A Little About Yoga Bolsters

If you practice yoga, you likely know what yoga bolsters are, especially if you include some of the more advanced or difficult positions. A yoga bolster gives your back, stomach, hamstrings, and chest comfortable, forgiving support and cushioning while performing spinal stretches, restorative postures, and that all-important deep breathing for mediation. They can also be important for achieving proper body and vertebrae alignment. Yoga cushions should be able to give you full support while at the same time being soft enough for you to rest on.

If you are new to yoga or getting ready to try your hand, a yoga bolster could be your best asset. When you are first starting out and your body is unaccustomed to moving in the ways that some yoga poses require, a bolster can prop you up so that you do the stretches and poses that you may not otherwise be able to do.

You may also learn that while a yoga mat gives you some cushioning from the hard floors in most yoga studios, it may not be enough. The mat is actually meant more for grip on the floor rather than padding. Yoga is supposed to be a pleasant experience and not painful so there is nothing wrong with using a yoga bolster cushion to stop pain and pressure from hard floors.

Typically, yoga cushions like this are round but they can be rectangular as well. They are fairly firm and dense in order to supportive, so don’t confuse these with the round, loosely stuffed decorative pillows that you can buy at linen stores or the big box variety stores. As the name implies, they are for decoration and can’t supply the support and cushioning of high quality yoga bolsters.

There is room in your life for this great yoga prop beyond the yoga studio as well. They can be used to relax your tired body at the end of a long day; can help to counteract improper posture; get more blood flowing to your organs; and help in calming your breathing and reducing fatigue and stress throughout the body. What kind of benefit you get from your bolster depends on how you lay or rest on it. Here are a few ways you can feel rejuvenated with just the use of your pillow.

1. Open up your chest by placing the bolster under your upper back and spreading your arms wide. This is ideal if you spend the day bent over a computer.

2. Kneel down and pull the bolster towards you so that is between your legs. Next lay down gently so that your torso is on the bolster.

3. Lay so that your head, shoulders, and spine are on top of the yoga cushion vertically. This is a great way to stretch your diaphragm and abdominals.

These are just a few ways in which you can use your bolster therapeutically. Practice them for from 5 to 20 minutes with your eyes closed and your breathing relaxed. You will soon learn that yoga bolsters can be your best friend.