Yoga blocks are excellent for extra support, especially when you’re doing a more advanced yoga pose. Yoga blocks are also great for modifying different yoga poses to take the pressure off of your ligaments and joints. There are three different height levels to using the foam yoga blocks; low level, medium level, and highest level. This makes modifying and doing yoga poses even more accessible. Yoga blocks are also great for enhancing yoga at home.
Let’s go over some ways that yoga blocks can help you enhance, align, and deepen your yoga practice. Here's the shortlist:
Bring The Ground Closer to You
Increase Body Alignment
Increase Body Awareness and Feedback
Increased Comfort
Make a Yoga Pose More Difficult
Help Progress into a More Difficult Pose
1. Bring the Ground Closer to You
Foam yoga blocks can help bring the ground closer to you. For example, if you’re doing a standing forward fold but you can’t quite reach the ground a foam yoga block will be that extra support so you can get your fingers on it. And depending on how much support you need you can set the block on its side to be at either a low, medium, or high level.
2. Better Body Alignment
Let’s see how it could help in a Seated Forward Fold a couple of different ways. You can sit on the yoga block and this will help tilt your pelvis forward allowing space in your hip for space to lean forward. On the contrary, you can hinge forward without sitting on the block but rather placing the block behind your feet and hinging forward, bending your knees if needed, and relax while holding onto the yoga block.
3. Body Awareness
We can use the foam yoga blocks in a pose called Chaturanga. Chaturanga is basically a plank. You can place one foam yoga block in-between your thighs and squeeze in. This engages your core and helps lift your core up during the pose. The next foam yoga block you can place under your chest for extra support. But what it’s really great for is reminding you that you need to keep your shoulders back, like an angel. If you let your shoulders cave in, like a bat, you risk injuring your shoulders.
4. Increased Comfort
Yoga blocks can help you open up your heart during Triangle Pose. A lot of people believe that your goal is to touch your toes on this pose but you actually want to lift up and out. Take your block and place it on the outer edge of your foot. You can utilize whichever height level you need to, reach down and use the block to support your hand. Use that support to push up and open up more comfortably.
5. Make a Yoga Pose More Difficult
We can use yoga blocks to create instability. For instance, in Bakasana or Crow Pose you can place your yoga blocks under your hands to bring a little more height into the yoga pose. We can also place the blocks under our feet in Uttanasana or Standing Forward Fold and similarly in Dandasana or Seated Forward Fold, at the end of our feet to create more length.
One more great idea for you is to place the block between your inner thighs and knees in Bridge Pose. This will help you bring more muscle energy into the pose as you lift your glutes up off the floor.
6. Yoga Pose Progressions
Yoga Blocks are phenomenal tools to help you advance into more advanced yoga poses safely and at the right speed. You never want to rush into a big pose. An example of using blocks for progression would be placing the blocks under your feet in Bakasana or Crow Pose. You can use the blocks to give you the extra height or you can do toe taps to gain confidence until you can lift off on your own.
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