How to Use Yoga Blocks to Help Your Practice
One of the most common types of yoga props is the yoga block Although blocks are a common prop, not many students know how to use them and not many teachers use them in classes either.
Yoga blocks are amazing! I use them every time I practice and encourage my students to use them every time I teach.
I always encourage my students to use yoga blocks, I teach my students how to use them during our yoga practice, and assure them that using a yoga block does not mean you aren’t good at yoga!
In this post, I will be breaking down how to use yoga blocks to improve and help your practice.
1. Yoga Blocks Help Lift You Up
A yoga block is a great addition to any seated position. Placing a block under your bum in a seated yoga pose will help lift you up.
While in any seated position, we want our spine to be straight and elongated. Sometimes we start out with a straight spine and after a little while of sitting we end up with a hunchback, or we start out with a hunched back to begin with and just can’t seem to get our spine straight up. When we have a round in the spine while sitting we have to really work our back and hips which will make our muscles tired quicker and therefore we won’t be able to hold this pose for very much time without being uncomfortable.
This is where your block comes to the rescue.
Sitting on top of the block will lift your hips higher than your knees which will prevent your pelvis from tipping back and will help you maintain the curve in your lumbar spine (lower back). This will then more evenly distribute the weight and make it easier for you to be seated in this position for longer.
Now that the pain is out of the physical body you can really focus on your breath and your thoughts.
Thank you yoga block for enhancing our meditation and pranayama practice!
2. Yoga Blocks Bring the Floor to You
Sometimes, when we reach for the floor in any standing forward bends our hands might not reach all the way down to the floor.
So how do we get our hands to the floor? We don’t!
We bring the floor to us, by using our handy blocks.
Not only does using the block in these types of situations help bring the floor to you, it also creates length in your body and helps your alignment.
When the yoga block is underneath your hands supporting you, you can create more length in the area of the body that is being targeted rather than compressing in these areas just to reach the floor.
Check out how I use the yoga blocks to create length and bring the floor to me in these various postures:
Wide-Legged Standing Forward Fold with a Block
In any standing fold, you can always bring the blocks under your hands which will bring the floor closer to you, that way you won’t need to bend your knees or round your spine as much, you can focus on getting that amazing stretch in the hamstrings and back.
Triangle Pose with a Block
In my classes I see students in triangle pose reaching their hand all the way to the floor rather than keeping their hand on their shin or thigh.
More often than not, this takes the body out of the intended benefit of the pose, which is to create length by stacking the body.
With a yoga block you can extend your arm further than your thigh while at the same time keep the length and integrity in the pose.
Pyramid Pose with a Block
Adding a yoga block under your hands in a pyramid pose assists in getting the front leg straight and taking out any rounding that might happen in your back. The blocks under the hands also helps with getting the back heel closer to the floor.
Lunge Twist with a Block
When we use a block under our hand in a lunge twist pose we are able again to create more length rather than dumping into our joints just to try and get our hand to the floor. You can also create more space to be able to straighten out the back leg more so that you can engage it better.
3. Yoga Blocks Support Your Back
Some of my favorite backbends are supine and supported with a block.
A supported backbend will give you all the benefits of the backbend without you having to strain your body or force anything to happen.
I like to take the block across all the different parts of my spine to open it up.
When doing this hold each position for at least 5 breaths.
If any part of your back gives you pain signals as you move it along, then back off and skip that section.
I like to hold longer on the lowest part of the back and work through different leg variations.
4. Yoga Blocks Create Length in Your Body
Many yoga postures are intended for you to create length in the body, but sometimes that benefit is not attainable by just trying to create a certain shape in the body.
Once we begin to add yoga blocks into the postures that we want to help lengthen, we can start to see those benefits.
If the image of the posture that you might see your yoga instructor doing or the image on the internet is not attainable in your body, that doesn’t make your body unworthy of practicing that pose. It just means you may have to do it a little differently.
Blocks help you to feel the posture in the body rather than struggle just to create a shape that may not be benefiting you.
Below are some yoga block poses that will help you create length.
Low Lunge Varitation with a Block
Getting a great long spine and open chest in a low lunge position becomes a little easier when we allow the yoga blocks to do some of the work for us. Also, your back leg can go more into extension so that you can stretch the hip flexors, which is the intended benefit of the pose.
Half Moon Pose with a Block
Balance and stack the body with a little more ease when you add a yoga block underneath your hand in Half Moon Pose.
5. Yoga Blocks Relieve Pressure on Your Wrists
We rarely ever stretch our wrists and we spend the day working our wrists with typing, texting, driving, and more. Then, we come into yoga class and put tons of pressure on the wrists.
Most of the time it creates wrist pain and makes getting through a yoga class difficult sometimes.
Adding blocks under our hands helps to relieve some of the pressure off of your wrists.
Placing a block under both hands while in a Down Dog, Plank, or any other posture will give your wrists some much needed relief.
If you suffer from wrist pain during yoga you might also want to stretch your wrists before you start practicing as well.
6. Yoga Blocks Help with Arm Balances
Arm balances are a fun goal to have for lots of people who practice yoga. They are challenging, strengthening, and fun!
The journey to getting into those arm balances can be long and hard.
Yoga blocks can make getting into arm balances easier for you, because it helps relieve the pressure off of your wrists and creates a little more space between you and the floor which will give you a little boost into getting your feet off the floor.
Seated Lift with a Block
One of the first arm balances that people learn is a seated lift. Without a block, you might find yourself rounding your spine to press your hands in to the floor for the lift. When we round our spine it makes it harder for us to engage the core and thus harder for us to do the lift.
If you add blocks under your hands, you can create more length in the arms and space between you and the floor which will make the lift much easier to accomplish.
Crow Pose with a Block
Crow pose is another one of the first arm balances that most yogis learn how to do in their practice.
Crow pose can be intimidating, just getting your knees to attach to your elbows can be daunting. This is where blocks can really come in handy.
Try placing blocks under your feet, this way it is easier to get your knees on your forearms and the lift off is a little easier than if you were to come off the floor without blocks.
If you have 3 blocks, you can take your crow pose practice to a new level.
Place one block under your feet and a block under each hand.
This gives you the lift off of the floor from your feet, making it easier to connect your knees to your forearms. The blocks under the hands helps to relieve some pressure off of your wrists.
Yoga blocks help enhance the physical asana practice at every level.
Adding a block as a supportive element can be therapeutic in restorative and yin yoga, allowing you to surrender into the pose.
In hatha yoga, blocks support your practice by allowing you to tap into the true intended benefit of the pose without the hindrance of trying to reach all the way to the floor when it might not be accessible.
For more physically demanding asanas like arm balances, the blocks allow you to be able to lift your body with your arms more easily, helping you practice these physically challenging and fun postures.
Blocks are an amazing addition to every type of yoga practice.
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