A yoga mat will remove the slip and slide from your yoga practice by providing the stability you must have to do each pose with balance and poise. However, the best motivation for doing your poses correctly undoubtedly will be the appreciation you feel for Yoga, itself.
The Benefits of Yoga
Yoga helps you in awakening your inner body and enlivening your outer body! Yoga practice involves emptying your mind and becoming fully aware of each pose. This augments inner awareness. Your “outer body” is enriched as each pose nourishes, energizes, and revitalizes every cell, fiber, and tissue as a result of enhanced breathing, flexibility, strength and alignment. The goal of yoga practice is to create a union between the body, mind and spirit.
You’ll need time and commitment, as well as a whole lot of patience, to master a yoga pose. A beginner should not expect to do a pose precisely on the first try. But, slowly over time, as you practice and try to perform each pose correctly, without pushing yourself too far physically or beating yourself up mentally, you will find that you are developing flexibility, strength, and energy physically and feeling more peaceful and clear mentally.
The best environment for doing your practice is a fresh, graceful place with a bare floor and accessible wall. Avoid distractions, such as cell phones, during your yoga practice. Ideally, you should not eat for at least 2 hours before practicing. If you can’t go without eating, then try to eat something light, such as a piece of fruit, but no more than 1 hour before you start your yoga practice.
Be consistently mindful of how your body feels, and stop or pause if you experience any pain or discomfort while trying out a pose. Then try again.
Yoga props and yoga accessories, such as yoga mats, yoga bolsters, yoga straps, yoga blocks, yoga mat bags, and even yoga towels are perfect for assisting you in moving deeper into a pose, in performing a flawless pose, and in practicing in a healthful way.
There are many great reasons to think about using yoga props, not the least of which is that they assist in relieving discomfort, even pain, during difficult yoga poses.
Until you’ve achieved core structural strength, yoga props can help you to avoid injuring yourself.
Doing yoga releases rigidity, and using props assists with stress relief by giving the support you require to relax (but not be lazy) in your practice.
Another dynamic of using yoga props is that they help you to maintain proper alignment and, as we all know, alignment is crucial to getting the most benefits from a pose.
Yoga props assist in augmenting movement. When your joints move with ease, instead of “rubbing you the wrong way,” your yoga poses are more fluid. Certain props actually open space in the joints.
And, finally, we’re back to one of the extraordinary benefits of yoga, i.e., the development of awareness and understanding. When you are free to focus on doing your yoga poses correctly, rather than worrying about any limitations you might be experiencing, you are more ready to experience the deeper gifts of a regular yoga practice. Yoga props can help in eliminating any limitations to your doing flawless yoga poses.
Yoga Mats
A yoga mat, also called a sticky mat, is a slim, rectangular, and often rubber, floor mat that has many healthful features. First and foremost, as you move into various yoga poses, a yoga mat keeps you from sliding. Its non-slip surface gives stability to your practice.
It is also made of fabric that gives it the “perfect” texture, the one Baby Bear would own if he practiced yoga. If you were to make an effort to do your yoga practice on a surface that was too soft, such as a carpet, you would find it difficult to balance or to position yourself properly. On the other hand, some poses would be too uncomfortable for your hands, knees, and feet if you made an effort to practice them on a hard surface, such as a hardwood floor.
Nearly all yoga mats are made of lightweight, durable latex-free rubber or natural rubber and jute fiber that gives not only stability as you practice, but insulation from cool floors. For those who want a more eco-friendly mat, there are a few around. Specifically, there is a new “environmentally friendly” yoga mat made of PER (Polymer Environmental Resin), a material that is ascribed to be more “responsive” to the environment and your well-being than rubber yoga mats. This mat doesn’t have phthalates or heavy metals, and its means of production is said to be entirely non-toxic. Although, if being “super” green is your thing, there is a rubber and cotton mesh mat purchasable that comes straight from a “tapped” tree that continues to thrive.
Yoga Mat Bags
Yoga mat bags aid in protecting your mat and yoga accessories, and make transporting them more convenient. If you only tote a few props to your yoga class, you may want a small mat bag that is sized only slightly larger than your mat. But, if you’re pack rat when comes to yoga and want to “take it all” with you, there are big, duffel-style mat bags that are more than capable of holding extra goodies like yoga blocks, towels, water bottles, extra clothing, and more!
If you’re the creative type, there are lots of great sites online that give instructions on how you can construct your own yoga mat bag out of silk or other materials. Off the rack yoga mat bags are usually manufactured from nylon, cotton, organic cotton, or hemp.