How to set up a home yoga space: Find household items to use instead of traditional yoga props

Transcript

hey everyone its Mary from mindful movement with Mary and I'm here today to show you how to set up your home yoga studio so most of us are spending a lot of time at home these days which can include doing our yoga practice at home and if you are used to practicing in a professional studio you remember that there are a lot of props that we use for certain classes or certain poses and you may not have those at home luckily there are a lot of household items that are great substitutes and so I'll show you what those are today so the first thing you're going to need to practice yoga at home is some form of a yoga mat so yoga mats are the thin rubber or plastic mats they come in different sizes shapes colors brands price points but what they all have in common is they are grippy in texture so they have a little bit of a sticky grip to them they're sometimes called sticky mats and that keeps us from sliding so it provides stability both when were on doing standing poses and when our hands are down on the mat so if you don't have a mat or don't have access to getting one you can certainly practice on the floor I would just recommend that you take your socks off so you reduce any more potential for slips and Falls okay so the next common thing is a block so yoga blocks these are pretty standard you're gonna find it most yoga studios they again come in different materials but mostly the foam ones and if you don't have those at home my favorite substitute is to take four or five small paperback books rubber band them together so they stay together and create the size and shape of a yoga block you could also use one really big book like a dictionary or encyclopedia but I like to have a couple of those options on hand if I don't have blocks because depending on how we're using the prop in any given day it might be better to have the small stack of books or one large book and if you don't have any books in your house then you can use rolls of toilet paper I have tried it it does work so as long as you have a thick roll that will hold the weight of your hands that's ideal and you might even want to under each hand depending on what we're using the prop for all right so next we have a strap so yoga strap is just a long canvas strap with a buckle on the end it's a nice feature to have but it's not a hundred percent necessary so whatever you have does that size or shape will work as well so a scarf is a great substitute or a belt or a tie or even a long piece of rope just pick something that's about five or six feet in length all right so the next item that's very common you grab this is a blanket which is fairly self-explanatory these are the ones you'll find in yoga studios there are a thick woven blanket called a Mexican blanket but if you don't have one of those at home any blanket will do even a beach or bath towel will do my favorite one would be a patchwork quilt or something else that's thick and woven like a wool or cotton blanket the fleece blankets and the comforters don't work as well for this because when you fold them up they tend to lose their height there's a lot of air in there and they're a little slippery so you want something that is thick when you fold it so it creates height alright so lastly we have a bolster so this is a typical yoga bolster some of them are square some of them are round and they are a very dense thick bolster so they don't compress again when you stand on them or sit on them so the substitute at home would be a couch cushion or some bed pillows so I have a king-size bed pillow here and I usually keep a couple of them in my home yoga studio you'll want to or three to replace the bolster because again they have air in them so they compress down with our body weight whereas the bolster will hold its shape so two or three pillows nice substitute the only other thing you need is enough space for you to stretch your arms and legs out and maybe a little space against a wall to hold on to for balance other than that I hope this helps and I hope it encourages you to get on the mat stay home stay safe and take care