How to Make Yoga Props More Appealing and Encourage our Yoga Students to Make the Most of Yoga Props

Watch the video discussion, or scroll down to read the transcript notes and practical strategies to add to your yoga classes.

How to Make Yoga Props More Appealing and Encourage our Yoga Students to Make the Most of Yoga Props

Question: Why do our yoga students resist the use of props, and how can we make them more appealing so they can get all the benefits of props in their practice?

Here’s a common scenario. We offer a student a prop to support, engage, refine, align, and they decline, or they don’t take them up with enthusiasm. They seem to think that a prop sends a message that they aren’t doing ok in yoga class.

Why? Because many of our students view the use of props through a negative lens.

So let’s talk about why many students don’t see props as useful to enhancing their practice, and how we might reframe the use of props and put them into a more positive and affirming context.

Let’s address context and mindset and let’s explore together some strategies to educate and encourage our students to make use of props to support, stabilize, engage, and enhance their yoga asanas.

I really look forward to hearing your own insights and experiences with the use of props as a student, a teacher-in-training, and as a teacher – it really helps us to learn to hear from many different perspectives!

Props Don’t Have Moral Value

Props aren’t inherently good or bad.  They are tools. However, consider for many people their only exposure to props is in a negative context.

“If you can’t touch the floor, you can put your hands on a brick”

“If you can’t reach your toes, you can grab a strap”

What might these types of prop cues do to our mindset about our practice and the use of props?  They might make us believe that:

1)            There is a “right” way to do a pose, or a way that shows you are an experienced, able yogi – you know what you are doing and are adept at yoga.

2)            Props are there for when you can’t, not for when you can.

3)            We want to progress away from props as we develop a practice, rather than continue exploring how they help us to develop.

I think it’s useful to sometimes zoom out look at the macro level of our yoga mindset about how we feel about not just props, but how we feel about our yoga practice in general and what makes a “good” or “adept” yoga practitioner.

Rather than offering props as though they are only tools for students who “can’t do the real pose”, we can offer props in a way that adds a  positive to our practice.

When the only context that students have for the use of props is for beginners or people who “can’t do the real pose”, of course some students will baulk at their use.

It’s up to use to reframe the use of props as useful tools to enhance the practice, rather than tools that indicate weakness or inexperience (both of which are also not bad words!)

This bring us back to the macro – something to keep in mind beyond this discussion is our mindset when it comes to ideas about “performing yoga” correctly.

Do any of those mindset issues sound familiar to you?

Have you ever thought, “I shouldn’t need to use a prop here because I’m experienced at yoga, I’ve been doing yoga for all these years.”

This is definitely familiar for me. I remember being in a class and the teacher approached me in a pose and asked “are you okay? You look uncomfortable. Do you want to use a brick for this?”

And my reaction was legit offended, like…How dare you!

Do you know how long I’ve been practicing yoga? And then I checked in with my body and, actually I was really uncomfortable in that moment. So, yes, a brick would be really helpful – and it was.

I look back and see that first that suggestion by my teacher had to be filtered through my ego before I could open up and see that, yes, actually a brick is just what I need today.

As teachers ourselves I think it’s useful to first acknowledge that we might have these thoughts and feelings and reactions.

And then we might find a way to offer props that people can more easily embrace props – or more than that – they can get interested and excited about what a prop can add to a pose, make it more comfortable, or bring a pose together.

Imagine the use of props in yoga like the use of props in acting.  They add to the experience.

I started to think that maybe it’s a problem inherent in the word “props”, but we don’t baulk at props being used in art like the theatre or movies – there they add to the performance and the experience.

I looked up how props add to dramatic performances, and it gave me a great description of the use of props in yoga:

“Props in acting heighten performance by grounding actors in reality, revealing traits, and communicating emotions without words. They facilitate natural movement, set the scene, and create a more immersive world”

Add a sword and a battle is more dynamic. Add a candle and we have a point of light and focus.  Add a sofa and we have a place to hold the action.

We can draw similarities to how we use props in yoga:

Our mat creates a space for our practice – defines an area for movement, provides cushioning for our joints and stickiness to hold us in space.  Most students don’t object to the use of a mat – even though this is quite a new addition to yoga practice – so can we make other props as universal?

Blocks can help us to ground a pose, provide stability and a sense of comfort – think of the difference between your hands hanging in space in a Standing Forward Fold or Triangle vs the stability and strength of pressing your hand into a block.

Straps help us to connect. They give us more reach to catch our feet, our hands and can create a ‘loop’ of energy that helps us to contain a pose. Think of the difference between placing your hands on your shins in a Seated Forward Fold vs the connection we feel when we can loop a strap around the feet.

Blankets can bring the ground up to our bodies, cushion our joints, and bring warmth and comfort.  Think of the difference when doing breathwork between sitting on the mat with hips gripping, working hard to keep your spine neutral, vs adding a blanket under your seat and finding ease so that you can turn your awareness inward.  Think of the difference between a Savasana with and without a blanket – especially on a cool day. A blanket adds so much warmth and comfort!

Student enthusiasm begins with teacher enthusiasm

Teaching enthusiasm begins with:

• Exploring your own relationship with props – do you carry a negative mindset about props in your own practice?
• Educating yourself about how props can be used at all levels of practice, and for all sorts of purposes. In Vinyasa Flow we have less exposure to props, but check out Iyengar classes, Restorative Yoga, or Yin Yoga you’ll get lots of great ideas.
• Exploring with props in your own practice – make them a natural part of your flow
• Adding props to your teaching flow – instead of offering props as an aside, include them in your flow.  For example, when switching sides of Triangle, cue students to bring their prop with them. Make it an organic part of the practice.

