaths,

Inhale deeply,

Exhale,

Stretch long from your left toes to your left fingertips,

Another breath here,

Feel your back kind of feel up and then exhale,

Turn your chest a little bit more up toward the sky and long left side body,

Carefully now turn your chest down toward the floor,

Square your hip toward that short side edge of the mat,

Then you step your left leg forward,

Grab another block,

Diagonal your body to the right,

We are in lizard pose,

Your left knee stay over the ankle,

Point your left foot diagonal to the left,

Your body diagonal to the right,

And then move your hip back,

Chest forward,

Take a deep breath in,

Exhale,

Now take your sternum down toward the floor and see how far you can go and stop where your body tells you,

You cannot go any further,

Okay,

And then you're going to prop the blocks to be as high as your body need to,

And then from here,

Two more breaths,

Take a deep breath in,

And see exhale,

Can you go a little bit deeper with the chest toward the floor,

If you can,

Go deeper,

Maybe change the height of the block to make it relative to the height of your body,

And another inhale,

And another exhale,

See can you go a little deeper or not,

Just listen to your body and let the pose meet you where you are physically,

Okay,

Then inhale,

Come up and away from the floor,

Have your hands on the blocks,

Give yourself a lot of space,

And step your left foot to meet your right,

Have your left knee to meet your right knee,

Have your hands on the blocks,

A little bit wider than your shoulder,

And from here,

Drop your hip side to side,

Please,

Just breathe deeply,

Then carefully bring your hips up center,

Open your knees back to hip distance apart,

And then from here,

We're going to thread the needle the other side,

So we're going to thread the right side to the left,

So come high on your left fingertips,

You know the block is going to be right there for the size of your cheek to go there on the right,

And then thread your right hand all the way out through that left hand's knee,

And you look up to the left and bring the size of your head down towards the block,

Adjust where the block should be,

Find that comfort,

You behind your fingertips on your left hand and bend the elbow,

Move the shoulder blade back,

Lengthening your left hip back behind you,

And then breathe,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Let the breath go,

And keep lengthening your left hip back,

Two more breaths right here,

Last one please,

Exhale,

Lengthen your left hip back,

Then inhale,

Unthread,

Okay,

Have your left hand on the block,

You can have it with the flat hand,

You can do it with the fist,

And really kind of have your knuckle on it,

I really love this for the wrist,

And then you turn your body,

The whole body open to the right side of the house,

And kick your right leg back behind you,

Make your left hand,

Left knee,

And your right leg in one straight line,

And take a deep breath in,

And then exhale,

Push the block away,

Weight goes to your right foot,

And start to slowly spin your chest diagonally up towards the sky,

And lengthening your right arm long alongside the ears,

Two more breaths,

Inhale,

Fill your torso,

Kind of fill up with air,

And then exhale when the breath goes,

Long right side,

Another breath,

Relax your jaw,

Exhale length,

Then carefully turn your chest and your hip toward the floor,

And forward,

Step your right leg forward,

And grab both blocks,

Diagonal your body to the left,

Your right foot diagonal to the right,

Your right knee over the ankle,

Adjust your body so that it feels right first,

Now know that you're going to go toward the floor with breath,

And make sure that you are going to allow this lizard pose to meet you where you are,

