Advanced Yoga with a Strap, a Valuable Aid for Alignment
Among the more than 2 million yoga enthusiasts in France , many already have several years of practice behind them, with a well-established ritual. Whether in a yoga studio, alone at home or by following online classes, sometimes these motivated yogis would like to try new postures to inspire themselves and nourish their routine. Approaching advanced yoga with a strap is an excellent way to explore your physical and mental capacities . If we told you that, thanks to the yoga strap , you can safely get out of your comfort zone and most certainly surprise yourself, would that tempt you?
The strap for strengthening and approaching advanced yoga
Protecting alignments by using the strap
The advanced yoga strap with a strap, a valuable aid for alignment is a valuable aid to correct and preserve body alignments. It is an essential basis to acquire before seeking to progress to a confirmed level of asana practice. Indeed, many yoga practitioners make this mistake: sacrificing alignments to accomplish a posture, or to deepen it. This is a counterproductive or even dangerous approach in the long term.
Some anti-accessory yoga purists will happily push you to “figure out” how to catch your foot in the compass pose, for example. To respond to this injunction, the easy solution that your body will find is to take a shortcut to the detriment of the lines that are so beneficial for your well-being. Ouch your back! It’s a shame to reject the strap alternative, you only have to look at the success of Iyengar yoga which advocates the use of all kinds of accessories. The strap allows you to gradually and at your own pace lead you to advanced yoga poses. So check out this method provided by YogaTechnique.Net to learn the bird of paradise pose which proves it.
Using the strap to work on the strength needed for advanced yoga
Maintaining good alignment in yoga is all about developing enough strength to hold it. When working on leg flexibility, for example, keeping your spine stretched requires much more energy than letting your muscles relax and lengthen. Your core must be strong to support the stretching exercises and prevent compensations from setting in, which would negate the effect of your efforts.
The yoga strap can even be used as a constraint to bring your body from a good position. As soon as it is ready, it will be able to take the right path on its own, without this external help, and you will know that you have worked in the right way. This is the typical case in Pincha Mayurasana for lovers of advanced yoga poses in inversion. When you collapse on your elbows, you create too much pressure on your shoulders and injury awaits. The position is accomplished, but the alignments are lost, due to lack of strength. Training yourself not to let your arms spread apart by using the strap will lead your body to find the solution by itself to perform what you ask of it. It will be much more beneficial and sustainable. For this, it will create the adequate force, which will certainly take you even further if you wish, such as handstands, for example.
Gain flexibility to deepen your yoga postures thanks to the strap
Posterior chain relaxation with resistance strap
Gaining flexibility is a long-term job, but it should not be done passively, without the support of muscle strengthening. The stability of your joints is essential to avoid pain. After all, asanas aim to help you achieve the perfect balance between strength and flexibility. Here again, the yoga strap is your ally! With correct alignments, you can afford to seek to deepen your mobility without risk.
There are a multitude of ways to use the yoga strap to increase flexibility in your muscles and tendons. Opening the hips, lengthening the hamstrings, opening the shoulders and chest: all are beneficial. With the strap, patience and good breathing, we can relax the entire posterior chain of the body, especially to release tension in the back. But let's not forget the benefits of extending the spine either.
Approaching advanced yoga with backbends with a strap
Going backwards is about opening your heart, releasing the emotions that weigh on your chest and tie your stomach in knots, canceling out the effects of the slouched forward positions that we give in to too often during the day. All yoga practitioners know how beneficial backbends are against back pain. To activate all the parts of the body involved in this type of extension (or backbend of the spine, as yoga teachers often call it), using a strap can be a complete game changer.
For example, you will see by following this link that the king pigeon posture , thanks to the use of the right accessories (like the brick and the yoga strap) is within everyone's reach: the flexible as well as the stiffest yogis. With all the benefits that this advanced yoga asana presents, it would be a shame to miss out... And then once comfortable in Eka Pada Rajakapotasana , why not aim for new advanced postures such as that of the dancer, Natarajasana ? It's up to you to judge the interest of challenging yourself!
When you use a yoga strap properly, your flexibility and strength can increase very quickly. Some results are even spectacular! The trick is to know how to do without this accessory in the long term, and to keep in mind that progressing in yoga is not just about performing feats with your body, as explained in this in-depth reflection . In the meantime, there is nothing to stop you from having a little fun on your mat and tackling advanced yoga with a strap. The important thing is to maintain your practice habits with all the benefits that this brings and which explain the global success of yoga.