Yoga Tips – Props

Have everyone start out with a few props at their mat – so adding a prop to a pose doesn’t require running around to fetch blocks and straps etc.  2 blocks, a strap, and a blanket are a good basics.

Tell them what a prop can add to the pose:

• you can add some stability here with blocks
• you can add some grounding here by folding over your bolster
• if you have any discomfort here, you can double up the mat under your wrists

Show them what the prop adds – demo with and without:

• When we use a strap to catch the feet, notice how it gives us great length in the spine
• When we put blocks under our hands, notice how it helps create that long line through the body that we are looking for
• When we rest our forehead on the bolster, notice how it allows our neck to really relax
• When we put a folded blanket under the knees, notice how it eases out the lower back

Show how props help us develop technique and more advanced poses:

• Blocks to lift in pick ups, transition from down dog to sitting and vice versa, to lift into Upward Bow

Class Theming – Workshop a Prop

On way we can encourage prop use is to workshop a prop each week – and do something interesting beyond our usual prop use.

An important aspect of any education is to give your students a direct experience. Not just talking about props, showing how and why to use props, but letting them experiment and feel.

Each week or month you could theme a class around a prop and use it in a variety of ways in a variety of poses to give them a really rich experience – how to use a prop to make a pose more accessible, to ground, to connect, to stabilize, to progress and develop their practice.

Let’s look at some examples.

Strap

Theme and sequence a class to showcase the use of a strap in a variety of poses.  Some creative ways to use a strap might include:

• To catch the feet in forward folds
• Catch the hands in hands-behind-the-back techniques
• Lay it across the top of the mat to place your hands on in down dog – it stops you slipping on your mat and can reduce wrist strain.
• Find the line of side angle by holding the prop under the back foot and in the top hand – aligning your body to the length of the strap.
• Hold between your hands in triangle to show where your neck is in line with your arms – this is useful for folks who tend to poke their chin forward
• Lay it across your mat to hop over in transitions to practice getting some ‘air time’ – turning a hop into a float.
• For more restorative poses you could bind bound angle or reclining bound angle

Blocks

Theme and sequence a class to showcase the use of a block in a variety of poses.  Some creative ways to use blocks/bricks might include:

• Press hands into blocks in poses like Triangle, Side Angle, Wide Leg Forward Fold to ground and stabilize
• Under the hands in transitions – like the step-through from Down Dog to Warrior 1 – a tricky transition for many students, or if you like teaching a strengthening class you could even add a hold in the lift of that step through to build some strength and technique.
• Use blocks to explore pick ups and the transition hop to sitting
• Brick under the sacrum/seat for a more restorative version of Bridge
• Under the upper back for a more restorative version of Fish
• Under the hands to get a greater lift in Upward Bow – especially useful for folks with tighter shoulders.

Blankets

Theme and sequence a class to showcase the use of a blanket in a variety of poses.  Some creative ways to use blankets might include:

• Over the lap or the whole body to add warmth in opening or closing breathwork, or in restorative poses like Savasana
• Folded to bring the ground up to hips or knees in seated poses
• Under bony bits to relieve pressure on bones in locust or boat
• A rolled blanket behind the knees in Child to reduce knee flexion
• A rolled blanket lengthwise under the spine, or horizontal under the armpits for a supported Fish
• Under the shoulders to give some space to the neck in Bridge.

Wall

Theme and sequence a class to showcase the use of a wall in a variety of poses.  Some creative ways to use a wall might include:

• Legs up the wall, of course!
• Stand with back to wall or heel to wall to align/refine standing poses like Triangle, Warriors
• Hands to the wall to lift into Upward Bow – this has a few benefits – support and stability, and reducing wrist extension and shoulder flexion
• To practice handstands or headstands
• You could put your hand on the wall to support balancing, or back to the wall to notice your posture.

Bolsters

Theme and sequence a class to showcase the use of a bolster in a variety of poses.  Some creative ways to use a bolster might include:

• For restorative poses like Child, Yoga Mudrasana, Savasana
• Under the hips for supported Bridge
• Under the back for supported Fish
• Sun Salutations. Put a bolster in the mat to support from your chest to your hips for Chaturanga, Up Dog, and Down Dog – this gives you some support and allows you to spend more time in each pose to workshop those poses, something we don’t often get a chance to do.

Workshopping Props

Some of these props take a bit of time to teach, so we don’t workshop them every class, but them students who benefit from them will know how to use that prop in the future to add to their own practice without a lot of cuing. We are giving them some education, direct experience, and a reference point for when they might want to pick up and prop and use it in class or at home.

To Review

How we can encourage prop use and make props more appealing in our classes involves a few steps:

• Tell them why
• Show them how
• Bring enthusiasm
• Make sure they have props available to them
• Give them a direct experience

Lastly – a word about buying props for your classes.

Props can be pricey, but you can save if you order in bulk and get a wholesale price. But often the cost of shipping is really prohibitive, so it’s great if you can link up with some other teachers to put in an order together. You’ll both save with a larger wholesale order, and you’ll share the shipping cost. This can make your props buying a lot more budget friendly.

You can also often find decent props like blocks and straps at places like Aldi, Kmart and other sports stores.

And, you might find second-hand props being sold by teachers or studios, particularly on Facebook groups for yoga teachers or yoga associations.

In Closing – Props are Tops!

Alright, that was so much. I’ll leave you with that now, and hope that you’ve got some ideas and perhaps some strategies for your own props enthusiasm and mindset, and to make props more appealing and interesting and accessible to your students.

Want to dive deep into adding props to your yoga practice and/or teaching?  Join us for Yoga Teacher Training or Postgraduate Yoga Teacher Training

Find more discussions on yoga practice, yoga teaching strategies, philosophy, anatomy and more on the BLOG or on our YouTube channel here

Follow us for updates, ideas, and inspirations on our socials at Facebook or Instagram