Okay,

So take a deep breath in,

And then exhale,

Hips go back,

Chest go forward,

And you're going to go down toward the floor,

And when you find that place that you know that this is it,

This is where I am going to start my stretch,

So you stay there,

Be as high as you have to,

And take a deep breath in,

And then exhale,

See can you get your chest a little bit lower toward the floor,

Maybe have the forearms on the highest of the blocks,

And then one more breath,

And exhale,

Hips back,

Chest forward,

And go down toward the floor,

And see can you go a little bit lower or not,

Just stay where you are and be safe,

Then inhale,

Come up and away from the floor,

Step your right leg back,

Have your right knee to meet your left knee,

Your hands on the blocks,

A little bit wider than your shoulder width apart,

And then drop your hip side to side please,

Carefully bring your hip back up,

Center,

Open your knees,

Hip distance apart,

Now bring the blocks to the highest,

Lift your chest off from the floor,

And step your right leg forward into Anjaneyasana,

A low lunge,

Back knee,

Back foot,

Tuck your toes under,

And then inhale,

Bring your body upright,

Let your hips square with that front edge of the mat,

Take a deep breath in,

By your side,

Chest lift,

Exhale,

Lunge,

Now when you lunge make sure that your right knee doesn't go beyond the ankle,

If that happens just move your right foot forward,

Then inhale,

Root your tailbone down and lift your chest up,

Next is long,

Exhale lunge,

Once again inhale,

Root your tailbone down and lift your chest up toward the sky,

Next long,

Exhale lunge,

Now next inhalation,

Maybe lift your arms up toward the sky,

Make sure your chest is still open,

Then next exhale,

Push into your right foot,

Move your hip back,

Bring your hands down to find the blocks,

And then step your right leg back,

This time bring your hand down onto the floor,

Spread your fingers apart,

Bring your hands wider than your shoulder just a tiny bit,

Tuck your toes under,

Lift your hips up,

Keep your knees bent,

And put your chest back toward your feet,

Downward facing dog,

Bend your knees,

Then sway your hips side to side while you're here,

Your arms are strong,

Keep sending your chest back toward the feet,

Keep breathing,

And then stop rocking the hips and bring your knees down toward the earth,

Grab the blocks,

Bring your torso upright,

Tuck your right toes under,

Step your left leg forward into Anjaneyasana,

Your left foot quite straight forward,

Now bring your trunk upright,

Draw your shoulder blades together onto the back,

Your chest is lifting,

Your neck is then you draw your shoulder blades together on your back and lift your heart up toward the sky,

Take a deep breath in,

Exhale lunge,

Remember don't let the left knee go beyond the ankle,

Then inhale root your tailbone down,

Long spine out toward the sky,

Exhale lunge,

Inhale root your tailbone down and lengthen the front out to the crown of your head,

Exhale lunge,

Keep your shoulder blades together,

This time see your arms draw out and up toward the sky while your heart still open,

And then exhale push into your left foot,

Windmill your arms down toward the floor,

Keep your hip back,

Grab the blocks,

Step your left foot to meet the right,

Bring your hands down toward the floor,

Spread your fingers apart,

Your wrist crease parallel toward the front edge of the mat,

Tuck your toes under,

Lift your hips off from the floor with your knees bent and put your chest back behind you,

Now we're facing down,

Bend one knee at a time,

This time straight the other leg nice and slow,

Try to get the heel toward the floor,

If it doesn't go there no problem,

You just go into that direction,

Remember allow the pose to meet you where your body is and if your heel is unable to touch the floor it's okay,

Keep pedal the knees,

Last one right here on each knee and come down,

Take child's pose please,

Toes together,

Knees apart,

Once again put the block underneath your forehead and let your arms relax,

Your elbows bend and breathe,

Observe the body,

Relax your jaw,

Listen and respect where your body is today,

You walk your hands back toward your knees,

Come up,

Find your way to sit on to the mat please,

The knee pad it actually is good to sit on it if you need a little cushion okay,

If you don't have to you actually can sit on the mat itself but it's really good to have some cushion for some of you that don't feel like you're sitting more and just love the floor so much,

Then you have your right leg forward,

Cross your left leg over right and then you twist to the left thigh,

Use your right hand to hug your left knee in and you have to resist that,

Left hands go back behind you,

Now it's right here,

If you feel like the floor it seems so far away and you cannot draw your shoulder blade back,

Put the block underneath the hands there,

You can have a flat hand or high in the fingertips okay and your job on the back hand is that you want to draw your shoulder blade back behind you so your left chest is kind of extend forward and up toward the sky,

Yes and then when you're ready take a deep breath in and then exhale use your right hand and left knee resist one another to help you to twist while your left hand is kind of walk back behind you and your neck is nice and long,

Right here though make sure that you don't allow your belly to turn to the left with the chest okay,

