3 Tips For Boosting Your Yoga Practice With Some Helpful Tools

Written By Sheila Johnson

Image credit: Pexels

Yoga is an ancient practice that originated thousands of years ago and yet is still just as relevant and beneficial in our modern lives. Once new to the western world, yoga has now become a mainstream practice, due to its benefits for the mind, body, and spirit.

Practicing yoga is a time for many of us to rest and reconnect with ourselves in the midst of often hectic and stressful lives. With that in mind, it’s important to make the best of the time we have set aside for our practice. Let’s take a look at some simple tips for using tools and technologies to help boost your yoga practice.

Utilize Yoga Props

Yoga is for every body, and even the most experienced yoga practitioners could use a little extra support from time to time. In the beginning, the most important part of yoga practice is showing up, and really all you need is a mat. However, as you continue on your journey, it’s useful to have a few yoga props at your disposal for poses that are new for your body or a little bit of a challenge.

In many cases, a towel will work well rolled up as a bolster or stretched out in place of a strap. However, if you are going to be practicing regularly, investing in more permanent and sturdy props will be worth it in the long run. Bolsters come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can help with poses that work to open up the body and release tension. Yoga blocks can help you with difficult or hard-to-reach poses, and straps are great to have for lengthening stretches or modifying poses.

Set Intentions Along With Goals

Yoga is more than just an exercise routine, and as such it’s a good idea to set intentions for your practice that are more mind/body focused in addition to your standard exercise goals. There are many apps that can help you track your yoga practice, such as Glo and Yoga for Beginners. If you like to do yoga in the morning, Yoga Wake Up is a yoga alarm clock that allows you to set your wake up practices and intentions and track your progress.

Learn How to Meditate, Not Just Zone Out

Mediation is the foundation of a healing yoga practice. It’s tempting, especially in some of the more relaxing poses, to let your mind wander and zone out a little bit, but it’s best to stay present and focused. That’s really all meditation is, being mindful and fully present in the current moment.

It may be helpful to learn and practice more with meditation not only during your yoga practice but throughout your day as well. Tibetan cymbals can be incredibly relaxing and help you meditate through focusing on sound. You can also utilize any number of meditation and mindfulness apps such as Insight Timer to help you through guided meditations, timers, and meditation tracking. Mindfulness Daily is also an excellent app for adding moments of mindfulness throughout your day so that you can continue to integrate your yoga life into your daily life.

If you choose to run a meditation app, using wireless headphones can help keep out distracting noises, allowing you to listen fully to the instructions. Top picks like Beats Powerbeats3 and Bose SoundSport Wireless Headphones are not only comfortable, they are also useful for intense workouts since they won’t slip off your ears.

Whatever your chosen tools or technology, keeping a consistent practice that you enjoy and look forward to will help you maintain a healthier mind and body. Finding what works for you in your practice is a continuous journey that will grow and change just as you do.