HOW TO USE A YOGA BLANKET // Why we use blankets in class to support knees, sitting, & lying on mat

Transcript

want to know how to use a yoga blanket to support your yoga practice in this video we're going to be talking about blankets and how to use them but before we do make sure to go so that you can be in the know when we upload a new video [Music] we can use blankets in a variety of ways in a yoga practice a lot of times they really help just make the ground feel a little more cushiony when you need that cushion specifically under the knee now if you don't have a blanket you can always use a towel or a blanket that you have around your house it doesn't necessarily have to be one of these yoga blankets one tip that i like to tell all of my yogis is make sure that the blanket is folded neatly this will make a huge difference when you're practicing even though you might not think it does to fold your blanket take the two longest corners and connect them so that you're dividing your blanket in half now this may seem silly that i'm teaching you how to fold a yoga blanket but i can tell you after seven years of having a yoga studio this is definitely something we have to go over with our yogis it does make a huge difference so once it's in half you take the shorter corners bring them together and it looks like this then you're going to fold the blanket in half and then again folding it this way now you have an open side and then a closed side [Music] when i come to my mat at the beginning of any of my yoga classes i sit on my blanket to give myself a little bit of cushion to also lift me up so that i feel nice and tall but relaxed with that nice long spine so i'll take the closed side of the blanket and have a seat this is a great time for you to set your intention take a moment to breathe to transition from the outside world into your yoga practice [Music] the second way i like to use my yoga blanket is under my knees so in cat and cow sometimes the ground is just really hard or if you have sensitive knees the blanket is great to open up and to put underneath your knees so sometimes having this much is too much so if you open up your blanket it'll meet both of your knees this is where that neatly folded blanket comes into play because if your knees are resting on this blanket and it's all crumpled up or not folded neatly you're gonna feel it you can take your knees on the blanket and get set up for your cat and cow if you need extra support then you just take the front two corners fold them down and here's even more support for your knees another way that you can use your blanket and one that i like a lot is during shavasana there's a couple different places you can use a blanket during shavasana that's the last pose we do in a yoga class the one you're not supposed to miss right so make sure to grab a couple blankets when you come to your yoga mat more is not bad more is better so the first thing to do is i keep it on this level and place it underneath my head that way when we lift up our head our neck and our spine are in line so we don't get this or chin up in here right that is certainly not attractive and it's also not a good thing for your neck over time so when you lay down you want to take the blanket to the small part of your neck where it just brushes the tips of your shoulders lay all the way down and it's almost like a pillow the other thing that you can do with your blanket is take it underneath your knees so roll it up place it under your knees let's get on this mat and lay all the way back and of course you can always use a yoga blanket to cover yourself up during shavasana in case you get cold sometimes when we've gotten a really good practice in we've warmed up and we've even sweat during class when you lay down and you're relaxing and your body temperature is coming down that sweat starts to make us feel a little bit cool so a yoga blanket is really nice to cover up with bottom line yoga blankets are a great tool to support your yoga practice so always have one with you and if not one at least two so that you can use them in multiple ways experiment see what works best for you [Music] and before you go let's take a deep breath together to transition out into the next thing bring your hands together in front of your heart take a deep breath in exhale side out let it go namaste friends there you