Your belly is going to resist that left chest,

Get it,

Here we go once again take a deep in,

Exhale twist,

Chest go left,

Belly go right,

Two more,

Last one,

Relax your jaw and inhale and twist,

Other side please,

Get your left leg out,

Get your right leg to cross your left leg,

Take the block now behind the right hand,

Remember find the height that you need so your right shoulder blade can go back behind the chest to help that chest kind of open and extend up toward the sky,

Left hand hug the right knee,

Three breaths here,

Take a deep breath in,

Exhale twist,

Don't forget the neck,

Lengthen,

Imagine you have the wall exhale behind the back of the head and you actually move back instead of moving forward,

Last breath here,

Exhale twist,

And inhale and twist,

Let's do two more poses here,

So get your right leg out,

Now we move to upavistha konasana which means you are going to open your legs apart,

Okay,

Adjust your body,

You kind of wiggle wiggle your hips or you can also kind of bend your knees toward the sky and go right underneath the thigh and roll your inner thigh in back and out,

So we really want the sitting bone to be on the floor as best as we can,

Okay,

Right here,

And you are going to sit nice and tall,

Now it depends on how tight your adductor are,

Some of you may have to stretch your adductor right here because this is where the pose meet your body,

Have your hand have your hands back behind you and draw your shoulder blades together onto your back,

Core is in,

Chest is lift and breathe and then exhale let it go,

Now if you can go further what you do is you are going to bring your trunk toward the floor as far as your body can go,

All right,

Use the exhale to take you there and let the block help you so the pose can meet your body where you are,

Yeah,

You want your spine to lengthen,

Keep moving,

Last breath for me please,

So you don't want it to rattle in the forward fall,

Make sure that is your priority,

Then inhale come up and away from the floor,

Yes,

Lean away from the pose a little bit so you can bend your knees easily,

Hold the back of the knees and bring it in front of you,

Then have your hands back behind you,

Relax your legs and let windshield wiper your feet quickly,

And last pose here is Paksimodanasana seated forward fall,

This one we are going to use a strap,

Okay,

So come back to stop,

Sit nice and tall,

Roll your weight into your one sitting bone and lift the other up,

Use your hand to go into the inner thigh and rotate your inner thigh in back and out and send your sitting bone back down,

Do exactly same thing on the other side until you can really feel your sitting bones on the earth and you see that your knees and your toes are pointing straight up toward the ceiling,

Then grab a strap,

Maybe you have to bend your knees at first,

Okay,

Put the strap at the ball of your feet and then kick your feet back out until it becomes straight,

And you are going to make the strap as long as you have to to make it straight,

Make your spine to have room to lengthening up toward the ceiling,

So let the pose meet you physically where you are,

Now when you have this we are going to stretch the hamstring here,

Take a deep breath in,

Then exhale you are going to pull yourself forward,

Now the way that I want you to do is that I want you to try to shorten the strap,

You want to keep your arms keep going,

Lengthen,

You want to keep your arms straight at all times,

Okay,

You don't want to bend your elbow and pull it in a way that your elbow comes toward you and then you round your back,

That is going to make you round your back very quickly,

So what I want you to do is straight arms,

Take your trunk forward by shortening your strap,

Okay,

Can you give me two more breaths,

And then exhale see can you go a little bit more forward or not,

If you can you don't have to,

Just breathe right here,

Relax your neck and shoulder and exhale like stretching hamstring where you are,

Then inhale come up and away from the stretch,

Take the strap away,

Lean back,

Now sit cross legs,

See if the knee pad is good enough,

If it's not you may have to replace that with a block,

Okay,

Put the block underneath it,

Sit a little taller,

If you have to,

Let's roll the shoulder up and back five times,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Change direction,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

And then bring your arms down by your thigh,

Palm facing down and start to circle the neck,

Nice and big,

Five times,

One,

Relax your jaw,

Two,

Three,

Five,

And change to the other side,

Please,

You can close your eyes and gauge inward or you can keep your eyes open and soft gauge here,

Two,

And three,

Four,

Five,

Then just look straight ahead,

Inhale,

Bring your arms out and up toward the sky,

And then you bring your palm together,

Let it thread through the center,

And stop right in front of your own heart.

Namaste everyone,

This is it,

I hope you enjoy the practice,

Let me know what you think,

And I see you next time,

Namaste.